After a flurry of fighting game re-releases, Capcom has pointed Iron Galaxy’s arcade-port expertise to a beat-’em-up. It’s not just any of the company’s myriad brawlers, though. Tower of Doom and Shadow over Mystara have long been missing from home platforms for various reasons, and it’s a shame, because the inventory and decision-making aspects of the game make it quite distinct. READ MORE
The strategy genre seems to be one of the more fertile grounds for innovation in all of gaming. Since its inception, designers have actively sought out all the varying avenues of possibility for manipulating virtual worlds. Different applications of systems, highlighting different motivations and tactics and endless variation on scenarios give the genre a wide breadth of potential. The newest example of experimentation in the genre comes to us in the form of Reus, a strategy game that prides itself in its creativity and bold design. READ MORE
Penny Arcade’s On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 4 has a lot going for it. First and foremost, it, like Rain-Slick 3 before it, is not afraid to poke fun at tropes and then use them itself. It’s also very funny. The battles are an absolute blast to play, and the tale is long enough to feel substantial but short enough to not overstay its welcome. That’s something that more RPGs should do; 15 hours is often enough, and if your game will take 80 hours to complete, then I may just shy away from it; I could play four other games in that same span of time. READ MORE
There are a lot of things in games that are just not fun. Getting absolutely decimated because your equipment is too weak is not fun. Steamrolling the enemy because your equipment is too strong is fun once and then never again. And more than anything else, grinding easy missions hoping for a rare drop is not fun — particularly when that rare drop will take you straight from getting handily beaten to absolutely wiping out the enemy. READ MORE
Remember Me is a worthy attempt to find its place amongst its peers in an increasingly-crowded genre. Any fan of science fiction with a cyberpunk twist will find the writing to be on par with any number of well-received novels. Unfortunately, a few design decisions mar the overall vision and promise of the world it creates.
