Published by: Microsoft Game Studios
Developed by: Team Ninja
Score: 70

Back in 2004, Team Ninja (at the time best known for breast physics and mediocre fighting games) released an update of the classic title Ninja Gaiden for the Xbox. Featuring a level of difficulty not seen since the NES days, some (pussies) deemed it too hard, but those who persevered were rewarded with an action game experience like no other. Ninja Gaiden quickly became one of the Xbox’s top titles, playing an important role in the Great Gamefaqs Board Console Warz of 2004. 4 years and two “updates” later, Ninja Gaiden 2 was finally released for the 360 and, well, some things really aren’t better the second time around.

Published by: Rockstar Games
Developed by: Rockstar North
Score: 95

Nobody could’ve predicted the titanic success that was Grand Theft Auto 3. Nobody. For a series that had been successful enough to warrant a third, but not successful enough to consider that GTA3 might be a leap in action gaming, Rockstar has done extremely well for itself. After GTA3’s release, there was never a true sequel, Vice City and San Andreas were spin-offs. Don’t let that classification take anything away from these games because they too were great, improving upon everything that GTA3 had brought to the table whether it be graphics or gameplay elements. In the year 2008, there is finally a true sequel to GTA3, and rather than changing the locale, the series has returned to Liberty City, a makeshift New York City. Grand Theft Auto IV is the name of the game and is truly a leap above everything else Rockstar has brought out and makes itself not only the best GTA game, but possibly, the best action game in many years.

Published by: Capcom
Developed by: Capcom Production Studio
Score: 75

I still remember the first time I saw videos of the first Devil May Cry way back in 2001. The second after I saw this guy in red pop a monster up and juggle him in the air with bullets, I ran my ass to my local FUNCOLAND and put up $5 of my lunch money to preorder it on the spot. Back when the PS2 was still struggling to find a standout title (people actually had Fantavision in their top 5 PS2 games lists, believe it or not), it came and literally dropped jaws. It singlehandedly redefined the action game genre as we know it, and despite its flaws it still stood out as a triple A title. The series would fail to garner a similar reaction in the following years, as its sequel was regarded as vastly inferior to the original. The franchise finally progressed with the third game, but it’s NBA Jam-level default difficulty turned most off. Now, almost 10 years later, the fourth installment sees the series take its first step into next gen territory.

Published by: Activision
Developed by: Infinity Ward
Score: 70

Rockett and I have been playing Call of Duty 4 (CoD4) for a while now, almost 5 months and average around 2-3 sessions a week. In this time, we’ve been able to understand the intricacies of the game and basically the layout. We never did a full review for CoD4 simply because every single game site you could possibly imagine had done a review and said everything you could possibly say about it. “Great,” “Super,” “It’s like the second coming of Jesus only without the judgment.” So, rather than add to the list of singing praises, I’ve decided to go another route and review the Variety Map Pack that was released on April 4 for 800MS points (approximately $10).

Published by: Microsoft Game Studios
Developed by: Q? Entertainment
Score: 90

Could we go into a detailed discussion about Sega’s downfall and Sony raping and murdering them? Probably, but that’s not why I’m writing this, I’ll leave that to another pair who happen to specialize in blind and irrational love for Sega. In fact I like to think of myself as a gamer who is of the theory that competition amongst gaming companies benefits the gamers themselves. But I’m not here to talk about that, I’m here to talk about this game on Xbox Live Arcade that came out in January for 800MS points. The game? Rez HD.