XBox One Just Cause 3 1/4 Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands (ending 1) 1/8 Assassin's Creed Syndicate - "Jack the Ripper" 1/22 Her Majesty's SPIFFING - 1/25 Batman: The Telltale Series: The Enemy Within Episode 4: "What Ails You" 1/26 Episode 5: "Same Stitch" 3/27 Li...

Operation Darkness - this turn based strategy game from 2008 was one of the many XBox 360 JRPG exclusives. This one stars a special ops team in WWII, where they're actually... WEREWOLVES!!! DUN DUN DUN! and you fight vampires and zombies and shit too! It's a fun little game, or it would be if the m...

Mad Max has always been one of my favorite franchises. I remember renting Beyond Thunderdome first, because it was PG-13, and being thrilled by it, but being AMAZED years later when I finally saw The Road Warrior . I've always been impressed with the visceral experience George Miller puts on screen...

This is an essay I wrote a few years ago that was published at GameCritics. You have permission to use anything from it if you find it interesting.

http://gamecritics.com/dan-coyle/it-s-b ... it-anyway/

Hopefully my comments will get in before you guys record: I played a bit of Rage before the podcast, to reacquaint myself with the game. And I came away with some of the same feelings I did when I played it the first time, not long after release. It's a game that looks great and plays well with some...

XBox 360

Retro City Rampage DX 1/1
Anarchy Reigns 1/16

XBox One

Legend of Korra 1/2
Battlefield 4 1/22

--Dan

Sunset Overdrive was a game I was definitely looking forward too; I'm a longtime fan of the Ratchet and Clank series. Insomniac Games' titles always have slightly more personality than the average triple A release, even the weaker titles. In fact, to signal my jump into the next console generation ...

Transformers Devastation- took a break from Grand Theft Auto IV to finish this. And Man, is it GLORIOUS. Granted, it may not mean much to guys like me and Philip Theobald (and Justin McElroy?), but this was some of the most fun I had playing a game this year, if not THE most fun. Negative stuff out ...

Agreed on Tales from the Borderlands. It's got really likable characters and the climactic sequence is such a bizarre surprise. It's definitely the best written Borderlands game that's for sure.

--Dan

Grand Theft Auto IV - all right, after a marathon through the last third, I am at the final mission. Which is like 20-30 minutes long with no checkpoints and some absurd problems. You make one mistake and you might as well reload your save. Sometimes I wonder why I like this game so much, when it's ...

Yep, you have to keep the disc in the tray for authentication.

--Dan

Grand Theft Auto IV- wow, that "Wrong is Right" mission sure goes on forever, doesn't it? It's like, every time I've played it, I find myself unable to catch up to the guy until I reach a certain part of the city. So, was Michelle a cop or a snitch? It's never clear. for this play through ...

XBox One : Dragon Age: Inquisition- 2/11 Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition- 2/19 Nightmare In North Point 2/20 Year of the Snake 2/23 Wolfenstein: The New Order 3/1 Ryse: Son of Rome 3/15 Tales From the Borderlands Episode 2: "Atlas Mugged" 3/22 Episode 3: "Catch a Ride" 6/28 Ep...

Grand Theft Auto IV replay continues: I think I'm falling in love with this game all over again. I don't expect anyone to understand. There's something about Liberty City that feels slightly more real and lived in than Los Santos, even though V is a much, MUCH better game with a better constructed s...

Tron Evolution: yes, this, of all games, was Xbox 360 compatible. Although... I really enjoy this game, even though the platforming and controls in general are super-slippy and betray the fact that it was a rushed tie-in game. A few more months to refine the Prince of Persia style wall running and j...

Transformers: Devastation- this is the stuff. This is the stuff!!! Okay, there's a big flaw- the environments are very dull and easy get lost in. They're awfully large for how little you can do in them. Just grabbing hidden items and doing far away challenges and side missions. The game plays like a...

Three Fourths Home Extended Edition - Kelly has moved back to her parents' place in Nebraska after an unspecified problem at school in Minnesota. The entire game takes place as she drives 20 miles from her grandparents' abandoned farm to home. Along the way she calls her mother to tell her where sh...

this may be untenable... but maybe create a separate podcast that comes out, say, monthly or bi-monthly that deals with long RPGs?

--Dan

Well, if I wasn't sold before...

--Dan

Bully , as it's known here in the states, ranks as the only game I can recall that I've bought three times, once on the PS2, the Scholarship edition on the 360, and few years after i'd traded that in, I bought the Scholarship edition again on a big 360 sale. The two times I've traded it in I felt l...