Finding a crew – returning to Lovers in A Dangerous Spacetime
Gaming is sometimes a wonderful way of spending some downtime alone. But sometimes, sometimes, it can be nice to return to a game and be reminded of the joy of a good, shared experience.
Castlevania’s Dracula comes to Dead Cells: defining a videogame ‘crossover’
As the concept of the metaverse allows designers and gamers to further blur the gap between world building and fan service, the question of what makes a good crossover in videogames is open to debate.
Loop Hero – why do gaming gods do bad things?
Loop Hero charges players to be a god-like being that does bad things in order to make a good hero.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie – a fun cartoon adaptation of a great game series
The Super Mario Bros. series has already tried a gritty movie reimagining of its family-friendly characters and worlds in 1993, so it’s endearing to see a film now embrace the source material’s colourful cartoon antics.
Sonic Frontiers – adapting pinball mechanics for an open world playground
If the player can persevere with Sonic Frontiers’ mechanics, they might find themselves embracing its levels as expansive and entertaining playgrounds to be conquered as an effective blend of 2D and 3D Sonic high-speed shenanigans.
Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star – a not so superhuman approach to escapism and self-improvement
In their own unique ways, exercise-focused and motion control games should offer the most immersive of interactive experiences.
These are games ultimately about transposing your physical self into a digital world to test your limits.
Going backwards? Making the case for Diablo 2 – 23 years on
When you have the prospect of ever more technically sophisticated gaming sequels, is there any point in going back to older titles that have not had the benefit of two decades of videogame development?
Optimus Prime, guerrilla warfare and conveying character through gameplay in 2004’s Transformers
2004’s Transformers and the 2015 videogame Transformers Devastation both let players assume the role of Optimus Prime and his Autobot allies. However, both games have a very different approach to conveying the character via their gameplay.
Being John McClane: Translating Die Hard Trilogy into a 90’s videogame
Die Hard Trilogy on the PlayStation and Sega Saturn was able to give the players a 3D skyscraper, airport and basic city to blast around and have explosive action adventures in. The games were perhaps less effective at exploring the appeal of John McClane .
“Daycare for adults” – GamesMaster and the shifting cultural capital of videogames
The television show GamesMaster, broadcast on the UK’s Channel 4 between 1992 and 1998, would serve as an early attempt at looking at the wider cultural and economic significance of Super Mario Bros and Sonic the Hedgehog. It would also experiment with whether it was also possible get real world clout from stunt playing two Virtua Cop 2 cabinets at the same time.
squareblind 