tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12913393381506297482024-03-24T00:10:15.422-07:00Adventures in Video GamesAdventures in Video Games: Game and toy reviews, articles and more.flywheelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404740580161509052noreply@blogger.comBlogger96125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1291339338150629748.post-79275965466243004952022-01-20T08:07:00.003-08:002022-01-20T08:08:35.588-08:00Final Thoughts - Resident Evil Village (Playstation 4)<p style="text-align: center;"></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhFOiiaQBCmtwYMMCaLEPdzmtwM-eMwJF0IMXYwN0TnquIFb9VP03_1pET9eGf7u5-n4AiZLHlkScfGWKKUZNrj1tHcOnv6rP-G4-0esb0Yd9NBTROXY3Ayl2l9KxildsOtadt7E34C0Vd7atUgFTUwLs4iMCayYxAtuTPY4Udu_9RfPqmWr6gAZYqZhQ=s1298" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1298" data-original-width="1026" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhFOiiaQBCmtwYMMCaLEPdzmtwM-eMwJF0IMXYwN0TnquIFb9VP03_1pET9eGf7u5-n4AiZLHlkScfGWKKUZNrj1tHcOnv6rP-G4-0esb0Yd9NBTROXY3Ayl2l9KxildsOtadt7E34C0Vd7atUgFTUwLs4iMCayYxAtuTPY4Udu_9RfPqmWr6gAZYqZhQ=w158-h200" width="158" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">When I first played the demo for Resident Evil Village on the last day before the game was released, I had no idea that I would be sinking so many hours into this game. I've never been the biggest fan of the RE franchise, but part 7 renewed my interest. Was it the change from a 3rd person perspective to 1st person perspective? Was it the new cast of characters? I don't know exactly, but I liked part 7 enough that I decided to come back for more...after a price drop of course!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I treated myself to this game during the Black Friday sales events in November 2021, grabbing it for just $20 at Walmart. I figured I'd get my entertainment value out of the game for $20, but at no time did I ever believe I would love the game as much as I do or put in as much time as I have. Knowing that I'd eventually buy this game I really stayed away from all of the hype leading up to it's release. Other than playing the 1 hour timed demo, I really knew nothing about the story of Village. Until I got into the game, I didn't even know that it continues the story that was started in part 7. So let's unpack the game, my thoughts and why I've completed the game 3 times and working on my 4th play though.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgxGREHNseVSPvA1DhmDggF_LQByvAI_6ktVpn9mUtpi4ZxtmsyM4fUrztNi6FeAm4CIGuzZBp9mWYruOqPJeBTiFVbc9E7WJ1EyHLhncbJUufvRdlDIfE18055QE-RljA8TIvoqmAo0rDNJsJuJDzfb2I1RFNMvDO7HbMYQlTYLZD73zBKKTt4OeUi3Q=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgxGREHNseVSPvA1DhmDggF_LQByvAI_6ktVpn9mUtpi4ZxtmsyM4fUrztNi6FeAm4CIGuzZBp9mWYruOqPJeBTiFVbc9E7WJ1EyHLhncbJUufvRdlDIfE18055QE-RljA8TIvoqmAo0rDNJsJuJDzfb2I1RFNMvDO7HbMYQlTYLZD73zBKKTt4OeUi3Q=w400-h225" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I order to get the full effect of this game, you have to play the previous installment, RE7 Biohazard, or at least familiarize yourself with it's story. Village pretty much takes place shortly after the conclusion of Biohazard. You again play as Ethan Winters, wife Mia and daughter Rose are your whole world and you are trying to put past events behind you. Chris Redfield has moved your family to home in an unnamed country and all hell is about to break loose.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Prior to playing RE Biohazard, I did spend a lot of time with the PS4 remake of RE4. I had always heard great things about that particular game so when I finally played it I was able to discover for myself just how awesome it was. One aspect of the game I enjoyed so much was the setting, no longer set in Raccoon City, you were in some small rural European town. As soon I as fired up the Village demo and started to investigate the village, I immediately got that RE4 vibe. The lack of color, the gray washed desolate environment was creepy enough as is, but then you had Castle Dimitrescu looming on the mountain in the background. So beautiful, yet scary at the same time.