Adventure/Explore

According to ESRB, this game contains: Animated Blood & Gore, Animated Violence

For such a young genre, it has quickly gained a feeling of "been there, done that" in the few years since its explosion onto the scene. In fact, looking back at the list of games that qualify as survival horror, I'd pick only three as being the best representatives of what this type of game has to offer: Resident Evil for starting off the craze, Silent Hill for making things truly chilling and Dino Crisis 2 for putting an entirely different spin on how the game can be played.

My feeling on Dino Crisis 2 is that it's too little, too late. I have a good respect for the original because it tried to do a few things differently then most survival-horror titles, and while it wasn't anything earth-shattering, I still appreciated the effort.

Game Description: Dino Crisis 2 picks up where the original left off. While continuing Dr. Kirk’s research into Third Energy, the government has opened a rift in time. Now, an elite team of operatives must travel back in time and rescue any survivors and recover the Third Energy device. You take control of Regina and Dylan as they use their special talents and maybe a weapon or two to get through the mission. Along the way, they will encounter 10 species of dinosaurs that are looking for a human snack. It’s up to you to save the Third Energy device and return home safely in Dino Crisis 2.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Animated Violence

Like any red-blooded, American boy, I was drawn to the superheroes that filled the pages of Marvel Comics and DC Comics. While I was a follower of the likes of Batman, Superman and even Wonder Woman, I would say that Spider-Man was my hands-down favorite. I made it a point of getting up at 5 a.m. every morning to catch the latest adventures of Spider-Man on TV. I was pretty much obsessed with anything Spider-Man related. I had a Spider-Man lunchbox, notebook, pencils, action-figures and coloring book. I even followed his adventures in the newspaper comics. As I grew up, I slowly put away my Spider-Man obsession only to engage in it again—albeit fleetingly—years later with the launch of the, then new, Todd McFarlane Spider-Man series. Looking back, I always though it strange that I never played any of the Spider-Man videogames with much interest. After playing Activision's Spider-Man, I can only surmise it was because those games were nothing but one-dimensional fluff; because this game is the one Spider-Man game I've played that got it right.

In his opening paragraph, Dale said that this is the Spider-Man game that "got it right." While I don't doubt this is probably the best Spider-Man videogame ever made (though the old Atari 2600 one was pretty awesome for its time), I still think the developers missed the mark ever so slightly.

Game Description: Take a look overhead—Spider-Man is arriving to the PlayStation just in time. As the beloved photojournalist-cum-webslinger, you'll freely explore New York's skyline, sewers, and hideouts to fulfill several missions. Use Spider-Man's superhuman strength to fight such notorious foes as Scorpion, Venom, and Rhino. Use his spider abilities to spin webs (any size) to disable and detain bosses, swing around buildings, and creep along walls and ceilings. And thanks to your spider-sense, you'll detect impending danger from a distance. There is no wealth or fame at the end of this game, however; action is your reward.

To resolve this, Nintendo and HAL, a second party of Nintendo, created a game featuring a slow-moving character that was little more than a circle with feet and put him in a sidescroller, similar to Super Mario Bros. The result was Kirby's Dream Land.