video game

Originally released in 1998, Resident Evil 2 quickly became a favorite among horror game fans and critics alike. This 2019 remake recreates the unique magic of the original while creating new conveniences and additional content for a new generation. The game is bigger, sleeker, and more frightening than ever. Play as either Leon Kennedy or Claire Redfield as they navigate the zombie infested Raccoon City and try to find the source of the outbreak.

This game is a complete remake of the original – not purely a graphical update – so settings, audio, mechanics, and controls have all been updated

The Legend of Zelda, the Wind Waker HD is an outstanding, unique entry in the already well-loved Legend of Zelda video game series. This time, our courageous hero, Link, lives with his sister, Aryll, and kindly grandmother on peaceful and remote Outset Island. Great floods have submerged the once mighty kingdom of Hyrule and left only small, scattered islands in an endless ocean. One day, as Link and his sister are out exploring, Aryll is snatched and carried off by an enormous, malevolent bird. Link must brave the vast ocean with the help of his talking boat, a crew of dastardly pirates, and

Before I say anything else, I just want to say, without qualifications, that I had a lot of fun playing this game.

I've previously talked about the first game in this series, but you're not going to be missing masses of plot if you start in with this one. There's a shared world—separated by centuries and what looks to be some continent-reshaping disasters—a similar art style, a handful of inside jokes, and a mythologized retelling of the first game's plot. Literally everything else is different.

The battle system is one of the biggest changes. Rather than throwing your creatures into fights

Sometimes you want to play a game that is deep and meaningful, with intricate gameplay and insight into human nature, that will draw you in for weeks on end.

Sometimes you just want some cute fluff you can knock out in a matter of hours.

This is definitely the latter.

The creator's site describes Cat Quest as being influenced by The Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, and Skyrim, and it really shows.

A playful parody, completely aware of its own silliness, this game is just a pure delight. It's packed with classic video game tropes like the silent protagonist with a talkative companion, fetch

The latest in the Assassin's Creed juggernaut, Origins (available for PS4 and XBoxOne) is immediately striking due to the sheer amount of pretty.  The vast expanses of desert, the detail in the cities, the shining pyramids, the stars in the sky...this game is gorgeous.  Happily, it's more than just a pretty face!

The controls are a little bit smoother in this iteration, although you'll still have moments of climbing the wall right next to the ladder you were intending to use.  After this many games, I'm fairly certain that's a feature by now, not a bug.  The weapons/armor system reminds me of

Have you ever wanted to execute a massive heist?  How about pretend to be a Japanese high schooler?  Explore Jungian psychology?  You're in luck!

This may be the fifth game in the Persona subseries of the Shin Megami Tensei games, but no prior knowledge is required (although it helps to catch references, and maybe a little foreshadowing).  You play as a student shipped off to big-city Tokyo from the country on criminal probation for assault, but you only find this out a little ways into the game, which begins in mid-heist.  You're quickly apprehended by police, informed that you were betrayed

Sometimes you just need something wholesome and peaceful in your life.  Welcome to Stardew Valley.

This simple little indie game that could has made its way from a Steam trial to major consoles. Your completely customizable character gives up on corporate life and goes to live on the farm inherited from your grandfather. You have absolute control over how you live your life from there.

The neighboring town is full of interesting characters, twelve of whom are potentially romanceable.  There are hidden intrigues and depictions of realistic problems, but nothing will drag you down.

The

I need to preface this review with a disclaimer: if you are a person for whom clunky controls are a deal-breaker, you might want to watch a Let’s Play on YouTube.  If you can tolerate poor mechanics for the sake of an utterly amazing absolutely everything else, then by all means, play this game.

I’ve been waiting for The Last Guardian for a decade. Shadow of the Colossus is one of my all-time favorite games, right up there with Chrono Trigger and Vagrant Story, so I was eager to see more from the same team. I even bought a PS3, knowing that TLG was going to be exclusive on it.  And then it

Did you like Ico?  How about Journey?  Robot Dreams?  Do you like wordless stories that pack an emotional punch?  How about creative use of game controls?

