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OpinionImpressionsDeath Is Like A Hurricane Here In Darksburg
There’s a sinking feeling I get every time my team in Darksburg gets surrounded by purple-tinted goth zombies. Waves of them break against us, driven back by our attacks, only to reform and come at us again. Surely this is the last one, I think, only to find our party of four overwhelmed once again…
By Ethan Gach Published February 20, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsOld-School Adventure World Of Horror Is Like Stepping Into A Junji Ito Manga
My flashlight casts a trembling light on the dark, dingy school bathroom. My head throbs from concussion, my face stitched up and heavily bandaged. I wonder if anything will be left of my hometown when the riots and thunderstorms give way to tomorrow’s sunrise. The Old Gods are stirring, and the secret to stopping them…
By Ian Walker Published February 19, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsShadowbringers‘ Latest Expansion Ups The Stakes (And Robot Teeth)
Final Fantasy XIV’s current expansion Shadowbringers landed with a bang last July, and it’s been expanding since then with more battles and intrigue. Those additions have come in pieces: a string of raid monsters here, a cross-over collaboration with Nier Automata there. The early additions were enjoyable, but the story took time to move its…
By Heather Alexandra Published February 18, 2020 -
OpinionImpressions5 Reasons Vanquish Hero Sam Gideon Is Still The Greatest
Today Sega releases the Bayonetta & Vanquish 10th Anniversary Bundle bringing two of Platinum Games’ best to the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 with support for 4K at 60 frames per second. Both games look and play beautifully, but sequel-having Smash Bros. fighter Bayonetta has gotten enough attention. It’s smoking-and-sliding Vanquish star Sam Gideon’s time…
By Mike Fahey Published February 18, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsZombie Army 4 Is Just Another Zombie Game, But It’s A Really Good One
Zombie Army 4 doesn’t reinvent the wheel. If you have played a shooter or a game featuring zombies in the last 5 years, you will have seen almost everything Zombie Army 4 does throughout its story campaign. Big armored zombies, last stand moments against waves of enemies, some RPG mechanics, co-op, special abilities, Nazi zombies,…
By Zack Zwiezen Published February 17, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsAzur Lane: Crosswave’s Warships Chat A Lot More Than They Fight
Azur Lane: Crosswave, out today for the PlayStation 4 and Steam, is a spin-off of mobile hit Azur Lane, known for side-scrolling shoot-em up action and its anthropomorphic anime warship women. Crosswave is indeed full of cool-looking boat people, but its short spurts of 3D combat leave a lot to be desired. Azur Lane: Crosswave’s…
By Mike Fahey Published February 14, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsI Love The Garbage Children Of Fire Emblem‘s New DLC
I’m just going to be upfront here and say that I never really enjoyed many of the characters in Fire Emblem: Three Houses. As such, my hopes for the secret fourth house introduced in the game’s first major expansion, Cindered Shadows, weren’t very high. But after taking a few hours to complete its isolated storyline,…
By Ian Walker Published February 13, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsPlayStation Inspired ‘Haunted Demo Disc’ Is A Glorious Throwback to Old-School Horror Games
We live in an age where pretty much any game you want is right at your fingertips, so long as you have an internet connection. That wasn’t always the case. If you wanted to try out games in the 1990s and 2002s, you played a demo disc. The Haunted PS1 Demo Disc, which came out…
By Heather Alexandra Published February 13, 2020 -
OpinionImpressions‘Art’s Dream’ Is A Stunning Showcase Of What’s Possible In Dreams For PS4
“Art’s Dream,” which was created by Media Molecule to demonstrate the versatility of PlayStation 4 creation tool Dreams, is a two-hour point-and-click adventure, platform puzzler, brawler, side-scrolling shooter, vehicle shooter, and more. All that, plus it’s got four musical numbers. Early adopters of Dreams have been putting Media Molecule’s robust set of creation tools to…
By Mike Fahey Published February 12, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsWide Ocean Big Jacket, A Chill Game About Camping, Is The Perfect Length
As a kid, I never liked camping. I went to a multitude of Boy Scout and church camps, but I could never escape an overriding feeling of anxiety, like the trees were going to close in and suffocate me with their bristly branches. Turns out, I was just doing it wrong. The camping trips I…
