I got the opportunity at Summer Game Fest to play Turok: Origins with the team and interview the developers to find out why they decided to take a stab at reanimating an otherwise fossilized franchise for a modern audience.

The first thing to bear in mind when picking up R-Type Tactics I+II Cosmos is the fact that the game does absolutely no handholding. You will begin the game, be given mission objectives, and a list of units, and you have to figure it out. There is a comprehensive manual and an Archives section, which are indispensable for getting anywhere in this game. This is the type of game that asks a lot of a player up front, but rewards them for making the time investment with a very rich, very intricate tactical RPG.

Pokémon Champions has an emphasis on battling. After an initial tutorial where players learn the core mechanics of the battling system and become the leader of their very own gym, they’re free to enter the Pokémon League and battle as they wish. The ultimate objective is for players to climb to the top of Pokémon League rankings. 

When IO Interactive announced it had the rights to the 007 IP, many people, including me, thought it was a match made in heaven. It does cause some pause, though. First of all, Bond isn’t Agent 47, and while Hitman definitely has more than mainstream gamer appeal, it isn’t really a blockbuster franchise in the way 007 is. Luckily, there shouldn’t be any worry about any of that. 007 First Light is one of the best games of the year and might even be the best 007 game ever.

I was fortunate enough to be able to try out Blood Message at Summer Game Fest this year, and after playing it for about a half hour while talking with the developers, it was easily one of my highlights of the show.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Stuntman series, no worries. I was too. It wasn’t really much of a series. One game launched on the PlayStation 2 and Game Boy Advance in 2002 , and Stuntman: Ignition came in 2003. Stuntman focuses on the career of a movie stuntman, and you do things like take death-defying leaps, take part in high-speed car chases, pull off stunts that would get any regular person sent to the shadow realm, and more.

Screen Burn Interactive’s Silent Hill: Townfall brings the fright in an all-new way, and I’m intrigued by it.

If there’s one thing I know about the NBA and basketball, it’s that there’s a curious amount of dudes named Ja(y)len in the league. If there are two things I know, the second is that it’s a culture in addition…

Part of what really grabbed me about Horizon 6, aside from it being in Japan, was that there was a story. Sure, it was basic, but it was enough to hook me. So when I started receiving invites to a hands-off preview of Maverick Games’ debut title, I was a little reserved but interested. First of all, I hate hands-off previews. But also, it was for a “narrative-driven driving game from former members of the Forza team.”

Alien: Isolation is a game that hardly needs an introduction. Easily one of the most well-known horror experiences featuring the iconic Xenomorph killer, Alien: Isolation had people shivering in their boots for years since its release in 2014. When the sequel was finally announced at SGF this year, to say the energy in the room was electric was an understatement.

For the most part, I’m rather pleased to confirm that Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis plays pretty similarly to those last few games, but if there’s anything this demo has to go by, it’s definitely more on the puzzling side.

As soon as I was pitched to preview an “unannounced game from the creators of N+,” I was in. I didn’t have to watch a trailer, even though I ended up seeing it at Day of the Devs. The Newgrounds OG was definitely peak when it came to flash precision platforming, and now seeing it go multiplayer is absolutely nuts, and I’m glad I made time for it at the show floor.