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OpinionImpressionsBon Appetit‘s Test Kitchen Is The Only Good Job
Labor is a racket. You spend 40 hours a week, or more, making money for someone else, only to have to give a third of your much lower salary away to a landlord who doesn’t return your texts. Even in so-called dream jobs, you have to deal with pettiness, arguments, boredom, and workplace rivalries—all distractions…
By Gita Jackson Published December 6, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsThe Latest Paper Mario-Style Steven Universe Game Keeps It Simple
In 2015, Cartoon Network and developer Grumpyface Studios released Steven Universe: Attack the Light, a simple yet delightful turn-based mobile RPG with strong Paper Mario vibes. 2017’s console follow-up, Save the Light, beefed up the series with intricate combo attacks and free-roaming exploration. A new entry in the series recently released for Apple Arcade, Steven…
By Mike Fahey Published December 6, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsMario Maker’s New Update Is The Closest Thing To Zelda II Maker We’ll Ever Get
Super Mario Maker 2 has finally leveled up with today’s release of the version 2.0 update. Some carefully-considered new enemies and items open up new creative possibilities, but the big change is the fact that Mario can now transform into Link, with a full suite of new moves that turn Mario Maker levels into Zelda…
By Chris Kohler Published December 5, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsPhoenix Point Is A Bigger, Messier XCOM
Phoenix Point is a new turn-based tactics game designed by Julian Gollop, the driving force behind the original XCOM, released back in 1994. In 2019, he’s back to build on the experience he helped pioneer all those year ago. Slight problem, though: he’s not coming in to fix anything that’s broke. XCOM 2 did so…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 3, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsLife Is Strange 2 Is A Heartbreakingly Accurate Brotherhood Simulator
I’ve been playing a lot of Life Is Strange 2 lately. While I’m mostly doing this to catch up for the final episode dropping on December 3, I also find that it’s a very good game to play around this time of year—a slow, soothing contrast to the harried pace of the holiday season. It’s…
By Joshua Rivera Published November 27, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsI Never Knew Dying In Borderlands 3 Could Feel So Brutal
Sometimes you really need to kill a dude, and you just can’t, and it sucks. Borderlands 3 is not a heavy game. It’s full of bright colors, fun sounds, and jokes (even if most of them aren’t very funny). I would no more liken it to a Dark Souls game as put orange juice in…
By Ethan Gach Published November 26, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsSims At College Drink Too Much
Addison, a Sim I made to check out The Sims 4’s latest college-themed expansion was tense. She was almost always tense on campus, given how much work she had to do to graduate. At the Britechcester University campus, there’s pretty much only one option to unwind: go to the bar. Sims don’t drink alcohol—they drink…
By Gita Jackson Published November 25, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsBlack Future ’88 Is A Fun, Bite-Sized Cyberpunk Roguelike
Black Future ’88 is uncompromisingly hard, often repetitive, and very short, but those things haven’t stopped me from having a blast tearing through it. Released last week on PC and Switch, the game takes place in the aftermath of a nuclear apocalypse engineered by the architect of a giant skyscraper. Everyone’s lost track of time…
By Ethan Gach Published November 25, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsThe Touryst Is A Simple But Endearing Puzzle Game On Switch
Every clubby beach bar I’ve ever been to has a sign outside with a strict dress code. No shoes? No collared shirt? No overpriced drinks for you! Inevitably there is some Jersey Shore casting-call hopeful in violation of these commandments being told to get lost by an exhausted bouncer. In The Touryst, a puzzle adventure…
By Ethan Gach Published November 22, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsPokémon Jobs Are Kind Of Messed Up
There is so much dumb bullshit in the Pokémon universe that is not explained and will never be explaned. What’s it like inside a Poké Ball? Do people eat Pokémon? These are questions that, when we have asked the developers, they have been unable to answer. Not helping are a new addition to Sword and…
By Gita Jackson Published November 22, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsMario Kart Tour’s Winter Update Is A Bust
