Black Desert (PS4)

As always with these reviews, huge shout out to Pearl Abyss for sending me a review copy of Black Desert. It is always appreciated when a company takes the time to reach out to us and hook us up, and I like to be upfront about that. So how was the game? Let us discuss it.

First the story. The story starts when you wake up with no memory and a dark energy speaks to you. This leads you on a journey to rediscover all you have forgotten as well as for more dark energy. There is far more to the story, but this is just the opening act. I don’t want to give to much away as the real hook to any RPG whether it be MMO, action or turn-based is the story.

I bring that up because this game is at its core an MMO but the combat is pretty action-based. R1 and R2 are your light and heavy attacks for example with L2 being used to dodge and L1 being a different attack depending on the class you pick. You can also use different combinations of buttons to use different attacks still. There are still hit points and magic points, of course, tho you won’t be able to see the enemy HP at first. There is no special skill required, just knowledge gained from fighting more and more enemies.

The combat works pretty nicely and I actually found myself enjoying it more than I expected I would. In fact, I have no real complaints in the combat or story area. They both function pretty well and while they aren’t perfect, after all, nothing is, they do add to the experience.

Graphically is where my complaints come in. The game looks good, but there are some glitches that I think should have been dealt with prior to release. They aren’t huge issues nor are they exclusive to this game, in fact, they have been present in most open-world games that have released. Numerous times tho I have gone to talk to a character and their characters either aren’t there or basically just a shadow. Here are a couple examples of what I mean.

They did pop in shortly after, but it was still a bit disturbing the first time you walk up and see this. There was also an occasion where a random NPC was just hanging out floating in the air. Also not a rare glitch, and quite entertaining, but it is a thing.

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Also don’t mind that my character at this point kind of looks like Gandalf the Grey, that was 100% not on purpose, but it was appreciated. This is him a few hours in.

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There is a lot to do in this game by the way, easily hundreds of hours of content if you feel like doing it. There is crafting and fishing, houses to buy, trading to do and this is without getting into guilds and multiple characters. I am playing as a wizard but there are archers and warriors as well as berserkers and they are adding more characters as time goes on. The PC and Xbox version have far more as of right now but they will be making their way to the PS4 in future updates I am sure.

The game isn’t great, and it is far from the best MMO on the PS4. However, if you are a fan of them, this one may be worth checking out for you. It can be a grind, but its a grind many people do enjoy and so far I have liked my time with the game and will continue to play it well after this review is done so look for the occasional update. For now tho because of the graphical issues and the occasional connection issue I have to give this one a 7/10. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Hearts of Iron IV Review, Sort of.

I call this a Hearts of Iron Review sort of because this one of those games where honestly if you play it for 20 hours (like me) or even 40 you probably aren’t truly qualified to truly review it. I can tell you about it of course, for example, it is a grand strategy game from Paradox or that the game basically starts just before World War 2.

I can also tell you that you will need to research new technology, build both civilian and military factories and when it comes to war it only becomes more complicated. You will be drawing front lines for your troops to defend, telling them where to attack as well as managing how when and where your planes will be attacking. That isn’t even touching on all the things you will need to do with the Navy at your command.

The issue is this all sounds like its pretty simple, but even getting the general idea on all this could be rough. I lost in the tutorial for example. Not my finest moment in gaming. Recently playing a game with my friend went a bit to hell. (Hey Cody how are you) we ended up starting a massive 3-way world war as I lost 500 thousand men in South America (I was North America) to Guatemala and El Salvadore. This was before I ever made it across the Atlantic to join the fight against Germany that as you can imagine, did not go much better for me. I am not very good at drawing front lines and such yet, or keeping my troops where I want them. Or building my divisions.

There is so much to learn here that you will want a friend to play with probably, and youtube will be a godsend when you try to learn. I haven’t even touched the Focus trees and how you can turn some countries from one country into another form entirely. For example, I turned America into a fascist country so I could invade South America in hopes of uniting with the UK in taking over Europe. I failed at invading Cuba, but it is what it is.

All in all the game is a blast to play and learn, but it will take some patience. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Pokemon Masters (mobile)

Pokemon Masters is the newest game to hit the mobile market, and this time around we have a huge tournament where the best trainers from around the world have come together for 3 vs 3 tournaments. You will start out with a Pikachu and with two partners, Brock and Misty. You will then use all 3 pokemon to battle 3 other pokemon choosing which pokemon will use which attack in a sort of real-time battle that uses one gauge to determine how many attacks you can use. Each attack takes up a certain amount of the bar and you will have to wait as it charges,

After spending a couple hours with the game I have to say it functions far better than I expected. It is smooth and the battles are pretty fun while the story is pretty much what you would expect from any episode of the show itself. This can be good or bad depending on how you felt about the show, but it is a far cry from lack of story in Pokemon Go, which we all know I love. I am not sure how long I will play this one for, but it is in my rotation for a bit at least. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Pantsu Hunter Back to the 90s (PS4)

I got Pantsu Hunter from the guys and gals over at Ascension Dream, and as always I greatly appreciate it. I honestly was a bit nervous about playing this one, in fact, I kind of thought this was going to basically be softcore porn on my PS4. Seriously I was expecting a poorly written cash grab of a game. This is actually pretty far from the truth.

First, the story. You play as a college student that due to being super busy and into his studies has had a hard time in the love department. He has also had a few jobs and become a sort of jack of all trades. He does, however, have a theory that you could tell all you need to know from a woman by studying her panties.

The game is broken up into different scenarios where you are doing jobs for assorted women, each with their own personality. You have two jobs, fix their stuff and steal their panties. Some will be hidden behind tricks or in drawers and you will have to find different ways to get the ladies out of the room to get the job done.