Have I got a game for you.

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (available on both PS4 and XBox 360) is exactly that.  It’s the story of two brothers going on an epic journey in order to save their sick father by travelling to a distant land to retrieve the water of life.  Challenges range from getting through the village with a mischievous child closing gates in your path to wending your way through a landscape devastated by a battle between

Following on the heels of the critically-acclaimed Dragon Age: Origins, and its horribly rushed sequel Dragon Age II, Bioware has clearly taken customer feedback to heart and created something wonderful in Inquisition.

To get it out of the way, I'll talk about the flaws first.  I played the PS3 version, (it's also available in other formats) and it was filled with graphical glitches like slow-loading textures and falling through the ground.  The crafting system is cumbersome (if occasionally hilarious/fabulous), my controlled character trudged through battle as if the field were drenched in

The Last of Us won well over 200 awards for very good reasons.  Both the original, and the PS4 remake, are stunning examples of the power of immersive storytelling.  The game is visually breathtaking, the atmospheric sound effects are perfectly suited, the acting is top-notch, the gameplay is reasonably responsive, and the world-building is fantastic.

Twenty years after the world went mad, you play as Joel, a smuggler in a dystopian future where a fungal infection can render anyone into a zombie-like creature.  Joel and his partner Tess are hired to smuggle a girl out of the military

The first Final Fantasy game for the PS2 now has a pretty graphical upgrade and new content for North American players!  FFX was pretty enough before, but the cleaned up character models are nice for general gameplay, and the cutscenes are inexpressibly gorgeous.  All of it has been adapted for widescreen, so there's even more to look at than before!  This edition also contains the optional Dark Aeons, previously only available in the International version that North America didn't receive, a new version of the Sphere Grid for leveling, and a handful of new abilities, so there are in-game

With art from the esteemed Studio Ghibli, and mechanics that hearken back to the early days of RPGs, Ni no Kuni (literally "second country") is a game that exudes charm from its every pore.

You play as Oliver, a young boy in a '50s-influenced town who, after a charming introduction, suddenly loses his mother and is orphaned.  After weeks of withdrawn grief, his tears fall on a stuffed toy his mother had given him, and it comes to life.  The former toy, named Mr. Drippy, tells Oliver that he's from another world and says that since the two worlds are connected, it could be possible to save

If you've played the original PS2 versions of both of these games, then the PS3 upgrade doesn't make that much difference.  Sure, the games are prettier in HD, and the textures are gorgeous to behold (and if that's your thing, then I'm hardly going to discourage you!), but the glory of these games lies in the content, not the resolution.  If you've never played either of these, then this is a perfect opportunity for you.

Ico (pronounced EE-koh) is the first game in the series, and it's not without its flaws, but I feel that the flaws are vastly overshadowed by its brilliance.  You play as a

A stealth-action with RPG elements.  About vampires.  This game should be amazing.

It isn't.  Oh, how it isn't.

Dark is what happens when a reject from the Metal Gear Solid team gets hopped up on Red Bull and Anne Rice.  You begin as the unfortunately named Eric Bane, recent vampire attack victim and newly made vampire with a memory problem.  Happily, you're in a nightclub run by vampires looking out for each other, and they get you started with a training course—There's some homeless guys in the alley, go eat them!—and a warning that if you don't drink your creator's blood you'll turn into

If you loved Persona 4 for its characters, then you might want to give this a try. 

If you loved it for its gameplay, then don't bother. 

If you have no clue what the Persona games are but you're a fan of fighting games, this might be okay if you don't mind not understanding what's happening.

If you loved Persona 3 and just want to see Mitsuru in leather and Akihiko shirtless, then by all means play this game.  (Or look up the artwork online.)

The nameless, voiceless main character of Persona 4 has been assigned both, and Yu Narukami is back for a visit to Inaba a couple of months after he