Latest TSA event made me very hungry
Last Saturday night was the Taiwanese Student Associtation’s (TSA) Formosa 2021: Tour of Taiwan, an online event that promised to give a virtual tour of the island nation. Having been away from campus for the past year and a half, I was excited to finally go to a cultural club event, though I wondered how […]
‘Apex Legends’ is the best battle royale
Battle royale is one of those shooter sub-genres that I thought was pretty boring. The premise is simple: 60 to 100 players are thrown into a huge map, Hunger Games-style, and must collect guns and gear to kill each other until only one team or player emerges victorious. I thought this meant that the majority […]
‘Devotion:’ alright Taiwanese horror game
Perhaps I had unreasonably high expectations for “Devotion.” Made by Red Candle Games, it’s a first-person, 3D horror game and the spiritual successor of “Detention,” another Taiwanese horror game I really enjoyed and reviewed for The Brandeis Hoot. But alas, I’m disappointed to report that Devotion is only an alright, not so scary horror game […]
‘Genshin Impact’ is underwhelming
Developed by miHoYo, “Genshin Impact” is an ambitious free-to-play anime mobile RPG that has taken the gaming industry by storm, raking in $245 million worldwide within its first month, making it the highest-grossing mobile game of October. It has high production values with an open world design, a first for the mobile games platform excluding […]
Four horror games, new and old, to terrify your Halloween
I don’t think most of us will be dressing up and going outside this Halloween given the unfortunate state of the world as of late. There’s one thing we can do: scare ourselves from the comfort of our homes. And there’s no better way to do it than by playing a horror game (scary movies […]
‘Among Us’ is great, but it ain’t ‘Fall Guys’
As you have probably seen, the indie multiplayer title “Among Us” has been something of a YouTube sensation for the past few weeks, much like “Fall Guys” was about a month ago. Countless streamers and content creators are playing it and making videos on it. After trying it out for myself, I think it’s fun, […]
A fair shot at Zoe Quinn’s ‘Depression Quest’
Background: In 2014, “Depression Quest” developer Zoe Quinn was accused by her former boyfriend in a lengthy blog post of having an affair with a game journalist. The gaming public then began to suspect that the journalist in question gave special treatment in his coverage of Quinn and “Depression Quest” in two of his articles. […]
A brief introduction to the ‘Fate’ franchise
It all started with a Japanese adult visual novel called “Fate/stay night.” Released in 2004, the game tells the story of Emiya Shirou, a highschooler who unwittingly joins the fifth “Holy Grail War,” an old magical ritual where seven participants have to fight until one person survives. This survivor is then granted a wish by […]
Abysmal writing ruins the Mulan remake
In the latest attempt by Disney executives to exploit nostalgia and steal your money, Mulan 2020 somehow fails to deliver even an average, coherent story. This live-action remake of the 1998 animated classic, directed by Niki Caro and starring Liu Yifei in the titular role, is a parody of its predecessor with a ridiculous script […]
Fall Guys: Pure, Addicting Fun
“Fall Guys” suddenly popped up on my radar about a week ago. Everyone I knew was playing and had nothing but good things to say about it. It amazed me that what seemed to be a small indie game with a ridiculous name would garner such mainstream attention with, as far as I can tell, […]
Detention: an original Taiwanese horror adventure
“Detention” is a 2D side-scrolling, point-and-click horror game that takes place in 1960s in Taiwan under a period known as the “White Terror.” This was a time when the country was put under martial law by the Chinese Nationalist Party after its defeat in a civil war against the Chinese Communist Party. You play as […]
‘Power Stone:’ a forgotten gem in video game history
Over the past couple years, I’ve been on a quest to reclaim my childhood by trying to remember and rebuy all the games that I loved as a kid but are now lost to time. But I had completely forgotten about “Power Stone”—a 3D fighting game originally published by “Capcom” on the home console “Dreamcast” […]
The new ‘League of Legends’ card game is ‘Hearthstone,’ but better
There’s no denying that “Legends of Runeterra,” the card game spin-off of “League of Legends,” owes a lot to “Hearthstone.” There’s a mana system, which means that cards cost mana to be played, and each round (but not turn) you gain a new mana crystal allowing you to play higher-cost, stronger cards. There are two […]
‘Idle’ games: accessible and decently entertaining
The problem with video games these days is that they just take too much time and effort (not to mention money). That’s why 2019 saw the rise of “idle” games, a new subgenre of role-playing mobile games that strive to be as low maintenance as possible. Gameplay is minimal and progress can be achieved without […]
‘Raid: Shadow Legends’ is absolute trash
“Forget everything you know about mobile games” is their tagline. But you shouldn’t. “Raid: Shadow Legends” belongs in the lowest depths of hell that is the industry of mobile gaming. It is guilty of the two most notorious sins: intrusive, deceptive marketing and aggressively monetization-based design. For those that have (luckily) never heard of it, […]
The best of video game soundtracks
What do I mean by “best soundtracks?” As much as I would love to analyze the composition of these pieces and give you a very technical answer, my education in music theory stopped prematurely when I abandoned the piano in seventh grade. Instead, I want to show to you what makes these tracks unique and […]
‘Death Stranding’ impressions: it’s fun, but…
There aren’t many video game “directors” known to the public, but Hideo Kojima is an exception. The Japanese auteur is famous known for creating the “Metal Gear” series. His follow-up, “Death Stranding” has been extremely polarizing in terms of reception. Some praise it as a masterpiece while some say it’s pretentious garbage. Ultimately, I don’t […]
‘Anthem:’ A bioware tragedy
A lot of negative things have been said about the game “Anthem” and its developer Bioware already, and people who know about the game are wise to stay away from it. I was originally going to report on the happenings surrounding the game. But after some encouragement from Jonah, our beloved editor of the Arts […]
Good horror games are hard to find: here’s a few gems
The horror games seem to be forever doomed to be a niche. It’s not only because a lot of people don’t enjoy being scared—there are also an ungodly amount of agonizingly terrible horror games on the market that are either uninspired or poorly made. Aside from household names like “Resident Evil” and “Amnesia,” good horror […]
On the value of video games
Whether video games have any value is a question every gamer has had to grapple with from time to time, likely because their parents like to dismiss games as mindless entertainment. These adults do so with such ease and certainty that it might even seem wrong to disbelieve them, but video games have evolved to […]
