Writing N' Video Games

Call of Duty: WWII brings us the second great war for the first time in nine years.  Is it a gameplay improvement worth playing or a graphical overhaul? When will Call of Duty break back into using a subtitle Since Ye Old Call of Duty The first three CoD titles took place in World War 2, while the 5th game, CoD: World at War, was the first to tackle World War 2 in Japan.  Eight other games in the series were released between World at War and WWII.  A history of those eight games: Danger Close; Vietnam; World War 3; Target Finders; Aliens; Sledgehammer's first game; Bow and Arrows; Star Wars.  That's a lot I know, and it means those World War 2 enthusiasts have been waiting that long for the series to come back to its roots, as it advertised.  Of course, the gameplay is the main root of CoD, but the war it so prominently held onto must be attached in some secondary way.  The setting is part of the foundation for the original mechanics.  The se...

People are still playing Burnout Paradise, and it got a remaster.  Let's try to figure out why, and if it's worth a visit, or revisit. Known to some fans as not Burnout Revenge  The Era Burnout Paradise was released a while ago.  The year 2008 seemed like a much different time: motion controls were real, every new shooter was still dubbed a halo killer, and personally, I'm still trying to figure out what Frontlines: Fuel of War was supposed to be.  Anyway, racing games were mainly Need for Speed and Forza.  Need for Speed had a dozen games while Forza had two really good ones.  Gran Turismo 5 was seemingly never going to happen, and Criterion had released Black, a first-person shooter until they dropped Burnout Paradise in the middle a tidal wave of gaming that was just getting great for the PS3/360 generation.  The Burnout team was back with a large open world showcasing long sweeping mountain roads and tight, overlapping city roads packed w...

Jump Jet Rex is a platformer about collecting rings to unlock the end of a level.  That's it. SO while members of our team like Gabe play modern masterpieces like Nier: Automata, I'm playing Jump Jet Rex (because it is great).  You're the Rex, and you can both jump and jet in a straight line as well as straight up.  The mechanics not mentioned in the title include quickly descending.  Directions, I know.  The way this game starts you off is, I believe, precious.  You start on this screen with a giant button. WELL gee that button looks like the button of the controller I have plugged in.  So right there you learn how to jump.  That's cool.  Why aren't there more funny directions mixed with in-game objects in the industry? I don't know, but it's nice and I knocked it over immediately.  It did encourage me to explore and experiment very early on. I found a treasure. ANYWAY, you get in your cool ...

ULTIMATE Epic Battle Simulator is exactly what its title indicates, a simulator of epic battles.   Accurate ON the scale, “epic” is the upper boundary of what you can accomplish, so that shouldn’t discourage you from small scale encounters.  At some point, I watched 1000 Archers hold their position in the center of a city and fend off 1000 zombies funneling in from all sides.  Did it look cinematic and epic with a Triple-A showcase of animations?  Not at all and I would say that is the entire point.   Almost UEBS is a game the allows you to construct and observe battles across large maps filled with massive amounts of AI.  It’s developed by Brilliant Game Studios which is a “one-man show,” as their YouTube description states.  I find it enjoyable, so while I aim to talk about it accurately I am also not impartial. UEBS is simple.  From the start, after you interact with or close the Steam Workshop pop-up window, you are given your ...