PixlBit

This is a natural 20 of arcade goodness.

Former arcade rats and fans of old school beat ‘em ups have something special to look forward to in the near future. Capcom is slated to unveil ports of their Dungeons & Dragons arcade games for PSN and XBLA at the upcoming PAX East. The two side scrollers were somewhat of a rarity in arcades, most likely due to the immense popularity of the fighting game genre, leading to arcades doubling down on those types of games at the expense of others. Now, though, players who missed out will finally have a chance to play these lost gems.

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Yuck.

I’m not really sure what Konami and WayForward were going for when they made Silent Hill: Book of Memories. While it bears the Silent Hill name, it draws nothing but characters and visual design from the series. As someone outside of the fan base, I don’t mind this departure; however, their attempt to marry a dungeon crawler to the Silent Hill formula results in gameplay that even fans of the genre won’t appreciate.

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We don't like to use the "D" word around these parts.

With Diablo III exploding onto the world and making headlines for everything from its high sales numbers to its controversial internet connection requirements, it seems as if Blizzard’s new monster is set to dominate the gaming landscape for some time to come. If you’ve read my review you know that I’m rather fond of that game. Perhaps you’re still not impressed. Perhaps you yearn for a game less streamlined that plays more like the Diablo of yore. That’s the exact sentiment that Runic Games is banking on with Torchlight II--a love letter to Diablo II in a post-Diablo III world. But let’s just not talk about Diablo for now, shall we?

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Blizzard made some changes to Diablo III, but do they make a big difference to the gameplay?

I typically don’t like replaying sections of a game that I haven’t finished and yet I’ve played through the first act of Diablo III somewhere to the tune of ten times. That’s a ringing endorsement of how fun and addicting this game is and I’ve been ready to play the real thing for months now. But Blizzard has other plans in mind, having recently made some sweeping changes to the way stats affect character progression, among other things. With that in mind, I decided to roll a new Barbarian and take a look at these alterations to Blizzard’s long-gesticulating RPG.

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Cramming every idea into one game does not make it the greatest game.

Dr. Lautrec, a renowned Parisian puzzle-solver, is thrust into the center of a giant mystery that promises to tax your noggin as you seek the rightful heir to the French throne. At least that’s the way the game starts out.  As you work to recover enchanted treasures guarded by cops and secretive knights, you end up doing lots of other things that have nothing to do with solving puzzles. Each segment of the game drags in another popular game component and tries to create the perfect combo-game that will appeal to everyone.  Problem is, no single piece of Dr. Lautrec and the Forgotten Knights is particularly enjoyable, so the end product feels like a mix of bland, sequential minigames with a repetitive structure.

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