About Me

Hi, I go by pang. I’ve been writing video game critique since about 2020; first just for myself, then on Backloggd, and then on Cohost. I jump between review styles pretty frequently, but most of my work focuses on mechanical analysis. You’ll often find me playing or writing about the following:

  • Late ’90s / Early ’00s titles
  • Action / Puzzle hybrids
  • Survival Horror games
  • Arcade Rhythm games
  • Obscure Japanese games

Day-to-day I work as a Ph.D. student at an east coast research university. When I research I work on dependable systems (primarily civil air safety), and when I teach I cover software engineering and system architecture. These topics come up in my writing occasionally; I try to take a systematic approach to game critique (a fancy way of saying that I look at how different components function together to create particular gameplay experiences).

My reviews on here mix new stuff I’ve completed, first impressions on random games I’m trying, and rewritten versions of my old Backloggd reviews. I also write more general articles on my philosophy of critique and common gaming structures / mechanics. If you’d like to contact me, feel free to reach out to me on Bluesky. I also am a regular contributor on the Beach Gen Game Club podcast, which you can find on YouTube.

Although I try to upload revised versions of my Backloggd reviews on a regular basis, there are hundreds remaining that I have not had the time to redo. Below are a selected group of my older reviews along with 25 video games that represent my taste:

Killer7 (September 26th, 2021)
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania (October 9th, 2021)
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (November 13th, 2021)
Jet Set Radio (January 19th, 2022)
Gravity Rush (January 22nd, 2022)
Jet Set Radio Future (Feburary 17th, 2022)
Space Channel 5 Part 2 (April 18th, 2022)
Cuphead (May 12th, 2022)
WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames! (June 17th, 2022)
Silent Hill (August 28th, 2022)
Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere (December 12th, 2022)
Quadrilateral Cowboy (March 5th, 2023)
Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening (March 14th, 2023)
Shenmue (April 9th, 2023)
Kororinpa (September 14th, 2023)
Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (October 19th, 2023)
Spider-Man 2 (November 5th, 2023)
Project Diva Arcade Future Tone (January 13th, 2024)
Trauma Center: Under the Knife (Feburary 6th, 2024)
Kururin Paradise (June 13th, 2024)
Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies (July 15th, 2024)
Resident Evil – Code: Veronica (October 5th, 2024)
Silent Hill 2 (November 3rd, 2024)
Crazy Taxi (January 1st, 2025)