Sony has a service for Playstation 3, 4, and Vita called PlayStation Plus, wherein you can download, on average, 2 free games every month. You can play these games for as long as you’re subscribed to the service. At $10 per month, that’s not a bad deal. I picked up Rocket League, a game available …
In a land devoid of everything it means to be human, humanity becomes a priceless commodity. And those who cling to their humanity have lost all sense of what it means to be human. The beloved Saint Astraea lost her humanity to the scourge of the Deep Fog like every other peasant, merchant, knight and …
Famed Persona developer, Atlus, will from time to time take a niche Japanese game created by a smaller developer and publish it in North America. Several years ago they did this with a little game called Demon’s Souls, and audiences in the west responded by bolstering the game’s sales enough to eventually put it in …
As science fiction has popularly shown, the best dystopias always began as utopias. The idea of a fallen utopia is something that humanity seems to take an inherent comfort in. Much like our unflappable interest in seeing our heroes and idols fall fall from grace, a destroyed wonderland, or one that hides a myriad of horrors beneath its carefully constructed facade, is a reassuring proposition, one that works to assuage any guilt we might have for not trying to be better, or affecting any real change in our own society or circumstances.
Though the release date and any real plot details still remain shrouded in secrecy, Telltale’s upcoming Game of Thrones series purportedly leaked a few screenshots yesterday. The pictures revealed that the game’s art style will not be following in the comic-inspired aesthetics of it’s forebears (The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us respectively) but will instead impart a more realistic style that will be more appropriate to the show from which it takes its name and setting.
It has been over a month since the release of Destiny and much has changed since Bungie’s latest released. Several events have come and gone, particular weapons have risen to fame and faded into oblivion, and the Crucible has been tailored and balanced several times over. Now seems as ideal a time as ever to reevaluate the new title from the developers of Halo.
Telltale Games has managed to make a pretty big name for itself over the last few years. By focusing heavily on plot and character development in an industry that too often leaves these factors at the wayside, Telltale has brought storytelling back to the forefront of the medium. Now, with two Walking Dead titles, and the Fables-inspired series, The Wolf Among Us, under its belt, Telltale has turned it’s focus to the Game of Thrones universe.
EA’s sci-fi horror doesn’t so much wear its influences on its sleeve, but rather takes them to a tailor and makes them into a three-piece suit. Its protagonist, for instance, is named Isaac Clarke – an eye-rolling, brow-beating reference to two of science fiction’s heavyweight authors, and its premise is, essentially, Event Horizon. But despite all this, it all works really rather well.
It’s time to check your backs for the Darksign because with the release of Crown of the Ivory King, From Software has essentially closed the book on Dark Souls II. This final episode in the Lost Crowns DLC takes place amid the snowy vistas of a frozen kingdom, and levies some of the heaviest challenges yet.
Unless you were living under a rock last week, you took note of the highly anticipated release of Destiny, the MMO-styled first person shooter from Halo developer, Bungie. As of now, reviews of the game have drawn a partisan divide between two camps of players who have come to see the game in very different lights. Unlike an actual review, this article will focus more on the qualities that I noticed within my own experience without gauging the overall quality of the title.
Have you ever made a mistake that you wished you could undo? Well that’s a silly question–of course you have. It would seem an obvious statement that we all have our regrets about this life. Whether it be in relation to friends, family or career, each of us carries a skeleton or two around with us as a reminder of the missteps which we have been party to. Moreover, though, for so many people, their central regret is tied into the memory of a lost or faded love.
Even in the daring realm of indie titles, few games would have the gall to be as jarring and deliberately unpleasant as Hotline Miami. An ugly game, through and through, Hotline Miami is also insanely addictive and offers loads of hardcore fun. But the glaring question is why?
It’s pretty well known by now that the mantra of the Souls series is “Prepare to die.” Yet, one finds one’s self continuously shocked at the near-trolling levels of effort that From puts into killing the player via tactics of shock, awe, and fear. It would seem that the most appropriate citation is that of the opening cutscene of Things Betwixt, where the three former Firekeepers just laugh at you before you even begin your journey…almost as if they know what kind of horrific traumas are to come.
There’s a moment in the first Uncharted that signposts exactly where the series is heading. It involves a fast-flowing river, a large gap, and a truck parked next to a red barrel. With a well-placed shot, Nathan Drake – the Indiana Jones-inspired hero of the franchise – blows the powder keg, sending the vehicle high into the air and tumbling down to the river below, where it (conveniently) forms a bridge across the gap. “Bingo,” Nate quips, hopping onto the upside-down truck and crossing to the other side. “Excuse me. Pardon me.”
It made a certain kind of sense last generation. With the jump to HD leaving many gamers clawing their own eyes out after they’d hooked their PS2’s scart lead up to their swanky new plasma televisions, it wasn’t long before ‘HD Remasters’ of titles like Sly Cooper, Splinter Cell and God of War hit store …
Never in a million years, did I think that the sight of black forest cake would one day make me simultaneously smile and cringe. Portal ensured that it happened.
Cursed undead rejoice! From Software and Namco Bandai have just announced not one but three episodes of DLC, and all to be released over the course of the next four months.
The title of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune hints at two things; going into unknown places and getting rich. Yes, it is a game in the grand tradition of Indiana Jones and the legacy of serials from which those films drew. In the course of the roughly 8 hour campaign you will visit ancient ruins, dark caverns, and shoot lots of people.
Red Dead Redemption is often considered one of the best video games of the previous generation, a reputation it hardly deserves. The game routinely takes control away from the player when agency is needed, and gives too much freedom when it’s superfluous. Red Dead is totalitarian in its gameplay and narrative presentation, but provides a hollow, laissez faire open world in an attempt to compensate. These problems culminate to create a game that misunderstands, and straight up ignores, the interactive nature of the medium it’s in. Despite its dazzling production values, Red Dead Redemption fails as a video game because of its unengaging, scarce, and meaningless interactivity.
It’s interesting to consider how for many of us, games have been growing up with us. Atlus’ Catherine serves as a prime example of this phenomenon. Having been developed by a team who grew and matured as games themselves did the same, it simultaneously reaches much of the gaming audience as they confront the very issues addressed within it.
Fear. It seems to me that when it comes to Dark Souls II, fear is the name of the game. However, as time goes on, that fear is gradually replaced with daring, a daring that slowly becomes bravery until finally the game is mastered, and you’re filled with a feeling of great satisfaction, even confidence.
In the wake of E3 a title wave of attention has swept the gaming world concerning Sony and Microsoft. Talks of DRM restrictions, “the Xbox180”, actual console specs and more have all but pushed Nintendo out of sight and out of mind. Its easy to see why Nintendo didn’t host a large press conference in …
Before Infamous: Second Son Sucker Punch Productions released Infamous on PS3. The story revolves around Cole MacGrath developing electrical superpowers after a huge explosion in the fictional Empire City. The game implements a Karma system that allows players to become a Hero or, as the title subtly suggests, Infamous. The decisions made determine how the …