Watch Out for Fireballs!

Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross do a postmodern postmortem on the first portion of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. Metal Gear Solid 2 is a game that's been talked to death, but we try our best to bring our own perspective and approach to it. It's a sequel that Kojima never wanted to make. It's full of curveballs and "fuck you"s aimed at series fans. It has lots of ideas that are shockingly prescient. But, most of all, it's got some play issues that haven't aged super well. This episode covers up through the encounter with Fat Man on the Big Shell. Special thanks to Zachary Deane, this episode's executive producer.

Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross read your responses to Nox.

Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross chase their orbs into the world of Nox. It was marketed as EA's answer to Diablo, but it's categorically different. It introduces itself as a goofy and irreverent take on fantasy fiction, but then it plays it straight. After all of the feints, what you end up with is a profoundly strange action RPG. Big thanks to Garrett for executive producing this episode!

Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross read your responses to SSX Tricky.

Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross flip out about SSX Tricky. This episode is our recital: to talk about to talk about how important SSX Tricky is in the pantheon of extreme sports games. For their second outing, EA Sports BIG totally nailed the combination of racing systems and trick systems, creating a game that is satisfyingly fast and technical. But lest you think this will be a 100% glowing episode, we have some very harsh words for the terrible cast of characters.

Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross read your responses to Yakuza.

Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross kick and punch their way through Yakuza. Here it is, the winner of our Open World Game Poll. Except, it's a very different kind of open world game. Yakuza picks up where Shenmue left off, but does everything a lot better... especially the story, which follows ex-enforcer Kazuma Kiryu as he tries to get to the bottom of what insidious actors are using the Yakuza for malicious gains.

Live from the Midwest Gaming Classic, Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross talk about Nintendo's little-loved Pilotwings series. Afterwards, we talk about our experience at the convention.

Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross read your responses to Crimson Shroud.

Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross chance upon Crimson Shroud. Yasumi Matsuno is responsible for some amazing games, Final Fantasy Tactics chief among them. One of his lesser-known projects is Crimson Shroud, a JRPG released for the 3DS as a part of a collection of smaller games. While it's soaked in Matsuno's style, Crimson Shroud is truly special because it emulates the trappings of tabletop games, right down to simulating dice rolls. But does it stick the landing?