Jay X Trent 
Platform games are one of those things the old-fashioned phrase ‘ten a penny’ seems to have been coined for. Especially when looking at the indie games section of Steam, where you can probably rack up several human lifetimes’ worth of backlog if you bought platformers alone. There are a lot of them, and it can …
I love the ’90s. Objectively the best decade ever, and I won’t hear nor see arguments to the contrary. It brought us rave music, the burgeoning popularity of side-scrolling beat ‘em ups, and amazing 2D pixel art on SNK’s Neo Geo console. Funny, then, that along comes Final Vendetta with all of the aforementioned in …
Bullet hell games, or danmaku, are difficult. Ask anyone (well, maybe not your grandmother) and you’ll probably be told about how impossible they look – it’s something of a label the genre bears. And not for no good reason either, as genre staples such as the DoDonPachi or Espgaluda series have made mincemeat of even …
Retro gaming can be a taxing hobby. Often the ‘rose-tinted spectacles’ effect comes into play and completely shatters any perception you had of your childhood favourites being any good at all. Other times, it transpires that our much-loved classics are pretty niche – games few others have heard of. So, when it comes to sharing …
Sometimes, first impressions stick. That initial thought upon seeing screenshots or a trailer – they never really leave you. But sometimes, they’re utterly bogus; and I’m really glad this was the case with Raven’s Hike. Screenshots looked rather Celeste-esque, suggesting the devs played Celeste Classic 2 – Laniâ’s Trek and decided for themselves, yeah let’s …
Word on the street is that Cotton’s back, and it’s better than ever. Given that the series hasn’t had much exposure in the west, I wouldn’t be surprised to find that western gamers who didn’t survive on a diet of imported Saturn shmups were even aware of this series’ existence. Yet here we are in …
Heavy metal and video games go together well. From the synth-guitar riffs of Thunder Force IV, through Rock ‘n’ Roll Racing’s licensed SNES replicas of some classic bangers, to the mighty DOOM’s ‘D_E1M1’ (oh, okay, At Doom’s Gate, if you insist) itself, the genre has been the sonic accompaniment to more than a fair few …
We’ve seen a few games lately with interesting backstories. There was Yeah Yeah Beebiss II, a sequel to a non-existent NES game, and the Quest for Glory homage Quest for Infamy – a love letter to PC adventure games series that flips the premise on its head. Now here’s Andro Dunos II – a sequel …
Ambition is a great driving force. How many people who have achieved truly great things in this world would’ve done so without their ambition? But when asked about my ambitions, I’m always a little coy about the answer. Where it’s common for many people to wish for fame, I’m the opposite. Infamy, after all, is …
I love video games. Part of that love is the grand feeling of adventure which comes with just escaping into a virtual world and taking in the sights and sounds, perhaps speaking to its inhabitants, or maybe poking some of its monsters with the ouchy-end of a sword. It’s something I’ve enjoyed since being a …
Here’s a game that shouldn’t exist. I read the backstory of the developer’s inspiration before playing, which seemed like a very conscientious thing to do. The original Yeah Yeah Beebiss I, a NES game known only from a listing on a US mail order leaflet, is shrouded in mystery, conjecture, and baseless theorising; almost like …
Sometimes you stumble across a game that, as soon as you see it, think “That’s a great idea! Why didn’t someone do that before?” because it’s one of those obvious things that should’ve made complete sense to anyone to make. This was my reaction upon first seeing Cat Box Paradox on Twitter for #screenshotsaturday – …