Toronto Thumbs

REVIEW
VVVVVV

VVVVVV is a game that made me angry. I mean, really angry. Ten minutes would barely go by when I would see a challenge game maker Terry Cavanagh set up and hate his goddamn guts. But I also couldn’t keep from giddily laughing to myself. The clever bastard always had another twist, another devious bit up his sleeve. It is one thing to be beaten up, but quite another to respect the person for doing it.

VVVVVV has you playing Viridian, the captain of a ship that gets caught up in some weird space anomaly; it’s the way these things often seem to happen in space. His crew is spread out all over this little dimension and it’s up to you to rescue them. The most basic of platformer abilities, jumping, is off limits. Instead, you reverse gravity. Every level can be, and will need to be, viewed two ways to solve it.

Cavanagh doesn’t play with too many other elements apart from the gravity reversal. There are some genre staples (conveyor belts and disappearing platforms; dumb pacing enemies; the ever menacing spike, rarely seen in the singular) but the game is lean, eschewing the Metroidvania’s habit of relying on new abilities to keep the gameplay fresh. Instead, Cavanagh uses clever level design to inject a surprising amount of variety into the game. The gravity flipping is used to its fullest, and no opportunity is wasted or missed. Occasionally, Cavanagh plays with ideas, like a vertically scrolling bit ominously titled “The Tower,” but these stages are built on the solid foundation that up can be down at the press of a button. They serve as temporary pleasant distractions, not game changers.

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Posted in Art, Awesome, Indie, Pics, Reviews | 5 Comments »

Toronto Thumbs Game Night
Jorge and Mike are DJ Hero Fanatics

On Friday night, Jorge and Mike Jackson came over to my place for a night of gaming, eating, and all-around good times. Surprisingly, Adam also made an appearance despite being neck-deep in PhD work. The trick to get him out of the house? Telling him I needed some computer help (which I did). Mike turned out to be a real hero for bringing over not only samosas (21 of them, at that) but also some refreshing Thums Up cola (which tastes like soda did before high-fructose corn syrup became the status quo), imported from India.

Most of the night was spent on DJ Hero. Jorge, having purchased and conquered the Renegade Edition of the game, was a force to be reckoned with. I played against him, on medium, while he played expert and I barely finished ahead of him. Mike, who had never played the game before, was also playing on expert. Granted, he was a real-life DJ some years ago (turns out he’s got a rich and storied past that includes, among other things, Muay Thai kickboxing).

Things got rather intense with Mike and Jorge trading trash talk throughout the mixes, leaving Adam and I to look on with shock at how many crazy moves the two were making on their turntables. They didn’t seem to blink, either, and the look of determination on their faces said more about how lost in the game they were than words possibly can.

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Posted in Blah Blah Blog, Pics | 5 Comments »

Two Thumbs on Halloween

We spent most of last night partying and otherwise not taking photos of ourselves, but Jorge and I did manage to pose together for one, shown above. Right now we’re still recovering from candy hangovers. Actually, does it count as a hangover if you’re still eating candy? I guess recovery is why we have Mondays.

Posted in Blah Blah Blog, Pics | 5 Comments »

An Unexpected Gift
Pac-Man Beer Glass

Although there’s a post office right across the street from my home, I often neglect picking up packages until I get multiple reminders from Canada Post about them. Today I received a phone call from my father-in-law, Don, who asked if I had received anything from him recently. We spoke for a while and I realized that I probably just hadn’t gotten around to picking up the care package yet.

After retrieving the package, I rushed home and opened it before calling him back. The box had two items in it. One was a novelty Frankenstein pen with spring-loaded punching action and light-up LED eyes; the other was the Pac-Man beer glass pictured above.

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Posted in Awesome, Blah Blah Blog, Pics | 3 Comments »

My Ride in
Forza Motorsport 3

One would think that having spent seven years working at Auto Trader, my soul drained steadily while pumping out car ad after car ad, would have destroyed my appreciation for car photos. But this is fortunately not the case. While I’ve produced tens of thousands of ads for various car dealerships in Ontario, I can still find car photography to be an art form – especially when I happen to like the cars being shot.

Here are some photos I took during a replay of a recent race of mine in Forza Motorsport 3. All told, I spent more time tinkering with camera placements and settings than I did in the entire race. The beautiful thing about the game is that it not only allows players to drive cars they probably never will in real life, but also allows them to pull off some great race photography.

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Posted in Awesome, Blah Blah Blog, Microsoft, Pics, Xbox 360 | 7 Comments »

This Is Me Playing Rock Band

On Saturday I went to a friend’s housewarming party and played Rock Band in public for the first time in, well, a few weeks. Only this time I didn’t look quite so ridiculous. This is me rocking out to “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” which is a song that needs no rocking out, to tell the truth.

Posted in Awesome, Awful, Blah Blah Blog, Pics | 4 Comments »

Swanky inFAMOUS Goodies

Here we have a photo of the game inFAMOUS which we’re about to review. But Sony really treated us this time with a big flashy guide AND what is probably one of the most electrifiying promo tie-in items ever: A USB-powered plasma ball. Plug it into a PC or Mac and it’s all like ka-kow. But touch it while it’s on and it’s all like KA-KOW!

Boosh! »

Posted in Awesome, Pics, PlayStation 3 | 6 Comments »

Mortal Kombat VS DC Universe, circa 2005

Last year, worlds collided with the release of Midway’s Mortal Kombat VS DC Universe in which Kombatants were pitted against the more popular heroes and villains from, duh, the DC Universe.

Tonight I was sorting through old photos on my computer when I came across this one. It was taken at a party on Halloween 2005. That’s Nuno Pereira on the left dressed as Batman, enjoying a spear to the chest courtesy of me as Scorpion. The blood was added in post-production. Clearly, someone at Midway and DC caught wind of this photo and decided to make a game based on it.

Posted in Awesome, Pics | 2 Comments »

Obligatory Photo of a Stack of DSes

Seems the cool thing to do is take photos of stuff beside older stuff like it and post galleries full of this kind of junk in lieu of actually talking about anything. We already talked about some of the pros and cons of the DSi, but for those of you too lazy to read, enjoy this photo of different DS systems arranged by size.

Posted in DS, DSi, Pics | 9 Comments »

We’re on the Flickr now

I have this problem with digital cameras. They’re cool and all, but I can’t for the life of me remember to recharge the batteries in them. My cell phone has a camera mode, but it doesn’t take the best photos. Plus, I don’t take the best photos as it is. It’s a bad combination.

This weekend, though, I found that we had been charging the batteries in our real camera in preparation for photographing the transition to spring outside. I took this opportunity to take a few shots of some of my video game stuff and a few toys and decided to set up a Flickr group for Toronto Thumbs, so HERE IT IS. If you like games, toys, or this site, join the group and share your photos!

I got the Cobra Commander Mighty Mugg from Stadium Comics in Brampton during my weekly visit there. This weekend, a guy was playing Elton John songs on panflute just outside the store. Awesome, or awful - I can’t decide. Cobra Commander, however, is pure awesome.

Oh, and if you join the group this week and upload a photo which we deem to be the best photo on the group, we will send you a download code for a Halo Wars Flame Decaled Warthog vehicle. We’re not buying you off or anything, so don’t think of it as that.

LINK: Toronto Thumbs on Flickr

Posted in Art, Contests, Links, Pics | 3 Comments »