Editorial
An argument worth your time. Perspective on the games we play.
Hela's magic backpack needs to make its co-op world worth sharing
Hela's backpack gives every mouse a movement language. The question is whether its open world makes that language social.
Black Ops Cold War's evidence board gave its campaign room to think
Its evidence board asked players to collect, compare and decide before the next mission started.
Mewgenics sends every battle back to the house
Its house gives every risky expedition a history that the next cat party has to live with.
Maneater 2 turns a theme park into a shark's food chain
The sequel's theme-park setting can make eating, exploring and evolving feel like one escalating act of vandalism.
Where the Seeds Fall makes every descent a landing puzzle
A flower thrown before a leap could give CygamesEdge's platformer a much sharper kind of vertigo.
Crazy Taxi's clock turns every shortcut into a wager
A ticking fare timer turns route knowledge into a series of escalating decisions.
Metal Slug's rare test build shows why its tank became a power-up
A rare location-test build reveals the design decision that made Metal Slug's tank sing.
Planet Zoo 2's Wildlife Reserves could make release feel real
Wildlife Reserves could make Planet Zoo 2's conservation theme tangible.
Dead Rising's 72-hour clock turned the mall into a schedule
Dead Rising made time management, failure and community route-planning part of a zombie-mall story.
Onimusha: Way of the Sword gives every counter a job
Capcom's returning samurai series makes its defensive tools feel like a conversation rather than one familiar button.