Category: Game reviews

Bioshock 2: Minerva’s Den

bs2 minervas den

I don’t really play many DLCs but if it’s a game I really love, I go all out. Minerva’s Den is a side story told alongside Delta’s story in Bioshock 2. We play as a Big Daddy named Sigma set off to venture into Minerva’s Den, the computer heart of Rapture. You’re sent by a man named Porter to search for the Thinker, which is said to be able to predict everything. It’s protected by the co-creator, Reed Wahl who’s gone mad from splicing…

I have to say there is some really cool new stuff in the levels. I love the Gravity Well plasmid, which has a awesome final form that can decimate a group of enemies at one. The addition of the ion laser is really nice too which is cost efficient when it comes to ammo and does quite a bit of damage. The Lancer Big Daddies are tough and filled me with dread each time I fought them. The story has a good twist at the end and its a pretty sad story. The only drawback is that it isn’t very long and there’s a lot of searching that can get pretty tedious. In the end, If you are craving more Bioshock this is a fun bite sized entry. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Bioshock 2

bs 2 A great lesson in life is just because that its better to have small flaws than fix them and break perfection. While Bioshock is one of my all time favorite games, Bioshock 2 had a lot to live up to. Let’s descend into Rapture again..

After the fall of Ryan and Atlas, a new force took over by means of Sophia Lamb’s “Family”, turning the Splicers and down-trotted of Rapture into a cult. Before Rapture’s decline under Ryan, Lamb had her exceptional daughter turned into a Little Sister, protected by Delta, one of the first Big Daddies. Lamb, using a plasmid to control him, makes Delta seemingly kill himself so she can experiment on her daughter more, trying to make her the messiah of the Family. 1968, Delta is woken up again from a coma by Tenebuam, feeling his Little Sister Eleanor call out to him. Can Delta save Eleanor from the clutches of her mother?

There are some tiny improvements to Bioshock 2 but it doesn’t hold a candle to the first. The Story, while fine, feels copy and paste in certain areas; what hurts it is the fact that the choices you make don’t carry the same weight at the end as they do in the first. Although the weapons themselves are bigger, they don’t seem to do the damage they did in the first game either. I do like the fact you can use melee attacks with every weapon and the drill does some heavy damage later. While most of the plasmids and gene tonics are carried over from the first game, there are new enemies including the badass Big Sisters who were a great addition to the series. The characters are pretty good. The graphics are a huge upgrade but I can’t help but notice that they try too hard at times to be creepy with the setting. It was cool to live as a Big Daddy and gather Adam with the Little Sisters but like much of the game itself, it does get stale. Things like hacking, photographing enemies, and tonic storage are really simplified  combined with much more straight forward missions makes the game lose some charm. In the end, Bioshock 2 is a good game that could have been great but still worth trying if you loved the first. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Bioshock

bioshock

There are few games I’d ever give a 10 out of 10 in life: Batman: Arkham Asylum , Red Dead Redemption , and Mass Effect 2 to name a few. Bioshock is one of them. I’ve played the game through half a dozen times over two console generations and I’m still finding new things in the desolate, leaky city of Rapture.

We play as Jack who is flying over the mid Atlantic in the year 1960. His plane crashes and he finds himself swimming to a lighthouse, finding only a pod that takes him to the underwater metropolis that is Rapture, where the science and art aren’t hindered by government or god. On the outside Rapture is gorgeous and a true sight to behold. Inside is decadent madness. Addicts called Splicers run free, addicted to the freedom to rewrite there genetic codes with Adam and plasmids. Mutated little girls and there hauntingly armored suit protectors, the Little Sisters and Big Daddies, extract Adam out of the corpses that litter the streets. Rapture was founded and run by Andrew Ryan, a visionary and business tycoon who doesn’t want Jack to leave, especially when aided by Atlas. Would ya kindly remember ” a man chooses and a slave obeys”

Bioshock is more than a FPS game. Besides guns, you get to partake in various plasmids and gene tonics, giving you a cool mix of powers and buffs. The detail in your skin when you change plasmids is one of my favorite parts of the game. The world is fascinating and creepy, hearing the rambling of the Splicers and the groans and thunderous footsteps of the Big Daddies. The characters are well done and the the story is a fantastic piece of smart science fiction. The graphics are pretty good on Ps4. There are a few fetch quests that are a pain the ass and there’s a hell of a difficulty spike after easy mode so I recommend going through on easy for collectibles. The DLC, besides a fun horde mode, also has a pretty interesting mode where you have to use your brain to traverse the levels. In the end, Bioshock is a classic that I can’t  recommend more. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Generals & Rulers (Steam)

