Game reviews – Page 73 – Savior Gaming

Project Hospital

As some of you may remember it wasn’t to long ago Oxymoron Games Hooked me up with a beta of Project hospital, which you can see my thoughts on here. Well the game today, and the fine folks at Oxymoron games were kind enough to toss us a copy last week so we could review it. It is always appreciated and never goes unnoticed to be chosen.

I won’t go into too much detail about the beta, you can go back and read that yourselves if you are interested. But a lot of things have changed. The graphics don’t appear to be greatly changed but do seem a bit more polished, the tutorials are still intact as you would expect but now there is full on campaign and challenge modes. (screen shots taken before they were played)

As you would expect each one gets a bit more challenging as you unlock each one new level. There are also more options for the sandbox mode.

There are various sizes of empty fields to build your own hospital or different pre-started hospitals, and you can even turn off deaths. If you turn off deaths the patients will simply be taken to a new hospital.

The game play is solid and is more simulation oriented than you will find in Two Point Hospital and less about laughs. ( Not that i have an issue with that, loved Theme Hospital) There are a few issues with the game however, for example tutorial 3 had a small glitch where the doctors and nurses wouldn’t treat the patient but when I restarted it I had no issues at all and once when patients were going into an x-ray room the chose to go outside and around the side of the building and hopped on the machine thru the wall. It was actually kind of humorous and was probably caused by my placement of the machine but realistically shouldn’t have happened and will probably be patched anyway.

Neither of these issues took away from my enjoyment of the game,but I felt obligated to mention them regardless. The day-to-day running of the hospital, the ambulances coming and going can all be very exciting. There is also the new twist of managing a day and night shift of the hospital which was a different and yet nice experience. Once while playing he day shift left and I realized i had zero doctors on my night shift to run my emergency room.

The game isn’t perfect but no games are, and if you love simulation and tycoon games this one is worth checking out. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

PumpkinHead (1988)

Oh Pumpkin Head, the 1988 cult classic. The story is simple, some city folks accidentally kill a child with their dirt bike, and dad (Lance Henriksen) goes to an old witch type woman to call upon the folklore monster of Pumpkinhead to come and kill those city bastards. The problem is when Ed Harley starts to actually see the deaths happen he starts to have some buyers remorse. When it turns out he can’t undo what has already been done he sets out to stop the monster himself.

The creature actually looked pretty solid for the 1980’s and the story itself is pretty fun. The movie isn’t actually all that special and offers nothing new really. It is just a tail of revenge and a creature being fought, but what makes this different is that Ed really seems to regret it and tries to stop it even tho he is the one that was wronged in the first place. Pumpkinhead himself isn’t even truly evil as he can only be summoned by someone against someone who has done something really bad against them. You can’t summon him because your neighbor like keyed your car or because she won’t go out with you on a Friday night. The movie is a fun watch, but it isn’t a great movie. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

As always feel free to help us out if you want the movie by picking it up on Amazon

Pumpkinhead

Razerewire:Nanowars

Over the weekend I got to talking to one of the guys making Empire In Ruins ( you can learn more about that here Empire In Ruins, Revisited.) and he hooked me up with another game he made with Screwdriver&Pigeons. You can find them on Twitter here @screwdriver&pigeons or here @eir_td ,where they are making Empire in Ruins. They are great guys that always seem to make time to for fans so go give them a follow.

As for Razerwire, I was not sure what to expect. I kind of thought I was getting an Indy twin stick shooter that I would play for an hour think it was pretty neat then never touch again because I don’t much enjoy them. This is not at all what I got. What I got was an easy to play hard to master addictive game that had me saying one more round for 5 hours the day I started playing it. In fact I said “I just want to get into the top 10” on the global leaderboard then the top 5, well at the time of writing this I am #1 in both score and kills.

Graphically the game has a very nice retro feel to it with the bugs and colors looking great and the ever-changing background never-failing to match what it is going on.

