There's a lot of reasons Lords of Shadow 2 is not so good - it features a bifurcated world where only one half is interesting and the other is the one they cared about, the combat feels lifeless, it wastes an amazing voice cast beyond belief - but here's one example that really irked me. There's a stealth section…

For me, two things are required: local play and a casual, friendly atmosphere. The former is one of the most powerful things for me when it comes to games, and it's sad to see consoles slowly throw out something so integral to them over the past decade. And the latter doesn't need to be from the game itself; you've…

I was really tentatively excited for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate until my 3DS' circle pad broke while playing it. I should go back to that; it at least can't be as bad or visually banal as Lord of Shadow 2 (I'll go to bat for at least the art and graphics of the first one of those; it looks as good as…

As it turns out, one of the lesser ways to cure a bout of depression is through a bad video game. On so many other days Murdered: Soul Suspect would have been right up my alley It's a schlocky thriller about using magical ghosty powers to solve your own murder; if it wasn't for the use of Salem as a source of…

Don't tell me you didn't enjoy the very coherent "Count Dracula rises but once every century, and my role is over. If I can resurrect him, then the battle will last for eternity!"

For whatever it's worth, the big secret ending from "Final Boss" Richter is both really cool and an incredible pain in the tuccus to actually reach. I'd say to go back in and explore as much of the castle as you can - especially the center and basement areas.

If you watch the finale while wearing the silver and gold rings, Netflix reveals that there's actually a second, inverted version of the production.

"You have been doomed ever since you lost the ability to love."

Nah, the secret is to become fabulously wealthy, then use that wealth to both give to charity and to support causes that would curtail the extent of that wealth. BOOM! You're now the new George Soros, and you get to terrify rightwing paranoid lunatics 'till - and even after - your dying days.

I was under the assumption that for several of GOP national politicians, at least, the idea was to get in under Obama, obstruct as much as possible to create a name as a rebel conservative hero without actually doing anything of value for your constituents, and then leave for a lucrative punditry position. Not…

The other actor we hundred percent need, though, is still accidental series hero Michael Gross.

Would it help if I mentioned that in the even more nonexistent sequel, Morgan Freeman in Dreamcatcher is the villain and trying to harness the power of the Langoliers?

I thought he was pretty great in Zootopia.

I recognize both this kind of shared universe is far past overplayed, but I still kind of want it to be one where Carrie, Christine, Andy Dufresne, and Gerald's Game team up to fight the Dark Half, Cujo, the Night Flyer, Pennywise, and the Green Goblin truck from Maximum Overdrive.

Ooh, the latter sounds amazing! So much of the thing is what you make of it, but the latter can be take so many forms.

I get that, though also from where they're coming. By the end of the calendar year I'll have played Horizon and Zelda, and they'll probably be the only open world games I've played since Saints Row IV, and before that Assassin's Creed III, which really turned me off the genre. But there've been so damn many of those…

I don't think it was a bias against the game so much as the genre. There've been a lot of big open world games like it over the past few years, and it, while good (I'm assuming; I own it but haven't been able to start using my PlayStation 4), didn't seem to do as much to really distinguish itself from some of its…

Neat-o. I've a lot of love for the Resident Evil series (even if 4 is the only one I really care to play…), and I'm so happy there's this sequel that's both a return to form and something drastically different from any of the previous games. Some of the cursing is a bit weird to me, but again, it's different. Plus,…

One question I have about it - and I'm speaking as someone who's watched a playthrough of Resident Evil 7 online and who has minimal interest in VR - is how good is it without the additional element. I'm far less skeptical of VR than I am of 3D (because the former is, like you said, a paradigm shift that leads to…

There's something to be said about how an expanded port from 2014 manages to be one of the best games of the year, even in one filled top to bottom middle with standouts.