2020 has been a fantastic year for fans of classic games. As well as a number of high profile remakes that included Final Fantasy VII, Marvel’s Spiderman, and Demon’s Souls, we’ve also seen new entries in some of gaming’s biggest franchises. Half-Life: Alyx, Crash Bandicoot 4, and The Last of Us Part 2 were some of the biggest releases of the year and were the first new entries in their respective series in quite some time....
Like an old friend, Animal Crossing is coming back to “town” in less than two weeks. The new adventure, New Horizons, will allow you to escape the hustle and bustle of the world—real and figurative—and join Tom Nook and his gang on a beautiful island. Animal Crossing holds a special place in the heart of many gamers for a good reason. Not only is it just a fun way to pass the time, but it also allows you to build connections with other characters in the game....
What exactly is a “Ubisoft” game? Well, it’s a term that the more critical gaming populace uses to describe games that all feel or play similarly to a lot of the titles made by Ubisoft Entertainment. In particular, it applies to open-world games that follow the same structure of opening up the map by climbing up “towers,” running around clearing side objects and random activities and sidequests, then climbing up the next “tower” to open up the map again, rinse and repeat....
RPG fans will likely remember Larian Studios’ Divinity: Original Sin 2 as one of the most immersive CRPGs to grace the PC. Thankfully, its Definitive Edition finally got ported to the Nintendo Switch last 2019. Unlike other Switch ports, Original Sin 2 for the Switch got freebies such as built-in mods, as well as cross-platform play. As such, players of the PC version will be able to save their progress for the Switch and vice versa....
Streaming video games is bigger and more lucrative than its ever been, and at the forefront is Ninja. Ninja primarily streams Fortnite (although he also plays many different and unique titles), and he is currently the most popular personality on Twitch. But despite his popularity, many people don’t know a lot about him. They know he’s a video game streamer, they know he’s popular and controversial, and they know he dyes his hair a lot of wacky colors....
It’s very difficult to improve on a great game - and do it right. Often times, trying to improve the wheel just results in a complete mess, and the exact opposite of what a developer intended. Many felt that Batman: Arkham Asylum was one of those games, as it was such a surprise that it would be foolish to try and improve upon the format. But if the early reviews for Batman: Arkham City are anything to go by, Rocksteady may be one of only a few companies that actually succeeded in upping the sequel ante....
Despite it being over 20 years since the crumbling of the Berlin Wall and dissolution of the Soviet Union, some speculate that the Cold War is still going on - Modern Warfare’s superterrorist Vladimir Makarov certainly demonstrated how such a scenario would play out. While only those in tin-foil ushankas can answer that in the real world, more and more evidence is surfacing that the conspiracy and intrigue of the period is alive and well with Call of Duty: Black Ops 2....
As a next-generation RPG slated to release no sooner than 2015, Cyberpunk 2077’s possibilities – the dimensions of its story, gameplay and ultramodern universe – appear endless. CD Projekt RED introduced us to the decadence and decay present in its mature sci-fi epic with a moving cinematic trailer this January, but it was a small window into a world where narrative vision, character customization features and a true-to-its-genre atmosphere are still being crafted....
After weeks spent trying to break into locked environments and find ways of exploiting the game’s systems, the latest sensation to take Destiny players by storm has a much more innocent origin. It seems once players stopped seeking out the hidden DLC locations on Earth’s Moon, their attention turned to the Hellmouth, with a single question on their minds: can it be jumped? It may seem like an odd question for those not already versed in Bungie’s latest sci-fi shooter, but with the wealth of special abilities and gravity-defying tricks at their disposal, it couldn’t immediately be assumed to be out of the question....
Between comic industry news and Avengers: Age of Ultron updates, Marvel super heroes are sure to be stealing plenty of headlines at Comic-Con this weekend. If you’ve been following video game news this week, you know that Earth’s Mightiest Heroes have also been showing up in the gaming headlines daily. Disney Infinity 2.0 is implementing some big changes to its kid-friendly sandbox environment and Disney Interactive plans to use the Marvel characters to convince gamers to give the game another try this fall....
