Multiplayer
-
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.…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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.…
-
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,…