Biker culture took form after World War II, but broke open post-Easy Rider, a 1969 film reflecting post-Vietnam’s isolation. Easy Rider used America’s roads as a means of escape from social reality. But imagine if, instead of Easy Rider, social rebellion stemmed from Days Gone. Still an anti-culture influence, but also unhinged, cruel, and without… Continue reading Days Gone (PS4)
Nothing about Axis Football looks, plays, or sounds professional. That’s why it works. The NFL and EA produce a yearly, idealized look at pro football. It’s clean and glossy. Precise and comfortable. That’s the only pro football choice, made under multiple corporate banners. Not Axis Football. This is made by a handful of developers, not… Continue reading Axis Football 18 (PS4)
In a universe of demi-gods, zombies, demons, hell spawns, robot ninjas, and toothy monsters, the US military still puts up a fight. Loaded with assault rifles, they tactically lay out their plan to stop an underworld invasion using battleships and sheer numbers. It’s comical to think bullets still have value; imagine the Biblical rapture, with… Continue reading Mortal Kombat 11 (PS4)
Before the start of chapter three, Dead or Alive 6 already featured a fight in a pterodactyl nest, a brawl on a pirate ship assailed by a kraken, and introduces a demon fighter. That’s before getting to the reanimated robot based on the lineage of Dead or Alive’s main ninja clan. It’s such a bizarre… Continue reading Dead or Alive 6 (PS4)
Ichiro Suzuki, longtime Seattle Mariner and certain Hall of Famer, retired after the Mariner’s Tokyo tour earlier this month. As such, MLB 19 is the first entry in this series without Suzuki on the roster; that’s how long he hung onto his career. It feels weird without him. Suzuki and The Show paired well together.… Continue reading MLB 19: The Show (PS4)
The first kill comes quick in Far Cry: New Dawn. As things go in numerous contemporary videogames, it’s a crouch, wait, pounce sequence. Doing so brings up an animation in which the victim is spun around, punched in the stomach, put in a headlock, then stabbed in the eye by scissors. Far Cry: New Dawn… Continue reading Far Cry: New Dawn (PS4)
A radio signal fights through airwave static, calling out for protagonist Artyom. He won’t answer. Artyom doesn’t speak. He grunts and screams, but never engages in conversations. It’s bizarre why anyone asks him to respond over comms. Metro Exodus needs him to speak. The number of awkwardly silent, emotional moments bomb without a reasonable response.… Continue reading Metro Exodus (PS4)
