One of the Most Underrated Portable Gaming Systems: A cheap, used Android phone and a Razer Kishi game controller. For the past few weeks, I’ve been using the combination of a cheap used Android phone (An LG V40 I found on eBay for about $140) and a Razer Kishi mobile game controller which ran me […]

The new catching mechanics are lifted wholesale from Pokémon Go. Gone is the traditional way of catching Pokémon, whittling down its health and afflicting it with status ailments to increase your chances of a successful catch. Instead, you’re presented with a system that incorporates manual aiming and a continuously shrinking green, yellow, orange or red ring, indicating […]

20 years. It’s been 20 years since the very first Pokémon games – Pokémon Red and Blue – were released in the United States and sparked a revolution that still resonates to this day. 20 years later, Pikachu remains one of the most immediately recognizable and iconic mascots in all of gaming, right up there with his stablemate, Mario. […]

The opening sequence of Pokémon Ultra Sun is so…frustrating. It’s been a long time since I’ve played a game that’s so mind-numbingly, frustratingly linear as the opening to Pokémon Ultra Sun. This sequence flat out refused to let me explore and seemed practically allergic to allowing gameplay to happen organically. And it’s not that the game penalizes you for stepping […]

The opening sequence of Pokémon Ultra Sun is so…frustrating. It’s been a long time since I’ve played a game that’s so mind-numbingly, frustratingly linear as the opening to Pokémon Ultra Sun. This sequence flat out refused to let me explore and seemed practically allergic to allowing gameplay to happen organically. And it’s not that the […]

The story of Crackdown 3 takes place several years after the events of Crackdown 2, with the ever-present (and secretly evil) paramilitary organization called The Agency, dispatching a crew of its super-powered agents to the island city of New Providence to deal with Terra Nova, a massive multi-national corporation run by Elizabeth Niemand that has been covertly causing […]

The story of Crackdown 3 takes place several years after the events of Crackdown 2, with the ever-present (and secretly evil) paramilitary organization called The Agency, dispatching a crew of its super-powered agents to the island city of New Providence to deal with Terra Nova, a massive multi-national corporation run by Elizabeth Niemand that has […]

One of the most memorable moments from 2013’s E3 press conferences, at least for me, was the unveiling of Riley the dog, being played by an actual, mocapped dog in the upcoming Call of Duty: Ghosts. Based solely on that video, I wanted to like Call of Duty: Ghosts. I love dogs and the sight […]

Gran Turismo 6 arrived on the 15th anniversary of the Gran Turismo series, ending its run on the previous generation of hardware in much the same way as Gran Turismo 4 did on the Playstation 2. With the next generation upon us, this may well be the Playstation 3’s swan song, one last hurrah from […]

Disclaimer: As of this writing, I have not played Gran Turismo 6 but I did order it a couple of days ago and it’s on the way. Everything written from here on is based on the impression I have gotten from reviewers and people who have played the game. So, grain of salt and all […]

I know it’s considered quite tacky to complain about free stuff. It makes you seem ungrateful, entitled, spoiled and bratty. But I’ve held my tongue long enough. Microsoft, your Games with Gold promotion sucks. There. I said it. Granted, a few of the games I’ve gotten through the promotion have been games I’ve never owned […]

People often wonder whether others actually buy games based on controller preference and if it’s a big deal. Well to me, yes, it is a big deal. I definitely buy games on one platform over another purely for the controller feel. If I’m playing a game, I want to be comfortable doing it and I […]

I put together this video as an entry into the Upload Outreach Program. I figured, why not, and it would be a nice venue for me to showcase one of my favorite games of all time (seriously), Perfect Dark. It was a bit tougher than I thought it would be to put together but nonetheless, […]

  Far from hot on the heels of its predecessor, The Darkness II is a follow-up to 2007’s The Darkness, a first person shooter that launched to pretty favorable reviews due to its gritty, noir-esque presentation, good narrative, interesting characters and, of course, the game’s titular Darkness powers, which helped it stand out in the overpopulated […]

If you grew up in the nineties, like I did, you might remember the whole “virtual pet” fad that swept the nation, sparked by the “Tamagotchi”, a Japanese brand of virtual pet that was arguably the best and likely the most popular of them all. Everyone wanted one. I got a red and black one […]

You know what I hate? Well, if you’re reading this, you’ve probably already guessed from the title. In case you haven’t, what I hate is the fact that GameStop sells opened display copies as new and for the same price as unopened shrinkwrapped copies. That infuriates me to no end and is one of the […]

I don’t tend to enjoy games that are artsy for the sake of being artsy. I’ve played a few of those. You know the type. “Games” that go out of their way to be “art”. As much as I support the “games as art” argument, I don’t feel games should try to be art, just […]

Killzone. The “Halo killer”. The game that was supposed to be Sony’s big exclusive franchise that would make us all forget about Halo. Well, that didn’t happen, since the first game in the series turned out to be quite the mediocre game, at best. One has to question what Sony’s motive was for even making […]

Following the end of one trilogy, we have the beginning of another. For four long years, the Master Chief and his AI companion, Cortana, have been stranded in space, separated from humanity and everything they know. But not for much longer, as there’s a new threat looming on the horizon and the Master Chief is […]

Halo 4 Review 19. December, 2012 by Justin McBride Games, Microsoft, Reviews, Xbox 360 No comments Following the end of one trilogy, we have the beginning of another. For four long years, the Master Chief and his AI companion, Cortana, have been stranded in space, separated from humanity and everything they know. But not for […]

The annual Horizon festival has returned to Colorado, its siren song luring lovers and racers of cars the world over. For three days, racers take to the streets of Colorado to show off their talents and compete for a coveted spot in the Horizon finals. While some games like Need for Speed have eschewed the […]

So, earlier today, I decided to play a little bit of Mass Effect 3 multiplayer to do my part for the Operation Alloy multiplayer event that’s going on this weekend. So, after promoting three characters to contribute to the community totals, I decided to try to level up my now level 1 Adept and try […]

Seeing as I’m a gamer and carry my iPhone with me everywhere I go, I play a lot of games on it. Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy is a modern flight sim-lite title available on the App Store for $5 that I’ve been playing for a while now and I’ve quite enjoyed it. If I were […]

It should go without saying that this is going to be full of spoilers for Mass Effect 3’s ending but, in case it doesn’t, WARNING!!! This post contains spoilers for Mass Effect 3! There we go. The Mass Effect 3 ending fiasco was probably the biggest display of consumer backlash against a game’s developer in […]