How To Review A Game

Hey Hackers! I’m Bryan Applegate.

First of all, a huge thank you to the HackerNoon community and staff for nominating me for a 2022 Noonies award! I’ve been nominated in the gaming category so please do check out these award pages and vote:

1. HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - GAME DEVELOPMENT: https://www.noonies.tech/2022/gaming/2022-hackernoon-contributor-of-the-year-game-development
2. HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- GAMING-INDUSTRY: https://www.noonies.tech/2022/gaming/2022-hackernoon-contributor-of-the-year-gaming-industry
3. Mom’s Basement Bandit - Address currently N/A

1. What product/feature/project did you get nominated for?

I got nominated for two Gaming-related categories. They are as follows. The first one is for Contributor of the Year in Game Development. The second one Is Contributor of the Year for Gaming Industry.

2. Why did you design or develop it the way that you did?

I designed my review articles the way I did because I wanted to go discuss the positives and negatives of combat. I also wanted to go into lots of specific obstacles that annoyed me. Such examples include Darksiders III’s spiked girders of instadeath and the instadeath tornado in the final main area of the game (The Scar). I see why the developers (THQNordic and Gunfire Games) went with these obstacles: to test your mastery of Stasis.

3. What was combat like?

Combat - as described in my review of Darksiders III, involves Witch Time-Esque dodging, and counterattacking with your whip, subweapons, and elemental Hollow powers. You start with the whip in the beginning. Then you go gain more maneuvers by going through tougher and more complex areas and puzzles and acquire more weapons and hollows as you beat the 7 deadly sins.

4. Were you expecting the nomination?

I wasn’t expecting this nomination, to be honest. My review heavily discussed the game’s enviroments, and combat mechanics so well. I’m a reviewer and writer, first and foremost. I’m not much of a developer unless you wanna count coding in Codecademy.

5. What do you think made it successful?

What I think made Darksiders III Successful is - to some - the ability to play as a female Horseman named Fury. To be fair to the development team, implementing a gameplay style that’d work for Famine and Conquest (magic-based combat, and Strategy RPG - respectively) would be VERY difficult. Creating Fury and Strife and implementing them at the chronological point in the series in this game occurs is utterly genius.

6. If you could design the perfect project, what would it be?

If I were in charge of making the perfect Darksiders game, I’d make a Darksiders V where all 4 horsemen are playable in a co-op setting as they take on Heaven, Hell’s leader Lucifer, and the Charred Council in a final battle to protect humanity. A lot of people are interested in the idea, and the fans would love it as well. As for how it’d end…? Well, it’s a secret.

7. What technologies in the games industry are most exciting?

Cloud Streaming, Game Pass-Esque subscriptions, and the Nintendo Switch are most exciting right now. Why do I say this? It’s due to Xbox Game Pass PC getting DEATH STRANDING, For Cloud Streaming, it brings games like Dying Light 2: Stay Human to Switch. For the Nintendo Switch, it’s super-popular and has sold over 100+ million units.

8. What is a major issue in the games industry that needs to be addressed?

There are 2 major issues the Games Industry needs to address. They are DLC that can easily be made into a Complete sequel of its’ own, and NFTs/Crypto. They have become problematic in recent years, with instances like Resident Evil Village’s Winters’ DLC being proof of the former. As for Crypto and NFTs… So many other people on Twitter express it more eloquently than I could.

9. Is there something that you would like to shout-out?

I want to shout out THQNOrdic for letting me review Darksiders III. I also want to shout out HackerNoon for letting me write to a MASSIVE audience.

10. How can gaming writers on HackerNoon set themselves apart from the mainstream gaming publications such as IGN and Gamespot?

Here are 2 pieces of advice. In order, it goes as such.

1. Be honest in all of your writings about a game, crypto, or NFT. If you got a negative opinion on one of them, then don’t be afraid to express it. People will appreciate your honesty.

2. Don’t invest in Crypto or NFTs. It’ll disappear and devalue over time.

11. Please give us the links to all your relevant social media profiles so we can use them to promote this interview! (Twitter and LinkedIn would be a huge plus)

Twitter: twitter.com/BryanApplegate5

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryan-applegate-306b99188/

Youtube (main Channel): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYujQ7fwl5-4ME-x3PfRTyQ

Youtube (2nd Channel): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAp8b8GBpyrHO_4H-UMXRqw