Downloadable Archives - Tech-Gaming

The Outer Worlds: Murder on Eridanos (DLC) review

Robert Allen — Fri, 19 Mar 2021 16:46:36 +0000

The Outer Worlds’ concluding expansion delivers a satisfying digression elevated by darkly comical dialog and an occupying whodunit. Obsidian Entertainment’s 2019 release, The Outer Worlds, was built on a trio of strengths. The game’s combat was solid, with gunplay that flirted with stagnancy only near the end of the 15-25 hour campaign. Narratively, the branching ...

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Switch Owners, Prepare to Be Insulted

Robert Allen — Tue, 23 Jan 2018 18:35:17 +0000

The old adage of tongue being mightier than swords is rarely true for video games. With interactive entertainment, blades, bullets, and bare hands routinely get the emphasis, while words are habitually reserved for expositional purposes. But with Oh, Sir! The Insult Simulator, fists and firearms take a well-deserved holiday, as players take turns trading verbal ...

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INVERSUS Deluxe review

Robert Allen — Tue, 09 Jan 2018 23:31:28 +0000

With its indie pedigree and minimalist visuals, it would be easy to overlook Inversus Deluxe. Watch a gameplay video and you’ll find that the title makes a standoffish first impression. It can be difficult to comprehend what’s going on as squares whizz around the relentlessly shifting battlefield. But pick up a Joy-Con, head through the ...

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I Am an Air Traffic Controller Airport Hero: Osaka-KIX

Robert Allen — Wed, 21 Jun 2017 23:16:17 +0000

What is the concept? Following in the contrails of last year’s simulation, a title set on the outskirts of central Tokyo, I Am an Air Traffic Controller Airport Hero: Osaka-KIX tasks players with the management of both a busy airspace and ground-way. Like its predecessor, Osaka doesn’t put players in the role of a ...

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Shantae: Half-Genie Hero review

Robert Allen — Sat, 24 Dec 2016 03:23:20 +0000

Not long ago, Kickstarter seemed like a harbinger of hope, shifting funding from the grip of corporations to the desires of consumers. But when a succession of prominent projects failed to meet expectations, the method exposed its fatal flaw: you’re investing in potential rather than the quality of a finished product. And as titles like ...

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Ninja Usagimaru – The Mysterious Karakuri Castle review

Robert Allen — Sun, 02 Oct 2016 04:16:59 +0000

What is the concept? Like any good puzzler, there’s more to Ninja Usagimaru – The Mysterious Karakuri Castle than a first impression might reveal. On the surface, the game seems downright simple, as a succession of sixty single-screen stages each task Usagimaru with rescuing a trapped villager. As with the game’s predecessor, Ninja Usagimari: The ...

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Boulder Dash 30th Anniversary review

Robert Allen — Wed, 21 Sep 2016 01:37:05 +0000

One of the great dialectics in gaming is the tension between pattern-driven and free-form play. Classic shooters like Gradius and R-Type are textbook examples of the former, goading gamers into improvement as they face the same patterns of enemies and environments with each subsequent replay. Here, advancement is rooted in memorization, with players habitually progressing ...

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Polara review

Robert Allen — Sun, 18 Sep 2016 16:37:48 +0000

The term ‘endless runner’ is a bit of misnomer. Fundamentally, games that fall into the genre grow progressively more challenging- to the point where difficulty eventually outstrips our visual acuity, reaction time, and coordination skills. And that moment, perpetuity is annulled as players are inevitably propelled to the ‘game over’ screen. Undoubtedly, those who take ...

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Grand Kingdom review

Robert Allen — Wed, 22 Jun 2016 20:51:53 +0000

Japanese role-playing games are often criticized for not offering enough innovation. According to detractors, most new efforts do little more than recycle well-established plots and play mechanics. But spend a few hours with either the PlayStation 4 or PS Vita release of Grand Kingdom and that contention will quickly crumple. Elevated by a brilliant combat ...

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Stranger of Sword City review

Robert Allen — Sun, 12 Jun 2016 19:00:43 +0000

With opposing trajectories and estranged timetables, Wizardry never got to make the acquaintance of its overseas-residing brethren. While Sir-Tech’s franchise helped to translate table-top tenets into computer role-playing game principal, its reign did not last in the West. Divergence from convention across later entries such as The Return of Werdna and Wizardry: Nemesis alienated devotees, ...

