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Joe Hubbard
Joe Hubbard

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Published in SUPERJUMP

·Jul 7, 2020

The Changing Face of Exclusivity

Are console-specific franchises on their way out? — You might remember long ago when Nintendo and Sega were jostling for the limelight on ‘90s television ads. They traded lighthearted barbs — ‘Genesis does what Nintendo-n’t!’ as they vied for their respective shares of the video-game market. Flagship franchises like Mario and Sonic were inseparable from the hardware their…

Gaming

7 min read

The Changing Face of Exclusivity
The Changing Face of Exclusivity
Gaming

7 min read


Published in SUPERJUMP

·Jun 25, 2020

An Ode to The End

15 years on, Metal Gear Solid 3’s geriatric sniper remains peerless — I like many, have a love-hate relationship with boss fights. This is largely due to their wildly varying quality both within individual games and across the medium as a whole. Boss fights can disappoint by being overly linear, too long, or too bland to match the story’s high stakes…

Gaming

8 min read

An Ode to The End
An Ode to The End
Gaming

8 min read


Published in SUPERJUMP

·May 21, 2020

Morbid Curiosity, Art Direction, and Fallout 76

Bethesda’s most infamous release deserves its bad reputation, but is there a light at the end of the tunnel? — There’s not really any other way of introducing this topic, so I will just come right out with it: I am absolutely fascinated by Fallout 76. I’d consider myself a pretty big Fallout fan, but one who had tempered expectations of Bethesda’s multiplayer spin on Fallout 4’s cycle of looting…

Features

9 min read

Morbid Curiosity, Art Direction, and Fallout 76
Morbid Curiosity, Art Direction, and Fallout 76
Features

9 min read


Published in SUPERJUMP

·Apr 28, 2020

Field Tests in City 31

XCOM: Chimera Squad pulls off some audacious tweaks that could only be attempted in a spin-off — Experimentation can feel like a bit of a rarity in the triple-A space these days. That’s not a criticism, though. Studios do a fantastic job of innovating and iterating on their genre forebears, while maintaining some consistency to gave players the familiarity they often need to create that initial buy-in…

Gaming

6 min read

Field Tests in City 31
Field Tests in City 31
Gaming

6 min read


Published in SUPERJUMP

·Mar 31, 2020

Chess at One Hundred Miles an Hour

In Doom Eternal, the most important bullets are the ones you don’t fire — About two months ago, acclaimed video game documentary makers Noclip spoke to Doom Eternal’s creative director Hugo Martin. The video was a rundown of the new — and old — enemies players would get to pit themselves against in the then-upcoming sequel to 2016’s well-received reboot of the Doom franchise…

Gaming

6 min read

Chess at One Hundred Miles an Hour
Chess at One Hundred Miles an Hour
Gaming

6 min read


Published in SUPERJUMP

·Sep 30, 2019

Untitled “Untitled Goose Game” Piece

A brief analysis of the animal kingdom’s Hitman — In the last little while, I’ve had three new games in my rotation. That’s a rarity for me: I’m typically patient when waiting for sales, and don’t usually like splitting my time between multiple games at once. However, September’s triple-threat of Borderlands 3, Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening and…

Gaming

5 min read

Untitled “Untitled Goose Game” Piece
Untitled “Untitled Goose Game” Piece
Gaming

5 min read


Published in SUPERJUMP

·Aug 11, 2019

Hitman 2: The Golden Handshake Review

This first expansion level doesn’t quite hit the series’ high bar — A few months ago, I wrote at length trying to capture what it is about IO Interactive’s new Hitman formula that is so enticing: chiefly, how the game teaches, but never tells. Hitman 2’s underdog story (where it once looked unlikely to get a look in on my personal…

Gaming

6 min read

Hitman 2: The Golden Handshake Review
Hitman 2: The Golden Handshake Review
Gaming

6 min read


Published in SUPERJUMP

·May 22, 2019

Discovering Halo 18 Years Late

How does Bungie’s seminal title hold up almost two decades on? — Back home, there used to be a radio show called I’ve Never Seen Star Wars. As the title might suggest, the show revolved an affable host encouraging C-list celebrity guests to try new things — in particular, experiences that might be common for others. Whether it was seeing Star Wars…

Videogames

7 min read

Discovering Halo 18 Years Late
Discovering Halo 18 Years Late
Videogames

7 min read


Published in SUPERJUMP

·Apr 8, 2019

Borderlands and the Art of the Rework

Borderlands’ ‘enhanced’ edition is a great excuse to return to the series’ humbler beginnings — Have you seen Star Wars? No really, have you? I’ve seen Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, which came as part of a DVD remaster trilogy I bought in 2004. But savvier fans of George Lucas’ sprawling space opera series know how hard it is to come by the…

Borderlands

6 min read

Borderlands and the Art of the Rework
Borderlands and the Art of the Rework
Borderlands

6 min read


Published in SUPERJUMP

·Feb 14, 2019

Hitman, System-Driven Design and Patio Heaters

Hitman’s most important mechanic is one of its subtlest — I was walking into a runway show in Paris. I’d been tasked with eliminating the owner of a world-renowned fashion brand, as well as his model-turned-spymaster partner. It was my first experience of Hitman’s episodic reboot from 2016, and I had little to no idea what I was doing…

Gaming

9 min read

Hitman, System-Driven Design and Patio Heaters
Hitman, System-Driven Design and Patio Heaters
Gaming

9 min read

Joe Hubbard

Joe Hubbard

41 Followers

writing about videogames I love.

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