Review
The Heartless Dogma
Behind the open-world fantasy of Dragon’s Dogma is a system that guarantees progress, but whose definition of progress are we using? Michael Thomsen reviews Capcom’s latest role-playing game.
Review
Review
Gravity Rush: Not So Novel
Gravity Rush, a new game for the PlayStation Vita in which you control the direction of gravity, reads like a Murakami novel. But beneath its steampunk architecture and magic tricks, it plays in an all-too-familiar way.
Review
No, They’re Not Malfunctioning. They’re Alive.
In Vessel, you the player are aware that the beings your character wants to destroy are sentient. Do you continue playing and destroying these robots, in hope that your character will come to his senses?
Review
The Tricky Serve of Mario Tennis Open
Tennis, as a videogame, has never exactly replicated the complex physics of the sport. Instead, tennis videogames give a skin to button-ordering finger memory games. We see how Mario Tennis Open for the 3DS furthers the illusion.
Review
Max Payne 3 Makes Us All Ugly Americans
When does Die Hard illuminate the gravity of a bad situation? In Rockstar Studios’ Max Payne 3, the player-protagonist plays the ignorant American in Brazil, with only his brute force to save him.
Review
In Diablo III, Hell is Other Demons.
Twelve years have passed, and once again Blizzard is inviting players to revisit Hell in Diablo III. We brave the journey and wonder what has changed since we last made this trek.
Review
Prototype 2 Offers a Lot of Deity, Not a Lot of Definition.
What makes a man a “hero”? James Heller, the contortedly violent star of the Prototype 2, asks that question, but the answer leaves our reviewer strangely wanting.
Review
Sine Mora is Bullet Gulag
If there was a strongman contest for the frenetic “bullet hell” genre, Sine Mora might be it. The Hungarian developer gathers steam and spits fire as Jason Johnson dives into this review.
Review
The Talking Dead
The first episode of the game version of the popular comic-turned-telefilm The Walking Dead is an examination of truth-telling, silence, and testimony, which the game’s dialogue forces us to grapple with at every twist ‘n’ turn.
Review
Can a Videogame Give You Closure?
Tyler Glaiel’s Flash hit has blossomed into a much moodier and complicated appraisal of human existence in its PlayStation Network debut. We take a closer look at Closure and how a lot of darkness can bring a lot to light.
Review
Trapped in a Cage
What makes the structure of a game stay intact? We play Assassin’s Creed: Revelations and find a lot of hidden walls—some more apparent than others.
Review
Step by Step
What’s within this haunted house? And is it worth exploring with your own two feet? Jon Irwin wonders about the architecture of tedium as he explores Kinect title Haunt.