Toronto Thumbs

Facebreaker demo hilarious

EA had a massive presence at this year’s Penny Arcade Expo with a giant booth showing off upcoming titles as well as satellite booths for Dead Space and Rock Band 2. As part of their swag grab, they were giving away EA passports that featured a page for each game at the show. After playing a certain game, you could get that page stamped, and people with a fully stamped passport could redeem them for an EA shirt.

Considering the line-ups to play just about anything there, I decided I would only play games that had no lineups at all. Though this might indicate that I played no games there, it’s actually quite the opposite. Sometimes it’s all about the timing. One game that I did get to play a little bit was Facebreaker, EA’s cartoony and over-the-top boxing title. They were even giving out demo discs for this title.

Sadly, I must admit I knew nothing about this game prior to last weekend. I tend to not pay attention to EA titles because in the past, most of them have held no interest for me. This year is looking to be different, with Lord of the Rings Conquest, Mirror’s Edge, Dead Space, and Mercenaries 2 all looking and playing very promising.

Since play time at the actual expo can feel a little rushed at the best of times, I spent a some quality time with the Facebreaker demo last night. It’s not a game I’d actually buy because I’m waiting on the announcement and release of the next Punch-Out!! title. But it is a hilarious game nonetheless. I created a dead-eyes version of myself using the Xbox Live Vision camera but couldn’t get the body build or hairstyle to look quite right, and then squared off against none other than Kim Kardashian (a woman famous for having a big ass and a sex tape - so says Joel McHale on The Soup).

What followed was a mess of a training round that featured a tonne of ridiculous boxing action and ended with me feeling no more confident in my ability to actually play the game. Perhaps it’s just the fault of the demo or the particular mode I was in. I will say, however, that the punches and hits in the game are very intense. The demo disc says for me to not be cheap and to share it with friends, so that’s what I intend on doing.

Posted in Events, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | 1 Comment »

DON’T BELIEVE THE HATE
Too Human is surprisingly good

The Internet really seems to have a hate on for Too Human and Denis Dyack, director of Silicon Knights (the studio that developed the game). I’ve been following the development of this game somewhat closely over the last few years – in fact since the launch of the Xbox 360. Why was I so interested? Mostly because it was actually being made right here, in Canada, and on top of that not too far from where I live. In fact, in a town I spent much time in visiting family and friends.

The game’s development had been a slow process, and admittedly one that probably had its fair share of setbacks which other games have not faced. The earliest screenshots I’ve seen from Too Human were from a GameCube version and I gotta tell you, I’m glad it wasn’t released on that console. But Silicon Knights’ game that was released for it, Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem, was heralded as a breath of fresh air and many to this day still feel it’s one of the best games available for that system.

Me, I couldn’t see it at the time. At the time I was still dizzy from the flash-bang that was the jaw-dropping Resident Evil remake for the ‘Cube. While I had a review copy of Eternal Darkness, I ended up shelving it and eventually trading it in for god-knows-what. It’s a decision I sometimes regret, though I could always go out and buy a used copy.

Now, we’re on the eve of the release of Too Human (as of this writing), and it’s looking a whole lot better that the GameCube screenshots did. In fact, it’s looking a lot better than early 360 screenshots showed.

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Posted in Canada, Editorial, News, Xbox 360 | 9 Comments »

Too Human’s Lookin’ Good

I had a chance to play Too Human tonight at the Toronto launch party for the game. Six game stations were set up at the fancy Spoke Club on King St. while several journalists and Silicon Knights staff members mingled. In a separate room, a large screen setup was available for play.

This was the first time I played the game since last October’s press preview at Silicon Knights’ St. Catharines headquarters. It played more or less how I remembered the preview build playing – only this time for some reason I kept trying to move the camera around rather than realizing that the right analogue stick is ONLY for melee attacks. I played for about a half hour and passed the controller onto someone else, opting instead to watch other people play, which ended up being just as enjoyable if not more interesting.

Watching other people play games without actually talking to them or giving them hints reveals a lot about their thinking processes. Some people were obviously a lot better than others at holding their own against the relentless horde of enemies, and it was interesting to see the more gifted gamers play through the various levels.

After much internet hoopla and tonnes of forum flame wars, Too Human is finally coming out next week. Will the haters be won over? Probably not, as it’s not in their nature. However if you go into this one with an open mind you’ll very likely be pleasantly surprised. I’m definitely looking forward to playing the whole game despite some control issues I have with it.

UPDATE: Apparently the control issues I was having with the game were in some part due to some sort of monitor calibration issue. I played Too Human for a good hour on a tube television and it played much smoother. Odd that the demonstration set-up would be slightly off like that but unfortunately things like that do happen. More to follow…

Posted in Canada, Events, Xbox 360 | No Comments »

REVIEW
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords

One of my former addictions is Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, a game developed by the Aussie geniuses at Infinite Interactive. Mere words are empty in describing how much this game can devour your soul. After picking up the Nintendo DS version, I’m still greatly tempted to repurchase it on the Xbox LIVE Arcade for its exclusive expansion pack. Now, with the game achieving an Arcade Hit status and a discounted 800 Microsoft Points price, it’s time to turn to rehab.

Puzzle Quest combines two very different video game genres: puzzle and role-playing games. It doesn’t advertise to everyone since casual puzzlers might be unfamiliar with the RPG genre, and the “hardcore” crowd might be skeptical of its epic title. A name like that hints at massive battles, magic and treasure hunts, and that’s what you get in a nutshell.

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Posted in News, Reviews, Xbox 360 | No Comments »

Will the Wii Mii Come to 360? Oui!

Remember the olden days when the term “Wii-60” used to refer to Xbox-loyalists who also bought a Wii? Now it describes Microsoft’s less-than-veiled rip-off of Nintendo’s Mii.

As of Monday, it’s official. What was simply an Internet rumour about a month ago became fact during Microsoft’s E3 news conference.

Mii History 101: Upon the release of the Nintendo Wii, the Wii’s Miis became the centre of the party. You see, the Mii gained popularity because of the hilarity of parody. Miis are copies you make to represent you on TV so you don’t have to be some generic pansy. Enough rhymes because I ran out of vocabulary.

Fast forward to now. Microsoft announced they’ll be coming out with “avatars” so gamers can better represent themselves. Those “avatars” are widely known as the Xbox Mii.

I may sound critical, but I like the idea. I can’t wait to make myself on Xbox Live. One of my favourite features of Rock Band was creating an exaggerated copy of myself in the game. I guess it’s like the old saying goes: If you can’t beat them, join them.

Posted in Commentary, Wii, Xbox 360 | 1 Comment »