Fighting games have been favourites of mine ever since I played Mortal Kombat in the arcades as a kid. Sure I was terrible at them, but I've always enjoyed how different characters are designed and what super cool moves they would let you perform. They each had an element of fantasy as they shot energy beams at each other, or teleported around the stage with impressive flourishes of style.
If you've yet to see the light about how wonderful narrative games can be, Everybody's Gone To The Rapture might be the one to push you over the edge. Sure it's polarising for folks who need guns and action in their games, but The Chinese Room have shown that they're no slouch when it comes to an experience.
What's that saying? Fool me once… fool me twice… blah blah blah… being fooled repeatedly is equal to foolishness. I'll admit, I've been a fool with the Battlefield series, and with EA in general, but I'm consistently amazed at how one series can be so terrible and beautiful at the same time.
Let me tell you a story. You know the one about those games that big studios like to make every now and then as short experiences packed with quality production. Call of Juarez: Gunslinger stands as a tightly paced tale of compelling gun-play and some interesting ideas. These short AAA games are a good example of how it's not the size of a game, it's the way you use it.
Let's not beat around the bush: last year's E3 stage demo for Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands was a terrible way to market the game, and if I hadn't been able to get my hands on it through the recent open beta, I would never have given it a second thought. On paper, Wildlands is as generic as they come and barely offers anything unique, but it got its hooks in me… and I don't know why.
Here's a golden rule that I have learned for big iterative AAA games that might help someone else out in the future: never go in reverse. As DLC for Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, I figured that Freedom Cry would be a chance to return to the high seas and have a quick jaunt around the Caribbean. I got exactly what I was asking for, but time has not been kind to the wettest installment in the Assassin's Creed series.
If paintings ever came to life and you were able to walk around in their world, I imagine it would be pretty close to what Nubla proposes. Even the shortcomings of this student game could be realistic downsides to a painted world that probably doesn't work the way you'd expect.
Once upon a time I was house-sitting for someone, so I took my trusty PS3 with me and prepared myself for a week of pooning out on the couch where I wouldn't be disturbed… for days…
Hatsune Miku is a pretty big deal when it comes to virtual Japanese pop stars. I've heard and seen the name mentioned here and there in various forms, but have never known what her deal was. There's that Hatsune Miku VR experience thing that was marketed as a big deal for Playstation VR, and I remember seeing some sort of DDR-like arcade cabinet somewhere on the internet branded with her name. After seeing that there was a free Hatsune Miku game on the PSN store, I figured it was time to find out what's going on once and for all.
These days it's rare for any AAA game to come with a demo or trial version to play around with before deciding if you want to throw down the full price of purchase. For Honor is no different, but it offered up an 'open beta' a few days before the game launched, which served as a good demo for me, as I discovered why I won't be buying it.
I liked the first Watch Dogs game, however unpopular a statement that might be. I liked it because it was a new IP from a 'AAA' developer who has been churning out the same old games for a long time. Of course, I'm not blind enough to miss that Watch Dogs was another Ubisoft tower-climbing opus, but it showed some promise, despite its flaws. Imagine my surprise when Watch Dogs 2 came along and learned from the controversial mistakes of its predecessor. The sequel removes many of the flaws from the original and offers a sharp injection of personality, interesting gameplay ideas, and plain old fun.
Lately I've been diving into a bunch of games that are available for free on Steam, which has yielded some interesting and unique experiences that otherwise would not have seen the light of day. Releasing a game for free is a great way for a developer to try out an idea without annoying players if it doesn't quite hit the mark, because they didn't pay for it anyway.
Surely I'm not the only one who missed out on the hype train that was Moirai back in 2013, but the thousands of reviews and praise for this short free to play game stand testament to its popularity. It wasn't until someone posted a link on social media with the caveat "just play it" that I even had an inkling it existed.
This free digital comic book is an homage to Valve's Half-Life universe that doesn't skimp on details or quality, and has me excited for future chapters.
What better way to really get the ball rolling on this blog than by doing a bit of a Game Of The Year post to talk about all the lovely games that came out in 2016?!
Virginia is a prime example of how a tight narrative can drive excellent pacing amongst a drapery of beautiful visuals and music. As far as so-called 'walking simulators' go, this may be the best title you never played.
