What is Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity? A simple enough question. One answer is it’s the latest in the Mystery Dungeon series and the first one for the Nintendo 3DS. Another answer is that it’s a that mixes Pokémon with roguelike, dungeon-crawling mechanics.

But the bigger question that needs to be asked is: who is Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity for? I honestly can’t say. And I have a feeling that Spike Chunsoft can’t answer that either. Not having a clear audience in mind leaves the game  full of boring, repetitive gameplay that wastes the player’s time.

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I had a number of problems with the original Bioshock. Barring the fact that it completely fell apart near the end, I didn’t really feel like Irrational delivered a truly unique experience once you were past the cool looking setting. Beyond the initial reveal of the underwater city of Rapture, I wasn’t really enamored by its cold, rusty Altanis-like veneer. A lot of areas felt too similar, and combat was a bit too basic.

Bioshock Infinite, on the other hand, casts its own shadow on other games in the genre — aesthetically, and otherwise. It’s the real deal. Read more… »

LEGO City Undercover might be the most ambitious LEGO game yet. Not only does it promise an open world adventure, but it also wants to win over your heart and mind with its eccentric action movie references that appeal to an older crowd, and full Wii U GamePad support.

While it doesn’t totally deliver on any of these fronts, it builds a great compromise. Read more… »

At face value, God of War: Ascension is a wholly unnecessary game. To be blunt, it’s a prequel to a prequel, and doesn’t really offer up anything new for the franchise outside of the multiplayer component. In that regard, people who have grown tired of the God of War formula will find nothing to sway them here.

Everyone else however, will find a solid bit of entertainment ripping apart hundreds of virtual abominations.

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MercurySteam has come a long way. After fumbling the much hyped Clive Barker’s Jericho, they were given a new lease on life by Konami, and headed up the reboot of the Castlevania franchise, titled Lords of Shadow.

While it may have more in common with God of War than Castlevania, I found Lords of Shadow to be a serviceable addition to the series, with a compelling story that will captivate most fans.

Mirror of Fate is MercurySteam’s second go, this time opting to go 2D and try their hand at recreating the magic of the portable Castlevania games.

With a rather tall order in front of them, I’m pleased to say that like Lords of Shadow before it, they somewhat succeeded. Read more… »

Bit.Trip Runner was one of the biggest surprises ever on WiiWare. Although the previous Bit.Trip games were excellent, the abstract presentation really turned off a lot of mainstream gamers from enjoying the franchise. But Runner was different.

Runner presented people with a very familiar veneer — a game that looked like one of those countless “runner” games on mobile devices. But in actuality, it was more than that — it was still very much a Bit.Trip title — and in my opinion, it’s easily the best of the franchise.

So, the people have spoken, and we’re getting another Runner game — this time, with a much bigger budget, and with a lot more features.

Let’s see how it turned out. Read more… »

When Metal Gear Rising came across Platinum’s desk, there were already plans for the game in motion. It was originally supposed to tell the story of Raiden’s journey from Metal Gear Solid 2 to 4, and it even was initially thought up as a side story involving Snake’s arch-nemesis, Gray Fox.

But none of that initial plan came to fruition. Instead, an all new story and concept was formed, taking place after the events of Metal Gear Solid 4, directly tying into the events that concluded the game. Naturally, people were worried.

But I have to say: Platinum really knocked it out the park on this one. Read more… »

If you’re a fan of JRPGs, you probably know what to expect from the genre — a sprawling open world map, a rich engrossing story, and colorful characters. Of course, the dark side of JRPGs tends to rear its ugly head as well — long hours of tedious level grinding, difficulty spikes, and superfluous, pointless content.

Roughly translated, “Ni No Kuni” means “The Another World.” But it had another meaning for me. Not only was I whisked away to the wondrous world inside of the game, but it actually brought me to a world of wonder within myself. It was enough wonder, in fact, to make me completely forget about the dark side, and embrace all of the light this game had to offer. Read more… »

I wasn’t the biggest fan of Dead Space 1. 

Dead Space 2, however, blew me away. I don’t know if it was the increased variety from a raw gameplay standpoint, or the more interesting locales, but Dead Space 2 had me hooked.

Now, it seems as if Dead Space 3 is set to combine the survival horror elements of the first game alongside of the more action oriented portions of the second, as it introduces new systems like weapon crafting, cover, and human on human conflict.

Normally this wouldn’t be a problem — they just…went a little overboard and took away from what made the series so special in the first place.

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After a seven year hiatus, Sly and the gang have finally returned in an all new HD release for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita.

Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, in the spirit of the franchise, has a sufficiently wacky setup: world renown loveable thief Sly Cooper, and his gang of misfits, have to travel through time to rescue his ancestors and stop an evil force from screwing with the space time continuum.

Does it sound like a Saturday morning cartoon plot? Yep, that’s Sly Cooper alright. Read more… »

Remember those Reese’s commercials? You know the ones about “You got your chocolate in my peanut butter!” That’s Fire Emblem: Awakening.

“You got your dating sim in my strategy RPG!” Okay, that’s a little disingenuous, but either way, Fire Emblem: Awakening is an excellent game. “Prepare yourself!”

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I’m not really a fan of Sir Hammerlock — in fact, he’s probably the only character in the first game I didn’t like. I get that the game was going for an “old bean by jove” gentlemanly hunter type, but I felt like he was mostly just a walking trope.

Naturally, I was hesitant to get excited over a new DLC featuring Sir Hammerlock. But you know what? He’s probably the best part of it. Read more… »