Gaming off the Beaten Path

 Sometimes, combinations just don't work out, even if that combination involves two things that are independently awesome. Think about it like this: peanut butter is awesome and so are tacos. I really like both of those things individually. But if you mix those two things together, you are going to create a disgusting, mismatched monstrosity. They might even pair well with other things, but not with each other. Peanut butter is great on its own or with chocolate, tacos are great on their own, but mixing them together is a terrible idea (unless you are talking about choco-tacos, in which case, mix away!). Star Wars Demolition should be one of those winning combinations. Vehicular combat games are cool and so is Star Wars. Vehicular combat games were popular when it was released in 2000 for the Dreamcast and PS1, with titles like Vigilante 8 and Twisted Metal leading the charge, while Star Wars had vaulted back into the cultural Zeitgeist with the 1999 release of "Episode 1: The...

I just realized I missed out on the opportunity to do an on-theme post for the whole “May the 4th be with you” thing.  Oh well, better late than never I guess. It probably won’t come as a surprise that there are eleventy billion Star Wars video games out there, ranging from completely mainstream to totally obscure.  I bet most of you out there have so familiarity with “Battlefront” or “Force Unleashed,” but how many of you have played “Yoda’s Stories?”  I figured I would split the difference with a game that was a huge deal back in the 90s, but has since fallen out of the gaming consciousness: “Shadows of the Empire,” a third person shooter for the Nintendo 64. Before I get into the game, I should say that I am the rare “casual” Star Wars fan.  It seems like this is a franchise that everyone either loves to death or straight up doesn’t care about.  I have seen, and thoroughly enjoy, all the classic trilogy films.  I have seen all ...

This year marks the 30th anniversary of one of the most important game consoles ever released...the Nintendo GameBoy.  It may not have looked liked much, but this little gray beast with monochrome graphics stuck around for 14 years, outlasting the NES, SNES and N64.  Hell, the GameCube came out before Nintendo stopped making these things. They came out with all sorts of iterations, including the smaller and better lit GameBoy Pocket and the GameBoy Color, which, you guessed it, played games in color.  There were also about eleventy billion accessories, maybe three of which were actually useful. I wanted to review a GameBoy game in honor of the milestone, but most of mine have been lost to the ages.  The GameBoy was great to take on the road with you, but the small cartridges were easy to lose in all sorts of places.  I didn’t want to play any of the obvious ones, so, Star Wars it is. This is a straight up port of the NES Star W...