Full Coverage: The Player: Video game reviews and ruminations
Todd Martens explores the world of video games in his series of stories, The Player.
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The “Uncharted” franchise has been defined by remarkable action sequences — a full-on shootout on a moving train, a somersaulting Jeep, an extended battle of man versus helicopter.
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Early in the film “Late Shift,” Matt, a student on his way to a night job, faces an easily relatable dilemma: help a lost tourist with directions and risk being late to work or ignore the man and hop on a waiting subway train.
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In Anita Sarkeesian’s San Francisco apartment, a photographer makes a seemingly innocuous request.
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The opening of Universal Studios’ new Wizarding World of Harry Potter Hollywood brings to the West Coast what many consider the grandest theme park attraction in North America.
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Nintendo’s best releases are typically highly polished, moderately zany and, if not downright accessible to a mass audience, at least approachable.
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The brakes have officially been released on the virtual-reality era.
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There are a lot of mobile games out there — last year more than 100,000 iOS games were released in North America.
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My real-life cat, it appears, has been frustrated with me lately.
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To those who doubt we are on the eve of a new virtual reality era, Palmer Luckey, the 23-year-old founder of Oculus and inventor of the Rift headset, had one message at this week’s Game Developers Conference: “You’re going to have to eat your words.”
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Dave Hagewood didn’t set out to create the next big thing in electronic sports.
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In my first 25 hours with Nintendo 3DS’ “Fire Emblem Fates,” families argued, attempts at flirting were rebuffed and relatives threw a fit over poorly cooked meals.
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The Player: From ‘Walking Dead’ to walking dread: ‘Firewatch’ creators mix heartbreak and the creeps
“Firewatch,” set in the quiet Wyoming wilderness, is a game in which its main character does little more than walk.
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Meet Yarny. Yarny doesn’t look like much at a quick glance.
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Draw a line. It sounds simple, doesn’t it?
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Young superheroes were once at the heart of the game Glendale’s tiny Night School Studio set out to create as a reputation-making title.
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For a few brief moments “That Dragon, Cancer” acts like a conventional video game.
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The Player: Video game trends for 2016: Virtual reality, further blurred lines between TV and gaming
Of all the mainstream forms of pop art, perhaps only in interactive entertainment can a game be a success before it has even been released.
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The top 10 video games of 2015, ranked below, include both the extremely personal and the return of a household name, Lara Croft.
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For a medium that for much of the last decade has been overrun with machismo, 2015 in video games represented a year of powerful role reversals.
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The Player: ‘Call of Duty: Black Ops 3’ puts a female soldier on the battlefield. What took so long?
The “Call of Duty” franchise has had players (as soldiers) do battle underwater, shoot in outer space, wear jet packs and even attack zombies.
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Pretend, for a brief moment, that new “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” villain Kylo Ren isn’t so bad.
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The newest “Call of Duty” title raked in $550 million globally in its first three days on the market this month, a figure that its publisher, Activision Blizzard, touted as the largest entertainment launch of the year — bigger than any movie or album.
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Some of the first sounds you hear in “Star Wars Battlefront” are instantly recognizable.
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The Lara Croft of “Rise of the Tomb Raider” may believe in fairy tales, but that doesn’t mean she’s willing to put up with nonsense.
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Luke Skywalker was surrounded.
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Michael Frith spent the bulk of his career working with the Muppets.
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“Minecraft,” the video game that can essentially be anything you want it to be, is everywhere.
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Playing a game from 1993 can be jarring.
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“The Beginner’s Guide” is a video game that opens with an existential question rather than an objective: Is it possible to get to know someone by analyzing his art?
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“Halo 4” made me a believer. “Halo 5: Guardians” has shaken my faith.
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The following column was originally published more than a year ago.
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The following column was originally published earlier this year.
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The following column was originally published last December.
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Video games can get dark quick, what with all the guns, military ops and monster-like creatures in space.
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Thirty years ago a plump little plumber in red overalls revolutionized gaming.
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Apple on Wednesday introduced an update to its Apple TV platform that places an increased emphasis on games.
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Take the myth of Robin Hood, add a cyber-punk look and mix in some hacker sensibility.
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It’s been almost 30 years since the release of “Super Mario Bros.,” and I still can’t get one voice out of my head.
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When “Tomb Raider” was rebooted in 2013, the game ushered in a number of changes for its main character Lara Croft.
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Here’s a premise for a plot that’s sure to bring out the tears: A blind girl can’t find her best friend, a neighboring cat.
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On Sunday, the final morning of the all-things Disney convention, the D23 Expo, video games took the spotlight.
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Disneyland’s Adventure Thru Inner Space attraction closed in 1985, yet here it was in front of me.
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Some of the best games — and some of the most difficult — create their own language.
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Not too long ago Joel McDonald was working on video games in which players could pummel bullets into trees.
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There was a time when liking video games was seen as some sort of abnormality.
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Too much thinking, argues a blacksmith in the new “King’s Quest,” leads to inaction.
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About a decade ago, Raigan Burns and Mare Sheppard released “N” as a reaction to all that was excessive in video games.
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Nintendo on Saturday lost a company legend when President Satoru Iwata died at 55 from cancer.
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Virtual reality was supposedly the future at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the shiny new toy that was going to revolutionize gaming.
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Like rock ‘n’ rollers getting the band back together, Activision and Harmonix are resurrecting their music-based franchises “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band,” titles that in 2008 at their peak generated more than $1.6 billion in North American sales.
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The digital revolution is starting to look a lot more physical.
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Never mind the destroyed space station and the references to the isles of Los Angeles.
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“Decisions That Matter” is a video game that comes with a “trigger button.” No, not the gun kind.
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The enemy is around the corner. The floor is stained with the bright orange scars of battle.
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Players in “Sunset” commit what would be considered acts of war by aiding a rebellion in a fictional South American city.
