Past & Retro

Nostalgia is a funny thing, isn’t it? We love revisiting our past, reliving the experiences that made us who we are and that we still regard with fondness many years later. Nowhere is this more prevalent than in our media; I’d wager you, like me, have games you should rightly be ashamed of loving but will defend to the hilt…

Metroid Prime is one of my old favorites, a game that I cherish from my childhood. On playing it again, I find it just as good as I recall, one of those few games that holds up to the same feelings the player has when they first get the game. It hasn’t, at least in my opinion, aged at all.…

While I have heard that video games based on movies often have difficulties, or aren’t made well, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith was certainly an exception. It is sort of a combination beat ‘em up and fighting game- the vast majority of the game is fighting droids and clone troopers as Anakin and Obi-Wan, but the bosses are able…

Console based gaming has been an integral part of our lives. The feel of the console buttons and gears in our hands is unforgettable. Some people may say that those good old days have passed and now only memories remain. However, you don’t have to bemoan the loss of an era where you could play a wide range of console…

Today I am looking at Sly 2: Band of Thieves. It was one of my very first Playstation 2 games, and on beating it again, it is still fun to me even after all these years. The story picks up after the first game- I had not played it, but the first level does a great job of acquainting the…

It’s no secret that Sega’s front-hog hasn’t had much success in recent years. After releases like the glitch infested Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, the button mashing marathon that is Sonic and the Black Knight, and the slightly janky Sonic Unleashed, it’s easy to see how our beloved hedgehog has fallen out of favour, becoming the punchline of many a joke within the…

There is a revitalization in the video gaming industry. The past is making a comeback. Many manufacturers are revamping old ideas or releasing old consoles to drum up the nostalgia of its target market. Nostalgia can be a huge marketing tool when done right, and it seems the video game industry has done it right. People are flocking to grab…

First impressions are very powerful things. When I first played Digimon Rumble Arena 2, I felt as though it wasn’t a true sequel to the first one, a Digimon game in name only. Of course, I think I was sick at the time and it was a few years ago, so recently I decided to give it another chance. And…

The phrase ‘gaming royalty’ might sound overly grandiose, but if this category of games does exist, then the Wolfenstein series certainly belongs in it. The first Wolfenstein game was released in 1981, and there’s a new one – Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus – scheduled for release later in 2017. That means the series has been running for a frankly…

Today I am looking at a rather interesting first-person shooter called Goldeneye: Rogue Agent. As the name may imply, it is a game based in part on the James Bond movies- but it doesn’t actually have anything to do with the famous Goldeneye video game, nor is James Bond himself your character- instead, you play as a former agent of…

The world of gaming is full of mystery, and why shouldn’t it be. Mystery, as an entity, is a big part of video games, as many titles sell solely on the suspense that they generate. Many of these mysteries could just be there due to a glitch or to tease gamers and have a little fun. Sometimes, these are planned…

Psychonauts is on many fronts a ground breaking game. In a review it would be easy to say that the witty dialogue is what makes this game stand out, but that would leave out the compelling assortment of collectibles. One could say the gorgeous art style is what makes this IP so unique, but that would undermine the fantastic platforming…

Lately I’ve been playing an interesting game based on the Terminator francise called The Terminator: Dawn of Fate. It is functionally a prequel to the first movie, showing the events leading up to Skynet’s defeat and both the Terminator and Kyle Reese being sent back in time. It is effectively a third and first person shooter, and a pretty fun…

Today I will be looking at the Star Wars Battlefront series. While I haven’t played the new game coming out in November, I have heard news about it, and what I heard worries me enough that I feel I must write about it. And while I’m doing so, I’ll tell about what I have played- the original Battlefront II from…

There’s something about playing a good Tennis game that gets the blood pumping. Whether it’s the summer heat, the one-to-one competition or the blistering pace of the racket play, Tennis has always translated well into video games. Over the years, we’ve enjoyed a range of games from the authentic, to the impossible and the downright surreal. Below we take a…

Today I am taking another look at Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks. I did an article on one of the more note-worthy enemies from the game a year ago, but on replaying it I realized it deserves a more in-depth analysis, for reasons both good and bad. The game is very unlike other Mortal Kombat games; while they are fighting games,…