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The village outside the castle proves to be the hub of the game if you will, as you revisit this area after completing other areas that branch off, like the castle. Each area that you tackle has it's own unique look at feel. Most of the castle has a very colorful and regal feel to things, but also has it's dark corners to explore. The 2nd level if you will is House Beneviento, which is a straight up haunted house. If you have a phobia of porcelain dolls like my mother in law days, brace yourself! The 3rd level takes you to into an old mining area around a large dam. In the 4th level you'll find yourself in an expansive steam punk like manufacturing factory that just seems to go on and on and on. I love the sheer variety of these different areas as it gives the game some diversity.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Each area has it's own unique lord (or boss) you'll encounter and here you'll find more even more diversity. When you first encounter Lady Dimitrescu inside the castle she will stalk you much like the Tyrant does in RE2 or RE3, only weapons won't slow her down. I did notice a flashbang grenade would momentarily stun her for the briefest moment, but save your ammunition. Before you can take her on in her true form, you have to deal with her 3 daughters. I found these mini boss fights to be fun and clever at the same time. Working in various ways to expose them to the outside light to weaken them enough to damage with conventional weapons was a satisfying way to dispose of them. Once they are out of the way (and a few key items are found) you are free to take on the tall lady herself at the top of a tower. The creature design is grotesque and the fight is frenzied. To deal the most damage you have to be able to switch between your different weapons at different points in the fight. It's a challenging fight, but not too difficult.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiphXFD_6qbD__KPmhDTO5_eiIUrt8nms1cfHoY7mPufxm6HGguvXvVt3kJnd2AB2NKHY1dReKud4YcxednlLw3UMPLgNQEjD2yWS7OscFWIVPpSN2N56lucg1az8t_AacopzdOetweYveiOj7EA_0twpZ3rte8UDa-c-2PQDERc1IMVFvk8ZNJIo3ooQ=s800" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="800" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiphXFD_6qbD__KPmhDTO5_eiIUrt8nms1cfHoY7mPufxm6HGguvXvVt3kJnd2AB2NKHY1dReKud4YcxednlLw3UMPLgNQEjD2yWS7OscFWIVPpSN2N56lucg1az8t_AacopzdOetweYveiOj7EA_0twpZ3rte8UDa-c-2PQDERc1IMVFvk8ZNJIo3ooQ=w400-h210" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Via various cut scenes, Ethan experiences a lot of visions on the path to the house, causing him confusion over what's going on. Once inside the home you'll be faced with all sorts of psychological horror, including a nightmarish and grotesque fetus baby that stalks you. You don't have access to any of your inventory, including your weapons in the part of the game. The puzzles you have to solve are different and the fight against this area's Lord is unique to say the least. I almost dreaded this part of the game on each play through just because of how creepy it was.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Just as how the Castle Dimitrescu and House Beneviento are different from each other, so are the last two sections. This is a big reason why I enjoyed the game as much as I did...the level design is great. There were so many times I would get "lost" in the level design, soaking in my surroundings only to let my guard down and be attacked by some terrifying monster. Gone are the familiar zombies, lickers and undead dogs, replaced with vampires, werewolves and other undead creatures. The enemies this game throws at your are horrifying, but so satisfying. Exploding the head of a werewolf with a single shot from your magnum is so much fun!!