BT Calgary Blogs

Who would have thought back in 2007 the Uncharted franchise would turn into the monster it is today. At the time many thought it was a Tomb Raider clone, featuring a male lead character. Fast forward four years and we can now say Uncharted is without a doubt going in a direction the Tomb Raider franchise only dreamed of. Fast paced action, riveting story, Uncharted 3: Drakes’s Deception has a lot going for it. But can it possibly lead to the hype built-up by Sony and Naughty Dog?

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Make no mistake about it, we are in the midst of the holiday rush. Review copies of games continue to pile up in the office screaming out to be played. Yet I find myself playing one title over and over again. I know, I should be playing other titles but every time I open a new game up I find myself putting batman Arkham City back into my console telling myself “just another hour”. The next thing I know it’s time to call it a night. Yes, Batman Arkham City is that good. It’s not perfect, but damn it’s good!

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To call Gears of War 3 one of the most anticipated games of the year for the Xbox 360 is a bit of an understatement. Microsoft has been throwing Gears parties for months to create a frenzy and it appears their work is paying off. More than one million copies of the game have already been pre-ordered which is understandable. This is after all the final installment in the franchise, at least for this story arc.

What began as a new startup franchise five years ago in 2006 is about to come to a dramatic end. Gears of War 3 marks the end of the trilogy, the end of a surprisingly emotional story that has captivated fans around the globe. So how do you wrap up such a beloved series? With a bang.

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In the crowded videogame market it’s important to distinguish yourself against the competition. Some games come out with unique features, some with bonus content, and others rely on a concept that is so bizarre their game stands out from others in the genre. Driver San Francisco falls into the latter category.

Here’s how it plays out. A cop gets into a near-fatal car accident. As paramedics try and revive him he has an out of body experience and discovers he can shift into other people’s bodies, taking control of them. This sets the scene for one of the most unique driving games I have ever experienced on a console. On paper it sounds bizarre, yet I was pleasantly surprised to find it’s just crazy enough to work.

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Nearly six million people around the globe have seen the trailer for Dead Island. There is no denying it is easily one of the most compelling, dramatic trailers for a video game ever produced. A family vacationing on a island paradise fighting for their lives against a horde of zombies, played in reverse in slow motion set to dramatic music. It’s a marketing masterpiece which got not only gamers talking, but the general public.

There’s always a danger when you produce something so buzz worthy. It’s the same trap movies fall into. Can a title live up to the hype created by the trailer? In the case of Dead Island it certainly comes close, but falls a bit short.

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Nathan Hale is dead. The man who lead the war against the Chimera has now fallen victim to the virus he fought so valiantly against. Now a new man must pick up the fight.

It’s an interesting way to kick off the third installment to a widely popular video game franchise; kill off the main character which people have grown to know and start fresh with someone new. Yet Insomniac has chosen to do just that in Resistance 3.

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As I type away on my laptop a dull throb is radiating down my upper right arm. The pain has been there for two days now and is only starting to subside now that I have abandoned my Xbox. My training to become a ninja has been thwarted, defeated by mere pieces of fruit.

Last year Halfbrick Studios took the mobile gaming world by storm with the release of Fruit Ninja for the iPhone. Gamers across the globe sliced and diced fruit by swiping their fingers across their screens. Now the blockbuster game has come to the Xbox 360, to recruit a new batch of ninjas. But just how well does it translate from mobile phone to console? Surprisingly well.

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The iPhone 4 has a pretty amazing built-in camera. But if there was an Achilles heel it would have to be the digital zoom. Like many smartphones on the market it’s hard to get a nice closeup shot of something unless you are standing relatively close. Sure the digital zoom can help you get a closer shot but you certainly sacrifice picture quality as your image can become quite pixelated. So when I saw Photojojo’s Telephoto iPhone lens I was intrigued!

The lens promises to get you up close and personal to your subject “like having a Sigma 500 for your iPhone”. In layman’s terms you can get 8 times the zoom without having to resort to using digital zoom. Sounds impressive, but how well does it actually work?

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It’s been a long time since I played an old-school side scrolling shooter. And while it would be easy to lump Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet (ITSP) into this category, gamers will soon find out there is much more to this game than meets the eye.

FuelCell Games has created a game which blends multiple genres. Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet can best be described as the lovechild of Gradius and Metroid. While you’ll have to keep your finger on the trigger at all times you’ll also spend much of the journey searching for hidden passages and power-ups to help you progress through the planet’s maze-like environment.

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“It’s time for tea Alice!” With that classic line the Mad Hatter lifts up a tea cup in one hand pushes it towards the lips of one of his guests. Both the Dormouse and the March Hare lay awkwardly at the Mad hatter’s side, neither one moving a hair as the Mad Hatter insists they drink. The guests remain quiet, after all you can’t speak when you’re dead. Yet the Hatter continues to pour tea down the March Hare’s throat, ignoring the fact that his guests are only corpses, victims of Alice’s rage.

This is the twisted vision of Wonderland American McGee brings to console gamers for the first time in Alice: Madness Returns, the follow-up to the cult classic Alice released for the PC back in 2000. The game sold more than one million copies and became a collector’s item. It’s easy to see why. The dark take on the classic children’s tale showed us a side of Alice Disney would never allow.

McGee’s follow-up is just as dark and demented as the original game, yet it’s not the perfect experience fans of the franchise may be looking for.

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