BioWare’s Mass Effect: Andromeda was hit with controversy before its release and even harder after it. A lot was expected from the game and critics were quick to jump on it. MEA took a lot of heat for bugs and bad facial animations and even I jumped on the  band wagon . I have been thinking a lot since it happened and I keep coming back to this question, “Why do we attack some games while we let others get a free pass?” Most games have bugs and glitches when they are first released. Developers usually always deliver new games with a day one patch to address issues that may arise. So what causes us to see the problems of some games and not others? Part of the reason is because we have high expectations for triple A titles. We expect games like Call of Duty , Madden , Mario and Zelda to never have bugs. Their long history of success with sequels should mean that by now the game should be perfected. We tend to give new games with bugs the benefit of the doubt but little to ...

There have been very few game series that have brought me more enjoyment than the Elder Scrolls series. Oblivion was the first game I got for my Xbox 360 and probably the one I played the most until Skyrim . So when I found out Bethesda was making a remastered edition for the current console generation I was extremely excited. The idea of being able to travel across Skyrim again spoke to the nostalgic side of me. Listening to atmospheric orchestra pieces while admiring the world of has always been great but with updated graphics it would be even better. The remastered edition definitely has noticeable graphic quality improvements. Firstly, the water effects are much better and looks more natural instead of some weird mirror you can fall in an out of. It even appears to flow better along rivers and rapids. Textures on all environmental features are tremendously improved adding to the realism. Lighting effects looks more realistic and so do the shadows it produces. More foliag...

I recently wrote an article on the importance of remakes and why they are more than just a money grab. Since then then I have put more thought into the pitfalls that follow their success. Replaying the BioShock series and diving back into Call of Duty 4 is great but they do not add any new ideas. I fear that the growing amount of remakes is a sign that game publishers and studios are losing confidence in their own creativity. To explain this further I want to use Hollywood as an example. Movie studios have recently been criticized for regurgitating the same principal ideas into the movies they create. Every year a new super hero movie comes out and it is largely the same premise. Good guy with super powers fights bad guy with super powers to save the world, with some change ups in between. Super hero movies are fun and provide entertainment plus revenue for movie studios that desperately need it. But they do not add anything new and creative to the silver screen. A super hero ...