December 8th, 2008 was the launch date for Defense Grid: The Awakening. Ten years ago, it took the Tower Defense genre and gave it the treatment of a high-production value game. It’s seen a sequel, several expansions, and even a board game. It’s a game that I spent hundreds of hours playing, and continue to play to this day. To celebrate the game’s Anniversary, I sat down with Jeff Pobst, founder and CEO of Hidden Path Entertainment to chat about […]
Tetris is a game that has seen releases on just about every platform with a CPU, and some without one, too. It’s a perfect example of a simple concept that is approachable and intuitive to learn but is incredibly addicting and challenging at a higher level. Tetris Effect takes the tried and true block clearing concept pioneered by Alexei Pajitnov and extends it to its natural conclusion. The result is a game that is in my opinion, the definitive version […]
Gamers of a certain vintage will remember a futuristic racing game released by Psygnosis in the late 90’s. No, not that one. I’m referring to Rollcage, the game that came after Wipeout, but just didn’t gain the same level of success. Rollcage had a fun concept where you had cars that could drive in either orientation. They were also able to drive up walls and on the ceilings of tunnels. Add in a healthy dose of speed and weapon power-ups […]
The Castlevania series is well loved by gamers. The last iteration of the series, Lords of Shadow 2, though, was not very well received and has left a bad taste in many gamers’ mouths. There is one sure fix for this, re-release Symphony of the Night. Castlevania: Requiem does exactly this but also includes Rondo of Blood for good measure. It’s a compilation that’s a safe bet, and an easy way to get two of the best Castlevania games on […]
The console version of the Sega Genesis Classics Collection released back in late May. Had I reviewed the game back then, it likely would have scored a 1.5 or 2. It had so many issues that genuinely affected the enjoyment of those classic games that I believed it was completely inexcusable of Sega to have released a game in that state. Here we are now, a few patches later and things have changed significantly. While it still isn’t perfect–especially the […]
During the early 90’s, Delphine Software and Electronic Arts released a little fighting game onto the Sega Genesis and SNES that would gain a most infamous reputation. Shaq Fu, as the name would imply, features Shaquille O’Neal battling his way through an alternate dimension in order to save a young boy from an evil mummy. The game would receive mixed reviews, and in preparing for this review, I had to go back and play it again. While I do think […]
This year may be the year of the anime fighter. With Dragon Ball FighterZ being wildly successful, it has opened the door for other series to get a bit more exposure. BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle (referred to henceforth as BBTAG) is another fighter from Arc System Works that takes a slightly different approach to the genre. For the most part, it’s very successful at what it attempts.
More and more we see games trying to include as much content as possible in the hopes of appealing to a wider market. The problem with this sort of approach is you end up with a game that while it may be good, it isn’t as good as it could have been had the developers known exactly what it was and focused their efforts on that one aspect. It’s rare these days that a game will try to do just […]
Titan Quest has long been loved on the PC for its blending of mythologies into one whimsical and unique Action-RPG setting. After more than a decade, Titan Quest finally makes its way to consoles. The transition hasn’t been flawless, but for the most part it translated very well to the consoles. What Is It? The mythical Titans have escaped from their prison. The Gods of the world are unable to contain them. It’s up to you to create a hero […]
2017 has been great for games–a little less so for me playing them. Still, I’ve managed to play a few I rather enjoyed.
This review is not going to be what you expect. We have a format on SmashPad that we usually follow. For this game though, we decided to run with an idea I had. Many reviews and pundits talk about the bad practices in the gaming industry in a cut-and-dry way, ignoring the fact that on the other end of the screen is a real person. I decided to approach this review from that angle, and just write a letter to […]
While the NASCAR license has had a long and hard road behind it in the video games industry with its highs and lows, it’s still a racing franchise that people want to play. Monster Games is the latest developer to take a shot at this property and it’s remarkably solid for a second outing. What Is It? NASCAR Heat 2 is a sequel to last year’s NASCAR Heat Evolution. It builds on the groundwork laid by that game and greatly […]
