If you’re like me, as a kid you had notebooks full of level ideas for your favorite games. For us, Super Mario Maker is a dream come true. Nintendo’s latest release makes level creation fast, easy, and most impressively of all, fun. Lots of games have let you make your own levels, and many of them have been built around that feature–but Mario Maker is without a doubt the best one yet.
Review
Tearaway Unfolded Review
LittleBigPlanet developer Media Molecule is best known for its creative approach to design. All their games feel hand-crafted, filled with childlike glee and exuberance. Tearaway, originally released for the Vita in 2013, was no exception, with its adorable papercraft world and storybook setting. That original release has been revamped and expanded in the form of Tearaway Unfolded for the Playstation 4, more akin to a remake than a simple port.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain Review
[Video review edited and co-narrated by Gage Paul.]
Metal Gear Solid V once again casts you in the role of Big Boss, awakening after a 9-year coma induced by the tragic events at the end of Ground Zeroes to once again lead your mercenary company to greatness. It’s the game that finally bridges the gap between eras, and almost certainly the last entry from series creator Hideo Kojima. It’s at once an evolution of the series and a fundamental restructuring of its ideas. As a Metal Gear game, it will be controversial–perhaps even moreso than 2–but taken free from the series’ baggage, it’s an amazing title that excels in nearly every category.
MGS5 moves the series’ stealth action to the open world, and this opens up a ton of new options for how to complete your objectives. You can approach enemy bases from any direction, and there are tons of ways to approach each mission.
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Lara Croft Go Review
Last year’s Hitman Go was an incredibly pleasant surprise that smartly adapted the core gameplay elements of the Hitman series to a simplified style designed for mobile devices. Now, following in that game’s footsteps, we have Lara Croft Go, which turns tomb raiding into a turn-based puzzle game.
Gears of War: Ultimate Edition Review
Gears of War’s 2006 release was a seminal moment in the last generation. Its cooperative cover-based shooting set the standard that AAA games would follow for years, and while many of its innovations have been driven into the ground in the decade that’s followed, Gears’ legacy is still a strong one.
Now, nine years later, Microsoft has released Gears of War: Ultimate Edition for the Xbox One, updating the original’s visuals and bringing its online features to the current generation. But is this a worthwhile revision, or just another in a long line of mediocre remasters?
Onechanbara Z2 Chaos Review
Hordes of undead plague the earth, and the only one who can stop them is a bikini-clad samurai cowgirl. Abandon all hope of taste and decency–this is Onechanbara Z2 Chaos.
The Magic Circle Review
Games about games are usually terrible. They’re usually a collection of memetic in-jokes and corny parodies designed to cover up the inadequacies of uninspired third-person shooters and platformers, existing more as quick gags to punch up trailers and marketing materials rather than real tributes to the medium of games. Martin Scorsese’s 2011 film Hugo was a tribute to movies, but it wasn’t a collection of jokes about cinematography and editing, or barely subtle references to characters of great movies past. It was about people. It was about the relationship between people who love movies and the people who make them. The wonder and joy in how Hugo portrayed that relationship reminded me of my passion for games, and made me wish there were a game that so artfully explored its own medium.
The Magic Circle is a game about the relationship between the people who love games and the people who make them. But where Hugo was joy and wonder, the Magic Circle is fear and paranoia. It’s about the love of a medium turned to dangerous possession. It’s about the digital identities we create out of our own insecurities. It’s about the void that the act of creation fills in us. It’s about the control that we have inside digital worlds and the vertigo of having that control taken away.
Rory McIlroy PGA Tour Review
After sixteen–SIXTEEN–Tiger Woods games, EA has finally found a new mascot for its golf series. As somebody who doesn’t follow golf, well… Well, let me tell you everything I know about Rory McIlroy. He looks vaguely like Paul McCartney. He has the highest stats in this game. He stares with dead, soulless eyes, unblinking, eager to consume mortal souls.
Okay, maybe there’s less supernatural consumption, and maybe more golf. You know, blue skies on a Sunny afternoon, a gentle breeze and a challenging but none-too-stressful game of skill to pass the time. It’s always seemed like hardcore gamers are a bit more interested in golf games than other sports titles. Maybe we think it’s a good substitute for going outside.
Stretchmo Review
Stretchmo is a joyful collection of bite-sized puzzle challenges which stretches the Pushmo concept into what feels like its logical conclusion. It succeeds in expanding upon that original concept in a way that the previous sequels have not, and basically just gives you more Pushmo with new mechanics to use, which is a definitively Good Thing.
Wolfenstein: The Old Blood Review
Last year’s Wolfenstein: The New Order was an astoundingly pleasant surprise–a single-player only shooter that committed to creating an exciting campaign and compelling story. It mixed old-school, over the top action with sympathetic characters to create an experience that was plenty ridiculous, but one that had a lot of heart. Now developer MachineGames has elected to follow-up with a prequel in the form of Wolfenstein: The Old Blood. This standalone downloadable offers much of the original game’s great action and creates some memorable moments of its own, but never manages to reach the heights of its predecessor.
Dustin Bailey 