Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
Homer’s Odyssey is one of those bodies of work that has etched itself into countless forms of entertainment. While many of us may roll our eyes, recounting semesters or summers spent fumbling through its pages as required reading, the Odyssey is, simply, a classic. The grueling and treacherous steps Odysseus takes may seem hard to relate to in our electronic age but his tale is a very human ...[Read More]
Transference
Transference opens onto a darkened street void of any human activity. When wearing a VR headset, most players will likely turn their head to the left or right and then in the opposite direction in an attempt to get a sense of space. Behind is the deep black of nothingness, front-facing is a three-story apartment building dulled by the bright pink neon glow of a sign saying “Harmony.” T...[Read More]
The Personal Journey of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
When you’ve only played six hours of a game that could reach well beyond 50 hours, you don’t want to rush judgement. And let’s be honest, hyperbole is rarely a friend, especially if it only serves to bite you in the ass a few days down the line. Yet here we are. In the past month I’ve had about eight hours with Assassin’s Creed Odyssey–a large chunk of the openi...[Read More]
For Honor: Marching Fire Preview
Much like its warriors who have blazed a bloody trail through countless battlefields, For Honor is a ferocious being that can’t be tamed. The proverbial cuts and bruises that Ubisoft’s one-of-a-kind fighting game have suffered only serve to bolster the development team’s dedication towards a product that is challenging, brutal, and rarely without thrill. Like a fine wine, time st...[Read More]
Rainbow Six Siege: Operation Grim Sky Preview
Is it possible to enjoy a game while still being terrible at it? Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege puts that question to the test for me. I’ve always viewed Siege as “search and destroy on steroids” with its elimination-style gameplay that rewards patience and a tactical mind. The few times I hop into the game, I’m blown away by the fan reception and Ubisoft’s dedi...[Read More]
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Preview: Mythos in the Making
Assassin’s Creed possesses one of the most intriguing, appealing blueprints in gaming. The series has had many bedrock entries supporting the weight of flimsy choices and drastic errors. Assassin’s Creed II and Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag have been pillars, beginning- and end-points where the concepts and mechanics made the most sense. Yes, we know that Unity decayed that str...[Read More]
Transference Preview: Broken Homes and Bent Reality
In fifteen minutes Transference had firmly planted itself in my mind. My stomach was lurching and I was swiftly turning my head at the slightest suggestion of distant noise. When plunging the depths of virtual reality, this may be a sign that nausea is about to set in and you’ll wish you had a vomit bag. For Ubisoft and SpectreVision’s upcoming VR game, it’s a sign of the psychol...[Read More]
MXGP Pro
There’s a certain kind of hesitation that comes to reviewing MXGP Pro. How does a person tackle a game with the full knowledge that only a few weeks ago, they reviewed a motorcycle game by the exact same developer? Early in June developer Milestone S.r.l. released MotoGP 18, a game that seems to merely serve as an iteration on a franchise rather than an attempt at providing players with anyt...[Read More]
Prey: Mooncrash
Prey is an incredible game. In the stable of Bethesda first-person games, Prey is also the runt of the litter. Despite being made by Dishonored developer Arkane Studios, Prey didn’t seem to resonate with the masses. It wasn’t Fallout or the Elder Scrolls. It didn’t have the Nazi-killing gusto of Wolfenstein or the lineage of Doom. But just like Dishonored, Prey plucked from the b...[Read More]
MotoGP 18
First place. It’s an elusive mistress sought out by the hungriest sports teams, Olympians, politicians, racers, gamers, and pageant queens. Whether a gold crown, the middle spot on a podium, or a flashing “1st!” on a screen, the yearning for victory drives us to do great things. The feeling of achievement at being singled out from multitudes of people as the best is one of life&#...[Read More]
Hitman: Sniper Assassin Gives a Taste of Sequel’s Potential
Hitman’s playground of murder gave players a baffling amount of freedom when IO Interactive rebooted the series in 2016. “Here’s the objective, here’s dozens of ways to complete the objective, have fun,” IO whispered as it plopped each episodic entry into players’ laps. Initial reactions to a trickled release cycle over a full-blown game were met with skepticism, mainly due to publisher Squa...[Read More]
Riddled Corpses EX (PS4)
For a developer to elevate the twin-stick shooter in any meaningful way, it must take the intrinsic shoot ’em up elements and transform them. Housemarque’s output over past years with titles like Super Stardust and Resogun prove that paying homage to Robotron: 2084 and Defender can come natural, creating an enthralling game that’s familiar yet fresh. As one of my personal favorit...[Read More]