25,357 community articles
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It seems I'm not sufficiently "Mario'd out" after completing Super Mario Bros. Wonder earlier this month so here I am instead playing Suzy Cube , the "we have Super Mario 3D Land at home" of Indie 3D platformers. All right, I'm being a little unkind here: it's rare to see someone take on the throne so brazenly like this and, all else aside, it's remarkable the developers managed to make this ga...
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Definitely one of my favorite city builders of all time, Sim City 3000 expanded up Sim City 2000 in all the right ways. The graphics were better, different levels of detail based on your zoom, a livelier world and expanded gameplay. To top it off the top tier soundtrack is still one I find myself listening to from time to time.
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(The following is based on a save file of 12 hours and 57 minutes, up to June, the Ninth, 2009, in game date. Language option unchanged from previous chapter, of course.) Jitte was standard issue for police officers (If we can call them that) in seventeenth century Japan. The metal baton can be seen in Stan Sakai’s graphic novel Usagi Yojimbo, usually used to disarm some sword wielding assailan...
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Meta Knight, of Kirby fame, is the latest Nintendo character to join my Video Game Hall of Fame. Next week's character will be a Sega character from the Sonic series.
justiceleaguecanada (Premium member)
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After the FMV-fueled forays of January we're back to classic flavor Mega Archive this month, checking out ten more Sega Genesis/Mega Drive games from the autumn of 1993 as I ensure the Giant Bomb Wiki pages for them are up to snuff. What's odd about this quixotic little project I've embarked on is how nostalgic it's been, not just for the gilded age that these games hailed from but also wheneve...
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(The following is based a save file of 5 hours when Tartarus throws out its first hard roadblock at Level 22 by April, twenty-fourth, 2009, in-game date. Played with both Japanese text and voice on Steam Deck.) The fine members of this community are yet to add release date for the Persona 3 remake. Yours truly is taking it as a sign to finally do the longer form of reviewing a rather long game....
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Note: This article contains major spoilers for Pikmin 3 and moderate spoilers for Dead Space and Dead Space 2. Pikmin 1 and 2 are widely considered banner releases for the Nintendo GameCube. That makes it confusing that there was no original Pikmin on Nintendo's follow-up console, the Wii. Shigeru Miyamoto had floated the news of Nintendo working on Pikmin 3 as early as 2008, but it was 2013 by...
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Hi everyone! Very excited to share this series that myself and OldeBlueEyes have started, where we play through the Ace Combat series! Blue was kind enough to join me on this journey and use his years of experience as a pilot to answer all my question on military aviation! In turn, I got to introduce him to the genesis of the console version of this legendary series, and we dug into the various...
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This week, we delve into an innovation that used to be pretty rare to see within the games themselves - the Bestiary aka the Monster Encyclopedia. This innovation has proven to be more than just a collection of fantastical creatures; it can be a narrative tool, a world-building device, and a strategic resource. Furthermore, it helped games go fully digital by putting what would otherwise be in...
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I wrote recently about how I couldn't log in to The Crew despite the fact that the servers are supposed to be up for two more months . On the plus side I did finally get in. On the downside it wasn't just a bad game, which I expected, but a game that gave me a shot of existential angst, which I did not expect. Before I start I'd like to note that while I wrote recently that I haven't been enjoy...
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Author's Note: Warning! This blog contains MAJOR spoilers for Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo ! If you have even the slightest interest in playing this game, play it first before continuing on with this essay. It Bummed Me Out Seeing Paranormasight Get Zero Love During Every Single GOTY 2023 Discussion This game definitely understands how to make a first impression that sticks. We...
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If I ever make an exception for sports games on this feature, it's usually because they've got something else going on. Like an abstraction in its premise, or a heavier emphasis on story, or some kind of ridiculous fantastical gimmick to hang some non-standard sports game mechanics upon. In that sense, Golf Club Nostalgia (formerly Golf Club Wasteland) from Demagog Studio —where you're playing...
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Hey all, trying out a not-particularly-novel new feature where I wrap up a month of gaming, blogging, and other miscellaneous activities of a mostly lawful nature. This'll give me all the excuse I need to deep dive on some of the non-Indie stuff I've played this month as well as sprinkle in a few other surprises. Game of the Month: The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero Oh look it's Falcom Boy...
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An explanation of what I'm doing here can be found in my introduction post . Last time we picked our way through the multiplatform refuse of June '96 when we looked at Shellshock , Baku Baku Animal , Gungriffon , Creature Shock: Special Edition , Road & Track Presents The Need for Speed , and Road Rash . Now our journey through the first half of 1996 is coming to an end as we look at Shockwave...
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Princess Daisy is the latest Nintendo character (joining Mario, Zelda, Luigi, Yoshi, Link, Samus Aran, Donkey Kong, Kirby, Fox McCloud, Pikachu, Bowser, Ganondorf, King Dedede, Princess Peach, Charizard, Lucario, Little Mac, Greninja, Wario, Captain Falcon, and Bowser Jr.) to join my Video Game Hall of Fame. Next week's character will also be a Nintendo favorite from the Kirby series.
justiceleaguecanada (Premium member)
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Double feature: GoldenEye and From Russia With Love With an episode of Abnormal Mapping proper basically became Jame Bond podcast, it’s high time for me to dig up this idea I had back when the film franchise celebrated its sixtieth anniversary. After all, not only had yours truly watched all 25 films of said franchise but also read everything Ian Fleming wrote regarding the fictional British im...
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This week, let's explore a classic mechanic that many RPG enjoyers but also Open World enjoyers tend to love: Manual Stat Allocation on Level Up. In the world of classic RPGs, the concept of manually allocating attribute or skill points upon leveling up adds a strategic layer to character development, while increasing the player's say in how their character develops, if not personality- or stor...
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Reviewing Jack Reacher “A Tom Cruise Production” The poster of 2012’s Jack Reacher featuring its starring producer Tom Cruise as the titular character It’s funny to see Cruise carrying the pistol Reacher only uses once in the film. It would be like Vanquish having a poster of its player character Sam Gideon carrying that transforming Russian rifle he uses only in that game’s final Quick Time Ev...
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EDIT: This has now been fixed, at least for me. When the shut down of The Crew was announced for March of this year I decided I was going to play through it before that happened because I bought the game back in the day and never got around to it. I downloaded it to my Xbox and booted it up only to be greeted with a server error that made it unplayable. I have tried intermittently since that ha...
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Note: The following article contains major spoilers for Pikmin and Pikmin 2. There are a few details which remain inconsistent between the first three Pikmins yet are vital for the character of each: The number of protagonists. The items you collect. The pikmin you use to collect them. We're going to deconstruct how Pikmin 2 handles these areas of the ludonarrative. But before we can start talk...
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SPOILER WARNING! I Don't get into too many specifics but I do spoil some things about both games. I’ve been a longtime fan of the adventure games developed by Cing, specifically the titles created by Rika Suzuki and Taisuke Kanasaki (even more specifically Hotel Dusk and Another Code R). So it was pretty heartbreaking when the studio closed in 2010 and the developers were scattered to the wind....
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If there's one thing I can admire in games, especially Indie games with all their limitations, it's ambition. The ambition to shoot for the moon and create something well above your weight class, if only because you have this firm idea for a project in your head and all the gumption and confidence (misplaced as it may be) to get it done by hook or by crook. That moxie is what I see reflected ba...
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Bowser Jr. joins his father in the Video Game Hall of Fame as the latest Nintendo character to be inducted. Next week's character will also be a Nintendo character.
justiceleaguecanada (Premium member)
