Console

Only a few years ago, the console role-playing game seemed to be in peril, its existence whittled down to a few decisive hit points. Pundits predicted that a combination of escalating production prices, dwindling audiences, ...

There’s a curious tension about open-world games. Although the genre extends an exhilarating sense of freedom, offering virtual playgrounds filled with interactive objects, all too often titles rehash Grand Theft Auto’s tenets. For all the ...

Video game history is intrinsically entwined with the shoot-‘em-up game. While Pong and its paddle-based derivatives might have beaten the beloved shooter to arcades, titles like Space Invaders, Defender, and Xevious enlisted players in a ...

Years ago, I inadvertently purchased a ‘clean version’ of an album from Wal-Mart. Within minutes of playing the CD, I knew something was intolerably wrong. All of the anger, sorrow, and satire that I had ...

It might be time to amend Benjamin Franklin’s quote; the certainties of life are now death, taxes, and a new Call of Duty game. After more than a decade of annual entries, Activision’s war machine ...

The Hyperdimension Neptunia series drew attention for offering anthropomorphized interpretations of game consoles. But what if role-playing games themselves were brought to life? Unmistakably, many contemporary efforts would make charming guests at mixers, whether Elder ...

Although many might assume turn-based battles dominate the realm of role-playing, action-driven combat has a resilient foothold on the genre. Long before Mass Effect and Kingdom Hearts married plotline with sections of energetic pugnaciousness, franchises ...

Platinum Game’s output should probably be bundled with a trial size tube of IcyHot. Pick up Vanquish, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, or either Bayonetta title, and you’ll find your hands instinctively locked on the controller, ...

Seemingly, the Disgaea franchise has caught itself in Prinny-borne predicament. Nippon Ichi Software president Souhei Niikawa avowed to broaden the size of the strategy role-playing game’s audience. But attracting new fans is difficult without tampering ...

What is the concept? From Raiden’s snaking plasma-beam to Ikaruga’s polarity switching mechanic, any respectable shmup has a distinctive hook. For Solar Shifter EX, a recent PC release from the one-man studio behind Meridian: New ...