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Towering, From Below

Written by Erik Rapson on October 15th, 2008 2:32 AM

A skyscraper sized mechanical beast towers over grassy Icelandic hills. At first it inspires awe, since few games are rendered with such literal, uncontained immensity. But something is askew in Resistance 2, because when it comes down to the true sense of it all, it’s hardly impactful.

Playing the earlier levels of Insomniac’s latest effort left a feeling of indifference. For all its attempts at imbuing a sprawling scale, the highly deliberate crescendo of chaos generally remained at a mild plateau. Much is going on, most of it blurred together. Continue »

Not Quite the Normal Normandy

Written by Erik Rapson on October 10th, 2008 8:34 AM

It starts with a heavy boot sinking into ashen, damp sand. Despite the cold and alien landscape, this is a battle with a distinct familiarity: it’s harkening back, drawing inspiration, and twisting it in a new light. If you haven’t already sensed it, Killzone 2 is oddly recognizable. The vivid, iconic imagery of war parallels great battles from the past, and, of course, the games they inspired. But rather than being wholly derivative of what it so explicitly admires, the enormity of developer Guerilla Games’ vision puts it a cut above the rest. Continue »

Sony Holiday Preview Event: Storm’s a Comin’

Written by Erik Rapson on October 8th, 2008 8:26 PM

An umbrella, to say the least, is an interesting parting gift after a sleek, stylish and classy gaming event. Seeing as no precipitation was in the forecast, perhaps Sony felt that any smidgen of sun would shrivel the pasty Canadian gaming press. Or maybe it’s a message that we should all use that proverbial umbrella to weather out the storm of games that looms upon us this autumn.

Shame that it’s all so appealing though, I might have brave the rain.

The annual Playstation Holiday Preview Event was held in a posh, brightly lit studio turned media venue in downtown Toronto yesterday, complete with an affluent source of drinks, and, more importantly, an avalanche of new titles. Here’s a look at the games that received briefer playtimes. Lengthier ones will get the full preview treatment soon, namely Killzone 2 and Resistance 2, so stay tuned. Continue »

Dead Space Inches Closer

Written by Erik Rapson on September 4th, 2008 9:39 PM

Well, this never happens. EA’s fresh survival horror IP, Dead Space, has been bumped up to October 14th for the Xbox 360 and PS3. First announced to ship day and date on Halloween, then pushed forward to the 21st, and now this; the release plans have been strange to say the least.

Development teams are almost always hitting a massive crunch before a looming date, but maybe Dead Space is all but done at this point. It seems like a possibility. And EA has put a lot of confidence — perhaps too presumptuously — in its broad sci-fi universe; with animated comics and even a feature length animated film. In this industry good release news is odd, especially when a new IP is being treated so well. Let’s have more of it.

Karma Be Damned?

Written by Erik Rapson on September 1st, 2008 4:01 AM

A massive bulkhead door slumbers open; it creaks, it groans and it gapes to expose a tunnel. There is light at the end of it. You begin walking through; a shrivelled corpse is curled up at the side. One of the many, they probably clawed at the vault doors for entrance, looking for solace in a world burnt asunder. The walk continues up the passageway, no turning back now, and you come upon a weathered door to the outside world.

A stark white light shines on fresh eyes and the journey of Fallout 3 begins. As a vault dweller, born to a 1950’s style happy-go-lucky underground existence, you have never before seen the true daylight. Nor the ravages of the apocalyptic war that had you stuck in there in the first place. Continue »

Goodbye Damn Hallways: Project Origin Impressions

Written by Erik Rapson on August 22nd, 2008 5:46 PM

It’s appropriate that F.E.A.R’s sequel takes place in a city gone nuclear. The newly and insipidly named Project Origin blows everything you hated about its predecessor to pieces, while retaining everything that made the original such a celebrated shooter.

The section we played at X’08 opens, teasingly, in a long white hallway; a dreaded image that embodies the repetitive environments that F.E.A.R ultimately became infamous for. As you walk down the stale corridors you’ll soon realize that it’s a subway terminal, the wide open and freeing streets are above. Continue »

Call of Duty: World at War Hits This November

Written by Erik Rapson on August 21st, 2008 5:06 PM

So far Call of Duty: World at War has been conspicuously elusive to any other release date than the broad time frame of autumn 2008. Though, at the X’08 event in Toronto (Xbox Canada’s holiday showcase) an Activision representative confirmed to us that Treyarch’s latest endeavour with the Call of Duty franchise will be hitting sometime this November, no specific day was given.

We’ll bring you our impressions of the two-player cooperative mode soon. And rest assured that even though Infinity Ward is not in the mix this time, it’s safe to say the game is in fine and more than capable hands.