Warpback: What We Played in February 2013

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Come one, come all, come in out of the cold and see what the Warp Zoned staff played during the month of February. New releases such as Dead Space 3, Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, and Fire Emblem: Awakening were popular around the office. As were backlog games such as last year’s Hitman: Absolution and Sleeping Dogs. With PAX East less than three weeks away, we’re sure to get our hands on plenty of upcoming games, but read on for more games that took up our time last month after the break.

John Scalzo
Editor-In-Chief
I have no idea why, but my gaming time was severely limited last month. I put a ton of time into Vblank’s Retro City Rampage and the rapid-fire action and even rapider jokes certainly made my inner 80s child smile. But I’m not sure the game as a whole works, which you’ll be able to read all about next week in our review.

But the game I spent the most time with in February was Imangi’s Temple Run 2. The charming little endless runner has really brought out my inner Indiana Jones (which, I guess, makes my inner 80s child Short Round). Jumping gaps… riding mine cars… sliding under flaming booby traps (“Only the penitent man will pass!”)… it’s just great. And I’ve actually reached the end of this endless runner as a glitch prevents you from completing the final three objectives.

Ah well, once it gets patched, I’m sure it’ll show up on my “What I Played in March 2013” list.

Nicole Kline
Senior Editor
February was a wonderful month of gaming for me. I started it off with the beautiful Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, which I am still playing as much as possible. Sadly, it has to share time with Dead Space 3 when I’m home – I can’t play them both at the same time! When I’m on the road, I play Fire Emblem: Awakening as much as possible, which I’m also horribly addicted to. I also tried out Closure, a PS+ free game, which is amazing, but also amazingly difficult! While I wish all months were like this, I’m glad next month is going to be a little lighter (until the end!), because it gives me more time with these games, which are so great I’m almost reluctant to finish them.

Andrew Rainnie
UK Correspondent
The month started off with me slugging on with Hitman: Absolution. I don’t know if it’s the terrible acting, or the often ridiculous logic of the game, but by the time I reached the last level, I had lost all enthusiasm for the game. Luckily I had Square Enix’s other hit title, Sleeping Dogs, waiting in reserve. While the storyline was thankfully more akin to GTA IV, after a few days, it grew very repetitive. Fight, hack, race, repeat. And the racing handled terribly.

Thankfully I managed to buy Need For Speed: Most Wanted for next to nothing (alongside Spec Ops: The Line, which has yet to arrive). One of my most favourite racing games is Criterion’s previous entry, Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit, and this feels like more of the same. The only thing that has soured the game so far is that upon discovering certain cars, it connects to the store. Why put the car there in the first place? EA has had a lot of bad press this week about their pricing and micro-transactions after their CFO Blake Jorgensen announced they would be included in every game. I hold nothing against developers and publishers making extra money from a game, but to put the car actually in the game world, and then tell me I have to pay more money to drive it, seems very underhanded, and I really wish there was an option to remove all cars I cannot play, so I can enjoy the game as it is. If this is the way of the future, this is probably the last EA game I buy.

Mike Ryan
Staff Writer
This month was spent finishing off Resident Evil Revelations, and man was that a great experience. The visuals are great, the story – while typical RE fare – is engaging, and the game controls flawlessly (especially with the Circle Pad Pro. I’m happy for those of you who don’t have a 3DS; you’ll get to play that game soon enough on your HD consoles.

I also played some more Borderlands 2 and The Pinball Arcade; the latter of which received a new Twilight Zone DLC table, which is great. Finally, I hooked up the old NES and spent hours upon hours playing Dr. Mario. The only problem with that one is I now have the fever song stuck in my head.

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