Gaming off the Beaten Path

  Well, we haven't had one of these in a while. One of the phenomena I have always found interesting is how some series become major players during one gaming generation, only to be largely forgotten once new consoles are released. I found this to be especially prevalent in the 6th generation, especially with the PlayStation 2 and GameCube . I've already looked at titles like Onimusha: Warlords and Jak and Daxter, which were huge, heavily hyped 6th gen series that just disappeared after the 7th gen started. It's not like they haven't received HD remasters or ports or collection re-releases, but in terms of new games, there has been nothing. And no, mobile games don't count. Zone of the Enders fit perfectly into this category. It was a huge, huge deal when it came out and was extremely well received  critically. It came out in a time where game creators didn't get the director treatment they do now, but it was created by Hideo Kojima, one of the earliest people...

Welcome Claire! Consider the area you're in a...special playground I have prepared just for you. Please try and keep me amused, and do not disappoint me by dying too soon! Halloween is here, so that means it's time to get spooky once again. It's been a while, but we're finally getting back to Resident Evil. I am not a huge fan of horror in general, but Resident Evil is one of my all-time favorite gaming franchises. It has the third most games in my personal top 100, behind only Mega Man and Final Fantasy, and is tied with FF for the most games on my 10s list (three apiece, for the record). Last year, I reviewed the absolutely incredible Gamecube remake on Halloween. Maybe next year I'll review Resident Evil 4, another 10/10 that just recently received a big budget remake. Both of those are all time classics, they are not only personal favorites but also important touchstones in the gaming industry as a whole. But, as great as they are, as revolutionary as they were,...

  I've talked a lot about video game series' that haven't stood the test of time, or even one off titles that never managed to receive sequels. That's relatively common amongst lesser known video games. But for this week's entry, it's most certainly not the case. Despite being a somewhat a forgotten series among mainstream gamers in the west, Samurai Warriors is huge in Japan. It also has a relatively small but very dedicated fanbase. They're pretty obviously dedicated, because there wouldn't be 5.8 billion spinoffs and sequels if they weren't. Five numbered sequels, Xtreme Legends, Chronicles and Empires spinoffs, sequels to sequels, ports, Japan only titles, you name it, Samurai Warriors has done it. "Bet you they didn't do a Samurai Warriors racing spinoff!" Yeah I guess you're right, how could they have...oh...wait, they did? It's called Samurai Derby, and it's a free to play browser game. Look it up. The series has an e...

  It really is amazing how video game series' come and go. On one hand, you have the IPs that cross multiple gaming generations, your Marios , your Final Fantasys , your Sonics , etc. On the other, you have weird, obscure one-off titles like Nano Breaker or Shadow Madness. Sometimes series' seem to drop off the map without warning, like F-Zero or Star Fox. But I'm not sure I've ever seen a series take as strange a path as that of Onimusha. These games were a huge deal in the 6th generation. It gave us four mainline titles, the first of which will be our subject today, as well as a tactics-style game. Onimusha: Warlords, was the first PlayStation 2 game to sell more than a million copies and was eventually ported to the original XBox. It came from a huge studio in Capcom and was designed by Keiji Inafune, a name all too familiar to Mega Man fans. The game actually began development as a 64DD title in the 90's, as the higher ups at Capcom reportedly wanted a Resi...

 Since I started reviewing games almost three years ago, I've found myself playing a lot of stuff I never thought I would touch. But this is a plunge I didn't think I'd ever take.  I have never, ever had even a passing interest in playing any of the Lego games, which have been around since the 6th generation (I think). These games are what they sound like; standard action games featuring Lego versions of the characters from your favorite cannons or universes. There's tons of these, Lego Batman, Lego Star Wars, Lego Harry Potter, etc. etc., you get the idea. It's not that I have a problem with that, I loved Legos as a kid and I obviously love video games, but it just never interested me. But you know who it did interest? My almost five-year old. He saw the cover of this game, a PS3 title I'm not sure how I acquired, and insisted in playing right away. He has no idea who Indiana Jones is and honestly, I'm not overly familiar with the films myself, but he thoug...

 One of the common themes I have found since I started doing reviews is the close link between film and video games. I've covered video games about movies , movies about video games and even video games about movies about video games . But this week's entry is a different animal entirely. Since the early days of video games, it feels like people from both the gaming and movie industries have been trying make the two mediums work together. As we've seen, it usually doesn't work out. As to why, well, that's its own discussion. I, for one, am not really a movie person, I've always had trouble sitting still and just watching something for two hours. Anyway, one of the ways that game developers blur the lines is by bringing in well known actors (or using their likenesses) as "stars" in their games. And I'm not talking about sponsoring stuff, like you see a lot with sports games, I'm talking about they star as the character in a movie-esque, narrati...

I've come to a realization about the whole "modern vs. old school gaming" debate and I actually came to said realization via one of my other hobbies. You see, I am a big fan of professional wrestling and have been for a long time. I've also had a lot of late nights recently, thanks to my new addition to the family, and I can't always game during those nights. Fortunately, WWE has had the courtesy to put several full matches of past Royal Rumbles on their YouTube, from the federation years to the Attitude Era to the modern matches. It was when I watched the 1995 and 2018 versions back to back that I came to the aforementioned realization. Shawn Michaels and the British Bulldog started the match in 1995 and frankly, no one in the 2018 could match the star power or uniqueness of either man. However, the 1995 version of the match also featured competitors like Mantaur, and no one in the 2018 match could match his level of awfulness. In short, the older match's hig...

Oh boy, I have been dreading this for a long time.  It’s time to talk about one of the scourges of the gaming world: licensed movie tie-ins.   There was a point in time where you absolutely knew any game based on a movie was going to be complete trash.  Developers would slap together something as quickly as they could, throw on a label and flood store shelves with it.  These were almost universally shameless cash grabs designed to separate gamers, and their unassuming parents and relatives, from their hard earned money.  Fortunately, that has changed to a degree as quality control has become better.  But it still happens. First, a little bit about the source material for today’s game.  In true “Street Fighter: The Movie” style, we have a video game that’s based on a movie that’s based on a book, the first in Phillip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” series.  I remember reading the book when I was younger and thinking it...