 Generals & Rulers by Hamsters Gaming and they were kind enough to hook me up with a review copy of the game. The game for me is best described as a grand strategy game for people that don’t have a lot of time. A lot of the finer points that normally take a ton of time to learn and master have been simplified.  Taxes are based off citizens and research you have, which you can then use the money to buy more scientist and troops. Scientist will increase how much research you get per turn and you can use that to research whatever you want, upgrades to troops, diplomacy or whatever else you want in the pretty extensive but simplified tech tree.

War is also quite simple. It is a matter of picking an amount of troops you want to send to a country, and they will simply go instantly that turn. The rest will stay behind to defend your country. There is no need to move troops to certain locations within your borders.

The amount of countries to choose from is quite impressive for the price point of the game, at least 50 depending on which era you play in but it goes as high as about 100, and there are 10 troop types, which does match some Paradox games tho admittedly  how useful each individual troop type is can be debated.

The game itself however is fun, and if you don’t have a ton of time to play and learn this type of game this one is for you. Each round can be played in a few hours and there is plenty of reason to play again since there is a bit of a difference in each era and each play through. The game however isn’t perfect. If you are used to playing games like Hearts of Iron or Crusader Kings 2 you will be pretty disappointed as there are no where near as many options for building or marriage and such. For $12 tho, it is worth it if you want to see if you enjoy this type of game. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Resident Evil 5 (PS4)

Originally released on PlayStation 3 with somewhat mixed reviews, my daughter recently got into Resident Evil 2 Remake and wanted to play the rest, so we decided to co-op Resident Evil 5. While graphically it isn’t bad and the controls hold up well, the split screen itself is atrocious. They don’t even use the entire screen, its just more or less 2 small squares of the screen, one for each player.

Aside from that, the AI is still pretty damn horrible as well to be honest. In single player Sheva is still more or less useless and will waste ammo on dead bodies. The story is also kind of convoluted, but that is pretty typical for the series. The game is fun in multiplayer tho, and I am having a blast with my daughter, but the game still leaves much to be desired and did not age very well for a lot of reasons. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Marvel Spider-man: City that Never Sleeps DLC

spidey dlc Marvel’s Spider-man (PS4) was one of my favorite games of the past few years both as a gamer and comic book fan. I finally got my hands on all three chapters of the City That Never Sleeps, which acts like a epilogue to the main story. New York is in the midst of a violent crime family war, seemingly being stirred by Spidey’s old flame Black Cat. If that wasn’t bad enough, Hammerhead is back and his gang has there hands on Silver Sable’s advanced tech

As far as DLC expansions go, there is decent amount of content here. There’s new bases, side missions with Screwball, and new collectibles as well as new suits available too. I’d say between the three chapters there is easily a good 6- 8 hours of story that is pretty well done and stands pretty well on it’s own; it’s not rushed or half -assed like many tend to do. My only issue is the full price tag : either $10 a chapter or $25 for the complete package is rather steep. I paid $20 for it all and that’s a fair price; I don’t recommend paying chapter by chapter unless hugely on sale like I did. Either way, it’s a good buy. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Star Wars Battlefront 2 (EA)

battlefront 2 new

When I was covering the classic Star Wars: Battlefront 2 , I crapped all over this game. After clocking in roughly 30+ hours, I can say much of what I originally said still stands. What’s overall offered in the EA game pales in comparison to what the original did almost 15 years, 2 console generations ago and I’m flat out recommending that now more than EA’s. However, now I was able to play the story mode as well dive into much of the other modes and pretty much this review won’t compare old and new past this point but squarely on it’s own merit…

Battlefront 2 (EA) has it’s own original story, set after the events of Return of the Jedi when the second Death Star fell. We primarily follow Inferno Squad, a badass special forces crew of the Imperial Army reigning revenge on the rebels, lead by Iden Versio. She was born and raised by her father, a high ranking Admiral in the Imperial Fleet, to believe the Empire were the good guys spreading law and justice throughout the lawlessness of space. Suddenly when Iden watches the cruelty of the Empire first hand against her loyal home-world, her and her comrade abandon the Empire and join the rebels to end the Empire once and for all…

The story itself is fine, not great or terrible but just kind of there. It’s best moments no doubt are when you are with the Empire and I think a better story could have done if the focus stayed on the Empire. The rebels don’t seem to really give that much of a shit that you essentially killed hundreds of there people simply because you said sorry and defected. The story is pretty short but an alright experience that has it’s moments.

