Ever since Cave Story and Mega Man 9 jumpstarted the retro-revival scene in gaming in the mid-2000’s, many titles have been created that call back to retro consoles from the 8 and 16 Bit eras. Kickstarter has also been home to many of these games, with one of its biggest successes being 2014’s Shovel Knight.
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In a lot of ways, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds feels like what we often see from “rags to riches” stories in movies, TV, books, and countless other mediums. Coming from a Korean studio with a name that’s both unique and perplexingly bizarre, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (or known collectively as PUBG) has gone from being a small, unheard-of entity to the breakout game
This year, Rockstar Games announced that it would be re-releasing four new versions of L.A. Noire; including one version that was released on the Nintendo Switch. As a fan of the original L.A. Noire, while I was interested in the Switch port, the version of the game that peaked my interest was that seven cases from the
I often find that Kickstarter titles can be some of the hardest games to review. Given the circumstances behind how these games (like A Hat in Time) are usually developed, I tend to find myself sometimes more forgiving than usual. Instead, I try to focus on whether or not the game’s creator followed through on the
While all games are undoubtedly passion projects to their developers, it is always overwhelmingly clear when you are playing something that the developer regards as their baby. Games like My Dog Zoro’s Linelight or Tom Happ’s Axiom Verge are clearly labors of love and — despite faults the underlying game may have — it is hard not
Nine Parchments is the kind of game you play when you’re with a few friends and you want to have a drink. There’s no convoluted story to pay attention to, there’s not much in the way of mechanics, and the moment-to-moment gameplay is accessible to anyone. All of these things make Nine Parchments an incredible cooperative
Everything about polish studio Bloober Team’s newest psychological horror game is saturated and oozing with strange and anomalous juices that make you question your sanity. It is psychological chaos refined to its purest and most potent form, and so preternatural in its haunting that I sincerely am left wondering what’s in the water in Kraków.
Despite their influence on video game history, Capcom subsidiary Clover Studio was only around for less than three years following its formation. Although God Hand would be its last game and Viewtiful Joe was the studio’s longest-running series before officially closing their doors, 2006’s action-adventure title Okami would be considered Clover Studio’s legacy project. Unfortunately, Okami was an art-centric product that got lost
Anyone who knows me knows that I love the Dead Rising series; it is one of my favorite franchises of all time, with the first Dead Rising one of my favorite games ever. So, last year when I heard Dead Rising 4 announced at E3 2016 and that fans would be returning to Willamette I was excited. Unfortunately, having played
Leave it to Aksys Games to add one more Falcom developed title to 2017 with Tokyo Xanadu eX+ for PlayStation 4 and PC. If you haven’t already, please check out my review of the original Tokyo Xanadu that released on PlayStation Vita — this will give you a good idea of the differences between the
Glitch City is nothing short of an unmitigated disaster. A dark, sci fi-punk twist on both New York City and Tokyo, Glitch City — and for that matter, the rest of the world — has fallen into a state of disrepair. Glitch City may even be worse-off compared to the rest of the country, with
What’s it feel like to go on an actual adventure? Growing up I always liked to imagine what it was like to visit different worlds and meet new intelligent races. For me, the easiest way to experience this was by playing RPGs. Over the years, I’ve seen the genre take a more realistic approach to
There’s something about picking your dream car, customizing its looks, and drifting it through the mountains like Sean Boswell in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. Finding the corned on a windy-back road or timing your shifts in a drag race down the boulevard feel rewarding and badass. It’s only when you take a
The minigames have always been an integral part of the Mario Party titles, seemingly being the only thing that stayed consistently good and fun as the series got more experimental — a constant factor, frustrating longtime fans. While I have actually found things to like in the newer Mario Party games, even being a fan of
Apollo Deckard — named after Apollo Creed from Rocky and Rick Deckard from Blade Runner — is a creative soul; he loves creating and listening music, playing video games, and his blonde-haired wife who he just got married to at the local museum. He works as a blogger right now, but he’ll probably get promoted
I think I’ve finally figured out why I like racing games so much: they are good pallette cleansers. In a world full of similar first-person shooters, platformers, and open-world games, racing titles often times help me get away from the tired and the mundane, as much as I like the aforementioned genres. Not only that,
Star Wars Battlefront II should’ve been the Chosen One. After the lackluster response to 2015’s Battlefront, Battlefront II seemed to have the breadth of content and an added campaign to please that those who felt slighted from the first game wanted in the sequel. At its best moments, Battlefront II is the game that we hoped it would be with some
Since 1979, the gaming industry has made fourteen attempts at creating a Superman video game worthy of your time and wallet. While many of these games were a valiant effort (except Superman 64) fans of the Man of Steel never received an actual Superman game per se; Megaton Rainfall is the superhero game no one wanted. But, I am
With no exception, Chicago-based developer Jackbox Games sets the gold standard for local multiplayer party games. Obviously, this includes the newly-released Jackbox Party Pack 4 – the latest iteration of the series, packing together a diverse and largely Twitch/livestream-inspired bundle that was an instant hit with both gamers and non-gamers I brought to the table.
