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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 »

Fashionably Late Review
Civilization: Revolution

When I first heard that they were going to make a console version of Civilization, I was taken aback; how were they going to take such an expansive premise and simplify it in an enjoyable way? Then I read that they were also going to bring it to the DS; my mind was blown. I recently picked up this title and tried it out in my daily travels on the TTC, and man, let me tell you, this game is hella fun!

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Posted in DS, DSi, Reviews | 2 Comments »

Late To the Party
Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines

My final destination (for now) in my mad quest to play everything in the Assassin’s Creed franchise was finally reached the other day upon my completion of Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines for the PSP. When Bloodlines hit the shelves last year, it received a lukewarm reception from many; I, on the other hand, thoroughly enjoyed it.

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Posted in PSP, Reviews | No Comments »

A Little Less Conversation
The Ultimate Alphabet

Jorge: Hey there. You’ve been playing The Ultimate Alphabet. How is it?
Kirk: Quite addictive. And i’m not usually a Scrabble/Word Search kind of guy. Big beautiful Renaissance-like painting and there are 362 “A” words that you need to identify. 362 “A” words!!!!!!
Jorge: I think this is actually based on a book from the 80’s. I actually seem to remember something like that. It sounds like it translates nicely into game format, especially on iOS?
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Posted in A Little Less Conversation, iPad, iPod Touch | 1 Comment »

Fashionably Late Review
Assassin’s Creed 2: Discovery

After Altair’s Chronicles, I was a little hesitant to dive right into Assassin’s Creed 2: Discovery. On one hand, the original game had over-reached; the graphics were less-than-impressive, and the gameplay was stunted. On the other hand, some time had passed between the creation of these games, so improvement was inevitable.

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Posted in DS, Reviews | No Comments »

You just got Sarge’D!
Red vs. Blue - The Blood Gulch Chronicles

A number of years ago, a friend introduced me to Red vs. Blue; available on the official website, this series of webisodes followed the adventures of two warring factions in a desolate box canyon named Blood Gulch. Originally intended as a very short series, the creators of RvB were overwhelmed with the positive response generated by their project; a six to eight episode stint turned into five seasons of hilarious goodness in the form of The Blood Gulch Chronicles, which is consequently now available as a six-disc DVD boxed set.

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Posted in Reviews, Videos, Xbox 360 | 3 Comments »

Free Rambling
Mirror’s Edge In 7 Hours

Mid-June saw “EA Week” hit Valve’s digital download service, Steam. In amidst the crazy discounts on titles like Dragon Age and the Mass Effect series, DICE’s parkour title Mirror’s Edge was listed at 75% off. I’d always been intrigued by the concept of a game centred on free-running, so with no price point to hold me back I pushed everything else to the bottom of the “To Be Played” pile and started downloading DICE’s 2009 darling.

Jamie Love’s previous articles  for Toronto Thumbs on Mirror’s Edge do an excellent job of reviewing and retelling the game in eloquent depth. Those of you looking for a well-thought-out review would be better served by reading those; I would be doing the game a great disservice were I to re-review the game with Jamie’s works already on the site. Instead, let’s recap what my seven hours of the game were like.

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Posted in PC, PlayStation 3, Reviews, Xbox 360 | 1 Comment »

Late to the Party
Assassin’s Creed: Altair’s Chronicles

After playing the Assassin’s Creed series on a next gen console, I was curious to try it out on a hand-held. So I ran out and grabbed Assassin’s Creed: Altair’s Chronicles for the Nintendo DS. I had just purchased a DSi XL, so I was interested in putting it through its paces. While I love the ideas behind it, and admire the ambition of the creators, I did not like this title as much as I wanted to; and now I’m going to tell you why.

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Posted in DS, Reviews | No Comments »

Review
ModNation Racers

My romance with kart racing games is a fickle thing. While I prefer other racing genres (arcade - NFS, simulation - GT), I occasionally engage in trysts with kart racing. Usually there is a period of great excitement at first, accompanied by a healthy amount of playing time; eventually, though, this wears off, and the tracks get boring because they’re all the same, or perhaps just not really challenging enough. But a recent title has stolen a portion of my racing heart, and that title is ModNation Racers for the PS3.

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Posted in PlayStation 3, Reviews | 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 »