It has been some time since Electronic Arts first unveiled plans to create a live-action Dragon Age II web series, Dragon Age: Redemption, but thankfully we now have our first look at the show by way of a teaser trailer. Starring Felicia Day as Tallis, an elf assassin who is more than willing to get her hands dirty, this web series certainly has the production value going for it. Part of that production value comes from the locations that look very much inspired by the world of Dragon Age II....
It seems like just yesterday that EA was re-committing to the Need For Speed series, promising quality titles over a publisher-imposed annual release. And yet, the games continue to be churned out, ranging from impressive to downright disappointing. That kind of record usually breeds doubt, but a jump to next-gen hardware is likely enough to counter skepticism. Now that Need For Speed Rivals has made its debut on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, boasting improved graphics and a dynamic weather system - as well as Ferrari’s return to the franchise - the embargoes have lifted....
If Rock Band 3 is an all day arena rock concert, complete with a massive stage and a blinding light show, Rock Band Blitz is a club show - stripped-down and intimate. There are no plastic instruments to play and no bandmates to rock out with. Just a solitary player, a standard controller and the game. The real secret of Rock Band’s success is that it allows players - even those without an ounce of instrumental or vocal skill - to interact with music in a way that feels meaningful....
EA and Starbreeze Studios’ reboot of Syndicate may have more than enemy agents to worry about, as the game has been refused classification by Australian officials. To make things worse - depending on your point of view - EA has decided that they will no longer seek classification for the title, meaning the game will not be made available to the Australian market. It seems that Syndicate is a tad too violent for Australian officials....
It can hardly be considered a surprise, but that doesn’t make The Last Guardian’s absence from GamesCom 2012 any less disappointing. The game hasn’t been shown publicly in years, and unfortunately, when The Last Guardian makes headlines, it tends to be because there is more bad news to share. It’s doubly frustrating for Team Ico fans, because of the secrecy surrounding the game’s development – we know that The Last Guardian is very, very late, but we really have no idea exactly why....
The original Playstation console released in 1995 and was the start of Sony’s rising power in the gaming console industry. Thousands of titles were released for the console during its lifetime, with many popular franchises that we know today making their first start on the PS1. There were many companies who wanted to join in on the success of the PS1, and so there were plenty of games that were churned out, though not all of them were good....
The Caped Crusader. The World’s Greatest Detective. The Dark Knight. It’s safe to say that there are very few people in this world who don’t know of the legendary superhero that is Batman. Introduced in his first comic in 1939, Batman went on to appear in countless books, tv shows, movies, and even video games. With the releases of the Batman Arkham series by Rocksteady in the PS3/360 console generation, Bruce Wayne’s alter ego was given an incredible set of games to play around in....
The most recent entry in the Call of Duty series is Black Ops Cold War, a direct sequel to 2010’s Call of Duty: Black Ops. As the name implies, the game is all about conspiracies, lies, and espionage. By the end of the game, the shocking revelations presented change every assumption people had about the story upon first starting it. However, it is far from the first game about espionage; plenty of other titles have dealt with similar subject matters....
There is a big conversation going on about Cyberpunk 2077’s, CD Projekt Red’s latest game since The Witcher 3. While plenty gripe justified, no one can deny the sheer amount of detail present in the game world, evidenced by the ten details in the entries below. Some of them stare players right in the face, but most would chock it off as window-dressing without realizing the reference or homage. After finding out, it gives one a deeper appreciation of where the artists and designers took influence in order to craft the impressive world....
The Super Mario series isn’t exactly known for its sound logic and reasoning. After all, it’s a story about a plumber (although he’s technically not anymore) that constantly saves a princess from the clutches of an evil turtle, dinosaur, thing (whatever Bowser is really considered). The fantasy world is filled to the brim with strange creatures, mushrooms that make the heroes grow, and seemingly innocent objects like flowers and leaves that imbue them with mystical powers....
