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Review: Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

For a couple of hours, I was enjoying the latest iteration of the long-running Metal Gear Solid series, which is called Peace Walker . Unlike the massive, bloated, self-important Metal Gear Solid 4 , this portable installment felt lean and mean.
The latest Metal Gear Solid sends mixed signals
By MITCH KRPATA | July 02, 2010

Review: Red Dead Redemption

The land doesn't care. Not about the storms that blow across its plains. Not about the animals that stalk one another through its grasses. And certainly not about the men who occasionally appear over the horizon and try to build a civilization on its san
Grand Theft Oater?
By MITCH KRPATA | June 18, 2010

Review: Super Mario Galaxy 2

Say this for Super Mario: he still seems to be having a good time.
Star-crossed: not quite super
By MITCH KRPATA | June 11, 2010

Review: Alan Wake

Alan Wake proves, once again, that developers don’t need to reinvent entire genres to make a good game — they simply need to play to their strengths.
Shadowplay: Remedy Entertainment puts on a light show
By MITCH KRPATA | June 04, 2010

Game Changer?(1)

For the worse part of two decades, Hollywood has been trying to discover the formula for successfully adapting video games to the big screen.
After decades of lackluster releases, the video-game-turned-film genre may have finally found its royalty
By BRETT MICHEL | June 04, 2010

Review: 3D Dot Game Heroes

The story of 3D Dot Game Heroes ’ kingdom of Dotnia might ring a few bells. An ancient hero of old defeated an evil king by trapping him inside one of six magical orbs.
Linking to the past
By MADDY MYERS | May 28, 2010

Puppet pageants

In the beginning, there was Kermit. Not Kermit the Frog — not just yet. That would come nearly 15 years later.
The influential art of Jim Henson and Peter Schumann
By GREG COOK | May 07, 2010

Barbarians, legions clash at Holiday Inn

On Saturday morning, more than a hundred men crowded into the banquet hall of the Holiday Inn beside the turnpike exit in Westbrook. They came with armies in tow, prepared to refight many of the most famous battles of history.
Repeating History
By WHIT RICHARDSON | May 07, 2010

Review: The Freebie

As can be seen in the opening bliss montage, these two almost disgustingly in love with each other: they hug, kiss, tickle toes, do crossword puzzles — everything, it seems, except have sex.
R eveals lifetimes of intimacy
By PETER KEOUGH | April 16, 2010

Review: Final Fantasy XIII

I’m so old, I can remember when Final Fantasy VIII came out and everybody complained about it.
Paradigm shift!
By MITCH KRPATA | April 09, 2010

Review: God of War III

What is Kratos so angry about — again? There used to be a good reason for his non-stop temper tantrums.
New console, same game
By MITCH KRPATA | April 02, 2010

Potatoes and a pennywhistle on Somerset Street

Drive south on Broad Street past the markets and churches, take a left on Somerset and there, in a clearing of raised garden beds behind a chain-link fence, you will find Phil Edmonds with his peas.
In the Garden
By ELIZABETH RAU | April 02, 2010

SXSW 2010: [Photos] 'Stache by 'Stache West

Photos of the great moustaches of SXSW 2010.
In pursuit of the hirsute at SXSW 2010
By K BONAMI | March 26, 2010

Geek icon

A hurricane of pure video-game bliss is set to pummel Boston this weekend, as thousands of gamers converge on the Hynes Convention Center for the Penny Arcade Expo.
Jonathan Coulton talks PAX
By SHAULA CLARK | March 19, 2010

SXSW 2010 (Wednesday): [Photos] Brahms, Trespassers William, Magic Magic

Photos of Brahms, Trespassers William, Magic Magic, and Japanther, performing live at SXSW
Plus Japanther, live at SXSW, March 17, 2010
By KELLY DAVIDSON | March 19, 2010

Review: Heavy Rain

Is Heavy Rain a game or a movie? Players have been asking the question since before its release.
A haunting thriller for PlayStation 3
By MITCH KRPATA | March 12, 2010

Daddy issues

When Andrew Ryan said this to your player in BioShock , it was part of a plot twist of surprising power — about halfway through the game, you realized you'd been taking orders from your antagonist.
BioShock 2 dives under the surface
By MITCH KRPATA | February 26, 2010

Review: No More Heroes 2

In the world of video games, one rule is ironclad: if a game is successful, there will be a sequel. Hell, sometimes if a game isn't successful, there will be a sequel.
Pain in the assassin
By MITCH KRPATA | February 19, 2010

Review: Mass Effect 2

Mass Effect 2 gives us the game we craved the first time around — the laborious load screens remain, but the bits in between are a breath of fresh air.
The good Shepard returns
By MADDY MYERS | February 12, 2010

Crossword: ''Burns, Baby, Burns''

Crossword results: February 5, 2010
It's a growth industry.
By MATT JONES | February 05, 2010

Review: Army of Two: The 40th Day

When I reviewed the original Army of Two , I found myself in the unfamiliar position of being the guy who liked something everybody else hated (as opposed the guy who hated something everybody else liked).
One step forward, but Army of Two steps back
By MITCH KRPATA | January 29, 2010

Crossword: ''Special effects''

With a little extra thrown in
With a little extra thrown in
By MATT JONES | January 29, 2010

Makes sense to him

So understood is John Ashbery's post at the top of the contemporary American poetry heap (a distinction these days with the cultural heft of a Scrabble championship) that the question of just how to read him seems doomed to languish beside the point. De
John Ashbery's Planisphere
By MICHAEL BRODEUR | January 15, 2010

Review: Bayonetta

Here's the thing about Bayonetta : you have to take all of it, not just part.
Season of the witch
By MITCH KRPATA | January 15, 2010

Super 8-Bit Brothers | Brawl

It's easy to forget how annoying certain pop-culture artifacts were in their heyday.
The End (2010)
By BARRY THOMPSON | January 15, 2010

Greatest video-game tragedies of the last decade

Here are some of our favorite anti-victories of the past 10 years, in rough chronological order.
Zeroes from the Aughts
By LASER ORGY | January 15, 2010

Review: The Saboteur

When Pandemic Studios was shuttered on November 17, it seemed less another casualty of the economy than a mercy killing.
Pandemic Studios' swan song
By MITCH KRPATA | January 08, 2010

Winter wonderland

Do not adjust your calendar. Christmas has not been moved to March this year.
Video games start the new year right
By MITCH KRPATA | January 01, 2010

A casket gets some airtime

Bert Harlow, woodworker and founder of the Narrows Center for the Arts in Fall River, Massachusetts, made his own casket a few years ago. But he figured the pine box should get some use before he was nailed into it.
Deadly
By ABIGAIL CROCKER | January 01, 2010

2009: Year in video games

At the end of each year, there's the temptation to identify a common theme among the games that were released.
Swimming the mainstream
By MITCH KRPATA | December 25, 2009

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