“Third time’s a charm” is a phrase that sort of implies the first two times didn’t take.  When the first two times were good and better, you’re going to be hard-pressed to pull off a “best” – anything else would be a letdown.  After seeing the demo of Far-Cry 3 shown at E3 2011, I’d wager better than even money that the franchise is charmed indeed. Far Cry 3 returns you to the tropics, where you’ll step into the boots of protagonist Jason Brody, a man with a busted boat, a missing… Read more

Violence in video games doesn’t bother me. Violence in video games, dare I suggest, is a good thing.  We’re all human animals; we need a way to sublimate our baser urges that don’t, you know, actually hurt other people.  Nobody’s going to become a mass-murderer because they want to replicate the pleasure of squishing Goombas by dropping cinder blocks on pedestrians from their third-story window.  Plus, so many video-game villains have it coming.  Demons, ogres, mutant aliens from beyond… Read more

The remake of Syndicate has a lot of folks out polishing pitchforks, and from what’s been shown so far, Starbreeze has taken some pretty substantial liberties with the Syndicate setting and drastically altered the gameplay.  Now, even excellent games like Syndicate or Shadowrun leaned on their atmosphere to be just right; that stark, inescapable high-tech ruinscape was a pillar which bore the weight of occasionally repetitive fights and leveling up.  That this has been swapped out for a… Read more

There is a tendency among writers of sci-fi/adventure trilogies to bring out the big guns in the last act. I’m using “guns” literally in this case.  Remember how there was lots of kung-fooey but a conspicuous lack of large-scale combat with chain-gun-armed mechs in the first two Matrix movies?  Which Lord of the Rings movie has the most CGI warriors again?  If you’re going to have an all-out clash of civilizations, it’s hard not to save up the really climactic battle for the third act,… Read more

Big robots exist to crush things.  This fact is well-known. Armored Core 5 – the latest and greatest in the long-running mech-battle series – understands this principle, and is dedicated to the corollary that if Big Robots Crushing things is fun, then logically, Many Big Robots Crushing Things equals Many Funs.  Much fun.  It would be cool.  I’m inclined to agree, but naturally open to putting this idea to the test of execution. Mutiplayer is the big new addition to Armored Core… Read more

Games that put you behind the wheel come in two essential flavors: games that are about driving, and games that are about using your vehicle as a weapon or destructive force.  Pole Position is an early example of the former.  Grand Theft Auto and Carmageddon would fall into the latter category.  Unbounded is the Ridge Racer series taking a fairly monumental leap from the first category into the second.  This isn’t going to sit right with a lot of folks; they’re going to be mad at what… Read more

Below is the interview between us and the CEO of Kung Fu Factory – Ricci Rukavina – Exclusive Information Revealed: 1) The inclusion of female fighters seems to be an attempt to help attract a female audience, are there any indications yet that this has been a successful strategy? Adding female fighters just seemed to make sense for Supremacy MMA as the game bucks all the traditional trends within MMA games, and let’s face it: female fighters have been there, they just… Read more

Fans of previous games in the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare saga will be waiting on tenterhooks for the latest instalment, due to be released to a game store near you in November, 2011. The promised depth of the campaign, set in a range of locations around the world, may be enough to entice you to Modern Warfare 3. If that’s not enough though, you are certainly likely to find plenty to sink your teeth into in the vastly improved Spec Ops mode of this new game. Storyline The campaign in… Read more

We would have to think back to 1999 to remember when the Driver series first began. The series delivers a blend of fast paced driving action with third-person shooting within open environments. So far the series has impressed but never felt complete, and has had three different publishers; GT Interactive (1999), Infogrames/Atari (1999–2006) and Ubisoft (2006-to date). This is Ubisoft’s first attempt at releasing the series on the PS3 / XBOX 360; Driver San Francisco will be released… Read more

Red Faction: Armageddon Preview Unlimited ammo, that’s what Red Faction: Armageddon is all about!  The first footage of the new installment in this series was released June 4th, 2010 and since then, fans have been torn.  Some were so discouraged in the previous games that they didn’t dare get too excited in case there are just as many flaws in gameplay and graphics this time around.  Others just had to hear that Volition was offering unlimited ammunition and new weapons… Read more