Jet Set Radio HD: Review


Posted on September 19, 2012 by Matthew Regier

Sega has brought back a blast from the past with a new shiny gloss. It’s time dust off those roller skates and tune in back into Jet Set Radio HD. After 12 long years this fan favorite Dreamcast title is back. Fresh onto the virtual shelves of PSN, Xbox Live Arcade, and PC, Jet Set Radio a hip, colourful experience about tagging the streets and pulling off tricks on roller skates while do so. During its initial release, Jet Set Radio was showered with praise for its unique overall design, catchy and upbeat soundtrack and winner of E3’s “Best Console Game” in 2000. After more than a decade, does Jet Set Radio HD still hold itself up against this new generation of games?

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DayZ: Thoughts and Impressions


Posted on August 13, 2012 by Matthew Regier

Welcome to the island Chernarus, a 225 km² post-Soviet island state, a land that is one of the few living places that hasn’t been infected by the virus that turns its citizens into ferocious zombies. Struggling each day in order to survive in this new world, there are survivors. They are few left because the world’s population is almost all reanimated dead. On Chernarus basic supplies like water and food must be scavenged, and without a weapon you won’t be able to defend yourself  from the walking dead and each other.

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Deadlight: Review


Posted on August 10, 2012 by Matthew Regier

This is not the end, nor is it the beginning. This is just another day. A dead world ruled by the living dead. What few survivors there are have their hopes laid out to reach the coveted Safe Point on the outskirts of Seattle. Randall Wayne is one of these men, he is a survivor and wants nothing more than to find his family, his beloved wife and daughter once more. Welcome to the dark, atmospheric new world of Deadlight, developed by Tequila Studios based out of Madrid, Spain. Their first title to be released which is available on the Xbox Live Arcade.

Deadlight is a survival horror platformer in which the player takes the role of a grizzled Vancouver park ranger by the name of Randall Wayne. Randall is working his way towards the now ruined city of Seattle and the coveted “safe point. He hopes that he may once again reunite with his friends that he is travelling with as well as his missing wife and daughter whom he suspect are waiting at the “safe point”,  and whose memory haunts our hero throughout his journey.

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The Book of Unwritten Tales: Review


Posted on July 31, 2012 by Matthew Regier

In the humble year of 2009 a little known German company, King Art, went forth on the great task of breathing fresh air into what has otherwise been a stale and stagnated genre of fantasy adventure. The journey was long, dark, and difficult. Undergoing deep research on  the tropes that brought stagnation into the genre itself. This time however, it the adventure genre is as refreshing as can possibly be. The Book of Unwritten Tales is a stimulating look at the fantasy adventure genre that gives the player a great story which is thick with parody that will give any fan of anything remotely fantasy sore sides from the quick witted and well placed humour within this fantastic title.

“The Book of Unwritten Tales” itself is a title that, despite it being a really great sounding name, will have you scratching your head. How could you possibly have a book of unwritten tales? This itself is part of the tone that the game offers; a high fantasy story that relishes in many of the tropes made by previous titles anywhere from movies, literature, and even other adventure games. Ranging from Star Wars to Kings Quest. Anything you can possibly imagine and there will be some sort of subtle allusion to it hidden somewhere amongst the 60 unique locations and 40 colourful non-playable characters within the deep, rich world that has been created to explore.

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The Walking Dead: Starved For Help [Episode 2] Review


Posted on June 29, 2012 by Matthew Regier

In case you haven’t read the first review of this ongoing series you can find that here.

Have you ever been so hungry that you would be willing to do anything for a meal? What price would you pay for a single meal? Telltale’s The Walking Dead Episode 2: Starved For Help asks these questions and the choices  are never easy. The highly anticipated second episode to The Walking Dead story set in the comic universe of Robert Kirkman will send shivers up your spine and make your heart race with its perfect blend of atmosphere and drama and will make you question even your own limits in a dire situation.

The second chapter begins three months after the conclusion of the first episode in the Motor Inn that the ground created their base out of. Tensions begin high during a hunting excursion in the woods to find that a meal is difficult to find as even the wildlife is beginning to dwindle due to the “Walker” outbreak. The first scene alone sets the tone for the episode as you are immediately set with a decision that is necessary but very difficult to make and would make the most hardened men squirm in their chair.

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Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown Review


Posted on June 5, 2012 by Matthew Regier

The smooth flowing cinematic fighting experience, Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown has touched down upon the Xbox Live Arcade, and the Playstation Network. It has been a few years since the initial release of Virtua Fighter 5: ONLINE and Final Showdown is truly a more polished version updating the graphics, adding two new characters, new stages, and balancing other characters while adding in some new moves to mix it up for veterans while still managing to be friendly for new players.

Players who played Virtua Fighter 5: ONLINE and are switching over to Final Showdown will notice that the character models are a lot less blurry and that the stages are as bright and vibrant as ever,  Enhancing the cinematic combat and giving the game a very crisp colourful look. There are over 20 stages ranging from a construction zone within a city or out in the desert in a tall wooden fest. With each stage being different from one another,  over different geographies,  one thing is certain that you will not get bored of the options available.

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South Park Stick of Truth E3 Demo


Posted on June 4, 2012 by Matthew Regier

Matt Stone and Tray Parker come on stage after a new trailer for the highly anticipated South Park: The Stick of Truth. The South Park creators discussed their time mapping out the town of South Park and praising the visual style.

