Twenty years ago (holy crap has it really been that long?), the development studio Inti Creates got their start working on the Mega Man franchise with the much-beloved Mega Man Zero series. After producing a number of games in various different subseries in the franchise, Mega Man went into its famous content drought. But that
I got into collecting retro games a few years back. Both to reexperience the NES era that I grew up with, and to try out games from other consoles I never owned when I was younger. I’ve managed to build complete collections of three of my favorite franchises (Tales of, Ys, and Fire Emblem), and
[Edit 6/1/2022: Particula has added buying options for both D&D Shells and a USB charger since the time of writing. The following review remains unchanged.] The internet rules everything around us. At least, that what tech toy manufacturers seem to think. The jokes of everything being “smart” are kind of old at this point, but
When you’re creating a follow-up or sequel to a previous game, one of many things to consider is “how much should we change from our previous game?” Changing too much could risk alienating fans of the original, but could bring in new fans. Not changing enough might be seen as being lazy, but may make
IllFonic is a studio that’s been actively pushing back at the negativity that surrounds the idea of licensed games. While their two previous licensed titles – Friday the 13th: The Game and Predator: Hunting Grounds – received middling reviews, both maintain dedicated fanbases, with the latter still receiving updates even now in 2022. Now with
While Devolver Digital is known for publishing everything from the quiet and emotional Gris to the gory and violent Carrion, the publishing studio itself is known for having a snarky, off-kilter sense of humor. Watching any of their E3 “press conferences” is a quick way to see what the studio is about (and a rabbit
One thing that being a game reviewer for nearly a decade now has taught me is that it’s not really possible for me to dislike an entire genre. Sure, there are some genres out there that I’m not much a fan on – fighting games for example – but then the occasional game comes along
Well, it’s that time of year again! It’s officially New Years Eve, with a brand new year approaching on the horizon. 2021 continued to be a…rather wild ride in many ways. But it’s the time to look back on the most important thing of this past year: what happened at Gamer Escape! The biggest change,
A few months ago, we had the opportunity to go hands-on with an early build of Chorus, a space combat game that was promising an engrossing story alongside its intergalactic dogfighting gameplay. This initial demo left a positive impression on me, despite me being…well, quite bad at the game itself. Now, with the full version
A little over four years ago, we took a look at Blue Reflection, a new IP from Gust (of Atelier fame) and Koei Tecmo. A JRPG set in the magical girl genre, it was something that seemed to have a lot of promise when I first booted it up. Unfortunately, I came away from it…less
Ever since finally getting my hands on a PC Engine Duo (or, as it was known in the US, the TurboDuo), I’ve been on a bit of a shmup kick. The system is known for its absolute glut of space shooters, after all, so why not dive in and see what it actually had to
I’ve never really been much into tabletop card games. If you don’t count the couple years in college I lost my life to Magic: The Gathering, that is (and I don’t remember much of that time, considering that was right around when I turned 21…). Setting that specific time aside, tabletop card games just never
It seems I’ve reached that age where my nostalgia is being pandered to. All the TV shows and movies I grew up with as a kid getting sudden reboots. Games I played in my formative years getting remasters dropped out of nowhere. And, what, can I say, I’m reveling in it. Shoot that ActRaiser remaster
The space combat genre: probably one of the most overlooked and forgotten gaming genres in the modern era. It seems most developers have forgotten about the pure fun of zipping around space in a fancy ship, shooting down ships or creatures or what-have-you, and upgrading that ship so you can zip around faster and shoot
2011 was a year of absolutely massive games that have gone on to be considered classics. Portal 2. Skyrim. Dark Souls. The Witcher 2. Hell, one of my favorite games of all time (Deus Ex: Human Revolution) dropped during this absolutely stacked period of gaming. With hit after hit dropping, though, a number of smaller
Good quality sound is very important to me in my media. I can’t enjoy movies or console gaming without my full surround sound speaker setup. I’m more than happy to shell out a couple hundred bucks for quality headphones for my PC. On the other hand, I wouldn’t really consider myself an “audiophile.” Sure, I’m
When it comes to the Fire Emblem franchise, there’s a hard cut-off point between the entries fans consider “classic and hardcore” and “modern and casual:” Fire Emblem Awakening. According to some of the fanbase, after Awakening, the franchise lost some of the elements that drew in its original base in exchange for bringing in a
Wonder Boy – a classic Sega franchise from the Master System/Genesis era that has been going through a sudden renaissance in the past few years. Having originally gone dormant in 1994, the series suddenly saw a return in 2016 with Wonder Boy Returns, a remake of the original game. However, it wasn’t until 2017 when
TimeSplitters has been a long-beloved franchise, with numerous fans clamoring for a new entry. One can’t blame them, considering the most recent entry, Future Perfect, was released in 2005. It seems though that the wait may be finally approaching its end for fans. Publisher Deep Silver has announced that they have formed a new studio
Of the “classics” one is expected to play in order to consider themselves a “real visual novel fan,” one that is often mentioned to this day is Ever17: Out of Infinity. It’s easy to see why; aside from the fact it was one of the first “real” visual novels to be released in English, it’s
