PixlBit

There’s definite magic at play in this concoction.

Does the world need another match-three puzzle game? Most definitely not! But, hey, Dungeon Hearts got made anyway, and it’s actually pretty cool. Conjoining a fast-paced action RPG with the heretofore played out match-three puzzle concept is a pretty slick way to innovate on two formulas we’ve had our fill of. Mixing the two together adds extra tension to the color matching bits and a real need for skill and practice in the combat.  This well balanced combo makes for an addictive puzzler that I keep coming back to even though I am terrible at it.

Read more »

Hey, it's another game with zomb--zzzz.....

I’m not sure who the target demographic is for Dead Island: Riptide. It’s more than an expansion but far less than a sequel, so it provides more of what the first game had with few enhancements. With that said, I’m probably Deep Silver’s dream audience. I didn’t play the first game, but even less than glowing reviews didn’t stop me from being interested in it. Now that I’ve played Riptide, I can’t help but scratch my head and wonder what went on behind the scenes that resulted in this, another full-priced Dead Island game that seems to offer very little to set it apart from the 2011 original.

Read more »

It’s time to be honest and admit that games could use more silly, stupid motivations to shoot stuff.

Basing an entire game around a gag is risky. What if the joke isn’t funny? What if it peters out after the first twenty minutes? So much could go wrong centering a game entirely on a goof. Thankfully, Ubisoft Montreal went all in with their giant farce, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, and scored a big win.  By weaving well-crafted jokes into a quality shooter, they’ve created the perfect game for fans of satire and game-bullets that should inspire other devs to cool it on the artsy-fartsy stuff every once in a while.

Read more »

Etrian Odyssey’s evolution may have reached uber-game levels.

Having just recently completed Etrian Odyssey III, I wasn’t sure if I had it in me to dive right back into another massive adventure.  I mean, heck, I was a little worn out from all of the grinding I had been doing and wasn’t so sure I wanted to get into that again.  Well, somehow I got sucked back into this mess and am I ever grateful.  Atlus has taken the fourth Etrian Odyssey game through a monstrous evolutionary process to create the best balanced, most addictive, strategically engaging dungeon crawler around.

Read more »

It’s all that and a bag of chips, home skillet.

Get ready to ride a time machine back to the ‘90s. A time when we thought the Internet was something completely different than the cesspool we know today; a time when JNCOs and flannel were acceptable clothing choices; a time when we raised the roof and exclaimed everything was “the bomb, yo!”; a time when Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers was intended to be released in America. For whatever reason, Sony rejected the title from release on the PlayStation and in Japan it remained. Until now, that is, when Atlus finally dusted it off and brought it into the future on the 3DS. The fact of the matter is that if Soul Hackers would’ve been released when intended, it would’ve been better than tight, it would’ve been straight phat, dawg.

Read more »