Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall (PC, 1996)

IT BEGINS. The second game in the series, which might well be the largest videogame ever made in landmass, scope, and amount of content. No joke. Hard to believe they released this two years after Arena, given the five+ year development time on every game since. Join me as I do tons of character creation, and a minor amount of actual playing!

Originally Posted: July 2014, now remastered for 2025

Elder Scrolls: Arena (PC, 1994)

I begin my long-awaited (by me) excursion into the highly-acclaimed Elder Scrolls saga. The saga begins with a bang... a 1994 MS-DOS poorly-lit, poorly-rendered bang. That said, this game is pretty sweet.

(Editor's Note: With Elder Scrolls Oblivion Remastered just recently dropping, it was time to get back into this series after a decade-long absence. I probably should have reposted these 4 months ago when Oblivion was hot off the presses and on everyone's lips. Better late than never)

Originally Posted May 2014, now remastered for 2025

Castle of the Winds Part II - Lifthransir's Bane (PC, 1993)

 

Part Two (AKA the rest of the game) was the one you had to buy after finishing the shareware demo. However, in the late 1990's Rick Saada made this freeware as well, so anyone could play it. Wish I'd known about this at the time, because I'm sure I would have liked to revisit the game back then. This part has the third and final dungeon of the game, which is bigger than the other two combined and transpires over a whopping 25 floors as our hero fights down through the Castle of Winds to face Surtur.

Castle of the Winds Part I - A Question of Vengeance (PC, 1993)

 

Today I'm looking at a Windows 3.1 turn-based RPG from 1993 that was developed by one guy, the mighty Rick Saada. This is a relic from back when one person could make a game. It doesn't have any music and the visuals are as barebones as it got in the 1990's, but By God it's compulsively fun and heavily D&D inspired.

This might be the game that got me into RPGs. I never finished it, because it's a two-part game and only the first part is shareware. It's like the first third of the overall game. No idea where I got it back then, but I had it on disc circa mid-1994 or so. I don't think I ever beat the "game" (or rather, demo), but I did get to the boss, the Hill Giant. At that point in time I'd tried (and failed) to get anywhere with rentals of Secret of Mana and 7th Saga, but I fared a lot better with this game for whatever reason.

Between this, Lord of the Rings, and D&D I developed a pretty strong interest in RPGs, stats, monsters, fantasy in general. This game may well have led the pack though. And now, with the magic of Windows 3.1 emulation, I get to take another look at it...and maybe finally get to Part Two, which is now freeware. I'll talk more about the game's history in that part, this one is all about the gameplay.

Another Metroid 2 Remake (PC, 2016)

 

I've gone into how important Metroid 2 was to me personally in the 90's. Looking back, it turns out Metroid 2 might actually be the most significant game in the series in terms of the effect it had on the rest of the games. And this, in my opinion, is the best version of it. Basically Zero Mission 2, and far more faithful to the Game Boy original than the Mercury Steam remake is. I can't say enough good about this game and I've been wanting to cover it for years. Not bad for a 100% fan-made project.

Mega Man 11 (All Systems, 2018)

I played this over two years ago and I'm just now getting around to doing a post on it. It's the final Mega Man game to add to the site! ...at least until we get Mega Man X9.

Touhou 13: Ten Desires (PC, 2011) - UPDATED

Time to check out a PC shooter from the Japan-only Touhou series. This is very much a "bullet hell" type shooter, where the emphasis is less about blasting the enemies and more about evading your way through swarms of projectiles with small movements.

UPDATE: I first played this in 2014 in Japanese, but recently I got ahold of an English translation and gave it another go. Updated shots are sprinkled throughout the original post here, with a bunch of new shots at the end. Did I beat the game this time? Tune in to find out.

Mighty No. 9 (Everything, 2016)

Well, it's better than nothing.

The First Hour of Prey

That's right, I played some Prey. Awesome intro credits and some shocking twists within the first few minutes. More after the jump.

