I'll start by addressing the big problem with this game: On its easy difficulty setting (dubbed "Friendly"), the game is much too hard for casual players -- at first. The game starts in media res, with Spider-Man fighting the thugs of Wilson Fisk, aka the Kingpin. Since this videogame is frequently compared with Batman: Arkham Asylum, I'll…
Through a World of Warcraft discussion message board, I heard of a research study being conducted by West Virginia University on the relationships between videogame players and their avatars. In a "what the hell" mood, I responded to the survey with a story about one of my WoW characters. I thought the story was minor, but to…
About a year ago, I joked that from now on, all console games that I played must have a colon in their name, because the ones I played with a colon were more fun. Then I played God of War, which I enjoyed despite its lack of a colon. Now I come to NieR: Automata. I purchased…
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 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…
I enjoyed the first game in this series, Batman: The Telltale Series. It had a different take on the standard tale of Bruce Wayne as he transitions into his role of the Batman. It also set the stakes for a different origin of the classic Batman villains, especially the Joker. Batman: The Enemy Within continues the story…
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…
I've written video-game reviews from time to time, but this is the first one for which I'm giving a trigger warning: discussion of severe mental health issues. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is an unusual video game in that the lead character is psychotic. I'm not using the term in its popular (and incorrect) sense of meaning "psychopath." Senua…
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…