Gaming off the Beaten Path

Don't hold me to it, but this review is probably going to be a relatively short one. Some games just don't provide much to talk about. On one hand, you have the classics, those 10's that I keep going on about, and other really good games that offer up all sorts of reasons to sing their praises. On the other, you have the truly awful stuff, the Rocky and Bulwinkles and Rise of the Robots' that are so offensively putrid that you can't help but talk about them, just for how shockingly bad they are. Then, you have games like Fallen Legion. It's not that FL:FOR is bad. It isn't. It's that it's so, so painfully average that there just really isn't much to say. The graphics are good, but they aren't great. The story has its moments, but it isn't particularly memorable or unique and it tends to hang on insignificant events for too long. The combat is well designed and different from other games in the genre, but its repetitive and often leads t

"You don't understand, you don't have kids." What a polarizing statement. Any time it comes out of anyone's mouth, the reaction is always the same: all the parents in the room express their approval while the non-parents roll their eyes. I swore I would never be one of those people that said that when I eventually had kids. But I do. And I do it a lot. Because believe me, it changes your perspective, even on things like your hobbies. I never thought being a parent would impact how I viewed and enjoyed gaming, but here we are. Much digital ink has been spilled over What Remains of Edith Finch, a game one might derisively call an "indie walking simulator" by developer Giant Sparrow, and the meaning behind it's story. Folks on the web have arrived at a number of different conclusions on its message, but it's generally agreed upon the game is rather...sad. And it is. If you have never had children, you are going to play WROEF, you will probably empat