Diehard GameFAN

Author: Mark B.

  • Review: Pony Island (PC)

    Pony Island Genre: Platformer/Puzzle/Alternate Reality Developer: Daniel Mullins Games Publisher: Daniel Mullins Games Release Date: 01/04/16 One of the most exciting things, potentially, about the expansion of indie gaming is that most indie devs are taking the sorts of risks mainstream devs used to take in the eighties and nineties, albeit in a different way,…

  • Review: Amplitude (Sony Playstation 4)

    Amplitude Genre: Rhythm Developer: Harmonix Publisher: Harmonix Release Date: 01/05/16 My first exposure to Harmonix came not through any of their more popular endeavors, but through their very first game, Frequency, which was published by Sony back in 2001. I didn’t even know what it was at the time, if we’re being honest; I’d stopped…

  • Review: Tharsis (Sony Playstation 4)

    Tharsis Genre: Board Game/Survival Horror Developer: Choice Provisions Publisher: Choice Provisions Release Date: 01/12/16 When you first start looking into Tharsis, there’s a lot there that can immediately catch your eye no matter what sort of gamer you think you are. The concept, of people attempting to survive in space during a mission gone wrong,…

  • Diehard GameFAN’s 2015 Video Game Awards

    So here we are, at the end of 2015, looking back on the accomplishments, good and bad, in gaming for the year. It seems, to many, that 2014 was an uneven year for gaming, with some feeling the year was a terrible letdown and others feeling it was a triumph, and it’s not hard to…

  • God Eater 2: Rage Burst is Coming to the US, and Here’s What You Need to Know

    Well, after ten long months of hints and teases, it’s official: God Eater 2: Rage Burst has been announced for a Western release (literally less than a week after I imported it, not that I’m bitter), courtesy of Bandai Namco (Namco Bandai in the US, but I’m just going to use Bandai Namco for simplicity)…

  • Diehard GameFAN’s 2015 Year in Review Staff Commentaries

    So here we are, a few days before the end of 2015, and as usual, several of the Diehard GameFAN staff have sat down and written up their own personal “Top Ten Games of the Year” list. This gives you, the reader, a chance to see each of our own specific tastes and preferences. It…

  • Review: Earth Defense Force 2: Invaders From Planet Space (Sony Playstation Vita)

    Earth Defense Force 2: Invaders From Planet Space Genre: Third Person Shooter Developer: Sandlot Publisher: Xseed Games Release Date: 12/08/15 A few years ago, D3 Publisher was looking to be a rising star thanks to games with a certain underground cool factor, like Earth Defense Force 2017 and Oneechanbara, but over the past couple of…

  • Review: Corpse Party: Blood Drive (Sony PlayStation Vita)

    Corpse Party: Blood Drive Genre: Adventure/Horror Developer: Team GrisGris, 5pb, Mages, Grindhouse Publisher: XSEED Release Date: 10/13/15 I don’t even know where to begin. Corpse Party, when it initially came out four years ago in the US, was a game that I was astounded by. Its visuals had a distinctly low-tech vibe to them, but…

  • Walkthrough: Corpse Party: Blood Drive

    Hello and welcome to Diehard GameFAN’s Corpse Party: Blood Drive walkthrough! After the first two walkthroughs basically exploded, in terms of popularity, I figured a walkthrough for the third game might be worth considering, and since this game follows the first game in terms of how it’s structured, it’s definitely a game that would benefit…

  • Review: Zen Pinball 2: Ant-Man (Sony Playstation 3/Playstation 4/Playstation Vita)

    Zen Pinball: Ant-Man Genre: Pinball Developer: Zen Studios Publisher: Zen Studios Release Date: 7/15/15 In the past few years, Zen Studios has grown their pinball table series, Zen Pinball 2, from a smattering of original content and video game based licenses into a licensed product juggernaut, as they can claim tables based on popular franchises…

  • Review: Balls of Glory (Sony PlayStation 4/PlayStation 3/PlayStation Vita)

    Balls of Glory Genre: Pinball Developer: Zen Studios Publisher: Zen Studios Release Date: 10/20/15 We’ve been fairly big supporters of Zen Studios and their Zen Pinball series over the past few years, and it’s not hard to understand why: they have a good grasp on how to make a digital pinball table work, and they…

  • Review: Arcana Heart 3: LOVEMAX!!! (PC)

    Arcana Heart 3: LOVEMAX!!! Genre: Fighting Developer: Examu Publisher: Arc System Works Release Date: 9/29/15 Well, here we are with what will be the third review in seven and a half years of the Arcana Hearts franchise, with the game Arcana Hearts 3: LOVEMAX!!!. I’ll be the first to admit that, despite a general love…

  • Review: Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax (Sony Playstation Vita)

    Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax Genre: Fighting Developer: Ecole/French Bread Publisher: Sega Release Date: 10/06/15 Fans of Ecole as a fighting game developer have gone from famine to feast this year; after years of never seeing a US port of Melty Blood in any form, we’ve suddenly been given two fighting games from the developer, in…

  • Review: Black Sails (PC)

    Black Sails Genre: Adventure Developer: Deck 13 Publisher: Deck 13 Release Date: 09/17/15 As I mentioned in my Dropsy review, good, non-horror-themed traditional adventure games are fairly hard to come by in this day and age, but if you’re looking for a horror theme in your adventure game, well, that’s surprisingly not so hard to…

  • Review: Persona 4: Dancing All Night (Sony Playstation Vita)

    Persona 4: Dancing All Night Genre: Rhythm Developer: Dingo Inc. Publisher: Atlus Release Date: 09/29/15 So, just shy of three months ago, I took a look at an import version of Persona 4: Dancing All Night, and now, by the kindness of Atlus, here we are taking a look at the US release of the…

  • Review: Dropsy (PC)

    Dropsy Genre: Adventure Developer: Tendershoot/A Jolly Corpse Publisher: Devolver Digital Release Date: 09/10/15 Dropsy was a game I’d had on my radar ever since I first heard about it around a month ago. Part of that is because traditional adventure games have become a lot less high profile (and common) than they used to be,…

  • Diehard AnimeFAN, Vol. 8: Monster Musume, MY Love STORY!!, God Eater and more!

    This one’s going to be a bit on the small side, update-wise; essentially, I haven’t had a lot of time to watch much anime due to work training, and I haven’t had a chance to pick out a new anime to sub into the rotation in place of the now completed Nagato Yuki-chan, so I…

  • Review: Gryphon Knight Epic (PC)

    Gryphon Knight Epic Genre: Shooter Developer: Cyber Rhino Studios Publisher: Cyber Rhino Studios Release Date: 08/20/15 While the traditional shooter genre has become something of an underground genre these days, at least in the US, there’s no absence of attempts to create innovation in the genre when they do come around. While some games simply…

  • Diehard AnimeFAN, Vol. 7: Monster Musume, MY Love STORY!!, God Eater and more!

    Well, here’s a story that ends in tragedy: I discovered today that VIZ Media has their own website, complete with a section full of streaming anime, and figuring I’d like to give it a shot, I jumped in to see what they offer. What I was hoping for was a full site-based streaming service, akin…

  • Review: Steins;Gate (Sony Playstation Vita)

    Steins;Gate Genre: Visual Novel Developer: 5pb Publisher: PQube Release Date: 8/25/15 The Vita has become something of a repository for novel Japanese games, as far as the US market is concerned, and in the past two years it’s turned from a console no one really needs to own into a console that’s easily recommended if…