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Reviews
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
Hasta la Yippie-ki-yay, Creep!

At the tail end of a console generation that’s fallen into a cycle of safe iterations on formulas that provide predictable successes, it’s amazing that Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon ever saw the light of day.

The first of many trends that Blood Dragon bucks is the naming scheme – this stand-alone first person shooter has no narrative link to last year’s excellent Far Cry 3, despite its liberal plundering of its many assets and gameplay systems. Blood Dragon is best likened to that artefact commonly seen in the late 90s – the heyday of fan-made ‘Total Conversions’ of popular PC games – in which the source material is twisted and shaped into something new, even if some elements have clearly just been painted over.

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

Run DLC
Gears of War Judgment: Call to Arms

It’s DLC time again¹ for the latest in the Gears of War franchise! This time around though, unless you bought the season pass, it’s not free and will instead set you back 1000 MSP. So what does your 1000 MSP get you? A surprisingly decent amount of value. There are three new multi-player maps, six weapon and armor skins, and my personal favorite: a new multi-player game-play mode called Master at Arms.

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

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Assassin’s Creed III
The Tyranny of King Washington – The Redemption

The final chapter of The Tyranny of King Washington DLC was released not too long ago. This third installment, known as The Redemption, is a fitting end to a really great batch of downloadable content. The third leg of Ratonhnhaké:ton’s adventure takes place in New York, which looks a little different than the city that we have grown used to in the main campaign of Assassin’s Creed III. Be warned: there are some mild spoilers contained within this review – but nothing that hasn’t already been said.

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Posted in DLC, PlayStation 3, Reviews, Xbox 360 | No Comments »

Reviews
Double Dragon II: Wander of the Dragons
Derple Dragon

There’s a magic in the best videogames that’s easy to overlook. Modern games are crafted by dozens, possibly hundreds of artists, slaving away on myriad components that are then woven together into the rich tapestry of interactive entertainment that we take for granted. The best games have such harmony between the graphics and sound and music and game-play mechanics that the player cares little about the individual elements, but rather that holistic, transcendent experience.

A hallmark of games that are merely good is that players will happily overlook the rough elements to focus on on the overall feeling, carried through rough spots by the goodwill built up through earlier proficiency. Games are more than the sum of their parts, and when gamers reflect on the time they invested, are unlikely to fixate on the elements that could have been better. So that’s what makes Gravity’s Double Dragon II: Wander of the Dragons such a daunting prospect to review. I’m not being hyperbolic when I say that there’s not a single element that this game gets right, and I would submit that it ought to become the new watermark for what constitutes a “bad” game.

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Posted in LIVE, Reviews, Xbox 360 | 1 Comment »

Reviews
Sacred Citadel

Sacred Citadel, published by Deep Silver and developed by SouthEnd, is an old-school style side-scrolling beat-’em-up (or magic-’em-up if you happen to be a mage) that is a prequel to Sacred 3 (an action-RPG that is currently in development. With plenty of action and a fairly light-hearted tone, Sacred Citadel is definitely a fun, retro brawler, whether you are playing alone or in a party – even if it doesn’t really add anything noteworthy to the genre.

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

Reviews
Motocross Madness

After more than a decade, Microsoft Studios and Bongfish GmbH have resurrected a title that will allow Master Chief to jump over pyramids, give players a chance to race against friends and provide some good old fashioned racing fun!

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

Review
Injustice: Gods Among Us

The heroes of the DC universe are no strangers to fighting each other in videogames. Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe is one such example. Of course, when recently speaking with Co-creator Ed Boon (NetherRealm Studios) about this, he admitted that fans of both franchises wished to keep those franchises separated. Thus, Injustice: Gods Among Us was revealed in the latter half of last year, prompting some valid questions. For instance: how do you create a game in which a villain like Catwoman can stand on equal footing with a hero like Superman? How entertaining could a game like this possibly be? Well, you will have to read on to find out the answers to these burning queries.

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Posted in iOS, PlayStation 3, Reviews, Wii U, Xbox 360 | No Comments »