As successful game series spawn sequels, the push toward conceptual innovation becomes stronger. But one of the tragedies of this ambition is when imprudent mechanics are shoe-horned in to offset stagnation. Too often, these ill-developed ...
Read More »Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy Review
Not long ago, puzzle games provided little more than a skeletal plotlines- as players moved through processions of unemotional posers. Titles like Portal changed that, adding a narrative which not only provided an invaluable impetus, ...
Read More »Infested Planet Review
As films like Aliens and Starship Troopers have demonstrated, watching an outnumbered squad of space marines annihilate hordes of enraged enemies can be delightfully cathartic. The recent release of Rocket Bear Games’ Infested Planet attempts ...
Read More »Shadowrun: Dragonfall Review
It’s hard to think of a concept that grants as much narrative, lore and gameplay possibilities as the Shadowrun franchise. Take everything you’d find in western fantasy, mix it with a futuristic setting coupled with ...
Read More »Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 Review
A number of news articles revealed that 2010’s Lords of Shadow nearly wasn’t a Castlevania game. Purportedly, an early build veered too far from franchise canon- causing Konami to ask for the removal of their ...
Read More »Retro City Rampage DX Review
Seemingly, Retro City Rampage developer Brian Provinciano is a hexadecimal-chanting sorcerer. After alchemizing a provisional NES development kit back in 2002, he went on code Grand Theftendo– a game which miraculously adapted Rockstar’s urban sandbox ...
Read More »Go! Go! Nippon! –My First Trip to Japan- Review
On the surface, Go! Go! Nippon! My First Trip to Japan‘s plotline seems like a setup for a lively eroge title. After the visual novel’s protagonist befriends siblings Mokoto and Akira while online, he’s invited ...
Read More »Tales of Symphonia Chronicles Review
As the ever-growing convoy of action anthologies such as the Killzone, Ratchet & Clack, Sly Cooper, and Zone of the Enders collections have demonstrated, high-definition remasters appear to be profitable. Naturally, publishers have been expanding ...
Read More »Hands-on With Wolfenstein: The New Order
The timeworn cliché, “you only have one chance to make a first impression” often doesn’t apply to the game industry. Quite often, a developer shows off a slice of an alpha, which seems to be ...
Read More »Weapon Shop de Omasse Review
Level-5’s Guild01 was undoubtedly a curious concept, bundling a quartet of smaller games developed by Japanese gaming luminaries such as Goichi Suda, Yasumi Matsuno, and Yoot Saito. Whereas the compilation was released as a single ...
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