Tag Archives: Action

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 ...

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, ...

The ‘clicker’ genre is poised to create a love/hate relationship with players. Undeniably, there’s fulfilment in the continuous accumulation of wealth and the pleasure in increasing your earnings rate. But all too often, you are ...

In the West, Nihon Falcom’s output is tarnished with the rare blemish. Notably, The Legend of Heroes: A Tear of Vermillion and Prophecy of the Moonlight Witch– the first two entries in the Gagharv Trilogy. Released out of order, both ...

With the reduction of cinematic censorship and the erosion of societal taboos, the exploitation film rose to popularity in the late 1960s, trailing the rise of drive-ins and grindhouse theatres. And while the genre’s popularity ...

Typically, a developer’s final project is an imprudent mess, if not an outright disaster. From Ion Storm’s Daikatana, Maxis’ SimCity 2013, Realtime Worlds’ APB, Flagship Studios’ Hellgate: London, to Free Radical’s Haze, there’s been a ...

Gamers didn’t always have it so good. For years, only a fraction of Japanese titles made the journey West, leaving first-rate efforts like Secret of Mana 2, Mother 3, and Valkyria Chronicles III accessible only ...

Not long ago, games based on film properties were routinely awful. Defunct publishers like THQ, LJN, Acclaim, and Ocean Software become known for their slapdash adaptations, each company attempting to make a quick buck by ...

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 ...

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 ...