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Review – Retro Game Challenge
I have a few attachments to Retro Game Challenge. I first experienced it during the formative years in my interest in retro games. While I was beginning to stack up a collection of grey plastic cartridges, having a game that attempted to emulate the experience as it was back in the 1980’s was enthralling. Since then, however, I’ve become a…
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Review – Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Me and Animal Crossing go way back. I remember drooling over it when it was still known as Animal Forest in Japan. I dreamt of a game like The Sims, but cuter and with more to do outside the home. That’s not what I got, but I fell in love with it all the same. It’s a game series I…
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Review – Luigi’s Mansion 3
I’ve always been a fan of Luigi. Ever since his high jumps nearly broke Super Mario Bros. 2. When I’d play Super Mario World alone, I’d start a two-player mode and kill off Mario so I could just play as Luigi. So, golly, I was so on board with Luigi’s Mansion back when it dropped alongside the Gamecube in 2001.…
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Review – Rule of Rose
For bringing me my beloved Chulip, I feel I owe Punchline a debt of gratitude. Unfortunately, in their short time as a developer, they only made two games; the aforementioned Chulip and an obscure horror game called Rule of Rose. The two games are nothing alike. Chulip is a weird adventure game where you smooch people, whereas Rule of Rose…
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Review – Shadowrun: Hong Kong
It seems like every summer I get into a Shadowrun kick where I read a few novels, browse through some sourcebooks, and dive back into the video games. With every passing year, I become more familiar with the subject matter and more involved with it. Give it a bit of time, I’m sure I’ll be GMing a group one of…
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Review – Deltarune: Chapter 1
As much as I adore the game, I don’t want a sequel to Undertale. It’s not that I think that developer Toby Fox wouldn’t do a decent job of it, but it’s a self-contained story that wraps up in a satisfying way. Any attempts to extrapolate on it would feel cheap and lessen the impact. Luckily, for his follow-up game,…
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Review – Shadowrun: Dragonfall – Director’s Cut
I’m absolutely in love with Shadowrun. Admittedly, I’ve never played the tabletop RPG due to my social incompetencies, but I still love everything about it. It’s a ‘90s kitsch amalgamation of Tolkien-esque fantasy and Bladerunner-esque cyberpunk. Magic and megacorporations, dragons and robots: it’s a nerd’s dream setting. I’ve played the games, I own a collection of the pulp fiction novels,…
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Review – Quadrilateral Cowboy
I’ve felt a lot of goodwill toward Brendan Chung ever since Citizen Abel: Gravity Bone blew my young mind with its expert melding of interactivity and narrative. Quadrilateral Cowboy sounded like a game he was making specifically for my own specific interests. Hacking, old computer hardware, his own personal twist on storytelling; it’s a recipe that gets my thighs grinding.…
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Review – Sin & Punishment Star Successor
Sin & Punishment: Star Successor is a bit of a weird situation, and I’m not just talking about the game itself, though we’ll get to that. It’s a sequel from Treasure, a legendary developer with a strong aversion to creating sequels. It’s published by Nintendo who, at the time, was more focused on creating family friendly content for their hyper-popular…
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Review – Hypnospace Outlaw
I’m old enough to remember the internet before the dot–com bubble burst. I’d boot up my Intel 486 powered, Windows 3.1, beige monstrosity and, with a burst of horrid screeching noises, log onto the ‘net. The youth of the internet was an awkward phase filled with spinning gifs and noisy backgrounds. “Surfing the web” meant navigating from site to site…
