Posts by Gavin Annand

Over the past year or so, I’ve managed to reconnect with tabletop gaming, thanks to its rising popularity. I had dabbled with Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition back in the early 2000s, finally returning with D&D 5th Edition early last year. I was impressed with how 5th Edition has really streamlined a lot of rules,…

The year is 1999, and like almost everyone else in the industry, you are anxiously awaiting the next big thing in competitive shooters. Quake II is dominating the multiplayer scene on GameSpy, but some upstart games have shaken the status quo. Half-Life has taken shooters in bold new directions, Starsiege: Tribes is playing with some…

Half-Life is an amazing series. That’s not a controversial position. Both games have sat comfortably in “best of all time” lists since their release dates. In 2013, IGN summed up the influence of Half-Life on the FPS genre pretty concisely: “When you look at the history of first-person shooters, it all breaks down pretty cleanly…

A multiplayer shooter can have the best mechanics, graphics and weapon selection in the world, but without a good battlefield to unleash them on, the game isn’t worth a dime. Strong level design is the foundation upon which all FPS games depend on. Good level design is all about flow, and good level designers construct…

If you listen to the media, lobbyist groups and Karen from the local Parents & Teachers Council, you’d be forgiven for thinking that games are responsible for all of society’s woes, including drugs, alcohol, violence and *gasp* sex. Indeed, games seem to cop an inordinate amount of flak when it comes to controversy, while books,…

Start with the first 6 games here! The world has been gripped by fear in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, and health authorities the world over are asking people to engage in “social distancing,” something that gamers have been practicing for decades. Indeed, it seems like gamers have woken up in some sort of…

As stated in my previous Devil’s Advocate article, a strong and well-considered argument should, first and foremost, give honest consideration to any opposing standpoints. By understanding opposing views, we can reinforce our own views while arming ourselves with the ability to tackle opposing arguments. That is the purpose of The Devil’s Advocate. In these articles,…

MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries is an enjoyable game, and a welcome return of the king of the stompy robots genre. But while it is definitely fun, it is still at least 12 months (and probably a few paid DLCs) away from being a complete game. If you haven’t committed to MechWarrior 5 yet, or you want…

Bullfrog Productions was founded in 1987 by Les Edgar and Peter Molyneux. Edgar’s name might be more familiar to motorsports fans than gamers; he left the industry in 1999 and eventually became chair of TVR Automotive. Molyneux, however, is a name well known in the games industry, and while he has been praised for his…

The RPG genre is my favorite genre, and is a genre that often receives a great deal of critical acclaim; RPGs often feature deep, involving plots and have a great deal of character development, as well as deep mechanics to sink your teeth into. Hype around RPGs can sometimes give these games a greater reputation…