Nintendo Switch 2 Controversy

If you have been living under a rock lately and somehow missed the news, we finally have an official release date for the Nintendo Switch 2. I still maintain they missed a massive opportunity by not calling it the Super Nintendo Switch, but whatever.

Mario Kart World

The first thing is that $80 digital games and $90 hard copy games. These hard-copy games essentially just unlock the digital version anyway. This has not gone over well with fans, and rightfully so. You are basically paying $10 more for plastic that doesn’t contain the game.

Second thing, depending on your country, the $450-$630 price tag is for the base game (the first number is US, the second is Canadian); however, that US number is probably going to go up significantly. The US is the only country not starting preorders on April 9th due to uncertainty from the tariff situation.

None of this is truly the fault of Nintendo. They didn’t create the political climate of the country, however, the price of games from a company that rarely has sales is a very hard sell for many of us. Now that we can expect the system without a bundle to probably reach close to $600 in the US it’s probably a safe bet to say sales will suffer all around. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Daredevil: Underboss

Even the greatest of enemies have lies they do not dare to cross. Daredevil and Kingpin have been arch-enemies for years, taking everything from each other. Murdock will not kill. Stricken blind, Wilson Fisk will not anyone kill his greatest adversary, although he knows the devil of Hell’s Kitchen is none other than a blind lawyer by day. When a mutant named Nitro tries killing Matt Murdock directly in broad daylight, he’s led down a twisting path as he believes Kingpin put the hit on him. But Fisk is just as surprised as Daredevil…then Fisk is seemingly murdered by a betrayer in cold blood as an underboss yearns to bring the criminal element to the good old days before one man ruled it all and there weren’t supers running around. Can Daredevil survive the onslaught and solve the mystery of who wants him dead and more importantly, who knows his secret identity?

Honestly, I love Daredevil even as far back as his arc on spiderman animated series but I’ve never read a comic until recently. Damn was I missing out. This is a Marvel Knights story much like Inhumans and Doctor Strange: The Flight of Bones so it’s gritty and adult-rated, which fits the Man without Fear perfectly. Bendis told a really good story that kept me gripped as much as the gorgeous artwork. The book is paced really well and doesn’t require much pre-knowledge to dive in which I appreciate. The story wraps up pretty nicely and I was genuinely interested in where it was going. In the end, I highly recommend looking up this underrated gem if you wanted to get into Daredevil like I did but didn’t know where. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Alan Wake remastered

Fear is an interesting thing. As subjective as fear can be, some fears are instilled in everyone as part of our make-up, none other than the fear of the dark…

Alan Wake is a bestselling crime author in a rut with the dreaded writer’s block. Alan and his wife go to the sleepy woodland town of Bright Falls for a vacation at the picturesque lakeside cabin. Everything seems fine until Alice disappears and Alan is thrust into the dark woods where the very shadows themselves have taken over the townsfolk and turned them murderous. Alan’s only weapon is the safe haven of light. Day by day as Alan’s reality crumbles and the Dark Presence grows stronger, its up to Alan and a few found friends to battle the darkness and save Alice.

For a game that’s roughly 15 years old, this game does a damn good job of setting up an intense atmosphere. The game uses darkness, light, and sound to keep you on edge all the way through to the end. The story is very intriguing and has a cool King vibe I really enjoyed. The gameplay is solid but the dodge mechanic is a bit funky at times so definitely keep that in mind. If you like the band Poets of the Fall like I do, you’ll get a treat as they have music in game which is pretty cool. The game gives you just enough ammo and supplies to get through but you do have to conserve and be creative which I appreciate. The game does show its age at times and there’s parts I hated, namely the damn “kidnapper” escort mission but the game keeps you invested. The only other bummer I got is that the ending is anti-climatic from a gameplay perspective but you will want more. I can’t wait to play Control, which overlaps, and play 2. I highly recommend checking it out. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Monster Friday-Mothman

Mothman is a very specific monster in that it only exists in one place, during a very specific point in time. In a small place, Point Pleasant, West Virgin,a from around November 1966 until December 1967, there were reports of a humanoid creature known as Mothman. It even has its own Museum.

