-
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 -
Opinion‘Sam’s Story’ Sends Metro Exodus Off With A Bang And A Harmonica
“Sam’s Story,” the second of two planned DLC episodes for Metro Exodus, lets you do this thing where, if you come across select chairs dotting its rotting landscape, you can sit down and play harmonica. You, as Sam, will just jam over some grimly scenic vista. You can play for as long as you want.…
By Nathan Grayson Published February 18, 2020 -
OpinionI’m Not Sure I Like Snack World But I Keep Playing Anyway
I do not enjoy questing in Snack World: The Dungeon Crawl Gold. It’s boring and repetitive, killing the same creatures on the same maps for underwhelming rewards. And yet I’ve been playing for eight hours and can’t seem to put down my Joy-Cons. What’s keeping me playing? Is it the puns and poop jokes? It’s…
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 -
OpinionHere’s To 20 More Years Of Ashley’s Butt Just Hanging Out In Vagrant Story
As of today, the classic PlayStation 1 role-playing game Vagrant Story is 20 years old. It’s very good and, as ex-Kotaku staffer Joshua Rivera so eloquently wrote back in December, “still holds the heck up” two decades later. This article, however, is all about the main character’s exposed butt, just so you know what you’re…
By Ian Walker Published February 10, 2020 -
OpinionTales From Off-Peak City Is The Bizarre Pizza Mystery Game You Never Knew You Needed
Your mission in Tales From Off-Peak City Vol.1 is simple: find and steal a precious saxophone from a pizza shop owner. It’s an undercover mission where you’ll masquerade as an assistant in the pizzeria. But something’s wrong. Everyone in the town is a little “off,” your boss is suddenly rushed off and gives you ownership…
By Heather Alexandra Published February 10, 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