Just over 3 months ago, I got Rocksmith as a Christmas present from Steff. My initial impressions of it were generally positive, though something like this really takes time to pass judgment. Have I made any progress since?
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Out Now: Bioshock Infinite
Forget Bioshock 2. The real successor to Bioshock is finally here! Set in a whole new world with new characters, I am ready jump in. Should be picking up my copy today and will likely cover it soon in posts and as a discussion point on The Recurring Bosscast.
What I’m Not Playing – Gears of War: Judgment
I’m a huge fan of the Gears of War series. The original was the game that inspired me to buy an Xbox 360, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with its sequels. It’s built a lot of good will with me, which sort of makes it weird that I’m currently abstaining from the latest entry in the franchise.
Valkyria Chronicles Impressions
War doesn’t always have to be presented in the style of Call of Duty. It doesn’t have to be about first person shooting. Or summer-blockbuster action. Or earning perks by playing endless amounts of team death match. It’s easy to hate on the military theme in video games because of ‘Call of Duty syndrome’, but there’s still room for military games to innovate. Valkyria Chronicles, released early in the PlayStation 3’s life-cycle, is easily the most unique military game of this generation.
Check Out My Fire Emblem: Awakening Review on Splitkick.com
Since its release, Fire Emblem: Awakening has been tough to track down in stores. Though I’ve heard reports of the game being under-shipped, there’s also the fact that it’s really good. I enjoyed it so much that I beat it twice before finalizing my review for Splitkick. If you can find it, the game is definitely worth tracking down!
Early Impressions of Bioshock 2
I responded to the news of a Bioshock sequel with disgust. The original was such a magical experience for me and one that concluded in a way that made a sequel unnecessary. However, I can’t blame 2K for not wanting to leave money on the table in order to maintain artistic integrity. With that said, I think I would have handled the thought of a sequel if it came from the right place. On paper, Bioshock 2 totally didn’t. Some of its selling points included:
“Return to Rapture!”
“Play as a Big Daddy!”
“Now with multiplayer!”
“…oh yeah, it’s also not made by the original creators, who ended up making the true successor to Bioshock.”
Due to its existence being blatantly rooted in focus groups and business executive boardrooms, I avoided this like the plague. However, with Bioshock Infinite on the way, and a Bioshock-themed episode of The Recurring Bosscast scheduled for the very near future, I figured that playing at least a bit of Bioshock 2 would be worth it for the sake of the show.
Campaign: The Game Review
By night, I am a video games writer for In Third Person, and Splitkick. By day, I work as a project manager in the advertising industry. I’ve always wondered when my work life would manifest itself into a video game, and it turns out that time is now. Campaign: The Game by Insolita Studios is arguably the first advertising agency simulator. While I wasn’t expecting this to be a true-to-life representation of my everyday life, I was curious to see how successful it would be as a video game.
Initial Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon Impressions
The Earth is screwed. Or at least that’s how things seem when you boot up Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon. Our planet has been attack by a giant race of ant-like aliens, and it’s up to you and the Earth Defense Force to stomp them out.
Let’s get the obvious out of the way: this is not a triple-A title. Nor does it have any ambitions of being such. It’s budget price and low-quality production values clearly indicate that notion. With that said, B-movie experiences can be enjoyable in their own way (I’m looking at you, 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand). Does Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon provide a fun experience at a budget price?
Sleeping Dogs Review
The Sleeping Dogs origin story has been documented ad nauseam, so I won’t do that here. Nor did it matter to me much, anyway. I’d never played a True Crime game before, and even after it came out to mostly positive press, it still wasn’t a game on my radar. Had it not been for its awesome demo, I probably would have let this one slide. Though I can’t speak to the game’s quality before it came out, the end result is pretty rad. This is one of the most fun open world games I’ve played since Grand Theft Auto IV, and might be my favourite one yet.
Skylanders Giants Review
Size matters, or at least that’s what Activision wants us to believe with Skylanders Giants, the follow-up to the smash-hit Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure. Besides providing gamers with an all-new adventure, some new characters and new figures, it also introduces the concept of giant Skylanders, which are larger figurines that manifest into larger in-game characters. But does the age old ‘bigger is better’ adage apply here?
In Third Person 