PixlBit

What do ivory, supernatural abilities, and religious zealots have in common?

I’ll start by saying that I’m in awe of Iconoclasts. It’s the culmination of nearly eight years of solo work by Joakim Sandberg. As someone who has built a much simpler game from scratch on my own, I can assure you this was no easy feat, and for such a complex and beautiful game it’s really a stunning achievement. The world, the art, the music, and the gameplay are all phenomenal. Traversing the world, solving puzzles, exploring the locales, and defeating bosses is consistently entertaining. I have some reservations with the story and the, at times, cringey dialog. The story does prove to be quite memorable in the end, but for much of Iconoclasts, I found myself lost in it, focused solely on the gameplay.

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Power Fantasy

Entire consoles and companies have risen and fallen on the expectations of  exclusive, first party titles like Second Son. Often seen as the PS4’s first must buy game, there is a lot on the line with Sucker Punches first foray into the new console. While elements of the game may not live up to the grand expectations, once you make it past the hype still you get a sequel that not only stands on its own, but is also engaging, pretty, and a heck of a lot of fun.

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I Am Disappointed: Beautiful at a distance, disappointing up close.

I’ve always loved the climbing aspect of the Uncharted series. Scaling larger than life structures gave the games an added sense of adventure. There was one problem though; Drake’s ascents were little more than eye candy. There was no danger, no strategy, no challenge just mash the X button until you arrive at your destination. That’s why I was so excited when I first heard about Ubisoft’s new IP, I Am Alive, which looks to meld similar Uncharted-like mechanics with the unforgiving realities of the survival horror genre. Unfortunately much like the scenery of this dystopian title, I Am Alive represents a great deal of potential that is tragically lost.

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There's a bloody good time to be had in New Marais.

There has been this perception that Festival of Blood was DLC; that it was some kind of small addition to inFAMOUS 2 which was released earlier this year.  It's an easy assumption to make since FoB takes place in New Marais, the New Orleans of InFAMOUS’ fictional world and the setting of Cole’s second adventure.  It would only make sense that you would need to have a copy of the game in order to enjoy this expansion, but the lovely folks at Sucker Punch Productions wanted to gift the entire PlayStation 3 community with this gem and as such released it as a stand-alone title.

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A fun hidden object title for all ages.

I Spy Spooky Mansion is a surprisingly well done game based around finding hidden objects. Unlike most other titles in the genre, which are usually flat 2D images, I Spy Spooky Mansion is completely 3D; a great aspect that allows players to scour every plane of an area. Add to that some decent humor, mini-games that actually work, a decently long quest, and co-operative play, and you have one of the best games in the genre on Wii.

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