third person shooter

Girlfriend Gaming – She Plays 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand

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My girlfriend wasted no time in building up her PlayStation 3 game catalogue. After just 24 hours of buying the console, she had already obtained six games. Her system came bundled with NHL 11 and Infamous. She then went out and bought Batman: Arkham Asylum, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Bioshock and most curiously, 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand. When she sat down in front of her new PS3 and chose what game to play first, the choice was clear to her. It did not involve hockey, super powers, caped crusaders, plasmids or Snake Eyes. Instead, she christened her PS3 with desert cities, a non-Indiana-Jones crystal skull and Tony Yayo.

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Stranglehold: A Video Game B-Movie

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During a time of economic instability, relatively high prices for new games and a number of high-quality games to choose from all major platforms, the market doesn’t really show much love to decent or middle of the road games. You can be an avid gamer on any system and own 30 games; all of which are AAA titles. If a game is not on the level of a Modern Warfare 2 or Halo, gamers nowadays with discriminating wallets can easily leave your game to rot in the bargain bin.

Stranglehold was one of Midway’s last attempts at creating a AAA title. It featured fast-paced third-person shooting, was inspired by John Woo’s “Hard Boiled” and even starred Jet Li as the protagonist. However, in a market crowded with great shooting games, not even John Woo and Jet Li could save Stranglehold from being a mediocre game at best and a sales flop.

In spite of its shortcomings, my experience so far with Stranglehold gives me the impression that this is a pretty decent video game equivalent to a B-movie. It has its flaws, but for the right person at the right price it could still be a good time.

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Closing Thoughts on Mass Effect 2

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When this game first came out in January, the Internet buzz surrounding Mass Effect 2 was insane. People were hailing this as the game of the year 2010, regardless of what else was to come out in the next 11 months. I got so caught up in the Mass Effect 2 that I went out and bought Mass Effect 1 and beat it just so that I could get the full Mass Effect 2 experience.

Mass Effect 1 rocked my socks pretty hard. If it weren’t for a few excessive RPG elements and technical issues, it could have been right near the top of my unofficial “best games I’ve ever played” list. With such lofty expectations built up for this game, did they live up to them?

Yes. Yes they did.

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Pick Up Post: Cobra Clutch

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Earlier this week, I found myself hanging out at my local EB Games while my mom was at the Lenscrafters across the mall. After cycling through their inventory with my brother, we talked to the on-duty cashier, who just happened to be my brother’s friend. I had come into the store with no intentions to buy anything, but he made me an offer on a game I couldn’t refuse.

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Suicidal Thoughts

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(WARNING: This post is about the endgame for Mass Effect 2. I will try my best not to spoil anything, but feel free to skip this if you fear I may ruin something for you)

I just finished Mass Effect 2, and I felt compelled to share my thoughts on the endgame sequence to the game. I have been hyper-critical of endgame sequences in the past, but I am glad to report that Mass Effect 2 does not fall by the wayside. It’s a fantastic experience from beginning to end, but the gravity of the situation and the choices you make leading up to the final mission build up to one of the most epic and varied endgame sequences I’ve ever had the pleasure of experiencing.

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Some Things I Don’t Like About Mass Effect

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Having just finished playing through Mass Effect, I think this is one of the greatest video games I’ve ever played. When I played through that game, it is startling how big this game is, yet how awesome the experience is. When it comes to storytelling, scale, characterization and role-playing, I don’t think I’ve played anything better than Mass Effect.

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In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream

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I’m about half way through Dead Space, and the game has put me me in a really awkward predicament. I think that the game is solid and very well done for what it is, but I don’t know if I want to play it any more. It has nothing to do with its technical merits, but everything to do with the fact that Dead Space scares the hell out of me.

Mass Effect Proves It’s Not a Small World, After All

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After years of completely ignoring the game and weeks of contemplating whether or not I should give Mass Effect a shot, I finally grabbed a copy of the game. I’m a few hours in and have all six potential party members on my side. I have a lot to say about this game, which I’ll dole out in a number of posts in the future.

What I wanted to focus on first is the scope of Mass Effect. Without question, this is the biggest game I’ve ever played. In a number of ways, the Mass Effect experience is absolutely colossal to the point that it’s intimidating the heck out of me.

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A Comfortable Sense of Deja Vu

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I’m officially 1/4 of the way through Dead Space, and there was something about the overall feel of the game that I thought was worth mentioning: the underlying sense of deja vu.
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Dead Space: It’s Game Over, Man!

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Back in 2008, I was very intrigued by Dead Space. After E3, the buzz going around was that it was like the evolution of Resident Evil 4. Since that game is one of my all-time favourites, Dead Space was very much on my radar. The reviews came out great and it eventually went on to sell at least enough to warrant a greatest hits re-release.