Category Opinion

Slowly learning a new game is a whole lot of fun

Carr Nyuli Leave a comment

The name “Surviving Mars” is a bit of a misnomer. Admittedly you do have to survive Mars, but when you hear a name like that, or at leadt when I first heard a name like that, it sounds super intense. Granted I’ve only played a few hours, with a pretty easy set-up, but it feels to me a lot more like Sim City Red or Cities: Marslines than the hardcore battle for the future of humanity that I was expecting. And you know what? That’s pretty cool.

Continue reading “Slowly learning a new game is a whole lot of fun” →

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Bad Controls, Bad Game?

Tyler Bourgaize Leave a comment

One of my first console games as a child was a little-known game from Rare called Banjo-Kazooie, it was also one of the first of many games that I have never finished. When I dove back into it recently I began to remember why I never beat it – it’s really, horribly difficult!

Was it the strength of the enemies? Not even close. Difficulty of the puzzles? They were child’s play (literally). Whenever I found myself messing up a challenge or getting beaten by a grunt, it was because I’d fumbled the controls and mis-stepped. The awkward camera and early platforming design meant that navigation was far harder than we are accustomed to nowadays. Thus I began to wonder – should I persevere and see this as part of the inherent challenge of the game, or should I be angry and brand it a bad game due to poor controls, and stop playing?

The truth is likely somewhere in the middle. Continue reading “Bad Controls, Bad Game?” →

The Civilizations I Want to Play First in Civ VI: Gathering Storm

Carr Nyuli Leave a comment

Gathering Storm, the latest expansion to Civilization 6, is out today, and in addition to the new features, I’m looking also forward to the new civs that I get to play. All nine (or I suppose eight and a half, as I’ll get into later) have something that makes them worth trying out, but there are some I want to play first. Now, keep in mind that this isn’t necessarily the best new civilizations, they’re just the one’s I want to give a try before others. I’ll get a review of Gathering Storm out as soon as I can, and you can certainly guess who I’ll be playing first to write that review. Continue reading “The Civilizations I Want to Play First in Civ VI: Gathering Storm” →

Novus’ Top Games of 2018

Tyler Bourgaize Leave a comment

Last year saw some very important games for a lot of people, including us here at Novus. Whether it was a big hit of the year, a small indie launch not many people were aware of or even an older game we just discovered, each of us has something that will go down as #1 from 2018. As we see in the first few big releases of 2019, we’re taking a look back at our personally significant games of last year. Continue reading “Novus’ Top Games of 2018” →

Losing Should be an Option

Mark Barry Leave a comment

As long as games have existed there has been the looming potential for loss. Whether it’s letting one too many pixels slip by, tripping on a wayward koopa shell, playing against a button spamming Raiden, or taking a few too many bullets to the sponge – you die, you fail, you lose, game over. Most games don’t really address losing or dying – you simply reset, respawn, and move on; this I feel is a missed opportunity and designers could find ways to embrace loss in their games. Continue reading “Losing Should be an Option” →

The Things I’m Most Excited For in Civilization VI: Gathering Storm

Carr Nyuli 3 Comments

I was…less than impressed with Rise & Fall, the first expansion for Civilization VI. I’ll probably get into it more later, but long story short, it did too much to take you down from the path you wanted to go down. I may even turn it off the next time I play Civ VI, I haven’t decided yet. Continue reading “The Things I’m Most Excited For in Civilization VI: Gathering Storm” →

The Fun of Playing Through Failure

Carr Nyuli Leave a comment

This may be my first article for Novus, but if you know me from RUL, there’s probably something you know about me: I absolutely love historical strategy games. The Civilization series is the big one, but I’m also partial to the games produced by Paradox Interactive, like Europa Universalis IV, Crusader Kings II, and Stellaris. Okay, that last one’s not really historical per se, but whatever. Thing is…I’m not super great at some of them. Continue reading “The Fun of Playing Through Failure” →

How to Get the Most Out of Your First Gaming Convention

Tyler Bourgaize 1 Comment

Gaming conventions while very exciting can be terribly daunting, especially for your first time. With dozens of conventions worldwide housing hundreds of video games, thousands of attendees and only a few days to cover it all, it can be hard to know what you should be doing with your time on the show floor.

After a few years of attending conventions you begin to learn a few simple tricks and truths that will help you make the most of every show. From time management to reality checks, there’s more to these events than meets the eye. Here are a handful of tips and some advice which I’ve put together mostly from my own mistakes and experiences… Continue reading “How to Get the Most Out of Your First Gaming Convention” →