Jessica Thompson

If you are a gamer, chances are you already know what to expect whenever you see a title brandishing the LEGO namesake.  Typically, you get a game that neatly integrates the visual aesthetics of the popular toy brand with an overall concept of reliving whatever it is that the title is portraying.  In other words,

Within the gaming world, hunting simulators are often overlooked in favor of more action-oriented titles.  However, it’s often hard to overlook that fact that many popular games (such as Bethesda’s “Skyrim”) integrate various honest-to-goodness elements of hunting within their core gameplay.  There’s something strangely calming about wandering around lush virtual forests without having to worry

Taking cues from older arcade racing titles, the Trials series has always been about providing gamers with fun and accessible, yet uniquely deep and challenging side-scrolling gameplay.  In other words, these games are often very easy to begin playing for enjoyment, but extremely frustrating when it comes to mastery (latter levels often being very difficult

If you’re only interested in somewhat serious sandbox titles, the kind of games that seek to convey some sort of deep story, Coffee Stain Studios’ bizarre “Goat Simulator” might not be for you.  On the other hand, if you delight at the very notion of a game that’s every bit as zany as its title

There’s something to be said about the concept of releasing stand-alone, tournament-based sports games like “2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil”.  On the one hand you could easily say that the fully annualized editions are flagrantly superior, but you’d be missing out on the character that a game like this offers you.  One could just as

Regardless of the image that the industry tries to cultivate, every game that’s released onto the market is not a glaring success.  In fact, some releases are downright disturbingly disappointing.  The following list of titles contains some of the more noteworthy failures we’ve seen… Lost Planet 2 In case you’d already forgotten, in the early

Almost immediately, the first thing you’ll notice about Arc System Works’ “Blazblue: Chrono Phantasma” is its wild, hyperactive visuals.  Seriously, this game is basically analogous to a sugar rush, replete with an energetic soundtrack to provoke your button-mashing bouts.  This is a 2D fighting game that makes allusions to 3D dynamics, effectively generating a sense

Let’s get one thing straight here – “Titanfall” is essentially Microsoft’s attempt at building an exclusive multiplayer-centric title that’s capable of somehow evolving the FPS genre.  Whether or not they accomplished this, you can’t deny that Titanfall artfully integrates all the various things we love about online matchmaking into one potent stew. First off, the