I wrote about the release of this recently and Ratalaika Games was nice enough to shoot me over a copy to review and as always I am grateful for that.
This is first and foremost a retro racing game. The classic top view flying around the track against the computer or your friends in what looks easy but always ends with someone swearing and bouncing off a wall from first place into 4th because that damn red car shot you with a missile.
Ok sorry flashback into playing this game with my daughter over the weekend aside who always insisted on being the red car,yes I am still salty about losing that race. This game is a ton of fun. The graphics are the perfect mix of an update from the 1992 release making it feel fresh but they aren’t so updated that the nostalgia is lost.
The sound also has the same feeling. They updated it just enough so I don’t feel trapped in the 90’s with outdated sound but they didn’t update it so much that I feel like what I wanted from the game was lost.
Truly this is how you do a retro game. Give me some fresh graphics and sound, but don’t ruin the original things that made it great and that is what we have here. Just a simple racing game with races that take about a minute. You can shoot each other with missiles or toss little grenades out the back.
All in all I can happily say this is a great game and I had a blast playing it with my 15 year old daughter. As far as retro games go this is a 9/10. Plenty of races to enjoy, the ability to change car types mid race (it does seem to be just cosmetic) and even some fun mini games such as soccer. If you like retro games especially racing, great game. Best wishes and may the gaming gods being you glory.
As first with these things, huge shout out to NIS America for tossing me a review copy of this one. Always love working with those guys and this is no exception.
Right out the gate I was a bit nervous about this one, I had never really heard of it and knew next to nothing about it. It looked interesting tho if not a bit cliche. Japanese school gets locked down by magical powers nobody understands and the students try to figure it out.
This turns out to be a huge over simplification of the story. You will start out taking a small quiz if sorts, there are no wrong answers and they simply help build your characters ego based on the 7 deadly sins. This will change during the game anyway based on battles and choices you make as well as other quizzes. I started out with high lust and 0 envy but quickly passed list with wrath and built up a bit of envy.
The battle system is a tactical turn based of sorts and it is really well done, there are some random difficulty spikes. There isn’t anything we haven’t seen here before, and if you don’t mind some grinding it isn’t to bad. Your spirit however acts as experience and money to buy items.
Leveling up with spirit is done by buying or leveling up new skills for each character and won’t happen automatically. This is both good and bad because if the main protagonist goes down it is game over so you can focus mostly on him if you want or be more balanced about it which is what I chose.
Graphically the game is nice, and the story is definitely more adult than I was expecting. As you attempt to take down the walls stopping people from leaving the school you will notice that students are dying and the game isn’t shying away from the how and why.
This game is definitely worth checking out for fans if the genre, and I actually got a very big Persona vibe from it and with very good reason as it is made by former Shin Megami developers. My only real complaint is that some of the puzzles will have you reaching for a guide to figure out, as some of them make little to no sense. It is still easily an 8/10 game and one of the first must plays of 2022 for me. Best wishes and may the gaming gods being you glory.
As always with these things I like to give a huge thank you to my friends over at Midgar Studios and Dear Villager for hooking me up with a copy of this one. It is always appreciated.
A few things to get out of the way first, this review will be all over the place. There are things in this game to love, and there are things I honestly just didn’t even like. There were some pros and cons as always, but this one seemed to be almost a 50/50 mix and it’s up to you to decide what is important to you.
I always like to start with something positive, and I will get the biggest thing out of the way first. To me the make or break if any JRPG is the combat, and Edge of Eternity is clearly a love letter to the old school ATB systems of the past. This one is on a hexagonal field and moving your characters around it can really help with the strategy needed to not get yourself killed.
The game doesn’t reinvent or even perfect the wheel, but if you like the games of the last like me this is where the game shines.
Unfortunately where the combat is great, the story is pretty much the usual save the world story. The time it is from something called the corrosion seemingly brought about by visitors from the sky in metal ships. It’s kind of hit and miss. At times it is fun and exciting but it never truly kicks into high gear. You can however tell they creators loved certain times in gaming history, and they really wanted to pay a certain amount of respect to that.
The world however is also big and beautiful with very little technical issues, tho the Xbox version did have a few people report that after a couple hours of game play during a fight the game would freeze. Not everyone ran into this and by the time you read this the patch will be released to fix that issue.
I don’t tell you this to convince you not to buy the game, quite the opposite in fact. The company is very responsive to people and I played before any of the patches at release. This to me is a huge sign of quality from a company and it should be recognized.
When all is said and done, the game is a fun playthrough. I enjoyed the combat and the simple but fun crafting system there was enough to do to keep me interested, tho I can’t say I will be playing it again. The game is a 7/10 and worth checking out on GamePass or even at it’s price point on PlayStation. Best wishes and may the gaming gods being you glory.
When the hell will Hollywood learn to leave well enough alone? As a general horror movie, it looks ok but I got way too many Halloween (2018) vibes from the trailer, actually when the plot seemed revealed it seemed like a copy/paste job if you ask me. I wasn’t expecting much but I really wish we’d leave that poor family alone. May the gaming gods bring you glory.
