Blue skies, the beach, a romantic escapade towards the sunset. The original OutRun was a very personal title, a game designed as a single-player experience first and foremost. The idea of turning it into a multiplayer racer strikes one as odd, but it’s surprisingly appropriate. given its origins. READ MORE
Most third-party studios not called Konami or Capcom are largely overlooked when it comes to retrogaming, as if their great games were flukes or their only worthy property. It’s unfortunate, because there’s always more than meets the eye: the golden days of Hudson before it stopped making anything but Bomberman, the unique titles of Game Freak and, of course, the polished gems of Sunsoft. READ MORE
I’ve never understood any real-time strategy game.
I just haven’t. As much as I loved Red Alert and spent half of my early Internet days playing Age of Empires and Starcraft, I realized that I didn’t understand the games I was playing. Sure, I built units, chopped down trees and made a coordinated attack on the enemy base with a quite-brilliant paratrooper plan, but at no point did I question what I was doing or even cared about the options the game was giving.
Total Annihilation was the first time I was told that having options without understanding them is as good as not having any. And I loved every second of it. READ MORE
One of the most influential titles of its time and a huge hit in the arcades when it was first released by Namco in 1982, Xevious is an increasingly divisive game among shooter fans. While still loved in Japan, it’s often found too boring and slow by Western audiences, who can’t find any compelling reasons to play it over the likes of Gradius and DoDonPachi.
I used to share that sentiment.
And I was wrong. READ MORE
For many years now, Tetris has been considered one of the best games ever made. Appealing to thousands and played my millions, it must be the most successful game of all time, selling to both hardcore gamers and grandmas alike and pushing the Game Boy ahead of its competition. It has joined the ranks of Space Invaders and Ms. Pac-Man in mainstream culture, and had an endless influence on the industry. READ MORE
