River City Saga: Journey to the West is one more River City/Kunio-kun fans than roguelite fans in my opinion as the elements from that series really make this game worth playing. For raw action roguelite enjoyment, there are better games for sure.

TOEM 2 has a lot going for it from its short demo alone. I’m so glad I plyed it because, I’m happy to say, it charmed me way beyond expectation and earned a well-deserved wishlist out of me.

If you’re like me, fighting games can be challenging to get into. The gameplay always looks so thrilling, but the time-consuming process of learning how to play your character, along with the frustration of fighting against tough opponents, can leave you feeling disheartened as you lose match after match. Thankfully, the developers of Shot One Fighters seek to remedy the problems that plague this genre. 

I had an interesting preview with this game as I knew nothing about its premise, and there weren’t any PR reps or developers from The Pixel Hunt nearby to tell me about the game. Even with no prior information, Ithaca’s…

I felt just about everything but the Gs as I zoomed in and out of clouds, picking enemies out of the sky in Ace Combat 8’s exciting demo. 

The first few hours of this game kept things fun, intense, and fast from the moment I hopped in the cockpit. I walked away not only wanting more, but genuinely impressed with both the dog fighting and the chunks of story I saw in between sorties in my first Ace Combat experience.

I got the opportunity at Summer Game Fest to play Turok: Origins with the team and interview the developers to find out why they decided to take a stab at reanimating an otherwise fossilized franchise for a modern audience.

The first thing to bear in mind when picking up R-Type Tactics I+II Cosmos is the fact that the game does absolutely no handholding. You will begin the game, be given mission objectives, and a list of units, and you have to figure it out. There is a comprehensive manual and an Archives section, which are indispensable for getting anywhere in this game. This is the type of game that asks a lot of a player up front, but rewards them for making the time investment with a very rich, very intricate tactical RPG.

Pokémon Champions has an emphasis on battling. After an initial tutorial where players learn the core mechanics of the battling system and become the leader of their very own gym, they’re free to enter the Pokémon League and battle as they wish. The ultimate objective is for players to climb to the top of Pokémon League rankings. 

When IO Interactive announced it had the rights to the 007 IP, many people, including me, thought it was a match made in heaven. It does cause some pause, though. First of all, Bond isn’t Agent 47, and while Hitman definitely has more than mainstream gamer appeal, it isn’t really a blockbuster franchise in the way 007 is. Luckily, there shouldn’t be any worry about any of that. 007 First Light is one of the best games of the year and might even be the best 007 game ever.

I was fortunate enough to be able to try out Blood Message at Summer Game Fest this year, and after playing it for about a half hour while talking with the developers, it was easily one of my highlights of the show.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Stuntman series, no worries. I was too. It wasn’t really much of a series. One game launched on the PlayStation 2 and Game Boy Advance in 2002 , and Stuntman: Ignition came in 2003. Stuntman focuses on the career of a movie stuntman, and you do things like take death-defying leaps, take part in high-speed car chases, pull off stunts that would get any regular person sent to the shadow realm, and more.

Screen Burn Interactive’s Silent Hill: Townfall brings the fright in an all-new way, and I’m intrigued by it.