In April, Activision announced that Call of Duty would be returning their WWII roots. I wrote a brief piece on the announcement and outlined my hopes and fears that I have for their new game. After spending some time in the beta, I have found that some of them have come true. In my first multiplayer match, it quickly became obvious that Sledgehammer Games had brought back the classic Call of Duty experience. No gimmicky jet boosting or wall running in this game, just good old-fashioned boots on the ground shooting. This was the most important change I wanted and I am happy they delivered. Since boosting and wall running was introduced in the games, getting kills and being killed became increasingly more annoying. I had to continuously be alert to my surroundings from all sides, leaving little time to look at my map or figure out how to connect with my teammates. Sure, it was fast paced but I never felt that I had time to plan movements or work together with my team. It was ju...

I started playing BioShock when it first came out in 2007. I just finished it last week and it took me 10 years to do it. I have previously written about why I think it takes me so long to finish a game so I won’t discuss that here. My only regret is that it took me this long to finally beat it. The story of BioShock is both interesting and terrifying. The city of Rapture was designed to be a utopia for the elites, free from the constraints of human government and society. Its creator, Andrew Ryan is a bit of a megalomaniac and this becomes more apparent as the game goes on.       BioShock has one of the most dramatic opening sequences I have experienced in a game. Without giving too much away, you end up in the middle of the ocean, staring at a large tower protruding out of the waves beckoning you to approach. After entering, you start your mysterious journey into the underwater city of Rapture. Upon entry you quickly discover that something has go...

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 ...

Yesterday Activision announced that Call of Duty will be returning to its World War II roots. The uninspired title of the game, Call of Duty: WWII will have a worldwide trailer reveal on April 26 th at 10AM PDT. Fans of the series have criticized the game for taking the game too far into the future. Wall running, jet boosting and exo suits were fun for a while but quickly players realized it was taking away from the fundamental FPS principals that originally made it a success. Games like Counter-Strike have remained grounded in fundamental FPS design without the need for including wall running, boosting or any other gimmick. It has maintained and grown its fan base since its original release in 1999. The people developing the new Call of Duty have a lot to prove.      Another game series adding competition for Call of Duty is Battlefield . The series broke away from the future/modern theme last year with the critically acclaimed release of Battlefield 1 . ...

Last week, Nintendo announced that they would be discontinuing the NES Classic. If you didn’t know, the NES Classic is a miniaturized version of the original NES that comes complete with 30 games. The system was so popular that stores have been unable to keep their shelves stocked. Nintendo may be unable to keep up with production, which might indicate why they are discontinuing it. However, I believe there are other reasons at play.  Theories abound as to why Nintendo discontinued the NES Classic. I wrote a piece outlining my belief that Nintendo increased market demand to maximize profits when shortages were first reported last year. While I cannot prove this, the news of the discontinuation seems to provide additional evidence. Another idea is that Nintendo realized they could make much more money selling the old NES games individually through the Switch and Nintendo Store, rather than 30 at once in the Classic. This is possible, but I think they will be missing out o...