Dance Central Review

I was sold on Dance Central the moment I saw the first E3 live demo of it in action. I always trust in Harmonix to make a quality game, but watching this girl break it down to one of my favourite songs took it over the top for me. Video games based on real dancing aren’t necessarily new, but up until this point, no one had made a dancing game where every body movement mattered. I’ve been waiting for this type of game for quite some time, and I was ready to pay anything for it.

Well, almost anything. I wasn’t ready to buy a Kinect at $150 just for this game, and I anxiously awaited for the day when I could get a Kinect for less than full price. That day happened, and I’ve since cranked that Soulja Boy and contorted my body in ways I never thought were possible. Is this the new dancing queen? Or nothing but two left feet?

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Kinect Sports Review

Motion-controlled sports games are a dime a dozen nowadays. Ever since Wii Sports laid out the blueprint, its been copied countless times. Odds are, you’ve already burned out on Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resort, Sports Champions, Deca Sports and countless other takes on the same real-life sports.

Microsoft is hoping that you still have an appetite for motion sports and you’re willing to pay for it. Unlike the Wii Sports series or Sports Champions, which are packed in with something else, Kinect Sports is a stand-alone game that retails for $50. Is this too much to ask for a different version of the same sports you’ve played many times before?

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Kinect Adventures Review

As Microsoft’s answer to Wii Sports, Kinect Adventures has some big shoes to fill. Whether they admit it or not, Microsoft hopes that Kinect Adventures will be that game that sells you and everyone you know on the peripheral, just like Wii Sports did. Does this pack-in title pack the punch of its Wii rival, or is it just another mini game collection?

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Am I Ready for Dead Space 2?

 

The hype train for Dead Space 2 has been gradually building for the past year or so. While the original game got off to a slow sales start, it eventually sold really well and won a lot of people over. I for one gave the game a shot around this time last year and was very impressed. Almost too impressed in a way. You see, that game was so good at being scary that I couldn’t handle the fear anymore.

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Early Impressions of Blur

In a world where Gran Turismo 5 and Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit have just come out, picking up Blur seems like an odd choice. This PGR/Mario Kart hybrid didn’t exactly set the world on fire, but the demo left enough of a positive impact on me to keep it on my ‘buy it eventually’ list, which I finally did over the weekend.

It’s a shame that this game did not get a foothold among gamers, cause it’s kind of awesome.

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Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood Single-Player Review

Experiencing a game-breaking glitch is not an easy thing to deal with. Depending on how late in the game it occurs and how long the game is, a game-breaking glitch can screw you out of hours of your life. If it weren’t for the fact that the glitch happened relatively early for me (and the fact that I really wanted to play this game), I would have dropped it like a hot potato. Instead, I gave it a second chance and played it through to completion without a hitch. Was the single-player worth the hours I lost and the frustration I felt early on?

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Pick Up Post: Early Impressions of Kinect

 

As recently as yesterday morning, I had convinced myself that I wasn’t going to get a Kinect this holiday season. I had no plans to buy one, and had told everyone planning on getting me gifts to not buy this for me. Despite it being the hot new thing (that I got to play in advance), I’ve had my concerns with how its priced, the Kinect’s launch catalogue of games and some overall apathy towards motion-controlled gaming.

Even with all of those things going against it, I now have a Kinect and a bunch of games to go with it. Without going into detail, let’s just say that the stars aligned in Kinect’s favour. Having spent a few hours playing with the device now, has it turned this skeptic into a believer?

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Pick-Up Post: Blur

 

Picking up Blur at this point in the game’s life-cycle seems like an odd choice. For one, it’s roughly 7 months old. Two, Gran Turismo 5 is out, which is a much higher-profile racing game. Three, despite its critical acclaim and heavy marketing push, it bombed at retail, which prompted Activision to drop Bizarre Creations.

None of that matters to me. I want to play this game.

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Early Impressions of Plants vs. Zombies on XBOX 360

 

Having first played Plants vs. Zombies on the iPad, I had no doubts going into the XBOX 360 version that this was going to be a good game. However, I did have a few concerns about how the game was going to control. The game lends itself perfectly to touch screen controls, which just isn’t an option on the XBOX 360.

I was also curious about the multiplayer aspects that PopCap Games incorporated into the title. Would multiplayer just be tacked-on or actually add something meaningful to the mix? My brother and I played through a quarter of the game recently to find out.

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Currently No Fix in Sight For Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood Game-Breaking Glitch

 

A few weeks have passed since I encountered a game-breaking glitch in Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood. My write-up about my experience has been very popular over the last few weeks, presumably because I’m not the only one who has encountered this issue.

Despite our efforts to raise this issue to Ubisoft, I’m starting to get the feeling that a fix isn’t coming anytime soon.

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