Mark Steighner
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Writing For
COGConnectedLatest Reviews
Love ’em or hate ’em — and I kind of fall into the first category — Suda51‘s games are always audacious and entertaining at the very least. This is certainly true of No More Heroes 3, which was released just over a year ago. Now the game is coming to...
When it comes to music, are you like me? Do you go through periods when, for weeks or months, all you listen to is one style of music? I’m kind of like that with metal. I’ll wake up and think, it’s a Mastodon kind of day, and I’m hooked for...
Steelrising
France at the end of the 18th century was a hot mess. Revolution was in the air. So was political oppression, counter-revolution, warring factions, and a desperate desire for change. A little known fact — at least according to Spiders’ new game, Steelrising — is that there was also an...
Ask a long-time gamer about humor in video games, and they’re likely to mention Double Fine’s classics. It makes sense. Games like Psychonauts and its sequel, or Escape from Monkey Island are classic examples. But, as Destroy All Humans! 2 Reprobed reminds us, smart and funny writing does not exclusively...
Saints Row
You don’t have to be an action game devotee to have heard of the Saints Row franchise. In terms of popularity, the games aren’t all that many rungs below GTA. In terms of notoriety and all-out, envelope-pushing, nose-thumbing raunchiness, Saints Row Saints Rowhas always edged out Rockstar’s series. But the...
Thymesia
Dark Souls and its FromSoftware brethren have long had a reputation for punishing difficulty. Of course, that perception is only partially true. FromSoftware games brilliantly build in mechanisms for player improvement. None of the games have a difficulty slider, but there are character classes and builds that can stand in...
Hohokum
When it comes to entertainment — whether movie, TV, book or videogame — there’s room at the table for everyone and everything. Not every game needs to be an action blockbuster, serious drama, open-world masterpiece or platforming extravaganza. Sometimes, just being chill and colorful is enough. That’s certainly true of...
It’s a lesson well-learned by writers, musicians, TV producers, and film directors: when something is successful, don’t mess with it. More of the same is a good thing. Sure, you want to tweak your product a little. Making big changes, though, tends to alienate your audience. It’s a good way...
If MMORPGs are an endless time-sink for players, they must be an equally bottomless pit for developers. Long time players need new content, and new players need enticement. There has to be a feeling of evolution, but not so much as to alienate the faithful. Does the Elder Scrolls Online:...
Frozenheim
I’m a sucker for city builders and building sims. Whether I’m building the city of the future, a theme park or a dinosaur zoo, I’m a happy camper. Frozenheim is two parts city builder, one part RTS. But is this Viking themed sandbox fun to tinker around in?
Most everyone has had at least one crappy job. For me, it was the summer I worked in the Honda warehouse. All day, every day, my job was to count and inventory bins of small auto parts. We’re talking washers, bolts and screws, not fenders and steering wheels. Decades later,...
Deadcraft
We’ll say it again: there isn’t a videogame, movie, or television show not built on the bones of something else. Even if the particular bit of entertainment seems outwardly unique, it probably has a familiar story or maybe character tropes you’ve seen before. Does Deadcraft forge its own identity, or...
