Review by Matt S. Look, I know The Game Of Life is just a board game and so on and so forth, but in some ways it makes me genuinely uncomfortable. The way it abstracts a person’s progress through life is very much about upholding and celebrating the status quo,…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. It’s refreshing to see a developer turn things around like this. The original Clea was a noble idea and effort, but struggled in execution. Clea 2 takes the same basic idea that powered the original, but finds interesting ways to iterate and build on it, and…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. I’ve been playing Mahjong Solitaire for almost as long as I’ve been playing video games. My very first console (the Game Boy) was a Christmas gift from my parents and it came with the pack-in Tetris, and in addition they gave me Super Mario Land and…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. Okay. Here we go. I’m about to say something that, if Balan Wonderworld’s reputation on social media is to be believed, is a cardinal sin: I like Balan Wonderworld. I like it because here is a platformer that isn’t really interested in being a platformer. For…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. The Phantom of the Opera is one of my favourite books. Before it became most famous for an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, it was a masterfully written bit of gothic literature, right up there with the likes of Dracula, Wuthering Heights, Frankenstein, and The Monk. Unfortunately,…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. I know it’s a kitschy joke these days, but developers do continue to be inspired to create “the Dark Souls of XXXX.” So influential is that masterpiece that it has become a reference point across the entire industry. Black Legend is an effort to be the…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. Producing a homage to a great work of art, no matter the field, is noble. Doing so allows you to explore the qualities that made that artwork great, and draw attention to the ideas within it that you, as your own artist, found so inspiring. Homages…
Read MoreReview by Harvard L. Sometimes the most unexpected gifts are the most welcome. I hadn’t heard anything about a Neo Geo Pocket Color compilation coming to Switch, but I’m happy to get it all the same. I love that the Switch is rapidly becoming a hub for retro compilations, with…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. It’s not often you’ll find a game (or series) that you’re absolutely terrible at, but can still appreciate and enjoy. I do have one such series. Monster Hunter. I’ve always struggled to wrap my head around Capcom’s epic boss battle simulation, but I’ve also always appreciated…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. Among all entertainment art forms, video games rely heavily on violence and bloodletting. I realise that as a game critic I spend more time with these things than most people (and what is healthy for a “hobby”), but it really does become exhausting when the default…
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