Ari Blog

Blog: Price Adjustment – 07/08/20

Recently the folks over at Take-Two Interactive came out and announced that the upcoming NBA 2k21 will cost $70 on next generation machines like the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, while current generation editions will remain at $60. The two reactions I've encountered most have been people grousing at this price adjustment, and those who think a price hike has been long overdo. For the most part I find myself agreeing with the latter sentiment in general, but sincerely believe that NBA 2k21 should not be the game to usher in this new price tag without making massive changes to the formula that the 2K series has recently followed...

Ari Articles, Reviews

Review: SpongeBob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated

Towards the end of my time with SpongeBob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated, my opinion of it had soured so drastically from how I felt when I began it. Being a 3D platformer from 2003, it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that you're hopping from level to level, completing challenges and solving puzzles in order to obtain some sort of shiny object, which in this case are golden spatulas. Collecting enough golden spatulas grants you access to more levels, where you'll do more challenges and so on and so forth. It's a 3D platformer through and through...

Ari Articles, Reviews

Review: BarnFinders

BarnFinders is a game that I am deeply conflicted about. It's the exact sort of mindless, meditative gaming experience that I love so much, most of which involves you finding, repairing and selling various flotsam and jetsam at your own junk shop. It also is a game that is tremendously unfunny and at incredibly problematic in the way it represents various ethnicities and cultures...

Ari Blog

Blog: Games of July 2020 – 07/01/20

As cautious as I am about celebrating a new month in this disastrous year that is 2020, I feel like it's worth mentioning that there are some games due out in July that I'm excited for and might possibly stave off the encroaching sadness inside me. Granted, there's always the possibility that a spectacular game could release out of nowhere, but as far as the planned releases for this month, this is what I've got my eye on...

Ari Articles, Gut Check

Gut Check: Among Trees

There is no denying that Among Trees is cut from the same cloth as the countless other survival games that have existed over the years, but leaving it at that would not only be dismissive and reductive, but fairly inaccurate as well. While Among Trees is one of "those" kinds of games, it sands down some of the rough edges of other titles of its ilk that usually lead me to avoid the genre entirely. But there's something about this particular early access survival game that has me so fascinated and eager to continue playing it...

Ari Articles, Gut Check

Gut Check: Hardspace: Shipbreaker

Hardspace: Shipbreaker is a game that might have been made with me and my proclivities in mind. In Hardspace: Shipbreaker, you play as an unnamed "cutter" for a company that dismantles and salvages derelict space crafts for various clients, while making sure to pick through everything in an effort to get a little extra bonus cash. It's currently in early access which is reassuring considering its various and completely understandable technical issues, that hopefully will be fixed as time goes on...

Ari Blog

Blog: E3 Would’ve Already Been Over By Now – 06/24/20

It's weird to think about it isn't it? Had this year not been just a catastrophic mess from top to bottom, we would have already experienced what was gearing up to be the potentially weirdest E3 in history. Instead the world broke and we've been experiencing a steady stream of announcements that have sprung from various events that are too vast in number to keep track of anymore. I guess in a weird way I miss E3, but I'm also pretty ambivalent about its return...

Ari Articles, Features

A Look Back at The Steam Game Festival

As we watch the corpse of E3 gently float down the stream with golden coins placed over its eyes for The Riverman to grant it safe passage, we find ourselves in the midst of constant press events that look to fill vacuum E3 left in its wake. One of these events came in the form of the now concluded Steam Game Festival, where developers could directly market their upcoming games via Steam and allow us to download demos of upcoming games. I played a couple of these demos and wanted to provide a little bit of insight into each of the games I got my hands on...

Ari Articles, The Master of Disaster

The Master of Disaster: Finding Your Style – 13

Recently my friends and I shuffled our roles, affording me the opportunity to play in a campaign rather than run one. It's been fantastic both from a gameplay standpoint along with freeing me up creatively to focus on other projects. Simultaneously another group of friends expressed interest in running a starter Dungeons & Dragons campaign, so being the masochist I am I obliged and started running them through The Lost Mines of Phandelver. And honestly, both games have been tremendous learning experiences that I desperately needed...