Impressions on Limbo

There seems to be a lot of artsy/high-concept games hitting  of late. Games like Braid, Flower, Echochrome and P.B. Winterbottom have really pushed the boundaries of what a game can look and play like. I have nothing but respect for those developers who are actively trying to move the medium forward. However, none of these games have personally appealed to me. I’d much rather watch these games for a few minutes than actually play them, mostly because the gameplay elements don’t appeal to me.

Limbo was just released on XBOX Live Arcade and is the latest in artsy-high concept games. The black-and-white aesthetic is amazing and is matched by equally awesome atmospheric sound. But will it turn me away with gameplay that doesn’t appeal to me? I tried the demo and I’m here to relay my thoughts to you.

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Pick Up Post: Capcom Takes My Mobile Money

Capcom is one of my all-time favourite developers and publishers. I have fond memories of playing a bunch of Capcom games outside of their obvious choices, such as Street Fighter and Megaman. This week, they followed Gameloft’s lead and put a bunch of their iDevice games on sale. I highlight a few that I picked up and one you should avoid.

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Pick Up Post: Gameloft Dollarama and an iPad Adventure

I have to hand it to Gameloft and their iDevice pricing strategy. Their aggressive $1 sales have won a lot of good will with me, which I have returned by buying almost a dozen of their games. I have generally found their games to be of relatively good quality for mobile, and their games on sale for $1 are much more in-depth and content-rich than the majority of $1 games available on iTunes.

Hit the break to see what two Gameloft games (and one non-Gameloft adventure) I just picked up. From what I know about these three games, they’re all good buys at regular price, but really are a steal at their sale price.

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How Rambo Ruined My Childhood*


*The post title may be exaggerating, a bit.

Rambo on the original Nintendo is a game I fondly remember for all the wrong reasons. Back when I was no more than 8 years old, I rented this at my local video store. It was the worst video game I’ve ever rented.

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Review: Pix N’ Love Rush

Do you remember a time before Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo Entertainment System? An era where games like Pac-Man, Space Invaders and Donkey Kong ruled the scene? Pix N’ Love Rush feels like a game heavily inspired by games of that era. For gamers that fondly remember that era, you’ll feel right at home here with it’s modernized pixelated look, chip-tune music and simple play mechanics. For everyone else, there’s still a fun iPhone game worth your $0.99.
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Pick Up Post: Join the Darkside

Back in January, this THQ game caught a lot of people by surprise. People who were expecting it to be a God of War clone were surprised at how Zelda-like it’s gameplay was. It reviewed well and as far as I know, sold above the company’s expectations.

For a number of reasons, I kept tabs on it until it came down to a lower price. A few weeks ago, it hit $20, and I grabbed my local Best Buy’s last copy.

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Thoughts on the iPad (and now iPhone) Geometry Wars

Back when Geometry Wars: Touch launched in April, it was $10 and iPad only. Now in June, it’s half the price and now works for both iPad and iPhone/iPod Touch. I really like the series, but was reluctant to give it a go until this recent update and price drop. Now that I’ve spent some time with it on both platforms, I’ll give you the scoop on what makes each version different and which is better to play.

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Go Ninja, Go

Ninjatown: Trees of Doom is a game based off of a line of plush dolls created by Shawn Smith. For those of you that read EGM in the mid to late 90’s, you may remember that Shawn Smith was a part of the EGM crew for a while. Because of his connections, he was frequently mentioned in video game podcasts such as EGM Live and Player One where he would talk about the old days of the magazine and promote his Ninjatown work.

I’ve wanted to support his cause for a while now. However, I didn’t really have room in my life for plush dolls and the first Ninjatown game was a tower defense game; a genre I’m not that into. When Trees of Doom was released on the iPhone and iPod Touch at the bargain basement price of $0.99, I was quick to pick it up. While I have to hand it to Shawn for creating mega-cute characters, is the game any fun?
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Closing Thoughts on de Blob

When I first wrote about de Blob, I was really digging it. I loved the visual and audio presentation. The gameplay was really fun and easy to pick up. The second time I wrote about it, I voiced what was (and still is) my biggest problem with the game: its pacing. Now that I have beaten de Blob, how do I feel about this sleeper hit?

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Closing Thoughts on Prince of Persia (2008)

For the last few days, I have dedicated all of my gaming resources towards the Prince of Persia reboot. My first session with it made enough of an impact on me to drop everything else I was playing and play through this to the end. I don’t know why people hate on this game so much because I enjoyed it all the way through. Granted, it has flaws, but was definitely worth my time.
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