appstore
1991
the first walking simulator, and was the best until death stranding came out
In all seriousness, playing this as a kid is why I'm bored of procedural generation now. Also because 90% of indie games are procedurally generated because making levels is scary or whatever.
In all seriousness, playing this as a kid is why I'm bored of procedural generation now. Also because 90% of indie games are procedurally generated because making levels is scary or whatever.
either the best or second best dragon quest depending on the day, which should say a hell of a lot
I think I'll always feel like Phantasy Star 4 is direly undersung in the JRPG canon, and somewhat helpless to convince people to see it for themselves.
God of 3D Fighting Games, now and forever.
2009
Sculpture is one of my favorite subjects to ruminate upon. I find the act philosophically fascinating in ways that are not clear enough or concise enough to discuss in the review of this cubes only sculpting puzzle game. What I will say is, this is probably the only DS game I couldn't ever bear to let go of, and I let a family member take my copy of Hotel Dusk without regretting it until (insert wild overshare here).
1986
I feel like 90% of side-scrolling action games are just chasing the feeling of the first time they touched this. It also has personal emotional significance as it's one of my mom's favorite games, but even without that, Castlevania still towers over all 2D action.
1984
Trackball games rule, this is a complete and unavoidable fact, and it's very sad that it's so hard to recreate them. Mobile's done a decent job but you only get the acceleration of the push and not the satisfaction of the stop and realign motion. Anyways this game is gorgeous art and sound on top of being brilliantly controlled.
1983
This is the Game of 1983 in the same way that Time Magazine makes fascists Person of the Year sometimes. The psychic damage Dragon's Lair has done is still being felt in every Sony first party release.
1982
One of the most sonically pleasing games of the early part of the decade, with crunching actions atop bass vibrations. It's also one of the fastest games of this era. Gaining momentum in this game feels like speeding in a residential area: probability means it's going to go bad, but sometimes you just gotta floor it.
1981
Even if this game didn't eventually end up giving us Jeff Minter's whole career, it's still great.
2001
Caught myself talking to Yorda at a save point while thinking about what we were going to do next.
1998
This rating is as much about the game as it is about the devouring of itself. This game is important because it's this game, but also because it's dozens of others. It's not the first game to be like that (Doom & Quake) but I feel like it's the most successful at it. This is also a five star for Counter-Strike, Day Of Defeat, Firearms, Front Line Force, Sven Coop, Natural Selection, and everything in between. It's a game that's also a platform, and to my mind it's the most successful version of it.
As the foremost expert on Double Dribble: The Playoff Edition. I can say that this is one of the best basketball games available on the Sega Genesis, and personally I prefer it to NBA Jam. I made a tier list for it. You can't have it.
1996
It's Quake.
The conclusive end to the 2D Fighting Game discussion of the 90s. 3rd strike is neat. This game is romance to me.