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Showing posts from January, 2023

Pokémon Violet

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As the biggest multimedia franchise in the world, Pokémon has a lot riding on the timely release of its mainline games. Everything from cartoons to cards relies on the characters, locations, and pocket monsters introduced in these titles, so a delay of a game would mean the delay of everything else in the pipeline. Obviously, that can't be allowed to happen, so no matter what state a game is in when the release date rolls around, it's gotta come out. In the past, that hasn't been much of an issue for our pals at Game Freak. However, they took a huge gamble on their latest release by switching out the series' familiar linear structure for a brand new open world, and they paid the price. Pokémon Violet is riddled with performance bugs and graphical glitches that gave it a pretty bad name in the video game community. I experienced many of these issues myself and was disappointed by them, but I was far too impressed and engrossed by the rest of the game to really care that

Little Inferno

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Brought to us by the talent behind World of Goo , Little Inferno manages to capture the same demented, yet emotionally complex, style of entertainment again. I'll be honest, it was because of that pedigree that I first bought the game for my iPod Touch , and despite going into it blind, I had a great time from start to finish! Fast forward nearly a decade and I'm starting to crave the games of my childhood again, with Little Inferno at the forefront of that nostalgia. While I could say it was to be as true to my original experience as possible, I actually whipped out an old iPhone 4S to play this because I was too cheap to buy the game again. I'll need to repurchase it eventually so I can play that awesome new Christmas DLC, but the iPhone was good enough for now. Little Inferno is a game about burning your stuff, buying new stuff, and burning that too. In an effort to throw a rug over the constantly worsening climate crisis right outside your door, you receive a Little

Tomodachi Life

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As a loyal Club Nintendo member, I received a special download code for the Tomodachi Life "Move-In Version" in my email before the game launched, giving me an exclusive, early taste of the eclectic social simulator and securing my loyalty in an instant. It felt so special to have that opportunity, and I actually genuinely enjoyed the demo, so I ended up pre-ordering the game and becoming massively invested in it for a few months. There was something about watching those little Miis live their lives and form relationships with each other that felt so fulfilling, and I loved the uncanny humor that tied it all together. Eventually, I squeezed just about as much as I could out of the game a few times over, but for a long while, I was having a blast. Tomodachi Life offers an island full of amenities and asks you to populate it with Miis, giving you the means to create a new islander at any time. You can customize a Mii's appearance, voice, and personality, allowing you to