Reviews

XCOM: Enemy Unknown Review

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My love affair with the turn-based strategy games began after the original XCOM faded into obscurity. Advance Wars and Fire Emblem were my introduction to the genre, and for the most part, the only games in the genre I play. Not for a lack of desire, but for a lack of options. Sure, there are a lot of indie strategy games on PC/iOS, but when the big-budget strategy game market shrunk to nothing, the only real standout to me was Nintendo. Even then, neither of their strategy titles have lit up the sales charts or help revive the genre.

I’m not sure what compelled 2K Games to push ahead with a new XCOM now, but I truly appreciate the fact that they did. XCOM: Enemy Unknown is not only a fantastic turn-based strategy game, but easily one of the best games I played that came out in 2012.

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Check Out Vault Play: Rocksmith Now on Splitkick.com!

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The best girlfriend ever got me the Rocksmith guitar bundle for Christmas. Since then, I’ve been shredding the six string in hopes of someday not sucking at guitar. If you have ambitions of learning, this might be worth looking into. Head over to Splitkick to read the full post!

Check out Vault Play: Rocksmith on Splitkick!

Alan Wake Impressions

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Alan Wake isn’t short on ambition. This survival horror title bookends each of its chapters with drama that could stand up against a television thriller. It’s during these points when I get really jazzed about the game.

And then it falls apart when I actually have to play it.

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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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Journey Review

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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?

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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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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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Curiosity – What’s Inside the Cube?

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(Download on iTunes)

From his crazy over-selling of ideas that never made it into the Fable games, to the early Kinect prototype Milo, Peter Molyneux isn’t afraid to make kooky ideas come to life (or at least talk about them). His latest effort may be his most offbeat yet. In Curiosity – What’s Inside the Box, you and the rest of the world  work together to chip away at a giant cube until there’s nothing left. There’s supposedly something life-changing at the end, but only the person who chips away the final piece will get to see it. For at least a few minutes, I rolled up my sleeves and chipped away with the rest of the world in this experience.

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