Posts By Chris Yarger
Our staff's best games of 2013!
Video games had an exceptional year in 2013, with tiny indie teams getting attention for their creativity, and the usual budget behemoths stealing national headlines for their record-breaking sales. Two new consoles also hit the scene right at the end with a few titles that did their best to break into our top five.
I got 53,594 problems and a zombie ain’t one!
As Sony and Microsoft battle it out for a new generation of consoles, the place where things are most crucial is with the exclusive titles. With both consoles on a somewhat level playing field, everything comes down to the games, and the Xbox One has a strong first showing with Dead Rising 3, a title that gives a good look at what the new machine can do while also highlighting some things that could be improved.
In a complicated world of wacky demons, you sometimes feel right at home.
I would love to say that I’m a huge fan of the Disgaea series, however, I’ve never played a single title within the saga until Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness. If there was ever a game to make me fall in love with a series though; it would be this game. I entered this lengthy saga with my mind wide open, and I fell in love with a punishing and grindy game that continually made me go back for more. This colorful adventure (colorful in more ways than just its palette, I assure you) proves that a deep combat system coupled with childish and quirky humor can be crafted into something beautiful that will entertain for hours on end.
Check out the world of Dark Souls with Joaquim and Nick, through Chris' eyes!
My clone has more aspiration than this game
Have you ever played a game that was such a blatant clone, you literally had the urge to punch digitized ones and zeros in hopes of transforming it into something better? Have you ever felt the desire to quit purely because you could predict what was coming? I wanted to with Marlow Briggs and the Mask of Death, which feels like it’s been done so many times before. What initially began as a promising journey through the depths of life and death, love, and betrayal fell shorter than a pass from Tim Tebow.
So you want to try bringing fists to a gunfight...
Being a tough guy is hard, but being a badass can be even tougher unless you follow my lead, of course. Anyone can claim to be badass, but more often than not their badassery can’t hold up when it’s truly tested. I, however I am the complete embodiment of all that is badass in video games, and it’s time for me to share some of my knowledge with you all. You may think you’re hot stuff, and you may think you’re tough, but in reality you’re only an apprentice.
Am I truly prepared to Go Beyond Death?
My experience with the Souls series is deep-rooted and extremely memorable. The first time I laid eyes on Demon’s Souls, I was kicking back at a friend’s house between class just passing time and he just had to show me this new game he picked up on a whim. From that moment, I knew that I needed to embark on a quest to obtain this wonderful masterpiece that was so gratuitously shown to me - it was at this point that my love for the series truly began to bloom. Flash-forward two years to when Dark Souls was released and that's when my love for the saga truly came to fruition. I spent countless hours playing the game, days were spent perfecting my skills, and dissecting the lore consumed weeks of my habitual gaming life. All of that said, I suppose no one needs to know how excited I was to be invited into the Dark Souls II Network Beta.
Gimme yo' money!
I’ll openly admit that I’m not the best reviewer in the world; I’m far from it, actually. Hell, I don’t think I've had a writing class since Middle School; I just try to scrape by with my wits and endless assault of metaphorical quips. Regardless, that’s never once stopped me from attempting to write better than a toddler learning to pick his nose and scrawl in boogers. Also, in my world of candy-coated dreams is my love for heists. I’ve never tried a heist myself (unless you count the time I stole some Legos from my neighbor), but I love to read about successful heists and watch movies that feature incredible against-all-odds heists! So needless to say; when I was offered the opportunity to review Payday 2, I was able to combine my hopes and dreams of being a reviewer with my undying desire for some intricately planned heists into a singular experience of awesomeness!
After 3 hours with the Dark Souls II beta, Nick and Chris offer up their thoughts and observations.
Though we all know the next holiday approaching is Halloween, for Nick and Chris, Saturday night was more like Christmas Eve. Starting at midnight Sunday morning, Namco Bandai opened up the first play session for the Dark Souls II beta and the duo got a chance to check out a portion of the game for 3 full hours. While there's quite a bit of coverage from the event forthcoming, this first tidbit is a discussion between the two about their time in the game and the things that they observed and experienced.
Completely brutal in more ways than one
It’s not every day in which you are brutally murdered by your best friend, but when it does happen, you better make damned sure to melt faces and bust the bones of your enemies, for that is the true punk rock thing to do in this certain situation! In an odd case of revenging the vengeance that was dealt against you and your band, Charlie Murder delivers the one-two punch combo with plenty of oomph and style based around neon hair and spikey leather outfits (no, not the kind in my basement involving whips and gags either).
