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Dead or Alive 5 Review

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“She kicks high.”

Having never played an entry in the DOA franchise before, that and breast physics were the extent of my knowledge going into Dead or Alive 5. Why would I even bother with the series at this point, especially when my track record of enjoying 3D fighting games is not very good? Academic curiousity, for one. Ever since I jumped deep into the competitive fighting game scene, I’ve bought almost every fighter on the market just to get a sense of what’s out there. Two, you’ll never know what awesome games you’ll come across if you don’t put your neck out there every now and then.

In this case, I’m really glad I did.

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Lollipop Chainsaw Review

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Worst 18th birthday ever.

Star cheerleader Juliet Starling just wanted to go to school and see her boyfriend on her special day. Instead, she finds her school overrun with zombies. Luckily for everyone involved, she just so happens to be a certified zombie hunter, who regularly travels with her trusty chainsaw everywhere she goes. Wait, what?

Lollipop Chainsaw starts out ludicrous and only gets more insane from there. It’s Tarantino-esq presentation, storytelling and humour will definitely hit the spot for some. But does it make for an engaging gameplay experience?

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2012 Year in Review: Worst Game of the Year

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As a mostly independent games writer, I don’t play much in the way of bad games. I generally play what I want and leave it at that. Because of this, I usually do not award games with the title of worst game of the year.

With that said, I did play at least one terrible game. One that was critically panned. One that hurt my soul as I played through it to completion. I normally don’t do this, but this title is definitely deserving of In Third Person’s worst.

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Check Out My Trine 2: Director’s Cut Impressions on Splitkick.com!

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So you’ve got a Wii U. You’ve exhausted Nintendo Land and beaten New Super Mario Bros. U. Now what?

If you haven’t played it on any other platform yet, may I suggest Trine 2: Director’s Cut? This great game got a mostly great port on the Wii U and is totally worth picking up. For more details, head over to Splitkick!

Check Out My Trine 2: Director’s Cut Impressions on Splitkick.com!

The ‘Language’ of King of Fighters XIII

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When it comes to comprehending the combo system in any given fighting game, I love using sentence structure as an analogy. Sentences in any language have a very particular rule-set that dictates how words can be arranged to make sense. When you have a mastery of that sentence structure, you no longer think about the rules; you just create sentences on the fly. Each fighting game is has its own unique sentence structure. And just like language, when you have a mastery of a game’s combo system, you’ll inherently know what series of inputs will string to form a combo.

A few months back, I picked up two fighting games on the same day: Persona 4 Arena, and King of Fighters XIII. While I am far from an expert at the former, I understand its ‘language’ enough to string together basic combos on my own. Even at this entry-level of skill, I’m having a lot of fun with it. The latter is a different story.

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Check Out My Nintendo Land Review on Splitkick.com!

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The Wii U is out, and with it is as large (if somewhat uninspired) launch lineup. A game you should be checking out though is Nintendo Land, which is basically the Wii Sports of the platform. If you’re lucky enough to score a Wii U Deluxe Set, you’ll have this packed in. If not, expect to pay full price for a retail copy. If you’re looking for some thoughts around this important title, check out my review on Splitkick!

Check out my Nintendo Land Review on Splitkick.com!

New Super Mario Bros. U Review

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At what point does the ‘new’ in New Super Mario Bros. U become false advertising? This is the 4th New Super Mario Bros. game in the sub-series and the 2nd one to hit this year. Does the world really need any more of this style of Mario game? I guess as long as they continue to be quality products, the volume of releases doesn’t matter.

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Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Impressions

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Though it’s one of the most storied franchises in all of gaming, I’ve largely ignored Castlevania. Having only played bits of the original, and Super Castlevania IV, its demon-slaying action didn’t grab me at the time. Though I understand that Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is revered as one of the greatest games of all-time, I’ve passed on it repeatedly, knowing that I’m terrible at the Metroid style of world.

If it weren’t for the God of War influence, coming across it for cheap, and my girlfriend wanting to play this together, I probably would have passed on Lords of Shadow too. After a year or so of it sitting on my shelf, I finally gave it a shot recently.

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Soulcalibur V Review

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When it comes to 3D fighting games, Soulcalibur is my bread and butter. Say what you will about Tekken or Virtua Fighter, I’ve generally enjoyed the fast-paced, weapons-based combat of the franchise over any other 3D fighting game offering. Soulcalibur II was my introduction to the series, and was incredible for its the time. However, by the time I got around to Soulcalibur IV, the formula felt dated, especially when compared to Street Fighter IV, which came out in the arcades at the same time. Street Fighter IV went on to define the modern-day fighting game blueprint, while Soulcalibur IV just felt old and was quickly forgotten.

With Soulcalibur V, Namco was clearly looking to make a title that better fit the modern era of fighting games. Besides some major gameplay system overhauls, they took the extra step of blowing out roughly half of the original roster and replacing them with all-new characters. Was the shake-up worth it?

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The Walking Dead Episode 5: No Time Left Review

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This is it. After 4 episodes of strife, the conclusion to The Walking Dead is upon us. Writing reviews for this particular franchise has proven difficult, as basically everything is a spoiler. Now that we’re at the conclusion, pretty much everything I could say is going to spoil something. I guess ultimately, I need to answer the burning question: does the series end on a high note?

Yes. Yes it does.

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