That is a live YouTube camera, by the way, that shows the giant Mothman statue that is very popular at the Mothman museum. The sightings themselves have been explained by things such as the migration of birds in the area that don’t normally come through there such as sandhil cranes.

As you can see, the sandhill crane is a rather large bird with red/orange eyes, which lines up perfectly with what the Mothman reportedly looks like, a large creature with Red eyes and wings. If you were to see one at night out of season, you could, while scared and surprised, possibly confuse it for being humanoid.

Mothman has appeared in movies such as The Mothman Prophecies and is a staple in the Fallout games, and while I honestly belive there is nothing to this one, it is one of the more fun ones out there. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Ammossum (Steam Demo Review)

Ammossum is a demo sent to me by West Glade, and I have to be honest: I’m not sure I will ever forgive them for that. Don’t get me wrong; the game is perfectly functional. It looks pretty decent, and while the controls are way too slow for this type of game, they work.

I use the term works very vaguely. The demo does a very bad job of explaining what anything does. Does anything carry over from one run to another? What do weapon upgrades do? Why do they suddenly split off but don’t seem to do anything new? It doesn’t really say, and trial and error doesn’t do much when you die and get tossed new stuff to try to figure out every five minutes.

Eventually, you will figure it out, but that doesn’t really change how you end up feeling once you do. There is no sense of achievement since all you did was figure out a basic game function.

The game looks fun, and it sounds fun, but truthfully, it ends up just being an overall frustrating experience. At no point did I enjoy my time with this demo, but the potential is there, and with a few months before release, I am hoping it turns it around. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Cargo! Xbox Review

Cargo! is the last of the games sent to me by Ultimate Games and is probably the most difficult to play but the easiest to review. If you ever played games like Order Up! or any of the similar games where you simply run around a kitchen making stuff or fixing cars with a little person and multiple stations you will feel right at home here.

Pick up stuff in one spot, drop it in another, get paid

You quite literally just pick up something from one spot in your truck, drop it in another, and get paid. In later levels, you have multiple stops to make. Sometimes, there are bridges or road blocks in the way. Of course, there is multiplayer (couch co-op).

Honestly, there isn’t much to say here. The game just is what it is. If you like games like this, there are hours of enjoyment here for you and your friends, and you definitely want to play with friends. If you don’t like games like this, this won’t be the one that changes your mind. It is another 7/10 game from Ultimate Games and to me, that’s a solid record to have. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Pets Hotel PS5 Review

Pets Hotel is the next game that Ultimate Games sent me to check out, and it might be the one I enjoyed the least. Don’t let that fool you into thinking it is a bad game; it isn’t. The animals in the game are damned adorable. Running a pet hotel is pretty simple; you just build a room, decorate it the way you like, add items to it for the pets you want, and wait for the phone to ring.

Once the phone rings, you type in ( yes, literally ) the name of the pet, click some options for any special treatment they want and you wait for them to check in. From there, you do things like give them baths, trim their nails, take them for walks, feed them, pet them, and otherwise care for them.

Honestly, my lack of enjoyment with this game is on me and me alone. if you have followed this blog for any real amount of time, you know I don’t really care for decorating stuff. With a big part of this game being building rooms and decorating them, it was bound to limit how much I liked it. I also don’t care for having to type in the name of each pet coming into the hotel. Neither of these things are major issues or even issues at all for most people. The game is still a solid 7/10 and worth playing for $22. It just isn’t for me, personally. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Police Shootout PS5 Review

Police Shootout was recently released on PS5 and Ultimate Games was kind enough to send me a review copy. I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect. As you will see in the coming days, they sent me several games. (all of which I enjoyed on some level for what they are)

Police Shootout puts you in the role of an officer who, for his own reasons, just transferred into the station. So, after a quick but extensive tutorial that will introduce you to the world of this turned-based first-person shooter, you are off on your first mission, a call to a grocery store parking lot.

