Diehard GameFAN

Author: Alex Lucard

  • Retrograding 05.20.05

    This has been bugging me for a long time. I hated the old system and in the year I was on the staff before we switched to my method we currently use for games reviews here at IP, I only did 14 reviews. The average score a game got from me. 7.45! Crazy, isn’t it?…

  • Review: Haunting Ground (PS2)

    Haunting Ground Developer: Capcom Publisher: Capcom Genre: Survival Horror Release Date: 05/10/05 I’m not a fan of Capcom’s use of “Survival Horror.” Mainly because they are all but guaranteed to do an awful job of it. By this I mean they have no concept of terror or horror. The definition of Horror is, “An intense,…

  • Nyogtha Volume I, Issue XXIII

    Folklore One of today’s topics comes from Mr. Ryan Holiday of Kentucky. I’ve enjoyed your Nyogtha column since it’s beginning, even with the Occasional cheap shot at Kentucky notwithstanding. After finishing your latest installment, I must say “bravo!” to every word. I’ve recently finished up my master’s in psychology and I’ve always had an interest…

  • Nyogtha, Volume I, Issue XXII

    Well, another week, another Column. It’s been almost a month since I’ve done a normal one of these, what with the Amityville Horror repeat, the Vampire Hunter Mocking, and then, last week’s Retrograding. This week’s topic comes via a conversation I had with an archaeologist friend of mine as we discussed literary criticism, and how…

  • Review: Pokemon Emerald (Game Boy Advance)

    Pokemon Emerald Developer: Game Freak Publisher: Nintendo Genre: Turn Based RPG Release Date: 05/01/05 Okay. I’m worried about the future of Pokemon. Game Freak appears to be hitting “Street Fighter 2” Mentality by releasing rehash after rehash with little to no improvements now. And Emerald has officially ticked me off. This isn’t the first time…

  • Review: Psychonauts (XB)

    Psychonauts Publisher: Majesco Developer: Double Fine Productions Genre: 3-D platformer Release Date: 4/19/05 Originally Widro was supposed to review this, but he never had the chance. Well, that and Majesco sent me the game on April 29th, so I popped it in and beat it. It’s odd, because I really didn’t expect Majesco to send…

  • Review: Stella Deus: The Gate of Eternity (PS2)

    Stella Deus: The Gate of Eternity Developer: Pinegrow (Previously called MaxFive) Publisher: Atlus USA Genre: Strategy RPG Release Date: 04/26/05 Well, what do you know? The makers of Hoshigami: Running Blue Earth are back with a new tactical RPG. For those of you that don’t remember Hoshigami, it was a decent, but critically panned RPG…

  • RETROGRADING Mailbag 05.02.05

    Well, no Nyogtha this week. No time to research considering Friday-Monday are going to involve me being two time zones away from my laptop. Hey, I’m at Coachella. But I’ll be damned if I give up my “Only writer on IP who hasn’t missed a column yet” award Instead I’m just going to clean out…

  • Preview: Forza Motorsports (XB) Updated Hands-On

    Publisher: Microsoft / Developer: Microsoft / Genre: Driving / Release Date: 2005 I’m not a big fan of racing games, but then I’m not a big fan of driving in real life. The last racing game I can say had fun with was the Need For Speed where you could unlock a T-Rex or a…

  • Review: Raze’s Hell (XB)

    Raze’s Hell Developer: Artech Studios Publisher: Majesco Genre: 3-D Action Adventure Release Date: 4/22/05 Every so often a trend comes up that makes me ashamed to be a gamer. The graphics over gameplay trend. The “OMG! LARA CROFT NUDE CHEAT CODE! I WANT ONE!” trend, the “let’s release 12 version of the same game with…

  • Nyogtha Volume I, Issue XXI

    See, because of my writing preferences, I get some weird emails. I get people asking me how to ghosts out of their houses. I get people asking me if there’s such things as werewolves because they think they have one living across the street. I get people who think I am actually Vlad the Impaler…

  • Wrestlemania XXI (Microsoft Xbox)

    Wreslemania XXI Developer: Studio Gigante Publisher: THQ Genre: Sports/Wrestling Release Date: 4/21/05 By now you’ve heard it from other sites and even my First Impressions: DO NOT BUY THIS GAME. It is hands down the worst Wrestling game ever made. THQ needs to issue a formal apology and a recall for allowing this level of…

  • Wrestlemania XXI: First Impressions

    Look people, I won’t lie to you. This is honestly the worst wrestling game ever made. This game makes WCW Thunder and WWF Royal Rumble look like Touken Retsuden 4 or Fire Pro Wrestling D. No one should buy this game. It’s glitchy, it crashy, it is a pile of shit, that THQ needs to…

  • Preview: Stella Deus: The Gate Of Eternity (PS2) Hands-On

    Publisher: Atlus / Developer: Atlus / Genre: Strategy-RPG / Release: 05-03-05 Stella Dues is the newest Strategy RPG from Atlus, in their long running vein of games like Hoshigami, Ogre Tactics, and more. If you’ve ever played a SRPG, then you will have no problems adjusting to the control scheme or gameplay of Stella Dues,…

  • Preview: Flatout (XB, PS2) Hands-On

    Publisher: Empire Interactive / Developer: Bugbear / Genre: Racing Action / Release: 06-14-05 Flatout is a new Demolition Derby type racing game scheduled to be released on June 14th with a 49.99 price tag. It’s being released by Bugbear, a company I’ve never heard of before, but just the name reminds me of really weak…

  • Nyogtha Volume I, Issue XX

    Well, I’ve been super busy what with an eleven page review of Jade Empire, and also writing three previews this weekend, so to be honest, I’m taking it easy with the column this week. For starters, I’m going to re-run part of Issue IV, from 12.13.05, as it’s about the Amityville Horror. I saw the…

  • Review: Jade Empire (XB)

    Publisher: Microsoft Developer: Bioware System: Microsoft Xbox Genre: Role-Playing Release: 04-14-05 Jade Empire is one of those games you can’t help but hear about. Thanks to a ton of money spent on advertising and a lot of attention given to Bioware’s latest project by gaming sites across the globs (We’re no exception. We’ve interviewed Bioware…

  • Review: Obscure (XB, PS2)

    Obscure Developer: Hydravision Publisher: Dreamcatcher Genre: Survival Horror Release Date: 04/06/05 I loves me some sweet sweet horror. But true horror games. Ones that focus on plot in addition to gore and gameplay. The Resident Evil series lacks plot and good controls (Save for 4 and then its only got controls), and focuses purely on…

  • Jade Empire: First Impressions

    Right. The game arrived at 4:30, and I put it down about 11pm. That’s six and a half hours of playtime and enough for me to gauge a pretty good feeling of the game. And to be honest, I’m looking at the scores this is getting and scratching my head. Review sites like Gamespot and…

  • Nyogtha Volume I, Issue XIX

    Man, it feels good to be writing about folklore again after that whole Video Game Expose thing. Still getting lots of email, but no more mailbags on it. Just back to food and mythology now. And without further ado, let’s get to your questions for me. Hello Alexander, I am writing in regards to a…