Warp Zoned Presents
Most Recent: Top Story
The Games of April 2016
There are some excited games coming out in April, and Warp Zoned is ready to play them! It seems the biggest focus here is Dark Souls III, but Star Fox Zero has more than a few staffers ready to take flight in an Arwing. Read on to find out what our plans our for the month of April! (more…)
Warpback: What We Played in March 2016
Here at Warp Zoned, it looks like we all just tapped our backlogs this cold month of March! There were a few minor exceptions, of course, like Salt and Sanctuary and Hyper Light Drifter, but for the most part, we were just tapping into old favorites or finally taking the shrink wrap off games we’ve had forever. Read on to see which systems we were playing games on as ol’ Mother Nature snowed most of us in. (more…)
Catlateral Damage Review: An A-Meow-Zing Experience!
It’s no secret that I adore cats. I’ve owned cats, loved cats, and am actively looking to adopt a new cat. I have cats on everything, from t-shirts to totebags to cat-butt magnets. Because I don’t own any actual cats right now, my friends refer to me as the “catless cat lady.” So it should be no surprise that, the first time I saw Catlateral Damage, I knew it was a game I was going to love. (more…)
Posted in PC, PS4, Reviews, Top Story
Tagged Catlateral Damage
Batman Is Forever: 4 Ways to Bring Back the Arkham Series
Rocksteady sent us all on a wild ride back when Batman: Arkham Asylum first launched, finally giving the world a chance to properly squeeze on that rubber cowl and proclaim, “I’m Batman!” Two sequels (and a WB Games Montreal-helmed prequel and an Armature-developed side-scrolling spinoff) later, the future of the series is still very much up in the air now that its original developer has stepped away… or have they? Regardless, it seems likely that someone will continue the legacy of the Bat, but what direction could the series possibly take? Well… I’m glad you asked, hypothetical Internet stranger! (more…)
Resident Evil Reflections: 20 Years With Capcom’s Frightening Franchise
March 22, 2016 marked a true milestone. For it was 20 years ago this week that a groundbreaking video game franchise was born. A game that not only became an instant classic, but also helped create an entirely new genre, spawned several sequels and spinoffs, and launched a successful series of movies. That game was Resident Evil.
Few games have had the long lasting appeal that Capcom’s survival horror series provides, and despite a few bumps in the road, the Resident Evil series is still widely popular after all these years. (more…)
Hitman, Brussels, and Showing Restraint After a Tragedy
This morning, I couldn’t sleep. At about 3:30 or 4:00 AM I went online; the first reports of what had happened in Brussels were just coming in. I switched on BBC News and felt like it was 7/7/05 all over again. Commuters and travelers were targeted just going about their day, just as they had been nearly 11 years ago in the London attacks. Not much was known this morning, as it had pretty much just happened, and amidst the chaos, everyone was just trying to get their bearings and get to safety. About the only thing that was known was that it had to be terrorism. Coordinated explosions in crowded public places during peak travel times are not a coincidence. It was terrorism, and someone had intended to hurt and kill people.
Last week, it was Ankara and Istanbul; in December, it was Tell Tamer and San Bernardino; in November, it was Beirut and Paris. Every time it happens, it catches us momentarily off guard, and we think, “Really? This crap is still going on? When is this going to end? Will it ever end?” And the usual societal discourse ensues: the condolences, avowals of justice and solidarity, strategies to prepare for the future. These we expect. This is how we grieve.
What we don’t generally expect is, I don’t know, let’s say, news for a video game whose objective is to target and kill people to be announced just a few hours after a horrible terrorist attack. (more…)
Hitman: Intro Pack Review: For Better or Worse, the Same Old Hitman
As long as I have been playing the Hitman games, I have always been struck by the strange dissonance between the way the series is marketed and the way it actually plays. In adverts, cutscenes, and promotional art, Hitman games are always presented as offering a power fantasy in which you play as a globetrotting, sharply-dressed, dual pistol-wielding assassin. This is strange because, as anyone who has played a Hitman game will tell you, the games are actually much more about dressing as an engineer and rigging an oven to explode, or disguising yourself as a waiter and spiking your target’s drink with a laxative so that you can murder them in the privacy of the bathroom. This pattern holds for IO Interactive’s new entry in the Hitman series, and, for fans at least, this is good news. Even if this game is something of a known quantity, it does still manage to deliver that same incredibly cool feeling that comes with watching a chandelier “accidentally” fall on your target and walking out without anyone suspecting foul play. (more…)
It’s In Your Blood: A History of Horror Games (Part One)
Video games as a medium are diverse and long-lasting, with something to offer everybody. From those obsessed with scores and bragging rights, to more relaxed individuals looking for an enthralling story with limited interaction, gamers who spend upwards of 100 hours in open worlds with random battles… and even the oddballs who just want to get the crap scared out of us.
In the era of Outlast and Five Nights at Freddy’s, horror games are perhaps more popular now than they’ve ever been. Even the experiences vary wildly, with Dead Space and Resident Evil offering up action alongside grotesque body horror, while Kholat and Layers of Fear focus on more cerebral scares and intriguing stories. YouTubers PewDiePie and Markiplier have made such games approachable to a larger audience, thanks to the comedic charm of their commentary and presentation — but to truly appreciate the booming horror genre, one must take a look back at its history. (more…)