Gaming off the Beaten Path

I have always found strategy RPGs to be among the most interesting subgenres in gaming. In some respects, they feel very different from their more traditional Japanese or Western counterparts in terms of presentation, pacing and structure. On the other, they offer similar party structures and require the same kinds of resource and character management the genre is known for. A lot of people love them, a lot of people don't but I've always been a fan, espec II ially of SRPGs from the 5th generation. The genre was relatively popular at that point, as developers attempted to ride the wave of what most of us consider to be its most commercially successful, mainstream title: Final Fantasy Tactics. There were SRPGs before Tactics (I've already reviewed Shining Force I and II ) and there have been SRPGs since, but FFT went a long way in bringing the genre to the mainstream. And why wouldn't it have? It was a great game in a highly visible series that offered something that wa

  It looks I've gotten myself into a nice little pattern with reviewing Wii games. I started with a typical licensed Wii title, then moved on to an actual game. Well, now it's time to get back to those super fun, always top-quality licensed titles. This week, we have ourselves yet another licensed video game based on another reality show. But this time is going to be a little bit different. Unlike the Amazing Race, which I had only some familiarity with, I've watched a ton of Survivor. I wouldn't call myself a super fan, but I'm definitely a fan and I've seen most of the seasons. Reality shows get a lot of flak for being staged and unoriginal, but remember, Survivor was kind of the OG of the genre. It's crazy that what started as a one-time social experiment has turned into a game show that's run for more than 40 seasons across three decades. I guess it makes sense, stick 20 randos on an island, deny them food, pit them against each other in various gam

While I love retro games as much as the next person, I have mixed feelings about how the video game industry as a whole milks nostalgia for all it's worth. On one hand, it stifles creativity, as studios pump out never ending streams of remakes and remasters of the same games we played 20 years ago. It also prevents those games from standing on their own, almost as if they weren't worthwhile. On the other hand, it has led to some really, really great titles, like the Final Fantasy VII Remake. It has also brough us an almost-subgenre of games, games done in an old school style as homages to their classic counterparts. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night fits squarely into that almost-subgenre and it's easy to see why. The game was the brainchild of Koji Igarashi, a former producer for Konami who had a major role in the creation of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. After leaving the company in 2014, Igarashi couldn't escape fan requests to create a game similar to SOTN. S

Looks Like Bowser is at it again! Nintendo was the unquestioned king of the home console video game world in the 80's, but by the time the 90's rolled around they found their castle was under siege. This siege, led by a super-fast, super hip hedgehog and his edgy compatriots, was going quite well for the Big N's latest rival. Their biggest weapon in all of this was a new, sleek, 16-bit gaming machine that has the aging NES on the ropes. Between the marketing blitz and blast processing and top-of-the-line graphics, Nintendo had their hands full. The NES had some great games, like Super Mario Bros. 3, but it just couldn't compete with the Genesis from a technical standpoint. However, Nintendo wasn't about to hand over the crown just yet. They were ready with some brand-new firepower of their own, kicking off the 90's with the new Super NES. Now they had their own 16-bit machine, a new console to help them defend their figurative crown. But a console alone wasn'

Back in the late 80's and early 90's, it seemed like every game with some level of fantasy elements was labeled an RPG. I guess I get it, most of the titles that popularized the genre in the West were rooted in elements of fantasy, borrowing heavily from Tolkien and others of his ilk. RPGs became closely connected to the genre and became almost synonymous with it. Hell, Final Fantasy has "fantasy" right there in the title. Of course, not every RPG fit this mold. You had Phantasy Star and Mother/Earthbound, and even Final Fantasy itself eventually branched out into more sci-fi territory. But those were outliers, at least they were at the time, and it seemed like whenever a game with an elf carrying a sword and casting magic came out, it got slapped with the RPG label whether it fit or not. Which brings us to Alundra, a title commonly lumped in with the golden era PS1 RPGs. It was developed by Matrix Software, but published in the U.S. by Working Design, a studio known

  So, I've been doing this blog for almost four years now and it's dawned on me I never really discussed what exactly I look for when playing and reviewing games. I probably should have started with this, but the cat is out of the bag now and I can't put it back in there without it trying to claw me up. So, I figure I will do this now, because why not? In all seriousness, I think it's important to understand a writer's mindset when reading their reviews. I have mentioned this before, but I think it's really important. Say someone accidentally stumbles upon my humble blog and sees that I highly recommend Suikoden II . Great! If that person is also a lover of RPGs, there's a good chance they are going to check the game out and come to the same conclusion. Maybe they won't like it as much as I did, maybe they will even like it more. Who knows? But if that person pretty much only plays Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto, there's a good chance they won'

  I think I did the Wii a disservice by focusing my first review of one of its titles on a shovelware game. The Wii had a bad, and in many ways deserved, reputation as a haven for shameless cash grabs and licensed junk. It's the kind of place where you would find, say, a game based on a reality TV show that was thrown together without any thought or effort...not like I'd know anything about that though. However, the Wii has some really good games as well, mostly stemming from Nintendo's big-name franchises. There were some excellent Mario and Zelda games for the console, it feels like there were excellent Mario and Zelda games for every console. In a way, the Wii was very similar to the Nintendo 64, with some essential first party games buoying a lineup dragged down by largely forgettable third-party titles. But unlike the N64, where many of those first party games are household names even among non-gamers, many of the Wii's better first party titles have been forgotten