I dunno, the original doesn't say drama and heroism specifically to me. It's much too bright eyed and bushy tailed for all that sweeping majesty and self-sacrifice. What it does say is ADVENTURE. Its brisk pace and strident melody combine with an optimistic major key to get you excited to see what's around the next…

I don't mind touchscreen controls in general. See: Battleheart or Cave's shmup ports. These games work with the strengths of a touch inferface. What kills it for me is when you're basically displaying a pared-down controller on the screen and expect that not to feel like ass. Because it invariably does.

Virtual buttons = dealbreaker.

I think I agree with Leigh and Kirk's assessment of FF7 (from the letters they wrote for Paste), and by extension that era of JRPGs in general. The high level of abstraction allowed your imagination to fill in the blanks in a way that isn't really done anymore. It required you to emotionally invest in it, but you…

I agree. Dead Space was a great horror-themed action game, but it wasn't scary. It makes you feel way to powerful and you fight enemies enough that you become accustomed to it. Ideally, you should never fight the same type of enemy more than a handful of times over the course of the entire game. Otherwise you…

I think there's reason to wish franchises would die when they have outlived their innovation but not their influence. In this scenario, other franchises chase the successes of these pivotal titles and end up just copying a bunch of stuff without recognizing the value of that they had. Beyond just stagnating and…

I'm confused what your examples are supposed to be. Some of those have gotten better (Skyrim) by fixing problems, some have been streamlined to their detriment (ME3) and some have gotten better through streamlining (Diablo 3).

This is what we call poetic justice.

All the more reason to post this here instead of taking it to Polytron or Disasterpeace. Owen! $7 =/= pay what you like!

Enh. Some of us happen to like a little artsy wank now and again. I don't really like shooting dudes in the head, but I don't go around posting a bunch of hate every time there's a story about Call of Resistance 6: Honor Evolved.

Can we all agree that a minimum of $7 is NOT pay what you like? Please?

Have you played Last Night on Earth? Similar in theme, but broader in scope. One or two players control the zombies, who have their own deck of cards, and each other player takes a character with a couple unique special abilities. Even better, there are several different scenarios. The humans always work together…

Big ups for Betrayal. I'm so glad they did a second edition so that people can actually get their hands on it.

I totally stole it from Kasson Crooker. There was a difficult-to-get unlockable song on Amplitude called "Spaztik," and the fake name he used for it was "Cosmonaut Zero." It was my favorite song in the game, and it had a nice ring to it. I love space, the number zero, old soviet stuff, and obscure references. It…

I've been ambivalent about BioWare's latest output. It feels like they're trying to be all things to all people, which is doomed to failure. It's an impossible task. Because of all of EA's money and focus grouping, they can't really afford to make a really focused game that appeals heavily to one type of gamer…

This is true. They basically were an extension of the same types of design you found in Goldeneye, but on a controller with two sticks so you could move and aim properly and a framerate that didn't make you wish you were watching a silent film for its comparatively smooth motion.

I want to spew thumbs-up juice all over this article. If I could +1 each sentence individually, I would.

You can have a slower-paced shooter that still plays well. You can have a slower-paced shooter that isn't plagued with bugs, that doesn't look like a slideshow and doesn't feel like trying to chew a tar-and-molasses sandwich.

I completely agree. There was some smart stuff in CoD4. It caught that middle ground that satirical 80s action movies hit, where it was bombastic and dumb on one level, but winking at itself on another. Between that and Bioshock, I had hope that we'd be seeing thematically smarter FPSes in the mainstream. Sadly,…

Hopefully, any changes will be in the direction of Valve changing Apple and not the other way around...