#review
#review
By Omar (@siegarettes)
Does RIchard & Alice need to be a videogame? Visually rough, running on the conventions of nearly archaic adventure games, its presentation speaks of a more handicraft approach in a landscape where indie megaliths are quickly approaching the visual flair and polish of their big budget counterparts. By contrast R&A’s artwork is basic, representational. The soundtrack is part composed works and royalty free, and I suspect that a version of Adventure Game Studio is running underneath.
What’s left to hold it together then, is its writing, an element that videogames have often been anemic of good examples.
By Kevin (@prufesuroak)
How would I sum up Monument Valley in a sentence? It is a minimalistic, “pop-arty”, puzzle platformer.
You play Ida, a princess. Ida seems to be on a mission through the “Monument Valley” entering door after door, avoiding Crow after Crow, climbing stair after stair, until you end up where Ida needs to be which at first is very much unclear, there is a clue on one of the chapters, but you won’t really see why she’s on a journey until the very end.
By: RJ (@rga_02)
The Sydney Opera House, The Great Pyramids, The Bean. All will represent their respective locations with pride and joy. And Dong will perhaps represent the PS Vita with the same resentment. Dong is nothing original - yet it’s something blissful. Something alluring just screams out of it. And it’s all through the palm of your hands.
By Omar (@siegarettes)
The Floor is Jelly is part of what I like to call “gallery games”. It sits alongside titles such as PixelJunk Eden, Nidhogg, and Proteus as games that would feel just as at home in a gallery as the screen in front of you. It’s a game that takes the titular concept and builds a world around the idea, inviting you to explore and understand it.
By: RJ (@rga_02)
As I write this review, I started to remember the days when I would go to my cousin’s house to play Mario Kart 64. I believe I was the only Nintendo 64 owner who didn’t own a copy of that game. I had another kart racer. It was Diddy Kong Racing, which in my mind was the objectively superior kart racer - and still is. I’ve never thought much of the Mario Kart franchise. But I’d still play them because they present fun that only Nintendo can deliver. And several years later from the moment I first won against my cousin in Toad’s Turnpike, that magic is still in present in the tracks of Mario Kart 8.
There’s always something cool about playing a virtual representation of your hometown. This is especially the case when you’re from a major metropolitan area such as New York or Los Angeles as they are both commonplace locations for games. In fact, the most recent game I can think of that allows you to explore Chicago is Driver 2, and that was 14 years ago. However, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a game that properly represents Chicago. Well I’m glad to say that this is no longer the case as Watch_Dogs, has finally hit store shelves.
By: RJ (@rga_02)
Second Opinion by Omar (@siegarettes)
At the end of the generation when Sony finally pulls the curtain for the PS Vita, the library of Sony’s fledgling handheld will be known for 3 things. Monster Hunter clones, indies and Monster Monpiece. Monster Monpiece (MonMon) is a very unique game. With fanservice that could offend many and a somewhat annoying leveling system a person would rightfully expect little out of this game. But as the old “peeling the onion” metaphor goes, there might be something beautiful beneath all of this.
“Upside Down Mountain” is the new album Conor Oberst officially released May 19, 2014, has that sound that Oberst is known for, that jangle pop with 60’s folk revival Laurel Canyon sound (think Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Bob Dylan’s electric days or perhaps Jackson Browne or The Eagles); that mid 90’s Nebraskan sound that Oberst is known for.