A name has been whispered on the tips of many tongues lately, one that, most recently, had a shift in philosophy. One of its recent titles focused more on telling a deeper narrative with a flawed, vulnerable protagonist. One with bolder, more fluid cinematics and animation, this particular series has also seen something of a scaling back in terms of depth while still leaning heavily on nostalgia, ultimately leading to some divided opinions on the final product. This game is not God of War. If that were the case, there would be additional mention of how its most recent entry has seen multiple claims of helping to propel the medium forward, which is something of an odd statement. From a storytelling perspective, this seems unfounded, however in terms of technical performance and visual quality, the game is certainly setting some new goalposts that are unlikely to be met except in the case of specific high profile studios. The game being described in the introduction is Metroid: Oth...

The title of this series is Really Passionate Gaming, and with initials like those, the most obvious subject of my analyses would probably be “action-adventure games,” which, you know, is what Nintendo likes to call Paper Mario nowadays. There are some who would argue otherwise, however, as the first two installments of the series were structured more like light Role-Playing Games rather than puzzle-solving-centered, superfluous combat exercises in tedium that evoke nothing but disappointment... Sorry. I got a bit ahead of myself, there. See, the Paper Mario series in general is one that I consider to be “good,” and yet, its best installment has one of the most satisfying turn-based combat systems I have ever encountered. Sadly, this combat system appeared in the second of the five games released, The Thousand-Year Door (TTYD). Before I get into the features of TTYD's combat system, I'd first like to talk about Paper Mario's identity crisis. I'm not just talking ...