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Articles by Harel Cohen
Bubsy 4D: Demo Impressions
Bubsy T. Bobcat is one of the most reviled characters in gaming history. Despite the well-earned reputation, he has continued to return in various games over the years. Ever since his first appearance in 1993, Bubsy has been met with moderate indifference at best and complete ridicule at worst. On a side note, I don’t know how to feel about the fact that he’s the same age as me.
Samus Aran’s Character Matters
Stories in video games are controversial. Many games in today’s market offer impressive, engaging storytelling efforts, which could rival blockbuster movies. Other games prefer to keep things simple by focusing on gameplay, while the plot remains insignificant or exists only through hints and optional side quests. Like any controversial topic, each side has its supporters. Some prefer video games to be video games and just get engrossed in the challenges ahead.
The Platformer Reinvented
DK Island and Emerald Rush DLC code provided by Nintendo. Nintendo are the masters of reinvention. As I noted in our recent Switch 2 launch video, Nintendo recruits beloved, familiar characters to guide players into novel experiences. These characters never remain completely static; they grow and change over time, just like the players who love them so. While nostalgia always has its appeal, I personally gravitate towards surprise and delight, especially as I grow older.
The Strange Case of the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Video Game
Isn’t this the last story you would expect to just show up in a video game website? I’m pretty sure some of you might be scratching your head over the fact Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde even had a video game adaptation, not to mention that this game came out in 1988, over thirty years ago! Why suddenly bring mention to it when it was most likely forgotten for a good reason?
Life is Strange Double Exposure: Killed by a Choice
Life is always determined by choice. If you look back at most of your life to a certain point, you’ll notice how many events, both small and major, were the circumstances of a choice you’ve made. You could have chosen to date someone you’d had feelings for, watch a random movie you’d never heard of, or even read this very article. A choice could lead you down a path of good times or sad memories, sometimes simultaneously.
When Mario Met Sonic at the Olympic Games
Like any industry, the gaming landscape changes every few years. What was once the status quo transforms into something different and creates a new normal. Revolutionary ideas suddenly became fads past their time. Even the big companies go through some big changes in the way they operate. Back in the 80s, Nintendo was the undefeated savior of the video game industry while SEGA limped behind in an attempt to just stay in business.
Princess Peach Showtime! Review for Nintendo Switch
Allow me to open with a confession: I was never that big of a Mario fan. Not to say I hate the franchise but it wasn’t on my radar as much as other franchises while I was growing up. Over the years, as I got to play more of the games and experience other media related to the Italian Plumber, I did open up to a lot more of the magical Mushroom Kingdom.
Shadow the Hedgehog: Is Black the New Blue?
Itâs interesting to look at stuff in retrospect; so many things can change with the passage of time. What was once new and refreshing is now a product of the era, and what was considered bad and underwhelming comes to be seen as underappreciated and ahead of its time. Time can change a lot in regards to what we think of⌠basically anything; and todayâs subject is no exception. The SEGA Dreamcast is definitely one of those consoles that was taken from us too early.
The Legend of Korra: A Legend Lost to Time
Avatar: The Last Airbender is one of the most perfect shows ever made. While I’m pretty sure this isn’t the first time you’ve heard this claim, I have to set the stage. The show means a great deal to a lot of people, and it means a great deal to me too. Where the fanbase starts to disagree is regarding the sequel show, Legend of Korra, which premiered 5 years after the original ended.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Review
“Legacy. What is a legacy? It’s planting seeds in a garden you’ll never get to see.” I think about this quote from the musical Hamilton a lot. Many people want to make a difference, leave something behind so that the world would remember them in a flattering way, even if they won’t live to see it. One day you’re on top of the world and the next? You’re replaced by those you inspired. No franchise demonstrates this as much as Prince of Persia.
Dreaming of TMNT: The Last Ronin
It’s hard to believe that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have been around for almost 40 years now. What started as a passion parody project from the once-unknown duo of Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird turned into a ubiquitous multi-billion-dollar franchise. If you have read a comic, watched TV, visited theaters, or played a video game, chances are you’re familiar with the heroes in a half-shell to some extent.
