Normally with these retrospective articles my aim is to provide more information for video games that people may have heard of before. As an example, I doubt a lot of people have played Panzer Dragoon Saga mainly due to rarity. The quality of the game spread by word of mouth and is now considered a cult classic. The same applied to Vagrant Story and many other games that I’ve done. However, as a self processed “video game connoisseur” in the field of cult classics, even I would have NEVER have guessed that a game like Wachenröder existed, even less so that it would be without a doubt one of the most unusual experiences that I’ve ever had in a video game.

No, the title isn’t a joke — The closest thing to a Pokemon MMO that exists is its old rival from the 90s that was sometimes accused of being a ripoff. Get ready to delve into the Digital World in this review of Digimon Masters Online!

When Zelda fans get their hands on each new entry in the series, there are a lot of things they tend to expect to return from the series’ past. Whether they be minor aspects like the chime that plays when you solve a puzzle or open a treasure chest, the dungeon-item-boss formula, a large arsenal of both combat and puzzle oriented weapons, and so forth, it’s something that fans don’t really like Nintendo messing with too much. Nintendo, complying with this, is extremely mindful of that, putting a strong emphasis on returning staples of the series, arguably more so than they should be. But there’s one very important aspect of the series that seems to have been downplayed over the last 10 years or so – The overworld.

Tower defense games are usually the same – you build a lot of towers, and stand back and pray that they kill all the enemies. Now, thanks to Dungeon Defenders, you rely on those towers no more as you fight alongside them in multiplayer combat! Jump in as we examine what makes this game tick.

We all know Activision is well-known for milking a cash cow until they die (see the history of the Guitar Hero and Tony Hawk franchises), and that might be the fate of the extremely popular toy and video game crossover title, Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure, but can’t we enjoy it while its new and still good? Something as innovative and well put together as this deserves some positive attention, and it’s just not fair how many people are immediately writing it off as just another attempt to cash in on needy children and the parents willing to spend anything to make them happy. In reality, it’s a good game with a great premise that happens to suffer from being under Activision’s greedy control.

WayFoward has been at the forefront of making beautiful and fun 2D games for years now. Ever since gaining popularity with Shantae on the Game Boy Color, they have been unstoppable. Mighty Switch Force is the third entry in a series of titles WayForward has been releasing for Nintendo’s downloadable services and it is also the first of those titles to arrive for 3DS. With some interesting mechanics that led to some pretty challenging later stages, Mighty Switch Force is a great start for downloadable 3DS games.

There’s something that’s been missing from the Resident Evil series as of late – That building tension while you edge around each corner and slowly pace yourself down each hall, taking in every aspect of your environment to predict what will jump at you next. It is a feeling that not many titles seem to be able to live up to. The Resident Evil franchise is seemingly focusing more on Chris’ big manly muscles and action sequences than actually working to create a chilling experience. The trailer for Resident Evil 6 doesn’t calm my fears either, but Resident Evil Revelations looks to be giving us a glimpse of where the series could have gone if Resident Evil 4 was taken in a more conservative direction.

Full Motion Video games are a bit of a fascination of mine; specifically for me it is the PC adventure genre of FMV games that excites me the most. Combining the asinine and obtuse puzzles of PC adventure games with limiting full motion video graphics and often terrible writing and acting is something I can earnestly enjoy. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though, let’s start with defining what exactly an FMV game is.

Despite having a fairly blegh launch, the 3DS has sprung back quite a bit. We now have some quality retail releases on the market, like Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 as well as some downloadable titles like Pushmo and Mighty Switch Force!. But even outside of simply actual game releases, there have been a lot of improvements to the system itself through a couple of pretty significant updates. While a lot of this content is definitely appreciated, nothing has come quite as close to transforming the system as Swapnote has. While easily mistaken for deviantArt if you have NicoCW on your friends list, this seemingly minor application has changed what it means to own a 3DS.