Danny Saya is an aspiring writer and illustrator out of Santa Fe, New Mexico. If Danny isn't playing games he's writing about them, or hiking. If Danny were a piece of sushi he'd be fatty tuna.
Danny Saya
Hitman – Marrakesh Review (PlayStation 4)
Hitman is shaping up to be the hit that no one saw coming. Despite the controversial decision to break the game into an episodic format, especially so close to its release, the format has served it well. If even just the few maps that have been released so far were released all at once, it would feel overwhelming. The time in between each batch of content is ample for digging into each of the incredibly dense environments and explore all of their nooks and crannies. Case in point, Marrakesh, the latest expansion for Hitman. This map is easily the most detailed and tightly packed so far.
10 Best Video Game Animal Pilots
It’s always amazing to see a great pilot in action. Whether it’s a tense dogfight or fancy complex maneuvers, a skilled pilot is a sight to see. It’s even cooler when that pilot is some sort of non-human creature. Whether it’s a cutesy animal or something more stylized and humanoid, these pilots are all interesting characters in their own right, aside from being great pilots. Being a great pilot doesn’t necessarily mean being the most technically proficient, however. As you’ll see some of these entries are great and memorable pilots by virtue of being good characters outside of any piloting skills.
Hitman – Sapienza Review (PlayStation 4)
Hitman’s first episode took place in Paris, but it really didn’t show much of the actual city as most of the action took place indoors. Not that it had to, since just hearing the name Paris inspires all types of mental imagery and the fashion show featured in the first Hitman episode really captured that modern high-fashion feeling. This episode takes place in Sapienza, Italy and unless you’re familiar with some of the lesser known towns in Italy this name doesn’t evoke the same icons that Paris does. Despite that, this episode’s mission features a beautiful and more fully realized environment than its predecessor.
Ratchet and Clank Review (PS4)
The Ratchet and Clank series has been around long enough to earn a number entries for the franchise. While most of them have been the third-person action platformers the series is known for, there have been outliers throughout the years. Games like Ratchet and Clank: All 4 one and Full Frontal Assault added things like drop-in drop-out co-op and tower defense elements to deviate from the formula. This year's revisiting of Ratchet and Clank attempts to take the series back to its roots, while also tying into the upcoming movie that retells the events of the first game. Ratchet and Clank isn’t a remaster or a direct remake of the original because of it. More than anything the changes made in this reboot have improved on what made the first game so memorable.
Hyper Light Drifter Review (PC)
If you combined the hack-slash-evade combat mechanics from Dark Souls and simplified, top-down style Hotline Miami, and threw them into a post-apocalyptic cyberpunk world, you'd have Hyper Light Drifter. While it does borrow from those games, and others in smaller ways, this game is still a unique experience. Hyper Light Drifter’s sound and visual design do a great a job of building a world that feels surprisingly alive for being so empty. Narratively there are hints of a much larger story than what’s presented but without an actual payoff, you’re left wandering through an interesting and beautiful world that never really makes much sense. That’s only where the frustration begins with Hyper Light Drifter however thanks to some questionable design choices.
10 Best Games to Play if You Like Dark Souls
Dark Souls is supremely crafted, unique action RPG. Its difficulty, which is an amalgam of stamina and item management, patience during combat, and deciphering cryptic mechanics are things that are unique to this series of games. Playing through a Dark Souls game makes you feel like you accomplished something with your skill alone. Once you learn your move set with certain weapons or learn how to properly time your spells the game feels easy but not because you just mashed the correct attack button. It still feels satisfying because you learned how to beat those enemies. Boss fights in Dark Souls are an extension of that at a much larger scale though. Going up against a giant knight or Dragon and slaying them with just a sliver of health is exhilarating in a game that rewards skilled play and punishes impatience more than anything.
10 Best Caveman Games
Since the dawn of video games there have been caveman games. Most of the time these types of games are cartoony platformers with light-hearted joke-filled stories. These games took inspiration from shows like Captain Caveman and The Flintstones so naturally the humor is mostly puns and dated jokes of the ‘90s. When caveman games don’t go for a comedic and cartoony style they typically entail some type of survival or an attempt at immersion in that time period. Whatever the case may be, there are enough games that take place in the Paleolithic era (or a close approximation) that caveman games could be a genre unto itself.
Hitman: Intro Pack – Paris Review (PlayStation 4)
The feeling of walking into a crowded ballroom with the intent of committing a murder and leaving without anyone being the wiser is something only the Hitman games have really achieved. Eavesdropping on conversations to learn about an evil dictator’s favorite food so you can poison the dish and leaving as he dies of food poisoning is a special kind of satisfying. Combining the better elements of previous entries in the series, Hitman presents all of these scenarios in a very open-ended fashion in some very elaborate and detailed environments. Even if the episodic release schedule does cut a lot of the fun short right when it gets going.
Far Cry Primal Review (PlayStation 4)
Far Cry Primal takes place in 10,000 BCE, thousands of years before modern music was even conceived, but I still expected Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” to come bursting on during the mammoth hunting intro in true Far Cry fashion. Licensed music aside, Far Cry Primal is still very much a Far Cry game. Taking over outposts and enemy camps, finding bonfires to uncover more of the map and gathering crafting items, it’s all here. Far Cry Primal seeks to put you in the shoes, or rather, hunting furs of a primitive human trying to survive and secure a place for his people, but it seems to get in its own way at the worst times.
10 Best Generation One Pokémon
It’s been just about 20 years since the first 151 Pokémon were unleashed on the world. Nintendo is celebrating such a monumental event all year round with events that are revisiting the last 20 years of Pokémon such as releasing legendary Pokémon from every generation every month until the end of the year. Pokemon is also going all the way back to the beginning with their generations TCG booster set that is a reprint of the very first Pokémon Trading Card Game set. It’s only natural, then, that Pokémon would want to go back to the games that started it all--the original Pokémon games: Red, Blue and Yellow (which came a year later).