Mario Kart Tour’s big winter update went live yesterday and it feels underwhelming, making me question whether or not it’s really worth it to keep subscribing to the game’s $5 monthly subscription. The game’s Winter Tour is meant to be a festive bit of seasonal fun to close out the year. It sports Mario in…
By Ethan Gach Published November 21, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsThe Sims 4‘s New College Expansion Is As Stressful And Gratifying As The Real Thing
Addison, the Sim I made to check out the latest college-themed Sims 4 expansion, has had a very bad week. She’s a Fine Arts major, taking a class about video games as an elective. Her schedule, as such, was a complete mess. Monday and Wednesday she had three classes, with barely any room in between…
By Gita Jackson Published November 21, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsA Day Of Trying To Stream Xbox One Games While On The Go
When Microsoft’s video game streaming service, Project xCloud, began its beta last month, there were only four games available to test. Now there are over 50. I spent a day taking the service on the road with me to see how it’s working. Currently, the service streams games from Microsoft’s servers to a smartphone or…
By Ethan Gach Published November 20, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsChildren of Morta Is A Solid Roguelike
Children of Morta is a roguelike RPG by Dead Mage, published by This War of Mine studio 11 bit. It’s out on September 3 for PC, with PS4, Xbox, and Switch versions coming in October. I’ve played pieces of it over the years, and now that I have the full game, it’s as solid and…
By Riley MacLeod Published November 20, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsShenmue 3 Feels Like A 90s Throwback, For Better And For Worse
Clumsy, awkward, and stiff. Those are some words you can use to describe Shenmue 3. Rustic, charming, and cozy. Those are also words to describe Shenmue 3. The long-awaited third entry in Yu Suzuki’s adventure epic has all the quirks of the 1999 original, good and bad. You will either love it or be left…
By Heather Alexandra Published November 19, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsGoogle’s Stadia Just Ain’t It [Updated]
Google’s game-streaming platform Stadia is finally here tomorrow. I’ve had a week to tinker around with the Founder’s Edition. It has the Stadia controller, a Chromecast Ultra, and a charger with a USB cable you can also use to plug into your PC or laptop for playing inside of a Chrome browser. Most of my…
By Paul Tamayo Published November 18, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsFallen Order Takes Star Wars Music In A Fun New Direction
No one can really bullshit their way through Star Wars.The Star Wars universe is one of the most fully-realized and obsessed over fictional settings. It’s also one of the most tightly managed, with an astonishing level of minutiae known by both franchise stewards and fans. The engines and blueprints of starships, droid models—you name it,…
By Joshua Rivera Published November 15, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsObsidian’s Next Game Is A Survival Adventure Where You’re The Size Of An Ant [Update]
Today, as part of Microsoft’s XO19 conference in London, Outer Worlds developer Obsidian announced its first project under the Xbox Game Studios umbrella: a survival adventure game called Grounded Grounded, which is releasing in early access on Xbox One and PC in spring 2020 (digitally and as part of Xbox Game Pass), is an up-to-four-player…
By Nathan Grayson Published November 14, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsEpic’s New Hero-Collecting Game Seems Fine, Has Vague Connections To Fortnite
The most striking thing about Battle Breakers, Epic Games’ new free-to-play collectible character role-playing game for PC and mobile devices, is its rocking ‘90s cartoon style opening, complete with theme song lyrics. “Monsters from the sky / want us all to die / they’re hidin’ underground / now they must all be found.” Good stuff.…
By Mike Fahey Published November 14, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsAge Of Empires II‘s Remaster Kicks Ass
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is a lot. It adds new campaigns, civilizations, revamped enemy AI, and 4K graphics, in case you’ve been waiting to see a flood of medieval warriors clash incomprehensibly with one another in crisp detail. Remastered and slightly reworked, one of the defining real-time strategy games of the turn of…
By Ethan Gach Published November 14, 2019