ps1
Retro Review: Einhänder (PS1)
Release Date: Nov 20, 1997 Developer: Square Co., Ltd. Publisher Square Co., Ltd. The shoot-‘em-up is one of my favorite video game genres. The love began with Tempest in the arcade, and it hasn’t subsided. What has subsided, however, is the genre. Nobody seems to be interested in making too many shooters outside of the indie space. Cuphead tided me over for a bit, but that’s a run-‘n-gun game. I ...[Read More]
Reviewing It Wrong: Final Fantasy VII as a Beat-‘em-Up
Couldn’t punch its way out of a bag (Note: this is a parody series where we review a beloved game incorrectly. This is not serious. Please don’t kill us!) I really don’t get why people are so into Final Fantasy VII. Honestly, the whole Final Fantasy series prior to 2016 baffles me. How can people idolize a series that gets beat-‘em-ups so wrong? I love games where you can beat people up. The...[Read More]
The Last Guardian Pre-Review – The Art of a Legacy and the Weight of Expectation
The Last Guardian. A game that carries a lot of weight on its shoulders. From creative pressures, to console shifts and a reintroduction at E3 2015 to a rapturous, if skeptical reception. The truth is, the troubled development of The Last Guardian will likely remain apocryphal, in a similar vein to the mysterious ‘third act’ of Kojima’s Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, albei...[Read More]
Retro Review: PaRappa the Rapper (PS1)
Release Date: December 6, 1996 Developer: NanaOn-Sha, Co., Ltd. Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. It’s hard to believe that 20 years ago tomorrow, a game like PaRappa the Rapper was released in the United States. It’s even harder to believe how much of a risk the game was. The premise sounded so silly to me in 1996, I kept thinking it was the product of some demented Mad Libs game create...[Read More]
Retro Review: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Saturn)
Release Date: June 25, 1998 Developer: Konami Computer Entertainment Publisher: Konami For my first Halloween Retro Review, I decided ahead of time that I would look at a Castlevania game. I mean, it’s Halloween, and few things go better with All Hallow’s Evening than Dracula himself. But I also decided to add a twist to the review. For the twist, I looked to Japan for the second week in a row. Ca...[Read More]
10 Best Horror Games
With Halloween approaching, the gimmick of writing about scary things becomes prevalent. Well, far be it for me to buck the tradition. I mean, what am I gonna write about in October, Christmas games? I decided to go back to my past and chronicle the games that scared me the most. Believe it or not, that’s not a simple thing to do. The horror genre has many entries across numerous platforms, but mo...[Read More]
Retro Review: Chō Aniki: Kyūkyoku Muteki Ginga Saikyō Otoko (PS1)
Release Date: December 29, 1995 Developer: Masaya Publisher: Nippon Computer Systems Many people have been complaining for years that games that are released stateside often lack variety. It’s hard to argue with them. True, there is some real innovation going on in the indie space, but the AAA market tends to rely on also-ran cookie-cutter games to fill out their release schedules. Whether it’s a ...[Read More]
You Wanna Remaster Games? Remaster These!
The eighth generation of video game consoles seems to me like the remaster generation. For all the great original IPs and sequels that we’ve received this generation, we’ve had more than a fair share of remasters on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. While some remasters make sense, like Resident Evil 4 and Grim Fandango, some are lazy to the point of ridiculousness. Seriously, did we really need a T...[Read More]
Retro Review: Bushido Blade (PS1)
Release Date: March 14, 1997 Developer: SquareSoft, Light Weight Publisher: SquareSoft With all the attention For Honor’s closed alpha received this past weekend, I felt it only appropriate to go back and look at Bushido Blade, the PS1 game that For Honor’s stance system reminded me of. So I fired up my PlayStation 2 top-loader, popped in my copy of the game in, and gave it a shot. Ten minutes lat...[Read More]
Retro Review: Herc’s Adventures (PS1)
Back in its heyday, LucasArts was a premier video game developer and publisher. In addition to great Star Wars titles like Rebel Assault and Star Wars: Dark Forces, George Lucas’s video game studio made and released some non-Star Wars gaming classics like Maniac Mansion, LOOM, and Full Throttle. Although the majority of LucasArts games were confined to the PC, many titles were either ported to con...[Read More]