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Sep 18, 2024 | 
heypoorplayer.com | Josh Speer |Heather Johnson Yu |Cory Clark |Andrew Thornton
One of my favorite things about revisiting classic games is catching a glimpse of a time before the expectations of a genre had solidified. A lot of modern games follow a very similar formula. Sure, they’ll have unique stories, looks, and feels. The developer will likely add a few twists and unique features to set them apart. Still, most modern games, at their core, are calling plays from the same handful of playbooks. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.
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Sep 10, 2024 | 
heypoorplayer.com | Josh Speer |Francis DiPersio |Heather Johnson Yu |Andrew Thornton
I saved a most interesting game for last this year. It’s not one I had an appointment to demo at PAX West, but after checking out the booth in my rounds, I knew I had to play it. Not because I had any previous familiarity with the work of Andrea Love, but because I love a visually stunning adventure. And Feltopia is absolutely one of the most compelling adventures I’ve seen, and definitely one of the most unique Shmups ever.
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Sep 10, 2024 | 
heypoorplayer.com | Josh Speer |Francis DiPersio |Heather Johnson Yu |Andrew Thornton
I got the chance to demo two really compelling games this year at Limited Run Games’ booth at PAX West. The first one is a horror game we’ve mentioned before on the HPP site, Clock Tower: Rewind. I played it for a couple of reasons. Firstly, because I’m drawn to horror games like a moth to flame. Secondly, because a good friend of mine has been incredibly hyped for the game, and so I felt that I had to check it out.
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Sep 9, 2024 | 
heypoorplayer.com | Josh Speer |Francis DiPersio |Heather Johnson Yu |Andrew Thornton
One of the things I like to do at any convention is push myself beyond my boundaries a bit, taking on games I might not otherwise. Which is my subtle way of saying I don’t normally play very many Touhou games. But when I saw the colorful bullet hell insanity of Touhou Hero of Ice Fairy, I decided to take a chance on it with Phoenixx. And it turns out, that was a good decision overall. The hardest part of the demo was waiting in line, since there was only one station for the game.
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Sep 9, 2024 | 
heypoorplayer.com | Josh Speer |Francis DiPersio |Heather Johnson Yu |Andrew Thornton
I’ve played a lot of platformers over the years, but I’ve never before played one that has you play as tofu. Leave it to Phoenixx to have a game just about that at their PAX West booth this year. That game is called The Strongest TOFU: Fragile Adventure, and it’s honestly even crazier than Doronko Wanko. Despite that, it’s also a very solid puzzle platformer. While I can’t answer how a tofu suddenly is capable of movement, I can say that the controls in The Strongest TOFU are pretty simple.
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Sep 7, 2024 | 
heypoorplayer.com | Josh Speer |Francis DiPersio |Heather Johnson Yu |Andrew Thornton
One of the places at PAX West that especially sparks joy for me is the Indie Megabooth. Sure, it’s often crowded and challenging to navigate, but that’s the place where the most original voices tend to speak. An as a fan of rhythm games, I decided to check out a game called Away From Home. It’s a rhythm-based RPG with some seriously stellar pixel art that reminds me somewhat of the likes of Earthbound.
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Sep 5, 2024 | 
heypoorplayer.com | Josh Speer |Francis DiPersio |Heather Johnson Yu |Andrew Thornton
One thing that was very different about this year’s PAX West, at least for myself, was that I got to attend the Media Indie Exchange (MIX for short). The last time I attended it was actually at E3, so it’s been a while. I was mostly there to demo a couple of games from a publisher called GameMill Entertainment. I admit to not previously being all that familiar with them, but based off their stuff at the MIX, they’re a very solid outfit.
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Sep 5, 2024 | 
heypoorplayer.com | Josh Speer |Francis DiPersio |Heather Johnson Yu |Andrew Thornton
For me, one of the biggest draws at PAX West this year was the variety of compelling horror games on display. I usually don’t find all that many at the convention, and so I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity. Which is what brought me over to the Indie Mega Booth section to demo > One Way (pronounced More Than One Way). Developed by Disordered Media, it’s a horror game that’s fixated on the internet, digital trends, puzzle solving and classic examples of the genre.
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Sep 4, 2024 | 
heypoorplayer.com | Josh Speer |Francis DiPersio |Heather Johnson Yu |Andrew Thornton
These days, people treat nostalgia like a dirty word. Which I sort of understand, given how the movie and TV industries love to milk reboots and remakes to syphon money out of our wallets. But sometimes, nostalgia can be a pure and good thing. A flash of insight that isn’t just based on old memories, but is a mark of good taste. Take, for example, how a very young Josh absolutely adored the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. I wasn’t yet a teenager when it came around, and instantly connected with it.
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Jun 5, 2024 | 
heypoorplayer.com | Josh Speer |Kenny McKee |Heather Johnson Yu
I honestly, truly didn’t think there was a chance in hell I’d be sitting here now reviewing Megaton Musashi W: Wired. I discovered it one day in April while covering my weekly Nintendo Download, saw it was by Level-5, and then viewed the hefty price point. While I’m not saying games have to be incredibly cheap before I buy them, I do tend to look for digital-only experiences that are around the $20 range.
