There’s truth in NBA 2K20’s story this year. When a college teammate goes down with an ACL tear and loses his sports scholarship, protagonist Che protests. “All this talk about family, but we’re really just entertainment,” he says, in backlash to the exploitative NCAA business model. If there’s a wonder why NBA 2K20 doesn’t feature… Continue reading NBA 2K20 (PS4)
Jesse Faden wants her brother back. The American government took him, specifically the Federal Bureau of Control. It’s become corrupt. An entity known as “The Hiss” took over, turning federal employees into mind-controlled drones. Faden rushes in guns blazing, restoring this government to its rightful form. Yes, it’s a Trump thing. It’s difficult to think… Continue reading Control (PS4)
Weird Al Yankovic’s irreverent “Christmas at Ground Zero” joked about the idea of nuclear annihilation, setting the apocalypse under a mistletoe for a jolt of irony. Yankovic released the song during the Cold War, mocking the stupidity shown by super powers (even using a clip of President Reagan in the video), and the casualness with… Continue reading Rad (PS4)
The image of two teenage girls sending buckshot into Nazi guts is proper emasculation of Nazi garbage, that rare time when the videogame power fantasy feels right and proper. Set in 1980’s Neu-Paris, the evocative visual design considers a European country still under Hitler’s laws. Neu-Paris looks frozen in time; nothing progressed since World War… Continue reading Wolfenstein: Youngblood (PS4)
This year’s edition of the NFL’s carefully controlled videogame product focuses on QB1, a thin story concerning a college player pushed into a starting spot in his senior year – one game before the National Championship. Then, into the NFL, of course. It’s sports fantasy drivel, thinly formed but allowing people to live vicariously through… Continue reading Madden NFL 20 (Xbox One)
Religion interferes when the industrial revolution begins, Bloodstained’s catalyst, causing extremists to raise a Gothic castle, filled with demons. Anything to stop smokestacks from replacing churches – or, keeping things great, as conservatives see it. A religious tome is at the center of this conflict, a war between progressives who wish to stop evil from… Continue reading Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (PS4)
Released as the first Marvel film universe story comes to close, Ultimate Alliance 3 retools that same story. Infinity Stones go missing, mega-big bad Thanos wants them, superheroes must stop him. The videogame edition tells this with no real style. It’s crowded. Most of the action is noise, with four Marvel characters slicing or punching… Continue reading Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 (Switch)