I'm Optimistic About Sonic the Hedgehog
Stop me if you’ve heard this before. “Sonic had a rough transition to 3D.” “Sonic will never catch up to Mario.” “Something something Sonic Cycle.” “This new Sonic game is a glitchy mess.” “Sonic was never good.” Did I get them all? I don’t think so, but these will be enough to make my point. Sonic the Hedgehog is probably one of the most polarizing franchises in video game history. Maybe even in any industry.
Ghostrunner II: Surprising the Newcomer
There are a lot of video games out there these days, as I’m sure everyone is aware. From big budget to indie, original ideas to adaptations, remasters to remakes, the selection of games is varied and there are very few chances to play everything that’s currently on the shelf. Myriad reasons might stop you from playing a game, from money to lack of time, so you'll never quite get to everything you want to play. I usually know what I’m getting into when I pick up a new game.
Five Nights at Freddy’s is a Terrible Movie… and I Loved it
Movies based on video games are entering some sort of a renaissance after years of mediocre outings. These adaptations usually failed to satisfy both general audiences and fans of the source material while garnering movie studios little to no profit. This seems to have been mitigated in recent years with plenty of silver-screen adaptations of video games which satisfied their fanbase, while also opening the door to new audiences who’ve never encountered them.
Rayman in the Phantom Show: A Welcomed if Underwhelming Return
People who know me will know one thing about me. Besides Sonic the Hedgehog, my favorite character of all time is Rayman. I’ve been with the limbless hero ever since the first game and the impact he had on my gaming history, not to mention my personal life, is something I’ll cherish forever. If it weren’t for Rayman I may not have been here writing about video games. He shaped a lot of the way I view games and even art in general.
The Last of Us: 10 Years Later
Time is a weird thing. A certain amount of it can sound like something so big you can’t believe you’ll live to see it. Then, when you actually realize you did live through all that time, you’re shocked by how quickly it all went by. The passage of time has a way of changing your views as well. Things you once loved might start to show their age and things you couldn’t previously stand are now your favorites. A lot can happen in a decade.
PlayStation Showcase Predictions - Postmortem
The first PlayStation showcase in more than 600 days is done and dusted. So how did the SUPERJUMP staff fare with their picks? Not well, as it turned out, but I'm guessing that is true for a large number of predictors out there. This felt like a strange show from Sony, more of an extended State of Play than a true showcase. Thirty four games were shown but only three first-party studios were present.
GRIS: Maximum Minimalism
Itâs wonderful to have a girlfriend who shares my interest in video games, but whatâs even better is that our gaming preferences are mostly different. While Iâm navigating the obstacles of platformers or diving into the stories of the latest AAA adventures, sheâs embracing the weird concepts and more artistic experiences which may stray from the basic definition of a video game.
Catching Up on the Bayonetta Trilogy
The gaming backlog. You probably know what I'm talking about. We all have this cursed list of games that we want to get around to playing, but oftentimes can’t find the time for it. Rather it’s because we bought them at discounts and left them to collect digital dust, or because we just slept on them for one reason or another. Sometimes the opposite happens and you end up throwing yourself into a new game that was never on your radar.
Completing Super Mario Sunshine in 2023
As a big fan of platformers, I’ve played a lot of them through the years. Most platformers involve controlling a character through a series of obstacles by jumping around and collecting things. While that holds true, when you look at the various platformers available, it goes far beyond that. No franchise exemplifies this better than the iconic Mario series, which continues to reign supreme in the industry.
Remembering Michael Berlyn
People use the word “legend” a lot these days. While in the days of old, it described epic tales of adventure, these days people use it to describe either people or works that have left a tremendous impact on the public. People deem legends to be those who break boundaries, revolutionize the norm, and so on. It's remarkable that it's no longer necessary to be great to be legendary because even the awful can be iconic.
Bayonetta’s Unique and Confusing Prequel
I shall make this clear right now: I’ve not played any of the Bayonetta games. Not because I have anything against them, but because I never had the time or the console to give those games a shot. So keep in mind everything I say in this review of Cereza and the Lost Demon is based on my sole experience with this title while having very little knowledge of the series. So why did I decide to play a prequel to a game series I have no experience with? Simply put, I did not know it was a prequel.
