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The Northern Nerd
- Jan 4, 2020
- 3 min
All Thumbsticks Game Review: Borderlands 3
Well. Here we are. This is it; Borderlands 3. Fans have waited for too long and now, it’s finally here. After ten years of waiting, slightly broken by a less than perfect “Pre-Sequel” and the pitch perfect “Tales from the Borderlands,” the game fans have waited for so long. Borderlands 3, developed by Gearbox Studios and published by 2K Games, is a first-person action shooter with role playing game mechanics. As the final game in BL series, it has been called the best and the
The Northern Nerd
- Dec 26, 2019
- 3 min
All Thumbsticks Game Review: Ryse: Son of Rome
You know that feeling of when you see a game a long time ago, then all of a sudden you get it as part of a winter sale and realize how it should’ve gotten attention? That’s the feeling I get when I rediscover the interactive movie phenomenon The Order 1886. Games that are marketed to be launch titles but then fall to the wayside in comparison to larger name brand recognition, like Killer Instinct (2013), Halo, and Gears of War to name a few. It’s a shame, considering this is
The Northern Nerd
- Nov 26, 2019
- 3 min
All Thumbsticks Game Review: Tomb Raider (2013)
You know, there’s a lot of mascots in the video game world. Apart from the major blockbuster of Smash, the collective genres of video games have made remarkable characters: Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog, Crash Bandicoot, Captain Price, and Mega Man. But, let’s forget the women too; Samus Aran- the first leading heroine in a Nintendo game, Chun-Li- the first female fighter in a fighting game, to more current iterations like Ellie from The Last of Us, Chloe Fraiser from the Unchart
The Northern Nerd
- Oct 29, 2019
- 3 min
All Thumbsticks Game Review: Blasphemous
Who knew that a small Spanish video game studio could make a true magnum opus? Blasphemous, developed by Game Kitchen, published by Team17 Digital, and funded on Kickstarter, is a pixelated Action Platformer with heavy influence from the Dark Souls, “Metroidvania”, and Spanish Catholic imagery. Its narrative core of penance and suffering combined with interconnected locales and stylized gameplay makes for a delightfully dark game with clunky controls. The story of Blasphemous
The Northern Nerd
- Oct 2, 2019
- 3 min
All Thumbsticks Game Review: River City Girls
Beat ‘em up games have spanned for as long as video games have existed: Streets of Rage, Battletoads, and Double Dragon cabinets have sprinkled their way through arcades and onto home consoles like the NES. While they flooded the market, some companies tried to look at this genre differently, like Technos Japan- now run by Arc System Works. Their Kunio-kun series had the elements of a standard RPG in a Beat ‘em up shell. By buying food or relaxing in a sauna, your individual
The Northern Nerd
- Sep 24, 2019
- 3 min
All Thumbsticks Game Review: Super Mario Odyssey
Mario, Mario, Mario. What are we going to do with you? You’ve jumped, rolled, karted, and spun your way into our hearts through the many worlds and galaxies that Nintendo has thrown at us from the NES to the Nintendo Switch. And through it all, we’ve been through journeys and experiences, learning about the nation’s capitals to blasting knock-off versions of Mario characters with energy blasters- that’s Mario’s Missing and Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle for you- what better w
The Northern Nerd
- Aug 26, 2019
- 3 min
All Thumbsticks Review: Contradiction: Spot the Liar!
People like to play detective in some small way; it adds to the thrill of mundane life. From watching Masterpiece Mystery on Sunday nights, binging the hour-long reboot of Sherlock Holmes with cheek bone man Benedict Cumberbatch, to reading a mystery novel. Mysteries provide intrigue and narrative, which video games have achieved through careful writing and plot building, but the characters themselves appeared to be computerized images, not real characters and the actors that
The Northern Nerd
- Aug 7, 2019
- 3 min
All Thumbsticks: Stranger Things 3: The Game
Alright, I admit it. I really like Stranger Things. From its debut on Netflix and now on its third season- where did the time go- on July 4th 2019, the Duffer Brothers attempted to make the birthday of our nation into an 80s filled action thriller with the kids and adults of Hawkins, Indiana. With the teens trying to move on into teen life, what better way to commemorate the long anticipated third season with a video game? Stranger Things 3 The Game, developed by BonusXP, is
The Northern Nerd
- Jul 29, 2019
- 3 min
All Thumbsticks: Borderlands: A Retrospective
Looting and shooting, total anarchy, a fanbase that has much love for meat bicycles as it does heartfelt stories, and a development history just as complicated as the mood of its current magic slinging CEO, get on the next rocket to the planet of Pandora and maybe its moon if you really want to with Borderlands. The Borderlands franchise has gone through some serious bumps and grinds on its way to its hard worked for pedestal as one of the prime loot and shoot first-person sh
The Northern Nerd
- Jul 16, 2019
- 3 min
All Thumbsticks Game Review: Fran Bow
The mind is a weird thing. It can be fantastic, and it can be insane. Even the brightest of people have a tinge of madness inside. Take Lewis Carroll, famed author and poet and most known for Alice in Wonderland. His children’s novel of a young girl being thrust into Wonderland in many variants- starting with the flagship novel to its sequel, Through the Looking Glass. The nonsensical adventure has been adapted into a movie by the mouse and into video games, most notably Amer
The Northern Nerd
- Jul 9, 2019
- 3 min
All Thumbsticks Presents: Drawn: The Dark Trilogy
It’s easy to say that hidden objects games are easy to make. They are typically simple and may have a puzzle or two to break up the game play. It can’t get any more casual than that. There is no need for an imaginative story if your goal for an hour or two is to kill time. Well, in the instance of this collection of games, imagination and creativity is a tool and a conduit to save an entire world from darkness. The Drawn Trilogy is a hidden object point and click game develop
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