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Video Game Review: Lackluster ‘X-Men: Destiny’ Has No Super Powers

CHICAGO – Imagine this — an X-Men game in which you don’t play a known member of the legendary team. Want to rage with Wolverine’s claws, shoot beams with Cyclops’ eyes, or rain chaos with Storm? Well, you’ll have to go back to the last “Marvel Ultimate Alliance” game to do so because they’re not playable here.

Video Game Review: Goofy, Bizarre ‘No More Heroes: Heroes’ Paradise’

CHICAGO – Games don’t get much weirder than “No More Heroes: Heroes’ Paradise.” This import of the Nintendo Wii hit that has now been repurposed for both the standard wireless controller and the Playstation Move is such a unique, bizarre game that it almost warrants playing it purely for the copious personality on display. It’s too bad that said personality can’t overcome frustrating gameplay and repetitive action but this is a modest success that could work for the right player.

Video Game Review: Fun ‘Phineas and Ferb: Across the Second Dimension’

Phineas and Ferb: Across the Second Dimension

CHICAGO – Disney’s “Phineas and Ferb” is one of the most clever cartoons on the air right now, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t completely dreading the newest video game tie-in, “Phineas and Ferb: Across the Second Dimension,” now available for PS3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii, and timed to tie-in with the hit movie that premiered this week on the Disney Channel.

Video Game Review: ‘Transformers: Dark of the Moon’ Disappoints

CHICAGO – Based on the incredible box office returns, a lot of the people reading this have probably already seen Michael Bay’s divisive “Transformers: Dark of the Moon.” It’s understandable that they may want to continue the adrenalin-pumping adventure at home with Activision’s latest game based on the legendary Hasbro toy line. Sadly, as much as the movie pops in 3D, the game is disappointingly flat.

Video Game Review: ‘Cars 2’ Delivers Family Friendly Racing Experience

CHICAGO – Last summer, Disney Interactive, Pixar, and Avalanche Software teamed on the ambitious-but-flawed “Toy Story 3,” a game that dared to do something more than your standard family movie tie-in. The game didn’t work 100% but it was a masterpiece compared to most games based on animated films. They’re back this summer with the tie-in for “Cars 2,” with similar results.

Video Game Review: ‘LEGO: Pirates of the Caribbean’ Rides the Seas

CHICAGO – Traveller’s Tales clearly seems 100% unconcerned about exhausting their “LEGO” brand as they have released “LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4,” “LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars,” and, now, “LEGO: Pirates of the Caribbean” in less than a year.

Video Game Review: Kid-Friendly ‘Rio’ Brings Animated Party Home

CHICAGO – The video game tie-in for the movie “Rio” should be a total disaster. It has three strikes against it being a movie tie-in, having gameplay aimed primarily at elementary school kids, and the fact that it’s yet another collection of mini-games. So, I’m happy to report that “Rio” isn’t that bad. It’s not going to be any child’s favorite game but it adequately translates the good will they have towards the hit movie into their living room.

Video Game Review: ‘Top Spin 4’ Features Great Simulation of Difficult Sport

Top Spin 4

CHICAGO – Is there any sport less attuned to a video game simulation than tennis? I don’t think so. The actual sport involves so much physical coordination and timing that it’s just impossible to fully recreate with a controller in your hands. Having a motion controller helps (and the PS3 copy of “Top Spin 4” is Move-enabled), but there’s still something about tennis that seems to fight the world of gaming even when it’s as remarkably well-done as “Top Spin 4.”

Video Game Review: Clever, Addictive ‘LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars’

CHICAGO – Just as we were about to write off the LEGO games after some lackluster installments (“LEGO Indiana Jones,” “LEGO Batman”), last year’s excellent “LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4” was the best family video game of the season and news of the March release of another sequel in the franchise that started it all — “LEGO Star Wars” — allowed hope that this series was still very much alive.

Video Game Review: ‘Major League Baseball 2K11’ Commits Too Many Errors to Compete

CHICAGO – I have defended the 2K Sports baseball games in the past, even personally preferring the “Major League Baseball 2K10” edition for gameplay during last year’s baseball season over Sony’s “MLB 10 The Show,” but this year my denial defenses have fallen to an incredibly faulty release, one full of glitches and generally annoying design decisions.

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TV, DVD, BLU-RAY & THEATER REVIEWS

  • Manhunt

    CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Dan Baker on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on March 21st, 2024, reviewing the new streaming series “Manhunt” – based on the bestseller by James L. Swanson – currently streaming on Apple TV+.

  • Topdog/Underdog, Invictus Theatre

    CHICAGO – When two brothers confront the sins of each other and it expands into a psychology of an entire race, it’s at a stage play found in Chicago’s Invictus Theatre Company production of “Topdog/Underdog,” now at their new home at the Windy City Playhouse through March 31st, 2024. Click TD/UD for tickets/info.

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