Free advice by the way, don’t shoot the jack-o-lanterns. The controls are flawless, they work off your mouse and you simply slide it around your wire follows you around the screen killing the enemies, with a catch. If you go to fast it will go thru the enemies without killing them. This isn’t a glitch or anything, the game actually warns of this and tells you it has something to do with particles or something. There are also numerous power ups to help you in your quest to knock me off the top of the leaderboards.

The icons to the left will upgrade your overall abilities such as how fast shields recharge or max health. The icons to the right are all your semi randomly appearing power ups. They do various things from killing everything on the screen to slowing down enemy movements.

The game is fun and oddly addictive and at its price point of $2 ($3 if you want the DLC) there is honestly no reason to not try this game out, so head on over to Steam and give it a shot. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Resident Evil 7 (Torsten’s thoughts)

re7

Resident evil 7 review was one of Savior’s earliest reviews and around then he had me borrow this and Evil Within 2 Review so it has definitely been a while but I’m getting to it in the spirit of Halloween cheer. A quick shout out to my friend Violet who went through a good chunk of the game with me and made it fun.

Essentially we play as Ethan, a dude who’s wife Mia sends him a tape after disappearing, leading him to the Baker’s estate. The house is in ruin and it isn’t long before he meets the Baker family: Jack, Marguerite, Lucas, and there dilapidated granny who show off some pretty terrifying feats, while the Molded freaks pour out of it’s walls. Are you ready to be part of the family?

While not my favorite of the series by a long shot, it is the best we’ve seen in over a decade. I was worried when it was announced it was going to be first person but surprisingly it’s done pretty effective. The gameplay is solid and there are some good throwbacks to the classics like the limited inventory system and safe rooms with tape recorders instead of type writers. There is another cool feature where you get to play through other people’s perspectives through VHS tapes you find. The Bakers are intimidating and worthy foes, Jack and Marguerite especially. Honestly, the Bakers are the highlight of the game.

There are some issues I have with the game though. The Molded are pretty weak enemies and beside the Bakers, that’s all you get unfortunately; there are slight variations but nothing spectacular. If you are decent enough with the knife you are solid. Another problem is Ethan is painfully bland; his dull reactions to some really traumatic shit are hilarious on the level of Sebastian from Evil Within . On top of that, Evelyn is a super disappointing final boss who tries too hard to be the standard creepy horror movie girl.

In a lot of ways, Resident Evil 7 doesn’t feel like Resident Evil. There’s pieces of Texas Chainsaw Massacre , F.E.A.R , Saw , and Alien: Isolation just to name a few. It rides the line between omage and rip off at times but I can’t deny it’s a good, solid horror title I recommend picking up for casual fan or series vetern. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Project Highrise: Architect’s Edition

As always, time for a full disclosure moment. I did receive a review copy of this from Kalypso Media for which I am extremely grateful and honored. These things are pretty limited so being chosen is pretty cool. That being said, lets get to the nitty-gritty of it all.

First the game is a business sim and tower builder. I played it on PlayStation 4 but it is also available on Xbox one and the Nintendo Switch as well as Steam and comes with the Las Vegas DLC as well as the content packs for Miami Malls, Tokyo Towers, London Life and Brilliant Berlin.

Graphically the game is not the greatest looking however the graphics are perfect for what they are trying to represent. Watching the characters go about their daily lives in their offices or apartments is a pleasure. The sound falls into the same category with elevators making a satisfying ding or hearing the slots on the casino floor. None of the noises ever feel annoying or out-of-place. The sound and graphics aren’t the best out there, but they fit the game, get the job done and are quite enjoyable.

The game play however is where this game is at its best. You have plenty of options to choose from when you start from money to the background and even the amount of space you have to work with. And for those that just want to build there is an option from the start for unlimited money which had led to some impressive things being built by people who aren’t me as you will see soon enough.

