Andrew Sztein
As one of the most anticipated games of E3 amongst the hardcore crowd, Epic had its work cut out for itself with their preview of Gears of War 3. Fortunately, while the game seems to be an evolution, not revolution of the Gears' formula, there's plenty new here to excite any Gears fan, and perhaps entice a new fan or two to the party. Read More.
Ten years ago, a little RTS that could was released to extreme critical acclaim and valiantly went up against heavy hitters like Red Alert and Warcraft to carve its own little niche for itself. That game was Shogun: Total War, and after spawning an entire series spanning various time periods and conflicts throughout human history, the series is returning to its roots with Shogun 2: Total War. Read More.
Last year's the Conduit was one of a few select titles that proved that compelling first person shooter experiences were possible on Nintendo's little waggle machine that could. The game wasn't without its flaws, but clearly was successful enough to warrant a sequel, that we got our grubby little Canadian mitts in the South Hall at E3 2010. Read More.
Don't let the name fool you, this is close to a Contra 5 that we're going to get for the time being. Borrowing the subtitle from the Genesis classic Contra: Hard Corps, our hands on time confirmed to us yet again that the Contra series is the go to franchise for vintage run and gun action. Read More.
What a strange long road its been for Remedy Games and their long time coming opus: Alan Wake. Believe it or not, the game has actually gone gold after five long years of development. We were privileged to get a personal hands-on tour of Alan Wake's fractured existence in the latest build of the game, being pressed onto those shiny little discs as I write this. Read More.
High up in the Ottawa skyline, GamingExcellence was given an exclusive hands on preview with the latest build of Crackdown 2, the anticipated sequel to the original, climb anything, blow everything up, kookfest that was the original title. Read More.
LittleBigPlanet on the PS3 was one of the more pleasant surprises in the industry last year. While the PS3 certainly lags behind systems like the Wii in terms of casual appeal, it was fantastic to have a game come about for the fledging system that encouraged easy to pick up and play controls, loads of easy to use customization options, brilliant platformer gameplay all wrapped into a presentation so sugary sweet it'll rot your teeth. Read More.
Those who played the original Army of Two may have left the game with a sour taste in their mouths. For all the great ideas and action packed scenarios that the game had to offer, there was a ton of little annoyances and irritating mechanics to deal with that marred the entire experience. Read More.
If there's one franchise that has grown stagnant, it's the formerly mighty Tony Hawk franchise. As someone who used to await each instalment with bated breath, I've been disappointed by each successive instalment's lack of innovation and forward thinking. Indeed, the franchise lost its way not long after Tony Hawk Underground 2. Read More.
After creating two of the most beloved shooters at the turn of the millennium, Remedy Software went silent. While Max Payne and its under appreciated sequel were released more than half a decade ago, gamers have been patiently (or not so patiently) waiting for information on their new Xbox 360 exclusive, Alan Wake. Read More.
Throughout the many booths of E3 2009, you're bound to run into a few games that you've seen in years past. Some look identical, others are given a total overhaul to the point of being unrecognizable. While we were given a quick look at Borderlands last year, its appearance at this year's event surely puts it into the latter category. Read More.
Every E3, there's a few games that slip in under the radar, not being hyped and recognized. Tucked away in one of the corners of E3 2009, was a little gem of a game called Raven Squad, a First Person Shooter/Real Time Strategy hybrid from SouthPeak interactive. Read More.
Perhaps Bizarre Creations got bored with making simulation style racers. Maybe they just wanted to give a big middle finger to the Forza Motorsports and Gran Turismos of the world. How else do you explain Blur, a new racer that brings realistic handling and combines with crazy weapons and over the top theatrics. Read More.
Open world games certainly have been popular in recent years. A few years ago, before the genre exploded into the sheer mass it has become nowadays, there was a little hidden gem by the name of Mafia. Now, several years after the original has been all but forgotten except by the game's ardent fans, 2K has seen fit to bring the franchise back to the masses in a gritty, realistic open world that fans of mob movies like The Godfather will eat up with jolly enthusiasm. Read More.
Walking into the sound proofed demo room for Singularity, I had no idea what to expect. I knew the game was from the FPS gurus at Raven soft, and… that's about it. Then the PR agent told me something that becomes the kiss of death for any game for me. Read More.
