Preview: Injustice: Gods Among Us (360, PS3, Wii U)

 

The intellectual property of Marvel Comics has seen strong representation in the fighting game arena for many years, particularly with the Marvel vs. Capcom series. It has only been in relatively recent years that rival DC Comics has explored the genre.

Departing from the generally well-received Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe -- a weird pairing if ever there was one -- developer NetherRealm Studios shakes free of Mortal Kombat and has grabbed onto DC Comic characters Batman, Superman, Harley Quinn, Wonder Woman, Solomon Grundy, Deathstroke, Green Arrow and more, in an otherworldly slog fest "where the line between good and evil has been blurred."

Review: Dragon Ball Z (360 for Kinect)

 I must be getting old.

After popping this disc into my 360 and calibrating my Kinect (which, to be honest, hasn't been getting a whole lot of love lately) I was ready to dive into Dragon Ball Z for Kinect. Dive I did! (And there's a "popping disc" joke in here, but I'll let you make one up. Head to the comments section with your own!)

Review: The Walking Dead Episode 5: No Time Left (PC)

At the conclusion of the penultimate episode of the Walking Dead, Around Every Corner, you just knew nothing good was going to happen in the concluding episode, which ends just the way you expect it to: the worst way possible.

Review: Need for Speed: Most Wanted (PS3)

Dating back to the mid '90s, I can remember being twelve or thirteen and playing endless hours of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit with my friends on PC. One player would play as the cop setting up spike strips and the other would be the bad guy evading the police. The Need for Speed franchise has changed focus over the last decade focusing heavily on street racing during the middle of the decade with the Hot Pursuit style gameplay re-emerging over the past few years. I played Most Wanted (MW) at E3 2012 and in Germany at EA's Press Event for the game. My positive impression of the game that I took away from those events haven't changed since.

Review: Darksiders II (PS3)

Hard to believe that the first Darksiders was released back in 2010. Inspired by games such as God of War and Zelda, the original Darksiders was met with much praise and acclaim. Often times sequels tend to fall short as they feel more like expansion packs than a full flushed out game. Which one is Darksiders II? A full-on sequel or an expansion?

Darksiders II story parallels that of the first game. The story focuses on Death's side of the tale. Death's brother War, has been charged with committing a crime and it's your job to prove your brother's innocence

Review: FIFA 13 (360, PS3)

As the fidelity of gaming hardware continues to ramp up and be exploited to its full potential, the further sports games seem to be going afield to be even more authentic in an attempt to capture the feel and look of the game. For both the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of FIFA 13 the incredible production values and attention to detail are more or less astounding but because of that the game will more than likely baffle players that aren't already acclimated to the FIFA experience.

Review: Paper Mario: Sticker Star (3DS)

It took more than a couple of hours for me to really shake the feeling that Paper Mario: Sticker Star did itself a disservice somehow when it came to the abandonment of the role-playing aspects that I remember from the other Paper Mario games. Gaining experience points and grinding for items are just two things that are missing from Sticker Star. Even if the rest of the game is actually relatively good, all things considered,  it's no role-playing game.

Review: Medal of Honor: Warfighter (PS3)

I was one of the few people who found some enjoyment in Medal of Honor 2010. My enjoyment was limited to the single player campaign as the multiplayer fell flat.

I got a chance to play Warfighter's multiplayer at E3 this year and I was pleasantly surprised. In fact, after E3 Warfighter was one of my most anticipated games this holiday season. Unfortunately, once I played the final version of the game, I was sorely disappointed.

Review: Painkiller: Hell & Damnation (PC)

Video game nostalgia is cruel.

As we become accustomed to higher speeds, higher fidelity, and more complicated story telling, playing games that we loved in our youth can leave you with that feeling… "I can't believe that I used to play this for hours". The grand-daddy first-person shooter games definitely fall into this category.

Painkiller was a throwback game when it originally launched in 2004, nothing more than a quick explanation, a pile of guns, hordes of near-endless baddies, and enough gore and guts to set a church group on the warpath to try to get this game banned.

Review: Skylanders: Giants (PS3)

I really like Skylanders: Giants. The chief reason for this enjoyment is that I don't have to play it. That might require some explanation if you're just stumbling onto this review and you don't know me from a hole in the ground.

I have five (5) kids at home, boys and girls ranging in age from 13 to 1. The bulk of the games I play and enjoy can't be played in the presence of minors. Halo 4, Dishonored, LA Noire, titles that are definitely not in the kid-friendly wheelhouse. Skylanders: Giants, carrying forward the ideas of the original Skylanders, is very kid friendly. It's bright and colourful, progress is relatively straightforward (beat things up, collect stuff, open doors, etc.), and any adult with a bit of knowledge of video games can step in and navigate the truly difficult areas. It's great to have a game like this that engages kids but doesn't insult the intelligence of adults.

Review: Resident Evil Chronicles HD Collection (PS3)

The Resident Evil Chronicles games were first released for the Wii but now it's available, in HD, on Playstation 3.

The game is a simple rail shooter, but it does feel a bit special knowing it serves as a cool recap of the Resident Evil franchise. Gets you all caught up with the story without having to play through the originals if you don’t feel like spending hours with each game. Makes me wish some other franchises would borrow this idea.

Review: Halo 4 (360)

 

Halo 4 does just about everything a franchise property should. It's big and loud, brash and bold; tosses soup bones in the service of fans; refashions the old, performs some new tricks; kicks-off a second trilogy of games in style; and features a naked blue woman who's actually a computer program that has a weird relationship with the protagonist, Master Chief.

As slick as the single-player experience is, cracks begin to appear almost immediately and I started feeling more like a pecking barnyard animal -- you know, those 7-foot tall, armour-plated ones -- tasked with running an uncomplicated maze and hitting a button. Or three buttons.

It Came From the Backlog: Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War II - Retribution (Part I)

Bunkers are handy for taking a defensive position when lots of enemies
are incoming

I started "It Came From the Backlog" focusing mostly on Geneforge, but I have a tendency to play multiple games together, bouncing back and forth between them, so I'm going to be mixing it up a bit, adding a couple of other games to the fray. Variety is the spice of life and all that, so why not? The best part is that I don't even need to worry about losing track of where I am in a given game because, hey, I've written it all down!

The other game I plan to talk about here for the time being is Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution (sometimes game titles can be so wordy these days). I've had next to no exposure to the Warhammer universe outside of some very limited futzing around in Space Marines. After seeing all sorts of screenshots and discussion for the Dawn of War games over the years, though, I've been really curious about the series. The way it focuses on combat, and does away with much of the resource management of an RTS looked neat. So now I'm finally going to take the time to try out one of these games. I chose to start with Retribution because it is one entry in the series that doesn't have GFWL, something that I'm not at all a fan of.