Starcraft II – Buy this game. It does not suck. Summary – Ten years is a long time between the original and sequel for anything, but as with all things in the prequel/sequel/remake world, if the product is good, the time interval does not matter once you have the new item in front of you. Starcraft II is just like the original, but on steroids. Lot…

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II and Chaos Rising Summary: Good real time strategy (RTS) game, but not great. We were spoiled by the games with similar depth of choice for actual tactical play, but the strategy aspect leaves us asking for more. Land, shoot, win. Thus missing the strategy part of the real time strategy genre. We give this a sucks ra…

Bioshock Summary: This game does not suck. Buy it. Good example of new thinking and creativity that generates a single player only game that can be replayed every year. Single Player Play The plot: You are the sole survivor of ocean plane crash. You just happen to crash near the entrance to an underwater city built by a fascist. Picture Donald Trum…

Bad Company 2 Summary: This game does not suck. Skip the single player mode. Multiplayer is rich and inviting, but missed some easy opportunities to best BF 2142 in terms of the replayability and technical shortcomings. The Single Player Mode. Let me set the stage. You are part of a dedicated squad of soldiers on a special mission to save the world…

Battlefield 2142 By Nelson and Mr. Crusty Summary: This is the least suckiest game in the universe. Ever. Until we find a better game. This is the archetypical on line multiplaying first person shooter. And it is the best one we have played so far. We review this 2006 game for the purpose to explain our binary rating system: games either suck or th…

Champions Online Summary: Decent Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMO) with an excellent character build and design system that fails at only one thing: the game play. There are so many good things about this game that it is disappointing to give the sucks rating, but when you factor in the cost of the monthly subscription, the developer miscues,…

Summary: This game sucks, do not buy it. Play the single player campaign if someone gives you the game. The multiplayer totally sucks. How does a game with a solid franchise, good customer loyalty, and a massive marketing budget crank out a game with horrible on line experiences? Simple, they can. The publishers are probably still riding the whole …

Prior to launching our website and podcast, Mr. Crusty and Nelson spent 14 years doing intensive market research into the gaming market using focus groups under actual real world conditions. We followed this up with an exhaustive review of the academic journals on leisure time, game theory, the part of the brain that processes strategic decisions a…