Black Mirror: Bandersnatch Review | A Flawed Experiment

Black Mirror is a series with significant ups and downs. For every transcendentally uplifting San Junipero or grim masterpiece like White Christmas, there are unsuccessful mystery tales like Hated in the Nation or shallow depictions of the current political landscape like The Waldo Moment. Unfortunately, the series' first foray into interactive entertainment exists near the bottom …

My Five Favorite Games of 2018

It's that time of the year again, the period in which I look back at my massive backlog of games that I missed over the past twelve months and feel vaguely disappointed that despite my best efforts there is still a mountain of stuff I haven't even touched yet. Between Return of the Obra Dinn, …

Why Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s Bad Online Options Are So Disappointing

There are few things that are as frustrating as something being so painfully close to a complete package. As a fan of both Smash and fighting games, I feel as though I can confidently say that Ultimate is extremely close to giving me what I want out of a platform fighter. The movement feels good, …

Soulcalibur VI: A Beginner’s First Impressions

While RDR2 has essentially sucked up all of my free time, I did enjoy the week or so I had with the latest in the long-running Soulcalibur series. Although I had only played a little bit of the 4th entry, and I am generally inexperienced in 3D fighters, I was able to make the transition …

Telltale Games and the Legacy of Walking Dead Season 1

With the deflating news that Telltale Games has shut down, it seems as good a time as any to reflect on their defining title, The Walking Dead. Their episodic zombie tale combined a popular property with a narrative focused adventure, introducing many to the concept of story-focused games. While TWD Season 1 obviously isn't the …

Valkyria Chronicles 4 Review | War, Peace, And Anime

It's been roughly eight years since the last non-Japan only Valkyria Chronicles title was released, and while the turn based strategy genre has had significant popular titles like XCOM and several Fire Emblems, its nice to have the shooter strategy hybrid back. While its competitors do offer more complexity and depth, the winning combination of …

Yakuza Kiwami 2 Review: The Triumphant Return of the Dragon

My wild ride with the wonderfully bizarre world of the Yakuza series continues with Kiwami 2, a remake of the second game in the franchise. While Kiwami 1 was fairly disappointing, both in a narrative and gameplay sense, Kiwami 2 has the benefits of a much better script and has significant gameplay improvements due to …

The Narrative Fetch Quest Problem

After playing through Yakuza Kiwami 1, and finding it fairly disappointing, I started thinking about why I enjoyed the story of Yakuza 0 so much more than that of its sequel. Among other things, one of the problems with Yiwami was its pacing, an issue brought to the forefront by video game contrivance which I'll …

Why Super Smash Bros Melee Is Still One Of The Most Unique And Rewarding Competitive Games Ever Made

Recently I had the pleasure of writing about one of my favorite games, Super Smash Bros Melee for the Nintendo GameCube. Melee is a exceptionally weird case of an amalgamation of many unintentional mechanics coalescing into a fighting game like no other. It's crazy fast, has endless depth due to its fluidity, and is immensely …

Hollow Knight Review: A Mysterious Labyrinth Beckons

There may be a plethora of Metroidvania games that are worthy of your time, but Hollow Knight stands out among crowded genre thanks to its excellent world design, cohesive sense of style, and sturdy gameplay. It's easily one of the most interesting titles I've played this year, and gets my emphatic recommendation. Check out my …