Monthly Archives: February 2015

24 Feb

Sure Plays a Mean Pinball

I likes me some pinball. It’s why I have a good dozen tables in Zen Pinball 2, a copy of Pinball Hall of Fame for my 360 (in case I want another go at a virtual Medieval Madness, a table that was in my college cafeteria), fond memories of my visits to the Pacific Pinball Museum, and a copy of Odama – the Gamecube pinball war game that required voice commands – tucked away somewhere.

BackstorySo it was with a bit of trepidation and a good deal of excitement that I loaded up Rollers of the Realm, a pinball adventure RPG game. While my favorite Zen Pinball tables include a good deal of technical wizardry and more than a few mini-games that are impossible to recreate on physical tables, I hadn’t played an actual pinball hybrid game since Odama. How pinball is Rollers of the Realm? How RPG is it? How fun is it? Read More →

15 Feb

Defenders of Gallia

Valkyria Chronicles was one of the first games I played on my PS3. I borrowed it from a friend for several years, never beat it, and eventually returned it to him when he wanted to play the DLC. When I saw that the game had been recently ported to PC (all DLC included), I couldn’t help myself and bought it, fully intending to play it once more and make it all the way through.

Alicia and WelkinI gave myself two weeks to play Valkyria Chronicles, intending to make it further than I had gotten before and toyed with giving it two full entries, because I knew going into it that I would love this game. But, life got in the way. Work has been grueling and one of our cats passed away quite suddenly. It’s been a draining few weeks, but for a few moments here and there, I’ve managed to sneak off into the woods of Gallia and spend some time with Welkin Gunther and Squad 7, and boy is this game wonderful. Read More →