New World’s Aeternum, a place where undeath and taxes are the only constants
For a game made by the all conquering corporate behemoth that is Amazon, New World is surprisingly enthusiastic about the merits of taxation for common social good.
WarioWare: Get It Together! – simplicity and the multiple game character conundrum
The WarioWare series has made its way to the Nintendo Switch 18 years after first launching as a unique handheld title made up of an escalating series of increasingly intense ‘microgames’ that each take a couple of seconds to play through. The latest title however seeks to revolutionise the series by letting the player choose a squad of different characters that have unique ways of failing or succeeding in each challenge.
Square Enix Season – Lara Croft, feminine machismo in Rise of the Tomb Raider
Lara Croft’s most recent adventures are clearly inspired by more modern, cinematic action games such as uncharted and The Last of Us. However, as a videogame character, she now more clearly resembles the all-conquering macho heroes of 80s American cinema.
Square Enix Season: The Wide Sargasso Sea and the Final Fantasy 7 remake – a videogame tale of prequels and adaptation
While the 2020 remake of Final Fantasy 7 gives us photo realistic updates of iconic series characters such as Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockhart – it is arguably much more a story of the industrial fantasy city of Midgar.
Square Enix Season – a lesson in gaming remakes and crafting a modern Mana adventure
A 2020 remake of Trials of Mana seeks to graft the game’s setting and structure onto a 3D Map, while adding new gameplay mechanics to help spruce in combat for the Dark Souls era. However, does the addition of more modern, generic mechanics and current gen graphical flair to the same story and characters improve and enhance something intended for gamers over a quarter of a century ago?
Square Enix Season – the secrets, legend and 30-year trials of the Mana series
With gamers all over the world now finally able to play 1995’s Trials of Mana via the Nintendo Switch console – how exactly does the sequel live up to decades of anticipation and longing?
WALL-E – a brilliant non-interactive videogame protagonist
Just as videogames have evolved to allow for more experimental ‘emergent’ forms of gameplay and interactive storytelling, animation powerhouse Pixar used a similar approach to storytelling in its critically acclaimed 2008 animated sci-fi movie WALL-E
Super Mario Party’s Slaparazzi – the art of a perfect minigame
As our increasingly online society finds itself descending into a dog-eat-dog battle for attention and clicks, one particular minigame in Super Mario Party on the Nintendo Switch probably captures this moment in humanity better than any full-priced videogame.
Way of the Passive Fist – the not quite a pacifist brawler, not quite a rhythm game
It’s not quite a scrolling Beat em up brawler such as Streets of Rage or the intense, rhythm/dance combat VR game Beat Saber, but in skirting a range of different genres, Way of the Passive Fist is an interesting new take on some tried and tested gaming mechanics. In short, DON’T GET HIT…
ScourgeBringer, Devil May Cry and the evolving concept of stylish videogames
Just what lessons did the developers of ScourgeBringer take from an almost 20 year old PS2 hack and slash adventure game in terms of making a player feel actually like a ‘bad ass’ while playing, as opposed to just playing as one?