The game’s focus is predominately multiplayer. The best mode in my opinion is Capitol Supremacy, which changes scenery and has some exciting pulls and feels like a real war. Heroes and Galactic Assault are solid but feel repetitive quick. Starfighter Assault would be my second favorite and I’m glad there bots mixed into the fray, making it feel more full. The horrendous system has been cut all around and Heroes are way more affordable but you can still find the pay-to-winners scattered throughout. The Heroes ain’t bad but feel clunky and require practice to get good with them.  Gameplay overall is solid but I warn you there are some pretty hard bugs throughout the game. I’ve had games crash, I’ve fallen into the nothing void a few times, and a few times the environment just disappeared only to pop up and kill me. In the end, it’s an alright game on sale if you need a Star Wars fix but I wouldn’t pay anything over 20 for it. May the force be with you and the gaming gods bring you glory.

Island of Terror

isle of terror

This goes out to my parents, Duke and Marsha, who watched this movie all the time when I was a kid amongst dozens of others. This stuck out to me for a variety of reasons I’ll get to at the very end.

Essentially we begin with an instance of man playing god, creating a strange series of lifeforms that could best be called “turtles”. These turtles are in fact giant, lumpy creatures that kill with long stinger-ed tentacles, liquefying the victim’s bones and fluid and sucking them dry ( think early Cell from DBZ). A pair of scientists are trying to track down the creatures origin while trying to survive the growing infestation…

For a early monster monster movie, it ain’t bad for it’s time. The acting is solid if not a bit too serious for a movie like this. The music ranges from solid to mildly corny. There are some decently creepy environments and atmosphere. What I will always remember about this movie are the “turtles”. They look goofy and are ludicrously slow; I laughed my ass every time they’d get someone because you know there would be no way in hell these things would kill anyone in real life. But, what I remember most, and I’m not exaggerating here, I’m pretty sure they bleed and gush raw Campell’s Chicken Noodle soup. Originally, if I’m correct this movie was in black and white where they may have been able to get away with it, but color it’s hilarious. In the end it’s not a bad old sci fi horror movie that cn worth some laughs. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Pokemon Stadium

pokemon stadium With Detective Pikachu killing it in theaters, I wanted to look back at a classic for 90’s kids.  Pokemon Stadium was a simple concept done right- choose from the classic first generation 150 Pokemon and battle in epic tournaments against the AI or your friends, challenge the classic Indigo League gym leaders, or play some pretty fun mini games.

Much like the classic Pokemon games on Gameboy ( Red, Blue, Yellow, etc.) battling is standard turned based combat. I admit, knowing Pokemon in advance is a huge advantage. Types are everything and discovering what type beats your opponent  grants you a near instant K.O. While the combat is certainly fun, type-matching and spam moves rule. There are a awesome assortment of modes to choose from; my favorite was a combination of the gym leader tower and the mini games. The graphics are fairly solid for the time but the sound effects are pretty corny, even for twenty years ago. While I don’t have much to say, if you have a friend and an N64, Pokemon Stadium is an amazing time. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Stellaris Console Multiplayer

To be clear this isn’t a review of the full game, that has already been covered here. Stellaris Console Edition (PS4) I did want to touch on the newly released multiplayer tho because it is a pretty huge addition to the game and a free update for everyone. While PC has had this for a while this has only been available on console since the 21st of this month as part of a free update.

First I have to say when you start up, it can be a hassle to find a game. There isn’t always a ton of them and people don’t always want random people joining their game. There are usually about 7-10 for me a,d the first couple I usually get rejected from. That said once you are in even if people drop out the game just continues and if someone else joins they just pick up where others left off while the PC controls while they are gone. This is cool because honestly loading into a game can take a bit of time, and the game does pause whenever someone loads in.

As far as how the game functions itself, it all works just as well and the same as in single player, tho for obvious reasons you can not pause the game. Honestly tho with the load times and finding a game for me it just wasn’t worth playing unless you have your own group of friends to play with, which by the way seems to max out at 4 human players. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.