My first go was an office setting. I started out by building a small entrance to welcome people and a place to buy some lunch.

From here as a small profit started to come rolling in I added to it quite a bit with more offices.

Each office requires certain things to be present in order to move in and stay happy, for example a water service for delivery or phone line. As you advance they want more expensive services like copying services. For me the different types of buildings you could go for actually acted like a difficulty setting with offices being pretty easy. Next I set up an apartment complex.

This was actually a bit more difficult for me as they want more stuff from the very start. Still quite manageable tho, as you can see I managed to set up some parking and stores. This was really my only issue with the game. You can’t actually just set up an apartment complex or office building as you will need to add stores and restaurants as well since some of the other building options are locked behind having an assortment of those.

Another major thing people should rightfully be worried about are controls. Many games like this simply do not control well on console, which makes sense and is understandable. It has far less buttons and no mouse. I am happy to report however the controls work just fine. Obviously they are most likely better on PC, but I never had any issues controlling or building things.

Now for the end, is this game worth your hard-earned cash? Short answer, yes. This is honestly the best tower building game I have ever played and I happily sank many hours into it and will sink many more. If you like the management genre this game is great and allows you to build many interesting things. Of course the game isn’t perfect and if you aren’t a fan of the genre this game won’t hold much for you, but if you have been waiting for this style of game to hit console there is no reason to wait, 9/10 must buy for fans of the genre. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

As always if you want to support the blog and pick the game up you can do that here at Amazon.

PS4

Switch

Xbox

American Truck Simulator

This game actually has a funny story behind how I got it. See I didn’t buy it, but it isn’t a review copy. A guy in a Facebook group I am in was like “hey who wants it, post a funny gif, best one wins” and I won pretty much by default. Even better I am fairly sure he was from somewhere in Europe and I am an American, so I enjoyed that as well.

Also if you are curious about the other version of this, I did review that. Euro Truck Simulator 2

Now, on to American Truck Simulator. First you should know, I am not going to bash this game. Most people who played it do not. It has amazing scores on Steam and great reviews in other places, and rightfully so. The game looks good and its fun to watch the scenery fly buy as you drive across California and other west coast states.

The controls are also nice with them making the trucks control quite realistically without relying on simply making the controls unresponsive or sluggish. They are smooth and responsive without losing that feeling of driving a huge truck, and it does change based off your trailer. I also enjoy that you can put your own music into the radio and have it play in-game. It is a nice touch that adds to the immersion of it all.

The game however isn’t perfect, no game really is if we are being 100% honest. The game can get repetitive and if you aren’t into this style of game you will get bored really fast. Also if you are playing with a mouse and keyboard driving can be a tad weird at times because they aren’t are precise as driving a real car when it comes to controlling your speed. The game also does a poor job of teaching you things like how to turn your lights and windshield wipers on, two things you will obviously need. Thankfully its just a quick google search away.

That being said, I know I got the game for free but if I had paid for it, I would be quite happy with the purchase. If you are trying to decide between the two honestly go with what country you are from. My biggest issue with Euro Truck was having no clue about their traffic laws and kept driving down the wrong side of the road ( which would have been the correct side in America) and I don’t have that issue with American Truck Simulator and that makes the game far more enjoyable for me. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Final Fantasy 6, Why Its Only An Average Game.

As I promised this morning here is an opinion that will probably annoy a lot of people. Final Fantasy 6, is only an average game. The story is good yea. The first 3/4th of the game or so is really good, the traveling around, the war itself. Kefka is a pretty demented guy poisoning people and even managed to demolish the world and take it over. For more details on all that check here.

This is where many of my issues come into it tho. First Kefka taking over the world and all was 100% accidental. He had no intention of destroying half the surface of the place like this and clearly if that is true taking over the world this way was also not the plan. You can’t really claim this guy is a great villain when his plan wasn’t a plan but a happy mistake.

