Emotive Pixels — Marginalia on Videogames

This week, we're coming up roses as we review Supergiant's 2011 double-A (?) indie darling, Bastion. This game has been around forever, and it has made its way onto so many platforms, it's almost difficult to keep track - but it began life as a 360 indie game by a group of seven devs mostly of ex-Westwood/EA LA fame. Needless to say, there isn't much resemblance to the days of Kane...

This week, we turn our attention to the flawlessly-animated but badly-loading South Park: The Stick of Truth , a game written by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, designed by Obsidian Entertainment (that's right, the guys behind Fallout: New Vegas , amongst other classics), and published by Ubi. We have varying reactions to the various levels of abortion on display (no, that's not a...

Get down in the dirt with us as we talk about Fallout Shelter , the hip game that literally attaches to your hip (it's a mobile game, is the joke I'm making here) and nags you incessantly but is so charmingly styled with that one Pip-Boy guy and the love of the world(s) of Fallout, that you just can't be mad. You'll find yourself a whale indebted $20 to Bethesda in no time as you build a Vault of...

This is a super-spoilery kind of episode , even more than normal, possibly even moreso than our Spec Ops: The Line cast. Which you should totally check out because it had a social worker dad in it. Ok so yeah, only listen if you're immune to spoilers (there's not much point to playing this game if you know the plot!) or you've played it already. Got it? Her Story is an indie detective 'game' (it's...

URL OF THE YEAR EDITION Play this (Flash) game now here before continuing. Seriously, play this game. It's about 5 to 10 minutes long, it's free, and it plays in your browser. (Don't play on your phone though, it's Flash and Apple killed that.) Definitely do that. Okay? Frog Fractions is an edutainment game, and it is an invaluable part of your toolkit as either a present-day or future parent. Not...

Come join us as we reminisce about our sojourn to the wondrous world of Benaroya Hall in downtown sunny and heatwave-drenched Seattle as the boys (and two girls) ventured into the halls of retromancy (wait... not what that means) and modernity. Uematsu and Hama-isuzutrooper are at their heights this week! Topics include which FFs are our favorite, which we [haven't] played, which ones have the bes...

This week, we draw lots of parallels to somewhat-obscure post-postmodernist English literature in a discussion about DEViCE 6 , a game by Swedish developer Simogo. Device 6 is an iOS-exclusive title heartily inspired by 1960s-era spy films, most notably "The Prisoner", and it plays as an interactive text adventure fiction combined with escape-the-room puzzles across 6 separate 'episodes'. The game...

"The soundtrack to this damn game got me good." - Craig This week we peek at all 9001 bits of retro glory 2D sidescrolling platformer Shovel Knight , a Yacht Club Games production funded via Kickstarter and initially released in 2014. The game is a standout selection for many reasons, not the least of which is its absolutely jammin' chiptune soundtrack arranged by Dearest 'virt' to fit and match t...

This week, we peer very critically at Firaxis' so-called sequel to Civilization V and its expansion, Brave New World, the much-hyped 'successor', 2014's Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth. Beyond Earth was promised as not only a sci-fi successor to the mainline Civ series but also as a spiritual successor to 1999's Alpha Centauri, a promise that we have some pretty damning beliefs about. From...

Fresh from the shrinking backlog here at Emotive Pixels, we serve up the long-overdue finale to our discussion surrounding The Walking Dead Season Two , a Telltale adventure series loosely paralleling Robert Kirkman's comic and - of course - the culturally monolithic AMC TV production. We tackle episodes 4 and 5 here - check out earlier coverage further back in our catalog! In these episodes, we f...

This week, we take a glance into two titles and one franchise highly revered by our host Nate. We discuss the (relatively) recently-released Cities: Skylines, the first proper city simulator by Finnish studio Colossal Order (previously responsible for the similar but transit-scenario-focused Cities In Motion series), and in so doing we decided to compare & contrast with Maxis' final hurrah, its mu...

Join a fractured crew of 5 this week as we discuss The Fall, a very indie 2D puzzle platformer with the gameplay and mechanic stylings of '90s adventure games. This game was Kickstarted by enthusiastic legions in 2013 (raising $38,155 CAD of its $17,000 target) as the first episode of what was hoped to be a series (update: II is in progress, helped along by passing Steam Greenlight), and its final...

This time around the sun, we have blasted our way through the oxygen-poor air of Kyrat in the world of 2014 Ubisoft's Far Cry 4 : the crew this time is Will (hosting), Craig, and Brian. A far cry from a truly original concept, 4 is definitely a sequel to 2012's Far Cry 3 , but yet it does so well enough to avoid too many Assassin's Creed gripes... but this might be the last time the franchise esca...