By Nathan Grayson Published February 11, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsDead Cells‘ Latest Expansion Makes A Good Thing So Much Better
The only thing in Dead Cells’ latest expansion that gives me more pleasure than cleaving giant mutated fungi in half with a humongous scythe is having my own mushroomed companion fling itself at them with abandon and then explode upon impact. In other words, I’m really enjoying Dead Cells’ new DLC, “Bad Seed.” Out today…
By Ethan Gach Published February 11, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsIf You Like Celeste But Wish It Had More Swords, Try Scourgebringer
It only took about 15 minutes of zipping around in Scourgebringer for my fingers to start feeling sore. One moment, bell chimes were echoing through a peaceful room. The next, I was tearing through enemies in every direction while some heavy metal kicks up. I’ll strap ice to my knuckles if that’s what it takes…
By Ethan Gach Published February 7, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsIf You Like Phoenix Wright And Animal Puns, Don’t Skip Aviary Attorney
Do you like Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney? Do you like animals? Do you enjoy laughing? You seem like the perfect audience for Aviary Attorney, then. Perhaps you remember when this game debuted on Steam a few years back. Maybe, like me, you noticed it but didn’t end up playing it. Well, now it’s on Switch,…
By Chris Kohler Published February 7, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsA Morbid Platformer Where Every Jump Breaks Your Legs
Platformers are all about jumping, but what happens when your jumps are so powerful that your body literally can’t handle them? That’s the idea behind Legbreaker, a game about figuring out how to maintain the protagonist’s body as they make their way through several sadistic experiments. Legbreaker’s mechanics are simple: the player has a huge…
By Ian Walker Published February 5, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsDark Crystal Tactics Game Is A Pale Imitation Of The Classics
The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics doesn’t live up to the promise of its source material, and is a weak imitation of the PlayStation 1-era tactical role-playing games to which it attempts to harken back. It’s not terrible, but it is disappointing. Revealed at last year’s E3, Age of Resistance Tactics looked like an…
By Ethan Gach Published February 4, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsCook, Serve, Delicious 3 Is A Chaotic Cooking Game Set In The Back Of A Food Truck Driven By Cyborgs
Cooking food can be a relaxing or even therapeutic activity. But not in Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?! That’s because you are cooking in the back of a moving food truck driven by two cyborgs in a dystopian future. In that case, things are a bit more…chaotic. CSD3 is the third entry in the Cook, Serve,…
By Zack Zwiezen Published February 1, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsThe Terminator Event In Ghost Recon Breakpoint Is Good
As many problems as Ghost Recon Breakpoint still has, it now also has Terminators. They’re actually a good addition to the game and part of a special live event week that kicked off on Wednesday and sort of ends on Thursday of next week. The event is fun, especially if you like the idea of…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 31, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsPlaying Coffee Talk Reminds Me Of The Quiet Joys Of Being A Barista
Life sometimes feels like it runs a mile a minute. Shit never stops, there’s always a new crisis, and your jaw is clenched in perpetuity. In those moments, it can help to focus on the little things. Like coffee. A trip to the corner shop or a dirty cup from the office kitchen is like…
By Heather Alexandra Published January 31, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsThe Latest Magic: The Gathering Game Is A Decent Card-Based Tower Defense
If you want a pure Magic: The Gathering video game experience, stick with Arena. Netmarble’s Magic: Manastrike, out now for iOS and Android, has two players dropping card-based creatures and spells into a two-lane battlefield in order to destroy their opponent’s towers. I don’t love it, but I don’t hate it. Call it tower defense…
By Mike Fahey Published January 31, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsThe Pedestrian Is A Good Platformer, But Great Puzzle Game
Three years after it first caught our attention, platforming puzzler The Pedestrian is now out. And it’s everything I was hoping it would be. The Pedestrian puts you in control of a tiny little guy/girl from a street sign, warning sign, door sign, whatever sign. From humble beginnings you soon set off an adventure, leaving…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 30, 2020