Mass Effect Andromeda (Finished)

I play Mass Effect Andromeda. Now updated through to the end!

Limbo (500k Views Special)

To celebrate 500k views, I'm looking at a very cool indy game. It was either this or Shovel Knight, and...well...Limbo just feels right.

The Legend of Manpanda

 MANPANDA: The World's Manliest Panda. 25% Man, 75% Panda, 100% Sexy.

Rockman 8 FC (PC, 2010)

 Today I'm taking a very special look at a de-make of Mega Man 8. The original was released on the Sony Playstation and Sega Saturn in 1996 and 1997 respectively, so this 8-bit styled de-make was likely even more difficult to make than the Rockman 7 FC de-make. At least that one only had to jump from 16-bit to 8-bit. This is also a very recent release, launching in 2010 and undergoing numerous revisions since then. I believe this is the third version of it. It's a lot of fun and worth checking out if you can get PC controller support to work, but be warned, it's SUPER difficult.

Rockman 7 FC (PC, 2008)

Not sure what that kanji says, but I'd like to think it says "bitch!"

That way it's "Rockman 7 bitch!"

Mega Man 7 was released in the mid 90's for the Super NES. It was the first original series game to make its presence felt on the 16-bit powerhouse. Due in part to the system jump, it looks and feels almost nothing like the earlier NES games that preceded it. As a result, Mega Man 7 was kind of an "odd man out". It was on the console known for Mega Man X  without being a part of that series, and by the time it came out I thought the original series was long over with.

In 2008 we got a retro version of the game (that brings it in line with the NES originals) when some intrepid fan-programmers created a version of Mega Man 7 with entirely NES-styled graphics and sound. Available for PCs as "Rockman 7 FC", this fan-creation very successfully integrates Mega Man 7 into an NES format...to awesome effect. We later got a Rockman 8 FC de-make as well, and it's pretty good too.

Guest Review: Bioshock Infinite (PS3, XBox 360, PC, 2013)

Today, the "Deli Mane" Nick Vogt is taking a look at Bioshock Infinite. It's one of the best games of 2013. It's controversial. It's deep. What are his thoughts on the finished game? Read on to find out.

Game Review: Bioshock 2 (Playstation 3, XBox 360, PC, 2010)

Publisher: 2K Games

Developer: 2K Games

Time to Complete: 10-12 hours

The sequel to Bioshock delivers more of the same Rapture that we know and love, putting a new spin on the post-apocalyptic hellscape.

Game Review: Bioshock

Bioshock

"Fallen, fallen is Babylon"


Playstation 3 / XBox 360 / Pretty Much Every Computer Format, 2007

Publisher: 2K Games

Developer: Irrational Games

Time to Complete: 15-20 Hours

Some time soon, I'm going to get around to playing and reviewing Bioshock 2. Because of this, I thought it was a good time to review the first game, which I played not once, but twice over the past two years. I'm going to go right ahead and say it: Bioshock might be the best game of the past decade. Maybe. It's definitely on the shortlist, and I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who would give it that distinction. I'd give it Top 5 status for sure. It's so good that it's available on every major HD gaming platform possible, including the PS3, XBox 360, and -  as dweebs, geeks, nerds, and dorks of all stripes already know - computers.

What is Bioshock? A great first person shooter. Then again, calling it that is like calling Lebron James a "good basketball player". It goes way beyond the expected level of quality. Also, it's so much more than just an FPS. It's one part Resident Evil 4, one part Metroid Prime, one part Blade Runner. Add HD graphics, a heaping plate of modern political philosophy, and an incredibly unique setting, and you get Bioshock. Speaking of unique, somehow this game manages to be both futuristic AND retro with the location and storytelling. It flat-out makes me proud of the people who made it. The only way Bioshock could be better is if the whole game were Tina Fey wearing a burlesque outfit and playing an accordion while sitting atop the luckiest piano ever.