video games

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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How I Use Metacritic to Inform My Gaming Purchases

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Metacritic as a service is viewed as divisive among gaming enthusiasts. On one hand, it’s the major site that gives you an easy-to-find aggregate of numerous major gaming reviews for one game in one place. On the other hand, critics hate how it marginalizes full reviews into a number, its methods for aggregating reviews, and the significance certain entities place on the final Metacritic score.

My stance on Metacritic is a bit from column A, and a bit from column B, but I do oftentimes refer to Metacritic to inform my gaming purchases. I’m sure everyone has a way of interpreting the data, though I thought I’d share how I use 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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My Initial Wii U Hardware Experience

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After months of sitting on a pre-order, Steff and I’s Wii U came to us in the mail not long after launch. Though I’ve had the opportunity to play the system a few times at demo stations, I was really excited to try out the system for realsies in the comfort of my own home. Here’s how our initial experience went with setting it up and using it for the first few hours.

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Out Now: The Nintendo Wii U

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The biggest day in video game new releases is here! That is, if you pre-ordered or are standing in line right this second.

The Nintendo Wii U and its gigantic touchscreen controller are destined to be essentially sold out between now and Christmas. With that said, there are probably a bunch of you who got one at a midnight launch, or are in line for one this morning. I pre-ordered mine online, so it won’t arrive for the next few days, but I’m cool with that.

If you’ve got it, tell me what you think! If you don’t, do you have any interest in tracking one down while Wii U hype is at an all-time high?

Rayman Legends Demo Impressions

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My initial impressions of the Wii U back in August 2012 were lukewarm. While I approved of the general build quality and feel of the Wii U GamePad, neither Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition or Scribblenauts Unlimited did much to demonstrate what it was really capable of. Recently, I got to get my hands on a demo of Rayman Legends, which is the current showcase game at Wii U demo stations. Based on my experience with Rayman Origins, I was expecting this demo to show positively. What did catch me off guard was how well it leveraged the functionality of the Wii U GamePad.

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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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The Recurring Bosscast: 002 – PlayPlace Smell

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With Halo 4 and Call of Duty: Black Ops II out, we figured now would be the perfect time to cover our collective disinterest in both. To balance things out, Jett interviews his coworker David (aka DG Omega), who is the biggest Halo fan he knows. Besides being too cool for school, Mat fills us in on Skyfall, Jason is nervous about losing his wisdom teeth, and we cover a ton of different games we’ve been playing instead of the big two.

Jett – In Third Person
Jason – Downstab
Mat – Biff Bam Pop

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.