8.25 At turn of the century, following the runaway success of Nintendo’s Super Mario 64, the gaming landscape was rife with 3D platformers eager to stand out among their peers. Coming in a couple of years late to the party, Insomniac released Spyro the Dragon for the Playstation in 1998, building off of what had…
10 Since great gaming began in earnest with the launch of the NES, there have been many titles ascribed a legendary status. But few receive universal praise. Final Fantasy VI is one of those games. The lineage of Final Fantasy runs deep in my family. From the first moment my brother, my cousin and I…
9 No developer was able to drum up as much anticipation and praise for their blockbuster releases last gen quite like Rockstar. With a lineup of star-studded releases from Grand Theft Auto V to Red Dead Redemption to L.A. Noire, the company was hitting it out of the park every time they stepped up to…
8 With just about every one of Nintendo’s console releases, there has been an era-defining Mario title to accompany it. The original NES was, in many ways, defined by Super Mario Bros. a game that significantly altered the fate of the industry. The N64, as flawed as it was in comparison to Sony’s disc-based PlayStation,…
From pretty much the beginning of my life in gaming, Pokemon has been a major force in my RPG consumption. I will never forget the first time I played a friend’s version of Pokemon Gold at a Terrell Tiger football game with the stadium lights to illuminate the screen of his GameBoy Pocket and how…
9.5 The sun is setting in Mexico. In the small border town of Chuparosa, this is the time of day where things start to get rough. The drunkards, whores, and gamblers begin to emerge and even spill out into the street with their sinful escapades. On a nearby porch, an old gunslinger silently gazes toward…
9.75 There are a number of games that have been on my radar for a long time that I just haven’t quite gotten around to. I’m just putting the finishing touches on Red Dead Redemption for the first time, I recently posted my review following my first-time playthrough of Bioshock, I have another review for…
10 I expected Bioshock to be a great game. A fantastic setting, amazingly consistent atmosphere, responsive combat, and a gripping story await anyone who inserts Bioshock into their console’s hard drive. I even expected things to get tense as I found myself face-to-face with one of the now legendary Big Daddies and even question my…
10 The moon hangs over Novigrad. After a day filled with monster hunting, bandit slaying, exploring, exploding, galloping and card playing, Geralt of Rivia winds down the day by helping one of his many ex-lovers escape persecution from the extremist, witch-hunting Church of the Sacred Flame. After telling her goodbye, Geralt watches as her ship…
I have a lot of great history with Fallout: New Vegas. Initially introduced to the franchise with Fallout 3, I was incredibly excited and frankly a bit incredulous when I found out that a second 3D Fallout game existed toward the close of my stint in high school. One of my none-too-bright friends (I grew…
