Sonic Spinball Sega Genesis Classic

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Sonic Spinball has always been an oddball Sonic game. It fit by the way, he rolls into a ball, travels really fast and jumps really high. But does it really work? In short, yea. The graphics were never great, but like pretty much every game in the collection you have the option  to make it look better than ever or the original. The sound also has a very old-fashioned pinball machine feel to it.

The only real issue with this game is that is very niche. It is pinball in 2018, most people have no interest. The game is pretty fun tho, if not a bit old-fashioned. It is very much worth a shot, but don’t expect the usual Sonic game. You will still be collecting Chaos Emeralds however as well as rings. The basics of Sonic are still there for fans of the series as are the characters as well. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Sega Genesis Classics

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Spent some time playing this one, and many of the games. So I decided rather than try to stuff every game in here I would just review the games I play over time and just give you all a general idea of how this thing is as a bundle. First check here for a list of games. Sadly there are a few missing, like Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles oddly.n Also columns 2 isn’t there but 1 and 3 are, the reason for this is weirdly 2 was not on the console.

The games are amazingly emulated, and have never looked better, if you want. You have multiple options here. For the purist you can make them look damn near like the original release. For those looking for something looking more smooth, this has you covered. Sega has truly gone pretty far to make these seem as close to a remaster as possible without them actually being a remaster. I can honestly say the Phantasy Star series has never looked or felt better. At least not in America and legally. I am sure someone is going to bring up the PlayStation 2 versions that weren’t released here, I am still upset they are unavailable to me as I have never found a way to play them in English.

Any way, on to what I was saying, I have seen a few people complain about input lag, however I have not experienced this in any game I have played. Another cool feature is the ability to rewind and fast forward the game. Suck at Golden Axe and make silly mistakes? Rewind that badly timed jump or ill-advised jumping attack. Seriously, that is a thing you can do and you can rewind a decent amount of time. You can beat half the games on the list if you don’t mind being what comes off as a bit dishonest.

The game selection however is great and have never looked better, any fan of retro gaming should have no fear picking this one up. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Farming Simulator 17 (Xbox One)

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I picked this game up on sale not long ago because I was curious, and admittedly kind of expected Harvest Moon with tractors to some extent. Don’t make that mistake. This could not be any further from that. That is not a bad thing at all by the way. There is a bit of a learning curve tho.

First thing is first, each piece of equipment does have a purpose and that is all it does. You can’t use your pick up truck to pull around huge equipment. You will also need some sort of lifting equipment to toss pallets of stuff into your truck to transport it around town. Don’t be an idiot like me and assume the store will deliver it, they don’t.

The game however is pretty fun, and you can hire workers to do much of the work if you want and have the money while you go do missions for other farmers, they do supply the equipment. This has a double benefit of getting you some money and familiarizing you with much of the stuff in the game, because if you are like me you probably have no idea what any of this stuff does.

Graphically the game is beautiful, but you can easily mess with the games physics engine. They clearly did not count on you taking large trailers in barns and attempting to empty things so the trailer goes through them, it can have some hilarious consequences. Using rocks as jumps in a truck also sends you flipping end over end and spinning while over loading a forklift and trying to do donuts is also something I recommend trying.

Another warning, the game does take a poor look on taking a trailer full of animals into the river. I was curious and it was late at night, I failed that tutorial and immediately had to restart. The game however is fun if you like simulation games, it is easy to learn and easy to control and on the Xbox mods are there, tho you don’t have a ton of space for them. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Overcrowd (PC)

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So the other day I tossed out on Twitter I need more indy games and movies to check out, and I get a follow from the guy that codes a game called Overcrowd. His name is Alastair and him and his girlfriend, whom has a PhD in molecular genetics, Sarah are creating this game. Together they make up SquarePlay Games. I was a bit surprised by this one, simply because of what it is. The concept seems pretty silly on the surface, maybe because I don’t frequent the subway system. I will let their video explain it however since I can not do it justice.

See, if I had tried to explain this, it would sound silly. However what you get is a deep and engrossing game with a lot to do and managing. The building aspect is only one part as you must also make sure your workers are happy so they can in turn keep commuters happy. Rats, garbage or even blood will quickly turn what should be a happy commuter into a miserable one.