After this point in the game the entire rest of the game is negated and pointless. You wake up on an island, your party scattered. You will now spend this entire section of the game finding and recruiting people you already recruited. Maybe. Why maybe? Well many of them are now option characters, some of those important characters from the first part of the game you can now go beat the game without. There is no trick to this by the way or game glitching needed, they are simply optional.

This brings me to another issue I have. There are 14 characters in this game, 11 main characters and 3 optional. Sort of, as stated before after the world is destroyed you only need to recruit 3 characters. (Celes, Edgar and Setzer) That is it, after those 3 are back in your party it is actually possible to go finish the game. You can go collect the other 11 main characters and 3 optional characters (and Gogo and Umaro have 0 backstory by the way and Mog isn’t much better) so aside from being strong are pointless.

Hell even Shadow and the other characters aren’t exactly well made, tho some for their time are greatly done. Much of the game tho is busy work simply to add play time. Now the game isn’t by any means bad, but to say it is great or even one of the best is insane to me. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Anyone interested in checking this out and helping us out here is a link to Final Fantasy Anthology on Amazon.

Final Fantasy Anthology

5 Best Final Fantasy Games

Yesterday I did the 5 worst Final Fantasy games, today I am doing the 5 best. This is completely subjective obviously, and admittedly the list is pretty much the same list most fans would make. There is one game that did not make the list and I will forever defend it as being simply a mediocre game. That comes later on today tho when I upset a bunch of people by not praising Final Fantasy 6. But without further waiting, here you go, and in no real order.

Final Fantasy Tactics (PlayStation One)

yup, Final Fantasy tactics. Of course the PSP version is also great, and arguably is even better than the PS1 version I reviewed. I haven’t reviewed that one but regardless the War of the Lions is an absolute amazing game. The story was far more adult than other games in the series and most people never seemed to realize it not only was full of social commentary on the typical haves vs the have not of society but also how many things in history just aren’t what they seem or we are even told. All in all, this game is worth playing one way or another. In fact this might be my favorite Final Fantasy game.

Final Fantasy 9 (PS4)

Next up is FF9, an amazing game also from the PS1 era. It was a golden time for Final Fantasy, with 7 being a HUGE hit of unexpected proportions, most people don’t know they actually were working on FF8 and FF9 at the same time. The characters are great, the story magnificent and graphically it holds up well even now. Many people debate whether or not 7 or 9 is the better game, and truthfully I can’t choose.

This one is a bit of an argument waiting to happen since people seem to love or hate this game. The story is much debated at times even with many people thinking Squall is dead for most of it. (He isn’t confirmed here) I mean he was hit in the damn shoulder. Tho the games junction and card game make the game very breakable, you can actually get Squalls ultimate weapon on disk 1. Regardless I love the game and like most people I still hold out hope we get an HD remaster, tho I doubt it happens.

Final Fantasy 7 retro review

Look you knew this game would be here. By now if you don’t understand why this game is on the list nothing I say is going to make that happen. It brought the RPG and Final Fantasy games to the main stream and basically solidified them as a staple of the gaming community. Also a fun fact, I was one of the first people in America to finish this game. My brothers friend worked at Wal-Mart when the game released and I got the game almost a week early and finished it in a weekend. By the time the game released I was halfway through my 2nd play through.

Final Fantasy, the original. This game isn’t necessarily the best in the series so much as it is the first, and that is why it is here. Without Final Fantasy for the NES man of the favorite games of RPG fans everywhere may not even exist. I remember arguments of people discussing what was better this or Dragon Warrior (Now dragon Quest) Years later the 2 companies became one which is rather funny to me. Final Fantasy and the light warriors however were the first FF game, and many of the things within it became major parts of the series such as crystals, the characters becoming job classes and even Garland (the first boss) being used in FF9.

