Rating of
2/5
Iron Harvest
During high school, I was introduced to RTS games through Blizzard’s “Warcraft II”. Immediately, I was hooked. “Command and Conquer,” “Starcraft,” “Age of Empires,” and “Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds” all became enjoyable franchises that I played for many hours into my college years. During those years, PC gaming was synonymous with RTS for me. A return to playing games on consoles like the Gamecube and Wii diverted my attention from the genre, and when I was introduced to Steam, I spent little time playing RTSes. I did try to have our co-op group play an open-source RTS, Zero-K, but that was a disaster.
The RTS that I have historically played all have single-player campaign modes. Multiplayer is possible, …
Rating of
4/5
Cyberpunk 2077
I generally don’t play large, open-world, sandbox games. They take so long to finish, especially if you want to 100% the game, and time is a precious commodity. My friends know this well about me. I do, however, like the idea of the open-world sandbox. When Skyrim was a thing—has it ever stopped being a thing?—I played it for almost 30 hours, and then didn’t pick it back up. I lost interest. I’ve also wanted to play CD Projekt franchises like the Witcher. Heck, I own all the games, buying them on sale for dirt cheap. Someday I will play them.
But for some reason, I chose Cyberpunk 2077 for one of my backlog embiggenings games. Not sure exactly why I chose it, and I know those same friends questioned my judgement. But it was …
Rating of
3.5/5
Tony Hawk's Underground 2
Another quality skate game that's a little too similar to those that preceded it to feel "special".
Rating of
3.5/5
Xenoblade Chronicles
A really nice looking action RPG with Japanese sensibilities and - bizarrely - English accents. A bit of a case of style over substance but with so little competition in the genre on the Wii, an essential purchase for fans.
Rating of
3.5/5
Demon's Souls Remastered
Difficult, Frustrating, and also Rewarding
Demon's Souls is a remake of a game with the same name on PS3. It's a beautiful, difficult, and rewarding game that lacks when it comes to controls and explaining things.
I had never played a game in the "Souls" series before starting this so when I began I only knew a couple things. First, the series is pretty popular and second, that it's viewed as extremely difficult. By the time I finished I understood both of these things very well.
The story of this game isn't that intriguing. In a land called Boltearia an evil presence is taking over. A fog is enveloping the area and there are evil creatures and demons strung about. Once you're in there is no escape and it appears there's a evil being making people like you kill …
Rating of
4.5/5
Metroid Dread
A Welcome Return to Metroid's Roots
A 2D Metroid platformer has finally returned to a console and it doesn't disappoint. Anyone who is a big fan of Super Metroid on the SNES should find time to give this a play.
Metroid Dread goes back to the roots of the series while also blending the updates to the weapons and game play implemented over the years to create a fun, engaging, and fairly challenging at times experience on the Switch. The last time a 2D platforming Metroid came to a console was Super Metroid in 1994. 3 handheld games have been released since then but being able to play it on a TV has definitely been lacking, and I am definitely glad it's back.
The story in Metroid Dread can be a little bit complicated if you haven't played the previous games in the …
Rating of
4/5
Returnal
A Beautiful Shooter with a Great Story
Returnal brings you in with an enticing premise and solid game play but will frustrate most with its rogue-like elements and punishing enemies meaning this game is probably not for everyone.
After obtaining a PS5 several months after its release, I wanted to play a game that you could only get for that system. I've always been a fan of the sci-fi genre and recently played through Dead Cells and really enjoying it. So, I decided to give Returnal a try since it was a 3rd person shooter AAA rogue-like game set in space.
First let me start off by saying this game does a great job of introducing you to the advances of the PS5 system. Graphically its a beautiful game that gives you several different environments to show off it's …
Rating of
3/5
Mario Kart DS
This game is one of the better turn on and play DS game. Since the DS is modelled as a portable consol that you can take with you on the go, this game is the perfect one to use it with. Although on easy mode beating the game can be done in about 2 hours, challenging yourself is necessary to keep an interest in playing it for more than a few games. Besides that the graphics are fantastic and really make the overall experience very satisfying.
Rating of
3.5/5
Killer is Dead - Nightmare Edition
Might Wanna Poke It With A Stick
Goichi Suda, or Suda51, is a name to recognize in the character action genre. While I myself have not played many, if any of his games, I still have at least heard positive things from titles such as No More Heroes, Shadows of the Damned, and Lollipop Chainsaw just to name a few. Though I must admit, when I first saw Killer Is Dead, I wasn’t too sure what to think. I recall possibly reading an article for the game once before it released, saw the game in a few stores and seeing some mixed to negative reviews for the game. But still, I’ve been one to try and develop my own opinion with videogames, at least when it isn’t blatantly obvious the game is going to fail.
Killer is Dead began development around 2011 and was apparently …
