Mario Kart 7 for the Nintendo 3DS maintains the simplicity that has made the storied series so highly accessible, but also manages to integrate a number of new features into the franchise. During my short play through (at a Nintendo press event in Toronto), I was particularily impressed by the multiple environments the game’s tracks encompass.  Of the four tracks I tried (they were all new tracks), my kart hang glided as well as drove under water. Some fans of the series have expressed concern that these different vehicle abilities as well as the ability to customize your kart will feel gimmicky, but from what I played, these new features… (more…)

Super Mario 3D Land for the Nintendo 3DS feels like a mix between Mario 64, Super Mario Galaxy, and Mario Bros. 3.  It’s an interesting combination, but the big question remains: Is it any good? The short answer is, yes.  From what I played, it’s very good. Four levels were available to me at Nintendo’s recent holiday press event in Toronto. One level resembled a Mario Bros. 3-esque ship while another reminded me of the fiery dungeon levels from the original Mario on the NES. The other two levels reminded me of the Super Mario Galaxy series, each adopting clean colour pallets and a multi-perspective play style. This is to be… (more…)

Last night I spent quality time with Dice’s upcoming mega-shooter Battlefield 3 on my PlayStation 3. As a fan of the Battlefield series and a dedicated Battlefield: Bad Company 2 player, I was thrilled to see what Dice had done with the series and what technical marvels had been achieved. What I found was not what I expected. We’re talking Battlefield 3 here, so the big question on gamers’ minds has undoubtedly been how the latest installment will appear on consoles when compared to Dice’s bread-and-butter platform, the gaming PC. If the beta is any indicator of what we will see at release next month, I am sad to report… (more…)

  During my three days at PAX East I spent most of my time running around the enormous expo hall trying my best to sample every game there. With such a crowd and being the only Game Judgment representative at the show, it was simply impossible to do everything. Fortunately the press was given the chance to get into the expo hall an hour early on Saturday so we could get a little work done without having to shove our way through 50,000 other people. I had the chance to see three press only screenings before the hour was up. Three screenings I could not record or photograph. I choose… (more…)

Bungie have posted the trailer for the new map pack up on Youtube. The pack will be released on the 30th November for 800 MSP. Not much more I can say but take a look.

Bungie has announced the Noble Map Pack that will be released on November 30th for 800 MSP. They also announced a Forge competition which will allow you to win a limited edition Halo Reach Xbox Slim and a controller. Not that you’ll need those if you’re playing Halo Reach… Hmm.

Last week, I got the chance to have around 40 minutes of game-time with Microsoft’s upcoming 3D motion camera Kinect. Here are my thoughts. I’ll spoil it here a little. I actually LIKED it. During a family trip to Alton Towers in Staffordshire, England we heard that there was a Kinect demonstration going on in the park. After a short wait in line, my sister and I got a chance to play Kinect Adventures’ River Rush.

I’ll admit I didn’t know a lot about Mafia II until I started writing my article on my top 5 most anticipated games but after reading a bit about it and playing the recently released demo I can firmly say that I’m rather impressed with 2K’s take on the open world genre.

Crackdown 2 is the sequel to one of the very first open world games released on next-gen consoles. The game’s demo is somewhat unusual, demos usually show a small part of a larger more complex experience. Crackdown 2′s demo seems to actually paint quite a clear picture as to what the final game will be like.