-
OpinionSomeone At Capcom Really Hates Ethan’s Hands
Ethan is the main protagonist of Resident Evil Village. He has a rough life, what with all the dangerous monsters trying to kill him. Ethan’s hands seem to be the main target. They get treated so poorly that I’m starting to suspect someone at Capcom hates Ethan’s hands and wants to destroy them as much…
By Zack Zwiezen -
Opinion‘ThAnk YoU FOr YouR PuRcHAse!’ (Please Stop This, Sony)
A few days ago I grabbed the free PS Plus games on my PS5, like I usually do. And just like always, later that day I checked my phone and saw a series of emails from Sony confirming supposed purchases, which prompted a mild freakout before remembering they were just Sony confirming I “bought” games…
By Zack Zwiezen -
OpinionI Can’t Stop Thinking About This New Hot Wheels Game
Ever since the joy-inducing Hot Wheels expansion pack for Forza Horizon 3 I’ve been craving a high-quality game about racing my favorite toy cars through real-world locations. I’m really hoping September’s Hot Wheels Unleashed is it. Coming to Xboxes, PlayStations, PC, and Switch on September 30, Hot Wheels Unleashed is part racing game, part creative tool.…
By Mike Fahey -
OpinionNow Every Single Activision Studio Works On Call Of Duty [Update]
Yesterday, Activision-owned studio Toys For Bob announced that it was going to provide development support for the latest season of Call of Duty Warzone. The studio had previously worked on its own games, such as last year’s fantastic Crash Bandicoot 4, but has now effectively been consumed by the ever-growing monster that is Call of…
By Zack Zwiezen -
OpinionSorry, Your Cis White Woman Protagonist Isn’t Progressive
The future is bright for the current and upcoming crop of AAA releases. Reviews for Returnal are positive. I’m gassed as hell to have Lady Dimitrescu chase me around in Resident Evil Village before I let her snap me in half. Rift Apart looks so sharp on the PS5 that it might become my first…
By Ash Parrish -
OpinionImpressionsIt’s A Shooter With Dinosaurs, And That’s Enough For Me
Dinosaurs are rad. Sadly, they rarely appear in video games. So I was excited to play Second Extinction, a new shooter featuring dinosaurs, both big and small. What I wasn’t expecting was how much this early access game would remind me of Destiny, or how much fun I would have playing it. Second Extinction is…
By Zack Zwiezen -
OpinionEnough With The Red Screen Of Almost-Death
Returnal, a relatively punishing action game out next week for PS5, treats your character being near death the way many games do. When your health gets dangerously low, your screen displays a series of cracks (meant to mimic a busted visor) and starts pulsating red (meant to mimic…the blood rush of adrenaline?). These “red screens…
By Ari Notis -
OpinionImpressionsThe Nier Replicant Remaster Does Many Good Things And One Awful Thing
I played the original Nier back in 2010 and thoroughly enjoyed it despite the main character being a hideous troll of an old man. Nier Replicant ver.1.22474487139…, with the handsome younger hero originally exclusive to Japan, looks, plays, and feels better overall, save the unfortunate inclusion of an achievement for players who peek at the…
By Mike Fahey -
OpinionImpressionsReturnal Feels Like An Actual PS5 Game
A busted spaceship. An uncharted exoplanet teeming with hostile life. An emphasis on scanning objects, upgrading equipment, and retracing your footsteps. Those might sound like core components of a new Metroid Prime, but they’re not, at least not in this case. They’re the ingredients of a riveting—if somewhat punishing—action game called Returnal, out next week…
By Ari Notis -
OpinionMods Make Gaming A Better Place For Everyone
Twitter is abuzz with today’s awkwardly wrong gaming take, this time focused on modding, after disparaging thoughts about a recent Witcher 3 mod led to debate over whether modders are harming the games industry. Which leads me to present the other case: modders are not harming the games industry. I should elaborate: For historical context,…
By John Walker -
OpinionImpressionsA Horror Game Where Reloading Is The Scariest Part
Reloading in video games is rarely something you think a lot about. Often it’s a moment in time when you’re forced to stop shooting. But a new indie horror game makes reloading fun, nerve-wracking, and interesting. And it’s just one part of a great collection of horror games released earlier this week. Released on April…
By Zack Zwiezen -
OpinionOutriders Could Really Use A Self-Revive
Outriders is a game about balance, but it’s not always finely balanced. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the game’s revive mechanic, which is seriously biased toward players of the game’s cooperative mode. If you’ve played Outriders by yourself, you’ve no doubt encountered the absent revive. You’re doing your thing (turning baddies into bloody…
By Ari Notis -
OpinionImpressionsKnight Squad 2 Knows How To Party
Party games balance on a tightrope. If they’re too rooted in chance, everyone will be at each other’s throats within a round. (See: Mario Party.) If they’re too basic, they’re boring, and if they’re too complex, well, there’s no fun for a party. Every so often, a game comes along and nails the balance, like…
By Ari Notis -
OpinionImpressionsFinal Fantasy XIV Runs Like A Dream On The PS5
If I weren’t holding a DualSense controller while playing the PlayStation 5 beta of Final Fantasy XIV I would think it was running on my gaming PC. As much as I love my massively multiplayer online role-playing games, I hate playing them on game consoles. They always look muddy and the frame rates are always…
By Mike Fahey