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">My first play through was on the Casual setting...because I know I can be a weenie at times. I was able to make it through without too much trouble, though it did take me a lot of time as I used the opportunity to explore and try to capture as many of the in game trophies as I could. I was so entertained by the events of the game that I decided to take it on a second time, this time on the Standard setting. Thankfully Capcom brought back the "New Game+" option so I could replay the game with all of the money, items and weapons (including upgrades) from my previous play through. After beating the game for a 2nd time, I decided I was up for some punishment so I tackled the Hardcore difficulty level. This is something that I rarely (i.e. never) do with a game. With a huge backlog of both modern and retro games to play, I usually move on after beating a game and try something different. However this time I kept being drawn back into the game, wanting to finish upgrade this weapon or that weapon...going for those higher tier trophies.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhA6rPXukVyOedCWgWkw3uN2xBsKt_kAPMueFXDH6-FgRTxKoYlIThWCXJdzHj4ZANsT7XFZuipjOca3ZT1Hw5y8fWc6Bhp9UWtCPGI7yTSMQ6r6Rig2CFuRh0EL4GblgNnnKJB51YSOrYQdiR1yAJqpWBP5mmRwJu4z2_q9G4BteuWZqRtRGiLSrDR-A=s1225" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="593" data-original-width="1225" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhA6rPXukVyOedCWgWkw3uN2xBsKt_kAPMueFXDH6-FgRTxKoYlIThWCXJdzHj4ZANsT7XFZuipjOca3ZT1Hw5y8fWc6Bhp9UWtCPGI7yTSMQ6r6Rig2CFuRh0EL4GblgNnnKJB51YSOrYQdiR1yAJqpWBP5mmRwJu4z2_q9G4BteuWZqRtRGiLSrDR-A=w400-h194" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">There are a lot of different elements that must come together to make a truly great game. Graphics, story, gameplay are all equally important and too many times games fall short in one area or another. In my opinion Resident Evil Village hits a home run in every one of these categories. Capcom makes you care about Ethan, Mia, Rose...and even Chris Redfield to a lesser degree. The story is captivating, especially if you are a family person like myself. It's a beautifully stunning game to look at and of course so much fun to play. Maybe it's a bit more action oriented than survival horror, but that's what good games and good game franchises do...they evolve. I told myself I was done after my 3rd play through, but now I'm half way through my 4th go, this time on the unlocked Village of Shadows difficulty. I never thought this game would suck me in as much as it has, but hey, I'm not complaining one bit. This is one of the best video games I've played in a very long time...or maybe period. I am very much looking forward to seeing where the story goes next as I have a feeling that we aren't done with the Winters family just yet.</div><p></p>flywheelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404740580161509052noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1291339338150629748.post-64558690863979354802021-05-07T11:09:00.005-07:002022-01-20T08:08:18.064-08:00Initial Thoughts - Resident Evil Village DEMO (Playstation 4)<p style="text-align: center;"></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP_xjZdMaS2bIUgA6uQZdNdViOx7A3VOLX01rMcBoi8bfwF3QYveiZ3FtnvOoVdJefvRwZPEF3j98PBHAdUqrZCoB_p7BG0TPSrX29SX7VSG4O2LFv55K3uA_E2P1AO_3wk4Upthks8jMc/s2048/IMG_E3719.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1161" data-original-width="2048" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP_xjZdMaS2bIUgA6uQZdNdViOx7A3VOLX01rMcBoi8bfwF3QYveiZ3FtnvOoVdJefvRwZPEF3j98PBHAdUqrZCoB_p7BG0TPSrX29SX7VSG4O2LFv55K3uA_E2P1AO_3wk4Upthks8jMc/w400-h226/IMG_E3719.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><div style="text-align: left;">Earlier this week I finally got the Resident Evil Village DEMO downloaded to my PS4. My internet connections speeds in my game room aren't the best so it took a good chunk of the day to download the 9 GB file. Once it was finally done I eagerly launched the game.