Gaming off the Beaten Path

It's back to the mines as the search for hidden gems rolls ever on. Although I'm not sure how "hidden" this particular gem is at this point. There is a lot wrong with the general discourse surrounding online gaming. Like, a lot. But, if nothing else, the amount of readily available information means that a lot of games that would otherwise be forgotten about end up gaining at least some level of fandom. It's very, very rare that I find a game that has little to no public opinion surrounding it. Most of the ones that don't are from consoles that weren't quite as popular back in the day, stuff like the Saturn or Neo Geo. Of course, this also means that a lot of the games that are commonly called "hidden gems" aren't really "hidden" gems. Sure, they may not be Mario or Sonic, but they have some level of following. Lufia II would certainly qualify as a hidden gem that isn't exactly hidden. Look, in no way would Lufia II, an RPG re...

It's been a long time coming, but I knew this was going to have to happen eventually. I've had a largely positive year of reviews so far, with one very obvious exception. I've been thinking a lot about this topic ever since I reviewed Ballz 3D, and a recent quest on Channel 3 (which is an amazing social media platform that you should join if you haven't already) has kept the gears turning. I've played a lot of games in my lifetime, some great, most at least good and a few bad. But there are a select few that sink far below bad, titles that are absolutely horrible, abominable experiences that make my stomach turn just thinking about. It's time to talk about the games that are the worst ones that I, personally, have ever played. Before I get into it, I have to lay down a few ground rules. First, these are all games that I have actually played. This won't be a rehash of all those other "worst game" lists, though a few of the games the frequently popu...

It's been a long time since we've stepped into the ring, but it's time to dust off the gloves grab our fight shorts and get ready for a heavyweight battle. Well, since we are comparing two handheld games, maybe they are fighting for the bantamweight title? Maybe flyweight? Regardless, it's time to look critically at two Game Boy Advance titles that absolutely brought the heat, both of which I played during my mini series on GBA Metroidvania games. And in this battle, we will pit team Metroid vs. team 'vania. Both Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow and Metroid: Zero Mission were revelations when I played through them earlier this year. I was genuinely shocked to find two games of this breadth and scope that were original GBA titles, but I'm sure glad I did. Because both of these titles were absolutely incredible. I actually gave them the same scores and they are both going to be in contention for game of the year. So I figured, why not get them in the ring now? Why wa...

Sometimes a game's reputation proceeds it, for better or for worst. And today, we are going to focus on the "worse." I have heard quite a bit about Ballz 3D, a fighting  game released for the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis late in the lifecycle of both systems. As we all well know at this point, that can be really good, or really bad. A lot of games released late in a system's lifecycle take full advantage of hardware that developers have had quite a bit of time to figure out. On the other, the end of a console's lifecycle is prime territory for developers dumping half baked, low effort titles onto a console just to say they did. That was especially true of fighting games, which were all the rage at the beginning of the 4th generation but starting to lose favor by the end of it. Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat and Fatal Fury had established the right way to do these games and the days of just slapping a license on top of a random tournament fighter and having it s...

It's been a long time coming, but we've finally reached the end of our GBA Metroidvania mini series. Well, I guess it hasn't really been that long, it's been less than a year since I started this whole thing. I usually  take a lot longer to finish stuff like this, if I finish it at all. It certainly helps that almost all of these games have been vey good, but the Quintet Trilogy games were all really good and it took me damn near two years to finish all of those. Sometimes, I don't finish these mini-series at all. But I've successfully worked my way through the Metroid and non-linear Castlevania games on the GBA and it's time to wrap it up with the third and final 'Vania title on my list. Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow was released for the GBA in May or 2003, a rare example of a title that actually hit the shelves in North America before it did in Japan. It wasn't by much, but it was still a rarity. Even though it's the last game I'm covering ...

Last week, we started our look at Albert Odyssesy: The Legend of Eldean, a traditional JRPG for the Sega Saturn. The story was pretty solid, if a bit uninspired, and the characters were much the same. But what about the gameplay? Well, for the first time in what feels like a long time, I think the gameplay pretty much matches the story in terms of quality. AO was absolutely in line with exactly what you would expect from an RPG that came out in the middle of the 5th generation: gameplay with firm roots in the 4th gen with the console's newfound power used more to make the world bigger and bolder. If the story here was almost directly in line with a traditional JRPG, then the gameplay pretty much traces that line directly. With almost not exception, AO is about as typical as a typical JRPG can be in terms of party growth, combat and exploration. That may come across as a negative, and it may be in some respects, but I actually think it's quite positive as well. Simp...