Ari Notis
This author account hasn't been claimed yet. To claim this account, please contact the outlet owner to request access.
Writing For
KotakuLatest Reviews
The game opens with the type of cinematic slow pan you see in prestigious games from top-flight studios like Naughty Dog—except, instead of people, it focuses on a group of wild house cats. You can immediately tell these cats are all best friends, spending their days gallivanting around derelict concrete structures, evidently free from human masters who didn’t give them nearly enough canned tuna, probably, the jerks. It’s not long, though, until the cat you control is separated from the pack. It is a heartbreaking moment, seeing this small creature—who does not have a name but is modeled after one of the studio head’s own pets—convey a look of despondent shock upon realizing he’s about to lose his pack. The thrust of the game then becomes bracingly clear: You will do everything in your power to see him reunited with his friends.
How do you even consider Halo Infinite in totality? Not just any Halo game but this Halo game—one that was supposed to herald a new generation of Xboxes but was delayed out of the launch window; one that’s had no shortage of public scrutiny over its tumultuous development process; one that’s not even out yet but has already been the centerpiece of multiple internet-dominating conversations; and, most crucially, one that’s meant to revitalize a totemic first-person shooter series after a stretch of metabolic dormancy. There are so many expectations on Halo Infinite’s armor-clad shoulders that you’d think it’d crumble apart in a pile of pixels. Every single player is bound to come into this game with their own predetermined definition of what it is and what it stands for. I sure as hell did.
The implicit promise of Forza Horizon is in the name. You see something on the horizon, you can drive to it. Skyrim with cars. Far Cry with more cars and no guns. Forza Horizon 5, the latest game in the venerable Xbox racing series, is no more and no less than that promise—just bigger, brighter, and so, so much more beautiful than its predecessors.
Bandai Namco’s latest blockbuster is a solid action RPG that just...never...ends...
On Wednesday night, as a hurricane tore its way through the Eastern Seaboard, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld a Texas law that essentially criminalizes abortions after six weeks. The 5–4 decision, issued at midnight, effectively nullifies Roe v. Wade, which has been the law of the land for nearly half a century. Though the letter of Roe still stands, the road is now paved for future statewide anti-choice bills to circumvent it. And this happened, as Slate put it so well, in the “most cowardly, dishonest, and shameful manner imaginable.”