Star Trek Online

star trek online

Star Trek Online is far from a perfect game. There are more than a couple glitches to run into, none of which are game breaking thankfully. The ground combat is stiff and doesn’t require much thought and sadly it does feature pretty prominently in the game. All that aside the number of ships to choose from are nice and varied and the ship to ship combat is fun and is the main the part of the game.

Another nice aspect is the random conflict zones in space, so when you need  break from the story campaigns that are pretty long at times they are a nice distraction. The ability to choose between more than one alliance with a number of races within each alliance to choose from. The ships are also pretty customization with different weapons,shields color schemes and much more. With all that I would only recommend this game to Star trek fans and the more hardcore MMO fans, sadly there just is not a lot here for the casual fans. Thanks for your time, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

 

Shining Force 2 Retro Review

shining force 2

Another classic Sega RPG, Shining Force 2 is a grid-based strategy RPG, with dozens of characters to build your team from. The battles play out on the world map shown here.

shining force 2 fight.jpg

The battles take place in between the story about a thief that steals magical jewels that sealed a great evil from the world by the name of Zeon. as you fight the battle, switch from the world map to a close-up view to see your attack. Below you can see the main character attack the aforementioned Zeon.

shining force 2 battle

The graphics for this game’s time were pretty solid, and so was the sound. This great game can also be found on Sonics ultimate genesis collection on the PS3 and XB360, and is worth checking out if you have the means. The story is well paced and compelling, with characters you will easily get attached to. With a few solid twists and turns and more than one difficulty level, you will get your money’s worth on this one. Best of luck, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

 

Phantasy Star 4 Retro Review

phantasy star 4

Phantasy Star 4 is one of those nostalgia games i’d love to see get another release, but largely be untouched like in previous collections it was in for the PS3 and XB360. The game mostly takes place on the planet of Motavia in the Algol star system, but you did travel to multiple satellites and planets. The turn-based battle system offered lot of strategy with spells and skills that could combine to create entirely new abilities. The story itself was pretty standard for its time, a group of people who meet under various circumstances must save the solar system, with the main character, Chaz, being revealed to be the chosen one. The art style was great, with cut scenes playing out in a comic storyboard manner.

PS 4 cutscene

I have played through this game more than a few times over the years, and I have to say it holds up extremely well. The controls still feel nice, the story still fun and the combat still engaging. Any RPG fan should absolutely try it out. As usual, may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Game of Thrones Telltales Review

Game of thrones

Game of Thrones is in my opinion probably the weakest of the Telltale Games out there, but that doesn’t make it a bad game in any sense. The story itself is interesting and pretty on par with the rest of the games and even the books and t.v. series. The episodes follow the Forrester family and those close to them after the Red Wedding. It doesn’t focus on anyone in particular rather multiple people, some of which in true thrones fashion end up on the wrong end of a sword. This time around the game relies more heavily on timed button presses and button mashing than previous entries which may turn many people off of this Telltale adventure. Personally I like the more serious and violent tone of the these episodes. There is no shortness of blood and death tho admittedly I have witnessed more than a few graphical glitches, for example Jon Snow gliding up some stairs or a cane that is just seemingly large pixel  blocks one moment than a cane the next. The sound and voice work is well done tho and the graphical issues while annoying aren’t game breaking or significant. To wrap it all up, the game isn’t bad and is free this month, so at the very least you get a solid story and a platinum trophy for your time, which to me isn’t to shabby. Thanks for reading and may the gaming gods grant you glory.

Until Dawn

ud Until Dawn did for horror gaming Cabin in the Woods did for horror movies, and that’s the best compliment I can give. Normally I’m not a fan of point and click games but when I got dropped into what at first I assumed was gong to be a rip off of Friday the 13th in video game form, much like how Cabin leads you to think it’s going to a Evil Dead clone at first glance. The story revolves around a group of College friends who traditionally meet at a cabin  during holiday break. Tragedy strikes when two of there friends die in what seems to a accident after a prank gone wrong. A year later the friends meet again, there friendships strained by the tragedy. During the course of a fierce blizzard, they begin to suspect they aren’t alone up there after all…

No, I’m not spoiling it because frankly the ending is cleaver as hell. Also, I give the writers bonus credit for talking about a monster not often utilized in horror that’s both fascinating and has a lot of potential; aren’t we all a bit burned out on vampires and zombies these days? As I I mentioned, I’m not a point and click fan but the mechanics they add like fast QTES and the motion control parts add a little extra flavor. The game is built around the “butterfly effect”, where every action you do or don’t do greatly impacts the characters. Once you are aware of this, you can use this to either aid or hinder them; oh did I screw some of the characters I hated. There are several outcomes to the game so highly replayable. The voice acting is good, but Peter Stommare steals the show as “the therapist”. Overall, it’s a fun game in the spirit of Cabin in the Woods or Friday the 13th so pick it up for free this month on PS plus.

