There was a time, long before they became dance megastars, when the Prodigy and their chart topping anthem ‘Firestarter’ ushered in a new era of gaming as a cultural force that could truly appeal to the masses for generations to come.
Games such as boyfriend Dungeon and the long running Fire Emblem series are two examples of titles that have sought to make romance an actual gameplay mechanic.
For a colourful adventure game touching on existential themes of love, existence and what makes a decent meal – Spiritfarer is a game that is perhaps at its most profound in the little moments between ‘doing things’
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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?
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
squareblind 