Share
The Back Page: A Video Games Podcast
Episode 5: Cyberpunk 2077 and How To Review Big Games
•
The story of CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk 2077 is now much bigger than the game itself. Still, in this episode, Matthew discusses his 70 hours playing the glitchy but nonetheless fascinating game, while Samuel throws questions at him about the game's best quests and why it's not a very good immersive sim. In the second half, we discuss the ways in which writing about big games has changed over the years. Note that this episode was recorded before Sony pulled Cyberpunk 2077 from sale on the PlayStation Store - the conversation around this game has changed quickly...
This week's music is from the game's soundtrack by Marcin Przybyłowicz, PT Adamczyk and Paul Leonard-Morgan, as well as the Super Mario Galaxy soundtrack by Koji Kondo and Mahito Yokota.
More episodes
View all episodes
Episode 256: Top 5 Metroid Games (with Jay Baylis)
01:59:36|Cassette Beasts developer and all-round great video game thinker Jay Baylis joins us once again! In time for the release of Metroid Prime 4, Matthew and Jay each share their top 5 games in Nintendo's series.This is the Critical Hit article Jay mentioned on Metroid's possible influences. This week's music is from the Metroid: Zero Mission soundtrack by Kenji Yamamoto and Minako Hamano.The Back Page Episode + ARC Raiders (with Phil Savage)
02:02:05|The podcast eats itself! The Back Page finally dedicates a whole episode to its namesake. How do back page jokes go wrong? And what about the less frequent times when they go well? Returning guest Phil Savage, Global Editor-in-Chief of PC Gamer, helps us examine the creation of these gags. There's also a 20-minute bit on ARC Raiders near the start if that's your sort of thing.This week's music is from the Yakuza 0 soundtrack by Hidenori Shoji.The 16-bit Games Mega Draft (with Ashley Day and Dave Scarborough)
02:51:18|The drafts return! Four giant men compete to pick the best games on the Mega Drive (or Genesis, if you're American), SNES and Neo Geo across 8 categories – plus a 9th bonus category specifically for the Amiga.This week's music is from the Streets of Rage 2 soundtrack by Yuzo Koshiro and the Chrono Trigger soundtrack by Yasunori Mitsuda (not Rick Astley).The Oral Histories of Video Games (with Matt Leone)
01:12:49|This week's guest is Matt Leone, former Special Projects Editor at Polygon. Hear all about his new website Design Room, and his work on the oral history of Final Fantasy VII and and Shadow of the Colossus.Two Giant Men Play Super Mario Galaxy
02:01:31|A deep dive into an all-time classic on Wii. We'll do this again on Monday for Super Mario Galaxy 2, exclusively for Patreon XL Tier members!This week's music is from the Super Mario Galaxy soundtrack by Koji Kondo and Mahito Yokota.What We've Been Playing (Dispatch, Absolum, The Séance of Blake Manor, Ninja Gaiden 4), Mailbag + The Worst Zelda Quiz Ever
01:50:40|Games discussed: Dispatch, Absolum, The Séance of Blake Manor, Ninja Gaiden 4, Hell is Us.Then, Samuel butchering a bunch of Zelda quiz questions. It has to be heard to be believed.Episode 250: 10 Games We Enjoyed During Steam Next Fest – Plus a Handful of Duds
01:58:28|A deep dive on the demos we tried during Steam Next Fest, hopefully giving you a few things for your wishlist consideration.Samuel's games: Reanimal, Birdcage, Lumines Arise, The Killing Stone, Evil Egg, Skate Story, Ambrosia Sky, Cairn.Matthew's games: CiniCross, No More Work For Ito, Opus: Prism Peak, The Remake of the End of the Greatest RPG of All Time, The Seance of Blake Manor.We won't list the duds, but one was Bubsy 4D.The 'Games Set in Japan' Hall of Fame (plus Absolum and Ball X Pit)
01:39:36|Following our moderately good episode about games set in Britain earlier this year, we assemble a list of the 10 key games set in Japan. Did we get it wrong? Probably. Plus: a mini 'What We've Been Playing' episode about two recent download games we've been digging!This week's music is from the Persona 4 soundtrack by Shoji Meguro.What We've Been Playing (Ghost of Yotei, Silent Hill f, Baby Steps, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Revisited)
01:41:41|Matthew has Covid! Poor chap. At least he got through all six seasons of Justified while recovering. Here are the games discussed this week: Silent Hill f, Ghost of Yotei, Baby Steps, No, I am not a human, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and the latest Golden Idol DLC.