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I didn't notice at first that the demo gave you two different options. You could explore the Village or you could jump right into the Castle area. I started with the Village since it seemed more "appropriate" to begin at the beginning. For the most part I had steered clear of watching any videos on YouTube or reading other's reactions to the demo. I knew that the story takes place a few years after part 7 and you again take control of the hero, Ethan Winters. It's been a few years since I played through the 7th chapter of the Resident Evil franchise, but the similarities to the previous game in terms of game play existed. I also felt like I was playing part 4 at times, what with the breakable boxes and the return of money and a merchant. I loved the 4th game in the series so I was OK with these additions.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The graphics are top notch, and I don't even have a PS4 Pro. The village was very eerie looking, even under a blanket of fresh snow. The buildings old, some falling apart, but what made the village so creepy was knowing something was going on and just not having all the info. No longer was I fighting villagers like in part 4, but now werewolves? The demo gave you just enough of a taste without spoiling too much as I believe I only had two encounters where I had to fight. The gunplay was more of the same, which I was OK with, but the enemies seemed a lot tougher than before. I can already tell the challenge will be there, even on normal or easy difficulty.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK9Dn_TJjq09vzBHSVlL_ZkOKY3K_C7DZIK9nUBODNqv61AfLe-JNMsKroK9AbyNuGYis2b98CcZe39E2WpbwcEOykcUGHr5rAPmAIwwz6M6yrXVVz_OozcrkYVowxq-ZpqoBth0OHJk9C/s2048/IMG_E3720.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1168" data-original-width="2048" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK9Dn_TJjq09vzBHSVlL_ZkOKY3K_C7DZIK9nUBODNqv61AfLe-JNMsKroK9AbyNuGYis2b98CcZe39E2WpbwcEOykcUGHr5rAPmAIwwz6M6yrXVVz_OozcrkYVowxq-ZpqoBth0OHJk9C/w400-h228/IMG_E3720.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">The demo only allows you to play for one hour, then it's essentially useless. It took me about 38 minutes to complete the Village part of the demo so when I was ready to enter the castle, I didn't have as much time to play and to explore. I was amazed at how eerily gothic and beautiful the castle was. The level of detail is simply amazing. Just going through a few rooms on the first and second floor I can already tell there will be a lot of backtracking and puzzle solving, let along running from the Lady Dimitrescu. From what I know, she will stalk you like the Tyrant from RE2 (which I recently just completed on the PS4)...I'm still unsure of what to think of this aspect.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The demo was just enough to wet my appetite and leave me wanting more. I'm sure plenty of people that played the game and enjoyed it quickly preordered the game afterwards (if they didn't already have a copy secured), but I'm going to wait. I'm not the biggest fan of the Resident Evil franchise, but RE4 & RE7 left me wanting more so I decided to go back and check out some of the PS4 remakes of earlier games. I recently played through RE2 three times to secure the best ending. I picked up RE3 to try next, though I still want to get Origins. I figure there is enough previous RE content to keep me busy for awhile.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Resident Evil Village launches in the US today, 05/07/21 so I'm not sure if the demo will remain available for download, but if you're like me and just curious it's worth a play through if nothing else. I'm sure the game is worth full retail and I'm sure I'd play the game through on multiple occasions, but this is one new release that I'll be waiting for the inevitable price drop / Greatest Hits.