Before I go I should point out I made this list once before, so feel free to check that out and see how my opinion may have changed. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Top 5 Final Fantasy Games

The 5 Worst Final Fantasy Games

We all know the Final Fantasy series, many of us have played it, but we have all heard of it. Most fans have arguments over the best ones, is it 7? 9? 10? Well how about the worst? Here is my take on that, so in no particular order here are my 5 worst Final Fantasy games.

Final Fantasy Adventure, if you want to know more about the story click here. The game is actually credited for spawning the Mana series, which really is something to be thankful for. But this game for me was horrible. The attack gauge annoyed me how you had to find magic just did nothing for me and all around calling this a Final Fantasy game was just misleading.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. Now we all know I LOVE Final Fantasy Tactics War of the Lions. But this one? I hated it. In fact it was one of the few games I ever returned the same day. The story of a kid finding a magic book and getting transported was silly, the law system where in fights you couldn’t do certain things or you would be arrested, the whole thing was just a train wreck for me.

Final Fantasy 2. The game did introduce things that became trademarks like chocobo and Cid, but the leveling up system basically was all about what you did. Take damage to increase HP do or do damage to increase strength. This honestly truly ruined the game for many people including myself.

Final Fantasy 13. You can just go ahead and count the entire 13 trilogy here. None of them were all that great, but 13 itself was horrible. It was beyond linear, it capped your leveling up in each chapter the characters were forgettable and some (looking at you Hope) were flat-out annoying as hell.

Here is the one that will get me in trouble, it always does and people always get upset. I don’t care, this game is one of the worst in the series.

Yes Final Fantasy 12. The story isn’t great but the real death of this game is the gambit combat system. I have won boss battles while not even holding my controller. You can legitimately set your gambits up then just walk around. The updated version is a bit better since you can speed it up so it doesn’t take as long but this is truly not a good game. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Horror games that deserve a remaster

rere2

Hi folks, meet Lisa Trevor. Lisa Trevor is a undying, hauntingly tragic character from Resident Evil (remake) who helped set the remake apart from the original. I’ve played a good deal of horror games that would do some from touch up and could actually compete today. In no particular order lets begin with a particular favorite of mine…

a51 1. Area 51 –

I love crazy ass government conspiracies one thing I loved was how all the collectibles were linked to famous conspiracies like Sasquatch, psychics, aliens, super soldiers, cloning, and the JFK assassination. Touch up the graphics, add some new depths to Area 51 and these days we have a wealth of crazy things to ponder..

fear 2. F.E.A.R

I’m honestly shocked this hasn’t been remade or remastered yet. It’s a widely loved horror game that with some new graphics and a few gameplay tweaks, this game would be truly great.

alienr game1 3. Alien Resurrection: the game –

Ok, I know Alien Resurrection wasn’t exactly everyone’s favorite installment in the series so besides being a huge Alien fan, why include it? Well, the game had a damn good atmosphere, the aliens weren’t easy to take out, and I think with updated graphics and some new controls it could be close to what Aliens: Colonial Marines was supposed to be.

trapt 4. Trapt –

This is a strange case. The atmosphere and music are creepy and there are some alarming ways to kill people in this castle but it’s not your typical horror game. I think with a bit bigger story and a few new trap ideas, I think this could be really special.

5. Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s requiem-

I’m really curious why the hell Nintendo never re-released a game many have praised for being ahead of it’s time in horror and now modern systems have more than the capabilities to give this game a grand remake it deserves.

6. Silent Hill 2-

I know pretty much nothing about Konami except Savior rage quitting the Metal Gear Survive preview but the effect Silent hill has had on the horror field is undeniable. Silent Hill 2 gave us Pyramid Head and a great twist; imagine with a updated camera system and new graphics?

7. Dino Crisis-

The last game on this list and I don’t know why we haven’t heard from the series in decades. Essentially it was if Resident Evil and Jurassic Park had a weird hybrid baby. A reboot could be amazing if done with love and care.

I hope you enjoyed my list and may the gaming gods bring you glory.