Dragonborn is a microcosmic manifestation of Skyrim, strengths and weaknesses alike. An unrepentant love letter to the Bloodmoon expansion pack of Morrowind, Dragonborn brings you back to Solstheim, the Nord colony besieged by a malevolent, unknown force. It also features an atrociously controlled, roller coaster-like addition in the form of dragon riding, where ‘overwhelmingly disappointing’…
Imagine a world where humans have wiped themselves out through war, and that they have been gone for so long, that their creations, robots, have built a society of their own and are now making the same mistakes as their masters. Sounds familiar? At first, the concept for Primordia is common ground, but it quickly…
Agent 47 has had it rough over the years. Rougher than any genetically-engineered professional assassin could ever come to expect. Missions have taken him just about everywhere in the world, almost everyone he has ever met either tried to kill him or was supposed to be offed as a contract and now, in Hitman: Absolution,…
Beautiful, elegant, minimalist: those are the traits of Cipher Prime, makers of acclaimed puzzle games such as Auditorium. All of their works follows those three tenants, both in gameplay, visuals, and music. In Auditorium, you manipulated colored streams of sound that produce symphonic music once directed to corresponding canisters. A grey background and a few…
In the ten years the Ratchet & Clank series has been around for, developer Insomniac perfected its formula. With the series distilled to an exact science, where do they go next? How do they keep the series fresh? The answer: tower-defense. Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault is a multiplayer-centric entry in lieu of 2005’s…
Halo is in confident, risk-adverse hands. Developed by 343 Industries, the torchbearer for Bungie’s universe after Halo: Reach, Halo 4 is a passionate labor of love developed through caution and carefulness. Little can be said about Halo 4’s faults, if only because the faults of Halo 4 can extend to the rest of the series….
High definition visuals are exactly what Okami needed. The original PlayStation 2 release was and is still gorgeous; time hasn’t harmed it in the slightest. But the move to current-gen consoles breathes new life into Okami. Developer Hexa Drive took an already strong foundation and fortified it to the point of flawlessness. Okami HD is easily the definitive version of Okami and one of…
After the dust subsided in the great video game crash of 1983, a new era arose from the ashes with the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985. Gaming became cool. Everyone had an NES. Brothers and sisters played it together, friends came over to play, and even mom and dad played from time…
If Hotline Miami came out in the 90s, it would not have needed the PR-stirred hype that the original Grand Theft Auto (you know, the top-down one with all the over-the-top gore) went for in order to gain media attention. This thing is bloody, challenging, bloody, murderous, bloody, and dare I say, original. It’s basically a Super…
The end is close. The video game incarnation of the Walking Dead is heading to a dramatic finale. In many ways, the episode, “Around Every Corner”, is comprised of many player choices that set up the climax that will occur in the upcoming fifth and final episode. For the uninitiated, The Walking Dead plays like a mix of previous…