Jin Sakai was a loyal samurai to his family’s traditionalist ways, putting honor and the safety of his people first. Then came the Mongols, spreading death and mayhem across the peaceful and beautiful island of Tsushima. Jin comes face to face with the Kahn leading them, a cunning and brutal warrior that kidnaps Jinn’s uncle and leaves him for dead. Nursed by a thief named Yuna, Jinn has to face impossible odds with few allies, becoming a folk hero to the people and demon to the Mongols and criminals of the land. But at what cost?
Short version: Ghost is one of the best games I’ve ever played. No that’s not an understatement and I even gave myself a month to let it simmer after finishing the main story before making the statement. Gameplay is incredibly simple and complex at the same time and full of variety when it comes to approaching scenarios. Graphics and music are incredible and may I say this game goes all out immersing you in the game; the wind guides you to your objectives; I played the game in full Japanese with English sub but I also recommend going full Japanese black and white for the classic Jediaki style. Story and characters are at the forefront and while the story is fantastic, the characters keep you invested, and by the end, there are a lot of gray areas to be explored and even the side missions have interesting characters and stories all their own. I’m even impressed to say I only had one minor glitch my entire run with a huge main story and days worth of cool sides to do. In the end, Ghost is a phenomenal game made with love and I can’t recommend it enough. May the gaming gods bring you glory.
It’s been a while, hasn’t it, folks? Well, Torsten’s tales are for another post but for now: new year, and let’s start talking soul-crushing boredom. That’s right, let’s talk about the Avengers game.
Kamala Khan is a normal girl and super fan of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes: Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, and the Hulk. During a grand expo on A-Day, celebrating the heroes, they are called into action during an attack that presumes Cap dead, injures hundreds, and unleashes the Terrigen Mists which causes an outbreak of people to get superpowers, becoming Inhumans, including Kamala herself. With the Avengers disbanded, an organization called AIM has risen to fix the Inhuman problem by any means necessary. Kamala, desperate, sets out to reunite the Avengers and beat the sinister head of AIM.
Ok, whatever you heard about this game is basically true. This game is a bland, boring slog. The game starts off promising but damn it gets repetitive fast. Hell, two out of three of the game’s bosses are in the opening hour pretty much. Most of the game is a out of date beatum up that doesn’t even feel right; Hulk and Iron Man feel nerfed hard while Black Panther feels damn near unstoppable; Hawkeye and Spider-man feel like absolute jokes. After two hours in, you pretty much saw what the game has to offer in terms of gameplay all around. As for the characters, the only one I actually liked was Kamala, everyone else feels like dimestore MCU knockoffs. The gear you get throughout the game doesn’t affect your appearance, the costumes are basically microtransactions that this game goes out of it’s way to try to sell you. In the end, unless you find it ultra cheap like I did and even that’s a stretch, don’t waste your money. May the gaming gods bring you glory.
Peter Parker has come a long way in the MCU, hasn’t he? Becoming an Avenger, beating Vulture in Spider-man: Homecoming as well as Mysterio in Spider-man: Far From Home ; well now the world knows after Mysterio reveals not only Parker’s secret identity but also frames him for his death. Suddenly the young wallcrawler’s life is not only in shambles but also the lives of May, Happy, Ned and MJ. Desperate he visits Dr. Strange for a favor but unbeknownst to both heroes, Parker made a grave mistake that rippled across worlds, bringing 5 villains from multiple dimensions into his world, each with a bone to pick: Doc Ock, Sandman, Lizard, Electro, and the Green Goblin. If dealing with 5 enemies and a crumbled reality isn’t enough, Peter learns they all will perish fighting Spider-man in their own universes; can Peter pay the ultimate price for the greater good and how far will he go to save a life?
Ok, I’m not going to spoil anything but I’m not going to sugarcoat it: No Way Home is fucking amazing (pun intended). Not only does this movie give a damn powerful conclusion to the Home trilogy but to Spider-man in general by contunining stories left off by Mcguire and Garfield’s timelines as well. There is plenty of fan service and you can tell this movie is hardcore for Spidey fans; seeing the classics return was not only rewarding but also a huge threat seeing them interact and face a younger Spider-man. This is Tom Holland’s best portrayal as Spider-man hands down and I loved seeing a story with him and Strange butting heads and playing off each other. The acting all around is great but Holland and Dafoe steal the show; Goblin is still a legend almost 20 years later. Admittedly tears were shed and this is a very heartwrenching movie but it completely pays off. Honestly, I recommend this movie not only to superhero fans but especially Spidey fans in general; you will cheer. May the gaming gods bring you glory.
As always I like to start out by saying thank you to the people over at GIANTS Software for hooking me up with a review copy of this one. As you all know I am a huge fan of the Farming Simulator series and have looked forward to this one.
So how does 22 stack up to the previous years you may ask? Well there are a few spots 22 is a swing and a miss and none of them are in areas I expected. So before I go and talk about all the things the game did right, I am going to go and explain where I feel like this one failed. None of then are game breaking but after playing on my PS4 Pro you can tell graphically this needed a little more time. As seasons change more than once I’ve had snow on the ground that suddenly would disappear all at once.
