Tag: Access Games

Lord of Arcana Review

A (Very) Poor Man's Monster Hunter

Lord of Arcana Screenshot

HIGH The game didn't crash once on me in 40+ hours of playtime. Hurray!

LOW Tedious boss fights that feel like they're more based on luck and memorization than any kind of skill.

WTF The game doesn't have cooperative online—it is still 2011, right?

The Benefits of Virtual Carpooling! (Deadly Premonition is the Game of the Year, Part 10)

Deadly Premonition Screenshot

In the last article I skipped over yet another fascinating detail of the game's story, but not without cause. I've previously discussed just how voluminous the game's supplemental material is, and how it's profoundly worth it for the player to take the time to fully explore Greenvale—there's one problem with it, however. In order to see everything, the game absolutely must be played twice.

The Squirrel Detective (Deadly Premonition is the Game of the Year, Part 9)

Deadly Premonition Screenshot

I've already talked about some of the moments that captivated me during my first run through Deadly Premonition, now I'd like to cover the first moment that really made me question my initial assumption that I was playing a brilliant subversion of video game tropes—the last moment during which I doubted Deadly Premonition's intentions (if not its execution—there would be plenty of doubt left to come on that front).

Getting to Know You, Greenvale (Deadly Premonition is the Game of the Year, Part 8)

Deadly Premonition Screenshot

Information control is one of the most vital components of storytelling—deciding when and how your audience gets pieces of information can be almost as important as the details of the information itself. This is yet another place where Deadly Premonition breaks ranks with videogame convention. If the player is strictly following the storyline there's a proscribed time and place for York to meet all of the town's denizens. If, however, York and Zach decide that getting to the police station and starting the plot isn't a priority, then the the two of them are free to meet almost all of the game's characters at their own pace.