Tag: gaming

Star Ocean Anamensis (Mobile)

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Star Ocean Amanesis is a mobile game from Square Enix and developed by Tri-Ace for android and iOS. Like many mobile games this one is free to play and features the characters from the Star Ocean games of the past. It follows the events of Integrity and Faithlessness and involves being attacked by pirates and memory loss. I won’t spoil too much since the game is free to play so i won’t spoil it to much.

The game board basically alternates back and forth between story tiles and battles where you collect items and such. As per usual you progress thru the game and collect characters and more powerful weapons. You don’t need to you money to do this, but as always it will make things much easier and more powerful. The game so far for me hasn’t come across as pay to win, but the best stuff isn’t easy to come across either and I would much rather play the more traditional Star Ocean games. Suffice it to say I will be playing it, but I won’t be sinking any cash into it. The game however does look and sound nice. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Empire In Ruins, Revisited.

Empires In War is an Indy title for PC getting ready for release in the coming months from the company Hammer and Ravens.

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Many of you may remember a while back when we first looked at the game Empires in Ruins (Preview) The guys over there have been hard at work getting things together for release and the EGX event in September. Sadly living in the United States I won’t be attending the event to visit them and check things out. They were however kind enough over the weekend to hook me up with a beta to check out.

A few things to note, the beta is on whats known as a workbench map. It is basically just there for test purposes and isn’t in the full game. Another thing is pretty much everything started out unlocked and there was no tutorial. A bit of fooling around tho and I got the hang of it. I just wanted to say up front, I didn’t play anything close to a full version of the game. I can honestly say tho, I am already impressed and looking forward to more.

The game itself looks good. Fantastic in fact. Each character and building carefully created with care.

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This is just one example I swiped off their Twitter page. I do recommend you check them out over there, they are pretty good about posting updates about what they are doing.

Another part of this I absolutely loved was the music. I rarely say this about games, the music for me is usually just there for me but I actually found myself looking forward to the next wave simply because I liked the music that sounded to me like a sort of hybrid bagpipe rock music sort of deal.

Now the part why most of you are probably still reading, the actual game play. The beta itself. It only showed the real-time combat portion of the game, and none of the story. You start with a small amount of resources to get you started. You can build what you want to survive the first wave or two, it’s up to you really. I won’t tell anyone what to do here that is on you. You two builders will get these built pretty fast, then you can get to the action. As your towers protect your main building from enemies you will get some gold to help you build new ones. The first wave for me consisted of these guys.

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Now I have to admit, I loved reading the descriptions for these guys simply because they made me laugh. I will include a few of my favorites below. As a general rule each wave gets a little harder than the last, with a few easy waves tossed in to give you time to repair or just introduce you to a new enemy. One way consist of a new flying enemy that was pretty easy for me to kill because he was alone, but later multiple showed up and they pretty much ruined my life for a bit. They designed the came in such a way that if you understand how it works and set things up right you can be prepared for anything, if you just randomly toss things down like I did my first go at it you could really do a number on your future. That isn’t to say the game is unforgiving, it is quite fair. The game will just reward you for knowing what each unit does and how to prepare for it.

A good example of this is late game my main building was practically dead, I think I was on wave 18 or 19. I wasn’t prepared for this unit that can use the water to swim around and avoid the roads and it used that to attack me. Game over for me. I couldn’t be mad, this was in no way unfair or cheap. I made a mistake and paid the price.

I must say I have played my fair share of Alpha and Beta versions of games, many with varying degrees of quality. Some being damn near broken to the point I question why they would even let them be played, others they were perfectly playable and I was happy to give my feed back and look forward to seeing how they turn things around. This one however falls into a class all its own. I have never before played a beta where I really didn’t have much to say. I played it for a few hours and never ran into bugs. I never thought the game was unfair towards the player, and even when I thought that dude with the giant hammer or the guys with the muskets did more damage than I liked, it didn’t do anything to stop my enjoyment. They are just stronger units you need to account for,and once I did I was back to killing things. This game is definitely on my must own list when it comes out. Check it out in the Steam Store. Best wishes and may the gaming god bring you glory.

 

 

Pokemon Quest (Mobile)

Pokemon Quest is a free Mobile and Nintendo switch game from Game freak released in 2018.

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Pokemon Quest is a cute little game for Nintendo Switch, Android and iOS. I decided to check out the Mobile version on Android since its free and admittedly I don’t have access to a Switch or iOS device. I am curious if there are any differences between the Switch and Mobile versions so someday I hope to find that out, if I ever do I will be writing another one of these.

The game is quite simplistic, you go to an island to discover treasure and befriend a pokemon for help. You will choose from one of the three original starters of Charmander, Squirtle or Bulbasaur. There are also 2 additional choices of Evvee and Pikachu. There is a small twist tho, they are all little block creatures.

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The game is mostly just your pokemon walking around on their own, they also attack on their own but you choose their special attacks. The game is quite intuitive on its own. I never had an issue with them getting stuck or anything like that.

