In the realm of video gaming, zombie titles are nothing new.

Seems like developers are just kooky for the undead buggers, which has greatly diminished their impact. The last good zombie games I’ve enjoyed were Left 4 Dead 2 from Valve, and Walking Dead from Telltale. Seriously, how many hordes of the dead can you blow away and have it still remain relevant and new?

State of Decay found a way.

This is a very different sort of zombie game. This isn’t the type of game where you just rush blindly into a zombie horde, guns blazing. Actually, that would be a very bad idea. This is a game about survival. Not only for yourself, but the people you encounter along the way. And in this game, decisions do matter.

There’s no hand holding in this game. You’re thrust into the proverbial water the second the game loads, and you learn how both zombies and living work.

You and your AI friend get your first “taste” of the outbreak out by a collection of cabins in the lake. You can either choose to fight or sneak past them, and while it’s not as relevant in this moment, Read the rest of this entry

I have been very impressed with Netherrealm’s track record. Their Mortal Kombat relaunch was excellent, allowing the studio to really craft a deep and fine-tuned game free from the shackles of ruched development that Midway often subjected their games to.

And now, Netherrealm has decided to try their hand with the DC Universe. This isn’t new, of course. They did this years earlier with Mortal Kombat Vs. DC, a game that I felt didn’t get enough credit considering it was the last game caught in Midway’s financial woes. And honestly, it’s hard merging a universe of characters known for explicit killing against heroes that simply never kill.

That doesn’t mean they can’t beat each other senseless, however.

Oh, and that happens here. Because the rules have changed, and when you’re dealing with characters that can level cities, it has to be intense.

*small spoiler, but you need to know the plot to understand why things are the way they are*

And the story itself is. After Joker tricks Superman into destroying Metropolis and his family, Superman no longer restrains himself, crushing anything he doesn’t like, and creating a new world order that establishes “peace” through control, fear, and subjugation. Read the rest of this entry

I think it is any gamer’s dream to create a video game of their own.

Unfortunately, the majority of the content on the “Indie” section of Xbox Live shows what happens when it goes horribly wrong.

That’s not to say that every game is bad. But when you scroll through the list of endless zombie games, Minecraft clones, dating sims, controller vibration tests, and cover art that looks best left to the margins of some fifth grader’s notebook paper, you have to wonder how these people got dev kits.

Fortunately, Arcadecraft was a game that was not made in five minutes. And it shows.

Actually, it’s a really neat idea: It’s a sim-style game where players are put in charge of their own arcade, circa 1980′s. So that means that you are there from the beginning of the “big deal” time of the arcade. And it treats it accordingly, including 1984′s “crash”.

Players sort out everything: Floor patterns, decorations, neon signs, vending machines and jukeboxes. All to make that “perfect” arcade. And then, of course, are the games. None of them are licensed games, but if you know the era, you can read between the lines to see which Read the rest of this entry

I finally caved and got New Super Mario Bros. 2 for the 3DS a few weeks back. I had so many other games on my plate that this game took a backseat, which is surprising because I’m usually right on board for a Mario game. Especially a 2D one.

But there’s something… hard to describe in regards to my feelings on the New Super Mario Bros. series. I liked the DS one as “old was new” and it was the first real Mario side-scroller since Super Mario World.

The Wii one was alright, and I’ll admit I was excited for the novelty of four players at once, though I REALLY wanted this for the character selection:

Nintendo makes a fortune off of nostalgia and “tried and true”. I’ll never understand the yellow and blue Toad thing.

And the Wii U game is certainly very colorful and pretty, but since the initial “wow” factor of the original game, and ultimately culminating with the 3DS title, I’ve reached one conclusion:

The New Super Mario Bros. series are my least favorite adventures of the famed Italian plumber.

Don’t get me wrong: The game is fun, and it plays heavily off of Super Mario Bros. 3 nostalgia Read the rest of this entry

I’ve always had a weird history with Double Dragon.

As a kid, I always felt like that I had no choice but to like it. The NES game was not a bad title by any means, and I still love the beat ‘em up genre to this day, but I grew up in a small town in Texas, that also happened to be the place where the company Tradewest was housed. “Small town pride” made it somewhat obligatory that I support this game. The funny part of such devotion is that years later, when I grew up, the company became Williams, then Midway. So I ended up eventually working with the company and its legacy titles.

So yes, I know Double Dragon quite well.

And I’ve watched it go through a lot of changes. Double Dragon went through the 8 and 16 bit eras, changed publishers back and forth a few times, and even teamed up with Battletoads at one point. It was one of the first, but Streets of Rage and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (and later Castle Crashers and Scott Pilgrim) improved the formula, and the original series was just set aside.

That said, I freaking love Read the rest of this entry

After a brief hiatus from my 3DS and gaming at large, I decided to pick up my portable console once more.

To be honest, the eShop has been a little hit and miss more me of late. The great rush of 3D exclusive and original games that hit the system a year or so back seemed to be replaced with simultaneous releases of retail dominated titles that could be bought in the store or downloaded, and the Virtual Console seemed to be more NES driven than any other platform. Where was the Pinball FX DLC, or even clever titles like VVVVVV or Mighty Switch Force? For all I know, they were there, but just buried under the lack of any discernible search engine the eShop still lacks.

Grousing aside, I got turned on to Gunman Clive via Swapnote conversations. Being out of the loop, I hadn’t paid attention. And being only two dollars, I was skeptical. Most good eShop titles usually run $6-10, and I didn’t want some cheap cash-in. So I watched the video.

And was hooked from then on.

Gunman Clive, as some have noted, feels very much like a Mega Man title, minus some of Read the rest of this entry