• Critical-Hits Studios
    • Criminals Card Game
    • Sentinel Comics: the Roleplaying Game
  • Downloads & Tools
    • Critical Hits Fantasy Name Generator
    • Drinking D&D 2010
    • Drinking D&D 2011
    • Fiasco Playset: “Alma Monster”
    • MODOK’s 11 for Marvel Heroic Roleplaying
    • Refuge In Audacity RPG
    • Strange New Worlds RPG
  • Guides
    • Gamma World
    • Guide to 4e Accessories
    • Guide to Gaming DVDs
    • Skill Challenges
  • RSS Feed
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Critical Hits

Everything tabletop gaming since 2005

  • News
  • Reviews
  • Columns
    • Dire Flailings
    • Dungeonomics
    • Musings of the Chatty DM
    • Pain of Publication
    • The Architect DM
  • Podcasts
    • Critical Hits Podcast
    • Dungeon Master Guys Podcast
  • Roleplaying Games
  • Tabletop Games
  • Game Hacks & Content
  • Video Games
You are here: Home / Archives for Reviews

Battletech Introductory Box Set Preview & Review

March 28, 2011 by Bartoneus

I have been a die hard fan of Battletech since I first picked up a Technical Readout book and wondered what all of the information about awesome looking giant mechs was really used for. Three years ago when Catalyst Game Labs acquired the Battletech license and put out the Classic Battletech boxed set, I was excited but didn’t get a chance to pick one up before the print run completely sold out. That’s why I flipped out when I saw the new Battletech Introductory Boxed Set in a vendor’s stand at PAX East and quickly picked up a copy.

Filed Under: Board, Card, and Miniature Games, Featured, Reviews Tagged With: 25th anniversary, battletech, boxed set, catalyst game labs, classic battletech, introductory box set, new, preview, Reviews

Unboxing: Wrath of Ashardalon D&D Board Game

January 26, 2011 by Bartoneus

For those of us who have been playing and enjoying the game Castle Ravenloft, anticipation has been building for the quick release of the second D&D Adventure System board game Wrath of Ashardalon! We were fortunate enough to get an early preview copy and so what I’d like to provide for you today is a brief post about the box and its contents as well as a preview of what to expect from the game based on a preliminary look through the rules and components.

Filed Under: Featured, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: adventure system, D&D, dnd, preview, Reviews, Roleplaying Games, roleplaying games, unboxing, wrath of ashardalon

Review – Tron: Legacy

December 18, 2010 by Bartoneus

I am a particular brand of Tron fanboy because the movie came out the year before I was born and I wouldn’t really understand much about computers or programming until many years after I had the movie decently memorized. I’ve loved the original movie for pretty much my entire life, even writing about my love affair with the movie and how I can use it to know if I’ll really like someone right away. It should be no surprise that I went to see Tron: Legacy on the day of its release, but I am a bit surprised that we decided to see it in 3d and that it turned out to be a good decision.

Filed Under: Movies, Reviews, Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre Tagged With: 3d, garrett hedlund, jeff bridges, michael sheen, movie, Newest Critical Hits, olivia wilde, Reviews, tron, tron legacy

Review: “Legend of the 5 Rings” 4th Edition RPG

November 24, 2010 by Bartoneus

I discovered Legend of the Five Rings several years ago, but in the past I have never had a chance to play the RPG system itself and instead have ended up playing Oriental Adventure version of D&D or other systems with strong Asian influences. That’s why I’m very thankful that Alderac Entertainment Group has provided us with the 4th Edition of the Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Game core book, which is right off the bat one of the most beautiful RPG books I’ve ever seen. Plus a contest to win a copy of the L5R core book!

Filed Under: Featured, Reviews, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, 4th Edition, contest, core book, giveaway, L5R, Legend of the 5 Rings, Legend of the Five Rings, Reviews, roleplaying game, Roleplaying Games

Review: Essentials D&D “Heroes” Books

November 19, 2010 by Bartoneus

If you’re a 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons player then the two Essentials books that you most want to look at are Heroes of the Fallen Lands and Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms. Each book is presented in a similar style to a stand alone Player’s Handbook with Heroes of the Fallen Lands introducing new builds for the classic D&D classes (Clerics, Fighters, Rogues, and Wizards) while Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms introduces new builds for Druids, Paladins, Rangers, and Warlocks. Each of these books stands on its own perfectly well and you don’t need to buy both if you’re only interested in the classes presented in one of them.

Filed Under: Featured, Reviews, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, 4th Edition, books, D&D, dnd, Dungeons & Dragons, essentials, heroes of the fallen lands, heroes of the forgotten kingdoms, phb, player, player's handbook, Reviews

Barf Forth Apocalyptica! Review: Apocalypse World

August 15, 2010 by The Chatty DM

Not for the faint of heart from both a thematic and playing philosophy point of view, Apocalypse World presents a very clever and potentially engrossing game. It’s main focus is not so much on player accomplishment (or setting exploration) but rather the relationships that form between PCs and the constantly mutating loyalties and rivalries between them.

