Mario Kart 8 Hands-On Impressions

Mario Kart; a series as consistently frustrating as it is addicting. Going strong since 1992, these games have seen action on consoles, handhelds, and even the arcades for quite some time. The Mario series is so expansive and has so many iconic and long-standing characters and locations that it’s not really a surprise to see that Nintendo’s always capable of turning them into a diverse range of playable characters and tracks, but it’s still so delightful to see these ideas captured in motion. Mario Kart 8 is, from everything I’ve seen, the strongest example of this so far in the series.

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze Review

I've always loved Donkey Kong Country! The Super Nintendo trilogy was packed to the brim with creative and challenging levels that were memorable and left an impression; each level had its own theme and gimmick that meant you could never mistake it for another. The revival on Wii from 2010, Donkey Kong Country Returns, was also an outstanding game in the same ways. Tropical Freeze continues to provide the same dynamic and creative levels that the series has always given us, but it's hard to not wish Retro Studios had done a little bit more.

Super Smash Bros. Retrospective! Part 1/3

Hello, friends! Today I am happy to share with you my first blog of 2014! I got several games over the holidays that I’ve meant to play through and review (like Beyond: Two Souls, The Wonderful 101, and Zelda: Link Between Worlds), but…well, I haven’t really played any of my new games extensively yet. I will at some point, but for the last month or so I’ve been investing the majority of my time playing the Super Smash Bros. Brawl mod known as Project M.

It’s been a work in progress for a long time and I’ve been playing the older builds of PM for about 2 years, and for the unfamiliar, it combines Super Smash Bros. Brawl’s huge and creative roster of characters with the fast-paced, more competitive gameplay of its predecessor, Super Smash Bros. Melee. On December 9th of last year, the newest build was released, and it completely blew me away. They finally completed every character, added multiple cool looking alternate costumes, new stages, refined menus, a whole new way to play in the form of Turbo Mode, and what personally had me the most excited, the return of Mewtwo and Roy from Melee. It’s an awesome mod with a lot of effort put into it and I’ve barely been able to put it down since downloading it about a month ago. If you’re interested in trying it out for yourself, check it out right here.

And as many of you know, the 4^th installment of the Super Smash Bros. series is set to come out…wait, this year!? Good lord, time flies. It’s already been nearly 6 years since Brawl! The new game looks impressive, to say the least, the colorful HD graphics, the super unique movesets given to the newcomers, and…hell, dude, it’s Smash Bros.  This is a series known for having an absurd amount of content that lasts for years without getting old. Between the hours I’ve poured into Project M and the excitement of knowing that later this year I’ll be playing Smash 4, it’s hard not to be reminded of the series’ history and be kind of taken aback at just how much time I’ve put into playing this game with my friends. To celebrate, I decided my next blog will be the first of a 3-part series; you guessed it, a Super Smash Bros. Retrospective!

How Playstation All-Stars Ruined My Life

On April 27th, 2012 (yes, I unfortunately remember the date...) a new game was announced! There had been some rumors circulating toward the end of the preceding year that said a combat-heavy, Smash Bros style game featuring Sony's biggest characters was in development, with many details such as specific characters and stages included with the rumor as well. These rumors were confirmed to be just about 100%

accurate when gameplay was finally shown off several months later. The game became what we know today as Playstation All-Stars: Battle Royale.

I love Nintendo and its line-up of characters and I love Smash Bros. style gameplay, but I also have a deep-rooted and long-running affection for Sony's diverse library of games. I love Sly Cooper, Jak & Daxter, Uncharted, LittleBigPlanet, Ape Escape, InFamous, and possibly my favorite of all, PaRappa the Rapper. But even beyond that, characters like Kratos from God of War, Fat Princess, and Twisted Metal's iconic Sweet Tooth were rumored to appear in the game, meaning that the roster was sure to be diverse and represent a huge assortment of games, perhaps beyond even the extent of Super Smash Bros. There are also plenty of amazing third party games heavily associated with the Playstation brand like Metal Gear Solid, Spyro the Dragon, Final Fantasy, and Crash Bandicoot! Could they be represented in the game as well? Finally, my childhood dream of a large-scale and chaotic crossover of Playstation all-stars would come to fruition!

Top 5 Games of 2013

2013 has really been a big year for games. I played through tons of fantastic ones, but there are still a lot of amazing looking games that I haven’t even had the chance to buy yet! But of what I have played, there are several games that I think are completely outstanding and I can’t wait another second to gush all about them. I also have a couple of honorable mentions...there were a few too many games to condense this to a top 5, but not quite enough to stretch out to a top 10. Regardless, here it is, my top 5 games of 2013!

…also I haven’t beaten GTA5 or Tomb Raider yet. So…um…onto the list!

Why You Shouldn't Buy a PS4 or Xbox One

After 8 years of incredible advances in technology, amazing games, and stupid consumers buying lazy, unfulfilling products, the next generation of video game consoles is upon us! The Wii U, the PS4, and in just a few hours, the Xbox One will be out and available for purchase! While the Wii U has been out for about a year, right now all of the interest is undeniably in Microsoft and Sony's new systems. Why...well...who knows? I'm not even sure myself. This is gonna be a really dumbed down piece compared to my usual reviews and other pieces on games. I'm not targeting super-informed gamers or anything, I'm talking

to the average Joe who wants something to play the new Call of Duty on. The premise of a new console launch is always exciting and it's easy to find yourself getting caught up in the hype. After seeing Killer Instinct and Dead Rising 3, I was admittedly ready to hop on the Xbox One bandwagon and pick one up myself. But thinking about it rationally for a bit, I came to a different conclusion: blowing $500+ on this thing the year it comes out would be the stupidest thing I could possibly do.

The Last of Us Review

I’ve intentionally held off on talking about The Last of Us until a few months later because I wanted to see if the game left an impression on me the way the media said it would. The game got tons of perfect scores everywhere. Naughty Dog is well-known for setting the bar on every console they develop on; the charming platforming of Crash Bandicoot that defined the PS1 era, the expansive and imaginative world of Jak and

Daxter on PS2, and Uncharted becoming one of Sony’s flagship franchises for the PS3. The Last of Us marks the first time since joining Sony that the developers have worked on multiple series on the same platform, and it managed to slip in just several months before the launch of the PS4. Did this game define its generation of hardware the same way Crash and Jak did?