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OpinionImpressionsVoid Bastards Is Good But Getting A Bit Repetitive
I fell in love with Void Bastards before I even played a moment of it. The art style just instantly clicked with me in a way that rarely happens. I didn’t even know what kind of game it was until I started playing it earlier this week. It turns out this beautiful and stylish game…
By Zack Zwiezen -
OpinionImpressionsCrystal Crisis Is The Sequel Puzzle Fighter Fans Deserve
In 1996 Capcom released Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, a competitive puzzle game featuring chibi versions of Street Fighter and Darkstalkers characters. The closest Capcom’s gotten to making a sequel is a failed free-to-play mobile game. It’s cool, though. Indie developer Nicalis just released Crystal Crisis, and it’s all current-gen gem-fighting fans could possibly need.…
By Mike Fahey -
OpinionImpressionsConan Unconquered Is A Real Time Strategy Game Without Any Fresh Ideas Of Its Own
If you were to ask Conan Unconquered, “What is best in life?” it might say back “To effectively manage your resources, build big walls, and hear the lamentations of your enemies when they see there’s another wall right behind the first big wall.” Conan Unconquered is a new real-time strategy game that came out on…
By Ethan Gach -
OpinionImpressionsNew Pet Sim For Switch Is No Nintendogs But It’s Still Better Than My Real Dog
This is Pootie, my Shiba Inu from Little Friends: Dogs & Cats, which is out this week for Nintendo Switch. He’s not the best frisbee catcher in the world and often misbehaves during walkies, but I still like him better than my actual, real-life dog, and not just because he has no butthole. Despite how…
By Mike Fahey -
OpinionImpressionsAmerican Fugitive Is A Small Town Version Of GTA
I was driving fast in a ugly sedan. The police were chasing me and I was trying to lose them. I had robbed a home and got caught in the process. Now the cops were hot on my trail. I flipped a corner and they lost me. I quickly jumped out of my car, hopped…
By Zack Zwiezen -
OpinionImpressionsAssassin’s Creed VR ‘Escape Room’ Is More Spectacle Than Puzzle
Ubisoft has a new “VR escape room” set in the world of Assassin’s Creed that you can play at over 100 different locations around the world. It’s fun, but despite its stated ties to “escape rooms,” Beyond Medusa’s Gate is more of an hourlong VR action game than a cooperative brain teaser. The first of…
By Chris Kohler -
OpinionImpressionsMario Kart Tour Is Pretty Good When It’s Not Nickel And Diming You
The Mario Kart Tour beta is now live for Android users in the United States. I’ve had some time to check out how Nintendo’s upcoming free-to-play mobile game adapts the beloved kart racing series for smartphones. The answer is a mostly faithful but stripped-down recreation of Mario Kart decked out with all the microtransactions and…
By Ethan Gach -
OpinionImpressionsNowhere Prophet Is A Deck-Building Roguelike Where Losing Your Cards Matters
Nowhere Prophet has a fascinating mix of card game mechanics and choose-your-own-adventure strategizing, with a crisp art style and a straightforward interface that makes it a breeze to play. While it’s still too early in development to know if it will end up being as deep as the great indie games it draws inspiration from,…
By Ethan Gach -
OpinionImpressionsDruidstone Is A Worthwhile Tactics-Based Follow-Up To Legend Of Grimrock 2
Druidstone: The Secret of the Menhir Forest is pretty to look at, interesting to solve, and absolutely ruthless whenever you get things wrong. Drenched in classic fantasy and tabletop role-playing game mechanics, it’s part of a new breed of tactical role-playing games that leans more on puzzles than numbers. The game has you explore the…
By Ethan Gach -
OpinionImpressionsPokémon Rumble Rush Is As Basic As Pocket Monster Battling Gets
The mobile game formerly known as Pokéland and now called Pokémon Rumble Rush is out today for Australian Google Play users. While the rest of the world waits for the latest mobile Pokémon game to come their way, we nipped off to Aussie Android land to give it a go. It’s pretty simple free-to-play fare.…
By Mike Fahey -
OpinionImpressionsSniper Elite V2 Doesn’t Hold Up, Even In Pretty Remaster Form
Boy do I love Sniper Elite 4. Those beautiful, wide-open environments, spending a couple hours carefully navigating a map in order to make the most kills while alerting as few enemies as possible, enemy soldiers reacting more realistically than ever—it’s so good. But going back to play Sniper Elite V2—even a lovely, remastered version—is a…
By Mike Fahey -
OpinionImpressionsRacing Game’s Free Update Lets You Swap Wheels With Hoverjets
Grip: Combat Racing is a high-speed futuristic racing game featuring vehicles with gigantic tires, capable of driving right side up or upside down on twisting, topsy-turvy tracks. It’s like Wipeout, only with wheels. Or it was. This week’s free “Airblades” update gives players the option to race with wheels or hover engines. It’s the best…
By Mike Fahey -
OpinionImpressionsShakedown: Hawaii Offers A Breezy 16-Bit Farewell To The Vita
There are hundreds of missions in Shakedown: Hawaii, each one of them a bite-sized mashup of arcade violence and dark humor that takes aim at late capitalism. None of the missions overstay their welcome, but also, they don’t culminate into anything more rewarding than the experience of just driving around the game’s bright, lurid streets…
By Ethan Gach -
OpinionImpressionsMordhau Is A Clunky Game For Swordplay Nerds That I Can’t Put Down
Mordhau is a medieval multiplayer fighter named after a German sword technique from the Renaissance era in which knights hold their weapons by the blade and try to bash their opponents heads in using the pommel. Like its namesake, Mordhau is slow, awkward, and bloody, but for some reason, I want to keep playing. To…
By Ethan Gach -
OpinionImpressionsThe New Magic: The Gathering Expansion Makes Every Match More Spectacular
War Of The Spark, Magic: The Gathering’s latest expansion, is available one week early in Magic: The Gathering Arena, the card game’s digital version. It’s already shaping up to be one of the more memorable climaxes in the game’s recent history. Narratively, War Of The Spark couldn’t have arrived at a more opportune cultural moment.…
By Ethan Gach -
OpinionImpressionsThe Switch Version Of Mortal Kombat 11 Has Its Ups And Downs
The Switch port of Mortal Kombat 11 plays like a champ but looks like jaggy ass. It’s pleasingly portable but incredibly finicky about its internet connection. I want the Switch version to be my go-to, but it keeps pushing me away. As noted in my Mortal Kombat 11 review, I spent most of my time…
By Mike Fahey -
OpinionImpressionsPagan Online Mixes Diablo-Style Loot With Arcade Combat
What surprised me most about Pagan Online, a new action role-playing game that launched on Steam Early Access last week, was how meaty the moment-to-moment fighting felt. When I launched an attack and connected with a wave of enemies, it really felt like I was messing up their day. Pagan Online is a collaboration between…
By Ethan Gach -
OpinionImpressionsMortal Kombat 11’s Tutorial Is An Excellent Intro To High-Level Play
Everybody knows how punching and kicking work, but do you know what Frame Advantage is? How about how to perform a Frame Trap? If you get knocked down, do you know which defensive “Getup” moves to use to counter your opponent’s likely follow-up attack? Work your way through Mortal Kombat 11’s exhaustive tutorials and you’ll…
By Mike Fahey