The biggest issue I had with the game was the cooking mechanic. You need to go thru 4 or 5 levels until its done cooking, then you get a pokemon based off what you cooked. While this is interesting it can take a while to get the pokemon you need for where you happen to be. It’s not a deal breaker it can just be pretty annoying at times, tho there are enough guides online to make it less time-consuming. It is also worth noting you can play the game without spending any real money, tho as always it will make your life much easier.

At the end of the day tho you have to ask yourself what you want from a game. Pokemon Quest is basically a cute time sink for the more dedicated pokemon fans. I think your more average fans won’t really put enough time into this to collect the pokemon or the equip items to get far enough to enjoy it. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

 

The Division 2 Beta Record

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Earlier this year Ubisoft announced The Division 2 and started taking sign-ups for the beta. The previous Division game held the companies previous record for most beta sign ups for the company, well The Division 2 reportedly has 4 times as many. They have yet to confirm exactly how the beta will work or what it will entail, but as you can tell people are excited. For more details check Gamerant.com.

Railway Empire PS4 Pro Vs Xbox One X

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After getting to play both the PS4 pro version and the Xbox one version Railway Empire I decided some of you may have wondered, what is the difference between the two versions of the game?

Well for starters the content is exactly the same, so if you have to choose don’t worry there. You will be buying the same game regardless. There is some DLC available opening up Mexico, but I have no experienced that on either console so I can’t say if that is worth purchasing.

Graphically they both look great, but I do honestly have to give a slight advantage to the Xbox One X. This isn’t to say the pro looked significantly worse. In fact it is truly splitting hairs to say one looks better than the others,I truthfully can’t even say why I like the Xbox versions looks better, I just do. It just seems a bit more crisp.

As for controls, I have to give it to the Pro. They respond better and function better. Again, this isn’t by a significant amount and I am by no means putting down the Xbox version. The difference is slight and you can go wrong with either console.

Both versions of the game look and play great, the sound of both as far as I can tell are exactly the same so really its tasters choice on which one to pick. I do prefer the Pro version. It just seemed to play a little better to me, not by any substantial margin, but just enough to make me like it more. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Good bye Friday The 13th

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As always, everyone and their brother has a Friday the 13th post, mine is a simple recognition that thanks to the ongoing lawsuit over the rights to the movie franchise, Friday the 13th the game is essentially dead. Don’t get me wrong, the game is still out there. As I type this a friend of mine is actually on PSN playing it, in fact I think this is all she plays. There however will no longer be any content created or released. For a bigger more in depth write up check out Kotaku and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Twisted Metal:Black (PS4)

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I have been a fan of Twisted Metal for a long time, ever since the original. My favorite like most people has actually always been Twisted Metal 2, but I wasn’t going to pass up the chance to pick this one up when it was on sale.

The game itself is exactly what it has always been. You pick one of the characters, each with their own story and vehicle. You then drive around picking up weapons on different levels killing the other people. The controls are nice and the graphics aren’t bad for an old PS2 game remastered for the PS4. The game also now has trophies which is nice, tho none of them are really all that hard to get. The game is worth picking up for fans of the series, and it’s really not a bad spot to jump in. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

We Are Doomed (PS4)

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We Are Doomed is above all a 2 twin stick shooter that is quick to get into but hard to master. Learning the game itself is about a 1 minute tutorial, assuming you read very slowly.

You control a small ship, that basically looks like an odd shape and you shoot other ships that are of various shapes and sizes. The game should also probably come with a seizure warning because this thing has more flashing lights that anything has any right to have.

The game is a blast tho, you can fight wave after wave of ships until you die trying to get a high score. Your other option is just endless enemies to see how long your survive. There is no story at all and no real point to the game beyond that, kind of like an old school arcade game.  That is actually where your issue will come in to this. If you okay with just some mindless fun and a challenge, you are good to go. If you are more of the every game needs a purpose and story with a well-defined purpose and motive, this game is definitely not for you. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Beholder Complete Edition (PS4)

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Beholder Complete Edition lets you authoritarian types live your life long dream of spying on your neighbors and sending them to prison. The game is pretty simplistic on the surface. You manage a building, and use cameras and a skeleton key to spy on your neighbors to make sure things are on the up and up. When they go out you can sneak in and rummage through their stuff to make sure they aren’t hiding illegal stuff, and use the cameras to see what they do when they are home.

The game is pretty in depth tho, you will be fixing up apartments and taking care of your families needs. My daughter actually died from an illness when I couldn’t come up with the money for medicine.  My wife was a complete pain in the neck wanting pots for cooking and candy. Seriously lady, I got stuff to do and people to get locked up.

The graphics are nice but nothing special and the controls are a bit stiff but work just fine. The game is fun, and at its price point you can’t really go wrong with such an odd but inventive game. So if you are looking for something new to check out, definitely give it a shot. It isn’t amazing or world changing, but it is interesting. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.