When you step into the middle of a franchise, whether it's written, on screen, or in a video game, you run the risk of not understanding references to past events. Within a couple of minutes of playing God of War, I watched the main character, Kratos, fiddle with his arm wrappings. There was a strong sense of…
I'm a fan of Mystic Vale. It's a deck-crafting game. Unlike a deck-building game, in which you add cards to a starting deck as you play the game, in a deck-crafting game you modify the cards themselves. In Mystic Vale this is done by inserting mostly-transparent cards into the plastic sleeves of the cards of your deck.…
I like Telltale-style games: Video-game stories that evolve as you make decisions throughout the game. Most of the games I've played in this genre are based on major commercial properties: Batman, Guardians of the Galaxy, Back to the Future. Life is Strange, published by Square Enix, is based on an original concept. You play Max Caulfield, a…
I like Telltale-style games: Video-game stories that evolve as you make decisions throughout the game. Most of the games I've played in this genre are based on major commercial properties: Batman, Guardians of the Galaxy, Back to the Future. Life is Strange, published by Square Enix, is based on an original concept. You play Max Caulfield, a…
TL;DR: Too difficult for me. Back in 1993, Cyan published the game Myst. It was one of the first games published on CD-ROM. I remember playing it on my PowerMac 7500. Myst is a puzzle game: You moved through different, beautifully-designed environments, looking for clues, interacting with objects, accomplishing various goals, and at the end of the…
This is a "sequel"/DLC for Uncharted IV. Strictly speaking, you don't have to have played Uncharted IV to play U:LL; there are quick tutorial explanations for all the keypresses you'll need. As a practical matter, I think the game would be quite difficult without familiarity with the typical "tricks" needed to get through other Uncharted games; for…
TL;DR: The gaming-review websites are right on this one. Full review As I continue my wowcation, I'm catching up on console games. I'm sticking to my resolution to play no game without a colon in its title. Fortunately, the game companies of the world do not disappoint in this quest. I'm going to aim this review towards…
The story is set roughly a billion years in future. Humanity has spread out to multiple worlds and dimensions; the world is littered with old technologies and magics. You are the Last Castoff, a body that was left behind when the Changing God abandoned your body to move into another. That's "Last" in the sense of the…
When I discuss the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) with folks, I usually point them to the following three on-line comics: Obamacare Obamacare Follow-up Trumpcare These three comics go over the details of health insurance in the US, the problems that Obamacare was supposed to solve, how well it solved them, where there was room for improvement, and…
Someone might reasonably argue that this isn't a game, but interactive storytelling. As you go through the game, you're offered a series of choices. The consequences of those choices affects what happens later in the game (e.g., if you're seen shaking hands with Carmine Falcone, that will make Gotham think less of you). There's combat, but no…