Neon Tail Review | A Rollerskating Indie Adventure Game
Reviews Video Games, Video Games Jake Gray Reviews Video Games, Video Games Jake Gray

Neon Tail Review | A Rollerskating Indie Adventure Game

4 years ago, I interviewed Feili from Rocket Juice Games, who was working on an open-world adventure RPG game which was set to stand out in one key way: Your sole means of transport is rollerskating! I love the idea of checking back on projects I've done interviews on. Feili and his very small team have now taken Neon Tail out of early access, with plenty more updates set to come and I was excited to see if their hard work had paid off!

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Reviving Tomb Raider Angel of Darkness: Interview with the Developer of Definitive Edition
Interviews Video Games, Video Games Jake Gray Interviews Video Games, Video Games Jake Gray

Reviving Tomb Raider Angel of Darkness: Interview with the Developer of Definitive Edition

I reached out for an interview with TRJTA AKA Bob, the developer behind Tomb Raider Angel of Darkness Definitive Edition. This mod revives the classic Tomb Raider game by adding modern graphics and gameplay features. We dive into the story behind this incredible project and learn about the development process from the creator himself. We'll explore the new features and discuss how this mod updates the original game to a modern standard. If you're a Tomb Raider fan, this is one video you won't want to miss!

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Why The Yellow Paint Is A Big Deal | Resident Evil 4 Remake

Why The Yellow Paint Is A Big Deal | Resident Evil 4 Remake

The original Resident Evil 4 came at a time when "dumbing down video games" was at the forefront of the conversation and it turned out that the worst was yet to come. Resident Evil 4 went on to be a masterpiece, which let the player dictate the action. Yet, the remake has made several missteps already, involving yellow paint and intrusive UI elements. Modern games simply don't trust the player with that kind of power. Here's why I think it's a big deal.

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Does Amnesia Rebirth Live Up To The Original? | Spoiler Free Review

Does Amnesia Rebirth Live Up To The Original? | Spoiler Free Review

Another Retro Perspective review on Amnesia Rebirth. Does it live up to the original Dark Descent? I tried to keep this review as spoiler free as possible it was a bit off the cuff so it's not the longer critique that I've been keeping to recently but I felt the game at least needed a look. Especially in the Halloween season when people are looking for the best horror games to play!

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Interview With Mikko Tarmia | Amnesia Rebirth, SOMA, The Dark Descent

Interview With Mikko Tarmia | Amnesia Rebirth, SOMA, The Dark Descent

New interview! Creating some of the best horror game soundtracks of all time, Mikko Tarmia has been working with Frictional games on such titles as Amnesia The Dark Descent, Amnesia Rebirth and Soma. In this interview with the composer, I ask all about these soundtracks as well as some of Mikko's other work in the film and video game industries.

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Boot Hill Heroes | Review

Boot Hill Heroes | Review

Boot Hill Heroes is the first game from indie studio Experimental Gamer, a developer which aims to bring elements from classic RPGs such as Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger and breathe life into the genre once again. This very small team had a successful kickstarter campaign in late 2012 and Boot Hill Heroes was released on Steam and XBox Live Arcade in October and December of 2014 respectively. It originally caught my eye because of its striking resemblance to Earthbound and I thought it would be the perfect game to play in the run up to the release of Mother 4.

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Shadow of the Tomb Raider | Review | PC

Shadow of the Tomb Raider | Review | PC

Well, Rise of the Tomb Raider was awful but what do we have here, Shadow of the Tomb Raider is developed by Eidos Montreal, the studio that brought us the excellent Deus Ex: Human Revolution & Mankind Divided. Surely they played Rise of the Tomb Raider, laughed their arses off at its ludicrously easy combat difficulty, its barely developed characters & its complete lack of meaningful improvement over the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot, & simply proceeded to make their own Tomb Raider game...but then Square Enix stopped them & said “No! That will cost too much money.”

