As a Canadian, Boxing Day is one of the most wonderful times of the year for video game shopping. This year was highly eventful, as a bunch of games I’ve been itching to get my hands on went on sale. Below is my list of gaming related purchases. What did you get this Boxing Day?
Though I don’t like to think of myself as a gaming neanderthal, games of the art house variety generally don’t do it for me. While I appreciate how titles like Ico, Braid, and Child of Eden push the boundaries of what games can be, I generally find these games to be not that fun to play.
Journey is lauded in many circles as the latest great artsy game. If it weren’t for the tremendous amount of positive word-of-mouth for it, I probably would have skipped it completely. Is this the art game that will win me over?
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.
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?
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.
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.
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?
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.
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?
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?”
In Third Person 