Archive for Author: Vangie Ridgaway

  • The Gift (PC)

    Reviews Reviews by Vangie Ridgaway on

    Add a drop of blood to a pile of cigar ashes and you get a ghost?

  • Gamer Girlfriend: The Mass Effect Series (According to Mike)

    Columns Columns by Vangie Ridgaway on Comments2

    Those of you who have had the pleasure of meeting my husband Mike, either in person or via one of GameCola's famous podcasts, have probably figured out by now that he is a bit of a talker. These days,

  • Gamer Girlfriend: Candy Corn Games

    Columns Columns by Vangie Ridgaway on Comments3

    Try to recall the last time you found yourself playing a new game that—for whatever reason—just wasn't all that great. It shouldn't take you too long to think of one. It's happened to all of us. P

  • Gamer Girlfriend: Love, Jealousy, and Farming

    Columns Columns by Vangie Ridgaway on Comments3

    As husbands go, Mike isn't the overly possessive type. I'm proud to say that we built our relationship on a foundation of mutual trust, and neither of us is particularly controlling about the other's

  • Gamer Girlfriend: A-Puzzling We Will Go

    Columns Columns by Vangie Ridgaway on

    It's a well-known truism in gaming (in other words, it is a broad-scale generalization that I totally just made up) that no two gamers will have the exact same taste in videogames. This is the reason

  • Gamer Girlfriend: Friends Don’t Let Friends Play (Crappy) Facebook Games

    Columns Columns by Vangie Ridgaway on Comments5

    It all started when I got a message from GameCola's own Kate Jay. "Hey Vangie," she said, "I know you don't usually play Facebook games, but you might want to give this one a try. It's really a lot of

  • Mystery Trackers: Raincliff (PC)

    Reviews Reviews by Vangie Ridgaway on Comments1

    Over the past few months, I have come to be a pretty good judge of the quality of hidden object games. I didn't necessarily set out to be, but when you've played them as much as I have, you start to g

  • Gamer Girlfriend: Clash of the Titans

    Columns Columns by Vangie Ridgaway on Comments4

    It sucks to be a low-level character in D&D. Sad, but true. Your hit points are crap, you have no money or magic items, and your most impressive spells do exactly 1d3 points of damage per casting. I mean, OK, it’s not like the challenge ratings of the monsters you’re fighting are very high either, but still. Best-case scenario, your character is kind of a weakling but still gets a decent hit or two in per encounter. Worst case scenario, he’s completely useless (seriously, try playing a Level 1 Monk sometime and see how much you like being the only person in the party who can’t hold a weapon properly).

  • Echoes of Sorrow (PC)

    Reviews Reviews by Vangie Ridgaway on Comments3

    I first played Echoes of Sorrow while I was in the midst of the "hidden object game" craze that took over my life for about two months earlier this year (see this month's "Gamer Girlfriend" for more o

  • Gamer Girlfriend: The Curse of the Hidden Object Games

    Columns Columns by Vangie Ridgaway on Comments1

    I recently came to the end of what turned out to be an extremely counterproductive, fairly expensive, and slightly embarrassing pastime. It all started shortly after I quit my job in December to becom