PS3

I was listening to a podcast recently (and I've heard this same thing multiple times from other people over the last week or so) and I was shaking my head at the way the speakers were discussing recent Events Which Shall Not Be Named. Over and over, they were so insistent that reviewers are "getting paid off" for good scores.

In the wake of the success of Obsidian's Project Eternity Kickstarter, supporters are eagerly watching the stretch goals to see what promised goodies will be put into the game. Meanwhile, I am hoping to see one thing left out: voice acting. Done correctly, voice acting can significantly improve a Japanese RPG. However, recording voices for characters diminishes a Western RPG, regardless of the reading's quality. For this reason, I feel that Western RPGs should avoid having voiced dialogue.

The Great Giana Sisters is a game with an unusual history, but what started off a flagrant imitation of Super Mario Bros has evolved into a successful platform series. Designed by the now-deceased founder of Black Forest Games, the company has finished a Kickstarter project to release a brand-new game for the series that will serve to celebrate the original title's 25th anniversary. Freelancer Christopher Floyd spoke to the team to get the skinny on the benches that morph into coffins, "chiptune metal," and the full story on Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams.

Extra Credits has an interesting two-part discussion about the hero's journey, a concept explored by Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Thatgamecompany's Journey is the game example featured here (along with The Legend of Zelda) but this seems to be a concept exploited in all entertainment genres.

Speaking of games which weren't quite home runs, I have to admit that I'm shocked to say that Dishonored isn't floating my boat. I loved the demo at PAX and it has all of the elements that should appeal to me, but now that I've been sitting down with the full version... it's just not clicking. It's just not coming together. It started well, but it's gone... cold.

This week, we discuss our favorite scary games, and then have a mega discussion of The Walking Dead: Episode 4! With Chi Kong Lui, Brad Gallaway, Richard "Defender Against The Robot Uprising" Naik, Dylan Collins and special guest Jeffrey Matulef.

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Please send feedback and mailbag questions to podcast (at) gamecritics (dot) com.

Long Absent, a Little Different, but not Unknown

HIGH The resurrection of a long-absent, fan favorite franchise.

LOW Restarting after ten hours due to crushing poverty.

WTF Walls don't function properly in this universe.

What do all of these big-name games have in common? They were all worked on by a studio you might not recognize—Demiurge. After helping the big boys with these heavy-hitting titles, they've stepped out of the shadows with Shoot Many Robots, their own original IP.

Although it's exciting to see so many great games start popping up in the fourth quarter... there are too many great games popping up in the fourth quarter.

Against the Wall

HIGH I genuinely cannot remember a single moment of even mild pleasure.

LOW Horse Rider 2.

WTF Well, at least they lampshaded the fact that this guy's name sounds like a porn star's stage name.