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December 9, 2014

Review – Game of Thrones: Episode One – Iron from Ice

Game of Thrones Episode One Iron From Ice review
Out now is the first episode of Telltale’s latest game series, Game of Thrones: Episode I – Iron from Ice. I have a track record with Telltale games that might be described as criminal; frankly, I have a tendency not to finish them. It’s not a matter of quality or even interest; I commend the storytelling of the titles, and the properties portrayed fall right into my realm of interest. I suppose the problem is merely that I have distinct times where I sit down to play games, and when I sit down to watch television—and a Telltale game exists in some unknown third state my rigid leisure time finds difficult to accommodate.

Telltale’s Game of Thrones, however, is a pairing that transcends such considerations. For the uninitiated, the title brings the dangerous, nuanced world of HBO’s Game of Thrones television series to life through Telltale’s (virtually trademarked, at this point) style of the choice-driven episodic point-and-click adventure.

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November 30, 2014

Review – Legend of Korra

Filed under: Reviews — Tags: , , , , , , , , — Brad Johnson @ 8:40 pm

Legend of Korra Review
Although I could hardly describe any game from Platinum Games as perfect, I afford the studio a significant level of pedigree.

With titles like Vanquish, Bayonetta, and even the underrated Revengeance, they have routinely provided unique, well-crafted experiences, carried on the shoulders of robust and complex gameplay systems.

In theory, a technical brawler in the Avatar franchise developed by Platinum should have been an easy home run. Instead, perhaps the most frustrating aspect of Legend of Korra is that there’s no good reason why it should be so frustrating.

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November 26, 2014

Review – Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions

Geometry Wars 3 Dimensions Review
Out today is Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions, developed by Lucid Games and published under Activision’s revitalized Sierra banner. Like past entries, Dimensions is a score-driven twin-stick shooter that revolves around the player ship blasting apart geometric shapes and collecting “geoms” to drive up score multipliers.

The appeal of this entry is largely the same as it has ever been: designed as a kaleidoscope of flashing lights, bright colours, and energizing music, it compels players to edge closer to the flow state, where the barrier between thinking and doing breaks down and they’re able to go further and faster to achieve the higher score.

In this respect, it is expertly tooled; even the menus are practically begging to simply get out of the way and release the player into the field. Upon failure, one need not even wait for the explosive burst of their dying ship to fade away before beginning the next round; Lucid Games clearly knows that every second spent not playing is going to pull the player further away from the state of mind needed to play the game at a high level.

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December 3, 2012

Review – Far Cry 3

Filed under: Reviews — Tags: , , , , , , — Brad Johnson @ 8:17 am

Review Far Cry 3
In Far Cry 3, players will assume the role of Jason Brody, a kidnapped American who, after a narrow escape from his captors, must find and reclaim his captive friends from the pirates of Rook Island. 

The first thing the game does is to abruptly kill off the character that, in any other game, would have been the protagonist. Instead of the Elite Assault Bro, I would instead be playing an average young man—and not “average” the way Nathan Drake is “average.”

In those early missions, Jason Brody is upset when he has to kill a man, frightened when he’s about to be killed himself—he does what most videogame protagonists never consider, which is react to the unbelievable shit he’s forced to do.

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November 13, 2012

Review – Call of Duty: Black Ops II

Filed under: Reviews — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , — Jamie Love @ 9:39 pm

Review Call of Duty Black Ops II 2
It’s fair to say that gaming has taught us some rather strange lessons. Eating mushrooms allows us to grow, powerful critters can be caught and stored in balls, rubbing two differently colored plants together creates medicine on the fly – the list goes on and on to spiral around a few city blocks.

And considering all the ridiculous activities videogames enable, I have to find something better to say about Black Ops II, rather than simply stating that it has a ridiculous plot at the heart of its campaign – that would just be a silly and wasteful thing to say.

It would probably be fairer to say that the story of Black Ops II simply builds on the well-worn foundation of the franchise, which may feel plenty worn depending on how many of the numerous releases in the series you’ve soldiered through.

And yet to simply suggest this would be selling the game short.

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November 8, 2012

Review – Zone of the Enders: HD Collection

Review Zone of the Enders HD Collection
Animation studio Sunrise lends some love to see this HD revisit for Zone of the Enders open with a fresh and lengthy montage for the robotic space opera. Stirring early anime memories is a sweet touch here, since Zone of the Enders aimed to create a videogame channeling that spirit when it first released for the PlayStation 2 back in 2001.

The added attention is also a promising touch, considering Konami hasn’t been entirely on the ball when it comes to HD revisits, contributing to an environment that leaves me hesitant to review any of them without the time and means to stress test and analyze the effort frame by frame.

But if the Silent Hill HD Collection left a bad taste in your mouth – and it’s hard to imagine that it didn’t – there’s relief to be had in the revelation that Zone of the Enders hasn’t aged all that badly considering that videogames age approximately ten times faster than most domesticated dogs, which perhaps aided the effort here.

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November 6, 2012

Review – Assassin’s Creed III

Assassins Creed III
After five entries I imagine it’s easy to overlook the level of craft in the Assassin’s Creed series. Meticulously rendered locations and historical accuracy is par for the course at this point, but thankfully Assassin’s Creed III brings these elements back to the forefront by leveraging the most interesting setting, backstory, and secondary characters in the entire series.

The American Revolution is explored with a balanced perspective, and historical information is poured on in such a way that even the most oblivious player will be compelled to think critically about the stage and the motivations of the actors.

This is not Assassin’s Creed: SUPER PATRIOT EDITION. Bad people and bad choices are everywhere; compromise is ubiquitous. The game begs you to look deeper into the conflict, and it works. That most players will have a stronger working knowledge of the history here than in previous entries is a massive boon to the story being told; it’s easier to grasp opposing viewpoints when the nature of the disagreement is easily understood, allowing the game to more deftly elaborate on the moral struggles the series has always tried to illuminate.

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