Mom of the year

Soon after getting here, you will discover the store is being robbed, and mom of the hear ditched her kid when the shooting started. Your job, is to be a cop. Talk to witnesses, call a medic for the guy that was shot and made it outside, or be like me and never find him so he dies and you get bitched at for it later. The choice is yours. Eventually, you can make your way inside and use your stealth training to arrest people. Or just shoot everyone, like I did. I am not a very good cop. I did save the little girl however, unlike the mother that abandoned her.

Every mission is full of choices like this. Call in each step of the way so dispatch knows what is going on, call in ambulances if need be, gather up evidence like guns and drugs, and use a stun gun instead of the lethal option. These are all choices you will have to make.

The game is far from perfect. It looks like an old PS4 game so don’t expect to see some high-quality graphics, and while the sound could be worse, it certainly could be better. The voice acting is nice; I will admit to that. For $20 there is plenty of fun to be had, 7/10. We have all spent more money on worse games. best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Vanguard Exiles Steam Review

Vanguard Exiles was sent to me by The Tea Division, which I always appreciate. Vanguard Exiles is a rather easy game to explain and learn to play. You pick an army, start a match, and set your troops down into a zone. Your opponent does the same thing. If your opponent doesn’t set a troop down in the same zone, you score points after a set amount of time. If they do, an auto battle will commence, and the winner will get the zone. After you conquer a zone, your troops will move to an adjacent zone. The process continues until all the zones are taken or until nobody can move to a new zone.

This is very simple to learn, and in between each round, you will get the opportunity to recruit new troops with your old troops being returned to you. At no point do you have to worry about having no troops. This is a game based on strategy, not raw power,

This game disappointed me a bit and took so long for me to review because I didn’t want to review it until I played with some real people, and I spent the first couple of hours playing bots. Thankfully, it is becoming easier to play with real people as more people have bought the game. This game should be far more popular than it is. Coming from the mind of Richard Garfield, yes, one of the minds behind Magic The Gathering, and being as simple to learn and hard to master as it is, the game is in the perfect position to be the next big thing. And at the low price of $15, this 8/10 is absolutely worth checking out. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Suicide Squad Kills the Justice League

So first and foremost, the absolute best part of this game to me was the legendary Kevin Conroy reprising his role as Batman unfortunately for one of the last times before his passing. R.I.P to our true Dark Knight Kevin Conroy.

Years after Batman: Arkham Knight, Metropolois is under siege from the tyrannical Brainiac. The Justice League has fallen except for Wonder Woman and Flash, who are left to fight now only a seemingly endless scourge from Brainiac but also her old friends. With no other options, Amanda Waller unleashes Task Force X to save the world, bringing together assassin Deadshot, lowlife rogue Captain Boomerang, villainous Harley Quinn, and King Shark…because why not bring out a talking shark god for the end of the world? Despite impossible odds, can these outcasts come together to destroy Brainiac, save the world, and kill the Justice League?

There’s a lot I should’ve said, but it’s a half-ass description for a half-ass game. This game made me sad, not only because this is one of the last times we’ll hear Conroy as Batman, but because there is so much potential that greed crushed. This game is plagued by every annoying live service trope I’ve come to hate in modern gaming. It’s a looter shooter with crap loot. The gameplay loop is painfully repetitive. The characters don’t have much to differentiate them. There are great voice performances but they are bogged down by cringe writing. There are cool set pieces but honestly, the only character I was really attached to was Batman, because the game doesn’t let you forget this is IN the Arkham verse, but even if you sink a ludicrous amount of hours and get the real ending beyond the pay wall, Batman is still wasted in the very end. In the end, this could’ve been a cool name that was obliterated by bad decisions and greed and unless you got it free as a PS+ game, it’s not worth your time. I replayed Batman: Arkham City for the 20th time to cleanse my palette- I recommend getting the Arkham Trilogy on whatever console instead but stay away from this thing. May the gaming gods bring you glory.