Toronto Thumbs

JAMMIN’
With the KORG DS-10 Plus

By Shaun Hatton - June 11th, 2010

Former Editor-in-Chief Shaun Hatton shares his thoughts on a game that’s been occupying much of his time……[ed]

I received a review copy of XSEED’s Korg DS-10 Plus application near its release and have been tooling around with it since. Due to both the depth of the title and the fact that I was transitioning over to my new job at The Electric Playground, I haven’t been able to share my thoughts on it. Now that I’ve spent a lot of time with it, and am completely happy with how great a program it is, I feel I can at least give a testimonial regarding how I use it and why I like it.

For those not familiar with the Korg DS-10 Plus, it’s the successor to the Korg DS-10 title, which was essentially an emulation of Korg’s classic synth, the MS-10. As synthesizers go, it’s an impressive if not ambitious feat to take such a tactile instrument and digitize it. The touchscreen serves as the primary interface option, with the buttons duplicating functions such as starting and stopping the song loop or navigating through the synth’s various interface screens.

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Posted in DS, DSi, Overviews | 1 Comment »

Overview
Academy of Champions

By Jorge Figueiredo - November 16th, 2009

Recently I had the opportunity to sit down with Carsten Myhill from Ubisoft Vancouver to take a look at that studio’s very first title, a fantasy soccer game called Academy of Champions. I was intrigued to see how this game would play, especially considering that while the game is good for all ages, it seems to be targeted at the ‘tween’ demographic. In an industry that often strives for realism (read: FIFA series), how would a cartoon-y soccer (Carsten: “Football!”) game turn out? Surprisingly well, actually.

In the game you portray a young soccer player (your choice of male or female) attending soccer legend Pélé’s Brightfield Academy, a soccer university of sorts (many comparisons were made to Hogwarts from the Harry Potter series). Here you will take your character on a journey that will lead him or her to become a great soccer player. Through a series of training, conversations, and actual soccer matches, you will provide your character with loads of experience and special tokens that allow you to unlock goodies in the store. The 16-hour single-player campaign (20 or so hours if you want to unlock everything) seems to be a good mix of hands-on and observation.

This game does not claim to be an accurate sports simulator. But I believe that it’s good because of this fact. While not as intense as other sports games, Academy of Champions has a decent physics engine. It’s caricatured and feels like an arcade title, for certain, but the engine replicates the feeling of a great soccer match. The training exercises are mini-games and are cleverly disguised soccer drills that allow you to hone your skills while ultimately bringing a smile to your face (some of the mini-games actually allow you to use the balance board, too). The actual matches are also real enough, but concentrate on the essence of the game, and remove the trappings of penalties, throw-ins, and corner kicks which, while authentic, ultimately slow down play.

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Posted in Overviews, Wii | No Comments »

OVERVIEW + GIVEAWAY
Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising

By Shaun Hatton - October 28th, 2009

I’ve been playing Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising for the past few days and, despite spending hours of my life in its world, I’m still only on the second mission. To say the game is difficult would be an understatement. The game is simply kicking my ass, repeatedly. Truth be told, I kind of like it.

Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising takes place on the island of Skira, which has been a disputed territory since the end of the second World War. The game opens with a stylized, fictionalized montage of the region (the island’s topography is based on the real-life island of Kiska). The montage certainly comes across as credible, and even goes so far as to mention the recent world-wide economic problems before revealing some interesting future history from the next three years.

As tensions between Russia and China flare, a small team of US Marine Corps is put in charge of recapturing the island from the aggressive Chinese military. Doing this is obviously a lot easier said than done, given the fact that I’m somewhat stuck.

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Posted in Awesome, Contests, Overviews, PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | 1 Comment »

OVERVIEW
Dead Space

By Shaun Hatton - November 11th, 2008

This weekend I picked up Dead Space from my friendly neighbourhood indie game shop, We Got Games. Though I’ve spent a good amount of time towards Fallout 3, I pried myself away from it to get a little closer with the science fiction/horror story set (where else?) in space.

I had been following the development press for Dead Space and when I found out that the team behind it culled their influences from hundreds of horror movies, it only made me more interested in the game. When firing up the game for the first time, you can really tell it wears its influences proudly. Most notable of the influences is the movie Alien, but secondary to this, there’s a definite Sunshine vibe going on – though that movie was more about psychological changes brought on by dead space than monsters (though yes, there is that out-of-place monster).

Dead Space is truly terrifying at times. Its visuals are impressive. But what really stands out for me is the high production value of the game’s sound, particularly the effects of the aliens and the muted sounds while walking through vacuum-shut corridors.

I don’t forsee myself finishing this game anytime soon, as it’s one I only want to play late at night for maximum effect. But I will probably end up writing a lot more about it some time in the future as it reminds me a lot of one of my favourite games ever, Resident Evil 4. For now, suffice to say if you like RE4, you will very likely love Dead Space.

