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BloodBorne – Beauty, Horror and the Hunters Axe
BloodBorne is my favorite soulsborne game. It’s aggressive take on the FromSoft formula offers fast paced gameplay that’s always missed when playing the other titles. BloodBorne doesn’t want you to be defensive, it wants you to go in and gamble with your life. While that might sound like a mere spamfest, there’s several mechanics that help you sustain your onslaught. The gun parry is a diabolical spin on an otherwise practical technique using a shield. And while the rally mechanic is a little weak, the health recovered can make the difference. Everything about BloodBorne’s presentation is gorgeous. The detail put into the backgrounds and monster design is second to none.…
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Resident Evil 3 – My favorite survival horror game
Resident Evil 3 is a masterpiece of the survival horror genre. I would go as far to say it perfected the classic style of RE gameplay. The inclusion of a dodge, ammo mixing and randomized scenarios puts it above even RE1 remake and RE4. RE3 nails everything I love about the series. While other entries do certain things better than the 3rd entry, RE3 is never far behind in comparison. The Remake does fall short of the magic that saturates the original. But it’s worth a few things to appreciate it for. The reimagining of Carlos, Nicholai and Mikhail are fantastic. I especially hope they bring Carlos back at a…
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Tekken 8 – An aggressive full featured entry to The Series
Tekken 8 brings a lot of new concepts to the game – enough to feel like a small paradigm shift. Meter has been introduced for the first time in the series and even then it’s not just a resource for special moves. The characters have all been made much flashier with bombastic effects that go past the series’ traditional focus on martial arts. Tekken is still the game it’s always been, but the 8th entry in the series is looking towards the future. The focus on aggression however, has been somewhat of a controversial choice. The stronger characters are lockdown monsters that leave little room for counterplay. You can be…
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Your Only Move is HUSTLE – Bullet Chess with Oki
Your Only Move is Hustle or YOMIH is a turn based fighting game with an impressive amount of depth. In any given turn you have dozens of options to choose – from Directional Influence to Roman Cancels. A lot of love and dedication was put into making this game. Passion can be found in almost every aspect of YOMIH. The focus was definitely put into the game mechanics and character balance most of all. The artstyle is of a classic stickman game you’d find on Addicting Games or Stick Figure Death Theater (RIP). It’s a choice I greatly appreciate, as stick figure animations have been phased out for more complex…
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Nioh – A near endless amount of addicting gameplay
Nioh is my favorite single player action game. I can describe the gameplay as driving some sort of hybrid between a sports car and a blender. You shift through four different stances to access various attacks and movement styles. The game rewards you with a stamina refund when you switch stances with correct timing. Mastering this can turn you into a whirlwind of aggression that never has to stop. The gameplay at its core shines enough that it’s still fun even if you play at a slower pace. Battles where you pay attention and react to an enemy’s attack patterns can feel like a chess game. As a bonus, you…
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Dead Space 3 – Average Among Amazing
Dead Space 3 has a reputation as one of the premiere examples of the “We want the Call of Duty audience” era of video games. Franchises of the day were being rebooted into casual friendly and bombastic versions of themselves. I’ve heard it described as “Jumping the shark on purpose”. While Dead Space 3; more specifically Electronic Arts, are guilty of trying to chase easy money. Dead Space 3 isn’t that much of a big change in the series. I’ve never heard much acknowledgement to the fact that Dead Space 2 had tons of action. The series had already departed from the pure horror genre in a pretty big way.…
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Hylics – Straightforward gameplay/absolute chaos everything else
It’s a game in itself to try and describe Hylics. Hylics is an rpg maker game created by Mason Lindroth in 2015. It has the most basic controls and gameplay you could imagine while still being a blast. Everything else is weird as hell, it’s like the essence of 80’s and 90’s MTV transmuted into a video game. But it’s weirdness is not a bad thing at all mind you: Its Hylics’ defining strength. There is far more to praise about Hylics then there is to criticize it. You take on the role of Wayne; a rather zooted looking fellow that has a crescent for a head. Wayne kinda creeps…
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Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver – A 90’s Storytelling Giant
Its hard to describe how special Soul Reaver is. Growing up in the 90’s there was no other game like it. The voice acting, music and writing were a decade ahead of its time. Legacy of Kain was my biggest obsession as a kid and I have nothing but love and joy for the whole series. Soul Reaver came out in 1999 and still feels great to play. Its an aged wine that almost makes you forget the crazy advances in video games that have come since. Anyone even kind of interested in video games should give Soul Reaver a try. I would consider it one of the greatest games…
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Dishonored – Murder everyone to save your city!
Dishonored is a great game that begs repeat playthroughs. There’s tons of potential experimentation. Plenty of routes through the levels and a wide selection of powers and gadgets. The art style is amazing – it has a sort of gentle water colored look to it while the buildings and military themes stay oppressive and stark. The controls are also pretty snappy as well. This is the type of game that you can rehearse to become as stylish as you want – much like Devil May Cry. The voice acting is top class for every character and the story could rival any novel. Especially because there are dense files about the…
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Chivalry 2 – The goodest/badest game in the world
I love Chivalry 2, it’s like nothing else I’ve ever played. The pace of the fights and the chaotic synergy created by the mechanics make it feel like total war. You are immersed in a struggle against other players that’s like nothing else on the market. But it’s quite janky in it’s current state. The servers are held together with duct tape and broken promises. Torn Banner, the developer of the game, always comes up with amazing concepts. But then they forget what they were even doing in the first place. Leaving a rotting husk of abandoned potential and a bunch of people with depression. While not being a review,…
Is Video Games