Wanted: Dead Lies Buried Under Its Own Mistakes
“I’m not mad, I’m disappointed” How many of you have heard of that term before, or used it to describe your feelings regarding someone or something? Sadly it is exactly how I felt while playing Wanted: Dead, the latest action game by Soleil. It simply left me unsatisfied. So what do we have here? Wanted: Dead tells the story of a Hong Kong police force consisting of criminals who are sent on suicide missions.
SpongeBob’s Cosmic Shake is in Need of a Shakeup
If you grew up in the late 90s and early 2000s like me, you were likely to come across plenty of licensed games which were based on either movies or TV shows of the day. Most of those were seen as nothing more than a way for publishers to make a quick buck at the expense of an unassuming fanbase. Back then if you were to see a licensed game in a store, you’d be told to stay away from it as most of them weren’t all that great.
HBO Delivers With The Last of Us
Stop me if you’ve heard this before. A video game is being adapted to a visual medium (such as a movie or a TV show) and it ends up failing at capturing the charm of the source material. Video game adaptations continue to be deemed as “cursed” and we ponder why producers keep green-lighting them. This may have been the situation ever since video game adaptations flooded the screens in the 90s, but in recent years, the curse seems to have been broken.
Forspoken: An Imperfect But Promising Beginning
Review While the game has some rough edges, it's worth trying out Opinions are everywhere these days. It doesn't matter if you're looking for an input about a technical problem or a personal matter, opinions are very easy to come across since the advent of online debates. Do you have a computer problem?
Controversial Treatment of Voice Talent Strikes Again
The video game industry, like any entertainment industry, is evolving with each generation. Most of these evolutions are happening behind the scenes, as it’s the developers who know all the ins and outs of advanced hardware and technical limitations being broken again and again.
Michel Ancel: A Fallen Legend, Part 2
In Part 1, we traced the rise of Michel Ancel as a game creator, from Rayman to Tonic Trouble and on to Beyond Good & Evil. But what Hollywood director took a liking to Ancel's work? And where would it all lead? Read on for the rest of the story. King Kong - The Will to Surprise Peter Jackson’s reputation precedes him, as his cinematic take on Lord of the Rings is beloved by many around the world.
Michel Ancel: A Fallen Legend, Part 1
The video game industry may be vast and more renowned in present-day culture, but there are no big-name celebrities involved in it like most other entertainment media. There are big names like Warren Spector, Yu Suzuki, Hideo Kojima, and of course Shigeru Miyamoto — just to name a few. Even indie developers Scott Cawthon and Toby Fox (creators of Five Nights at Freddy’s and Undertale, respectively) have become well-known names in the industry.
Sonic Omens: A Hypocritical Ambition
Being a fan of Sonic the Hedgehog isn’t easy sometimes. It is easy to point the finger at the poor releases under the franchise, but I’d argue that the main reason is the fanbase itself. I’m sure there are many who are aware that the Sonic fanbase is polarizing; both in opinions and communication within the fanbase itself.
Communicating as a Cat in Stray
I must start with a confession: I'm actually much more a dog person than a cat person. I have nothing against cats, but they were always my last choice when it came to pets. My mother hates cats, so there was no chance of ever owning one, and the fact that the mere sight of one would send my dog into a barking frenzy gave me a slight animosity towards them. I never actually hated cats.
Klonoa 2: Forgotten but Not Gone
After previously covering the childhood trauma caused to me by Klonoa: Door to Phantomile, I figured there’s no reason to not write about its sequel, Klonoa 2: Lunatea’s Veil. Out of the two games, I found myself playing the sequel first. Only later would I play the original game, ending up quite scared by its content.
Klonoa: Childhood Trauma Never Felt So Good
Every person who grew up playing video games has this one game that may have caused them irreversible trauma. A game that scarred them so much to the point they avoided anything else related to it. While most would probably think the honor of traumatizing a kid would be reserved for horror games like Resident Evil or Silent Hill, the game which traumatized me as a kid is the farthest thing away from a scary game. That game is none other than Klonoa: Door to Phantomile for the PlayStation.
The Quarry - Improving on a Great Formula
Review The Quarry building on the foundation laid down by Until Dawn I have always gravitated toward the game genre that can best be described as “Interactive Drama”. To my eye, it's a type of game that acts as a movie, featuring more cinematics to watch than challenges to conquer, but the story is determined and progresses based on the player’s decisions and choices throughout.
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