</div>flywheelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404740580161509052noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1291339338150629748.post-40200751919697587092021-03-07T20:12:00.003-08:002021-03-07T20:12:34.941-08:00Final Thoughts - Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury<p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjBNJFmq5Wdh0UQm48TdsllODxaoUXJHUklb1jN6SnEbb0Z5u-4Qs6XP53sGynt8KYfuSe4ZTvKWRxToSVXGgso6qfU46EJlx8-6mWfItGr4NxLRAZQu3Ep2a_NZzXl8rf_tmhPE7ZYkYv/s1280/maxresdefault.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjBNJFmq5Wdh0UQm48TdsllODxaoUXJHUklb1jN6SnEbb0Z5u-4Qs6XP53sGynt8KYfuSe4ZTvKWRxToSVXGgso6qfU46EJlx8-6mWfItGr4NxLRAZQu3Ep2a_NZzXl8rf_tmhPE7ZYkYv/w400-h225/maxresdefault.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p style="text-align: left;">I'm not a fan of double dipping and buying the same game more than once. Even though me and my family loved Super Mario 3D World on the Nintendo Wii U, I had planned on skipping the Switch release initially. Then I saw the trailer for Bowser's Fury and I knew I needed this game in my life.</p><p style="text-align: left;">I had planned to do a "Initial Thoughts" type post once I had a little bit of the game underneath my belt, but I was having so much fun that it was hard to put down the controller to write a post. Yes, the game is that good.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Bowser's Fury is the first open world type Mario game. I've heard other gamers speculate that this may have been Nintendo testing the water to see how an open world exploration Mario game would perform and if this was the direction the Mario franchise would go. Now that I've beaten Bowser's Fury I can only hope Nintendo has more Mario games in this vein in our future.</p><p style="text-align: left;">This add on game is short. I'm still working on completing the game 100%, but had I not been so obsessed in finding and collecting all 100 Cat Shines in the game I could have probably finished the game in 5-6 hours. Don't let this figure however deter you from the game as the gameplay is so good.</p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYPLZmKenC7jq_-tRBmd7Aqfc-1zjytWBkSxUo-7deH15tEvHaRtswE1eBZdaG_B02nrz2NKh4H_h0d4vkzP5O0DcVu49psYEpwHSa0aDIrzumnm6teUqiOoleFH1f120iqgGr4PMOIXOP/s1200/Switch_SM3DWBowsersFury_screenshot_28_copy.0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYPLZmKenC7jq_-tRBmd7Aqfc-1zjytWBkSxUo-7deH15tEvHaRtswE1eBZdaG_B02nrz2NKh4H_h0d4vkzP5O0DcVu49psYEpwHSa0aDIrzumnm6teUqiOoleFH1f120iqgGr4PMOIXOP/w400-h266/Switch_SM3DWBowsersFury_screenshot_28_copy.0.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p style="text-align: left;">Mario is approached by Bowser Jr. and asked for his help to essentially calm down his dad. Bowser has someone become so enraged that his size has increased and he's covered in some sort of black goop. The game can be played with a second player controlling Bowser Jr., otherwise the computer will take care of controlling him for you if you're playing solo. There is a setting of how much you want Bowser Jr. to help - you can have him collect coins and fight nearby enemies, or you can have him mind his own business. Bowser Jr. floats around in his hover clown vehicle, wielding a paint brush. Throughout the game there are hidden areas that you can command Jr. to paint. Painting these areas will yield some soft of power up for Mario.</p><p style="text-align: left;">The main world in the game comprised of different islands, each with their own lighthouse. Initially you are somewhat limited in your exploration of these islands by the same black goo that covers Bowser. Each island has 5 hidden Cat Shines to collect. As you collect these they'll add more and more light to the lighthouse, eventually clearing some of the surrounding black goop. You can however tackle most of the islands in any order that you wish.</p><p style="text-align: left;">While playing the game I couldn't help but think of previous Mario games like Mario 64, Sunshine Mario. You don't have Cappy from Mario Odyssey or even FLUDD from Mario Sunshine, but Bowser Jr. can surprisingly be helpful. I initially started my playthorugh on my own, but eventually turned Jr. over to my daughter to control. She seemed to love playing along and she ended up being a huge help in some of the later levels.