Metal Gear Musings: Part 1

This year marks the 20th anniversary of one of the greatest and worst things to ever happen to gaming: the Metal Gear Solid series. The series (and its MSX predecessors) have baffled and delighted gamers for decades, serving up an inimitable mix of social commentary, action movie escapades and bizarre medium games. Long time fan of the series Zigg is playing through every game fresh and looking back on them from a modern perspective. Warning – spoilers ahoy!

This week: Metal Gear Solid (PlayStation/PC, 1998)

VA-11 Hall-A Review

It’s 207X A.D., and Glitch City is a cyberpunk dystopia. A corrupt Big Brother watches through nanomachines in the very air people breathe. Basic necessities are prohibitively expensive, and the gap between the haves and have-nots only widens with each passing day. Just being outdoors invites the possibility of being mugged or murdered. Wouldn’t you like to get away? Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name, and VA-11 Hall-A is all about capturing that feeling.

Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late Review

As the latest from former doujin developers French Bread, Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late certainly has colorful characters and flashy super moves, but does it do enough to stand out from the crowd? Is it better than its incredibly long and awkward title lets on? Can I get through this entire review without saying “Melty Blood”? Let’s have a closer look.

An Editorial On Editorials

I have often noted how proud we are of the wide variety of opinions we present here at The Glorio Blog. Witnessing the recent “#Gamergate” madness though has made me re-evaluate how our blog operates and some of the content we have posted. Considering we are just an amateur blog and video games are only…

The Unfortunate Implications of Kantai Collection

You’ve probably seen them before, whether it’s on social networks, in fanart, as figures on online shops or in the seedier underbellies of the anime fandom. The kanmusu, or “ship daughters”, twee teenage girls dressed like fashionable sailors and armed to the teeth with equally cutesy heavy weaponry, are the heroines and mascots of Kantai Collection, the new cult phenomenon taking the Internet by storm. Yet the context on which Kantai Collection exists, is a rather problematic one.

Contest: Win a copy of Rune Factory 3!

Thats right! To celebrate the release of Xseed’s Rune Factory 4, and because we know you all are incredibly sad that you can’t court Raven despite her being in the game, us generous people here at TGB have decided to throw a shiny new copy of Rune Factory 3 for the DS your way!

Black Rock Shooter: The Game Review

The Pixiv illustration that launched an otaku empire has been all of those things, including a PSP game that has surprisingly been localized for North American and European fans. Has NISA done us a favor and rescued an obscure gem, or is this simply a cash-in on the franchise’s niche popularity?

Incoherent Babble Episode 10: TRUE SELF Edition

After an even longer break than before, the gang reunite for a new episode. With Zigg hosting and Aqua, Jel and Iro on the panel, they talk survival strategies, pretty men in spandex, bad sequels to bad games and the One Piece Rap before going for an in-depth discussion of this blog’s undoubted favourite topic, the Persona games. Beware spoilers!

Persona 4 Golden Review

Persona 4 was an instant classic, better than its predecessor in nearly every way. Four years later, it seems Atlus is trying to pull the same trick, whipping out an updated release of an old game, putting some new bells and whistles on it. The question is, how did it turn out?

First Impressions: DMC: Devil may Cry

DmC, oh DmC. Ever since its grungey announcement at E3 2009, the Ninja Theory-helmed reboot of the beloved, stylish action franchise has stirred such a tremendous hurricane of backlash you’re starting to wonder whether there is actually someone left who likes the game. To the surprise of many a gaming journalist – who did not…

Glorio Special Report: ATLUS Fighting Championships

We here at The Glorio Blog are big fans of Bearsona 4 Arena, so when I learned that a tournament was being held at an arcade a mere 15 minutes’ drive away, I figured I just had to go check it out. I’m the best P4A player among us by a fair margin (and was the closest to the location by a huge margin), so I was the obvious choice to go claim glory and prizes in the blog’s name. So, how did it go?