This week, we talk about the possibilities of a bundled PS4, Left 4 Dead 3 and Bully 2. Don’t skip this one, or you’ll be a zero!
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August 2013
In the My Favorite Game series, get to know us better as staff writers share the game they love most and why.
It’s one thing to casually ask a friend what their favorite game is, and even they struggle to find an answer.
“Ah, jeez.” They may just shut down entirely. “Can I, like, give you a top five?” READ MORE
I’ve discussed Reiner Knizia’s Ra before (twice, actually), and it remains both one of the premier tile-based auction games available and a great “gateway” game to modern boardgaming. Auctions are a main mechanic in that game, but you score points via set collection, and there is no small element of “press your luck” when it comes to drawing tiles out of the bag hoping to avoid the dreaded final Ra tile. As it turns out, “press your luck” and set collection don’t only work with tile-based games, as Knizia was also able to substitute square cardboard for plastic cubes with his 2009 spin-off title Ra: the Dice Game. READ MORE
Genre 101 is a new series that looks at the past and present of a game genre to find lessons about what defines it. Each installment, Graham Russell brings in an expert “guest lecturer” to discuss significant and representative releases and topics. We start with the first-person shooter, and guest lecturer Andrew Passafiume.
Labyrinthine beginnings
Andrew Passafiume: Very few people talk about (or are aware of) what is considered by many to be the first “first-person shooter.” Catacomb 3-D, developed by id Software, technically isn’t a shooter in the traditional sense (you use magic instead of guns), yet it is the game that established the id formula and eventually led the company down the path to create the shooters we are more familiar with. While many people consider Wolfenstein 3D as the shooter that started it all, they often overlook Catacomb and how it essentially moved the industry towards the future of first-person shooters. READ MORE
There is something magical about a fairy tale, and it is clear that Starbreeze understands that. The world of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons could just as easily have been crafted by the Brothers Grimm: it’s lush,it’s full of life, it’s inhabited by strange (and sometimes terrible) creatures and it doesn’t pull any punches. READ MORE