I love covering indy games when I can find them, and the ones I have come across always make me look forward to what is to come. A couple even hold a special place in my heart for various reasons. one because it is a throw back to an old game I loved as a child ( that write-up is coming in the next few days), others because I love the work they are putting into it. And now this one, simply because the originality behind it alone makes me confident it will be amazing. You can see more on Squareplay Games there or here. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Shoppe Keep (PS4)

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Shoppe Keep on the PlayStation 4 is one of those games I saw that seemed interesting but I wasn’t sure on, so I looked up some reviews and noticed there actually weren’t very many of them. The few I did find complained about some very odd things, like having to read the tutorial. Seriously am I the only on that remembers instruction booklets? They were a tutorial you had to read, at one point most tutorials were read. So I couldn’t accept that as a valid complaint. Another I saw was that the cursor speed was to quick, which you can change in-game anyway, so again another complaint that seemed odd to me. Why complain about something you have the option to easily change?

So I bought the game and read the tutorial. This doesn’t take long, maybe 10 minutes. The cursor speed really is to damn quick, but that is a simple matter of pausing the game and changing it. The game itself is quite simple, set up a shop, buy supplies like potions, wait for some adventurers to come and buy them, and repeat. As you gain more money and the days go buy better items and sell them for a bigger profit. As you gain levels you can unlock new abilities to make people steal less or unlock new heroes to come in and shop.

You also have to set your own prices, but be careful, set them too high and people either won’t buy or they will just steal them. 4 of my first 7 just stole stuff and ran. You can chase them down and kill them to get your stuff back tho, but I got the hang of that after losing a lot of money in merchandise.

The game is interesting but has its faults, the graphics aren’t bad and it doesn’t explain certain things to well, like how to get rid of dead bodies, which you can sweep away with a broom weirdly. The game also gets very repetitive so unless you are into sim games, probably won’t like this one very much. It is a fun little game tho, best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Pokemon for the Switch, Officially.

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Yea that headline is real. Look there is even a video, from Nintendo, released tonight. I never write at night last-minute. @torstenvblog does blogs at night. But here it I am, taking time away from drinking..I mean away from the kids.

Yea that is how important this news it, it could not wait until morning. We are getting a Pokemon game on consoles November 16th…2018 and a special Pokemon is coming with it, Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Keep The Peace

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Keep The Peace is another indy game I stumbled across but this time on  Facebook the game actually has a pretty cool concept tho. You basically are set as the chief of police and your job is to keep the place safe. You will be hiring officers, managing the place customizing the equipment such as cars and deciding what tactics to use and how you will be responding to various calls.

The game still has a long way to go, but from what I can tell it is coming along pretty nice. For more information you can look here. 

Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Super Monkey Ball Sakura Edition

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So another mobile game from the Sega line of games has come, and this one is a bit strange. In fact this one doesn’t even have a controller. The game is actually played by shifting your cell phone to go backwards and forwards or side to side, and it functions very well. It does take a bit to get used to tho.  Graphically and sound its nice however, maybe better than all the others of the Sega mobile games.

The game itself is about rolling balls around, with monkeys in them, to get around courses and collect bananas. The game is quite fun and if you are a fan of the Super Monkey Ball series definitely grab this game. Most people however probably won’t want to start here tho. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Larvitar Day Pokemon Go

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On June 16th Pokemom Go will have its monthly community day, this month with Larvitar. I normally don’t get involved in them as i am what you would call a casual, despite having been playing since day one. In fact at the Charmander event i caught my first legendary (Zapdos). However I did learn a few things.

First, you are going to want a few pokeballs before the event starts. the last thing you want is to run out and be hoping to hit another pokestop or that it recharges before the next one appears. Second, try to have a couple of lures or incense. The idea here is to catch as many as possible as fast as possible. You will need to catch a lot to evolve it, not to mention you may want to evolve more than one, with so many floating around you will probably catch a couple shiny pokemon.

Third, have some sort of plan. Don’t just wonder around. Go to some place where you know there are stops, bring a drink and have some fun. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

H1N1 PlayStation 4

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This week H1N1 battle royale finally came to PS4, of course this for many was far to little far to late especially with the juggernaut that is Fortnight already there. However I do believe there is room for multiple similar games if they are different enough, but are they?

Simply put, they are quite a bit different. H1N1 has no building mechanic and there are vehicles to make traveling easier. The rounds also seem to happen much quicker with the gas falling much quicker. I do have some complaints however.

For starters, you don’t really pick where you drop in which kills a large part of the strategy in my opinion. This however is only the tip of the WTF iceberg. The controls feel like something from the early PS3 era, and this goes double for the driving. The graphics are also nothing special.

That all being said, the game is quite a bit of fun, and if you are into battle royale games it is worth checking out. It is different enough from Fortnight to have its place, just know it is a bit rough around the edges. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.