PAX East 2013: Battleblock Theater--Hands-On Gameplay

his is my third time here In Boston for PAX East. Meanwhile, this is also the fourth time The Behemoth has been showing off their latest and (maybe?) greatest work, Battleblock Theatre. ¬I’ve always been intrigued by The Behemoth and its somewhat askew approach to taking nearly forgotten classic gaming styles and their dead-horse tropes and infusing them with ridiculous levels of crass humour, tough as nails gameplay and hilarious, over-the-top visual elements and animation.

Battleblock Theatre infuses The Behemoth’s secret gameplay and presentation sauce into a puzzle-based action platformer with an emphasis on cooperative play, which I was fortunate to get hands on with alongside level designer Aaron.

Click to read more ...

PAX East 2013: The Elder Scrolls Online

n the coat tails of Skyrim, Bethesda is jumping out of their comfort zone and currently producing their latest endeavor, Elder Scrolls Online. Matt, Ser, and George sat down with Bethesda and had a brief play session with title’s production stage so far as we entered the familiar city of Daggerfall. The following piece is a collective of impressions from the three of us with our time playing the ambitious MMO.

Click to read more ...

PAX East 2013: The Last of Us--Hands-on gameplay

ay is a little over a month away, and after everything that we’ve seen out of the month of March so far. The gradual end of the current video game generation has already been treated to a last hurrah that won't be topped for years to come. However, there’s one particular title that’s around the corner; The Last of Us.

This is Naughty Dog’s cinematic take on a post-apocalyptic world and its odd couple, Joel and Ellie. The epic survival adventure has been discussed for awhile, and with only cinematic sequences and controlled demonstrations to fuel anticipation, I had the opportunity to get a hands-on play session. From what I was able to play so far, this title should ignite a resolution in video game standards for years to come.

Click to read more ...

PAX East 2013: Remember Me

 actually had to ask Ser and George what the last non-fighting Capcom game was. Then they reminded me of Resident Evil 6, which I guess I just bleached out of my memory.

It's good to see Capcom trying new things, even if they don't always work out. They've kind of just become the fighting and Resident Evil guys. That isn't to say Remember Me is especially new, but it's a breath of fresh air from them.

Click to read more ...

Press Pause Radio at PAX East 2013

t's another year, and you guys know what that means? It's another year for events and conferences, including one of our personal favorites: PAX East. From Friday to Sunday we'll be covering a myriad of games and events ranging from indie to blockbuster, and we'll give you the latest and greatest out of PAX East. We're still building our schedules for the event, but just to name a few of the games we'll be providing coverage on: Saints Row IV, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, Transistor, most of the Indie Megabooth showcase, and so much more. Due to scheduling conflicts we were unable to properly record our usual prologue episode for PAX East 2013, but we plan on making up for it with a huge podcast come Saturday night. Be on the lookout for it!

If you guys have any specific requests or feedback, be sure to email us at mailbag@presspauseradio.com, and if you guys are going to be there then don't be shy -- come say hello! We're also covering GDC next week, so watch for that as well!

Click to read more ...

QCF: Tomb Raider (2013)

ronically, we live in a generation of video gaming where technology allows for the most realistic situational simulation of life to date, and yet the gap that measures the suspension of disbelief players have when playing games grows wider in spite of the advances made in development. Titles such as Heavy Rain and The Walking Dead are notable exceptions to the standard, but rarely does a game ever try humanizing the fantastical exodus a player experiences. Crystal Dynamics, however, focused on delivering a title that encompasses this concept.

The cool, confident, and arguably vain Lara Croft that we all grew up with has now transformed into a vulnerable, tender-footed, human protagonist that’s now mixed into series of misfortunate trials that will change her for the rest of her life. Some may argue that Lara’s latest outing maybe controversial for the sake of controversy, but underneath the mud and soundtrack‘s dramatic orchestral reverbs of intensity lies a coming-of-age adventure that represents one of the most genuine experiences in video games today.

Click to read more ...

QCF: Corpse Party: Book of Shadows

e all know making video games is hard. The sheer amount of talent, money, time, passion and luck it takes to get a video game made is mind-boggling. It’s truly a Herculean effort to make a game at all, let alone a good one. But it must be even harder to make a sequel. You walk the line of introducing new ideas, while having enough of the previous installment’s DNA to please fans of the series. We all want something new from a sequel, but stray too far from the first game and you lose what originally made it special and fun. In that case, why even make a sequel? Corpse Party: Book of Shadows on the surface is recognizable as another Corpse Party game, but does its departure in gameplay and genre conventions lose what made the first iteration enjoyable? Read on to find out.

Click to read more ...

Bullet Heaven HD, Episode 66: Fantastic Night Dreams: Cotton (PC-10gine #7)

itches. Broomsticks. Pink hair. Fairies. Punishing difficulty. Wait, what? In this episode of Bullet Heaven HD, we take a look at the cute but deadly hard Fantastic Night Dreams: Cotton for PC Engine Super CD!

Click to read more ...