VIDEO GAME: Axiom Verge (2015)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Axiom Verge Year: 2015 Rating: E10+ Time Played: 843 minutes / 14.05 hours As I play more and more video games, I'm finding that I enjoy Metroidvanias. Something about exploring and upgrading a character to unlock more parts of a map (for more exploration) feels satisfying to me. Axiom Verge adheres to many of the tropes that make a Metroidvania great, including mimicking the pixelated 16-bit style of one of the genre's founders, Super Metroid. The fact that a single person created the entirety of this game is astounding, even if its edges show in a few spots. Even though I enjoy playing through a Metroidvania like Axiom Verge, I also found myself struggling to beat the final boss of the game. Much like how I had to take a break before finishing off Hollow Knight, I found myself just barely able to keep up with Axiom Verge's final boss. It turns out I had missed picking up one of the game's best weapons because...
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VIDEO GAME: Hyper Light Drifter (2016)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Hyper Light Drifter Year: 2016 Rating: T Time Played: 524 minutes / 8.73 hours As a gamer who grew up on the pixel art graphics of the 8- and 16- bit eras, I can appreciate when a game comes along to try and replicate that aesthetic. Granted, it can be challenging to pull off correctly while also adapting modern gameplay elements. However, there are definitely games that have successfully created an homage to these earlier times (like Shovel Knight). Then there are games that expand upon their predecessors to create something that the original gaming systems couldn't possibly handle. Hyper Light Drifter is beautiful in its aesthetic while never sacrificing its vision or its challenge. Early video games had the flaw of being difficult for the sake of drawing out how long you played them. As a result, some were unfairly hard—to the point where I never wanted to get good enough to beat them. Hyper Light Drifter certainly had a bit of a learning...
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VIDEO GAME: Shovel Knight (2014)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Shovel Knight Year: 2014 Rating: E Time Played: 27.33 hours I grew up in the era of retro video games. My favorite was the Mega Man series, but I appreciated what games like Super Mario Bros. 3 and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link were trying to accomplish. While Shovel Knight isn’t a spiritual successor to any one game, it lovingly paints the pixelated beauty of classic video games in vibrant homage. I played through this game and all three of its free DLC add-ons on the 3DS, and I found the stereoscopic effect to be just as mesmerizing as the stunning visuals it used to create the effect. Shovel Knight managed to create a world filled with lore and unique characters that far surpasses anything programmed on the NES. Granted, there was a bit of a cheat in not being wholly constrained to NES graphics or audio, but I’d rather have a great game that fudges some nostalgia than one that suffers because of...
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