QCF: Resonance

Point-and-click adventure games have seen a resurgence in the past few years, with Telltale games showing success in the genre with their Sam and Max and Back to the Future games selling really well. Resonance is a new point-and-click adventure from indie developer Xii Games that has been in the works since 2008, but does this old 90s style game bring back fond memories of the genre? Or does it just remind us of how far the genre has come in the past 20 years?

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QCF: Lollipop Chainsaw

Grasshopper Manufacture has developed a reputation for creating gaming experiences with insane and humorous parts, with just enough of both to entertain and sometimes shock its audience. Lollipop Chainsaw is the latest creation to grace consoles with the unlikely collaboration between James Gunn and the infamous Suda 51. While the game’s controls and combat seem to be the best of any Grasshopper game so far, the lack of polish and sometimes pointless mini-games ultimately makes this cheerleader seem like a high school fling you’ll probably forget about.

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Counter Strike : Global Offensive Impressions

Along with many other gamers, I recently had the chance to go a few rounds with the Counter Strike: Global Offensive beta. First impressions of it indicate it’s moving in the right direction, but being a former Counter Strike: Source and 1.6 player, I couldn’t help but feel something about the game was a little off. Though there's time before the game comes out, some of the new things about it are really good, so let’s go over them, shall we?

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QCF: Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown

Swift smash cuts electrify the screen as Virtua Fighter’s darling poster child, Akira Yuki, performs his signature Hakkyoku-ken attacks to demonstrate a raw display of strength in Sega-AM2’s latest production, Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown. It’s been four years since we’ve seen Virtua Fighter hit the scene. And even though it’s been quiet on the western fighting front, the land of the rising sun has been treated to additional content and refinements that we’ve been missing out on up until Final Showdown. However, with the act of annual fighting game re-releases becoming a trend this generation, is Final showdown is worth your hard-earned space bucks?

The simple answer is a yes -- a hard hitting, mind-blowing yes.

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QCF: Diablo III

Since the first game launched in 1996, Blizzard’s premier demon-slaying series, Diablo, always resulted in satisfying addictions to the world of Sanctuary and its hellishly heroic endeavors. In fact, when one thinks of playing, they probably tell themselves they'll need a new mouse before the day ends. As for Diablo III, the next chapter in the series, we find there are thankfully more reasons to continue the addiction as opposed to leaving in disgust -- even if we can't always log in.

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PPR 59

 Another E3 is in the books, and now is the time to discuss all of the big announcements and reveals that were shown during the year's biggest convention for the video game culture. The crew skips current news and events, and focuses solely on their biggest hits and misses from all three of the major press conferences as well as a few surprises. Has E3 lost it's staying power, or was the lineup of titles and new innovations enough to win us over? We will discuss this and so much more on this episode of Press Pause Radio. Make sure to join in on the conversation on the site or on our Twitter and Facebook pages, and while you're at it also make sure to rate and review us on iTunes, Zune or Stitcher Radio. Every little bit helps us reach more people, and it makes us feel special. Thanks!

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QCF: Awesomenauts

What the heck is a MOBA? Well, apparently it stands for "Multiplayer Online Battle Arena". I learned something today, because it just so happens to be exactly what Awesomenauts is.

Developed by Romino Games and published by DTP on XBLA and PSN, Awesomenauts is basically an 80's-Cartoon-themed, side-scrolling, run-and-gun-styled online demolition match. Sounds... well, awesome, right? Woah there, just settle in for a bit. We'll get to how awesome this game is in a second. As for anyone looking for an in-depth single player campaign with an involved story? You need not apply. The extent of your single player experience will literally be practice stages versus bots in preparation for actual online play and for the most part, the experience is identical.

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tagged Awesomenauts, MOBA, Online, PS3, PSN, Side Scrolling, XBLA, Xbox Live | in QCF Reviews

QCF: Ys Origin

 

The Ys Saga has never really gotten a lot of press in North America, especially with Squaresoft and Enix and later Square-Enix dominating the RPG world for nearly the entire time that Japanese RPGs were popular. In Japan though, Ys has been an extremely popular series on PCs since the first installment showed up on the PC-8801 in 1987. And it's no small wonder, given Ys' super-streamlined game play, enjoyable story with likeable characters and often-hardcore difficulty.

The Adventures of Adol Christian has been a long and cherished one, despite its decidedly niche status. Starting out in North America on the TurboGrafx-16, the series has yet to disappoint me. Fast forward to the present and wouldn't you know it, Ys is still going pretty strong, with Ys Origin, the very latest North American offering in this criminally under-appreciated series, released on Steam from XSEED games. But what's this? No Adol? No exotic vistas? No puzzling riddles or any of the iconic Books of Ys? Well to understand why, you have to understand exactly what Ys Origin is all about. Ys Origin is technically the seventh title in the series, originally released in 2006 on Windows PC in Japan as a prequel to the entire Ys mythos, set 700 years before the events of Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished.

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