Reviews
SK Hynix Gold S31 SSD Review
Oct 11, 2019
The SSD market has come a long way since the early days of high prices and relatively low capacities. The performance gains of NAND flash memory over traditional mechanical hard drives were immediately apparent, though, and compelling enough to convince plenty of early adopters to jump on board to enjoy faster load times for their OS and most-used applications.
Ghostbusters: The Video Game Remastered Review
Oct 11, 2019
Ghostbusters: The Video Game Remastered celebrates the game’s tenth anniversary by being re-released onto PC, and introducing the game to Xbox One and PlayStation 4 for the first time. This was a game that was seemingly lost to a licensing abyss as the original game has been de-listed from many storefronts. Taking the reins from Atari and Terminal Reality, the original publisher and developer is Mad Dog Games and Saber Interactive. The updates are welcome, though not as substantial as I would have thought; but this game offers something so close to being a Ghostbusters film, that this is essentially Ghostbusters III all but in name. If you’re a fan of this movie series, it should be a no-brainer.
Killer Queen Black Review
Oct 10, 2019
If you’ve been remotely tapped into the arcade scene over the past few years, it’s likely you’ve brushed shoulders with Killer Queen. Its massive, dual-cabinet presence is domineering, impossible to miss, offering ten players the chance to duke it out in groups of five for supremacy and bragging rights. Matches tend to draw crowds of onlookers as the competitors shout orders, talk loads of trash, and usually erupt in cheers and laughter. It’s a unique, exciting experience, the only shortcoming of which has been that you have to be in an arcade with cabinets to play it.
Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition Review
Oct 10, 2019
There are games that strive to be art; to push the boundaries of the medium and experiment with how it can be used to tell stories and present its concepts. There are games which are artful in their execution, leaning into the existing strengths of the medium and using traditional constraints as reasons to execute masterfully and create something that defines and shapes the gaming experience. Ori and the Blind Forest is without a doubt an artful game, adding volumes to existing formulae in service of creating a game which is gorgeous to behold, a joy to discover, genre-defining in execution and utterly indelible on the memories of those who are lucky enough to play it.
A Knight’s Quest Review
Oct 10, 2019
As a fan of adventure games, when a new title releases I take notice. Immediately when see A Knights Quest, I though the colorful visuals looked charming and cute. The gameplay looked reminiscent of Zelda. Colorful world, zany characters, I was filled with excitement and ready for a new journey. While it didn’t quite manage to live up to that initial reaction, A Knights Quest did grow on me.
Valfaris Review
Oct 09, 2019
In a dark, desolate future, there is a city fortress called Valfaris. Having re-emerged from a place unknown, the kings son sets off to investigate what happened to the city and his father. Bringing forth death, carnage, destruction, and metal in a side scrolling shooter, this adventure that proves the genre still has what it takes.
GRID (2019) Review
Oct 08, 2019
GRID returns as a reboot to 2008’s Race Driver: GRID, which itself was a reboot of the ToCA Race Driver series. So this makes it a reboot of a reboot. Codemasters refines the experience, bearing similarities to the games that come before it, while also carving a new path. GRID focuses on racing and the relationships therein. You’ll make friends, enemies, and everything in-between as you work on your career. Codemasters plays it safe with this, but offers an exciting experience that straddles itself between arcade and simulation racing that will keep you coming back.
Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince Review
Oct 07, 2019
Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince is Frozenbyte’s best game yet. That might be all you need to know to warrant the purchase, but there’s so much more to talk about. The physics-based puzzles are clever, the levels are wonderfully designed, and the absolute visual splendor that is so vibrantly beaming off the screen has to be seen. It’s so easily the best Trine game, and feels fresh and exciting for the fourth entry. The only thing I can say bad about it, is that the combat isn’t that much fun. That said, Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince is the king, a must-buy.