Star Wars, knights of the old republic 2

star wars 2

This game is rather weird. 1st it was made my Obsidian rather than Bioware and second it was basically released with a lot of bugs and largely unfinished. That being said, the game itself isn’t all that bad really. It takes place about 5 years after the end of the first game and with mostly new characters. At the very beginning you will be asked how the first game ended the game mostly play out from there. It looks and plays mostly the same way as the first except this time most of the supporting characters can also become jedi but only if you are on the correct side of the force. While the first game let you see how the others felt about you, this time around it also effects how they act towards you and even to an extent their combat ability.. As always thanks for joining me, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Star Wars, Knights of the Old Republic

star wars

This game takes me back. Its probably the first Bioware game I ever played,and was also the first time i really played  game that had any sort of karma or good and evil system. I vowed to myself i’d be the Jedi in game I would want to be in real life. So about an hour later i quickly realize i veered off somewhere and quickly becoming an evil prick, using my light saber to mow down everything in my path. So I try to get back on the right path while i’m traveling the galaxy trying to save the place from  Darth Malak that somehow has an army of sith troopers and ships. As I’m doing my thing and building better weapons and learning about the amazing worlds and characters I once again notice i’m rocking a red duel saber force choking the life out of people many times for no damn reason at all. Turns out that in this time frame, 4000 years before the original trilogy, I am definitely a sith and nothing I could do would change that. See part of the fun of this game, beyond the one of a kind story and the great worlds and characters, is you can pretty be whatever you want, and that’s why I will always have a special place in my heart. Thanks for joining me on my nostalgia trip, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Exploration fun, sort of.

silver water world

So I’ve been making my way to the center of the galaxy in elite dangerous, a roughly 25 thousand light year trip. And i can’t lie, as fun as it is to see new unexplored places it can be rather boring at times. Tossing on some music or chatting with a friend makes it go a lot quicker. That being said I have come across stars and planets pretty much unseen by other players, for example this ringed blue gas giant.

Blue ring world

Some times as i’m cruising around lost in thought scanning planets I wonder why i chose to do this. Was it for the trophy? Money? Bragging rights for being one of the first PS4 players to do it? Or maybe a weird combination of it all. At the end of the day its sights like this that keep me coming back.

brown and white planet

When it comes down to it, its just  weird sort of fun getting to imagine what it would be like to actually be out there. I do not recommend trying such a long trip, but I would definitely suggest making a small 1000 light year trip just to see what its like. As always thanks for joining me, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

My Name Is Mayo review

mayo

Ok i’m going to be 100% honest here, this game cost me $1 and I heard the platinum trophy would be really easy to get. The game is basically mashing the x button to tap on a jar of mayonnaise and every so often you unlock new outfits to put on the jar. I will say that again. You unlock new outfits for the jar. It is oddly entertaining tho to see a jar with weird outfits on or magically holding a guitar. That being said depending on how fast your thumb is and how diligent you are about switching outfits you will unlock a lot of trophies quickly and about 30 minutes later you will have a platinum trophy. If you are a trophy hunter this game is for you, if not you should probably save your dollar and move along. As always thanks for joining me and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Area 51

a51 I must admit, when it comes to this game I’m pretty bias. I love aliens, government conspiracies, zombie plagues, The X Files, and Marilyn Manson, so to have a gave that encompasses all these things hooked me. It’s the only game I’ve ever collected 100% of the hidden collectibles. Of the PlayStation 2/ XBox era, I feel Area 51 is a well overlooked title that at the very least deserves a PlayStation 4/ XBox One re-release.

Area 51 is the story of a monstrous outbreak in the deepest depths of the legendary facility; something is loose and spreading a mutagenic alien virus that turns it’s victims into vicious mutants. A Haz-mat team is dispatched to quell the outbreak and discover the secrets of Area 51 and the deadly Pact man made with the Greys. You play as Ethan Cole, voiced by David Duchovny of the X-Files, a member of Bravo team and soon to be lone survivor.  One by one Cole’s team is killed gruesomely by the forces at hand. When he finds Delta team, there almost seems to be hope until in a final stand against the mutant horde, the creature that began the madness emerges, invulnerable to gunfire, strong and armed with unhuman technology. Again, Cole manages to nearly escape Area 51 until a trap is sprung, his body comes crashing down stories, and Cole awakens to a mutant biting him and suddenly Cole ceases to be fully human. Mutating horribly, he sees a green light surround the body of one of his dead teammates as it levitates and begins speaking to him in a eerily distant voice, that of Edgar, amazingly voiced by Marilyn Manson. Edgar guides Cole towards his only salvation while dragging him through the lies we’ve been raised to believe.

The best part of the game is the voice acting by Duchovny and Manson. Cole begins and ends every chapter with a intimate account which drives the story forward and sets a grim, desperate tone to the narrative. Manson as Edgar is creepy as hell and his presence is ambiguous, not knowing even up until the end if his intentions are for good or evil. The human weaponry is meh but the primary alien weapon, the BBG, is fun firing bursts of alien energy bubbles that latch onto its target and pop; for aiming there’s a niffty feature where you can pull a special laser sight that can bend around angles and corners and ricochet the shot from behind cover. Best of all, it doesn’t require ammo, it recharges fairly quick on it’s own. Being a mutant is fun- increased strength, ability to launch parasites from your hands to steal health, and even the ability to spread the plague, and these abilities stay as long as you slay everything around you with your clawed hands. The hidden myths of area 51 are original and weird ( like aliens being responsible for the JFK assassination with super soldiers created from telepathy and matter manipulation-yep) So what’s the flaw you ask? Well the ending sucks…pretty bad. No real final boss, just a quick beat the clock rush and a cutscene and that’s it. You will have questions but good luck getting those answered 12 years later.

I love the hell out of 90% of this game and I definitely at least recommend watching a play through at the very least. As always may the gaming gods shine glory on you and you’ll know the truth of the moon landing after this shit.