Switch

With Mercenary Kings, looks are deceiving. Glimpse a few screenshots and you’ll likely assume that the Tribute Games’ title honors classic run ‘n guns like Bionic Commando and Contra. Certainly, Paul Robertson’s (Scott Pilgrim vs. ...

The old adage of tongue being mightier than swords is rarely true for video games. With interactive entertainment, blades, bullets, and bare hands routinely get the emphasis, while words are habitually reserved for expositional purposes. ...

Occasionally, game designer can mimic bartenders, blending a few fundamental ingredients, and creating something quite exhilarating and exotic in the process. That’s certainly the case with Gunhouse, a quirky title that began as a PS ...

The methodical, multistep jailbreak might seem like an unlikely subject for a video game. After all, electronic amusements habitually indulge audiences with doses of carefree escapism rather than depict the myriad of meticulous steps leading ...

With its indie pedigree and minimalist visuals, it would be easy to overlook Inversus Deluxe. Watch a gameplay video and you’ll find that the title makes a standoffish first impression. It can be difficult to ...

Game formulas can occasionally be challenging to duplicate. For instance, take Intelligent Systems’ Advance Wars, a critically and commercially successful series that spurred four iterations in the first decade of the new millennium. But following ...

Picross (a portmanteau for ‘Picture Crossword’) games haven’t always enjoyed Stateside success. When Nintendo’s nonogram-based puzzler, Mario’s Picross, was released for the Game Boy in 1995, the title met with middling reviews from respected outlets ...

Screenshots of DragonFangZ – The Rose & Dungeon of Time are destined to evoke comparison with Spike Chunsoft’s Mystery Dungeon property. The latter has become a blueprint for handheld and console Rogue-likes, with popular properties ...

1985’s Gauntlet is often remembered for its in-game narration, where a Texas Instruments speech synthesizer would state the condition of each player. Notoriously, the announcer would also divulge which character inadvertently shot the health-replenishing food, ...

A developer once offered a bit of insight into his design philosophy: “Games are a complex system of parts that aim to do one thing really well.” But the theory often falls apart when applied ...