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Stormblood: This Ain’t No Action RPG
Today we’re going to take a closer look at Final Fantasy XIV’s combat mechanics, and how they’ve been refined between the original release of A Realm Reborn and Stormblood. For those who’ve never...
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Puzzler Essentials: Baku Baku Animal
Today’s puzzle game of choice is one that there is, unfortunately, no real easy way to get hold of legally any more, but it holds extremely fond memories for me regardless. The game in question is...
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Shmup Essentials: Psyvariar
Shoot ’em ups, being one of the oldest genres of gaming there is, have been a pretty constant presence in every major generation of gaming hardware. The early years of the 21st century were no...
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Why Gal*Gun VR Needs a PSVR Version
We’ve known that Gal*Gun VR has been in development for a while, but Inti Creates surprised everyone yesterday with a sudden worldwide release… but only on Steam, for Vive and Oculus devices. While the...
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PS2 Essentials: Radio Helicopter
One of the most charming things about D3 Publisher’s Simple Series is its straightforward naming convention, which brings to mind the good old days of Atari 2600 games called imaginative things like...
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Duolingo: A Daily Way to Practice Your Japanese
Many Japanese video game, anime and manga enthusiasts have probably considered learning the native language of their favourite entertainment at some point… but it’s a daunting prospect. The fact you...
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Stormblood: Yes, It’s a Great Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy XIV and its long-running spiritual predecessor Final Fantasy XI are in an interesting and slightly awkward position. They’re numbered mainline installments of the long-running Final...
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PS2 Essentials: Kuri Kuri Mix
Have you heard the tale of FromSoftware, dear reader? Legend has it that long ago, in the dim and distant past, these renowned scribes were more than just “the people who made Souls games”. Joking...
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Stormblood: It’s a Great MMO, Too
We’ve already discussed how, despite its massively multiplayer online nature, Final Fantasy XIV as a whole is very much an authentic Final Fantasy experience in its own right. But is the opposite true?...
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PS2 Essentials: Bust-a-Bloc
In many cases the games that are part of D3 Publisher’s sprawling budget-price Simple Series are enjoyably experimental, while in others they simply represent traditional gaming genres brought up to...
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Shmup Essentials: Steel Dragon EX
The shoot ’em up genre is one in which it is quite difficult to innovate. This has, of course, led to a number of games over the years that can quite reasonably called knock-offs of other, popular...
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Puzzler Essentials: Hell Girls
We’re enjoying a bit of a puzzle game renaissance at the moment. While we’re not quite at the same level as we were in the 8-, 16- and 32-bit eras, where puzzle games would happily share retail shelf...
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Stormblood: The MMO as Musical Theatre
“Video games aren’t movies.” That’s a line of criticism that those who prioritise mechanics over narrative like to level at cutscene-heavy games, particularly those by creators such as Hideo Kojima and...
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Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed: Driving Into Dreams
There have been a number of attempts to dethrone Nintendo’s Mario Kart over the years, but none of them have been successful, at least in the multiplayer sphere. There is one aspect of Mario Kart that...
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PS2 Essentials: Party Girls
Party Girls is an interesting anomaly in D3 Publisher’s Simple Series in that its Japanese title is much more interesting than its somewhat generic sounding localisation, rather than the other way...
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Puzzler Essentials: Detonator
You can make games about pretty much anything. Demolishing buildings, for example, is a theme that we’ve seen a few times over the years, most notably in Midway’s classic arcade game Rampage, though...
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Shmup Essentials: DoDonPachi Resurrection
My first encounter with DoDonPachi Resurrection — also known as DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu — was in its iOS incarnation. I’d never really played a danmaku shooter before, so it was to be a new experience...
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Waifu Wednesday: Hanako Ikezawa
In this new weekly series, we’ll be taking a look at some of the most memorable, interesting, attractive, sexy, badass and just plain awesome female characters in Japanese gaming, as well as...
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Everybody’s Golf: First Impressions
I’ve been intrigued by golf games since Leaderboard on the Atari 8-Bit, and I sank a fair few hours into Microprose Golf on the Atari ST, wowed by its then-revolutionary 3D polygonal courses. However,...
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PS2 Essentials: City Crisis
While a whole ton of late ’90s PC games have been updated and rereleased through services like GOG.com and Steam in recent years, one which I haven’t had the opportunity to play for a long time is...
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