Justin Grandfield

Kansas City

Freelance Contributor at Freelance

Freelance games writer. Please help support my writing: https://t.co/0c8fLT1uaL https://t.co/4EzeBm1mq4 He/him, Tomb Raider fan, gay 🏳️‍🌈

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Articles

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Legends Of The Zone Trilogy Enhanced Edition Review

2 weeks ago | gamecritics.com | Justin Grandfield

HIGH The enhancements improve the creepy factor of an already-eerie game. LOW The first two titles have numerous bugs and crashing issues. WTF Burers, man…I never got a chance to play the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games back in the day, so I was happy to try the Enhanced versions that recently came to new platforms, and I was delighted to find that they held an intriguing and dangerous world of outcasts, monsters, and treasure.
Mudborne Review - Gamecritics.com

2 months ago | gamecritics.com | Justin Grandfield

HIGH A great balance between cozy and challenging, plus frogs with hats. LOW A few visual glitches and some awkward tools. WTF I’m afraid we’ll need to use… math. One of the best things about videogame simulation is how vast the genre is. Some will let players build vast cities, others will have them flying planes. Mudborne, however, had me breeding frogs. It’s not just a management sim, though. I’d also argue that it’s a puzzler on top of that.
The Problem with AI Quake

2 months ago | rorenado.wordpress.com | Justin Grandfield

Recently, Microsoft decided to put out a generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) version of the first-person shooter (FPS) classic Quake II, dubbed the “Copilot Gaming Experience”. As expected, it was riddled with problems: enemies vanished if you looked away from them, the camera would look down at the floor at certain spots, textures and graphics look really smudged, artifacts appear everywhere, and generally playing it was a bit of a nightmare.
Once Alive Review

2 months ago | gamecritics.com | Justin Grandfield

The Worst Gated Community EverHIGH An intriguing tale that features some interesting twists. LOW Game performance issues and stilted voice acting mar the experience. WTF You don’t want to turn 57 years old in HaustVille…One of the big themes in post-apocalyptic storyteling is the desire to find a community to live and thrive in, despite the dangers of trying to find them in the first place. In Once Alive, this theme is turned on its head, and the promised safe haven is not what it seems.
My First Experience With the Call of Duty Series

2 months ago | rorenado.wordpress.com | Justin Grandfield

Over the past couple of months, I’ve been playing through a large number of older Call of Duty campaigns. I had never played really any of them before 2025. I had played a little bit of Black Ops II‘s multiplayer in college, but that was the limit of my experience before this year. I wanted, however, to experience the stories of the campaigns, more than anything.
Why Don’t Handheld Games Get As Much Love?

Feb 20, 2025 | rorenado.wordpress.com | Justin Grandfield

Over the past couple of decades, we seen more companies push to have their beloved classics re-released and ported to newer consoles. Often, however, handheld games are left out of these preservation efforts. Sure, a few companies, like Nintendo or Konami will make some of these games available for current consoles and PC, but more often these games are just left to rot in the dark. Why shouldn’t these games get a second chance to be played again?
Thoughts on the Switch 2

Jan 16, 2025 | rorenado.wordpress.com | Justin Grandfield

Today, we saw the announcement of the Nintendo Switch 2, the next iteration of Nintendo’s hybrid console. We only got to see the console itself, but what we saw looked promising. There are, however, a number of things I hope that we see on April 2, 2025, when Nintendo goes into a deeper dive for the system. Greater Third Party SupportWhile the Switch had considerable support from third party developers, this really didn’t materialize until a couple of years after the launch of the system.
Short Trip Review

Dec 27, 2024 | gamecritics.com | Justin Grandfield

A Relaxing Trolley Ride With CatsHIGH The hand-drawn graphics are absolutely gorgeous. LOW I would’ve loved more background about the game’s creation. WTF There is no WTF, only vibes. I’ve always been enamored with the medium of videogames. They can provide engaging and provocative storylines to play through, or deep systems that keep players on their toes. And in some cases, like Short Trip, they break apart the very idea of what a videogame can be.
The Dying Arts

Nov 12, 2024 | rorenado.wordpress.com | Justin Grandfield

Many games don’t often take the time to consider how the arts impact their world. Often they’re not depicted at all. As if the characters in the story are some boring mono-culture. However, some do try to display how these aspects are key to understanding the world around our protagonists. In post-apocalyptic settings, these get brushed over, as the central aspect of living is just survival. All else doesn’t matter.
My Pokemon TCG Pocket Experience

Nov 9, 2024 | rorenado.wordpress.com | Justin Grandfield

Over the last week, I’ve been playing the recently released Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket. It’s been a joy to play. I’ve been enjoying the simplistic feel of this game, which features a focus more on collecting than battling. Sure, battling is still there, but it’s definitely pared down from the main version of the trading card game. The best part is the suspense in opening in new packs. I’ve taken to flicking left or right on the packs when I can open them, so that the cards are face down.