Kyerannosaur Crunches Journey

Tastes like...EMOTION!

Journey is unlike any game I have played before. It doesn't have a genre, or follow tropes, or meet design expectations. In the same way "The Artist" defied the rules of what a 21st century movie is, Journey defies modern game design. Just as "Fantasia" captivated its audience by making a symphony an animation, Journey turns emotions into a video game.

Kyerannosaur Crunches Paper Mario: Sticker Star

Tastes like...PAPER!

In a good way! Nintendo is really good about polish, presentation, and character, and the latest Paper Mario installment is no exception. The game is also a strange blending of genres, not quite following any rules, so I'm just going to say it tastes like a well-baked 'sticker adventure.'

Paper Mario: Sticker Star is all about the stickers. I feel like Intelligent Systems has taken the "everything is paper" meme even further this time -- impressively further.

Kyerannosaur Crunches Assassin's Creed III

Tastes like AMBITION!

I want to give a big round of applause to Ubisoft for the Assassin's Creed series. These guys seemingly set out to craft a series of games that spans an entire console generation. This has been more than a trilogy. This has been a carefully built legacy, to which we will look back upon and say this was their mark on a generation of game development and game design. For that, let's give a big hip-hip-hooroar! to Ubisoft. Well done, guys.

Assassin's Creed 3 is the culmination of this franchise, the capstone of a generation, and the wrap-up of a six-year series. It's sporting an upgraded engine and all the refinements from five iterations of engineering and design. The visuals are leaps above the earlier installments, the animations fantastic, the set-pieces and locales meticulously reconstructed and rendered, and everything runs smoother and better. The scope of the story and the game play goes well beyond its predecessors and the multiplayer continues to grow and evolve. Yet, with all of this, the game leaves something of a bitter taste in my mouth.

Kyerannosaur Crunches Pokémon White Version 2

Tastes like...POKÉMON!

Okay, so maybe that's a cyclical definition, but really, is there any other way to describe a new Pokémon game? What was the iPhone 4S like? Well, it's like an iPhone 4, but better. I can't think of a better descriptor: Pokémon defined their own flavor in 1996 (1998 here in the US) and they've stuck to it like McDonald's has stuck to their fries.

And since I've been playing Pokémon since I got Blue Version back in the summer of 1999, I can't very well say this qualifies as a "first impression." I can, however, describe my reactions to some of the changed ingredients and say that White Version 2 tastes the best out of the series.