1995 was an exciting time for video game fans. Optical storage media felt like it was the first step into a laser-based future, every 2D game was made by people with years of experience in the craft, and every 3D game seemed to be bursting with enthusiasm for this underexplored frontier. The future really was … Continue reading Wow, what a start!
As I've mentioned before Xenosaga Episode III: Also Sprach Zarathustra had a heck of a lot of work to do if it was going to win me back and I freely admit I came at this final entry with something of a hostile attitude, one fuelled by two games worth of annoying characters, poor writing, and various … Continue reading That meeting could have been an email: The Game
Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse starts off so strong it's worth staying on the title screen for a while just to hear Yuki Kajiura's haunting musical piece "In the beginning, there was..." gently flowing around an otherwise silent scene of the ES Asher (these replace the AWGS' of Episode I) being constructed piece by … Continue reading Jenseits von Gut und Böse
I don't remember much about any part of this trilogy - the last time I played these games they were newly released US imports, which would have been... about eighteen years ago now - but I do remember they were stuffed full of religious imagery, a memory Xenosaga: Episode I is eager to refresh over and over … Continue reading Der Wille zur Macht
I'm sure this one will look very familiar even if you've never been anywhere near a Japanese PlayStation 2: 2005's Namco X Capcom is perhaps best described at this point in time as Project X Zone 0, as bar the obvious language barrier (a fan translation is available here) and complete lack of Sega just about everything in here - … Continue reading This battle is about to explode!
Gaming history is littered with high profile rivalries, mighty companies locked in epic battles for the hearts and souls of players everywhere. Who can forget plucky young Sega taking on the all-conquering Nintendo? Or the time Sega fought against the unstoppable popularity and deep pockets of Sony? Or all those years Sega was engaged in … Continue reading Fashionably late
Cut from the same polygonal cloth as Namco's beautiful Starblade, Cyber Sled brought full 3D arena combat to arcades in 1993, causing everyone nearby to stand and stare in awe of its flat-shaded graphical muscle and wonder what the heck they were supposed to do with those two identical joysticks sticking out the front of … Continue reading A bit like sci-fi ice skating… with missiles
Ah, sports. My dislike for physical activity is rivalled only by my utter incompetence at any mathematical problems that may come my way, making me a sort of very special breed that can neither mask my academic failings with athletic prowess nor claim I'm too busy doing smart equation-related things to avoid putting on a … Continue reading “We’ll show you the best events!”
Namco's Druaga is one of those series a lot of players will recognise the name of without having necessarily played any of them, and those that do dare to get a little closer tend to not stick around for long: The earlier games are notoriously vague and unfriendly in that particularly eighties sort of way, … Continue reading Seme Com Dungeon Drururuaga
Kimimi The Game-Eating She-Monster 