One thing about a down economy and less stable employment is that those affected tend to buy less entertainment, including games.  One of the effects that I have personally noticed, in regards to that, is a renewed reticence to buy games on a whim.  In better times, with more discretionary income to throw around, I […]

I’ve already spoken at length about the multiplayer aspects of Dawn of War II – at least those present in the beta test – and if most of the main reviewers had said that the single-player campaign played exactly like the multiplayer portion, I probably wouldn’t have given the game a second look until it […]

I have long been a fan of the Warhammer 40k series of RTS games.  While I have never been much a fan of the original Warhammer game (the one with all of the little pewter figurines and rulebooks), the game’s foray into the world of real-time strategy has been, from the start, an enjoyable and […]

One of my guilty pleasures has always been RTS games.  From the advent of M.A.X. many years ago (and happily recently rediscovered via gog.com), I’ve played, if not a comprehensive collection, at least some of the greatest hits of RTS gaming: Starcraft,  Command and Conquer,  Total Annihilation,  and Myth: The Fallen Lords, among others.  Of […]

When I first began playing Fallout 3, I couldn’t help but compare it to a similar game released some time ago: S.T.A.L.K.E.R, Shadow of Chernobyl.  After all, both games take place in an irradiated wasteland, both have strong RPG elements, and both have you running around a mostly open world completing quests and exploring the […]

For quite some time, my friends have been encouraging me to play Gears of War, but seeing as how I only play on the PC (or my Nintendo DS), I never got a real chance to do a serious play-through of the single-player campaign.  Eventually, though, when it did arrive for the PC, I decided […]

What kind of gamer am I?  I think I’m kind of the opposite of the hardcore gamer.   I’m the kind of gamer who wants to explore a new game as much as possible on my own, but I’m not afraid to bring in the big guns whenever necessary: codes, trainers, FAQs, walkthroughs, anything else […]

Recently, the gaming blog Game-ism published an interesting article about balancing challenge and frustration in video games (http://www.game-ism.com/2008/08/19/challenge-vs-frustration/).  While the author comes at the question with a view that is not quite diametrically opposed to mine, he does make an important point, to an extent – a game that lacks any level of challenge or […]

I can tell you the exact point that I stopped playing Sonic Rush for the Nintendo DS.  Night Carnival Zone, Act 2.  There’s a part of the level where you hit a switch and go stand on a ledge.  To one side of you, there’s a bottomless pit (one of the horrible staples of almost […]

What does it take for a game to be fully accessible? For different types of games, it means that various features are provided to make the game possible for all levels, and to provide the minimum of repetition (having to play the same part of the game over and over again). First-Person/Third-Person Shooters: -Have a […]