Ring Fit Adventure and Godfall: The ‘endgame’ is the beginning?
In the modern era of gaming, ending the main campaign or scripted narrative of a videogame is not always its end.
THE YEAR IN SQUAREBLIND 2021: July – December
The second part of our annual review of 2021 considers why Super Mario Party’s Slaparazzi might be the definitive minigame, the implications of Amazon’s New World and the concept of teamwork in Back 4 Blood and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy game.
THE YEAR IN SQUAREBLIND 2021: JAN – JUNE
The first half of Squareblind.co.uk’s annual review of its gaming misadventures looks at new approaches to conveying narrative complexity in the classic brawler genre of games, how important the cost of a game is to player enjoyment and what makes a good 2D Zelda ‘clone’.
‘Got your back?’: programming teamwork in Back 4 Blood and Guardians of the Galaxy
Back 4 Blood and the Guardians of the Galaxy use their respective gameplay mechanics to try and explore the idea of what makes great or not-so-great teams.
Wipeout 2097, Firestarter and the sound of a new gaming era
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.
Digital love – the value of relationships in Boyfriend Dungeon and Fire Emblem
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.
Spiritfarer and the moments between things – a gaming study in life and relativism
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’
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.
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