Recent content by holdthephone

YorHa battle android '2B' is sent to confront the primitive machines that have taken over Earth. She is programmed for flight, close-combat, and the various camera angles that Nier Automata likes to swing itself around with. Third person hack-and-slash turns into a shoot-em-up the moment the...

The negatives I came in expecting I definitely got: Awkward stints of character interaction ? a combination of the computer animation and sub-par deliveries from secondary characters ? a reliance on safe but overused one liners during combat, and a habit of marketing an upcoming game instead of...

Dark Souls Review Written for http://icicledisaster.com Where the world turned awry, how it persists, and why it does so in its decrepit state are the questions Dark Souls poses. An introductory CG sequence gives a biblical overview; An age of dragons, a world introduced to fire and thus...

Still with deep pockets -- perhaps helped from a comically short exclusivity deal with Microsoft -- Crystal Dynamics commits further to their Tomb Raider reboot with its first sequel. Lara visits Syrian deserts, Siberian cold lands, and mountainous jungles this time around, environments of...

Sometimes I can be really creative where instead of watching an awful movie on a "Netflix and chill"night, I can convince my girlfriend to interact with a videogame or in this case an assortment of videoclips. It was a Saturday night where we found ourselves exhausted of recommendations. We're...

Written for Icicle Disaster, the podcast and games writing outlet for JRPGs: http://www.icicledisaster.com I recall a medieval themed toy set I had as a child, equipped with plastic knights and kings, thieves and villains. With a little imagination, I also involved sorcerers and witches and...

written for Icicle Disaster, the podcast and games writing outlet for JRPGs: http://www.icicledisaster.com It's Christmas eve and NYPD officer Aya Brea is on a pity date with some sap from the department. They arrive at an opera performance at Carnegie Hall and while Aya seems regretful...

Yeah, I'd like the Additions system in a better game, I think. I know QTE presses have been done in Lost Odyssey for Kaim's attack, and that Final Fantasy X had a similar thing going on, or Squall's gun trigger in FFVIII. But nothing as involved as LoD's.

The Legend of Dragoon Review written for Icicle Disaster, the podcast and games writing outlet for JRPGs. https://www.icicledisaster.com Random battle encounters. Eleven second transitions from field to battle screen. Mild hang time between menu selections and actual command execution...

Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together Review The first few turns of a Tactics Ogre battle are non-eventful. Wizards, Clerics, and Sibyls are empty on Mana Points and must either choose to throw a potion or simply keep their little sprite bodies jogging in place. Heavy melee classes such as...

Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain Review My enemies would rather I'd not woken up, a doctor explains, also mentioning the extent of bodily sacrifice I've sustained as a heart rate monitor climbs rapidly with his descriptions. This is already enough to tweak me out because I hate hospitals...

Prologue was unreal. Best introduction to a videogame I've ever experienced. But as open world experiences tend to go in games, it isn't the cleanest of experiences or designs. At least it embraces its ridiculousness and makes it a fun time, though. I've always felt Hideo's games were...

The year is the fictional kind of 1935 E.C., and a war has been launched by the Empire. Its target is set on the valuable fuel resource, ragnite, that the neutral nation of Gallia happens to find itself rich in. Now, the small country is forced into a futile fight for survival. With his hometown...

I had sporadically given Vagrant Story a few not-so-fair shakes before always abandoning it. Whenever I rose from the opening dungeon, I did so defeatedly with a worthless character. He'd hit for '0' damage, expend all his consumables in boss battles, and diminish his tiny pool of MP faster than...

A foe named Smithy and his evil gang disrupt the nature of Mario's world by plummeting a colossal sword through the center of Bowser's keep, tossing the classic hero and nemesis out from the very midst of their historical struggle over the princess of Mushroom Kingdom. Now ousted from the very...