Welcome to This Is Not A Review. In these articles we discuss general impressions, ideas and thoughts on any given game, but as the title implies, it’s not a review. Instead, it’s an exercise in offering a quick recommendation (or dismissal) after spending enough time to grasp the ideas and gameplay of a thing without necessarily playing it from A to Z.
The subject of this installment: Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth, developed and published by Daedalic Entertainment.
HIGH Tracking down an unfinished section of the game, then hearing the resulting explanation.
LOW Most of these enemies should be way more interesting to fight.
WTF The phone call.
In this piece, Darren sat down to talk with renowned videogame sound director Akira Yamaoka, who is incredibly well known for work on many titles ranging from the classic Silent Hill series to more recent titles like Shadows of the Damned and Killer is Dead. Darren took this chance to find out from the man himself how he views his role as a sound director, how he feels about being tied so strongly to his work on Konami’s seminal horror series, and a number of other topics besides.
HIGH Scraping out a win during a nail-biting slow-motion finish.
LOW The online still needs serious work on PC — connection issues are way too common.
WTF The reason for Akuma’s inclusion in the main storyline is weak.
This article is the third installment of Darren-Kun’s Magical GungHo Adventure! If you haven’t read the introductory piece, you can find it here and the second, an interview with GungHo president and CEO Kazuki Morishita is here.
In this piece, Darren was joined by director Hideyuki Shin and producer Shuji Ishikawa, talking about their work on Grasshopper Manufacture’s free-to-play PS4 exclusive Let It Die. Anyone following the game’s updates will undoubtedly recognize Shin from his developer streams, and I’ve a strong suspicion that Ishikawa-san is the man behind the mask during these same broadcasts.
This article is the second installment of Darren-Kun’s Magical GungHo Adventure! If you haven’t read the introductory piece, you can find it here.
In this column, Darren sat down with Kazuki Morishita, President and CEO of GungHo Online Entertainment. Known for taking a very active, hands-on role in game development, Morishita-san was kind enough to set aside several hours for interviews with us to get his thoughts on a wide range of topics ranging from GungHo’s particular approach towards creating entertaining videogames, the differences between developing for mobile and console gaming, and the challenges involved with targeting global worldwide releases for their IPs.
Sometimes, good things just sort of land in your lap.
You might be walking down the street and see a dollar just laying in your path. Maybe a barista asks if you’d like a drink for free that she made and nobody wanted. Other times, it might be something more substantial, like visiting a foreign land to attend a game convention and getting to interview some of the most important and well-recognized names in the Japanese games industry.
In my case, that last one is exactly what happened to me.
HIGH Fixing the laptop results in a wonderful surprise.
LOW Certain sequences drag on for way, way too long.
WTF I’ll go to bed when I bloody well feel like it, Morgana.
HIGH Locking a boss in place and shredding it to bits with the chain whip.
LOW The awkward approach to multiplayer remains largely unchanged.
WTF Double amnesia? At least they poke fun at it…
HIGH The Berserk Armor transformation is appropriately overpowered.
LOW That Femto boss fight is absolutely terrible.
WTF Witnessing Zodd ride a standard-size horse.
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