Although they didn’t have much time to talk about the game (because they had to leave and work on the game apparently) they did have the time to get a good couple quips out and definitely build the hype for South Park: The Stick of Truth.Read More


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Tomb Raider: Gameplay Teaser


Posted on June 4, 2012 by Matthew Regier

From Crystal Dynamics they bring forward Tomb Raider. The demo showed is an action sequence showing off a bunch of really cool stuff. Opening up with showing off the mechanics of the hunting bow that Lara uses.

The game utilizes lightning fast movement and action. Where Lara can be in and out of combat within seconds. Showing off lots of great environments too. From the AI having conversations amongst each other to the rain steadily falling.

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Splinter Cell: Blacklist Unveiled


Posted on June 4, 2012 by Matthew Regier

The unveiling of Splintercell Blacklist shows our favorite covert operative showing a strangely Solid Snake style uniform along the Iraqi border working to stop a blacklist attack. The game play appears to be a mix of the advances made in Splinter Cell: Conviction mixed in with an action movie styled cinematic execution system where you can hold enemies hostage and slow down time to pick off surrounding targets in the vicinity for clean and smooth game play. The section of the game shown was one of the early missions with Sam infiltrating an enemy base along the border of Iraq, in which the new gameplay has been shown off. Advancing in the smoothness of combat creating a mix between stealth and action. Sam’s movement has become even more acrobatic since the last title to be released, giving Mr. Fischer an almost Nathan Drake feel.

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Skullgirls | Review


Posted on May 24, 2012 by Matthew Regier

Punch, kick, it’s all in the input. That’s what could be said of the Reverge Games’ explosive new fighter, Skullgirls. On the surface this Autumn Games’ published title will look like any other all-female cast fighting game in the same spirit as Arcana Heart [Atlus], but Skullgirls offers more to the genre. As Reverge Labs is head by Mike “Mike Z” Zaimont, tournament champ and artist Alex “o_8” Ahad Skullgirl’s is truly something unique within a sea of sameness.

Skullgirls from day one was designed to be a tournament fighter, yet at the same time remaining approachable and engaging for the casual player, and engaging it is. Each of the game’s initial 8 characters are all hand drawn, with over one-thousand frames per character and enhanced by real-time lighting. This make for a very visually stunning in experience in this fast paced tourney fighter.

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Capcom Decides To Step Back On DLC Approach


Posted on May 15, 2012 by Matthew Regier

Capcom, the most popular developer for people to hate when the words “downloadable content” are mentioned have decided to reevaluate their approach when it comes to releasing DLC for their new games. Particularly their on-disc DLC that have fans upset over. Notably the 14 characters that hackers detected on disc of Street Fighter X Tekken.

Capcom’s senior vice president Christian Svensson has assured its audience that their complaints and questions have been heard said in a post on the Capcom Unity Blog.

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Our Day With Sony: Part Two


Posted on May 15, 2012 by Matthew Regier

Continuing on from Part One of the Sony Press Event where I was able to check out some upcoming games for the PS3 and Vita. Since the event a couple of these games have already been released, so there will be much more in-depth detail coming up pretty soon on one or more of these fantastic titles.

Without further adieu, let’s talk about video games starting with:

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Sony Press Event – My Day With The Games


Posted on May 8, 2012 by Matthew Regier

I had the opportunity to go spend a day at a Sony press event where they were able to show off a bunch of upcoming games coming out for the Playstation 3 and Vita. Beforehand I only knew of a handful of titles that were going to be there, so when I arrived and found twice the amount of TVs I was expecting I have to admit I was pretty excited, especially for a couple of the titles that I will talk about in a bit. I’m going to discuss my time with the games and my initial opinions on everything that I saw.

There’s plenty to discuss so read on…

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EA Admits to Poor Origin Communication


Posted on May 3, 2012 by Matthew Regier

Origin, Electronic Art’s digital distribution platform that has been around for just over a year now has turned to its user base to help get some corners smoothed out. EA, admitting they could have done a better job in “communicating what’s available” is hoping to improve this by asking its 9.3 million registered users for some feedback on the issue.

Despite the $100 million Origin generated in 2011, and which continues to grow with the addition of new publishing partners, they still want to make Origin more user friendly and is confident that it’s user base will be able to express their concerns so that they may be able to make the platform more streamlined.

Continuing The Origin Conversation currently has 900 comments with many users hoping for a more streamline front page, less hassle with accounts and DRM, as well as little requests such as an overlay clock are common requests. EA will be hosting a live Q&A session with product manager Mike Lewis and creative director Robert Kissinger, in which they intend to address as many of these problems as possible. This session will be held on May 8th at 10:00AM PDT.


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Nintendo To Support Digital Downloads


Posted on May 2, 2012 by Matthew Regier

Starting in August Nintendo will begin releasing its first party titles, and possibly allowing third party titles in both physical and digital releases simultaneously. This new digital distribution service is going to affect both the 3DS and the Wii U when it launches later this year.

This new digital distribution service isn’t just going to effect Nintendo’s first party titles either. Today they announced through a statement to IGN, “We are currently preparing a program for third parties, but have nothing specific to announce at this time”.

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