Backloggers Anonymous

Casey, Jamie, and Blake are back from Tomb Raider: Legend. Join our level by level breakdown of the experience while Casey gives his thoughts on Lara's character, Jamie expresses his love of the swan dive and Blake rants on why he hates London.

Just in time for anyone anticipating the new Rise of the Tomb Raider, here comes Backloggers Anonymous with one of Lara Croft's older adventures: Tomb Raider: Legend. Before her franchise was rebooted in 2013, it was rebooted in 2006 as Lara traveled around the world in search of artifacts. Join us as Casey laments for past days of the franchise, Blake trashes the 2013 reboot, and Jamie gets excited over grappling hooks! Tomb Raider: Legend is available on the Playstation 2, Xbox, Gamecube, PC, Xbox 360, and PSP. It is also on the Playstation 3 as a part of the Tomb Raider Trilogy. Intro Music: I've Been Everywhere (Johnny Cash, 1996) Outro Music: Figther (Christina Aguilera, 2002)

Casey, JD, and Joaquim are back after playing Prince of Persia: Warrior Within. Join us as Casey rants on the combat, JD raves on the platforming, and Joaquim makes smart ass quips for a discussion with lots and lots of sidetracking. Intro Music: One Way or Another (Blondie, 1978) Outro Music: Back in Time (Huey Lewis and The News, 1984)

Backloggers Anonymous is back with the most controversial of the Prince of Persia titles. Join us as JD explains why he loves this series and game in particular while perparing himself for future backlash, where we also discuss The Sands of Time, Ubisoft abandoning the series for Assassin's Creed, and the future of the cinematic platformer genre. Intro Music: Time in a Bottle by Jim Croce Outro Music: Untitled Self Portrait by Will Arnett (from The Lego Movie)

Casey, JD, and Joaquim are finally back with their thoughts on Dead Space 2. Come as they give their thoughts on the scares, standout moments, story, characters, multiplayer, series as a whole, and....well...let's just say things get kind of weird.

Backloggers Anonymous is finally back, this time with a new cast! Join Casey, JD, and Joaquim as the three of us tackle the horrors of Dead Space 2! Yet, are these actual horrors or is this a violent shoot em up disguised as a horror game? And is this a bad thing? We discuss this and more! New to the franchise? The game offers a cutscene to catch you up on the first game! Played 2 already? Try the New Game Plus then! Anyone and everyone is welcome to play along with us through this game! So pop Dead Space 2 into your PS3, 360, or PC and join us on an adventure surviving in outer space!

No... Not fans of Backloggers (although that would be nice) I decided since the FFX soundtrack is already world famous, I'd throw in some fan made versions of some of the music. If you like what you hear, they're all from YouTube. I'll post the links so you can hear the songs in their entirety. Sadly, Jamie couldn't make the recording and, although I said in the show he would contribute something in writing, he hasn't had time to do that either. That's the thing about being an adult, sometimes you just can't make all the time you'd like for your hobbies. Anyway, check out our final thoughts, and here's the links for the music used in the show in the order they appear. Enjoy! TPR - Yuna's Theme (Piano Version) Family Jules - To Zanarkand TPR - Servants of the Mountain (FFX Mt. Gagazet Theme) Frank Hamilton - Final Fantasy X Battle Theme

This time on Backloggers: Julian knows everything about this game, Jamie is fed up with Blitzball (Julian too I guess), and  Angelo can't remember any character's name! Bad voice acting is good! Chirpy young characters aren't obnoxious! FF XIII might not be as bad as I thought! (OK, wait, yes it is, anyway) CHAOS! CHAOS! Speaking of chaos, we had some serious issues recording this. I had to do a ton of editing to get the podcast to sound decent, but there's going to be some skips, choppy speech, and robot voice happening. Anyway, enjoy the show, share some more comments we can discuss on the next show, and we hope you're enjoying this as much as we are. 

