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 »

X’10
Chapter 7 - Spin Me Another

Music games and I have a love/hate relationship; due to the fact that I live in a relatively small house, I don’t really have a lot of space for games like Rock Band or Guitar Hero. My gaming area is also located right under my daughter’s room, so playing games that involve singing are usually a no-no; this may be about to change. DJ Hero allowed me to get a music game that was awesome to play and had a controller that could be easily stored away (although I did buy the Renegade Edition). As I burned through the whole game, I wondered how they could possibly make this game better; I wonder no more…

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Posted in Events, First Impressions, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | No Comments »

X’10
Chapter 4 - We Are All Brothers

As I walked through X’10, I rounded a corner and my smile widened impossibly; two screens were displaying Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood in vibrant majesty. As many who read this site know, I have a thing for the Assassin’s Creed series, and for good reason: it’s one of the best franchises in the history of video games? Some may think that this is a lofty statement: they obviously haven’t played it yet…

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Posted in Events, First Impressions, PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | No Comments »

Excited
Tales From Space: About a Blob

I am going to be interviewing Drinkbox Studios about this game very soon, but I need to gush. I am a sucker for games with a great story and this looks to be an awesome experience. Tales From Space: About a Blob is about an innocent creature that grows and grows until it eats the planet. It’s a puzzle-based platformer for the PS3 that looks like a lot of fun! Stay tuned to this space to read about what they have to say about it.

Click here if you want to check out the dev blog! »

Posted in News Bytes, PlayStation 3, Previews | No 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 »

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 »

E3 2010 Coverage
Interview With Sony Canada

Today I had the chance to catch up with Matt Levitan from Sony Computer Entertainment Canada regarding Sony’s E3 2010 content. Sony had a strong showing, with a cadre of great games, technology, and the wildly popular Kevin Butler. Sadly, Matt’s phone dropped and we didn’t get a chance to finish the interview. However, before fate pulled the plug on his phone…

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Posted in E3, Interviews, Move, News Bytes, PlayStation 3, Sony | No Comments »

Fashionably Late Review
God of War III

God of War III, as the name suggests, is the third game in the GoW series; well not really; it is technically the fourth (the third being Chains of Olympus for the PSP; a minor technicality that we’ll let slide…this time). The game follows the Spartan-turned-God, Kratos, on his final chapter of revenge to Mount Olympus to dethrone Zeus. However, Kratos isn’t the only one who gets to have all the fun: the Titans are back, free from the shackles of Olympus, and they are seeking revenge for their fallen (if you don’t know your ancient Greek mythology it’s all right, as the game is kind enough to walk us through it).

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Posted in PlayStation 3, Reviews | No Comments »

Race. Create. Share
Modnation Racers Event

Sony was kind enough to invite Toronto Thumbs to an event for United Front Games’ soon-to-be released kart-racing revolution entitled ModNation Racers; the event was held at a venue fitting for such an exciting and fun game: 401 Mini-Indy in Toronto. I have been to a few events where ModNation Racers has been on display, but I was always too slow on the draw, missing out on chances to play it due to its popularity (all of the ‘appointments’ to play the game were taken). Before I left my house for this latest event, I said a silent prayer to Kratos that I would be able to get my hands on a controller hooked up to a PS3 console that was running this game.

Ask and ye shall receive.

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Posted in Events, PSP, PlayStation 3, Previews | 1 Comment »

Review
MLB 10: The Show

My nephew was staying over for several days and he was interested in taking me on in some console-based baseball; I figured we would just go rent this year’s edition of Electronic Arts MLB game. That should tell you just how long it has been since I have played a non-Madden sports game: EA hasn’t made a MLB game since 2005.

Currently, your 2010 MLB licensed game choices are either: MLB 2K10 from 2K Sports (available on all consoles), or MLB 10: The Show from Sony (available for PS3, PS2, and PSP). A very quick internet search seemed to show that 2K10 was a little stale and The Show was aptly named. So the choice was made to rent MLB 10: The Show for the PS3.

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Posted in PlayStation 3, Reviews | No Comments »