Can you recall which game sucked you in the hardest (if you’re the type that actually cares for reading)? For role-playing gamers the answer is probably a hard one – because you have options, but for the casual gamer it may take some thought. Recently I was disheartened after learning that the majority of Mass Effect and Dragon Age players were skipping through the dialogue to get to the end. Knowing that we are in the age of “tl;dr”... 

If you’ve been playing MMORPGs for as long as I have, you know that The World of Warcraft, while being the most successful of the genre, managed to set a hard rift in the timeline of MMO games. What do I mean? Well prior to WoW the MMORPG standard was one way, then after Blizzard changed the game to cater to a more casual crowd – well most developers since have tried to adopt a similar model. Well the problem has been that there is only one World... 

Personally, I consider Skyrim to be a beautiful escape into a real Fantasy world. Sure other RPG’s will allow you to wear the shoes of a hero going on a grand adventure but none of them feel as “table-top” as Skyrim does. I think this element is the key to its draw (gamers like myself are drinking the Kool-aid hardcore) along with the beautiful real-time scenery, the impressive dialogue and the lack of loading in the massive world a la Grand... 

Well the trailer for Dragon Age: Redemption is out and as to be expected nerds are hating. Still for those of us who can appreciate shows that don’t magically come with a million dollar budget, this should be a fun ride with a little fan service paid to our favorite RPG series (I know, I know). Still it has Felicia Day who has more than proven that she can carry a low budget show into success and it has, dare I say a non-white party member?... 

For anybody that knows me, you know that I am a huge SNK, or “was” a huge SNK fanboi back in the day. One of the first games that started this love affair I had with the company was a role-playing game by the name of Crystalis. In Crystalis you were the standard spikey haired hero on a quest to rescue a damsel in distress. What set Crystalis apart from the other role-playing games is that it’s setting combined steam punk futuristic... 

I wasn’t amped on Dragon Age 2 when I first saw the trailer of mage class Hawke battling the Qunari Arishok to the death. Later on when they showed the actual gameplay it looked so fast and crazy that I assumed that they had abandoned everything from the old and was catering it to the negative attention span of average American gamer. Boy was I ever so wrong. Since the release of the game to my Steam account on PC, I have logged marathon hours... 

In my opinion the warrior is THE most important member of the 4 Archetypes when it comes to group combat. On his own a warrior is only as good as his veteran status coupled with his equipment. I don’t care who you are, if your life (as in hit points or health) has no positives in a battle then you will eventually be worn down and killed. In a dungeon raid a warrior without leech puts his entire life in the hands of the healer, which isn’t the... 

Many gamers (especially those who played the first one) are disappointed with Mafia II. The game looks absolutely beautiful, the city is huge, detailed and expansive yet you aren’t allowed to explore it outside of missions. The dames are lovely, the gangsters look like gangsters and the graphics are pretty damn impressive… streaming lights off the vehicles at night. There are many positives and a few unforgivable negatives in Mafia II,... 

Of all the Ultimas that this author has had the pleasure of playing, the most memorable was Exodus. In Ultima III Exodus yourself and a three other explorers are hired by Lord British to save the land of UIltima from a vicious enemy (can’t recall if it was a demon or dragon). The game’s intelligence would punish you for doing random things like robbing shopkeepers or attempting an assassination on Lord British. I recall getting my guys strong... 

Once in a awhile game comes out a bit under the radar and upon experiencing it you feel as if you need to climb to the top of a mountain and shout it’s praises to the world. This is the type of game that Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption is. Amazing does not fairly sum it up and it isn’t because of new game mechanics, over-the-top graphics or genre defining elements. No the sum of everything together, running smoothly, forcing hours upon hours...