It's time for another three parter here at Backloggers Anonymous! Angelo is joined by Jaime and Julian to talk about a pretty big game that two thirds of the cast have never played: Final Fantasy X. Now, after a three hour FF episode of Nerds Without Pants you might think that Julian doesn't have much more to say about fantasies that are final, but you would be wrong. Seriously, we can't get this guy to shut up! If you haven't played Final Fantasy X before, this is the episode that will (hopefully) get you playing along with us. Julian puts some perspective on where the franchise was at the time, and how fan reaction to this particular game has changed over the years. We talk about the battle system, some eerie similarities to Final Fantasy XIII, and digress all over the place. We hope you enjoy the show, and if you're playing along, we'll be talking about the start of the game all the way up to the Macalania Cloister of Trials. Join us, won't you? And if you recently played through, please comment, but try t

You know who deserves respect? Anybody who finishes this game. Seriously. While we generally came away from Alundra with really positive feedback, some of those puzzles were either frustratingly difficult to the point of seeming almost unfair, or just trite and boring. Untangling word puzzles to talk to dead saints in a particular order isn't really anybody's idea of a good time, neither are some of those pillar-pushing puzzles. But hey, if you pulled it off and wanted to hear what we thought (or even if you gave up), click on the play button and find out. For our next show, we're going to be tackling our first really huge game: Final Fantasy X. Yeah, I know I said we won't do AAA games, but considering the recent re-release and the fact that there's actually quite a few of us (myself included) that haven't played the game, I decided to make an exception. It also sounds like the game isn't exactly a flawless gem (that voice acting.... ugh....), which always makes for some great discussion. Hopefully you're a

This time on Backloggers, I'm joined by two new guests, Chris and Jamie, to discuss our second retro game, the Playstation classic Alundra. On the block for discussion are some of the other games in the "Stalker" franchise (it's not what you think!) Working Designs legacy and our relative histories with their titles, and our familiarity with similar games, like the Zelda franchise. So, not gonna lie, this game doesn't always play fair like we discuss on the show, so if you've decided to play along, be prepared. We've decided this will be a two part show, so we'll see you in a few weeks. Have fun!

Here it is at last, folks: the conclusion of the Backlogger's journey into Asura's Wrath! Julian and Angelo are once again joined by internet gamer sensation and all around pleasant person Erika Szabo. There's lots to talk about, so let's jump right in. Things kick off with the one-two punch of the dumbest episode in the game and the most epic episode in the game. The crew talks at length on the hilarity of a hot spring scene and the insane and awesome implications of battling on the moon. Yes, the freaking moon! The episode by episode recap focuses on how super cool (and dreamy) Yasha is, Julian's new-found frustrations with the one on one battle mechanics, and the incredibly interesting Buddhist elements that infuse this over the top action game. The conversation gets deep at times, something nobody on the show was expecting. Things wrap up with a spirited debate over the "true" ending to the game. Is it ethical? Does it really ruin the accomplishment of finishing the game when there's a hidden cliffhanger

Welcome back to Backloggers! We're waist deep in Asura's wrath in this episode. Before listening you should have played up to the end of episode 9. Come join Julian, Angelo, and special guest Erika Szabo as we talk all about Asura. We start out by getting Angelo and Erika's initial impressions on this very divisive game. Angelo is pleasantly surprised at how much he likes it, but at the same time is frustrated by its shortcomings. Erika is 100% on board with what Capcom and Cyber Connect 2 pulled off, and both agree that they can't wait to finish the game. Even Angelo's wife has been enjoying it! We close out with an episode by episode breakdown of the story. As the discussion flows, we end up finding some more depth to the character of Asura than what's explicitly depicted on screen. Like any great anime, there are plenty of talking points and elements to disect, and that's exactly what we do. Next episode, we finish the game! If you're playing along with us (or played the game in the past) , throw some comm

Hey there, Julian here. Yeah, I'm not your usual Backloggers Anonymous host, but we're tackling a game that I have a really huge soft spot for: Asura's Wrath. We are joined by Nerds Without Pants fan favorite Erika Szabo who takes her place as our resident anime expert. This is important, because Asura's Wrath is a huge, mushy love letter to Japanese animation, which you can read all about in my review. We spend the first part of the show talking about our personal history with anime, as well as some of our all-time favorite shows. After that, we delve into the topic of the dreaded Quick Time Event (or QTE if you're funky). This is also a big deal, as Asura's Wrath is almost entirely QTE based. Opinions vary among the three of us, but I do a pretty good job of getting Angelo and Erika excited for this play through. Finally, we wrap up with some talk on DLC (this game had a "huge" controversy concerning its DLC), and some favorite anime recommendations. This game is quite a trip, and I hope you'll join us. If

