Most Recent: Top Story

Freedom Planet 2 Hands-On Preview: Not Your Parent’s Platformer

Posted on February 6, 2017 by Brittney Williams

Over the last few days, I’ve had the pleasure of playing around with a demo for Freedom Planet 2, which is in development at GalaxyTrail. The demo itself isn’t that long (one stage with a boss battle), however, the game is just that damn fun that I kept coming back to it, trying to beat my time and experimenting with the four characters in an effort to determine whose move set best fit my play style.

Before playing the Freedom Planet 2 demo, I had never heard of GalaxyTrail or the original Freedom Planet game. Though fascinated by indie developers and the masterpieces that they create, I often shy away from playing them, instead opting for AAA titles. Freedom Planet 2 makes me regret that decision.

It’s hard to gather much from a demo that can be finished in a little over two minutes, however, I have drawn the conclusion that Freedom Planet 2 is definitely not your parent’s platformer. What do I mean by that? Despite its obvious similarities to Sonic the Hedgehog, Freedom Planet 2 sets itself apart from traditional platforming games while still holding on to the charming components that define the genre. (more…)

Posted in PC, Previews, Switch, Top Story | Tagged ,

The Video Game Canon – Madden NFL Football (Series)

Posted on February 3, 2017 by John Scalzo

Dig deeper into the Video Game Canon with an examination into the validity (or lack thereof) of the Madden Cover Curse. Here’s a teaser…

A gambler will tell you that they believe Lady Luck will reward them for respecting a streak, and a professional football player will tell you that he doesn’t believe in the Madden Curse. The former is a wishful thinker, and the latter is a liar.

The sports world is filled with superstitions. As a Little Leaguer growing up, I could show you what a “rally cap” was and explain the importance of never touching the baselines. I understood completely why retired Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland refused to change his underwear during a 12-game winning streak in 2011. I’ve even got strong opinions on what you say to a pitcher in the middle of a perfect game. The answer is you don’t say anything, because talking to him at all is bad luck.

For decades, the Sports Illustrated Cover Jinx served as a well-known precursor to the Madden Curse. Those who believe in the Jinx are convinced that any player who appears on the cover of Sports Illustrated will experience some form of terrible luck, even though a handful of high-profile hits have obscured the long list of players who avoided the Jinx over the years. If the sheer number of cover subjects doesn’t dissuade you (more than 3,000 issues have been produced since the magazine’s launch in 1954), the illustrious career of Michael Jordan should. The basketball great has appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated a record 50 times, and he’s had the kind of career that other athletes dream about… not counting his detour through Minor League Baseball and Space Jam.

But what of the Madden Curse? Although you’ll find a few executives at Electronic Arts who enjoy hyping up the current year’s game with talk of the Curse, most of them like to downplay it. In 2008, the then-President of EA Sports, Peter Moore, said, “I guess when you look back there’s a grain of truth to the Madden Curse.” At the time, he wasn’t wrong. Five of the last six offensive players on the cover succumbed to some horrible calamity. The publishing giant even considered producing a movie based on the Madden Curse in 2010, though that project seems to have fallen off the radar in the years since.

And that’s probably because the Madden Curse is as mythical as a wild turducken.

Visit VideoGameCanon.com to continue reading this article and to explore the complete Top 1000.

Posted in 3DS, DS, Features, Mobile, PC, PS2, PS3, PS4, PSP, Retro, Top Story, Video Game Canon, Vita, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One | Tagged , , , , , ,

The Games of February 2017

Posted on February 2, 2017 by Warp Zoned Staff

Sometimes, we don’t agree on anything. Other times, we all agree on the same game. This month, we’re all in agreement: Horizon: Zero Dawn looks amazing. You’ll have to read on to see what else the crew here at Warp Zoned is interested in for the month of February! (more…)

Posted in Features, Top Story |

Warpback: What We Played in January 2017

Posted on February 2, 2017 by Warp Zoned Staff

January was cold, but our gaming time was on fire! We spent a ton of time on our backlogs, though some of us managed to play a few new games. Read on to see what the Warp Zoned staff did to fight the winter temperatures! (more…)

Posted in Features, Top Story |

Women of Color In Video Games: A Much Needed Dialogue

Posted on February 1, 2017 by Brittney Williams

Have you ever heard of the “magical negro” trope? Perhaps you haven’t. How about the one regarding black women being “hypersexual?” No, haven’t heard of that trope either? Well, here’s the thing… you’ve definitely seen it, read it, digested it, but you might not have consciously absorbed it. Don’t feel too bad; most people don’t recognize it, either.

