Toronto Thumbs

Nothing is True
DVDs Are Permitted (Assassin’s Creed: Lineage)

A little over two years ago, a three-part mini-series was released on YouTube. It was created by Ubisoft Montreal; it was called Assassin’s Creed: Lineage. The videos served as a prequel to the story of Ezio Auditore from Assassin’s Creed 2. Besides being a very successful marketing tool and drumming up support for the game, they also provided another layer of the story for fans. The project also served as an experiment, hailing the first steps of the Canadian Ubisoft contingent in the realm of film-making. Aside from YouTube, Lineage was available on DVD only as a part of certain special editions of the Assassin’s Creed games; on November 15 of this year, it will be available as a standalone product. Toronto Thumbs was lucky enough to receive an advance copy to check out and I it is absolutely fantastic.

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Posted in Byte-Size Reviews, DVD | No Comments »

Review
The War of the Worlds

I remember the first time I heard the War of the Worlds radio play: it was on Theatre of the Mind on CHUM FM; I was quite young, and very scared*. While not necessarily as scary, Other Ocean Interactive’s The War of the Worlds seems to try and capture some of the magic from the original book and radio play through a side-scrolling platformer. Though the impact of this game is not quite as high as the original story presentation from old-timey radio, it is still somewhat entertaining and deserves a look.

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Posted in Byte-Size Reviews, LIVE, Xbox 360 | No Comments »

Reviews
Worth iTrying – iOS Titles You Might Like

In true dueling-banjoes-type fashion, I am posting my lesser reviews for two iOS games just after Jayson posted his. That’s not to say that the games I reviewed are inferior to Mr. Young’s; on the contrary, the games are great! The first game is a spin on an old favourite; the second will have you spinning your iPod.

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Posted in Byte-Size Reviews, iOS, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch | No Comments »

Reviews
Worth iTrying – iOS Titles You Might Like

There are a steady stream of iOS apps that hit the App Store every day. Here are three that I have checked out recently that I would like to briefly touch upon. The first is really an update to an existing title; the second is an aquatic fighting game; and the third is a title that looks like a mix of old and new.

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Posted in Byte-Size Reviews, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch | 1 Comment »

Ricky, Don’t Lose That Blu-Ray
X-Men: First Class

With the recent release of X-Men: Destiny for the PS3 and Xbox 360 you may have X-Men on the brain. After playing through the game, check out X-Men: First Class on Blu-Ray and DVD. I have always said that the X-Men are one of the greatest franchises that Marvel owns; First Class really cements that idea in my head. It is perhaps the most cerebral superhero films to come out in a long time; it really focuses more on relationships and internal struggle than huge battles. This emphasis on the inward focus makes First Class a film that is well worth your time and money. It allows you to actually feel for the characters and understand why they have turned out the way they did. It also allows all you comic junkies to see relationships and conflicts from classic X-Men stories played out alongside some new relationships.

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Posted in Blu-ray, Byte-Size Reviews, DVD | No Comments »

Double Take
Patrician IV and Defy Gravity Extended

Why this picture? Association, that’s why! “Double take” = “Number two”. It’s not rocket science, people.

Here are two games that we at Thumbs would like to revisit. It’s not necessarily the case that they were bad the last time we looked at them; sometimes it’s just worth repeating what we have said. The first of the two games is worth repeating because it is somewhat of a buried treasure. The second? Well, additional work was done on the game to make it even better than it was the first time; this is definitely worth mentioning.

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Posted in Byte-Size Reviews, PC | No Comments »

Review
Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon

I have never seen an episode of the show in its entirety, but from some research on the all-powerful internetz, it looks like Backbone Entertainment went whole-hog in making sure that the look, sound, and offensiveness of the Comedy Central show was carried over as much as possible into the game; this includes the writing team and the voice actors. Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon is a game that will make things awkward in the room; but it will certainly be something fun to play that you and your friends will talk about after you get up off the couch; of course, chances that you will sit down only once to play it are fairly high.

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Posted in Byte-Size Reviews, PSN | 1 Comment »

Don’t Walk Away
Street Fighter 3 – Third Strike Online

Street Fighter is one of those franchises that has stood the test of time. No matter how many permutations and combinations, Capcom somehow manages to keep the overall experience fresh and relevant every time. I fondly remember the very first time I played Street Fighter in the arcade (yes, Street Fighter numero uno); what a crappy game. I recall trying in vain to get Ryu to throw the stupid flaming blue ball and got him to do so once every twenty attempts. Then, one day, Street Fighter II showed up and everything changed. SF II was revolutionary and set the stage and blueprint for every fighting game to follow.

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Posted in Byte-Size Reviews, PSN | No Comments »

Review
BloodRayne: Betrayal

I think vampires are awesome. That being said, I’m not a Twilight or Underworld fan; Hellsing and Vampire Hunter D are more my style. So when Wayforward Technologies’ downloadable BloodRayne: Betrayal crossed my desk, I had to try it out. I had never played a 2D side-scroller with a vampire as the playable character before. My time had finally come.

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Posted in Byte-Size Reviews, LIVE, PlayStation 3, PSN, Xbox 360 | No Comments »

Reviews
Worth iTrying – iOS Titles You Might Like

Here are four apps for iOS that might tickle your fancy. The first is a game the uses the motion-detecting capabilities of the iPod Touch. The second is an app that allows you to create unique music videos. The last two are old-school vertical scrolling shooters that are a lot of fun.

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Posted in Byte-Size Reviews, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch | 1 Comment »