Like lots of other people, my love for top-down dungeon crawlers started with The Legend of Zelda on the NES. Zelda has moved on, though, and while I enjoy Link’s 3D adventures, the top-down perspective continues to hold a special place for me. Games like The Binding of Isaac and NIS America’s own ClaDun may not be exactly the same (which is good – who in their right mind wants to pay to play the same game over and over again), but they scratch the same itch, and games like Legasista improve on the formula by introducing RPG elements, randomly-generated dungeons and more loot than you’ll know what to do with. READ MORE
Attempting to get away from the plastic peripherals that made the series famous to begin with, Harmonix’ Rock Band Blitz is a strange game. How do you create a Rock Band game without the instrument controllers? They went back to their roots. Clearly inspired by their previous titles Frequency and Amplitude, Rock Band Blitz is a music game that isn’t as complex as its predecessors, but it also doesn’t need to be. READ MORE
It’s a well-worn sentiment that the Madden series is just the same game, year after year. It’s a view that may seem accurate on the surface, but those who play the games more closely know that the franchise releases in phases, with a particular model being iterated and improved upon for a few years before being totally revamped. These years are interesting ones, as they bring huge gameplay changes, but often end up with a smaller (if fresher) feature set as a result of the extra work on the basics.
This is one of those years. READ MORE
Video games allow for many different stories through multiple perspectives. Through games, players can experience a multitude of different narratives and, not only that, interact with said narratives. When you attempt to tell a very personal story and create a game around that story, things get trickier. You need to find a way to make that story personal to all players, even if they never went through those experiences themselves. This is where Papo & Yo comes in. It tells the story of a young boy struggling to escape his difficult life through fantasy. READ MORE
I’ll admit: when the announcement of Persona 4 getting a fighting game happened, I flipped out in happiness. One of my favorite RPGs being translated into a fighter? That sounded pretty awesome. Or at least in my head, anyway. I was legitimately excited for this game to make its way to a Western audience.
But then I thought to myself, the last time I ever saw RPG characters inside a fighting game was back in the PlayStation era with Ehrgeiz. Even then, it was a lackluster fighter, featuring Cloud, Tifa and Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII. Given the track record of RPG characters in fighters, how would Persona 4, a full-length RPG, translate their characters into a fighting game series? READ MORE
