At a glance, Moo Lander bears a striking—and intentional, I’d assume—resemblance to Ori and the Blind Forest. Beautiful hi-def 2D scenery with the use of natural colours, corrupted plant life that feels both organic and slightly alien, and level design built around flow and momentum create a similar atmosphere of …
There are few philosophical thought experiments that have captured popular imagination quite like the trolley problem. Originally conceived more than 50 years ago, it’s been reinterpreted and expanded upon countless times, as people explored how changing details in the basic premise could elicit different responses. In the social media age—especially …
Te Papa Tongarewa museum in Wellington is undertaking a new curatorial project with the aim of highlighting Ainu artifacts in the museum’s collection, telling stories of Japanese migration to New Zealand, and exploring the shared histories of colonisation between indigenous people of Aotearoa and Japan. The Cipiyak project—named after the …
Peach and the Isle of Monsters doesn’t waste any time getting started. Within a couple of pages, we have a good sense of Peach: a strong and lively young woman, though one bullied by her peers for her unusual name and the mysterious circumstances surrounding her birth (she was found …
The King of Fighters is among the most significant and longest-running fighting game series, but its history has never really been comprehensively told. That’s set to change next month, with SNK partnering with Bitmap Books to release The King of Fighters: The Ultimate History, a deep dive into the history …
I really want to like Ganryu 2. From the instant you load it up, its vibrant, detailed pixel art and slick character designs call to mind the twilight years of the Neo Geo arcade system, when SNK (and other developers) were really pushing that hardware as hard as they could. …
Hyperdimension Neptunia and Senran Kagura seem like a natural fit for a crossover. They’re both series driven by irreverent senses of humour and fanservice, underpinned by much richer characterisation that you might expect from a quick glance. They approach from very different angles—Neptunia is an RPG series built on game …
Last week, SteelSeries unveiled three new models to its Aerox range, promising “the lightest multi-genre and MMO/MOBA mice on the planet.” The Aerox 5, Aerox 5 Wireless, and Aerox 9 Wireless are available to order from SteelSeries now, and will arrive at New Zealand retailers next month. The Aerox 5 …
I don’t know what I was expecting when I spent five bucks on a cheap-looking Metal Gear Solid clone, but it sure wasn’t whatever the hell Hundred Fires: The rising of red star is. For one thing, I thought I was getting a full game, since nowhere on the eShop …
Slipstream isn’t the first retro-style racing game on Switch, but absolutely nails that ‘80s pseudo-3D arcade racer aesthetic. Back before 3D graphics were the norm, games like Hang-On and Out Run managed to simulate three-dimensional effects with sprite scaling; aside from being an impressive technological accomplishment for the time, it …
