Better Late Than Never: Ico and Shadow of the Colossus Review

     Whereas Final Fantasy X was a game I had a passing interest in only after hearing people talking about, Ico and Shadow of the Colossus were games I really wanted to play immediately after reading about them in gaming magazines.  One's an exploration game centered around themes of protection and isolation?  The other is nothing but massive boss battles?  That's sounds right up my alley!  Alas, the fact that I never had a PlayStation 2 until only a few months ago meant that I had to wait a looong time before I could play them (Which is also why the last retro review I wrote was for a PS2 game).  But now that I finally have one of my own, I was finally able to sit down and play these two games that critics and gamers everywhere praise as works of art.

     I really, really wish I liked them as much as everyone else does.

Phoenix Wright - Ace Attorney: Duel Destinies Review: Misnomer

I make no bones about my love for the Ace Attorney franchise.  I picked up the first game on a pure whim, and have been dedicated fan ever since, making sure I buy each new installment the day it's released so that I can start playing it immediately.  So after a four year gap between installments, I was elated not only to have a new iteration to play, but also to see how well this franchise, known predominately for its sprite work, made the jump into full 3D.

Dual Destinies Discernment

-Warning: Some spoilers for the Acre Attorney series-

I am an unapologetic fan of the Ace Attorney series.  I picked up the first game on a complete whim, and devoured it within a week.  Since then I've bought each subsequent game on its release date, as as each of the various manga, and I've replayed each game several times over.  So you can bet that I'm super excited for the release of Dual Destinies this week.  Heck, I replayed the third and fourth games again recently to prepare.  

I'm certain I'm going to like this game, but there's something I need to get out before hand.  Ever since it was announced that the main character was once again going to be Phoenix, I've wondered if the Ace Attorney 5 we'll be getting soon is the true Ace Attorney 5.

Shantae review: Dancing in the Dark

   It's easy to tell that WayFoward is excited about Shantae's release on the 3DS.  This is the only game I have for the Virtual Console whose manual contains concept art.  It's as if WayFoward is so proud of this game that they want you to get to know it in depth.  It's understandable, considering most of what they do is based off of licensed work (Batman: The Brave and the Bold - The Videogame, Adventure Time: Hey Ice King, and Hotel Transylvania) or reboots of older games (A Boy and His Blob, Contra 4, Double Dragon Neon), or both (DuckTales: Remastered).  It makes sense that a company that does quality work with other people's properties would be elated at their own creation being put out in the open for the masses, especially since Shantae had a limited release back in the days of the Game Boy Color.

The Spectacle of Pacific Rim

When I was in college back in 2010, I took a two week theater course in London where my classmates and I were able to see a different stage production almost every night.  Our professor gave us a list of questions to think over and answer after each show, and one of the questions was is we thought the spectacle of the show (the visuals, the audio, etc.) were covering up the flaws of the show itself, by means of distraction.  It's a good question to keep in mind whenever the biggest draw of some form of entertainment is based solely on its aesthetics.  I had to bring that question up again two weeks after London, when I saw Avatar.  But that's not the movie I want to talk about.

Better Late Than Never: Final Fantasy X Review

   What is there to gain from talking about a ten year old game that everyone's already played?  I like to think that a pair of fresh eyes can add new insight to anything, especially when said eyes have a lot of experience with the medium in question.  I'd like to do this for anything I get to years after the fact, as a sort of experiment.  Also, I'm going to assume anyone who reads this is familiar with the topic at had, so there will be spoilers.   Now, let's get started.

First Time

I have no idea what to expect while doing this.  I'm not even sure what I'm going to talk about most of the time, beyond the standard games/comics/entertainment topics that almost everyone else talks about anyway.  But there's no harm in trying something new, so I'll just see where this takes me.