How I See Games

I’ve played a thousand games in my lifetime. I’m planning on playing a thousands more. Just like any consumer, the more time you invest in it, the more natural analysis starts to happen. Impressions, criticisms, opinions. I grew up reading multiple video game publications, and even though their review breakdowns were different (some were by stars, some number scales, some had criteria for replayability, etc.) they were fundamentally the same. There are ingredients that go into making a good game. I used to agonize over what those were, exactly. “What criteria does every great game need to nail dead-on in order to transcend to perfection, right?” What a waste of time.

Review - Bloodborne

It’s impossible for me to review my experience with From Software’s Bloodborne without constantly holding it up to my experiences with their Demon’s and Dark Souls games. Almost every moment of playing it, a thrill of being immersed back in that developer’s unique worlds and narratives was constantly buzzing in my head.

Review - TouchTone

 

TouchTone is an important game. In the post-9/11, whistleblower world in which we now live, there have been several attempts to communicate the immorality of the surveillance state. Every news story in print or on TV that follows in the wake of the latest release of classified documents by Edward Snowden chips a little more of the veneer away. Admittedly, I don’t follow the trail as far as I should, and I believe

Evolve (First Impressions)

IN THE JUNGLE, THE MIGHTY JUNGLE, THE MONSTER LURKS TONIGHT… MY FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF EVOLVE.

"Hunger" (Short screenplay)

This wrote itself out of nowhere. I just wanted to fire up the old screenwriting software and see if I still got it. After a round or two of editing, I think I wound up with a pretty tight little story. Good characters, good conflict, good structure, good dialogue... Good ending? I'll let you be the judge.

Review - Wolfenstein: The New Order

I was among the crowd of skeptics in the gamer community every time new screenshots or details emerged prior to the release of Machine Games’ “Wolfenstein: The New Order.” Like so many others, I felt that the 2001 release of “Return to Castle Wolfenstein” was the high point of the venerated series and that every release since simply failed to capture the same great experience. Despite this feeling, The New Order started to gain some critical and commercial momentum, so I decided to give it a try. It has definitely left a fantastic impression on me, and I am looking forward to seeing it all continue in some form after the revitalization The New Order has bestowed on the Wolfenstein series.

Review - Transistor

I hesitate to label what Supergiant Games does with their work as a “formula.” Both of their releases (Bastion a few years ago and now Transistor) share the same “groove.” The ingredients that form the experiences of both games are relatively identical. Whereas Bastion had a narrator to describe the onscreen action, Transistor has a commentator to provide more emotional weight.