PC

1 Comment Posted on February 21, 2013February 18, 2013 by Steve Murray Video Games

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed Review (or A Car in a Boat in a Plane in a Hedgehog)

I’ve never been a Sega guy. I grew up with a classic NES and had Mario rather than Sonic. Even my one friend who did have a Genesis (or Mega Drive, if you’d prefer) didn’t have a Sonic game. (He did have a game on the classic Stallone movie Cliffhanger so maybe game buying wasn’t his parents’ forté.) From there, I got a PS1 so I largely missed out on everything Sonic and Mario Kart related in my youth.

And that created a very real problem when it came to reviewing Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. It was described as fan service for long-time Sega and Sonic the Hedgehog fans and a Mario Kart clone. Well, I can’t exactly evaluate a game based on that when the Sega game I had the most playing time with was ATP Tour Championship Tennis.

Looking at SASRT (God, that’s a terrible acronym. That’s what happens when you make a game with an obscenely long and ridiculous title.) from a racing game enthusiasts perspective didn’t give me much cause for hope. After all, saying that Sega would only put out an exceptional Sonic game would omit the existence of Sonic Free Riders which was so universally panned that it makes Aliens: Colonial Marines look like Skyrim by comparison. Continue reading →

2 Comments Posted on January 11, 2013January 1, 2013 by Steve Murray Video Games

Death Rally Review (or Why You Should Read the Whole Review, Not Just Scores)

This won’t shock regular readers but I’m a bit of a racing fan. Find me a driving game and I’m likely to take some positive from it. I say “likely” because that was “going to take a positive” from a driving game until I picked up the remake of Death Rally. Remedy Entertainment might be best known for its work on Max Payne and Alan Wake but the first game out of the studio was 1996’s Death Rally. Fifteen years later, it was remade for iOS and this year, it was ported to PC.

So is Remedy’s update of one of its classics up to par with recent updates like XCOM and Baldur’s Gate? Can an iOS port to PC be worth the price of admission? I examine in my review. Continue reading →

4 Comments Posted on December 28, 2012December 28, 2012 by Steve Murray Video Games

My Twelve Favourite Video Games of 2012

Since we’re doing lists of our favourite things of 2012, I thought I would cover video games. This was an odd year in gaming. New triple-A IPs were few and far between. Sequels were the name of the game this year as developers and publishers bided their time until the launch of the next generation of XBox and Playstation. However, thanks to Kickstarter, indie game bundles and digital distribution on multiple platforms, I think 2012 started to usher in more emphasis on high-quality independently developed games.

So in no particular order, here are my favourite games of 2012. Continue reading →

2 Comments Posted on December 21, 2012December 21, 2012 by Steve Murray Video Games

Hotline Miami Review (or One Way Ticket to Chaos)

November’s Steam sale was every bit as great for me as a gamer as it was bad for my wallet. I bought far too many games but I went out of my way to buy what reviewers said were the best games. That’s why I bought Hotline Miami. It’s a well-reviewed game with some nostalgia for those of use who played classic Grand Theft Auto games. I’ve never been one for excessively violent games so I thought I’d give it a try to see what the hype was about. Continue reading →

1 Comment Posted on December 14, 2012December 14, 2012 by Steve Murray Video Games

FTL: Faster Than Light Review (or Second Star to the Right and Straight on ‘Til Morning)

I recently said that I was going to get into reviewing more independent games on the blog instead of just the big releases. With indie games gaining a bigger foothold in the market thanks to Kickstarter and online distribution, it seemed like a good idea to examine the world of independent games. Let’s start that today with a slightly belated review of roguelike space sim FTL. Continue reading →

5 Comments Posted on June 22, 2012June 22, 2012 by Steve Murray Video Games

BioWare Officially Announces Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut

Seemingly out of nowhere, BioWare officially announced the upcoming release of the Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut DLC which will be available for download on June 26th (this coming Tuesday). This is the much-anticipated updated ending to ME3 announced in April after fans complained about the lack of closure and plot holes contained in the ending of Mass Effect 3 that shipped with on the game disc.

After the jump, we have all of the official details from BioWare and our analysis. Continue reading →

25 Comments Posted on June 4, 2012June 14, 2012 by Steve Murray Columns, Video Games

The Mass Effect 3 Controversy: What Went Wrong And Why It’s Not Entitlement

Last Friday, I posted my spoiler-free review of Mass Effect 3. By going spoiler-free, I didn’t discuss many of the more controversial moments of ME3 as that would involve spoiling most of the game to give any sort of context. While many gamer complaints about the game are written-off by larger gaming media outlets as “gamer entitlement” or gamers looking for a “happy ending,” many gamers have valid complaints about what was promised by BioWare and what they actually shipped in March.

After the jump, I take a look at some of the controversial moments in ME3 ahead of today’s EA press conference at E3. Continue reading →

4 Comments Posted on June 1, 2012May 30, 2012 by Steve Murray Video Games

Video Game Review: Mass Effect 3 (or This Is It, Isn’t It)

A couple of months behind the rest of the world, I finally managed to finish playing Mass Effect 3. Being late to the party meant that I got to hear all the controversy over the ending and first day DLC. BioWare had a near impossible effort to make everyone happy with the concluding part to such a great trilogy. Were they able to pull it off or were the public right that EA is the worst company in America? Continue reading →

10 Comments Posted on May 25, 2012May 30, 2012 by Steve Murray Entertainment, Video Games

Video Game Review: Mass Effect 2 (or ME2: Modern Warfare)

My hard drive failure forced reprogression through the Mass Effect trilogy brings me to Mass Effect 2. After the launch of Mass Effect, BioWare was bought by EA, who were recently named the worst company in America. The apparent influence of BioWare’s new corporate parent is readily apparent in changes made between Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 (though we may never get the true story as to how much EA influenced the design of the game and how much of the changes were BioWare’s own choice). While Mass Effect could be described as an Action RPG, Mass Effect 2 edged toward Shooter RPG as many of the RPG elements from the first game underwent a complete overhaul.

Today, I review the second part of the Mass Effect trilogy with three year’s worth of hindsight and the accompanying DLCs. Continue reading →

The Lowdown