Gamesugar

October 15, 2010

Review – Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I


I never owned a Sega console. I thought I’d come right out and say that, so there’s no confusion. I am not attached to Sonic; indeed, when I was growing up, Sonic was the enemy—the figurehead for those dark, unknown other children, playing their Genesis and carrying out Sega’s terrible bidding.

My encounters with Sonic—The Blue Satan—were largely exclusive to instances where I would commandeer my cousin’s Game Gear on thanksgiving. It had color; Tetris could not compete for my attention. Now I’m a little older and a little more polytheistic with regards to my console allegiances, but I still may not be the ideal test subject for the coherent nostalgia beam conjured by Sega’s latest Sonic release, the wholly digital Sonic 4.

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October 14, 2010

Demo Report – Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II


The demo for The Force Unleashed II is in the wild, and I have distilled its thundering contents into a collection of words arranged into a string of paragraphs for easy assimilation. If you are already familiar with forces and the task of unleashing them, you may wonder: have they unbroken it?

The answer is a resounding maybe.

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thatgamecompany’s Journey

Filed under: Features — Tags: , , , , , , , — Aileen Viray @ 2:30 pm

Journey
It was a hot, muggy Saturday afternoon in Culver City. IndieCade attendees flocked to the Ivy Substation at 2:30pm, eager to hear from thatgamecompany’s (TGC) Jenova Chen and Robin Hunicke, about their upcoming game Journey.

The last of their three game deal with Sony, the title’s focus on multiplayer is something previously unexplored by them in fl0w and fl0wer. As social interaction transforms alongside technology and corporations are realizing that individuals strive to publicize their self-expression in order to connect to others in the virtual world, Journey aims to express simple feelings with other humans to achieve “authentic” memorable moments.

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October 7, 2010

It’s Nearly Vanquish Time – Smoke ’em if You Got ’em

Vanquish
Sony held their annual Holiday preview event in Toronto this week, spreading this year’s wishlist for the PlayStation set around the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts. A few titles that won’t be making it to shelves before 2011 were in attendance, such as Killzone 3 and LittleBigPlanet2, but the primary focus was on releases vying for your wallet before the end of 2010.

A quick tour around the building managed to reunite me with Vanquish, which meant a glimpse at a stage not available in the earlier released demo, which in turn gave me something new to think about regarding the game before it hits shelves on October 19th.

Soaking up the greenery this particular stage offered, I’m still pretty impressed by just how much seems to be going on within the game at any given moment, which makes AR mode something increasingly significant despite my initial doubts.

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September 28, 2010

Review – Blade Kitten: Episode One

Review Blade Kitten Episode One
The introductory number in the planned two-part ballad of Kit Ballard wraps up with an obligatory boss confrontation, pitting the feline bounty hunter against a mech suit aided adversary. Both the action and pattern is familiar enough for the platforming set, but the sequence is a significant stab at pulling more of the game’s unique qualities together than the previous stages manage to otherwise muster.

Using the shield to survive the laser assault, jumping to grab the ledges overhead as the platform beneath Kit’s feet is destroyed, and then finally using her blade to pull the mech closer for a quick strike, the play of it brings together many of Kit’s abilities, something very much lacking in the buildup to that moment.

At this point players are then left to wonder where it might improve with another dose on the horizon as episode one comes to an end.

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September 23, 2010

Demo Report – Enslaved: Odyssey to the West

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
On the chance you’re not familiar with Ninja Theory, the recently revealed developer for Capcom’s freshening of Devil May Cry, most of the sound bites and two-second headlines attached to the team involve an emphasis on story. Since it has been awhile since Heavenly Sword, the burden of expectation and elaboration those words create is on their upcoming title Enslaved, which currently has a demo available for PS3 owners, and hits retail shelves for the PS3 and 360 in two weeks.

The push is that Enslaved has an epic story to tell, which probably means to tap our expectations of the scale and drama. All I can say is that the last epic I remember reading also had the word Odyssey in the title, and for some reason remains rather respected to this day, but my eagerness to read it again is on par with my willingness to sit and watch a game rather than play it – which is nil by the way.

Traditionally when developers emphasize story, we are left watching rather than playing, in an environment that creates two separate experiences, failing to take advantage of the medium – expertly demonstrated by Metroid: Other M recently. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy a good story, rather that my enjoyment of one doesn’t blind me to there being a very bad sort of old-school out there.

My interest in Enslaved is short and sweet in trying to discover which side of this it comes down on. After giving the demo a try, I’m earnestly still not certain.

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August 17, 2010

Mass Effect 2 Heading to PS3 in 2011

Filed under: News Feed — Tags: , , , , , , , — Brad Johnson @ 4:24 pm


Today came the announcement from Bioware and EA that Mass Effect 2 will be heading to PS3s come 2011–while the original game will remain an Xbox exclusive. Microsoft was quick to assert that the only way to experience the “full” Mass Effect universe remains safely on their console, carefully ignoring the quickly forgotten Mass Effect Galaxy for the iPhone.

While this is tremendous news for Playstation 3 owners, current fans of the series can be forgiven for groaning collectively with the knowledge that bullshit exclusive content wars for ME2 and the inevitable sequel are almost certainly imminent.

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