Category: Video Games

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PlayStation 5 Reviews Video Games

“Rise Of The Ronin” Review

 

It’s always struck me as odd how some video game fans — and some video game critics — get annoyed when you compare a game to another game in a review. Or even just mention another game in passing.

Well, those people are going to be really annoyed by this review of Rise Of The Ronin (PlayStation 5), an epic, third-person, open world, hack & slash action / adventure game set in ancient Japan that’s a lot like 2020’s Ghost Of Tsushima, an epic, third-person, open world, hack & slash action / adventure game set in ancient Japan (and which, by the way, is coming to PC on May 16th).

Except that once you get deep into Rise Of The Ronin, you realize it’s as different from Ghost Of Tsushima as it is similar.

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Books Video Games

Exclusive Interview: “The Art Of Psychonauts 2” Writer Ashley Esqueda

 

Sometimes you really shouldn’t see how the sausage is made. Say, with sausage.

But sometimes it can be fun. Maybe not as fun as eating sausage, but still a lot of fun in its own way.

Which brings me to The Art Of Psychonauts (hardcover), a new making-of book about the titular 2022 platforming video game, which was the sequel to 2005’s cult classic Psychonauts.

In the following email interview, Ashley Esqueda — who wrote the text and assembled the art (and who is one of my video game journo buddies) — talks about how this book came together, as well as what sets it apart from other video game art books.

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PC PlayStation 5 Reviews Video Games Xbox Series S Xbox Series X

“Welcome To ParadiZe” Review

 

As you’ve probably noticed, most zombie survival games take a serious approach to making you survive the undead apocalypse.

But by striking a different tone — and a slightly different viewpoint — the third-person single-player / co-op Welcome To ParadiZe (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC) manages to put a different spin on the genre. Not a better one; not a worse one; but one that’s certainly different, which, in turn, makes it rather fun.

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Books Video Games

Exclusive Interview: “Halo: Epitaph” Author Kelly Gay

 

With four previous novels based on the Halo games under her belt, it’s not surprising that writer Kelly Gay’s newest, Halo: Epitaph (paperback, Kindle, audiobook), would connect to the other novels she’s written about the titular sci-fi shooter series.

But as she explains in the following email interview, this installment is actually more connected to someone else’s Halo novels than her own.

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PC PlayStation 4 PlayStation 5 Reviews Switch Video Games Xbox One Xbox Series S Xbox Series X

“System Shock Pinball” for “Pinball M” And “Pinball FX” Review

 

Released in 1994, the cyberpunk sci-fi first-person shooter System Shock has since become one of the most influential games of the last thirty years. Not only did it inspire numerous spiritual successors (BioShock, Thief) and other sci-fi shooters (Half-Life, Deus Ex), but also third-person games in the stealth action (Metal Gear Solid) and survival horror genres (Resident Evil).

And yet, it is considered more a cult curiosity than a known classic among many gamers, especially those who didn’t play it when it came out…or weren’t alive at the time.

Which makes it all the more curious, and a pleasant surprise, that System Shock is being honored by the good people at Zen Studios with the release of System Shock Pinball, an add-on for their games Pinball M and Pinball FX (PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X / S, Xbox One, Switch, PC).

Doubly so since the table is as ’90s as the original game.

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PC PlayStation 4 PlayStation 5 Reviews Switch Video Games Xbox One Xbox Series S Xbox Series X

“Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown” Review

 

As a fan of acrobatic action games, I’ve been waiting 14 years for Ubisoft to make another Prince Of Persia in the vein of 2010’s The Forgotten Sands.

But as someone who goes back with this series to the days of old, when it was a side-scrolling hack & slash action game, I’ve also been waiting 21 years for Ubisoft to make a Prince Of Persia that brings me back to when I used to play the original and 1993’s Prince Of Persia 2: The Shadow And The Flame.

Well, twenty-five year old me can now rest easy, as Ubisoft have given us Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown (PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Switch, PC), which is not only the best Prince Of Persia game since Sands, but the best side-scrolling one since Flame.

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Books Video Games

Exclusive Interview: “Tom Clancy’s: The Division: Hunted” Author Thomas Parrott

 

With Tom Clancy’s The Division: Hunted (paperback, Kindle, audiobook), writer Thomas Parrott is concluding the Operation Crossroads trilogy of technothrillers based on the titular video games, which he started in 2022 with Recruited and continued later that year with Compromised.

In the following email interview, Parrott discusses how this third installment finishes the story (and how he feels about that) as well as what influenced this final novel.

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PC PlayStation 4 Reviews Video Games Xbox Series S Xbox Series X

“Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League” Review

 

Video games have been around since the 1970s, and in all that time, there’s been one underlying rule: the controls must be good. If your controls are bad, your game is bad.

And yet, somehow, the good people at Rocksteady who made the open world, third-person superhero action game Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC) managed to get it from the drawing board to digital stores without ever asking anyone, “Are these controls good?” Because they’re not, and it’s that — among other things — which ruins what could’ve been an interesting game.

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Books Video Games

Exclusive Interview: “Diablo: The Official Cookbook” Co-Author Rick Barba

 

Whenever I play one of the Diablo games, I feel a lot of different things. Excitement. Tension. Accomplishment. And sometimes, hunger.

Yeah, hunger. That’s because Diablo III, Diablo Immortal, and Diablo IV are so effortlessly fun that I just lose track of time, and sometimes forget to eat.

But that will never happen again (yeah, right) now that I’ve got Diablo: The Official Cookbook (hardcover, Kindle), which presents “Recipes And Tales From The Inns Of Sanctuary.”

In the following email interview, Rick Barba, the writer of the “Tales” parts of the book, explains how he came to co-write this book with Andy Lunique [The Ultimate Gamer’s Cookbook], as well as which of Andy’s recipes made him the hungriest.

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