QCF: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

t’s strange just how infrequent this particular passing trend has fluctuated within the last two decades of modern pop-culture—the fad I’m talking about here is the vulgar, off-color, wildly gross and trashy gore-porn art style that’s swept the new age of cartoons and animation. Whether it was John K’s Ren and Stimpy or MTV’s The Head, the 90’s pioneered an interest into all things crass and disgusting, and even though the direction has been hit or miss as the years have gone by, one particular video game visionary has taken this niche and ran with it.

Off the heels of Super Meat Boy, revered indie darling Edmund McMillen unleased his liberal adaption of one of the most infamous passing’s from ancient biblical scripture, and much to the same vein, it was grueling spin on the rogue-like formula. While it possessed a degree of his trademark charm and style, The Binding of Isaac was ultimately, a rough mess that was held back from too many issues that kept it from going the same kind of distance that its platforming counterpart did.

Three years later though, and it would appear that Headup Games has given its controversial property a second wind, and whether or not this may potentially be your second field trip to the unholy depths of Isaac’s basement—The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth does everything a rerelease should do. In fact, it’s easily the most definitive means of experiencing the strange madness it has to that this top-down dungeon crawler has to offer.

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QCF: Styx: Master of Shadows

emember when Assassin’s Creed was marketed towards the thrill of eliminating your foes from the shadows? Sneaking to every target, stealthily moving around as if you were invisible to the naked eye, allowing your enemies only a second of reaction to your presence before it was too late for them to do anything about it—yeah, after seven years running, that shit is practically gone now.

Honestly, aside from the exception of Ground Zeroes, third-person stealth affairs are barely even a thing in games now, but before all hope of finding that great new game of “killing them softly” was lost, along came a little title by the name of Styx: Master of Shadows.

Now, mind you, the last time I loaded in software that was developed by Cyanide Studio, it was that licensed Game of Thrones game back in 2012; so yeah, my hopes were significantly tempered at first impression. It wasn’t long until after I metastasized a gross little clone doppelganger of myself, only so that I could send it running off, distracting all the meddlesome guards in my way as a decoy, that I realized, second chances are real, and this Next-Gen stealth adventure is living proof.

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PAX PRIME 2014: Getting hands-on with The Order: 1886

here’s been plenty of buzz aimed at Ready At Dawn’s upcoming PS4 exclusive, The Order: 1886, and considering the debut it made last year, the hype is more than understandable. However, hype is one thing though, and impressions are another—so color me impressed; The Order: 1886 is geared in the right direction, and has all the makings to reset the standard for third-person shooting for the better.

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QCF: Transistor

ast year’s PAX East left me with an overwhelming anticipation that I never thought could still manifest itself within this old jaded jerk of a player; it quickly seeded itself into a plantation of hope that gradually grew with every day it’s release date approached closer. I left the Supergiant Games booth with a tear in my eye, knowing that this day would come, when I would be able to reach full circle with their sophomore effort—Transistor.

Granted, the expectations for Transistor may have been tempered with heavy prospects, considering that it rides the coat tails of its famous older-brother Bastion, but the journey of Red and her unlikely ally doesn’t exist to simply prove that lightning can strike twice.

No, what makes Transistor so special is the message it carries; is a message that incredible narrative experiences can be achieved in video games no matter the shape, size, or budget, but more importantly—only done so because it is a video game.

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QCF: Daylight

he concept of mastering the invocation of a certain emotion in your art is an art within itself, and a challenging effort when tastefully handled at that.  When witnessing the attempt at this every effort in motion, you can’t help but admire the conviction of the chase to engage others into feeling the intended vision, even when the inkling that the whole damn affair is destined to derail into a train wreck much sooner than later.

Zombie Studios’ Daylight is one of the more sensational victims of experimentation within the craft of video game design geared towards immersion that I’ve played yet, and the lingering aftertaste of disappointment is still fresh against the roof of my mouth.

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QCF: Steamworld Dig

hen developers attempt to shove a veritable smorgasbord of buzz-worthy elements and tropes into their games, they’re banking on killing that sales bird among consumers with the two forecasted stones of expectations in the video game marketplace. The first is being able to promote a distinction of unique gameplay that’s conveniently composed of familiar elements that gamers know and love from other titles—it’s an assumptive projection for success that mostly results in being a shallow disaster than an innovative title.

Which is what makes Steamworld Dig from Image & Form Games a completely unexpected surprise that gloriously earns the title of being a worthy exception to the trend—The titles has now expanded to Steam, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita and is now, more than ever, one of the easiest must-own games to obtain out of 2014 to this very day.

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PPR Presents Versus-Samurai Gunn VS. Towerfall

e’ve talked about the renaissance of local couch play and its recent comeback thanks in large, to the efforts of passionate independent developers—and one particular pair of games that have raised the bar. Matt Thorson’s Towerfall has breached into new territories on the PS4, and has pushed the bar even further, but Teknopants to the frenetic kill-or-be-killed sensibilities to a whole new level; well, at least that’s what Andrew thinks, because George thinks he’s full of shit.

Welcome to the newest edition of VS, there are no friendships, no feelings, and no mercy—only compelling discourse that will determine a winner or accomplish nothing more than a bunch of entitled white dudes arguing over nebulous horseshit. So here's Andrew to lead things off.

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QCF: inFamous: Second Son

he idea of being larger than life leads down many paths to those who aspire for that sort of spotlight; stuff like entertainment, professional sports, or politics, but the most fantastical of them all is obtaining super powers, humanity’s ever present castle in the air.

Sucker Punch ventured into such territory and the grand moral compass that proceeds over it with inFamous, an ambitious open-world game that stumbled a bit out the door before it found the right beat for the tune it was pitching with inFamous 2.

Fast forward to present time and we see Sucker Punch at it again with inFamous Second Son; a sequel that introduces some novel features to the series, but unfortunately regresses the all-too-important advancements from its predecessor to a disappointingly mediocre degree.

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