Review: Gone Home and The Stanley Parable - Indie Game Double-Header

I've found myself playing a lot more indie games recently. I'd hazard a guess that this is probably because most indie publishers place a higher value than Triple-A publishers do on things that FUCKING WORK AT LAUNCH.

So in the past weekend I worked my way through both The Stanley Parable and Gone Home, two excellent PC titles that have given me hope for the future of gaming.  The reason I'm reviewing them together is two-fold: 1) Their gameplay and mechanics are actually quite similar, despite them both having extremely different atmosphere, style and narrative, 2) since these will be spoiler-free reviews and both games are very story-intensive, they'd each be about half a post by themselves - hence the doubling-up.

We're Pulling a Capcom - What that Means, and Why

Things have been... well, stressful. After some behind the scenes talks, it has been decided that we're badly in need of a restructuring. An HD re-release or a disc-based update, if you will.

Accessibility - The Grand Cop-Out

Tonight's post is sponsored by Jagermeister, not because they're paying me, but because I needed to get faded enough to set free my actual anger on this subject.

These days, games are praised for being "accessible", which really just means "really fucking easy". It's an awful thing, and it is the biggest chink in the armor of the otherwise impenetrable games industry.  With developers chasing the next Call of Duty in terms of sales, and publishers chasing the next Angry Birds in terms of install base, games are getting easier and easier.

Impressions: Hearthstone - Hearth of the Cards

In case you haven't gotten yourself into the closed beta, been watching streams, reading forums and wikis, or have been living under a rock for the last couple of months, I'm going to be talking at you a bit about Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft.  This is Blizzard's new timesuck for those that are already addicted to WoW, already addicted to card games, and/or are looking to get addicted to both.

First Impressions: Black Ops 2, One Year Later

As you may have noticed, we have a bit of a tendency to review older and/or niche titles, primarily due to the fact that we buy what we want to play, when we want to play it, and then create content from there. I've been running a little short on games that can hold my interest as of late, so one of my friends lent me his copy of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2.

I've haven't been a huge fan of the formulaic, grindy multiplayer originally introduced in the original Modern Warfare, and a lot of the campaigns have just fallen flat in recent years. However, I had heard good things about BlOps 2's campaign, and a lot of good things about the zombies mode, so I figured I'd give it a shot, though I've only played some of the campaign so far.

Pokemon X/Y - Talkin' Bout an Evolution

Last night I polished off the new Elite Four in the latest generation of Pokemon.  I clawed my way to the top fighting tooth and nail, and let me say that it was not easy.  Not nearly as easy as the Elite 5th (or Champion) or the magic bum that follows after that.  None the less, it's been an amazing journey and will continue to hold my attention with all its joyous post-game.

Let me be clear now.  This won't be a review because, by professional standards, I don't believe that I can be a fair judge.  I'm too saturated with childhood nostalgia and will inevitably overlook glaring flaws in favor of the glimmering new features.  This is going to be an editorial where I gush about how much I've loved every second of Pokemon Y.  Let's get down to it.

On HD Remakes and Collections

As the cost of developing competent games skyrockets, in part due to the required graphical fidelity to appease the people who give half a fuck about gameplay, and in part due to the number of people needed to work on a title to complete it in a timely manner, sometimes publishers need to make a quick cash grab to recoup some of their out-of-control budget costs.

The most obvious among these are the HD remakes and collections that have become quite popular this generation, making (formerly) popular game X or series Y available on the current systems for those too struck by nostalgia to get a new release, or those who've never experienced these titles before, and are interested in an upcoming sequel/reboot.