Toronto Thumbs

FanExpo 2010
B Number 2 - Tron: Evolution

Easy to recognize.

When Tron 2.0 came out, it was pretty clear to me that only those of us who saw the original movie would be excited, if at all; fans are a fickle bunch; resistant to change; any departure from the plot is met with a frown and an insistence that “this never would have happened in the original”. Monolith did a good job toeing that line between canon and the introduction of new material. Even with generally favourable reviews, Tron 2.0 underperformed from a sales perspective, and support was eventually dropped; a shame, really, since the faithful user community kept producing mods for it, as well as an expansion.

Tron: Evolution, though, is a whole other story, and has something going for it that 2.0 did not: an accompanying motion picture (Tron: Legacy); even though that film may not be as closely tied to the game as one might expect.

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Posted in Events, First Impressions, Move, PC, PSP, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360 | 2 Comments »

Thriller
Sin & Punishment: Star Successor

Sin & Punishment: Star Successor is the follow-up to an old N64 Japanese shooter by a similar name which was released back in 2000. I never played the original and, admittedly, never even heard of it; from what I understand it managed to obtain somewhat of a cult following. Both games were developed by TREASURE, the name behind some very successful shumps such as Ikaruga and Radiant Silvergun. Although, as I will describe, this game departs abruptly from your typical shoot’em up style.

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Posted in Reviews, Wii | No Comments »

Preview
Metroid: Other M

The other night, I had the privilege and pleasure of attending Nintendo’s preview launch of Metroid: Other M. Being as much a fan as anyone of the original NES platformer, I was pretty excited when they told us that this new episode would be a direct continuation of Super Metroid from SNES, including characters like Mother Brain, and of course, Ridley. I was even a bit relieved as I had dropped off a bit from the series when the Prime franchise was released on the Gamecube & the Wii.

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Posted in Events, First Impressions, Wii | 6 Comments »

Preview
Dragon’s Lair Trilogy

Hot on the heels of the recent story circulating around the internet about my large Dragon’s Lair collection (47 distinct different versions), Destineer has announced that it will be bringing Dragon’s Lair to the Nintendo Wii this fall, and this time, its partners are along for the ride.

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Posted in Previews, Wii | No Comments »

It Slices, It Dices!
Red Steel 2

Red Steel was not a good experience for me. I know it was one of Ubisoft’s initial forays into the then-new Wii control system, but I didn’t find it fun at all. As it was a launch title, people were still getting used to the idea of motion control; I played it once at Shaun’s place, trying to get used to it, but I couldn’t get the hang of it, and it didn’t help that the Wii Remote would bug out on me from time to time. Thank the gods of gaming that my experience playing Red Steel 2 is the exact opposite of its predecessor.

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Posted in Reviews, Wii | No Comments »

To Infinity and Beyond!
Toy Story 3 Preview

Last week we were invited to check out some of Disney Interactive’s new offerings, namely Guilty Party and Toy Story 3. Disney is always fun to check out because they usually have the added challenge of accommodating a larger demographic than other companies (Street Fighter IV is not officially for kids, is it?); they always do a great job when it comes to games that involve the whole family. We settled onto some comfy couches in an office in downtown Toronto - amidst a pile of plush friends and some stand-up cardboard likenesses of well-known characters - and watched Wideload Games and Avalanche Software show off their shiny new games. In this second segment we take a look at Avalanche’s offering…

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Posted in Awesome, DS, DSi, PC, PSP, PlayStation 3, Previews, Wii, Xbox 360 | No Comments »

Whodunnit?
Guilty Party Preview

Last week we were invited to check out some of Disney Interactive’s new offerings, namely Guilty Party and Toy Story 3. Disney is always fun to check out because they usually have the added challenge of accommodating a larger demographic than other companies (Street Fighter IV is not officially for kids, is it?); they always do a great job when it comes to games that involve the whole family. We settled onto some comfy couches in an office in downtown Toronto - amidst a pile of plush friends and some stand-up cardboard likenesses of well-known characters - and watched Wideload Games and Avalanche Software show off their shiny new games. In this first segment we take a look at Wideload’s mystery-themed game…

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Posted in PlayStation 3, Previews, Wii, Xbox 360 | 2 Comments »

Build a Better Mousetrap
WarioWare D.I.Y.

It’s probably fair to say that every gamer - at some point - has uttered the phrase: “I could have done a better job on that game than the programmers did”. Most of the time they are wrong, but this game allows you to become a game maker without any of the prerequisite skills or academic training. WarioWare D.I.Y. is a tribute to the gaming construction sets of yesteryear (and even todayear).

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Posted in DS, DSi, DSi XL, Reviews, Wii | No Comments »

I Play What I Want!
Muscle March

Let’s talk about my current obsession: Muscle March, a downloadable WiiWare game (500 Wii points or roughly $5 CAD). Muscle March, based on the arcade game of the same name from 2006, was released in Japan through Namco Bandai in 2009 for the high price of 800 Wii points. With only 3 levels and one free play/speed mode, many people thought the game was a rip-off. For its North American release in January of this year, Nintendo dropped the price to 500 points. A bargain!

Many reviews of Muscle March involve the word “terrible” (Chris Kohler, I’m looking at you), but I think that in light of other current offerings, this game is at an unfair advantage. To give this game a fair shake (ha ha), an open mind is required.

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Posted in Reviews, Wii, WiiWare | No Comments »

Review
Avatar

[Please note that there are some mild spoilers for the 3 of you that have yet to see this movie. - ed.]

While the movie may be an Oscar winner, Avater: The Game won’t be taking home any awards any time soon, but that doesn’t mean it’s a total failure. Reviews for the movie - while mixed - are mostly positive.  On the other hand, the game was met with relatively poor ratings from the gaming community; my theory is that the initial underwhelming scores robbed the game of a fair shake, before the movie could provide any inspiration and incentive to play it through.

I’d like to believe that my hypothesis is true. I really would. Ubisoft is known for publishing engaging titles (Assassin’s Creed, Prince of Persia, Splinter Cell, etc.), so one would think that perhaps all that is needed is a second glance with eyes that have seen the film.

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Posted in DS, DSi, PC, PSP, PlayStation 3, Reviews, Wii, Xbox 360 | 2 Comments »