Pugnaciousness doesn’t have to rooted in quarter-circles and z-motions. While the finger gymnastics required by the Street Fighter, Guilty Gear and BlazBlue franchises are an apt substitute for conveying martial art mastery, they’re not the ...
Read More »Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online review
Amidst most of the twentieth century, the term, ‘simulacra’ typically implied inferiority. A painting based on a photograph was separated from its source material by two degrees, and subsequently would lose some of its essence ...
Read More »Blue Reflection review
Since 1997, Gust has crafted eighteen entries in the acclaimed Atelier franchise. Almost all of them have focused on a young women’s journey toward self-actualization, as she grows from kind-spirited klutz to an accomplished alchemist ...
Read More »Senran Kagura: Peach Beach Splash review
Much like artists like Peter Paul Rubens, Francisco Goya, and Édouard Manet, Senran Kagura creator Kenichirō Takaki is obsessed with the female form. But unlike the painters of yesteryear, Takaki-san’s canvas is a console connected ...
Read More »Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony review
In one of Hollywood’s best meta-analyses, Scream 2 explained the difficulties of crafting a slasher film sequels. Identifying larger body counts, more elaborate and gruesome death scenes, and the apparent immortality of the franchise’s bad ...
Read More »SteamWorld Dig 2 review
As an indie title that captured the polish and effervescent charm of a first-party Nintendo game, 2013’s SteamWorld Dig was a rarity. For a follow-up, Image & Form crafted SteamWorld Heist, which was based in ...
Read More »X-Morph: Defense review
What is the concept? Since the 1978 release of Space Invaders, players have persistently protected the Earth from alien attack. But with X-Morph: Defense, the tables are turned, with gamers playing the role of intergalactic ...
Read More »Warriors All-Stars review
For the last seventeen years, Koei’s (and since 2009, Koei Tecmo’s) Warriors franchises have been crafted around a cumulative approach, inserting content into each successive iteration. As such, series like Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors ...
Read More »Yakuza Kiwami review
In Japan, the Yakuza franchise has enjoyed success since the original 2005 release. But in the States, the series has only earned a modest following for most of its existence. For curious players, the games ...
Read More »Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma (PS4) review
Here’s the irony surrounding a discussion of Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma– revealing even the slightest detail threatens to diminish the experience. So, if you were a fan of 2009’s Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine ...
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