PixlBit

The plot thickens.

Something about the atmosphere surrounding Telltale’s The Wolf Among Us has been a huge draw to me. The dark and twisted story surrounding some of history’s most endearing fairy tales makes for some really interesting narratives, because of our ingrown attachment to these characters. Episode 1, “Faith,” set a great precedent for episodes to come and Episode 2, “Smoke and Mirrors,” continues to build on that foundation.

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Electric Seaweed.

Video game parody is hardly something new. For generations, games have found plenty of subtle (and not so subtle) ways to lampoon iconic games, the industry, and culture. Until Retro City Rampage, I’m not sure we’ve had a single work that’s so utterly dedicated to the practice. You won’t find a single mission in the game that’s not parodying games, or ‘80s/’90s culture, or something you’re sure to remember if you grew up during the days of the NES.

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Descent into awesome.

Even if you only played the demo way back in the ancient days of the mid-'90s, it's hard to forget the thrill of flying in and out of cramped hallways, dodging lasers and missiles to steal a door key and then strafing downward (or is it upward?) back out of the room to safety. Descent celebrates its 19^th birthday this month with a straight, bare-bones port on Steam—all 27 stomach-wrenching levels of the original. This particular version has some mouse issues, but a great game is a great game.

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Only YOU can prevent mediocrity.

The only thing worse than knowing about an import game you’ll never get to play is receiving the inferior sequel that you do get to play. Such is the case with The Firemen 2: Pete & Danny. Originally released in Japan in 1995 on the PlayStation, the game was recently re-released as an import download on PSN, courtesy of MonkeyPaw Games. In a nutshell, the game is more or less an overhead shoot ‘em up that focuses on fighting fires instead blowing up aliens. It’s a novel idea to be sure, but one that wasn’t executed nearly as well as it was in the previous game on the Super Famicom (aka: Super Nintendo).

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Femme Fatale

After 2012’s disappointing Assassin’s Creed III, I was beginning to get burned out on the franchise. The idea of Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation on the PlayStation Vita seemed interesting as it decided to tell the story of a French-African heroine named Aveline, but the draw wasn’t enough to get me to invest in a Vita solely for that game. However, with tales of Assassin’s Creed IV restoring faith to much of the series’ fan base, I grew curious once more. In an attempt to rediscover my interest in the Assassin’s Creed franchise, I went into Assassin’s Creed: Liberation HD – an HD port of 2012’s Vita adventure – with some optimism. Thankfully, I wasn’t disappointed.

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