In Search of Darkness Review
Oct 06, 2019
In Search of Darkness: A Journey Into Iconic ’80s Horror comes from writer and director David Weiner, and is a Robin Block Production, presented by CreatorVC. With a mix of clips, behind-the-scenes footage, and insight from the people directly involved with the genre, this documentary is equal parts retrospective and an encyclopedia of horror. The film is uncensored as you’d want it to be, and includes nudity (from the source material) and vulgarity (source material and interviews) that are only ever present when appropriate, and not gratuitous in any way. It’s a documentary that celebrates the genre in a wonderful way. In Search of Darkness encapsulates the 1980s perfectly, and smartly acknowledges what came before and after the horror movies that defined this decade and genre.
AER Memories of Old Review
Oct 04, 2019
AER: Memories of Old opens promisingly; you are treated to a brief exploration experience in a mountain cave that shows off the game’s beautiful flat-shaded, low-poly art style and familiarizes you with the game’s “lite” dungeons. At first blush it seems you’ll be embarking on an adventure rich with intrigue and dynamic locales full of puzzles and ever-expanding lore. Once you leave the cave and get your first glimpse of the vast realm of floating islands, you could be forgiven for thinking that there’s a great deal to do in this world. However, once you begin bouncing from landmass to landmass and looking closer at what’s around, you discover that the world of AER is more superficial than substantive, and there just isn’t as much to the game as it first lets on.
Frontline Zed Review
Oct 04, 2019
Frontline Zed is a tower defense meets top-down shooter that has a strategy layer in-between. From a gameplay perspective, it’s reminiscent of flash games like The Last Stand whereby you have to maintain a barricade between you and the zombies or risk being killed, all the while you’ll have to scavenge for guns and survivors to make your way across America to get to a military destination that will provide safety and refuge from the zombie apocalypse. This of course easier said than done, and Frontline Zed provides the right amount of entertainment that makes it worth your while.
Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair Review
Oct 03, 2019
When Yooka-Laylee released a few years ago, it was a triumphant return to 3D platformers from the past. It was reminiscent of games like Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie. When Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair was announced, folks thought this might be a sequel, but instead it was later clarified we got was a spin off side project for the franchise. My biggest concern going into this was “would this be some sort of cheap cash grab to satisfy fans until the inevitable sequel?” Much to my surprise, while Impossible Lair is definitely a different spin on the franchise, it’s quality shines throughout.
RAGE 2 – Rise of the Ghosts Review
Oct 01, 2019
Rise of the Ghosts is the first of two expansions for RAGE 2. While there’s nothing ostensibly bad here, this expansion leaves a lot to be desired. It makes a lot of mistakes many downloadable content stories have already made before, and hasn’t learned from them. That’s not to say there isn’t anything to like here, but the shadow that Rise of the Ghosts casts covers the light of the positives. If I had to sum up the experience of returning to RAGE 2 specific to this DLC, it’d be: middling.
Creature in the Well Review
Sep 30, 2019
Many games claim to bring new, innovative mechanics to their chosen genre, but most of the time it simply amounts to minor deviations from the well-trodden path. Creature in the Well seeks to push things further than these typically “safe” experiments, mashing up two distinct genres in a way that feels much more unique. The experience can be rocky at times, but the further in you get, the concept hits significantly more often than it misses. Combined with some truly great art, good music, and a mysterious & engaging story, Creature in the Well will take you on what is a mostly fun ride.
Borderlands 3 Review
Sep 27, 2019
Borderlands 3 claims to have one billion guns, which is 56 times the amount of guns Borderlands 2 had, which is impressive in any context. You’ll never see the same gun twice — or probably once for that matter! Borderlands was the game that combined action RPG and shooter first, and existed before the word (sigh) “shlooter” entered our vernacular. Now this is a game that follows the popularization of the genre it created. While it feels like it is playing catch-up, Borderlands 3 succeeds in what it sets out to do, even if it doesn’t re-invent the gun.
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