Missing Reviews: From Under the Game Pile

As many games as I review there are still plenty of great title that manage to get swept under the review pile over the course of my year and I hate to see them not get the once over that they deserve. While some of these titles have been out for a while I found them to be quite worth the time to check them out.

Too Human
Silicon Knights
Available on Xbox 360

Local St. Catharines game developers, Silicon Knights brought Too Human out last Fall and though it didn’t receive huge praise, I did find it to be an excellent title once you got past everyone else’s opinions on it. Honestly I can’t believe I didn’t review this title sooner but it just seemed to keep getting pushed back for other games and then I never got around to it.

Too Human is based on the Norse mythology and has you playing the role of Baldur, one of the Aesir, cybernetically enhanced humans which are seen as Gods to the humans they rule over. Baldur is tasked with protected his people from the sudden attacks of machine-like creatures that are feeding on human flesh. The game has the usual role-playing genre elements but includes some interest first time combat controls using the analog sticks and an item inventory that no one player could completely collect in just one play through.

I found the combination of technology and Norse mythology to be spectacular and the storyline that combined the various Norse Gods and Beowulf storyline was also gripping. While the combat took a bit of getting use to, I found the new use of the analog sticks for directional fighting moves was much easy for pulling off combo moves than most fighting systems I’ve used. Overall this is a beautiful game with an amazing storyline and since it was created by our hometown gaming studio, I think all local gamers should give it a chance.

Rating: 8 out of 10
Buy it!

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
Electronic Arts, Pandemic Studios
Available for PC, Playstation 3, Playstation 2 and Xbox 360

It’s been more than 3 years between the Mercenaries games which would make you wonder if that’s too long to go before making a sequel. Luckily for Pandemic Studio, fun never gets old and that is exactly want you get with Mercenaries 2: World in Flames.

The game puts in the middle of a rebellion in the country of Venezuela, where oil has become the main focus of the conflict. While the government has tried to maintain control of the situation, there are a number of factions working within the country trying to take control as well. You can work with 5 of those factions: Universal Petroleum, the People's Liberation Army of Venezuela, the Chinese army, the Allied Nations, and the Rastafarian Pirates, each of whom will give you missions in order to get you in better with the main up and comer in the area, Ramon Solano.

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames was a great “bomb the f@#K out of everything” kind of game. Everything in the world can take damage and best of all; you can run over everything with your vehicles so no more tiny trees stopping your rampage of death. The game sets you up with an A.I. buddy in the game, but playing the game in co-op mode is much better and removes any little glitches you may find with your A.I. pal.

The wide variety of missions and weapons at your disposal make this a sweet game to play through alone or with a friend. Best of all, your choice of 3 different characters to play with makes each time you play through with a different character a new challenge. If you’ve a fan of games like Grand Theft Auto IV, then I definitely suggest checking out this open world game.

Rating: 8 out of 10
Buy it!

Raving Rabbids TV Party
Ubisoft, Ubisoft
Available for Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS

If you’re looking for a goofy party game to play with your friends at your time drunken house party, then may I suggest adding the Rabbids to your guest list? Raving Rabbids TV Party is a goofy mini-game collection that will have you and your friends acting silly for hours on end.

After chasing Rayman to his home, an accident has caused the Rabbids to become trapped inside Rayman’s TV. It’s up to you to keep the new Rabbids TV station full of cool program by choosing from several mini games each day. The mini games range from B movie shooting galleries to American Idol parodied dance shows. All the games featured the classic Rabbids humour which is guaranteed to keep your party amused well into the night.

Unlike previous Rayman Rabbid games, this party game won’t force you to play all the games in the programming schedule, so you can just skip the harder mini games if you like. I found that playing this game with any remote other than your original Nintendo nunchuk and remote will make this game harder to complete, so don’t use any third party brands with it.

The controls are still not precise though even with the proper controllers. I honestly found that 75% of the games were pretty easy to pass but the rest were downright impassable. The Star Wars parody game is one that I remember to really hard and confusing in the controls. All and all, this is a great party game and one that I would recommend for family play and party nights.

Rating: 7 out of 10
Buy it!