Console

Context is an oft overlooked constituent in gaming. While 2009’s The Saboteur replicated the familiar driving and destruction mechanics of the sandbox-action title, it was the colorful recreation of Nazi-occupied Paris which transformed the game ...

For years, musou games were mocked by critics and consumers alike. Both groups viewed franchises like Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors as repetitive, tedious treks, where players button-mashed their way to victory. At certainly at ...

One of the qualities that makes video game distinctive is their iterative nature. Quite often, developers unabashedly draw from successful titles, offering just enough digression to hold off the lawyers. Such is the case with ...

1986’s The Legend of Zelda established one of gaming’s essential formulas, where a succession of puzzle-filled dungeons steadily supplied the tools that players would need to advance. At its core, Zelda (and Metroid, which contextualized ...

When a prospective opponent would interrupt a Street Fighter II match, the game enthusiastically proclaimed, “Here comes a new challenger”. Although the seminal title helped establish fighting game doctrine, competition transcended the crowds of pugnacious ...

2000’s Valkyrie Profile is considered to be one of the PlayStation One’s best role-playing games. Exploration adopted light platforming mechanics, as players navigated two-dimension environments, using an ice shot to solve puzzles and shun any ...

While the visual novel’s stateside popularity is a relatively new phenomenon, the medium has been building momentum in the U.S. for quite some time. From games like Lost Odyssey– which used sections of text to ...

Let’s face it- the contemporary gaming industry has a number of repugnant habits. From putting out unpolished games, relying on post-release patches to smooth out any inherent problems, to an insatiable appetite for gouging gamers ...

Media sequels can fall victim to their own version of middle child syndrome. Whereas inaugural efforts revel in world-building as well as character backstory, and concluding episodes are elevated by contributing a sense of closure, ...

Not long ago, there was a cavernous schism between the libraries of console and PC gamers. But over the past few years, companies like NIS America, Idea Factory International, Koei-Tecmo, and Bandai Namco have gradually ...