Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar—sometimes you just want to play a vidya game that’s good-ole-fashioned pure entertainment, something like Blood Dragon or the Shadow Warrior remake. Other times, you may be looking for a more cerebral experience; there’s been a growing trend of first-person shooters that deconstruct or subvert the usual cliches (Spec Ops: The Line comes … More A History of Violence – Far Cry 3
I try to refrain from blogging about Kickstarters I’m interested in, but when I found out about Red Hook Studios’ Darkest Dungeon a few weeks ago, I was more than impressed. It’s a PC rogue-alike RPG with a distinctively gothic crowquill art style and heavy influences from the likes of Lovecraft and Poe. The hand-drawn art … More [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon
It’s safe to say that while Half-Life wasn’t the first first-person-shooter, it was the first first-person-shooter. By which I mean Half-Life made everyone stop and think about how we do shooters, and reinvented the wheel, at a time when nobody knew the wheel needed reinventing. Back in 1998, we were a pitiful, primitive people, and … More A History of Violence – Half-Life
Words really cannot do justice to this game; it must be seen to be understood. Its trailer captures and relates the spirit of the game: It is the future! The year is 2007. The apocalypse has had an apocalypse. Remember those old trashy action movies that used to come on after dark on cable, … More A History of Violence – Far Cry: Blood Dragon
There’s a reason I’m so hard on games like Metro: 2033, Far Cry 2, and even Bioshock 2: it’s because of games like Bioshock: Infinite. Games that are not only a step above the herd, but games that raise the bar of excellence and become milestones in their genre. That’s not to say that Bioshock: … More A History of Violence – Bioshock: Infinite
I have to say, the trailer to Far Cry 3 makes me really want to run out and pick it up. The depth and breadth—not to mention the various critics’ praise—shown in the ten-minute teaser trailer is impressive. The single-player story looks cool, the environments look immersive, and the leveling up tattoos and gun modifications … More A History of Violence – Far Cry 2
Combine Half-Life 2’s cinematic flourishes and overall brevity and linearity with S.T.A.L.K.E.R.’s post-apocalyptic atmosphere and horror, and you have Metro 2033. That’s my argument and I’m sticking to it. First-person shooters don’t often have a seminal work that shows up and reinvents the genre—like Half-Life—or one that turns the genre on its head thanks to … More A History of Violence – Metro 2033
If I had to pick a favorite computer roleplaying games (CRPGs), the one I have the fondest memories of, I’d probably go with The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. It was such a brilliant new move in the realm of CRPGs. It hit at the right point in time to take advantage of technological improvements, and … More The Elder Scrolls And Fantasy Exoticness
I get that Rapture was supposed to be the pure Objectivist paradise, and that I’m looking too seriously at mechanics designed to provide in-game resupply, but why the hell are you stocking your vending machines full of bullets and handing out gene-altering substances that promote, in their advertising no less, smashing your ideal state? Seriously, … More On FPSRPG Sensibilities
Back around 2003, when AMD broke the 64-bit barrier, the virtues of 64-bit computing was heralded as everything just short of the second coming. Better looking programs, more powerful computers, a whole new world. AMD spend a lot of time hyping its AMD 64 platform, particularly its impact on gaming; the AMD 64 logo showed … More The World of 64-Bit Gaming
Logic is my Virgin Sacrifice to Reality 