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Assassin’s Creed III Single Player Review

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Ambition hasn’t been part of the Assassin’s Creed playbook for awhile now. Ever since Ezio’s debut, the last two spin-off titles felt like cash-grabs to strike while the iron’s hot. They didn’t do much to push the story forward, and their gameplay innovations varied wildly from great (the ability to call out fellow assassin’s for help) to bafflingly awful (tower defence). Though I’ve gotten some enjoyment out of these two games (more the first than the second), I’ve been waiting with bated breath for the real next step in the series.

Sporting a new world, a new main character and numerous revisions to its gameplay, Assassin’s Creed III has no shortage of ambition. In fact, had it delivered on everything it set out to do, this really could have been one of the best games ever. Unfortunately, this same ambition is the root cause of its many shortcomings.

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Rayman Legends Demo Impressions

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My initial impressions of the Wii U back in August 2012 were lukewarm. While I approved of the general build quality and feel of the Wii U GamePad, neither Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition or Scribblenauts Unlimited did much to demonstrate what it was really capable of. Recently, I got to get my hands on a demo of Rayman Legends, which is the current showcase game at Wii U demo stations. Based on my experience with Rayman Origins, I was expecting this demo to show positively. What did catch me off guard was how well it leveraged the functionality of the Wii U GamePad.

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Check Out My Borderlands Legends Review on Splitkick.com!

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As a fan of the Borderlands franchise, I jumped into this iOS spin-off with both feet. To my dismay, Legends falls well short of the standards set by its console and PC brethren. If that last sentence isn’t enough to ward you off from spending your hard-earned money on this mediocre action strategy title, check out my full review on Splitkick.

Early Impressions of Assassin’s Creed III

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Will the real sequel to Assassin’s Creed II please stand up?

As much as I enjoyed Brotherhood (and despised Revelations), they are essentially Champion Edition and Turbo sequels. Their innovations were minimal and their overall impact to the bigger story was inconsequential. Case in point, the start of Assassin’s Creed III make virtually zero reference to Ezio’s later adventures.

Now that ACIII is here, is it the leap forward we’ve been hoping for all along?

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Deus Ex: Human Revolution Review

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In the year 2027, cybernetics are challenging the definition of humanity. On one cybernetmic hand, there are powerful corporations who want nothing more than to profit from the sales of such augmentations. On the other fleshy hand, the idea of humans turning into any form of robot rubs some people the wrong way. You, as the new security director at a biotechnology firm, find yourself embroiled in a war over this, as an initial attack on your company almost takes your life. Now outfitted with augmentations – a necessity after the damage done to your body – your search for answers uncovers a plot far grander  than a one-off terrorist strike.

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Micro Update: Assassin’s Creed III

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I picked this up last week. Roughly 6 hours in and it’s starting to pick up. Working through some other writing projects, but I will have some early impressions soon! If you’re playing Assassin’s Creed III, what do you think so far?


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Early God of War III Impressions

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Immediately continuing where God of War II left off, Kratos finds himself riding a titan as they venture together to the top of Mount Olympus to give Zeus a cold serving of revenge. I had some concerns going into God of War III, because the tried-and-true God of War formula got stale to me towards the end of God of War II. However, the start of God of War III turns the formula on its head with one of the best opening sequences I’ve ever played in a video game, as it has you fighting while on top of the titan as it’s trying to climb the mountain. It’s so wildly creative, violent and downright fun to play, that I would imagine this being better than most ending sequences in video games. As I was playing through this, I kept asking myself, “How does the game keep this momentum up from here?”

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PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale Public Beta Impressions

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Lets get the obvious out of the way: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale is Sony’s take on the Smash Bros. franchise. While conceptually bankrupt, not all games have to reinvent the wheel.

Having played this a few months ago at Fan Expo, I came out of it with a fairly positive impression. Now that I’ve gotten to play a bit more of it through the public beta, my feelings towards the whole thing have cooled off some.

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Check Out My NBA 2K13 Review on Splitkick.com

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When you’ve been the reigning video game hoops champ for the last few years, the next logical step is to add Jay-Z and Justin Bieber. Wait, what? NBA 2K13 is quick to tell you that its a Young Hova production, but did they make the on-court experience any better? Find out on Splitkick!

Check Out My NBA 2K13 Review on Splitkick

Quiet Sanwa Buttons Review

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(Regular button not pictured above. They look identical to the regular ones, so I used a regular button picture instead)

The clicking, and clacking of an arcade fightstick is music to my ears. However, as I’ve come to learn in my few months of living in a condo, not everyone agrees with this sentiment. Because my gaming setup is in the living room, my girlfriend has been subjected to the noise far more than she’d like, to the point where it drove her nuts. Though I love me some fighting games, I genuinely love my girlfriend more. As a means of not driving her insane, I’d either reserve my fighting game time to moments when she’s not around, or asking for permission before playing; neither of which are ideal.

Luckily for me, Sanwa has released a new line of quiet buttons, and joysticks to alleviate the noise. Though the joysticks were prohibitively expensive ($80 each, which is roughly 4x the price of a regular joystick), I did buy two sets of quiet buttons to use on my XBOX 360, and PlayStation 3 fightsticks. Are these buttons able to maintain their signature feel, and durability, while reducing the noise?

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