The ballad of Golf Story’s Coach – hubris, humility and redemption in one NPC
All hail Golf’s Story’s Coach, a unique videogame study of hubris, doomed ambition and the power of perseverance, pomposity and being a semi-reliable friend
Category Archives: Features
Streets of Rogue – a very modern quest to build a complex, chaotic, 2D open world
Streets of Rogue developer Matt Dabrowski talked to Squareblind about the challenges of building a more complex, 2D open world and its relative limits and benefits over building similar sandbox setting in 3D.
The art of a great crash-landing AKA the Launchpad McQuack principle
In the strange, occasionally anthropomorphic history of fictional navigators, few characters have captured a consequence-free of fearless aviation than a cartoon bird in flight goggles.
While the character Launchpad McQuack is not new to videogames. Totally Reliable Delivery service is a game that best captures the childish and wondrous approach to being a meat headed daredevil of the skies.
Shadow of War – Ye Olde spite simulator
Were you to strip Shadow of War of its Tolkien-inspired setting and story, what you would have is a fully functioning, highly entertaining spite simulator.
To be or not to be Arnie? Embracing explosive chaos over control in modern 2D shooters
If conscience does make cowards of us all; two different 2D shooters take a very different approach to conveying violence with very different consequences for living out our inner action hero.
Behold the Kickmen – An anti-football game for the FIFA age
In blending satire with a retro-football game that shares more than a few of the absurdist mechanics of the Dark Souls series, Dan Marshall has created a unique kind of anti-football game.
Super Mario World – a study of a complex 16-bit digital ecosystem
World building is a consideration that we tend to attribute to more modern game design and interactive storytelling – yet the idiosyncratic character design and foibles of Super Mario World’s bad guys creates a real sense of place.
Minecraft Dungeons – a family friendly lust for power
If you are going to go power mad, there are worse places than Minecraft Dungeons to get such a kick.
SpeedRunners the videogame – embracing everyday instinct in a superhuman footrace
SpeedRunners seeks to shake-up the time-old thrill of defeating friends and enemies in a high speed, high-risk race by ditching motors and vehicles altogether – opting instead to pit two to four players together in a kind of simulated superhuman foot race.
A snack for the ego: the escapist joys and perils of Just Dance 2020
If music has a viable claim to being ‘food for the soul’, then the Just Dance series of games should probably best be seen as a snack for the ego.
