ARTICLES BY STEPHEN LEA SHEPPARD
|
 SHEPPARD’S VIDEO-GAME PIE
THE KING OF FIGHTERS XII
My problem with The King of Fighters XII is I can’t think of a reason to play it.
We are in the middle of a 2-D fighter renaissance. Street Fighter IV and...
|
|
|
  SHEPPARD’S VIDEO-GAME PIE
SONIC & KNUCKLES
Remember I said Nintendo is winning the console war? Well, they are, but not for lack of effort on Sega’s part. Sonic & Knuckles is the latest Sonic game, following...
|
|
|
 SHEPPARD’S VIDEO-GAME PIE
DAWN OF DISCOVERY
Most people are familiar with SimCity, and anyone who’s been playing PC games for a few years is bound to have heard of Sid Meyer’s Civilization. Dawn of Discovery...
|
|
|
 SHEPPARD'S VIDEO-GAME PIE
INFAMOUS VS. PROTOTYPE
Infamous and Prototype are an interesting pair. Released near-simultaneously, both are sandbox games set in wrecked cities (like Spider-Man: Web of Shadows before them)...
|
|
|
 SHEPPARD'S VIDEO-GAME PIE
BATTLEFORGE
This game leaves me suspicious.
BattleForge is a real-time strategy game that uses a collectible-card-game...
|
|
|
 SHEPPARD'S VIDEO-GAME PIE
NINJA BLADE
Ninja Blade is fun.
The obvious point of comparison is Ninja Gaiden II. By almost every...
|
|
|
 SHEPPARD'S VIDEO-GAME PIE
SHOOTER SEQUEL SHOOT-OUT: F.E.A.R. 2 VS. KILLZONE 2
A short time ago, I noticed something odd: Many reviews of F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin seemed to boil down to “It’s a great shooter but not much more,” while many reviews of Killzone 2 said, “It̵...
|
|
|
 SHEPPARD'S VIDEO-GAME PIE
TOM CLANCY’S H.A.W.X.
On the one hand, Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. is fun, and it scratches a gaming itches I don’t get the opportunity to scratch that often anymore. On the other hand...
|
|
|
 SHEPPARD'S VIDEO-GAME PIE
HALO WARS
OK, first thing you should know: I’ve got an Xbox 360 demo unit. I use it to play pre-release review copies of certain games, such as this one (also Dead Space, Ninja...
|
|
|
 SHEPPARD'S VIDEO-GAME PIE
SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI: PERSONA 4
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 may be the last important PlayStation 2 release in the United States. It might not. I would have said the same thing about its immediate...
|
|
|
 SHEPPARD'S VIDEO-GAME PIE
MIRROR’S EDGE
Mirror’s Edge is an innovative but controversial title that heavily divides players. I liked it, but it’s not for everyone...
|
|
|
 SHEPPARD'S VIDEO-GAME PIE
STAR WARS: THE FORCE UNLEASHED
So. For those unaware. The Force Unleashed is the latest Star Wars game by LucasArts, in which you play (mostly) Darth Vader’s secret apprentice, Starkiller, during...
|
|
|
 SHEPPARD'S VIDEO-GAME PIE
DEAD SPACE
Dead Space is a third-person over-the-shoulder shooter set on the planet-cracking mining starship Ishimura, full of monsters made from the fused and repurposed dead...
|
|
|
 SHEPPARD'S VIDEO-GAME PIE
WILL WRIGHT, INVENTOR OF SIMCITY, THE SIMS, AND NOW SPORE
Not only is Will Wright one of the most prominent game designers out there, but he's also been prominent for a length of time seldom found in the game industry...
|
|
|
 SHEPPARD'S VIDEO-GAME PIE
METAL GEAR SOLID 4: GUNS OF THE PATRIOTS
This is an occasionally impressive and often ridiculous 12-hour movie with some often satisfying and occasionally clumsy gameplay thrown in...
|
|
|
 SHEPPARD'S VIDEO-GAME PIE
NINJA GAIDEN II
I have concerns about Ninja Gaiden II, but my overall impression is positive. The concerns stem from comparing it to its predecessor. Ninja Gaiden was one of...
|
|
|
 SHEPPARD'S VIDEO-GAME PIE
IKARUGA
The most legendary of shmup games amongst people who don’t self-identify as shmup fans, Ikaruga is now on Xbox Live Arcade in 2008 after seeing release on the...
|
|
|
 SHEPPARD'S VIDEO-GAME PIE
By Stephen Lea SheppardLOST ODYSSEY
Goddamnit, when I first started playing Lost Odyssey I was all fired up to write a review about how Hironobu Sakaguchi has lost his touch, but then, before the first...
|
|
|
 SHEPPARD'S VIDEO-GAME PIE
By Stephen Lea SheppardBULLY: SCHOLARSHIP EDITION
Wow. Rockstar finally created a game I enjoy.
Bully: Scholarship Edition is the re-release of 2006’s Bully for the PS2. It’s almost not worth mentioning that Bully was...
|
|
|
|
|
| |