Posted in Awesome, Overviews, PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | No Comments »

RECENT PLAYS
TMNT for Game Boy Advance

By Shaun Hatton - October 28th, 2008

I’ve been carrying around my Game Boy Micro lately, thanks to many of my fellow 4 Color Rebellion staff members getting back into the system. I picked mine up for about $50 from Zellers when they were clearing them out a few years back. The Micro was originally retailing in Canada for over the $100 mark, which I feel was a huge marketing mistake on Nintendo’s behalf and likely is what doomed it to sell so poorly compared to the SP (another factor being the relative old age of the Game Boy Advance).

This week I started playing TMNT for the GBA. Yes, it’s a movie tie-in title - but it’s really good! I love beat-’em-up titles and this game is a huge homage to them. The only downside is that it doesn’t have a multiplayer option. But considering I take a train in to work by myself, and only play the Micro while in transit, I’m okay with that.

Posted in Game Boy, Overviews, Recent Plays | No Comments »

OVERVIEW
Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals

By Shaun Hatton - October 25th, 2008

About a month ago I had a one-on-one demonstration of Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals, the sequel to the only third-party Nintendo DS game to break the top ten sales chart last year. Ross Purnell, Associate Manager, Public Relations at Disney Interactive Studios and I sat down to go through some of the highlights of the game, in particular what new features were added to the gameplay.

Among the most noticeable of the new features is that the world is now a 3D environment with a wide degree of camera control. The game’s developer, Jupiter Corp. did have a 3D environment in the original title but found that the ¾ overhead view restricted the player’s view of what was happening around them; and enemy could be around the corner and the player wouldn’t know till it was nearly too late. The new camera is positioned behind Rallen (one of the main protagonists) and allows the player to scope out the environment to plan movements a little more strategically.

This time around, Rallen can also participate in field battles using a blaster, sword, or gauntlet. This doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of Spectrobes battles to be had, however. These fights take place in real time and the Spectrobe types (red, green, and blue) function as a rock, paper, scissors balancing device.

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Posted in DS, News, Overviews | No Comments »

Overview: Enemy Territory: Quake Wars

By Shaun Hatton - October 9th, 2008

While FPS games are best played with the mouse and keyboard control configuration, there’s certainly no shortage of them for the Xbox 360. Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is yet another FPS title for gamers to choose from (note: it’s also on the PS3). One thing to note, however, is that a heavy emphasis is placed on online play. Skirmishes can be played offline with bots, but for the most fun I recommend grabbing a friend or more and hitting up the game’s online servers.

There are two teams in each battle: The Global Defense Force and the invading Strogg alien race. During gameplay, each team will have its own objectives though typically one side is the obvious aggressor. Each team has five player classes to choose from, and for maximum efficiency it’s good to have players from a variety of classes present though for obvious reasons it’s good to heavy up on a certain class. Taking a complex by storm using only a team of medics is likely going to end in a bloodbath for your team.

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Posted in Overviews, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | 3 Comments »

OVERVIEW: Defend Your Castle

By Shaun Hatton - May 13th, 2008

Yesterday Nintendo released a bunch of downloadable games over their WiiWare service. If you have a Wii, you can check it out by opening up your Wii Shop Channel and then navigating to “WiiWare.”

Last night I checked out the various titles available in the catalogue and because of the Wii’s rather limited storage space the only one I had room to download was Defend Your Castle. And I downloaded it accidentally, at that. The title costs 500 Wii Points, which translates to five dollars in the real world.

Once it was downloaded, I gave it a shot. Defend Your Castle is as straightforward a title as you can get for this game. You have a castle and you have to defend it against an onslaught of attackers. Visually, the game is simplistic. The background and castle itself look like cardboard cut-outs against a cork board background. Clouds drift by along the top of the screen and they, too, look like cutouts. Blue yarn is affixed to the top of them, and presumable there is a hidden person behind the scenes acting as puppeteer to them.

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Posted in Download Updates, Nintendo, Overviews, Wii | 1 Comment »

OVERVIEW: Ninja Gaiden Black is Back

By Shaun Hatton - March 16th, 2008

Developed by Team Ninja and published by Tecmo for Xbox 360.

While the wait for the super bloody Ninja Gaiden II is still a long one, 360 owners can take solace in the fact that Ninja Gaiden Black is now available for download as an Xbox Originals title from the LIVE Marketplace. And though the game is two and a half years old at this point, it still looks and plays quite well.

As master ninja Ryu Hayabusa, players can use a wide assortment of ninja weaponry and techniques to dispatch enemies. The game is not for everyone, however. It’s extremely difficult once the enemies start showing up in droves, and the boss fights are full of white-knuckled action. Black has a great combo system and the controls are, for the most part, very responsive. When you’re hacking and slashing with your sword, you really feel the weight of the swings and the resistance given when attacks are parried.

For fans of ninja (and really, who isn’t?) this game is a definite steal at its purchase price of 1200 Microsoft Points. The only drawback, if it could be called that, is at just under six gigs, the game will take quite a while to finish downloading. Still, you’ll be able to play it a lot sooner than Ninja Gaiden II.

Posted in Download Updates, LIVE, Ninja, Overviews, Reviews, Xbox 360 | No Comments »