Recent

Games

'Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning' Twists Videogame Tropes

Kingdoms of Amalur takes all of the principles of videogames – agency, choice, exploration, conflict – and turns them into an expansive experience of testing the conventions, and even the technical framework, of videogame fiction itself.

Games

Gun Control: The Video Game Obsession with the Sword and the Gun

The key observation to be made about the evolution of games into the violent extravaganzas of today is that, if you change the controller, you change everything.

Devon Campbell

Games

The Race for a New Game Machine: Eight is Beautiful (Book Review, Part 2)

It's not a perfect book, but those interested in the story of how the current generation of consoles came to be will find plenty to capture their interest.

Games

The Race for a New Game Machine: The Hardware/Software Conflict (Book Review, Part 1)

Concentrating on the narrative that David Shippy and Mickie Phipps tell in The Race for a New Game Machine is made difficult by a conflict in perspective.

Reviews

Afro Samurai

Afro Samurai would be a little too self-serious if it wasn't for Ninja-Ninja, a white-haired, impish character that can best be described as Samuel L. Jackson playing Samuel L. Jackson.

Reviews

The Maw

The only major problem with The Maw is the pacing and speed of gameplay. Unfortunately, it's a crippling sort of problem.

Thomas Cross

Reviews

Tom Clancy's EndWar

Tom Clancy's EndWar takes the premise of leading through words and literalizes the experience for the real time strategy game.

Reviews

Prince of Persia

The effort here is to provide a fantastic experience, not at all intellectual but one driven by velocity and the player's own gut.

Reviews

Midnight Club: Los Angeles

Even if you're not actually walking around on the streets or going into buildings, the Los Angeles here feels just as fully realized as New York City does in Grand Theft Auto 4.

Games

Why Gears 2's Story Works

A defense of the narrative elements in Gears of War 2.

Reviews

Call of Duty: World at War

Call of Duty: World at War's catalysts for combat personalize the brutality that the player will mete out on the Axis by dehumanizing and "othering" the Japanese and the Germans as barbarians and monsters.

Reviews

Gears of War 2

Gears of War 2 is a sequel with nearly perfect gameplay sullied by silly, derivative and downright ridiculous story and dialogue.

Reviews

Left 4 Dead

Playing as the infected and coordinating with your team as you try and stop the survivors from reaching the safe room is just as fun and fleshed-out as playing as the survivors.

Jason Cook

Reviews

Mirror's Edge

Mirror's Edge clearly treats parkour with a good deal of respect and admiration.

Reviews

Quantum of Solace

The hybridization of Quantum of Solace's first person mechanics with gameplay styles more often found in third person action titles lends the Bond game a curiously more elegant and thoughtful approach to first-person shooting.

Games

Fable II

Fable II is, perhaps, the most seductive game world ever created.

Reviews

Silent Hill: Homecoming

"Atmosphere" is the key word when talking about Silent Hill, and Homecoming is no different.

Jason Cook

Games

ZA Critique: Call of Duty 4

A break down of the passive sequences in Call of Duty 4 as amusement park rides. Spoilers Abound.

Reviews

Pure

Pure will appeal to those who already ride ATVs and wonder what it'd be like to ride without our world's current gravitational limits.

Darwin Hang

Reviews

Crash: Mind Over Mutant

All of the platforming in Crash: Mind Over Mutant takes place in one continuously-generated world, with every area eventually accessible from every other area in that world.

Reviews

Dead Space

While Dead Space's influences are easy to spot, it is extraordinarily smart about cohesively assembling key elements from these influences into a compelling experience.

Reviews

Saints Row 2

Saints Row 2, more so than many other open world games, has a real tendency to drive one to distraction.

Reviews

Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise

The chief lure of the Viva Piñata series is the ability to witness the E-rated mating rituals of the piñatas themselves.

Reviews

Collapse Expand Reviews

Features

29 Black Music Documentaries for Black History Month 2020: #6 'Mahalia Jackson: The Power and the Glory'

20 Films That Went From Bombs to Beloved

Collapse Expand Features

PM Picks

Collapse Expand Pm Picks

Pop Ten

20 Films That Went From Bombs to Beloved

The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '80s: Part 1: 100 - 81

The 25 Best Classic Progressive Rock Albums

The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '80s: Part 5: 20 - 1

The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '80s: Part 3: 60 - 41

Jackie Chan's 10 Best Films

The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '90s - Part 1 (100 - 81)

The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '80s: Part 2: 80 - 61

Collapse Expand Pop Ten

Kingdoms of Amalur takes all of the principles of videogames – agency, choice, exploration, conflict – and turns them into an expansive experience of testing the conventions, and even the technical framework, of videogame fiction itself.

The key observation to be made about the evolution of games into the violent extravaganzas of today is that, if you change the controller, you change everything.

New FFXIII edition revealed

It's not a perfect book, but those interested in the story of how the current generation of consoles came to be will find plenty to capture their interest.

Concentrating on the narrative that David Shippy and Mickie Phipps tell in The Race for a New Game Machine is made difficult by a conflict in perspective.

Afro Samurai would be a little too self-serious if it wasn't for Ninja-Ninja, a white-haired, impish character that can best be described as Samuel L. Jackson playing Samuel L. Jackson.

The only major problem with The Maw is the pacing and speed of gameplay. Unfortunately, it's a crippling sort of problem.

Tom Clancy's EndWar takes the premise of leading through words and literalizes the experience for the real time strategy game.

The effort here is to provide a fantastic experience, not at all intellectual but one driven by velocity and the player's own gut.

Even if you're not actually walking around on the streets or going into buildings, the Los Angeles here feels just as fully realized as New York City does in Grand Theft Auto 4.

A defense of the narrative elements in Gears of War 2.

Call of Duty: World at War's catalysts for combat personalize the brutality that the player will mete out on the Axis by dehumanizing and "othering" the Japanese and the Germans as barbarians and monsters.

Gears of War 2 is a sequel with nearly perfect gameplay sullied by silly, derivative and downright ridiculous story and dialogue.

Playing as the infected and coordinating with your team as you try and stop the survivors from reaching the safe room is just as fun and fleshed-out as playing as the survivors.

Mirror's Edge clearly treats parkour with a good deal of respect and admiration.

The hybridization of Quantum of Solace's first person mechanics with gameplay styles more often found in third person action titles lends the Bond game a curiously more elegant and thoughtful approach to first-person shooting.

Fable II is, perhaps, the most seductive game world ever created.

"Atmosphere" is the key word when talking about Silent Hill, and Homecoming is no different.

A break down of the passive sequences in Call of Duty 4 as amusement park rides. Spoilers Abound.

Pure will appeal to those who already ride ATVs and wonder what it'd be like to ride without our world's current gravitational limits.

All of the platforming in Crash: Mind Over Mutant takes place in one continuously-generated world, with every area eventually accessible from every other area in that world.

While Dead Space's influences are easy to spot, it is extraordinarily smart about cohesively assembling key elements from these influences into a compelling experience.

Saints Row 2, more so than many other open world games, has a real tendency to drive one to distraction.

The chief lure of the Viva Piñata series is the ability to witness the E-rated mating rituals of the piñatas themselves.