Avernum Review: Independent Incarceration Like Never Before

Jeff Vogel is known pretty well in the RPG scene when it comes to independent work. His RPGs, which started with his original “Exile” series and progressed onto “Nethergate,” are well-known for their sandbox adventuring style, simple controls, and difficult gameplay as the player is thrust into very different fantasy worlds. Gone are the glorious worlds of elves and dwarves and kind unicorns, and in his games you get thrown into jail! And that jail is where, you ask? Several thousand miles underground in cavern which has formed an unknown and mysterious world all of it’s own. Welcome to “Avernum,” the remake of “Exile: Escape of the Pit.”

Punch-Out!! Review: Back In The Ring With A Vengeance

It’s always been amazing to me how some video game franchises can withstand the test of time, and others just fade away. It’s been 15 years since gamers have been able to get their hands on a new “Punch-Out!!” game from Nintendo, but with the release of the Wii everything old is new again (except “Kid Icarus” apparently). Whether it’s your first time stepping into the ring with Little Mac, or just your first time since Nintendo felt the need to put the word “super” in the title of all their games (even the not so super ones), “Punch-Out!!” on the Wii is a welcome experience. [Continue Reading]

Klonoa Review: Is He A Cat Or A Rabbit?

Video game remakes have been occurring more and more this console generation than ever before. With the advent of Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network, it’s become extremely easy, and less risky for publishers to reach into their back catalogs and push out a rehashed “classic” from the mid 1980s. Some are better than others, but all of them prey on the sense of nostalgia that is virtually omnipresent in gamers over the age of 22. And that works because a lot of the games that have been re-released, your “Pac-Man”s and your “Galaga”s, are games that people are lifelong fans of, but does that same theory work when the game in question isn’t as well known as “Dig Dug”? Well, Namco Bandai (coincidentally the publisher of all of the aforementioned games) has set out to answer that question with the re-release of the lesser known PS1 game, “Klonoa.” [Continue Reading]

Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars Review: The Adventure That Doesn’t Die

Back in the middle of the 1990s, adventure games were still going strong, at least when they weren’t made by failing companies like Lucasarts (who forgot their SCUM engine and decided to stick with the Science Fiction money-maker, “Star Wars”) and Westwood (who had good reason with solid strategy games to get moving on). Nowadays, adventure games are a largely a niche genre and make up only a small percentage of the gaming market, left to the wayside for independent developers and occasionally the re-creation of older titles with new detail. “Broken Sword” is one of them.

Originally released in 1996, “Shadow of the Templars” followed American tourist George Stobbard, as well as photojournalist Nico Collard, as he goes from nearly becoming an ashen pretty-boy in a pub in Paris at the hands of a psychotic clown into a conspiracy about the Knights Templar. With memorable animation, and the sheer degree of things these characters could do in the game with the hardware limitations at the time proved that the game would not soon be forgotten. The level of depth of everything in “Shadow of the Templars” from the plot, to developing characterization between the two protagonists and their relationship to one another was astounding. The artistry and animation mimicked animated cartoons, complete with an orchestral ensemble and voice acting to create an adventure that easily drew the player in without too much explanation – not that the player every really gets one since the game is a mystery that took place all over the world. “Shadow of the Templars” was a success on the PC, and was ported once before to a hand-held market on the GBA. It didn’t receive the same numbers, but the game has been re-released again on both the Wii and the DS. [Continue Reading]

Legend of Kage 2 Review: Back From The Dead

“The Legend of Kage” – the original is remembered as a bad port of a great arcade game, which was pretty much the norm back in ’85. Who would have thought that game was going to ever see a sequel, much less a sequel 23 years later. Even by today’s lenient standards, releasing a sequel 23 years after the original is quite far from the norm, in fact, “Legend of Kage 2” might stand alone at the top of that category. Many things about the games industry have changed over the last two decades, but one thing has always remained true; there’s always room for another ninja game – especially a good one.

“The Legend of Kage 2″ starts off by offering two playable characters, Kage and Chihiro, each with their own story, which unfolds as they try to rescue the Princess Kirihime. There hasn’t been a story in a ninja game that has really pulled me in since the original “Ninja Gaiden,” and “Kage 2” is no different. While there are a few characters that get really fleshed out as the story unfolds, it’s your basic ninja-themed plot; save the princess, and/or save the village. I’m fine with that. I don’t play ninja games to become engrossed with the story – I play to be a ninja, which is something that “Kage” definitely lets me be. [Continue Reading]