The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR
The premise of Skyrim in virtual reality would seem to commence the automatic exchange of sixty dollars. Bethesda’s most recent entry in The Elder Scrolls series decimated critical and commercial expectations when it was released in 2011. Two (and a half) expansion packs, a remastered current-generation conversion, and infinite, often interminable Let’s Plays have followed in its wake....[Read More]
Fire Emblem Warriors
If you count all of Omega Force’s Warriors games—their Musou style of brawler that began with Dynasty Warriors 2 and will never end—you will come to over thirty titles in seventeen years. Critics bemoan the mindless hordes of enemies and repetitive game design while fans enjoy the mindless hordes of enemies and repetitive game design. It’s a beautiful paradox with an easy explanation; ...[Read More]
Megaton Rainfall
Limiting power feels like the enforcement of a penalty. Controlling that power, however, starts to coalesce into a proper objective. Megaton Rainfall works through this principle by outfitting the player with the destructive abilities of a god and challenging them not indulge in collateral damage. Scale, speed, and virtual reality conspire to make Megaton Rainfall into a suitable blend between old...[Read More]
Gran Turismo Sport
Gran Turismo’s paradisal vision of driving has long served as its divine signature. The Real Driving Simulator complimented the back cover of its first iteration in 1998. Driving is for everyone is the phrase that titles Gran Turismo Sport’s opening cinematic in 2017. The ever expanding range of technology repeatedly challenges Gran Turismo to approximate control over powerful machines opera...[Read More]
A Hat in Time
3D platformers feel bound to a specific place and time. Identified in earnest by Super Mario 64 and plunged into oblivion by Banjo Tooie, the genre has struggled to move past the classic Nintendo 64 model. Mario’s path remains golden, but other shots in the dark and faithful flashbacks have fallen flat. Most recently, Yooka-Laylee showcased the danger of reflecting the past. A Hat in Time, o...[Read More]
Star Fox 2
Star Fox 2 is imperiled by time. In 1995 it would have been a technical showpiece on an ancient platform. 2017 may view it as a ghastly sideshow unqualified to compliment twenty of the Super Nintendo’s best and brightest. While time corrupts a sincere appraisal of Star Fox 2’s merit, it leaves behind the benign peculiarity of its survival. Star Fox 2 is a weird, wonderful what-if that slipped out ...[Read More]
Tekken 7: Ultimate Tekken Bowl
The wild sideshows that helped define console editions of Tekken were conspicuously absent from Tekken 7. Tekken Bowl, resurrected from Tekken Tag Tournament’s PlayStation 2 port in 2000, returns as Ultimate Tekken Bowl in the first installment of Tekken 7’s season pass. Ultimate Tekken Bowl is bowling, only it replaces rock hurling professionals with men, women, bears, demons, time-be...[Read More]
Sonic Mania Flourishes Native Problems as Prolific Solutions
It’s easy to love Sonic Mania. PagodaWest and Headcannon’s take on Sega’s emblematic hedgehog delighted skeptical critics and satiated ravenous fans. The odds of this happening—of Sonic narrowly escaping his cursed cycle—were not tough to bet against. Despite a smattering of dissimilar attempts across a variety of platforms, there wasn’t a Sonic game that nailed it like his...[Read More]
Nidhogg 2 Review
Nidhogg reveled in simplicity. Messhof’s one-on-one fencing experience stripped away the ornamental redundancy of a traditional fighting game and exposed the bright core of competition. What appeared to be a mess of pixels poking each other with swords revealed itself as a competent, confident fighter. As either a party-strengthening ingredient or a vector to settle skilled rivalries, Nidhog...[Read More]
Sine Mora EX Review
If you find yourself trying to explain gaming purity, it would be difficult to summon evidence as enduring as the shoot ’em up genre. From Spacewar! to Asteroids, Salamander to Hyper Duel, and Radiant Silvergun to Ikaruga, the idea of moving an object through space and avoiding hostile projectiles has survived every hardware cycle in the history of the medium. Five years ago, Sine Mora tempe...[Read More]
Mega Man Legacy Collection 2
In 2015, the original Mega Man Legacy Collection showcased Mega Man as a product of a single, 8-bit era. Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 presents Mega Man across three divergent generations of hardware. Its housing of Mega Man 7, Mega Man 8, Mega Man 9, and Mega Man 10 completes the core of Mega Man and follows a model established by the previous collection. Value and responsibility, however, are it...[Read More]
Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles Review
Look at Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles. Look at it again. And again. It’s easy to fall in love with the breathless beauty flowing across Yonder’s surface. Yonder’s construction is even more impressive when it’s revealed that it somehow only demanded three people. Prideful Sloth, a small Australian studio composed of industry veterans, took influence from Harvest Moon, The Legend ...[Read More]