Video Game Review: Borderlands 2

Smooth and responsive, the controls should be immediately familiar to shooter fans. Jumping, melee attacks, sprinting and more are standard fare. In fact, about the only unique feature here is that the left bumper activates your character’s signature ability. Grenade tossing feels too imprecise, however — particularly an issue when equipping some of the game’s innumerable modifiers.

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Video Game Review: Dead or Alive 5

Beyond the basics, however, lies a deeper, timing-based layer to give the fights some meat. Blocks and counters, referred to as holds, become an essential part of combat once you start mixing it up with capable human opponents or crank up the difficulty. It’s no easy task considering you not only have to time your counter precisely but also ascertain where the blow is being aimed (high, middle, low) for your efforts to be successful.

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Video Game Review: Tokyo Jungle

In the “kill or be killed” world of post-humanity Tokyo, being able to deftly control your animal of choice is critical to your very survival. For the most part, the game holds up well in that regard. The most basic actions, such as jumping and attacking, are mapped to the face button while the shoulders house the hunting functions: creep and clean kill. Flicking the right stick executes a quick dodging move, though you can also use it to gain ground while pursuing would-be prey.

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Video Game Review: Tekken Tag Tournament 2

While it may sound like only a marginal expansion, the tag mechanic actually adds quite a bit of new strategy, particularly because you can do tag combos based on timing. The regenerating health also leads to new ways of approaching when you want to use certain characters; in addition, your attack strategy has to change on the fly based on who your opponents are. When you combine both of those new factors, it’s possible to turn a near-death match on its head with a simple well-timed tag.

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Video Game Review: Jet Set Radio

This game has you controlling a crew of rebellious graffiti artists known as “rudies” with the sole purpose of tagging up the streets to express disdain against global corporations (probably). Gliding around on jet skates, you can roll, jump and grind just about anywhere within the confines of each stage’s map. If there’s a pole, fence, staircase or almost any surface with a hard edge, simply press the jump button, aim your character to the desired surface and they’ll be shredding the distance the moment they land. While grinding, you can jump from surface to surface to build momentum and speed as well as stack up points. Pressing the right trigger in short bursts will give an extra boost of speed and trick out your jumps and grinds with style.

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Video Game Review: LittleBigPlanet Vita

In a world built upon imagination the sky is the limit, and in the tradition of previous games in the series, Sackboy’s inaugural Vita adventure is cleverly done. Each of the story’s levels has a unique yet still consistent style with bright colours that hold up well on the OLED screen — it’s not as crisp as what we’ve seen on the PS3, but the reduced size seems to suit the source material better.

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