Call of Duty: Vanguard
Early in the evening on November 3, 2021 I patiently waited to load into a multiplayer lobby in Call of Duty: Vanguard. A few short minutes before, I had wrapped up an 11-round session of Zombies with fellow Vanguard reviewer Nathan Stevens. We had a great time. Not only did we pass the hours literally and figuratively shooting the shit, we indulged in one of Call of Duty‘s simple pleasures:...[Read More]
ROCCAT Torch
You have aspirations of being a streamer or content creator worth a damn. Looking for the right equipment to get you started, you naturally become a bit overwhelmed. The market is flooded with any amount of gaming peripherals and streaming accessories meant to somehow elevate your gameplay and personality into a higher echelon. As someone who has spent years tip-toeing into the streaming world, fi...[Read More]
Tetris Effect: Connected (Switch)
Nintendo’s Game Boy was a revelation. Those of us who were hardwired to a television were able to finally delight in gaming on the go. I received the original Game Boy on my sixth birthday as a final gift from my father who had passed away a few weeks prior. As a young child, I was already keen on the bright colors and addictive platforming from the likes of Mario and Ninja Gaiden. But I kne...[Read More]
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
Batman: Arkham Asylum drew me in years ago to the point where I became intoxicated by the lore surrounding the world’s greatest detective. As a video game setting, Arkham is packed with a strange and detailed history of Batman, one been detailed in decades of comics but one I regardless had avoided. For fans of DC, it was a treasure trove of referential collectibles and discoveries. Despite ...[Read More]
Back 4 Blood
In my Diablo 2: Resurrected review, I lamented the lack of Diablo 2 in my gaming lexicon. Somehow I had eluded such a classic game for over 20 years but relished in the opportunity to play what I consider to be the best version of the title. Please forgive me dear reader, as I must confess to another egregious sin. Left 4 Dead and its sequel are equally massive gaps in my gaming knowledge. But per...[Read More]
Antonball Deluxe (Switch)
There’s a joyous simplicity to Antonball Deluxe. If you’ve ever played a block or brick breaking game like Breakout, Arkanoid, or the hundreds of other permutations, you’ve sort of played Antonball Deluxe. There’s always a paddle of some sort at the edge of the screen, usually at the bottom. A ball drops, the paddle hits it, the ball jettisons upwards towards some blocks to...[Read More]
Far Cry 6
Pulling back on a compound bow and waiting with baited breath, I yearned for that distinct, satisfying Far Cry squelch as the arrow found purchase, lodging itself into the brain of an oppressive cog in the tyrannical machine. Dozens, if not hundreds of times, Far Cry 6 delivered that wet crunch as Dani rampaged through Yara like a rabid, murderous Robin Hood. Far Cry 6 also allowed me to pin a Yar...[Read More]
Metallic Child
Before Metallic Child I had never considered playing an entire video game from the perspective of a security camera. No, this isn’t Watch Dogs. Unless I’m having a memory repressed where Marcus or Aiden observed and controlled a chibi robot girl as she battled against rogue AI in a space station that is slowly crashing into the Earth. Metallic Child reminds me of one of those strange n...[Read More]
Diablo 2: Resurrected
Diablo 3 was my first Diablo game. I have never played Diablo 2. Let that color the rest of what I will say, if you wish. I won’t take it personally, promise. My personal anecdote for Diablo 2 is that one night when hanging out with a few friends in high school, two guys mentioned Diablo 2. I knew what the game was but the only Blizzard product I had touched was StarCraft. One of the guys me...[Read More]
Dreamscaper (Switch)
Cassidy is a moderately normal young woman. She struggles with making a human connection. A tragic past event has put her guard up. Anxiety weakens her ability to communicate. And she can’t get a good night’s sleep. These days, though, who can? But Cassidy’s restless nights are plagued by a deadly dream world, twisted by her subconscious. In her dreams, her real world issues coag...[Read More]
Garden Story
There came a point in Garden Story after I had learned how to fish items out of the water, collect world lore, break rocks with a hammer, revitalize plants with dew, and survive a day/night cycle that the game taught me how to craft. Garden Story had introduced several wrinkles in its Link to the Past-like homage that it had become more than just a top-down action game. Not only was I in full-blow...[Read More]
The Medium (PS5)
In a year that has brought players Resident Evil Village and Little Nightmares II, it would be understandable that The Medium has lost some of its place in the horror spotlight. Released earlier this year exclusively on Xbox Series X/S and PC, Bloober Team’s foray into third-person horror suffered from being delayed as a launch title, out of the ravenous grasp of 2020’s holiday season....[Read More]