Scott Pilgrim vs The World is a retro beat-em-up in the style of old NES games. It is a roughly by the numbers game with some great art done by Paul Robertson, of Pirate Baby’s Cabana Battle and Kings of Power 4 Billion%. Both of which are absolutely worth watching. One thing stood out in [...]
Category Archives: games
The Three Hour Game
22-Aug-10Something I’d like to see is a move to shorter games. I find my time comes at a premium, so when I do encounter games that can be finished in an evening or two, it leaves me happy. But it’s more than just the time requirement, it’s that when game is compressed to a short [...]
Eve-Online has one of the deepest and most intricate combat systems I’ve ever seen. It’s also heavily balanced for fleet combat, so that every ship type is not only effective but necessary. From the smallest to the largest, everything has a role it can fill effectively. Given that it’s an MMO, in general it’s one [...]
Thoughts on Audience
13-Jan-10It’s funny how as a long time gamer, I sometimes take things for granted. As a game designer, that’s probably not the best habit. I was having a conversation about Darksiders with some coworkers over lunch the other day. I’ve been enjoying the game, it being a seamless blend of Zelda, Metroid Prime, and God [...]
Neat Features: Chuzzle
08-Jan-10I am a pretty big and unabashed Popcap Games fan. Not all of their stuff, mind you, but I’ve spent more money and wasted more time on their games than I’m willing to admit. I’m playing Chuzzle again lately, since it’s been released for iPhone (and with all honestly, when I got my iPhone [...]
Notable Design: Darksiders
07-Jan-10Darksiders is a fairly by-the-numbers 3rd person action game in the style of God of War / Devil May Cry. However, as I play it, I’m seeing some nice subtle design tweaks that make it stand out against the games from which it obviously drew inspiration. Particularly, the way the instant kills work. To pull [...]
Left 4 (Almost) Dead
24-Nov-08So, Left 4 Dead is pretty cool. It is, for sure, the best zombie survivor game I’ve ever played. And I certainly enjoy it in co-op. But I can’t help but feel a little let down, because honestly, there are so many little things they’ve done which either ruin the experience, or at the least, [...]
Braid, Do I Love You or Hate You?
11-Aug-08On one hand, you are a great game. Amazing game mechanics, puzzles, and a mature and meaningful story and presentation that is as unique as the mechanics themselves. Art, music, sound, writing, all are top notch. A notch above, I might add, any game I’ve played made by any kind of business driven development house. [...]
The Pass Effect
05-Dec-07So, I’ve been playing Mass Effect lately. Or more to the point, I’ve been hating Mass Effect lately. Don’t get me wrong, I want to like it. The dialogue is fantastic, and gives a level of maturity to Bioware games that’s been solely lacking. Now, if only they could manage to make a good game. [...]
The Assassin’s Creed Reception.
24-Nov-07(Note, the following are my own personal opinions, and not those of Ubisoft) So, I’d always figured Assassin’s Creed would end up being a love it or hate it kind of game. So I was surprised when no one actually hated it. In fact, the reception has been predominantly positive. But, there are a few [...]