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIL2NuTB-cUX_FT2Rpn_b61fNpYNb22EiJI8OpKowXQlbM3qIQIErEoT9VUrKz64EeHkroqbR-aC9rnnZYdqp1heBKHEeIepbJwLwJoEiRlEBsnxsULxA7EzHyhhvszZEVeDsIZZ5mcdYc/s1920/S6OKC3TOEFH43E7CWQUNISTWNU.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIL2NuTB-cUX_FT2Rpn_b61fNpYNb22EiJI8OpKowXQlbM3qIQIErEoT9VUrKz64EeHkroqbR-aC9rnnZYdqp1heBKHEeIepbJwLwJoEiRlEBsnxsULxA7EzHyhhvszZEVeDsIZZ5mcdYc/w400-h225/S6OKC3TOEFH43E7CWQUNISTWNU.bmp" width="400" /></a></div><p style="text-align: left;">As you navigate this new watery world, Bowser will rear his ugly head from time to time and wreck havoc. The sky will turn dark, the music changes, rain starts to fall and the wind picks up. From the center of the map Bowser will spin up into the air and out of his shell. Large blocks will appear from the ground, some of which you can you to reach new coin blocks or just higher ground. Bowser will rain fire balls from the sky and even unleash his fiery breath at you from time to time. Be prepared to dodge his fire any way you can as it can easily cause you damage.</p><p style="text-align: left;">To aid you in your quest to defeat Bowser you can collect and store several different power ups to use at your will. This reminded me of the inventory management first shown in Super Mario Bros. 3 on the NES.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNhil1teIM0UPGI0qkikhwkDzoqn_moG51lmwmGLXRpC-b3zVE8C09oZH2x8Mj4yrbfr61y80_72_bAqG06Mlr1TnANPMK5dAk5Y2iZyBJBVuHQehuGh9s_iHbLsjDjqqdjmBVu18Gv-66/s1920/super-mario-3d-world-and-bowsers-fury.original.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNhil1teIM0UPGI0qkikhwkDzoqn_moG51lmwmGLXRpC-b3zVE8C09oZH2x8Mj4yrbfr61y80_72_bAqG06Mlr1TnANPMK5dAk5Y2iZyBJBVuHQehuGh9s_iHbLsjDjqqdjmBVu18Gv-66/w400-h225/super-mario-3d-world-and-bowsers-fury.original.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p style="text-align: left;">The object of the game is to grab a Giga Cat Bell to fight Bowser, but before you can do that you have to collect pre-determined amount of Cat Shines. Once you have enough and Bowser appears, the bell will activate. This Giga Cat Bell will turn Mario in a large "Leo Mario" (that's what I call him), allowing you to go toe to toe against the titan Bowser. You'll essentially need to fight Bowser three times before he's done for good. You can aid yourself in these fights be grabbing a Cat Shine and activating one of the island's lighthouses. This light will prematurely end Bowser's attack sequence and run him off, taking a small sliver of his health in the process. Towards the end I was able to whittle away all of his health bar so by the time I grabbed the final Giga Cat Bell all I needed to was to land one single hit on Bowser to defeat him.</p><p style="text-align: left;">The game is so seamless and not having to worry about loading screens is so refreshing. I haven't enjoyed a Mario game this much in some time. Mario Odyssey was a blast, but Bowser's Fury was a nice change of pace. To be honest I was surprised at just how good this game was since it's essentially an add-on. I know a lot of fans may not have experienced Super Mario 3D World before on the Wii U so it's a no brainer for Nintendo to port the game over to the Switch. I'm sure they were hoping by including Bowser's Fury that it would entice people like myself to buy the game for a second time. Well, I'm proof that it worked! Both games in this package are excellent and well worth the $60 asking price. I hope the game sells well because I'd love to see a full length, open world exploration type Mario game in the near future.</p>flywheelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404740580161509052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1291339338150629748.post-57702362275225131592020-10-27T18:20:00.000-07:002020-10-27T18:20:05.118-07:00Halloween Gaming Playlist<p>Usually my October is spent watching lots of horror movies, but this year I've found myself playing more games. Many of these games have a darker or scary motif so I thought it may be fun to make a list of games (from my library) that are perfect for the Halloween season. This list is not in any order, as most of the games from top to bottom are equally fun.