Bethesda Pinball Review: Huge Games on Small Tables

Pinball machines have become almost entirely extinct in the wild. Once in a while, you may find one at some random bar or bowling alley. But even then, they are usually old and slightly broken. They aren't the attention grabbing centerpieces they once were. Pinball FX 2 brings the pinball table back to its former glory with three new tables in the Bethesda Pinball Pack.

Pinball FX 2 has been working with major franchises for some time now to bring us new digital pinball tables on a regular basis. Zen Studios has worked hard to achieve an authentic look and feel, while also creating interesting tables that could only work in a video game. This newest release brings us three new tables from the world of Bethesda: Doom, Skyrim and Fallout 4.

The Little Acre preview: Fun for all ages

Fans of point-and-click adventure games have a lot to be thankful for these days. Thanks largely to Telltale Games, console gamers finally realized that a point-and-click, story driven game, doesn't automatically mean bad and/or boring. As the genre has become more popular, we're lucky enough to see games like The Little Acre, from Pewter Games, come to Xbox One. I was able to go hands-on with the first half of this game over the holiday.

In The Little Acre, you get to play as two characters, Aidan and his young daughter Lily, as they both embark on a journey to find their dads. The plural there is on purpose. Soon after Aidan takes off looking for his father Arthur, Lily becomes aware that Aidan has gone off without her and wants to know where he has gone, so she starts out on an adventure of her own.

Blue Rider review: I Needed a Friend

Blue Rider is a shmup at heart, but not in the traditional sense. You're not force-scrolled in one direction while dodging bullets and enemies, but instead get a top down almost twin-stick shooter style view and gameplay. You progress through each level at your own speed and discretion, each stage offers up multiple directions to run through.

The stage design is very simple, which isn't a bad thing -- each stage works very well and is rather easy to the eye. One of the best parts about Blue Rider is your ability to make your way through the levels at your own speed, taking on large groups of enemies at once or slowly drawing them off one at a time. Either way, it's up to you. Each stage ends with an epic boss battle, and each one is bigger and worse than the last. These battles feel great and challenging just the way you want them to.

Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour review: Hero or Has-Been

It is crazy to think that the original Duke Nukem 3D was released 20 years ago, changing what Duke Nukem would be forever. For those of you who don't know, Duke Nukem started out as a 2D side-scroller for the PC and stayed this way for its first two installments. However, in 1996, 3D Realms, following in the footsteps of iD Software and their titles Doom and Wolfenstein, changed Duke into the first-person shooter we have grown to know and love.

In Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour (what a mouthful) we see the re-release of all four original episodes with as little touch up as possible. In this new release, Gearbox added a fifth episode, Alien World Order, bringing us seven new levels. They kept the graphics of this new chapter very faithful to the original game, even building it with the same toolkits and assets that were used in the original. In the newest episode, Gearbox takes us around the world traveling through everything from Russia and Egypt to Hollywood and Rome, killing alien baddies along the whole way.

Monster Jam: Crush It! review: Five minutes of fun

Monster Jam: Crush It! is a monster truck game that brings racing, stunts and uphill climbing to your fingertips. There are three categories: race, freestyle and uphill with uphill having three categories of its own: survival, time attack, and stunt. With over ten different stages and trucks Monster Jam: Crush It! seems deep at first look, but it doesn't take very long to realize that appearances can be deceiving.

After less than thirty minutes with Monster Jam: Crush It! I already knew the dredge it would be to get through this game. A decent rock soundtrack plays in the background, but even that isn't the best when you start hearing the same song for the 100th time.

Dear Esther: Landmark Edition Review: A walk down memory lane

We always want games to be different. Dear Esther has been offering people a different kind of gaming experience for many years now. This unique and alluring tale is actually a remake of a remake. What is now Dear Esther: Landmark Edition, started off many years ago as a Half-Life 2 mod. I know; mind blown, it's okay. I'll wait a minute.

Now that you're back with me, Dear Esther: Landmark Edition is a first-person cinematic journey around a vibrant world as a man collects his memories trying to piece things together. The story is told not only by spoken narrative but through the world in which you are walking. As you explore this island, a story full of emotion unfolds, becoming longer and deeper the more you're willing to explore.

Solar Shifter EX review: Just stay still

Shmups are supposed to be fast, hectic and challenging, even to the point of feeling almost impossible at times. Solar Shifter EX is none of these. At first glance, it looks shiny and new with a cool teleportation mechanic. I couldn't help but think I had something fun in my hands. It doesn't take long to realize that almost none of the mechanics in this game really matter. The most important thing is to just stay still. Even when the gunfire seems to be in full chaos mode and you think you should have to be teleporting in every direction to just barely be staying alive, all you have to remember is: stand still. Find one good spot, stay mostly still and keep holding fire... you'll be just fine.

Throughout the game, there is a little bit of story written on the loading screens and even some of it through spoken dialogue, however, none of which adds any feeling or weight to the game. In between stages you can level up your weapons with credits you collected from your dead enemies, but don't expect anything cool here as you get nothing more than the generic main and secondary weapons. You also get to mix stuff up a bit by playing as a different ship (yawn), however, no explanation is given as to why this temporary and (sadly) short-lived ship swap happens. But it does, so there's that.