Two tailors arrive at a palace. Sly and scheming, they offer to spin garments for the Emperor out of a fabric so delicate that it appears invisible to all those too dull to appreciate its inestimable quality. The Emperor pays them and gives them the gold thread they request. When the tailors come to fit the fabric, they drape the “clothes” over the Emperor and place him before a mirror. The Emperor, sweating bullets now, seeing nothing but unwilling to make a fool of himself, says, “Yes, this is...

Herodotus writes that on the eve of battle with the Persian army, the Greek hero Dienekes was told that the Persian archers were so numerous that the mass of arrows, when they launched their volleys, blocked out the sun. Quite undaunted by this prospect, Dienekes responded: "Good. Then we shall have our battle in the shade." The boldness of Dienekes is shared by Moonlight, the hero of Ninja Spirit, though he faces more swords than arrows. His father murdered, Moonlight undertakes a missio...

Contra. Forgive me the mild cliché, but the Nicaragua connection is too good not to bring up first thing, every time. Really now: the Contras were rapists, murderers, and terrorist thugs who plagued the countryside of a hapless Central American nation – and incontestably were the good guys. Equally the digital Contras, for all that they are an elite force dedicated to defeating the extraterrestrial aggressor, are mangy, despicable, homicidal-glint-in-the-eye folks you cross to the ...

Here’s a math problem for you. Take one of the most respected RPG development companies in the world, Enix; add two other talented production houses, Tri-Ace and Links. Now factor in two separate storylines, a party of up to eight characters chosen by the player from all parts of an obsessively detailed fantasy world, and a seemingly endless array of skills and special abilities. It would be easy to say this all sums to a great game -- but a more accurate result would simply be to name the produ...

It’s said that whatever doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger. But Ghosts ‘n Goblins undresses that reassuring bromide conclusively: this NES cart can hardly kill you, but is nonetheless thoroughly debilitating.

Animal Snap is a game that defies expectations. Sadly, the trust it most thoroughly trounces is your faith that game developers possess a bare minimum of competence.

It was an afterthought of a game, tacked on at the last gasp of a console rich in glory but slowly fading away. So it’s not surprising that Syphon Filter 3 lacked the tantalizing lure that made its two predecessors huge sellers -- folks were already too busy ogling PS2 titles like Metal Gear Solid 2. But SF3 certainly deserved better than to be passed over like that -- while players were anticipating the dawn of some new era of gaming, they missed the last dim star in the tw...

Superficiality has rarely if ever bothered me in a woman, as much as today’s culture urges that it should, but I’d always believed it would bother me in a video game. After all, aren’t I supposed to be looking for depth there? Some unique appeal to make my investment of time worthwhile? This was my frame of mind until I picked up Wild Arms 3 -- a game that convinced me of the joys of the superficial and the gentle pleasure of the shallow.

If in earlier days, or perhaps even now, you were like most young men -- and all you ladies out there, I’m guessing you weren’t -- you probably at some point wished yourself a girl. That’s right -- a frilly dress-wearing, tea party-hosting, Nancy Drew-reading girl. Well I’m here to disillusion you and hopefully break you of those twisted desires, because if X-Change is any indicator -- and knowing the reputed mystical insights possessed by your average Japanese game designer, it probably ...

In that familiar galaxy far, far away, some 4000 years before the long-ago events of the two Star Wars film trilogies, the Republic is threatened by a Sith army led by Darth Malak. Its fate lies with the sultry yet sour-mouthed Jedi Bastilla, who possesses a potent ability called Battle Meditation that allowed her to kill Malak’s former master Revan. She’s not doing so well as the game opens, though, as a Sith armada destroys her vessel and forces her to hide out on Taris, a decaying urban world...