Paul Franzen – Page 77

Dear Readers: What is an RPG?

Columns by Paul Franzen on May 1, 2003

I overheard these children in my school's gymnasium the other day discussing just what makes a game an RPG, and it kind of made me laugh. To them, a role-playing game is a game in which you name your main character, you are able to alter the storyline, and you take turns battling. So, by their logic, none of the games in the Legend of Zelda series can be considered RPGs, nor can Secret of Mana or Super Mario RPG. This got me thinking about what the true definition of a role-playing game really is. After looking back at all of the RPGs that I've beaten, I realized that the number of such games is embarrassingly small, and thus I'm probably no expert on RPGs. So I decided to pop on over to the Chrono Cross boards on GameFaqs to ask a few people who might be what their definition of a role-playing game would be.
[NSFW] Bubsy in Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind (SNES)

Reviews by Paul Franzen on April 1, 2003

Welcome to Platforming Hell. Population: One Obnoxious Bobcat.
Dear Readers: GameCola Does Disney World

Columns by Paul Franzen on April 1, 2003

So I went to Walt Disney World this month for my senior class trip. A good time was had; TV theme songs were sung, travel mugs were rendered semi-useless, pirates were made to cry -- but I won't bore you with the details. I'll just show you pictures instead!
Pong: The Next Level (PS1)

Reviews by Paul Franzen on March 1, 2003

Two warriors, engaged in a back-and-forth struggle for supreme victory. The ball bounces one way, and then the other—a warrior falters, and his opponent scores a goal. The battle starts again, a
Carbonated News (March 2003)

News Posts by Paul Franzen on March 1, 2003

Be the first on your block to own a chunk of Mars! Enix (man, I can't wait for their merger with Square), in collaboration with the Lunar Embassy Corporation, is running a very special contest with it
Dear Readers: Advertisers Don’t Get Videogames

Columns by Paul Franzen on March 1, 2003

Has anyone else seen that commercial, I think it's for some sort of battery, that uses the impossible portable gaming console? The system's molded to resemble a Game Boy Advance, but I wasn't fooled. Too generic looking. Anyway, what a terrible commercial! It makes me wanna take that damn "going and going" bunny and tear its face off in a violent manner. In the ad, a kid and his grandpa (wait, old people don't play video games! ) are playing two of the GBA wannabes when the batteries of the gpa's system die, causing an error screen to crop on on his screen and the young whipper snapper to win the game. That's so dumb! The boy wouldn't win, his screen would just freeze, we all know that. So Energizer or whoever has turned off the entire gamer demographic by airing this commercial, the very demographic you'd assume they'd be trying to reach by airing a commercial featuring video games! Grrr, idiots.
Star Fox 64 (N64)

Reviews by Paul Franzen on February 1, 20031

Star Fox 64 is the type of game to play when you're up late at night on Christmas Eve, soooo incredibly excited about the new games that you'll be unwrapping on the following morn' that you can't fa
Carbonated News (February 2003)

News Posts by Paul Franzen on February 1, 2003

Okay, this whole movie thing is starting to get pretty obnoxious. Apparently Samus Aran, female bounty hunter extraordinaire, has been the latest victim to the video game industry's cinematic trend,
Carbonated News (January 2003)

News Posts by Paul Franzen on January 1, 2003

- What could someday easily be considered the greatest console yet to exist really proved itself this past November. In the Game Boy Advance's year and a half lifespan, there have been approximately n
Dear Readers: The Janish.

Columns by Paul Franzen on January 1, 2003

Notice anything... oh, I don't know, different, about this month's issue? The snowy background? The "weathered" (tee hee) logo? The extended Table of Contents, the luscious staff photos, anything? Well regardless of how perceptive you are, this issue, dearest readers, is a special issue. A damn special issue. This issue is not only the first issue of 2003, but the first of our second volume, and as such is our biggest issue yet.