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Two Point Hospital | Review

Two Point Hospital | Review

1997’s Theme Hospital is undoubtedly a classic in every sense of the word & it has never really seen a true successor but with the release of Two Point Hospital by a team consisting of some of the original developers of Theme Hospital, we could finally see a hospital simulation game that moves past some of the limitations of the 90s or even reaches the full potential of this unique idea. Two Point Studio’s Mark Webley & Gary Carr have seemingly been biding their time for many years, knowing full well that a spiritual successor to Theme Hospital would pique the interest of many PS1 era or classic PC gamers. They were there for many of Bullfrog & Lionhead studios’ best works from Theme Park to Black & White so they’re no strangers to sim games.  

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South Park: The Fractured but Whole | Review

South Park: The Fractured but Whole | Review

South Park: The Fractured but Whole, the sequel to the critically acclaimed Stick of Truth is here at last to coincide with season 21 of the South Park TV series. A lot has happened in the humble town of South Park since The Stick of Truth: PC Principal took over South Park Elementary, SodoSopa brought gentrification to the town and the Canadian Devil Beelzaboot released his freemium Terrence & Phillip game to exploit children for money. So, has South Park: The Fractured but Whole changed and matured along with the show and how has Ubisoft inevitably managed to mess it up?

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Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice | Review

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice | Review

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is the latest game from English studio Ninja Theory. The studio is perhaps best known for developing the absolutely fantastic DMC: Devil May Cry which dragged the hit and miss Devil May Cry series out of the disappointment of Devil May Cry 4 and the general awfulness of the series’ plot to tell a genuinely intriguing story through beautiful & surreal imagery. DMC was excellent and it wasn’t even their best game, but as much as I love talking about the absolute fact of the excellence of that game, it’s now time to talk about Hellblade and how it might possibly be even better than DMC: Devil May Cry...which is a really great game by the way.

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Resident Evil's Fall From Grace Part 3: Resident Evil 6

Resident Evil's Fall From Grace Part 3: Resident Evil 6

Previously in the series we took a look at Resident Evil 4 & Resident Evil 5 but nothing could have prepared us for Capcom's descent in to the pure madness that is Resident Evil 6. For the very first time we play the game and give our thoughts on one of the worst games ever created. Everything from the animations & textures to the characters & inventory, we lay it all bare in this in depth review. Resident Evil 6 truly is one of the markers of the decline in quality of Japanese games and things only seem to be getting worse. Whether by creative bankruptcy, laziness or pure greed, this game series has fallen from a true icon of the gaming industry to a broken, zombie corpse, shell of its former self. At the very least Resident Evil 6 is in fact the scariest game of all time...scary how horrifyingly bad it is.

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Enderal | Skyrim Mod | Review

Enderal | Skyrim Mod | Review

The Skyrim Creation Kit, possibly the greatest video game creation tool ever that isn't designed for that specific purpose. Through it, modders have developed whole systems within Skyrim such as real time strategy, setlement building, tower defense, sex slave simulator...you name it, someone has modded it in to Skyrim. And now, developers SureAI, the same people who brought us Nehrim for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion have created an entirely new game using Skyrim's 'creation engine.'

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Rise of the Tomb Raider | Review

Rise of the Tomb Raider | Review

If you enjoyed Crystal Dynamics' 2013 reboot of the Tomb Raider series then I have some good news, some bad news & some worse news concerning Rise of the Tomb Raider. The good news is that this sequel is the exact same game in almost every conceivable way. The bad news, is that it's the exact same game in almost every conceivable way. The worse news is that all the things that are different about Rise of the Tomb Raider are significantly worse than what's come before.

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Edge Of Eternity | Interview With The Composer | Cedric Menendez

Edge Of Eternity | Interview With The Composer | Cedric Menendez

Cedric Memendez is a composer working with Midgar Studio, a French indie studio currently working on the JRPG inspired Edge Of Eternity. The game was a massive kickstarter success and also reached its stretch goal to bring on help from Chrono Trigger composer Yasunori Mitsuda. In this interview we talk about recording with Mitsuda and the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra. The history of Midgar Studio and their previous games and Cedric Menendez's early Japanese RPG inspirations. As well as some discussion on sound design and finally we change the subject, as I ask about the game itself and the turn-based mechanics of Edge Of Eternity.

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