This week, we take a peek at 2012's Hotline Miami and 2015's Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number: the crew this week is Brian (hosting), Will, and Nate. Both of these games are incredibly twisted and violent gore-soaked 16-bit top-down depictions of Miami across a variety of retro timeframes, tied together by wicked soundscapes and rad driving electronic/nu disco beats. Both games employ unreliable narr...

This week, a splinter group of the gang takes a peek at the Vita/mobile game DanganRonpa: Trigger Happy Havoc , a visual mystery novel [game], the type of thing that's all the rage in the Japanese scene and trickles of which we see with other Vita games in particular such as Virtue's Last Reward . In essence, DanganRonpa plays as a fast-paced Ace Attorney game. From this crazy game there has spawn...

On this week's episode, we ponder some unique reasons for the strange epilogue of Ready At Dawn's first original IP, The Order: 1886 that are surprisingly palatable despite being initially proposed as pure sarcasm. We also discuss mandatory deets like the plot, flaming coffin shipping, barely-disguised historical references, vampires, and lycans (but not the cool supercar you've totally seen in DR...

This week more than ever, it's very important that you've played this game before listening to the podcast. This game is highly recommended for all. Beginning with our opinions of the armed forces, we tackle tough issues this week with a very interesting discussion about the narrative masterpiece of 2012 that is Jager's Spec Ops: The Line . We have a social worker of advanced wisdom and a psycholo...

On this week's Emotive Pixels podcast, we nitpick a production of next-gen pure joy! Sunset Overdrive is an Insomniac-produced Xbox One exclusive that arrived with a splash on a system that at the time was in need of a fun fix. Sunset Overdrive is an over-the-top third person action/adventure platformer & shooter that revels in breaking the fourth wall. It enjoys lampooning LARPers and any other s...

On this week's Emotive Pixels podcast, we bring ourselves back to the roots of Generation VII with a voyage through some highlights of 2007 Naughty Dog's title Uncharted: Drake's Fortune . As the first of what would come to be a tril- and then quadrilogy, Uncharted was a fun romp in the park of ludonarrative dissonance. No, really: someone besides Nate uses that phrase in this podcast. Uncharted i...

You were awake for this scene.*trophy sound* This week on the Emotive Pixels podcast, we take a glimpse into the NCIS videogame, released in late 2011 to the universal acclaim of platinum trophy hunters everywhere (and probably not very many others). This is a concerted effort by an internal Ubisoft studio, which apparently makes it a step up from similar CSI games developed by Ubisoft which are h...

On this episode of the Emotive Pixels podcast, we are joined by special megaceleb Anthony Gallegos of Rebel FM and The Comedy Button fame to discuss Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor. Topics covered this week are broad, but focus particularly upon our elusive belief that this game is an example of mechanics-driven game design. To that end, we imagine where WB might apply the Nemesis engine next, whet...

On this episode of the Emotive Pixels podcast, we discuss the 2002 PC classic "Uplink", a game which Will persuaded Brian, Alberto, and Nate to play. Despite possessing a bevy of thoughts about the game, we ultimately come away with a surprisingly expectation-defying set of ratings, none of which will be spoiled here. There's considerable banter about the amount of time we spend playing the game,...

Verbose description of everything that happens in this episode: Cast introduction and discussion on whether the weaknesses in episode 1 of season 2 helped to strengthen the plot of episodes 2 and 3. Episode 2 Plot: Episode 2 starts after with the fallout from the decision on whether to save Nick or Pete. All podcast members choose to save Nick and as such end up running through the woods and end u...

This is the Emotive Pixels podcast covering our group tonight's thoughts on the 2013 Fullbright Company release Gone Home . The game is firmly rooted in the indie genre, winning several 2013 Game Of The Year titles (insert Polygon plug here) alongside other triple-A giants like The Last of Us and BioShock Infinite . What makes this game so good, despite falling firmly in the category the crassest...

Introductions begin this week with our favorite weather. It's the smallest of small talk to open the episode that honors what might be Movie Fan Alberto's favorite game ever, the David Cage pixels-are-emotions-fueled narrative experience that is 2009's Heavy Rain. Our cast is large and unwieldy, featuring Will, Alberto, Nate, Brian, Tien-ju, Megan, and Alberto tagalong Angelica. JASON! JASON!!! He...