There is one small detail, you can greatly upset the women. In the first 20 minutes of gameplay, I was drowned in a bathtub, tossed out of her apartment, had the police called, was killed by a chair, beaten with a mop and an assortment of other things. There are tons of possible outcomes, at least 50 ranging from death to falling in love to everything in between.

The game is also pretty easy to get a platinum trophy on, so you trophy hunters will want to pick this one up. The art style is also extremely well done and the story is pretty well written. On the flip side, the game can be frustrating and short. If you knew exactly what you were doing I imagine you could zoom through it in a couple hours tops. Without a guide tho you can probably stretch it out about 10.to  I, however, have no regrets about playing this game and admittedly I was way off in my snap judgment about the game. It isn’t for everyone, and unless you are trophy hunting or like point and click adventures I doubt you will like the game. Both of those groups tho, this is a must buy. I give this one a 7/10. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Dragon Ball Z Budokai

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Well, after one of the longest stretches I’ve ever done on this blog, I’m nearly at it’s end after covering DragonBall Z: The Buu Saga so I thought I’d take a look at the first DBZ game I ever played. Budokai covers the beginnings of Dragonball Z ( The Saiyan Saga) to Dragonball Z: Android Saga (Cell Games) and is essentially an old school fighter. For most part, I have to admit, the game follows the events of the show faithfully to a reasonable degree. The controls are solid enough and the combos are simple enough to execute. The cut-scenes are pretty well replicated and with the classic voice actors, narrator and so,me of the show’s classic music and a great feel for the fans. Besides story mode, there are the usual vs mode but you can also face off in the famous World Martial Arts Tournament.

There are some down sides to the game however. The character roster is pretty limited and doesn’t go past the Android saga and doesn’t touch the movies. Also I don’t like that transformations take spaces in your attack inventory in which you only get 7 slots; Goku has 4 transformations which takes most of his attack slots. Another detail I don’t like is the beam attacks just look like puffs of light and have no range to them what so ever; normal ki blasts are far more effective and have a way farther reach. Because of the small roster and limited game modes, the game will eventually get stale but its fun for a go if you are inclined and worth a play. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Pocket League Story 2 (Mobile)

Pocket League Story 2 is another Kairosoft game on mobile, but this time around you are managing a new soccer team. (for the none Americans, that is football. The game mechanics are similar to all the other Kairosoft games. You are given a team to run that you will name, hire some low level and ranked players and play equally bad teams. You will grand your way up the ranks and level your players and hire better ones. As you win games and earn money you will upgrade the team and your facilities.

You won’t actually play the games, similar to Grand Prix Story Mobile story you watch the games play out, which only takes a minute or so. The game isn’t hard, my first game was a draw and my 2nd and 3rd were wins. The game does get harder later depending on how you play and the strategies you use.

I personally am not a fan of soccer, so the game really didn’t hold my interest but I feel like if I was into the sport the game would have been much better. This same game with American football or baseball would have been great. By all means, check this one out if you like the sport, everyone else may want to try a different game tho.

Pocket Harvest (Mobile)

Pocket Harvest is another Kairosoft mobile game that is a bit niche. All you do is build a farm and hire workers to go tend it. Crops are automatically sold, and if you put certain things within the area they affect other things. In the summer, you can plant Sun Flowers to help boost plants and happiness.

You can also give items to your workers to help boost their stats and make them work harder, while other items improve your crops for a few months. As the game progresses you can buy more land and improve the quality and amount of crops you can have and grow. It is all pretty standard and I don’t regret spending a few bucks on it. The graphics are cute and the game functions well, but it is pretty niche. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Grand Prix Story Mobile

Grand Prix Story is a cute little mobile game from Kairosoft. The idea is you start a race car company with a little bit of money, a small car and crew and watch them race while you decide on sponsors, crew, and parts. As you level up you get new cars, better crew, better parts, and harder races.

The game is simple and straight forward without much of a learning curve. That being said, the game itself isn’t easy to master. Putting the right parts on the right car for the right race can be fun in itself. The game, however, does have a breaking point and eventually, you do get so much money and experience you can just toss any car anywhere and win. The game, however, was worth the couple bucks I paid for it, so give it a shot and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

 

Realm Grinder

Realm Grinder is one of the tap games published by Kongregate but this one is just not good. It explains very little really, the gimmick of good and evil really do very little except changes the buildings you get to choose from and they make no real difference anyway. This may be the very definition of busywork that I don’t understand how anyone can possibly enjoy. It is just a matter of clicking on buildings that give you money to buy more of them to buy different buildings but it never feels like you are being rewarded for doing it. it is just a matter of doing it for the sake of doing it. This one is best avoided. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Crash Bandicoot remastered

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Did you guys know bandicoots were real animals? No, I was as shocked as you probably are. This is a actual bandicoot.

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Adorable, right? Anyway let’s talk about Crash Bandicoot, one of PlayStation’s most beloved mascots.

Experimented on by the nefarious Dr Neo Cortex, Crash escapes and goes about his adventure through forests, ancient ruins, and the lair of Cortex himself. Crash Bandicoot is a perfect example of an old school platformer, easy to learn but hard as hell to master. I spent entire days stuck on levels, holding my breath when the levels started getting crazy. While Crash can fall from a an insane height, without the help of the Aku-Aku masks a single hit instantly kills you which adds a lot of tension, combined with the fact you have a limited number of lives. While the game kicks your ass pretty hard, it is fair which I appreciated. Collecting 100 Wumpa fruits grants you a extra life; the game grants you Aku-Aku masks if you die too many times so you can take an extra hit or two. Graphically, the game looks damn good on PS4 and the controls are fluid as ever. If you ever need an old school throwback game, the first Crash Bandicoot game as part of the N Sane Trilogy is well worth the play through. May the gaming gods bring you glory.