First off, I'm sorry about the audio. Technical issues caused my feed to sound a little on the distorted side. It's not horrible, but it's noticeable. I believe I've found the cause of the problem and fixed it, but unfortunately this recording is what it is. We talk about, well, a lot of stuff. The game has its highs and lows, but for me one of the lowest points was the music. We get into it for a few minutes on the show, but it's a real shame to see a franchise that lodged so may amazing tunes in gamers' heads take a departure into the bland. In a world where Dark Souls has a dark fantasy theme and had an orchestrated, ambient score that showed no fear of melody, I expected much more from this game. It's not all doom and gloom though, like most of the games we tackle, the game has its quality elements. On the whole, I enjoyed my time with Lords of Shadow. Let us know what you thought of the game in the comments below! Next time, Julian snatches the show away from me and brings frequent NWP guest Erika Szabo

So, this was supposed to be a Halloween special, but clearly we're a little bit late for that. Oh well.  This time we're tackling Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, which is a game both Julian and I have meant to get around to playing, but never got around to for one reason or another. Unlike most of our podcasts, we don't really have anybody on board who has played this game before, so we spent most of the 'cast talking about our history with Castlevania titles, some Konami titles, and Tiger handheld LCD games. Yeah, I know. But it's related, trust me. In the course of the podcast, we referenced a re-release of this title that included the DLC and Mirror of Fate. That's out now and priced very well at $39.99, so if you want to play along with us, picking the game up this way isn't a bad option. As usual, we'd love to get some feedback from the community, so let us know what you think and if you'll be playing along with us. If you've got some great talking points or stir up some good discussion, we

So, we wrapped up El Shaddai, and, for better and for worse, our expectations were pretty spot on. As you might imagine considering our previous podcast, stuff got deep again. We also had some theories and conjecture about a lot of the messages and artistic choices present in the game. Even if El Shaddai ended up not being for you, we hope you'll listen anyway to see what we took away from it.  Enoch As usual on our follow up podcasts, be aware that this is loaded with spoilers. We assume that, by this point, you've either played the game or given up on it, so if that's not the case, finish up first (it's only about 10 hours tops) then give it a listen.  Ishtar. Interesting resemblance right? It's also a good time to remind our listeners that Richard did some great (although also spoiler filled) write-ups on El Shaddai. You can find them in the show notes on our first podcast discussing this game, and don't forget to check out Richard Clark's work over at Christ and Pop Culture

Yes, that's right, we brought in a special guest for this one: Richard Clark of, well, half the internet really. Mostly he's known for his work at Christ and Pop Culture and Game Church. For our intentions however, it's his work covering our next game, El Shaddai, that got my attention. He's written pretty extensively on the game, and we're very happy to have him on board for these next two podcasts.   I'll be honest, this is probably one of the best recordings we've done so far. What started off as pretty standard fare conversational topics ended up getting deep. Really deep. I'm not going to spoil it for you, but make sure to give this one a listen. Also, be sure to check out Richard's work on the game: Review for Killscreen.comEditorial for Paste And then a four-part series for GameRanx. WARNING! THESE CONTAIN SPOILERS!   El Shaddai as a Roadmap to a Religious Game  El Shaddai and the Importance of Choice  El Shaddai: Choice Made Flesh in Lucifel and Enoch  A G

Well, we finished Mirror's Edge, and like most titles we play on Backloggers, it has its flaws to be sure, but it's a fantastic game. Make sure to listen to this 'cast once you've finished playing through since we spoil the ending about 5 seconds into the show, and thanks again for picking this game for us to play and for the feedback if you left us comments. I hope to do another community pick again sometime soon, so be on the lookout for another Backloggers poll.  Our next selection is El Shaddai, and we've got a special guest joining us for this one: Richard Clark of Christ and Pop Culture. Aside from the obvious familiarity with the source material, he's also a huge fan of the game and has written several pieces on it (which I won't link at this time due to spoilers.) So be looking forward to that one, and maybe hunt down a copy of El Shaddai if you're interested in playing along with us (it's not that expensive!) Thanks for listening!

Yeah, that's right, we went there. It's hard not to, really, what with the current drama unfolding around Dragon's Crown, the Tropes Vs. Women videos, and what's in Lightning's bra. We handled it as well as 3 dudes on a video game podcast could, I think, but it would be fantastic if we could get some civil discussion going in the comments. We could have a great follow up when we get to our conclusion episode. Also, thanks to the PixlBit community for picking this one. It's certainly going to be a fun game to discuss, and with the recent announcement of a reboot / sequel, it's a very relevant subject too. Like I said in the show, we really want to hear your feedback, and since you've selected it, I'm expecting a lot of comments - so have at it! Chris won't be looking at them so feel free to spoil stuff, just put an appropriate warning up for others who haven't played the game yet. And for those who are curious, the blog Chris references can be found here.