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The Last Of Us Single Player Review

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Much of my time with The Last of Us wasn’t pleasant. Granted, some of that unpleasantness is by design, since this is a survival horror game in many ways. However, some of the displeasure I felt playing the game wasn’t intentional. After starting things off with a bang, the pace drags to a crawl as it establishes its core gameplay. Worse yet for me, that gameplay is primarily stealth-based, which generally isn’t my cup of tea. On top of that, I had a hard time investing into the moment-to-moment action when the gameplay and context balance just felt off during its first half.

Having said all that, it eventually hits its stride to provide one heck of a closing act.

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Trials HD Review

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Trials HD still stands as one of the most successful games in the history of Xbox Live. You’ll be hard-pressed nowadays to find someone who hasn’t tricked their way through its insane motorcycle obstacle courses. For the longest time, I was one of those people. I’d saw and heard a lot of feedback about the game being difficult, and that was enough to keep me at bay. Had it not been for a Splitkick community game night that featured Trials Evolution, I probably would have passed on the series completely.

It’s sequel won me over in a big way last year, though I’ve only gotten to HD now. While I still have a blast working my way through every course, it’s definitely not a series one should play backwards.

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Splinter Cell: Conviction Impressions

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Stealth games and I generally don’t get along. Most games in the genre require its players to figure out the ideal route through every scenario and execute to perfection. Anything less leads to instant failure. Even if you’re a stealth game savant, most of these scenarios require a ton of trial-and-error to master. This is a process I cannot stand.

So why would I even bother with Splinter Cell: Conviction; the latest instalment of arguably the premier stealth series? Over the last year or so, Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Mark of the Ninja warmed me up to the genre a bit more. I’ve  heard that this latest Splinter Cell has a more action focus to it, which is definitely a selling point to me. Also, it didn’t hurt that I scored it at the bottom of a bargain bin for a mere $10. Did the gamble pay off?

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Dark Souls Impressions

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At this point, Dark Souls is viewed upon as legendary among the gaming community for it’s unapologetic difficulty. Taking heavy cues from action and adventure games of yesteryear, it brutally punishes mistakes and is a rather obtuse experience to comprehend. With virtually no context given, the game gives you a key to free yourself from your cell and it’s essentially up to you to figure out the rest.

This style of game is generally not my thing. Even as a child, my tolerance for difficulty was relatively low. However, it’s crossed that point where as a gaming enthusiast, I just have to play it in order to experience first hand what everyone’s been talking about. Also, I started playing ZombiU, which many people say takes influence from Dark Souls, and I didn’t have that experience under my belt to say otherwise. Did I make it out alive?

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Sleeping Dogs Review

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The Sleeping Dogs origin story has been documented ad nauseam, so I won’t do that here. Nor did it matter to me much, anyway. I’d never played a True Crime game before, and even after it came out to mostly positive press, it still wasn’t a game on my radar. Had it not been for its awesome demo, I probably would have let this one slide. Though I can’t speak to the game’s quality before it came out, the end result is pretty rad. This is one of the most fun open world games I’ve played since Grand Theft Auto IV, and might be my favourite one yet.

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Skylanders Giants Review

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Size matters, or at least that’s what Activision wants us to believe with Skylanders Giants, the follow-up to the smash-hit Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure. Besides providing gamers with an all-new adventure, some new characters and new figures, it also introduces the concept of giant Skylanders, which are larger figurines that manifest into larger in-game characters. But does the age old ‘bigger is better’ adage apply here?

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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!

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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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.

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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