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OpinionImpressionsPinball Wizard Is The Perfect Game To Play On A Commute
Pinball Wizard, a new pinball game for Apple Arcade starring an actual wizard, has all the elements of a great subway game: It’s easy to learn, challenging as you keep going, and it doesn’t always need all of your attention. Pinball Wizard is basically pinball, but with spells. Your wizard is the ball, and you…
By Gita Jackson -
OpinionImpressionsCode Vein‘s Character Creation Has All The Options
There are nearly 500 eyebrow options in Code Vein’s character creator. There is a lot of every option in the robust character creation toolset of Bandai Namco’s post-apocalyptic vampire adventure. Players begin by choosing a gender, one of the creator’s simplest options. From there, they can choose between 32 different premade characters. These serve as…
By Mike Fahey -
OpinionImpressionsMario Kart Tour’s Microtransactions Feel Gross In A Post-Apple Arcade World
Mario Kart Tour is a fine racing game. The graphics are lovely. The simple touch controls are fine once you get used to them. It’s overflowing with colorful Nintendo brand polish. Mario Kart Tour is also a free-to-play game with a microtransaction-fueled gacha collection mechanic and game options and rewards locked behind a paid monthly…
By Mike Fahey -
OpinionImpressionsCode Vein Is The Chillest Dark Souls Clone
Bandai Namco’s anime vampire apocalypse adventure Code Vein is clearly meant to be a Dark Souls-style joint. It’s got that signature slower, methodical combat and massive, challenging bosses. Hell, it’s even got a Souls-like currency that can be lost when a player meets their untimely end. But Code Vein also has hot anime AI partners,…
By Mike Fahey -
OpinionImpressionsCat Quest II Is The Purrfect RPG For Pet Lovers (And Fighters And Mages)
The Gentlebros’ Cat Quest II, available now forApple Arcade and Steam, is exactly what I wanted from a sequel to 2017’s adorable adventure. It’s got more magic, more armor, more weapons, and more horrendous animal puns, tied together in one approachable action role-playing game. And this time around, dogs get equal screen time. The original…
By Mike Fahey -
OpinionImpressionsCrying Suns Is Like FTL But With A Better Story
After raising over €72,000 in crowdfunded donations last year, Crying Suns is set to arrive on Steam tomorrow, September 19. Its art style and core mechanics both draw obvious inspiration from similar, years-old releases, with a narrative that constantly makes promises of answers over the horizon. Despite a dizzying opening determined to beat players over…
By Ian Walker -
OpinionImpressionsMutazione Is A Super Chill Game About Raising Plants And Talking To Mutants
Mutazione, an indie game from Die Gute Fabrik out tomorrow on Steam, Apple Arcade and PlayStation 4, does a lot of things well, but what really caught my attention was how it captured the magic of growing plants. To see a plant grow from a cutting into a fully formed plant, to see the sprouts…
By Gita Jackson -
OpinionImpressionsThe First Puzzle Quest Is Still The Best
2007’s Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords combined tile-matching puzzles and role-playing game mechanics to create an incredibly compelling hybrid game that was near impossible to put down. One sequel, several spin-offs, and countless copycats later, the Switch version of the original Puzzle Quest is just as captivating as it was 12 years ago. Launching…
By Mike Fahey -
OpinionImpressionsApple Arcade Is Live In The iOS 13 Beta And It’s A Lot
While the $5-a-month Apple Arcade subscription doesn’t officially launch until Thursday, iOS 13 beta testers can sign up right now and dive into new games from some of the best indie studios on the planet. With nearly 60 games on the service so far, it’s an overwhelming amount of entertainment, all at once. Last week…
By Mike Fahey -
OpinionImpressionsExtra ‘Realism’ Makes For A Slow-Paced Modern Warfare Beta
Activision kicked off Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’s multiplayer beta yesterday, letting PlayStation 4 players get hands-on with a softly rebooted Modern Warfare focused more on realism. Following up on last month’s alpha for Modern Warfare’s upcoming 2v2 Gunfight mode, the beta offers a taste of the standard multiplayer with 6v6 and 10v10 matches in…
By S.E. Doster -
OpinionImpressionsMy New Favorite Way To Play Pinball On Switch
Today’s release of Zen Studios’ Star Wars Pinball for the Nintendo Switch gave me an idea. I’ve been playing my Switch docked and connected to this cool little portable 15.6-inch Viotek monitor, and Zen’s Switch pinball games support vertical play, so what if we turn the portable monitor on its side? Perfection. There are plenty…
By Mike Fahey