And not just on a part of the map, my entire farm would suddenly just not have snow. Fields would also suddenly pop into existence with fully grown crops where before there was a black void. Entire buildings would do this as well when things would be there and gone and pop right back into existence. This was always purely visual and would only happen occasionally in the distance. Your vehicle would always stay firmly attached to the road and it never messed with gameplay etc.
Now the news isn’t all bad, in fact despite what I just said about the graphical issues, this game is truly the epitome of the series. The seasons changing is a nice touch and honestly it gives you incentive to do jobs for the other farmers in the game. It helps pass time and make money while you wait for your crops to grow in the early game until you have more fields for yourself to grow a variety of crops. Why you might want to do that will become apparent in a moment.
Another great addition to the game, and my personal favorite is the production chain. You no longer just have to grow crops simply to sell them, which you still can do and early on you pretty much have to. Later for example you can buy the Oil Mill and deposit your canola there. The Oil Mill will then turn it into canola oil which you can then sell for even more profits.
This process also works for things like wheat or grapes and everything else however some go further. For example wheat can be turned into flour which can then be made into bread or combined with other things to be made into cake. The more complex the potential more money to be made.
None of this replaces the older features from past games, there is still money to be made raising animals, making silage, tossing bails around or logging. Honestly I haven’t even touched half of what the game has to offer I think and that’s after easily 30-40 hours of playing.
When all is said and done, if you have played and enjoyed a farming simulator game in the past you will love this one and it is a must buy. If you have always been curious, this is the one to jump on. That all being said, if you haven’t enjoyed them in the past this won’t change your mind. This is however the best in the series, and it isn’t even close. The only thing holding this one back are some graphical glitches that are purely cosmetic, and I have tried my hardest to see if they would do anything to actual gameplay.
Normally I don’t give out two scores for the same game but this time I will. If you are playing on a PS4 pro like me, it’s a 7/10. The graphical issues are annoying tho not game breaking. On the PS5 and Xbox series of systems though these graphical issues don’t seem to exist and the game rightfully deserves a 9/10 for being the top of the farming simulator food chain. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.
As always, huge shout out to my new friends over at The Wandering Band and Freedom Games for hooking me up with a review code for this game. It is always a pleasure to check out a new game and the one was no exception.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to build a flying kingdom? This game will let you find out, and before we go any further I highly suggest you try building everything on one side of your kingdom to see what happens when you tilt it all to one side. I’m not saying anything does or doesn’t happen, Just give it a go. Maybe don’t do it during a serious attempt tho.
With that out of the way, the game tells the story of you trying to bring back a floating kingdom by rediscovering and making alliances with all the other Kingdoms, twelve in total.
The game is beautiful, as you watch the sun rise and set on your floating city.
You can see the love poured into this game from every angle. The resource management is also quite well done, at no point did I feel like the game was unfair but I came dangerously close more than once of running out of the things I needed to stay afloat.
The sound is another place where this game is great, but it isn’t where it shines. Where it truly shines is where all city builders are made or broken.
Is the game addictive? And the answer is absolutely. I was constantly redesigning things to make sure I had enough lift and propulsion to keep the place afloat or people in work. And I love making sure I had enough resources to make sure I could make it to my next area of exploration since not every biome would have the same resources in the same quantities.
This game is honestly absolutely amazing, and while it isn’t exactly challenging it doesn’t truly need to be, it is just a lot of fun. Definitely recommended for fans of the genre. Solid 8/10. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.
As always I want to give a huge shout out to my friends over at ININ games for tossing me a copy of this one to review. It is always appreciated.
Cotton 100% was never released in the west but was originally released for the SNES in Japan. It is actually nice that this series is finally getting released here in America.
Cotton 100% is actually more of a side scrolling shooter, think along the lines of Gradius. As the screen moves to the side you will be shooting enemies that fly towards you or drop bombs or use other power ups on them. Unlike most games however where you will fly around in some sort of ship or such, you actually are a cute little pink haired witch on a broom.
Honestly she might have a name, but as of when I played it the game is only in it’s original Japanese. This doesn’t actually do anything to the game play and you could easily look up the story, I just didn’t bother. The game play was enough to keep me interested.
Graphically the game looks nice, it isn’t anything to write home about but we are looking at a re-release here. If you are walking into this expecting AAA graphics you aren’t having realistic expectations. The enemies are pretty well designed and the bosses are down right adorable. In fact I will go so far as to say they are probably the high point of the game itself. Each one is just greatly designed.
The sound unfortunately is where the game suffered the most for me. It wasn’t by any means bad, it just wasn’t exactly good. For me it just felt dated and stiff. And really could have used some sort of a bigger update or clearing up.
The truth about this game is quite simple, it’s fun but there isn’t anything special about it. It’s definitely worth playing playing and is a solid 7/10, but truth be told it’s a very niche game for people that love retro games. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.
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Savior Gaming 