When I talked about Aquasphere, I mentioned my day job in scientific research. Little did I suspect at the time that I would soon play another game, Alchemists, that would essentially focus on the ins and outs of academia (sort of).
In Alchemists, each player takes on the role of a potion brewer attempting to learn the secrets of their art via experimentation and deduction. There are eight “alchemicals” in the world, and eight mystical ingredients that each contain one of them. Your job is to determine which ingredient represents which alchemical. READ MORE
Intelligent Systems has had a pretty good strategy game track record. With many successful and multiple entries in both the Fire Emblem and Advance Wars series under its belt, the company took a chance in adding another strategy game to the mix. Does Code Name S.T.E.A.M. do enough to shake up the formula and add another excellent game to its repertoire? READ MORE
With the rise of mobile and handheld gaming encouraging novel, bite-sized experiences that are still capable of taking creative risks, roguelikes have seen a return to prominence in recent years. Their structure allows for different experiences, with sessions not intended to last more than a few minutes. Games like Spelunky and The Binding of Isaac have received ports to portable systems, and proven that the formula works very well for devices built with a pick-up-and-play mentality. This brings us to Laughing Jackal’s devilishly difficult new entry into the genre, Flame Over, a game with a lot of great ideas that falls short in some tragic ways. READ MORE
With six games on the PS3, Atelier has become one of the most prolific JRPG series on the platform. Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea, the end of the Dusk trilogy and likely the last PS3 Atelier release, continues to refine the franchise’s mechanics, focusing on removing constraints to the systems and controls. READ MORE
This time, Snack Time doubles as pizza time, as Graham, Andrew and Lucas revisit SNES classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time. The heroes in a half-shell haven’t seen a game this good in decades, and we look back fondly on a more favorable time for the franchise’s interactive efforts.
New episodes of Snack Time post every two weeks. You can check out the Snack Time archive for some great shows you may have missed!