If you’ve started enjoying story games that thrive on failures like Mouse Guard and Burning Wheel but want to explore a darker, very adult theme, Apocalypse World is worth giving a try.

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Newest Critical Hits, Reviews, Roleplaying Games, Tropes Tagged With: Dogs in the Vineyard, games indie, Post-Apocalypse, Reviews, Rules-light, sci-fi, story games, Vincent Baker

Review: New Dice from Q-Workshop!

August 2, 2010 by Bartoneus

At this point, if you haven’t heard of Q-Workshop, then you’re missing out on some of the best dice that are being produced today! We are lucky enough to have gotten a chance to look at, roll around, and generally admire three of their sets of dice – Celtic Dice (pictured right), Forest Dice, and Elven Dice.

Filed Under: Reviews, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: celtic, custom dice, dice, dwarven, elven, preview, q-workshop, qworkshop, Reviews, sets

Movie Review: “Inception”

July 16, 2010 by Bartoneus

Inception is a wildly entertaining summer blockbuster wrapped in the packaging of a sleeper hit science fiction thriller/heist film. All of the comparisons of this movie to films such as The Matrix and Blade Runner are well deserved but fall short of the deeply involving experience that Inception provides the viewer. The film excels due to the stunning combination of well executed directing, inspired writing, spot on acting, and seamless production.

Filed Under: Movies, Reviews, Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre Tagged With: christopher nolan, inception, joseph gordon-levitt, leonadro dicaprio, movie, Movies, Reviews

3:16 Carnage Among Friends: Part 1, Sarge’s Review

June 15, 2010 by The Chatty DM

3:16 is a rules-light, hyper-focused, indie-as-hell roleplaying game. All players are space marines fighting in the 16th battalion of the 3rd army. Their sole mission in life? Drop on planets with scores of other troopers and officer and kill absolutely all life in the name of protecting the Terran home world.

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Reviews, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 3:16 Carnage Among the Stars, Actual Play, Humor, Reviews

Review: “Mega Man 10”

May 19, 2010 by Vanir

Though generally well-received, many considered Mega Man 9 to be too difficult and frustrating. A year and a lot of customer feedback later, the next installment in the series aims to bring the 8-bit happiness to a wider audience. Did they succeed without watering down the game too much?

Filed Under: Featured, Reviews, Video Games Tagged With: 8-bit, elec man, guts man, mega man, mega man 1, mega man 10, mega man 9, megaman, megaman 10, Reviews, rockman, sheep man

« Previous Page
Next Page »

About the Author

  • Bartoneus

    Danny works professionally as an architectural designer and serves as managing editor here at CH, which means he shares many of the duties of being an editor but without the fame and recognition. He also writes about RPGs, videogames, movies, and TV. He is married to Sucilaria, and has a personal blog at Incorrect Blitz Input. (Email Danny or follow him on Twitter).

    Email: bartoneus@critical-hits.comWeb: https://critical-hits.com//author/Bartoneus/

    Follow me:

Subscribe

RSS Feed

Archives

CC License

All articles and comments posted posted on the site (but not the products for sale) are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. References to trademarks and copywritten material are included for review and commentary use only and are not intended as any kind of challenge.

Recent Comments

  • fogus: The best things and stuff of 2024 on Remembering the Master: An Inelegant Eulogy for Kory Heath
  • Routinely Itemised: RPGs #145 on Review: The Magus
  • The Chatty DM on Review: The Magus
  • Linnaeus on Review: The Magus
  • 13th Age: Indexing Truths — Critical Hits on The Horizon Conspiracy

Contact The Staff

Critical Hits staff can be reached via the contact information on their individual staff pages and in their articles. If you want to reach our senior staff, email staff @ critical-hits.com. We get sent a lot of email, so we can't promise we'll be able to respond to everything.

Recent Posts

  • Remembering the Master: An Inelegant Eulogy for Kory Heath
  • Review: The Magus
  • Hope in the Dark Heart of Evil is Not a Plan
  • Chatty on Games #1: Dorf Romantik
  • The Infinity Current: Adventure 0

Top Posts & Pages

  • Home
  • The 5x5 Method Compendium
  • Dungeons & Dragons "Monster Manual" Preview: The Bulette!
  • Critical Hits Fantasy Name Generator
  • On Mid-Medieval Economics, Murder Hoboing and 100gp
  • "The Eversink Post Office" - An Unofficial Supplement for Swords of the Serpentine
  • Finally a manual for the rest of them!
  • Dave Chalker AKA Dave The Game
  • How to Compare Birds to Fish
  • The Incense War: a Story of Price Discovery, Mayhem, and Lust

Copyright © 2025 · News Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in