Tomb Raider
Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | PC Download
Third Person/Action Adventure/Puzzle Game
Rating: M
Developer: Crystal Dynamics
Publisher: Square Enix
Designer: Darrell Gallagher
Writer: Rhianna Pratchett
Artists: Visual Works (CGI)
Composer: Jason Graves
Release Date: March 5, 2013

Not to sound like that old guy, but I can remember playing the original Tomb Raider back in 1996, dear God I am old. I was in college and I was living with a few friends, and we were taking turns playing the game, while the other helped out by reading the walkthrough. I don’t think we ever beat it, but there were some fun times either way. I think I dabbled in the series as it continued on various systems, but never really got into enough that I finished the game. Any time a game revolves around timed jumps so perfectly timed, that is where I fail in video games.

But when I heard they were rebooting the series and giving us a sort of prequel, I was interested in checking it out. And much like most things on the internet, the initial buzz was not favorable, well that was until people actually got to see it and play it. [...]

Bioshock Infinite
Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | PC | PC Download
Rating: M
Developers: Irrational Games/2K Australia
Publisher: 2K Games
Creative Director/Lead Writer: Ken Levine
Original Music by Gary Schyman
Release Date: March 26, 2013

I can remember the first time I popped in the original Bioshock, and was literally blown away as I watched our hero survive a plane crash and end up finding this lighthouse, and then taking the magical journey to Rapture, an underwater paradise that surprised and fascinated me with every turn. I can say that that initial journey to Rapture and the first time we come in contact with a Big Daddy, will forever be sketched into my video game history.

I have gotten about halfway through both Bioshock and Bioshock 2, although since I have finished the newest game in the series, BioShock Infinite, I have decided to go back and finish both of the previous installments. [...]

Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
PlayStation 3
Planning/Production: Level-5
Animation: Studio Ghibli
Music: Joe Hisaishi
Release Date: January 22, 2013 (US)

There are some of us out there who pretty much bought a PlayStation 3 for one reason, and playing video games was not the reason. I will admit I basically bought it so I could watch Blu-rays and stream Netflix, without having to have a Gold XBOX Live account. I did get a bundle when I bought it and it came with a copy of Uncharted 2, which I really enjoyed and ended up finishing the story. But that came out a few years ago, but luckily something came out that really got me playing games on my PS3, and that was Ni No Kuni:Wrath of the White Witch.

I did not know too much about this game, other than it was a RPG and that Studio Ghibli was involved. And with Ghibli being involved that was pretty much all i needed to hear. It seems like a pretty big leap of faith, but I guess we shall see if I made the right decision. [...]

Hitman: Absolution
Xbox 360 l PS3 l PC
DEVELOPER: IO Interactive
PUBLISHER: Square Enix
Rated M
RELEASE DATE: November 20, 2012

Six long years. That’s how long fans of the Hitman video game franchise have waited for this. And finally, Hitman: Absolution arrived this year.

Six years is a very long time to wait for the next installment in a game series you adore, indeed, as fans of Hitman and Bethesda games can very well tell you. For we who have anxiously awaited the chance to once again slip on the gloves of Agent 47, watching in stunned silence as not one but two Kane & Lynch games were made instead, the moment we finally got our hands on it could only be described as blissful.

This also comes with a healthy dose of bias, even for those trying to be as objective as possible such as myself, as Absolution was going to have to be an unfathomable disaster for fans to be unsatisfied. Still, while the game has a lot to be happy about, there were still some minor flaws to overcome. [...]

Call of Duty: Black Ops II
Xbox 360| PS3 | PC | Wii U
DEVELOPER: Treyarch
PUBLISHER: Activision
RELEASE DATE: November 13, 2012

Releasing a new title in a video game franchise every year is no easy task, and with it comes something of a curse. While fans of the games eat up each annual installment, most others eventually get bored and yearn for something more fresh and original, as was the case, for a recent example, with both the Assassin’s Creed and Call of Duty franchises.

Due to this, we saw both series look to refresh their respective franchises this year. Assassin’s Creed III ran away from the historical Italian setting of its previous three installments and relocated to the United States during the American Revolution. It’s still basically the same thing we’ve seen released by Ubisoft the past four years or so, but the setting change has clearly been appreciated and the game has gotten generally positive reviews. As for Call of Duty, developer Treyarch had the tricky task of revitalizing the franchise with their own sequel, Call of Duty: Black Ops II. [...]

Dishonored
Xbox 360 l PlayStation 3 l PC
DEVELOPER: Arkane Studios
PUBLISHER: Bethesda Softworks
RELEASE DATE: October 9, 2012

Sequels to video games tend to take a little longer to make than sequels to movies, but they’re also much more accepted than movie sequels. Still, gamers yearn for those original titles—the next big games that could become great enough to warrant sequels—and one of the more anticipated original titles was Dishonored, the new game developed by Arkane Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks.

A Neo-Victorian supernatural assassin game set in the foggy England-inspired fictional city of Dunwall. How could anyone not be extremely excited for that? [...]

Ed Greenwood Presents Elminster’s Forgotten Realms
Hardcover
Written by Ed Greenwood and the Wizards RPG staff
Wizards of the Coast
Release Date: October 16, 2012

I remember the day the very first Forgotten Realms boxed reference set was released. It included not just game materials, but a really awesome map and a bit of background information to start your own campaigns. But never in a hundred years did I think I would ever see such an in depth look as Ed Greenwood Presents Elminster’s Forgotten Realms. It really is a masterpiece of Ed Greenwood‘s imagination.

