Video Game Review: Gears of War Ultimate Edition

There’s plenty of solid fiction to draw upon with the Gears universe, and one of the nice selling points for those that have played through the 360 version many times is the addition of five chapters that were previously only available on PC. Dropped in at the start of Act Five, these offer a more complete version of the game’s events and in no way feel tacked on. They add roughly an hour of additional gameplay and include one of the game’s most challenging fights: a showdown with a Brumak.

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Video Game Review: Rare Replay

Although Rare Replay is a 30-year anthology, it actually contains games from a 25-year period, starting with 1983’s Jetpac (released under the aforementioned “Ultimate” banner) and concluding with 2008’s Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts — the studio has exclusively released Kinect games since then. It runs the gamut of multiple generations and genres, and while these may not be the best 30 titles Rare has ever created, it’s a largely excellent sampling.

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Blu-ray Review: Hot Pursuit

In terms of recurrent movie themes, bringing together two wildly different personalities and having them play off each other’s quirks ranks right near the top. As such, there are countless examples of pairings that worked splendidly (Midnight Run, 48 Hours, The Heat) as well as those that fell flat (Showtime, Cop Out, Double Team). This time, it’s Reese Witherspoon (Legally Blonde) and Sofia Vergara (Modern Family) seeing what kind of chemistry they can drum up in Hot Pursuit.

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Video Game Review: OneChanbara Z2: Chaos

Suffice to say that OneChanbara Z2: Chaos won’t be winning any awards for graphical achievement, as the game’s visuals could easily be mistaken for a PlayStation 3 title. There’s a simplicity to the areas on which you’ll fight and a dullness to the rank-and-file enemies, though at least things get elevated a few notches for boss fights. The girls have been shown more care and should lead to some pleasant dreams courtesy of their skimpy outfits and gratuitous cut scenes.

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Video Game Review: King’s Quest: A Knight to Remember

A Knight to Remember is framed as an aged King Graham regaling his granddaughter, Gwendolyn, with stories of his adventures as a younger man. A brief prologue featuring a one-eyed dragon familiarizes you with the situation, and the remainder of the episode focuses on Graham’s arrival in Daventry to take part in a tournament to establish a new knight.

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Blu-ray Review: The Water Diviner

Set in 1919, shortly after the conclusion of World War I, The Water Diviner follows Joshua Connor (Crowe), an Australian farmer and, yes, water diviner whose three sons went off to war and never returned — presumably killed during the Battle of Gallipoli in 1915. Connor’s wife, Eliza, who can no longer bear the loss, commits suicide. After burying her, Joshua promises to travel to Turkey, locate his sons’ remains and bury them alongside their mother.

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