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.

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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.

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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.

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.

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

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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.

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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.

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Seven In Heaven (2018)

Seven In Heaven is a Blumhouse production and damn is this movie weird as hell. Two teens at a party are not so willingly sent into a closet to play Seven Minutes in Heaven, and end up in an alternate dimension. Think more realistic Chronicles of Narnia. As soon as they get to the new place they find themselves in the same house, at a similar party, yet much more violent. Jude(Travis Tope) is kind of the class nerd and  June (Haley Ramm) is sort of dating the class bully that most people don’t like. These two will be stuck on the other side, and things aren’t pretty. In fact Jude is accused of stabbing the class bully Derek (Jake Manley)

I don’t want to go to in-depth with the story since honestly all of the joy in this movie is in figuring out what the hell is even going on in the first place. Not that the movie is confusing by any means, it just leaves you to figure it out right up until the very end and has a few twist and turns. The acting and visuals are nice and honestly I see no real reason for the low scores the movie has on IMBd as I rather enjoyed it myself. If you have the time check this one out on Netflix. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

All The Boys Love Mandy Lane (2006)

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane is a horror, slasher, killer movie that starts out okay enough. It has some potential. Many was apparently some less than beautiful girl who suddenly became hot over a summer and got the attention of the all boys in school. After being invited to a party and insisting on bringing her long time friend. After one of the jocks hits on Mandy and gets a little to touchy her friend shots him with a squirt gun and a small fight follows.

Later her friend Emmett ends up on the roof with the Jock and convinces him to jump on an attempt to impress Mandy. He misses the pool, cracks his skull and dies. Yes I realize this chain of event makes very little sense that two high school guys that got into a fight over a girl would suddenly become friends, try to help each other get the girl. Only believable part is a drunk kid missing the pool.

The movie fast forwards a bit, Mandy and Emmett aren’t friends anymore because honestly who would stay friends with this psycho? This is when for some reason that is never actually explained there is a party at a ranch. This is where the death happens, which honestly is pretty underwhelming. Worse yet the story itself is essentially everyone is obsessed with one girl, the killer is exactly who you think it is with a small twist at the end and even that twist is essentially easy to see coming. The movie is entertaining, but far from good. Check it out, but don’t expect a life changing experience. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Truth or Dare (2017)

Truth or Dare is a movie that has a pretty cool premise. A group of teens around Halloween rent out a supposedly haunted house to have some fun. Back in the 1980’s a different group played truth or dare and all but one person died, and now these people decide to have a few drinks and play themselves. Sounds like good fun until it turns out the house really is haunted, and the ghost is using this normally harmless game to kill people.

In reality the movie isn’t very good. Sure the acting is fine and so are the effects, but the movie is just trying so damn hard to appeal to millennials. The story itself makes no real sense, with plot holes and contradictions. Towards the halfway point the find the original survivor ( yes they leave the house) and are told it in fact isn’t a ghost but an evil entity that isn’t limited to one place and that is why the game has continued. However, they have to go back to the house since that is where the game started and it has to end there.

The movie has moments of being fun and entertaining but for the most part the movie is simply a train wreck and it is sad because potentially the movie could have been great, it simply needed to stop trying to be cool for a certain age range and try to be the movie it needed to be. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

 

She’s Out of My League (2010)

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We have all met people who were out of our league. But what would happen if you ended up dating that person? That is the story of Kirk(Jay Baruchel) and Molly (Alice Eve) Molly will end up dating Kirk. Molly is a 10 and he is a 5, tops. The story is as you would expect full of friends telling Kirk it won’t work and why and even Molly has a friend saying the same thing. Ex’s show up, both crazy and one even thinks Kirk is gay.

The movie is as you would expect for a romantic comedy quite funny considering he works for the TSA and she is a party planner. Admittedly if I ever found out that is how working for the TSA really was, I would apply that day. So if anyone reading this works for them and has seen this movie and can confirm, let me know.

All that being said while the movie is fun, the acting great and the soundtrack surprisingly well done the movie isn’t perfect. Kirks family and even every ex in the movie is nothing more than a stereotype and we all know how much of a pet peeve that is for me. Come on, put some effort into this guys.  That being said, if you like romantic comedies check this one out. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Our Favorite Movies Day 14: Poltergeist

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Here are on day 14, this is weirdly one of the few movies on the list we have never reviewed. This isn’t about truly reviewing the movies for me, but a real quick run down the little girl in this picture gets taken by a poltergeist and the family tries to save her.  The line most people know from this movie is “They’re here.” The movie itself is pretty great, as many 80’s movies were tho many were pretty horrible. This one is remembered fondly because of how great it was. That is actually why it’s on the list. I also remember this one fondly because I actually saw it for the first time with my mother, and as far as i remember is the first one I saw with her. So definitely check this one out, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

 

For those that are interested in picking this up, and of course helping us out. Poltergeist on Amazon