Over the years I have tried many times to get myself to play a Yakuza game from start to end, and have always failed, because I simply didn’t connect with the core gameplay loop of watching a long cutscene and then getting into a fight, with some mini-games sprinkled on the side. The series, now called Like a Dragon to match the original Japanese name, has only been growing, with multiple games coming out in a short span of time. With The Man Who Erased His Name promising a shorter story and launching day one on game pass, it felt like the perfect time to give this series a try again, and this time, I finally got a good understanding of this franchise’s formula, and even appreciated it a bit.
Category: Season 1
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The Video Game Market
The video game market offers a wide variety of choice not often found in other entertainment media.
In this episode, let us take a look at how this market works, and the various options consumers have for spending their hard earned money.
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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III – Review
I don’t see the point of reviewing a game like Call of Duty Modern Warfare III at launch, for two reasons.
First, Call of Duty has fully embraced the live service business model, and whatever game we have at launch is not going to exist in the same form a few months later. Also, there are a lot of things missing from the game right now.
Second, the core audience of the Call of Duty games doesn’t really depend on reviews. At this point, it is an annual ritual for them to buy the latest game at launch, and begin their grind to rank up as soon as they can. So this review is going to be of no use to them whatsoever.
Still, because I made the mistake of buying this game at launch with the intention of reviewing it, let’s get this over with.
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The People Who Make the Games
One of the reasons video games are popular is that they allow you to escape the worries of the real world by transporting you into a virtual wonderland. But for that to be possible, someone must actually build the game in the real world.
In this episode, we will take a look at the people who make the games. In other words, these are the people who bring the games into the market. And like any other industry, a few corporations rule over most of the market, while a smaller group of companies and individuals do their best to offer alternate choices to players who are not happy with the mainstream options.
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Forza Motorsport: Review
Forza Motorsport comes at a time when its spin-off franchise Horizon has delivered back-to-back hits, and the people who play racing games casually are asking themselves, “Do I really want to play this more serious sim-racing game when I can have more fun in Horizon?”
As one of those racing casuals, I have found little to like in the new Forza Motorsport, and a lot to dislike, in the form of an annoying bug that has stopped me from completing the game’s career mode entirely. Let’s get into the details to see what’s happening with Forza Motorsport.
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The Core Elements of Video Games
What makes video games enjoyable to play? In the early days, it all came down to one word – FUN. Is the game fun to play, again and again? Even today, game designers ask this question each time they make a game, but nowadays, there are other ways to make a game enjoyable, even if it is not necessarily fun to play all the time.
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Marvel’s Spider-Man 2: Review
Spider-Man is all about nostalgia. This character has been active in one form or the other since 1962, and continues to remain relevant even after 61 years. And the latest avatar in which the web-swinger is dominating conversations is Insomniac Games’ Spider-Man series of video games. The new game is titled Spider-Man 2, but it is actually the third game in the franchise, or fourth if you count the remaster of the first game. So Insomniac Games already has a lot of previous experience on which to build this sequel. There’s very little to complain about, and this game ensures that you have a good time overall, but let’s see what exactly the game has to offer.
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Video Game Platforms
There are so many types of games available on so many platforms, that for most people, it is impossible to try all of them. So they end up picking a few types of game they like to play, on the platform of their choice. Inevitably, there will be others, who may try to convince you that there is a certain type of game, played on a certain kind of device, that offers a superior experience of playing video games. It’s up to you to decide whether you’re going to entertain these opinions, or ignore them and enjoy your own experiences.
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Assassin’s Creed Mirage: Review
Assassin’s Creed Mirage is a soft remake of the first Assassin’s Creed game that came out all the way back in 2007. There are many similarities between the two games – but this also means Mirage repeats some of the mistakes made by the first game, making it feel a bit difficult to play in 2023.
Let us see what exactly happens in this short, but interesting trip to Baghdad. -
Video Games: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
An introduction to the fun and dangerous world of Video Games.