“Take a look at me now!”
Who remembers playing Choplifter when they were young? The simple premise of flying behind enemy lines to rescue trapped soldiers and hostages was a neat idea and fun to play. Now, inXile brings us Choplifter HD, a modern reimagining of the Apple 2E classic for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Does the game have any lift? Or does it come crashing down?
While my tastes tend to bend toward RTS, I also find the occasional Tactical RPGs fun to play. In some ways, engaging in these types of games is probably a subconscious desire to replicate the amount of fun I had playing one of my all-time favourite TRPG’s: X-Com: UFO Defense. Human Entertainment’s Vanguard Bandits does not really come close to that experience for me; however, it is definitely a fun romp that Mike Jackson’s favourite team, Monkey Paw, has seen fit to bring to North America – to the PS3 (from the PSN).
Rocketbirds: Revolution was an impressive flash browser game developed by Ratloop Asia. I say impressive because the game looked and sounded like a console title, suffering only from a stiff control scheme with the keyboard. It’s no surprise then that Ratloop Asia has taken Rocketbirds and brought it to the PSN to live up to its full potential. With a plethora of new content and a fresh HD coat of paint, does Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken shed its flash roots and fully embrace the new format? Strut past the break to find out.
Jason Statham’s stunt double has apparently found work.
When I purchased a PS3, I only cared about playing Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm; in fact, I bought the game a month before I bought the console. When I finally got my new gaming device, I set aside Uncharted – to play later. When I finally got to it, it has already been a few years since release – yet I was still blown away. When Uncharted 2 came out, I got it right away and played it as soon as I got home – and again, my mind was blown. I was in love with the series, to the point where one of my all-time favourite movie trilogy (Indiana Jones) had been replaced in my mind by Uncharted and Uncharted 2 as the best adventure experience in terms of “screen entertainment”.
It has been said that Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, Naughty Dog’s swan song to Nathan Drake’s adventures, is not as much of a technological leap from Uncharted 2 as was made to Uncharted 2 from the original Uncharted. Perhaps this is true, but I wouldn’t say that it is weaker – in fact, you might say it is better than the previous title in many ways, and is a triumphant conclusion to a fantastic trilogy.
Boxing Week is upon us, which means that there are a few prime shopping days left in the year. This fashionably late review is well-timed, since it deals with a great game that the whole family can enjoy (aka: possibly a great purchase): Eurocom’s Disney Universe. Back during E3, we got the breakdown from Michelle Liem about this game; then we got to play it a few times since (once at X’11 Canada and then at Playstation Holiday). Now that we have spent some personal time with it, do we think that it will be to everyone’s taste? Perhaps not. Do we still think it is a great game? Yes. Yes we do. Read on.
Wouldn’t it be funny if Tintin was responding to a booty call of another kind?
The Adventures of Tintin: The Game is a Ubisoft-made movie tie-in based on the impressive looking Spielberg film. I would consider this game to be a relatively fun platformer with sprinkles of action and a dash of puzzles. Aside from a distinct lack of variety that shackles the one of game’s legs to a cannon ball (causing it to stumble slightly at times), Tintin can actually be a lot of fun if you have the right mindset.
My exposure to the Battlefield franchise before this year was limited to brief encounters with Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield 2; I’m not sure why neither of them really spoke to me. Until my discovery of Team Fortress 2, I didn’t really enjoy playing online multi-player FPS’s; shortly after TF2, Modern Warfare made its way into the rotation.
Eventually, both of these were replaced by a suggestion from our own Mike Jackson: Battlefield: Bad Company 2. BFBC2 became my go-to FPS, eclipsing anything else in the stable. Multi-player was great: quick games; smart games; fun games. Months after I started, the Battlefield 3 footage started finding its way around the internet, causing keyboards to short circuit thanks to the drool-inducing Frostbite 2 engine from DICE. I even got to spend some time participating in the multi-player alpha; I was blown away – the holidays promised to be awesome – all because of this one game.
I apologize to our readers (and to the author) for posting this late. Between internet shenanigans (ie: cable modem malfunction) and other factors that shall not be named, this seemed to have escaped the grasp of punctuality. It is still a great read, though; make sure you check it out! – ed.
Where were you on Friday, November 11, 2011? I spent that night in line at my local game retailer anxiously waiting for the clock to strike midnight – just to get my hands on Bethesda’s fifth entry in the Elder Scrolls saga – a little-known fantasy epic called Skyrim.
While there’s no denying the radicalness that was the Modern Warfare 3 launch (that also took place earlier that week), I will say that Skyrim’s release was one of the best midnight launches I have ever had the pleasure of attending. It felt like everyone was getting into the spirit of things. There were game stories of old and even new strategies being planned that night. Gamers both young and old were discussing everything from what kind of character to play, what faction to ally with, and what skills are best to specialize in. The only thing was missing was a group of Dragonborn cosplayers armed with foam swords and a 1:1 scale dragon piñata.
Candy-less, I began my odyssey through the lands of Skyrim less than an hour later that night.
Rayman is back you guys! Before the Raving Rabbids took over the series for some reason, Rayman games were solid 3D platformers that provided a great alternative to Mario. Rayman’s strange design and overall art direction was always a draw for people in the past; and it turns out that in Rayman’s return, things have not changed at all. Rayman Origins is developed and published by Ubisoft for the three major consoles and tells the tale of Rayman’s first adventures. You know, I’ve never done LSD before, but I’m pretty sure that after playing this game I know what it feels like.
A few years ago, Assassin’s Creed appeared on store shelves. The game told the story of Desmond Miles, who used a machine called the Animus (not entirely of his own volition) to relive part of the life of an ancestor: Altair Ibn-La’Ahad, an assassin. Born into a sacred order of killers bound by the Assassin’s Creed*, Altair aided his “family” in the upholding of choice among people; a right that was being threatened by an opposing order called the Templars, who were interested only in control of the human populace.
Eventually, Desmond managed to escape (Assassin’s Creed 2). He was taken in by another group who had their own version of the Animus. Using their technology, Desmond accessed the life of another ancestor: Ezio Auditore da Firenze. An Italian nobleman, Ezio witnessed the death of his family and became an Assassin first out of revenge; later, he realized that he actually had a higher purpose. His adventure continued in Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, where he fought in the war against the Templars as a master Assassin, training others to take up the cause. Brotherhood also included a fantastic multi-player mode.
Now we reach the final chapter in the lives of both Altair and Ezio in Assassin’s Creed: Revelations. How does this game fare in a series that has done nothing but gain momentum so far?