There’s a group of gamers who seem to crave niche titles that otherwise won’t receive much attention from the larger gaming population. These gamers don’t necessarily want what’s popular or what’s on everyone’s most anticipated list, and they like it that way. Luckily, NIS America has come to give this group what they want and
Visual Arts and Key are well known in the visual novel community for being the developers of some of the greatest stories ever told, which are usually ones that make your heart ache and eyes water. Recently, we’ve seen the company have a larger presence in the west and it has led to them looking
I will admit, and I made it quite clear from my review of Life Is Strange: Before the Storm’s Episode 1: Awake, that I wasn’t the biggest fan of how Deck Nine portrayed a high school friendship. Similarly, I just didn’t believe in the relationship between Chloe and Rachel. To me, the introduction into the
One thing I regularly admire about the European PlayStation branches is their knack to continually troll some of their competitors’ launch day fun. That said, PlayStation UK has added a bit of a competitive flair to the Xbox One X launch by partnering with GAME to offer a strong PS4 Pro 4K bundle with an
If there’s one developer who knows how to make a dungeon crawler it’s Demon Gaze II‘s Experience. Time and again we’ve seen solid dungeon crawling games, such as Stranger of Sword City and Operation Abyss: New Tokyo Legacy. But one title that has stood out to me was their 2014 release of Demon Gaze on PlayStation Vita. The game
Earlier this year I had the pleasure of reviewing the Nintendo Switch, initially handing the fledgling console a then-controversial 6.5 out of 10. Even still, my final wording on the console was somewhat critical: “the Nintendo Switch has potential — it’s up to Nintendo to show how far that potential can reach.” As we quickly
Raid: World War II is a disaster. Even with some of its more redeemable qualities, it’s hard to recommend over other phenomenal World War II shooters this year like Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, and Call of Duty: World War II. The game seems like a culmination of too many ideas that never come together. Developer Lion game Lion clearly
Have you heard of Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection? Don’t beat yourself up if you haven’t. It’s the second entry in the series from Falcom, the developers of Ys and The Legend of Heroes. Originally released in Japan in 2009 for PC, Zwei is an action series that many gamers might have missed. With that said,
The Summon Night series has always been a bitter pill to swallow for western JRPG fans. Many of the entries in the mainline titles have never been localized besides Summon Night 5 on PSP in 2016. The series commits to a well-told story with a large cast of characters that are featured in multiple spin-offs
B.J. Blazkowicz has been killing Nazis by the dozen for over twenty-five years, but he’s never been much more than an avatar for the player to take out their aggression on one of history’s most loathed regimes. MachineGames set out to change that with Wolfenstein: The New Order by giving Blazkowicz distinct traits and a unique personality
For years the Assassin’s Creed franchise has been the subject of delays, devotion, and non-numeral entries in the series leaving a bad taste in players mouths leaving fans on a constant emotional roller coaster ride. Finally, ten years after the launch of the first game, Assassin’s Creed: Origins makes a meaningful mark on history – a