Archie Does it Better: The Top 7 Best Sonic Characters (that aren’t in the games)

Welcome to the planet Mobius, a world unique and beyond what you know from the SEGA games . . .

This is the opening line that greets anyone with the good fortune to have experienced the fantastic universe Archie Comics has built for Sonic the Hedgehog over the last 20 years. The planet Mobius is one populated by a (literally and metaphorically) colorful group of characters far cast from the despised, one-dimensional neon woodland creatures we’ve seen in Sonic’s completely undefined game universe. The talented writers at Archie kept the crazy character designs, but added the necessary depth and personality needed to make Sonic and his friends into memorable characters and created several amazing originals. Today we’re going to look at eight of the latter.

.Hack: Falling through the happily ever after

  (Warning: .Hack games series spoilers) You started off as a newbie player. Just as it happened, the character you created happened to be special, and with that you were given this fate to be a saviour. You formed your

The freedom of having no choice

Linearity in games never bothered me. Not back in the days when Final Fantasy VII  was the god tier of video game storytelling, nor that in the current age where open-world is seen as a mandatory “good” tick box to

The Rise of Stoic And The Independent Studio

Innovation is considered a risky commodity amongst most of the larger developers. It’s a much safer bet to stick with ideas that have already proven to be profitable. It’s understandable; titling a game with something gamers are familiar with virtually

Devil Survivor 2 is a commodity

The original Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor for the Nintendo DS was one of my favorite games ever. Its cousin, SMT: Persona 3, sits beside it on any “Favorite Game Ever” list I’ll never be commissioned to make. Both of

Analyzing the Modern Warfare Trilogy: The Bondilization of the antagonists

Welcome to this third and final part of the analysis of the Modern Warfare trilogy. Previously, we’ve taken a look at the reasonable things the games did, and a couple of days ago we looked at the many plot holes

YOU ARE HERE: How games have become domesticated

In their dawn, games used to live in the wild. The savage beasts that they were didn’t care if you managed to collect all the 50 secret gems or if you didn’t realize that fruit basket in the living room was part of a puzzle. These beasts left you to roam without an inkling of direction.

Try to remember the last time you were lost in a game. When you had to wander aimlessly, trying to find something – even if you were still unsure of what you needed to find. In fact, when was the last time you discovered something in a game? Something cool that was not already stated in your objective list? When was the last time you found something that truly surprised you, like a secret dungeon or an item whose existences wasn’t already hinted by the vacant spot in your inventory?

Well, how far back did you have to go? I passed through a couple of Animal Crossings along the way, but was only able to find the “Era of Discovery” – when the blurb “Discover Planet X” on the back of a game box made sense – back in the days of the original Zelda and Metroid. Games during which we were asked to discover what we were supposed to be doing in the first place.

Is Indie Royale's Alpha Collection ready for prime time?

When I think of alphas nowadays I tend to recall Minecraft, a game eminently playable in its alpha state. In reality, alphas (and even betas) are not like that: they’re more proofs of concept than full games. Alphas are not

Why some game developers shouldn't like games

Why can’t we gamers accept that someone who doesn’t love games with the fervent passion we do can make them? I’m proud to say one of my favorite games of all time—Katamari Damacy—comes from the mind of someone who doesn’t

Love in the age of the high score

In spite of the fact that we have the technology to heal eye problems with laser beams and frighteningly organized robot helicopters, the human race still hasn’t truly defined what the hell love is. The closest we’ve come is narrowing down the brain activity associated with love. Enter The Love Competition from Wholphin magazine, which I hope is an attempt to dethrone the agonizing game of Who has it worse? we all end up playing once a day with someone we know.