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Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- review

Robert Allen — Sat, 11 Jun 2016 19:11:23 +0000

Since the release of Street Fighter II: The World Warrior in 1991, Capcom has enjoyed a protracted command of video game pugilism. But success breeds eager contenders and in 1998, Arc System Works crafted Guilty Gear, a scrappy, reckless, and intense rival who strode into the fighting game arena accompanied by Daisuke Ishiwatari’s searing entrance ...

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Odin Sphere Leifthrasir review

Robert Allen — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 17:17:55 +0000

In the home video market, the Director’s Cut is commonplace, with the film’s creator able to get a second chance at realizing their artistic ambitions. It’s typically an artistically-driven endeavor, removed from the imperative deadlines and studio interference that can dilute aspiration. When the game industry attempts a remaster, it’s usually wholly commercial, with publishers ...

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Skylanders BattleCast review

Robert Allen — Sun, 29 May 2016 04:08:08 +0000

Signs of ailment are evident across the Toys-to-Life genre. Next month, the ironically named Disney Infinity will cease production, after purported enjoying a substantial sales lead over the LEGO Dimensions and Skylanders franchises. Even Activision’s once golden goose seems to have lost a bit of gilded sheen, with the series latest effort, Skylanders SuperChargers, seeing ...

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Koihime Enbu review

Robert Allen — Wed, 25 May 2016 15:45:57 +0000

With over a thousand characters spread across 120 chapters, Luo Guanzhong’s Romance of the Three Kingdoms is one of East Asia’s essential epics. Beyond inspiring cinematic works like Red Cliff or The Assassins, as well as several Korean manhwa and Chinese manhua (graphical novels), the fourth century historical novel played a critical role in Koei’s ...

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X-Tactics review

Robert Allen — Sat, 21 May 2016 20:29:24 +0000

While there’s a healthy supply of solid turn-based strategy games for dedicated handhelds, Android and iOS users aren’t quite as lucky. A few titles like XCOM and Final Fantasy Tactics have attempted to make the jump to mobile phone and tablet, but there are dozens of games that publishers haven’t ported, pushing players toward the ...

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htoL#NiQ: The Firefly Diary PC review

Robert Allen — Thu, 19 May 2016 20:28:41 +0000

While Nippon Ichi has enjoyed sustained success with the Disgaea franchise, the Gifu-based publisher/developer has often struggled to cultivate another hit. Sure, Spike Chunsoft’s Danganronpa games has earned critical and commercial acclaim and NIS America gradually nurtured stateside appreciation for the Hyperdimension Neptunia series (at least until Idea Factory decided to self-publish), but titles such as The Witch and The Hundred ...

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Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse (PS4) review

Robert Allen — Mon, 09 May 2016 17:31:04 +0000

WayForward Technologies has often been the redeemer of the licensed game, offering impressive interpretations of film and television tie-ins, as demonstrated by Thor: God of Thunder, Aliens Infestation, and Batman: The Brave and the Bold – The Videogame. But the developer’s most prodigious efforts have materialized from their own intellectual properties. While WayForward’s engaging Mighty ...

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Pharaoh’s Rebirth+ review

Gonçalo Tordo — Thu, 05 May 2016 19:41:31 +0000

It’s widely known that 2D sprite-based gaming underwent a sharp decline with the rise polygon-pushing machines. Such changes happened nearly overnight with the release of 32-bit consoles such as Sony’s Playstation as well as the growing popularity of dedicated graphics cards for PC gamers. Ironically, in Japan 2D titles remained fairly popular despite the massive technological ...

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Ray Gigant review

Robert Allen — Wed, 04 May 2016 15:25:16 +0000

In Outliers, author Malcolm Gladwell popularized the 10,000 Hour Rule, which suggests that expertise emerges from “determined practice”- a system that continually pushes a skill set as much as possible. Gladwell’s attributes the success of several notables to this method, from The Beatles’ all-night concerts in Hamburg to Bill Gates spending the bulk of his ...

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Forced Showdown review

Robert Allen — Tue, 12 Apr 2016 15:39:32 +0000

Conceptually, games built by combining multiple genres offer the possibility for innovation. There’s a chance that the components will intermingle stylishly, providing synergistic dividends and a sense of novelty. But there’s also the possibility that not everything will fuse together smoothly, leaving players with a jumble of good ideas that never quite gel in execution. ...

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