Video Games are Real

Tag: review

  • Carrion is really good, possibly Game of the Year material

    Carrion is really good, possibly Game of the Year material

    Subscribe on YouTube

    I recently finished Carrion on the Nintendo Switch. Upon finishing the game, I took to Youtube to join in the chorus of praise. However, I discovered that actually a lot of people feel this game is pretty mediocre. One of my favorite channels, Slope’s Game Room, even came away a bit unimpressed with the game. So, with this video, I try to counterbalance the tepid reactions with my very enthusiastic praise of Carrion. Carrion might be my video game of the year.

    After watching my video, check out Slope’s Game Room’s Carrion review video.

  • Card Games in Video Games and SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech

    Card Games in Video Games and SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech

    Subscribe on YouTube

    The credits are rolling on SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech.

    Watch the rest of the Game’s Over Video Game Reviews here at this YouTube playlist.

    (more…)

  • The Talos Principle Review. Puzzles vs. Religion?

    The Talos Principle Review. Puzzles vs. Religion?

    Subscribe on YouTube

    The credits have rolled on The Talos Principle.

    The Talos Principle is a first person puzzle game in the vein of Portal, Q.U.B.E, and probably Myst and Riven, but I’m not sure because I didn’t have a PC when Myst and Riven were popular. Still I feel I had to mention them here to avoid angry comments about my lack of knowledge of the first person puzzle genre.

    The puzzles are the best kind of puzzles. Just a few mechanics to keep track of and each series of puzzles builds upon the rules of previous puzzles. It’s near puzzle perfection. Each solved puzzle rewards you with a tetromino-shaped sigil. Collect enough sigils and you advance in the game. But depending on which direction you choose advance, you’ll either suffer the wrath of or enjoy the praise of Elohim, the godlike narrative voice. Advance as Elohim commands, and you’ll be praised. Advance up the forbidden tower, and you’ll be chastised.

    This choice in either defiance of or honor of a religious deity is where the game tries to be more than a game. But I’m not sure it succeeds. (more…)

  • Do Easy Modes Ruin Video Games? [VIDEO]

    Do Easy Modes Ruin Video Games? [VIDEO]

    Subscribe on YouTube

    I’m a firm believer in an easy video game. The challenge isn’t what drives me. And that’s what I want to focus on in this video. Video games aren’t simply a vehicle for challenge. And if we can accept that, then the rest of the video should be easy as pie

    What are your thoughts on game difficulty? Should games have variable difficulty selections or should games ship with a single difficulty inherent to the experience?

    (more…)

  • Bulb Boy Video Game Review | Nintendo Switch [VIDEO]

    Bulb Boy Video Game Review | Nintendo Switch [VIDEO]

    Subscribe on YouTube

    Bulb Boy is Ren & Stimpy meets The Binding of Isaac by way of point-and-click minimalism.

    Have you played Bulb Boy? If so, what are your thoughts?

    (more…)

  • Review of Beautiful You by Chuck Palahniuk [video]

    Review of Beautiful You by Chuck Palahniuk [video]

    Beautiful You seems to be Chuck Palahniuk’’s response to and commentary on the popularity of 50 Shades of Grey series and the proliferation of commercial erotica born from that series. But Beautiful You never rises to the deep social analysis that Palahniuk’s early stuff does. Beautiful You remains simply clever and superficial, becoming more a book belonging to the commercial erotica genre rather than a commentary on it. But still, it’s a damn fun read. (more…)

  • The Sound of Loneliness by Craig Wallwork video book review

    The Sound of Loneliness by Craig Wallwork video book review

    Click the image above to watch the video book review
    Click the image above to watch the video book review

    Craig Wallwork’s The Sound of Loneliness (Perfect Edge Books) takes the concept of a tired, alcoholic, depressed writer and recesses it a generation or so, using a 22 year old protagonist with 52 year old problems.

    Much of the story’s tension lies between this 22 year old Daniel Crabtree and his teenage infatuation Emma, a tension that similar to Lolita, is meant to rouse conflict, but unlike Lolita, the age and maturity difference between the two characters is such that the reader can imagine the two characters actually working out, given another decade.

    Also, I manage to work in a Roseanne reference which makes me happier than you can even imagine.

    Buy The Sound of Loneliness by clicking here: http://www.amazon.com/The-Sound-Loneliness-Craig-Wallwork/dp/1780996012