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March 9, 2012

Review – I Am Alive

Filed under: Reviews — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — Jamie Love @ 2:40 pm

Review I Am Alive
Toxic dust hugs the bowels of the city, and walking through it sees strange shapes take the form of abandoned life – ruined landmarks, rusting vehicles near rotting bodies, and buildings crumbling into the ground. Hearing a woman call for help, perhaps you move toward the sound hoping to find another survivor, only to suddenly find three ominous figures emerging from the shadows with sharp blades glistening in their hands.

Holding your own hands out defensively, the figures taunt you while closing in, offering only a few choice seconds to decide which target is worth the solitary bullet in your pistol.

So what are you going to do, Mr. Would-Be Hero?

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March 8, 2012

Review Crow vs. Fun! Fun! Minigolf Touch!

Filed under: Editorial Rants — Tags: , , , , , — Review Crow @ 2:11 pm

Fun Fun Minigolf Touch
Caw ca-caw, caw caw caw caaaaaaw! Caaaw! Caw caaaaaaw c-caw caaaw! Caw c-caw caw caaaaaw! C-caw caw! Caw c-caw – caw caw c-caw caaaw!

[Being a bird of modest upbringing, Review Crow was initially put off by the title of this latest eShop release. For instance, Review Crow certainly doesn’t go around insisting that humans refer to him as Awesome! Awesome! Review Crow, and he very well could given that such a statement is rooted in absolute fact.

However, after scratching up the touchpad for an afternoon, Review Crow feels that there is something to this minigolf business beyond silly outfits providing birds with brightly colored targets.]

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March 2, 2012

Snake Eater 3D – The Good, The Bad and The Boss

Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater 3D
In deciding which Metal Gear Solid title to port to another platform, Metal Gear Solid 3 stands as the most viable choice. The story of how Big Boss became the world’s greatest soldier serves as the founding narrative for all future events in the series, providing loving bits for fans while creating the most accessible entry point for those not familiar with tactical espionage action – though it helps that the original Metal Gear Solid would require a far greater overhaul to become eligible for such a trip.

Metal Gear Solid 3D sits alongside four other releases of the game – 3 on the PS2 and most recently within the Metal Gear Solid HD collection for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. With that in mind, it seems more sensible to sort out the good and the bad of this latest 3DS version rather than rambling on about one of the most narrative rich releases in gaming and sticking a number to it.

It might also help sort out whether you’re better off spending the equivalent of what the HD collection costs to get your mitts on only one of the titles that release offers, which presents a pretty tall hurdle from the outset.

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February 21, 2012

Review – Alan Wake’s American Nightmare

Review Alan Wakes American Nightmare
A television flickers in the night, broadcasting a static signal that breaks with an episode of Night Springs. The Twilight Zone parody uses Rod Serling styled narration to set the stage about a champion of light pursuing his evil double, Mr. Scratch, in one of several episodes written by Alan Wake before his career as a novelist took shape.

Remedy uses the show to frame a standalone entry point for gamers not familiar with the original 2010 release, but this play of events might also serve as a conduit for Alan from his prison within the Dark Place. While radio broadcasts within the game give glimpses into a world that has continued without Alan, conversations and manuscript pages suggest that the writer may be using the television show in his quest to return to his wife and former life.

Remedy continues to revel in the possibilities their horror series stirs, giving fans plenty to chew on regarding the writer’s fate. The only certainty is that players must find a way to stop Mr. Scratch from trapping them in a campy horror narrative, and that Alan’s journey through the night continues within this American Nightmare.

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Review – Warp

Filed under: Reviews — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , — Jamie Love @ 9:08 am

Review Warp
Science becomes a lot more interesting when people explode.

While the academic world has yet to reach that same conclusion, developer Trapdoor has embraced the idea with their Xbox LIVE Arcade release, Warp, employing a play mechanic that isn’t long for grabbing attention as the screen fills with meaty chunks and flailing limbs.

Featuring an abduction story that sympathizes with the alien’s point of view, an adorable extraterrestrial crashes on Earth and is quickly taken to an underwater government facility for painful probing and testing. The player’s first steps involve a series of tests conducted by curious scientists, but it isn’t long before contact with a strange glowing orb grants the plucky alien teleporting powers, offering the opportunity to study anatomy off walls freshly covered with human organs while making an escape.

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February 20, 2012

Q&A – Remedy Talks Alan Wake’s American Nightmare

Remedy Alan Wakes American Nightmare Interview
Embracing the best of the horror genre, 2010’s Alan Wake left a fair amount of questions lingering after its conclusion, with two subsequent DLC chapters furthering the narrative while still leaving plenty of room for interpretation regarding the fate of the writer in his battle against a malevolent darkness. While the upcoming Xbox LIVE Arcade release, American Nightmare, picks up the threads with Alan and his dark half Mr. Scratch, the events that unfold serve as a spin-off tale rather than a direct continuation of the original release.

In a move that certainly caught me by surprise, American Nightmare builds an arcade mode around the combat mechanics of light and evasion from the 2010 title, offering a survival challenge that hopes to find longevity after players have chewed through the standalone pulp horror story.

With the game releasing this week, I managed to gather a few of my endless questions regarding digital content and American Nightmare’s direction, which Remedy CEO Matias Myllyrinne was good enough to answer.

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February 17, 2012

Review – Twisted Metal

Review Twisted Metal
Calypso’s apocalyptic tournament of car carnage returns, bringing one of Sony’s legacy franchises to the PlayStation 3 with an emphasis on multiplayer as the primary reason for investment and potential longevity. With a franchise that has seen successful releases on every piece of Sony gaming hardware to date, sans the new Vita, Twisted Metal has a strong list of accomplishments to draw on when it comes to maintaining its title as the King of vehicular combat. Mind you, that genre is far from crowded, particularly today.

It’s also worth noting another long-standing Sony franchise, the Wipeout series, as one that hit the PlayStation 3 with a digital release to deliver the core experience of its anti-gravity racing without unnecessary trappings to round out retail expectations. Under the watchful eye of David Jaffe, Twisted Metal stretches for retail justification with a single-player campaign again accompanying the multiplayer priority, see-sawing while struggling to beat familiar expectations for a story mode in addition to bringing the old war horse out for another round of competitive action that has certainly been wanting on the console.

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