playstation 3

Dead or Alive 5 Review

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“She kicks high.”

Having never played an entry in the DOA franchise before, that and breast physics were the extent of my knowledge going into Dead or Alive 5. Why would I even bother with the series at this point, especially when my track record of enjoying 3D fighting games is not very good? Academic curiousity, for one. Ever since I jumped deep into the competitive fighting game scene, I’ve bought almost every fighter on the market just to get a sense of what’s out there. Two, you’ll never know what awesome games you’ll come across if you don’t put your neck out there every now and then.

In this case, I’m really glad I did.

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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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The ‘Language’ of King of Fighters XIII

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When it comes to comprehending the combo system in any given fighting game, I love using sentence structure as an analogy. Sentences in any language have a very particular rule-set that dictates how words can be arranged to make sense. When you have a mastery of that sentence structure, you no longer think about the rules; you just create sentences on the fly. Each fighting game is has its own unique sentence structure. And just like language, when you have a mastery of a game’s combo system, you’ll inherently know what series of inputs will string to form a combo.

A few months back, I picked up two fighting games on the same day: Persona 4 Arena, and King of Fighters XIII. While I am far from an expert at the former, I understand its ‘language’ enough to string together basic combos on my own. Even at this entry-level of skill, I’m having a lot of fun with it. The latter is a different story.

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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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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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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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