Jason Fanelli
Game industry critic and reviewer
Writing For
MMORPG
Game Informer
IGN
But Why Tho
Toms Guide
GameSpot
COGConnectedLatest Reviews
Omen of Sorrow
Omen of Sorrow is a game made from nightmares. Its characters are pulled from children’s nightmares, a catalog of old horror movie tropes and monsters of lore. The stages are dark cemeteries, burning villages, and isolated mountaintops, the background of plenty of bad dreams. Playing the game is its own...
NBA 2K19
NBA 2K19 captures the essence of basketball perfectly. Going up for a thunderous slam dunk fires me up, draining that last second three to win a big game exhilarates and winning a hard-earned NBA championship feels like an accomplishment. The problem with NBA 2K19 lies everywhere else, the game constantly...
20XX
20XX wants to be a Mega Man game for a new age. The futuristic platformer clearly strives to be equal or better than the Blue Bomber, adding a few new ideas to the old formula and producing something new. The game can stand on its own, it is a lot...
A pair of survivors set out on a perilous journey, hearing rumors of a safe haven north of the border. Along the way they pick up allies, fend off zombies while scavenging supplies from abandoned buildings. Every decision could spell the end, yet they press on knowing that success means...
The Station
The Station still rattles around in my head as I sit here a few days after beating it. For such a short game — I finished my playthrough in a mere two hours — there’s a ton of things to address. The derelict station is moody, but not as big...
I’ve been playing Street Fighter since I was five years old, the SNES version of vanilla Street Fighter II being a huge gateway into all video games. Every new release brings me excitement…until Street Fighter V’s limited launch two years ago left a bad impression. Too many things I’d become...
Brawlout
The Nintendo Switch has become a fantastic stage for new indie darlings to make a statement, but Brawlout has some particularly large issues to address. For one thing, it’s undoubtedly going to be compared to a certain Nintendo brawler franchise, that comparison coming bundled with some lofty expectations. Brawlout doesn’t...
WWE 2K18
The motto of World Wrestling Entertainment is “Then, Now, Forever.” It’s something wrestling fans read before every WWE television show, be it on the WWE Network or on normal TV. The slogan is supposed to symbolize the history and legacy of the storied wrestling promotion, but in turn, these words...
Gigantic
Balancing the objective-based main phase with the rushed and frantic giant monster-powered Rampage phase gives Gigantic a fast and distinctive pace that separates it from the MOBA crowd. Having to choose perks so frequently using the clumsy menu causes a lot of dumb deaths, but there are enough good ideas...
Songbringer
Songbringer is the latest in a long line of games that have tried to capture the essence of The Legend of Zelda. On the surface, it does quite well: Super Nintendo era top down view? Check. Dungeons? Check. Grid-based maps? Check. A powerful sword of legend? Check. Calling Songbringer a...
Serial Cleaner
Throughout the history of video games, players have left many a bloody battlefield in their wake. From military shooters to urban warfare and every other type of combat imaginable, the remnants of those epic battles as far as we know remain there in the digital world forever. One game has...