The fact that most people don’t see how offensive the portrayal of black and brown women in video games is, is exactly why commentary on this valid argument is so direly needed. (more…)

Posted in Mobile, Opinions, PC, PS3, PS4, Top Story, Vita, Xbox 360, Xbox One | Tagged , , ,

The Video Game Canon – Resident Evil

Posted on January 27, 2017 by John Scalzo

Dig deeper into the Video Game Canon with a look at how Resident Evil brought the then-moribund zombie genre back to life. Here’s a teaser…

If a Bizarro Universe doppelganger of Jerry Seinfeld was a hacky comedian who worked the nerd belt, I have a feeling he’d start off every set with, “What’s the deal with all the zombies?” And he wouldn’t be wrong. Zombies are everywhere. Just absolutely everywhere. But why? And why now? If you trace the epidemic all the way back to patient zero, it leads to a publisher named Capcom and their desire to create a scary game with zombies known as Resident Evil.

George A. Romero is rightly considered the godfather of the modern zombie movie. Starting with 1968’s Night of the Living Dead, his first film inspired a horde of filmmakers and lead to a pair of sequels in 1978 and 1985. But after the release of Day of the Dead and Dan O’Bannon’s Return of the Living Dead, the genre fell out of favor with the moviegoing public and was reanimated only when some low-budget film studio wanted to add something to the direct-to-video slush pile. Not even Romero himself, who helped visual effects master Tom Savini remake Night of the Living Dead in 1990, could bring it back to life.

Six years later, Capcom brought the zed menace back in a big way with Resident Evil. First released on Sony’s fledgling PlayStation console (and eventually re-released 12 times over the next 20 years), the game’s amateurish acting and stiff tank-like controls never obscured the terrifying zombie tale underneath. You might say that exploring Spencer Mansion and delving deeper into the story behind the T-Virus infected players in a way that few games ever had before.

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Posted in DS, Features, PC, PS3, PS4, Retro, Top Story, Video Game Canon, Wii, Xbox 360, Xbox One | Tagged

Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3 PS4 Review: Final Justice

Posted on January 26, 2017 by Mike Ryan

At Sony’s PlayStation Experience event in December, Capcom surprised fighting game fans everywhere with two major announcements. The first was Marvel Vs Capcom: Infinite, a brand new entry in the ever-popular Marvel Vs Capcom franchise. And the second was that Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3, which originally debuted five years ago, was getting ported to current-gen systems. Now available as a timed PlayStation 4 exclusive, and eventually making its way to the Xbox One and Steam, Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3 hopes to scratch gamers’ fighting game itch until Infinite comes out later this year.

So now several questions arise… Is Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3 worth picking up on the PS4? Should I purchase it if I still have the original? What’s included in the PS4 re-release? Has Zero finally been nerfed? While I’ll do my best to answer all these questions, I will definitely tell you this is one worth picking up… but maybe not just yet… (more…)

Posted in PC, PS4, Reviews, Top Story, Xbox One | Tagged

The Video Game Canon – Super Mario Bros. 3

Posted on January 20, 2017 by John Scalzo

Dig deeper into the Video Game Canon with a look at Mario’s actorly ambitions in Super Mario Bros. 3. Here’s a teaser…

“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.”
– As You Like It, Act II Scene VII

Mario and his Mushroom Kingdom cohorts have held a surprising number of occupations over the years. In addition to his plumbing business and the hero-for-hire game, Mario has been employed as a multi-sport athlete, a race car driver, a referee, a dancer, an artist, a virologist, and a typing tutor. He’s practically done it all, and I think only political office has eluded him. I guess that’s the trouble with monarchies.

Bouncing from genre to genre like that is usually considered a liability for other game characters. As sublimely silly as the idea seems, no one wants to see Kratos squeezed into a go-kart. And yet, fans readily accept Mario’s multitasking, and many of his spinoff adventures are now more popular than some of the franchise’s traditional platformers. There’s a strong possibility this all stems from the fact that Mario’s creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, designed the character this way from the beginning.

Visit VideoGameCanon.com to continue reading this article and to explore the complete Top 1000.

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