Toronto Thumbs

Review
Strike Suit Infinity

“Stay on target. Stay on target.”

Who likes mechs? Ah. I can see that a fair number of you like the idea of being able to pummel the crap out of things housed in the relative safety of a giant robot. Now how many of you would like to kick some butt in a transforming space mech? Yes, I thought so. Well, partners: gather around and let me tell you about the little purchase that you are about to make called Strike Suit Infinity by Born Ready Games.

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Reviews
Machines At War 3

My introduction to the real-time strategy genre was due to my friend Sinclair, who loaned me Warcraft 2. Up until that point, I had been RTS ignorant, and after my combat christening I ended up devouring other games in the same vein. Over the years, many variations on a theme have come and gone. Some (like Total Annihilation and Battle for Middle Earth) have injected some fire into the industry, while others ended up being knock-offs. Machines at War 3, developed by Isotope 244 for the PC, is certainly not genre-changing; but it is a retro experience that is charming and fun.

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Reviews
Guns of Icarus Online

Have you ever had the urge to be a crew member on board a steampunk airship right out of the mind of someone like Jules Verne? If that’s the case, then Muse Games’ successfully launched Kickstarter project, Guns of Icarus Online, might cure your jonesing. When it comes to team play, Guns of Icarus Online is a game that will have you: making instant friends with complete strangers and running around like a chicken with your head cut off while waving a mallet in the air. All good fun in the world of zeppelin mortal combat.

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Quick Impression
RaceRoom Racing Experience
Beta

RaceRoom Racing Experience is Simbin’s free-to-play racing simulator that offers a racing experience to rival other games in the genre. Indeed, the screenshots show an impressive display of detail that seem to be too good to be true. While it may not be as polished as I would like it to be, it is still only in beta, which means that it is a great-looking title that has the potential to become a fantastic skill-based racing game.

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Run DLC
Train Simulator 2013
London-Faversham High-Speed Route

If you love trains, Railsimulator.com’s Train Simulator 2013 is a great product. With realistic locomotives and painstakingly detailed routes, it is possible to lose yourself in the various scenarios. Even if you aren’t a fanatic, the game will give you an appreciation of how complex driving a locomotive actually is.

One of the great things about the franchise is the fairly regular DLC that is developed in the way of new locomotives and routes. Recently, Railsimulator.com released the London-Faversham High-Speed route, which features the Hitachi Class 395 High-Speed train. It’s definitely worth checking out. After the jump, we’ll break it down and also tell you how you can score a copy of this DLC, which is a standalone route and essentially gives you the core game.

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Rituro-Active
Of Aliens and Texts

“Hey, big nasty! What has two thumbs, carries a laser shotgun and can outflank your glowing alien butt? This guy!”

If you’ll recall my Best of 2012 article, one of the biggest surprises was that XCOM: Enemy Unknown only finished at #2. Those of you who know me surely know of my undying love for the original X-COM: UFO Defense, a game that consumed no small number of my college hours¹ and, as a result, ensured a permanent place in my elite pantheon of “Best Games Ever”. So, why did XCOM finish behind Faster Than Light? Was I consumed with rose-tinted nostalgia for the original²? No; honestly, FTL deserved the nod. When an indie game brings as much to the table as FTL did for a palatable price point and delivers a solid, enjoyable experience play-through after play-through, I am obliged to pay the appropriate amount of respect. Plus, you get to slice through alien ships with a big honkin’ laser beam. That’s a can of fun all to itself right there.

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Posted in Interest, PC, Rituro-Active, Steam | No Comments »

Fashionably Late Reviews
Omerta: City of Gangsters

Well, fictional offspring, it’s time you and I had a little talk. You might call it “the” little talk. Wow. I didn’t honestly think this day would come so fast, but… well….here we are. Might as well get right down to it. So, you see, fictional offspring, sometimes when one game really, really loves another game, they create another game together. Er. Well, I mean, the games don’t create the new game…not really, anyway. I mean, there are very talented people who make the new game. In fact, they might not have even worked on both of the games that really, really love each other. Maybe they were just helping on one and were inspired by the other… and they… um.

Is this making sense? Nod if this is making sense. No? Oh.

All right, let’s try this way: do you like city management sims? How about tactical turn-based combat games? Now, what if those two games came together in, let’s say, Prohibition-era Atlantic City? Would you like that? What’s that? You want to know more? Y’know, you’re not exactly helping me out here, fictional offspring. In fact, forget this whole double-entendre euphemism nonsense. And while we’re at it, this whole “fictional offspring” thing is getting a bit bizarre. Let’s get back to why we’re here today: Omerta – City of Gangsters.

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