Taken from Greenwood’s original notes from the late sixties, the Forgotten Realms were adapted in the seventies for game play with the original Dungeons & Dragons and finalized in the eighties for release with the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game books. By far the most popular and well known of all the official settings, the Realms are packed with well developed and powerful non-player characters (known as NPCs). This tome gives us a plethora of formerly unknown information, thereby not just amplifying our collective knowledge of Faerun but also expanding the possibilities in a campaign setting [...]

Tiny Troopers is a squad based war strategy and critical thinking game from Finnish company Kukouri. It uses great graphics, South Park-esque characters and humor to deliver hours of action packed fun.

The game is available for Mac, PC, and iOS.

Playing the game your squad goes through 30 missions (some very easy and some super hard) taking on an enemy army and targets. [...]

Darksiders II
Xbox 360 l PS3 l PC
DEVELOPER: Vigil Games
PUBLISHER: THQ
RELEASE DATE: August 14, 2012

I have the great pleasure of offering a unique perspective on a video game for a select group of potential players. Usually when I review a game it’s one that I’m familiar with and one that I’ve been anticipating for multiple years. In the case of Darksiders II, I went in almost completely blind.

I never played the original Darksiders. I did play its demo when it was made available and was thoroughly neutral; I didn’t hate it or anything, but had no intentions of playing the full game, either. Because of this, I had absolutely no knowledge whatsoever of Darksiders II, allowing me a chance to offer an opinion to those who never played the first but are thinking about checking out the sequel. [...]

Max Payne 3
Xbox 360 l PS3 l PC
DEVELOPER: Rockstar Studios
PUBLISHER: Rockstar Games
RELEASE DATE: May 15, 2012

It’s been nearly a decade since Max Payne last graced video game consoles, and fans of the franchise have been impatiently awaiting the glorious return of their favorite noir bad ass.

Await no longer, ladies and gentlemen, as Max Payne is finally back for Max Payne 3, the newest game from Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption mastermind Rockstar Games. [...]

Game of Thrones
Xbox 360 l PS3
DEVELOPER: Cyanide Studios
PUBLISHER: Atlus
RELEASE DATE: May 15, 2012

I’m no seasoned vet when it comes to author George R.R. Martin‘s “A Song of Ice and Fire” book series, having first become aware of it only a few years back when it was first revealed that a TV show version was being made for HBO. But after seeing the first season and reading the first book—both of which shot to the top of my personal TV and book lists—I had become familiar with a fact many of you had known for a long time now: this was a very special world with a very special variety of characters and a rich and complex history.

Because of that you can imagine mine and many others’ elation when it was revealed that an RPG video game based in Martin’s world had been in the making for a long while now (since the HBO show was only a rumor), and would be coming to us soon. [...]

Recently we told you about the bonus gamers could get if they pre-ordered Hitman: Absolution through GameStop. The bonus—instead of being a simple weapon or outfit—would be a standalone game titled Hitman: Sniper Challenge, where players around the world could test their sniping talents to see who would be the very best, with prizes being handed out for top scorers. (Read more about the offer HERE)

For those of you unsure whether or not to pre-order the game now just to get the bonus, we here at Geeks of Doom wanted to take the Sniper Challenge for a run around the block a couple of times and let you know how it is. [...]

The Walking Dead
A Telltale Games Series
Episode One: A New Day
Platform: PC, MAC, Xbox LIVE Arcade, PlayStation Network
Telltale Games
Rated M
Release date: April 24, 2012

Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead: Episode One – A New Day is now available on PC, MAC, Xbox LIVE Arcade, and PlayStation Network.

The five-part episodic adventure allows players to meet familiar characters and visit locations from the zombie-infested world created by Robert Kirkman, foreshadowing the story of Deputy Sheriff Rick Grimes in The Walking Dead comics.

Episode one of game series, A New Day, introduces Lee Everett, a man convicted of murder, now given freedom and a chance at redemption in a world devastated by the undead.

Intense life or death situations force the player to explore the darker sides of human nature as there are no rules in this new post-apocalyptic world [...]

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Xbox 360 l PS3 l PC
DEVELOPER: Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer Games
PUBLISHER: Activision
WRITER: Paul Haggis
STARRING: Kevin McKidd, Billy Murray, William Fichtner, Idris Elba, Timothy Olyphant
RELEASE DATE: November 8, 2011

The Call of Duty franchise has become a juggernaut in the video game industry—with titles like World at War, Black Ops, and, biggest of all, the Modern Warfare series contributing to what has become a more profitable franchise than both Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings, to name a couple. [...]

Warhammer 40k: Space Marine
XBOX 360 | PS3 | PC
THQ Games
Release Date: September 6, 2011
Price: $49.99

A few weeks back I wrote this article when the demo of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine was released. Well, now that I’ve finally gotten myself waist-deep in the full version of the game, consider this to be the ‘Extended Edition’ of that article.

Everything I said before still stands true so I won’t waste our time here re-telling you how visceral the gaming experience felt to me then. I also won’t flood you with adjectives and verbs about how bad-ass it felt to slay millions of Orks using your ChainSword, Bolter Rilfe, and more.

It still does. It still is [...]