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

“Alan Wake II” Review

 

It’s always risky when the hero of a video game series hands the reigns to someone else. For every time it’s worked (Marvel’s Spider-Man 2), there are just as many when it didn’t (Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty).

Thankfully, the third-person survival horror game Alan Wake II (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/SPC.) falls squarely in the former category by being just as much fun when Mr. Wake is missing as it is when he’s around.

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

“High On Knife” Review

 

Among the many interesting characters in the comedic sci-fi first-person shooter High On Life was Knifey, a sentient and psychotic knife who could be used to get around like the grappling hook from Halo Infinite or Horizon Forbidden West. During actual combat…well, we all know the cliché about bringing a knife to a gunfight. It’s probably why, despite the name, Knifey isn’t the main weapon you use in the first add-on for Life, High On Knife. But while Knife may not turn Life into a hack & slash action game, that doesn’t mean Knifey isn’t at the center of this game.

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

“Resident Evil 4: Separate Ways” Review

 

Like seconds of a good meal, add-ons for video games can sometimes be more of a good thing, sometimes just more of the same, and sometimes just too much. Thankfully, it’s the former category that we find Resident Evil 4: Separate Ways, an add-on for the recent and excellent remake of Resident Evil 4.

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

“Mortal Kombat 1” Single-Player Review

 

For some, fighting games are all about beating the crap out of their friends. Or complete strangers they meet online. For others, though, they’re about the challenge of taking on a computer intelligence, one that may even be more skilled than they could ever hope to be. It is for the latter group — of which I am a proud, paid up member — that I present the following critique of the new Mortal Kombat 1 (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, PC) from the perspective of someone who only played it — and only wanted to play it — as a single-player game.

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PC Video Games Xbox Series S Xbox Series X

4 Things I Applaud “Starfield” For Including (And 1 I Wish They Had)

 

There’s an old saying: The devil’s in the details. But when you’re making a massive game like the sci-fi space opera action role-playing game Starfield — which is out now for Xbox Series X/S and PC, and is easily one of the best games of the year — sometimes it’s the little details that get lost in the shuffle, especially when you have so many big details to worry about. But in playing Starfield, I noticed a couple little things that I wanted to applaud the good people at Bethesda Game Studios for including, things that won’t make a big difference to a lot of people, but things I noticed and appreciated.

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

“Immortals Of Aveum” Review

 

Many of us aspire to greatness…and many of us fail. But sometimes, in failing, we still manage to do something good. It’s something I thought about while playing the ambitious but underwhelming and yet still engaging fantasy first-person shooter Immortals Of Aveum (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC). While it falls short of what would seem to be its lofty goals, what Aveum does offer is exciting combat in interesting places against competent enemies, and that’s enough to make it kind of fun.

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Books Video Games Xbox 360 Xbox One Xbox Series S Xbox Series X

Exclusive Interview: “Halo: Outcasts” Author Troy Denning

 

Having read nearly all of the novels based on the Halo games, and having interviewed many of the people who’ve written them, I’ve always thought of these books (and the games, and the comics…) as sci-fi space opera stories. But in the following email interview with Troy Denning, the author of seven Halo novels — including the newest, Halo: Outcasts (paperback, Kindle, audiobook) — he explains why these books (and games, and comics…) are more hard science fiction and space marine stories than anything operatic.

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

“Crash Team Rumble” Review

 

One of the things that always kills my enthusiasm for multiplayer games is how some people take them so seriously. Maybe I’m weird, but I don’t like being yelled at because I didn’t do something exactly right or don’t have the skills of a professional gamer. It’s one of the reasons why I enjoyed Crash Team Rumble (PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One), which is such a weird, goofy, cartoony game that you’d have to be a huge dick to take it seriously.

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PC PlayStation 5 Video Games Xbox Series S Xbox Series X

Summer Game Fest 2023 Hands-On Preview: “Mortal Kombat 1”

 

At this year’s Summer Game Fest, which was held at City Market Social House in downtown Los Angeles on June 9th and 10th, the good people from NetherRealm Studios and Warner Bros. Games gave journalists — present company included — some hands-on time with the upcoming fighting game Mortal Kombat 1, which will be out September 19th for Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, PC, and Switch.

What follows are my limited impressions of the game.