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>1)</b> <b><span style="color: red;">Left 4 Dead 2</span></b> <i><b>(Xbox 360, 2009)</b></i></p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi0gfDxS_WjEJoxFNXS164bVDwbrn0_ko8V70oEwsCI3nZMstTQMVmX0xGEI0eP3kVNxs3i_WzbSvFmBvk5qSTUwXMLGTw_5te6gemhDyg8K9VqjsYBY2jSXJCP3Z_5tH7c1PRyXpqP5Gl/s300/x360_left_4_dead_2_p_erxpb8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="207" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi0gfDxS_WjEJoxFNXS164bVDwbrn0_ko8V70oEwsCI3nZMstTQMVmX0xGEI0eP3kVNxs3i_WzbSvFmBvk5qSTUwXMLGTw_5te6gemhDyg8K9VqjsYBY2jSXJCP3Z_5tH7c1PRyXpqP5Gl/w221-h320/x360_left_4_dead_2_p_erxpb8.jpg" width="221" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Does this game really need any explanation as to why it's on the list? 1st person shooting frenzy, (fast moving) zombies galore, multiplayer mayhem. I can't remember how much time I put into this game back when it was released on the 360 in 2009 (wow, has it really been that long?). I feel like the game still holds up incredibly well today and remains to be a highly entertainly fun zombie massacre.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>2)</b> <b><span style="color: red;">Hunter the Reckoning: Redeemer</span></b> <b><i>(Xbox, 1993)</i></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><i><br /></i></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivD-p_UQdHxG2yK32p6vKd9uka7npzuSQZBLV2YrY4wkXa8NnSMlgNwY2s1bTP1_o0NAKS7UBYh65JrMjaigBMBRVZZSnMA2XyQBzVj3FLKFB8owdpGBSk9Wkijd8yyd4uKkIfI3LTsD22/s314/220px-Redeemer_Cover.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="314" data-original-width="220" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivD-p_UQdHxG2yK32p6vKd9uka7npzuSQZBLV2YrY4wkXa8NnSMlgNwY2s1bTP1_o0NAKS7UBYh65JrMjaigBMBRVZZSnMA2XyQBzVj3FLKFB8owdpGBSk9Wkijd8yyd4uKkIfI3LTsD22/w224-h320/220px-Redeemer_Cover.png" width="224" /></a></div><p style="text-align: left;">While all 3 of the Hunter the Reckoning games are a lot of fun, the final installment, <i>Redeemer</i>, is the best in my opinion. I enjoyed the progressive story of the franchise and the introduction of Kylie as a playable character is a nice touch. I never spent a lot of time with this game when it was new, but since I've returned to the game it's been a blast. It does feature multiplayer, but I've yet been able to experience the game in that manner.</p><b>3) <span style="color: red;">Resident Evil 7: Biohazard</span><i> (Playstation 4, 2017) </i></b><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDUx0XuLfF-dnSPyhBKRfR3R-0eZ2XudiQkVJmUEsqGhWiNeBlqcKTuW7y5qo9iFxYOrZoP4iFa9N1YMHIBpFxJLyzDg7Iit_LC27TaaFDCP2LGcGc-mpHTWGI4RVUl9BGoFFKUNwGF9YI/s606/re7.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="606" data-original-width="482" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDUx0XuLfF-dnSPyhBKRfR3R-0eZ2XudiQkVJmUEsqGhWiNeBlqcKTuW7y5qo9iFxYOrZoP4iFa9N1YMHIBpFxJLyzDg7Iit_LC27TaaFDCP2LGcGc-mpHTWGI4RVUl9BGoFFKUNwGF9YI/s320/re7.jpeg" /></a></div><p style="text-align: left;">Prior to my original playthrough of RE7, I hadn't picked up a game in this series since the 2nd installment on the N64. Yeah, it had been a really long time. I found the PS4 version on sale for $20 several years back and it sadly sat on my shelf for a year or so before I got around to playing it. I loved the new 1st person perspective to the game as it made it that much more creepy for me. I was immediately hooked by the story and couldn't wait to get to the ending. I knew the game had DLC to continue the story and gameplay, but until recently I hadn't gone back to play. Wow, what a mistake I made! I need to try some of the other games in the franchise, but it'll be hard to top this installment.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>4)</b> <b><span style="color: red;">Werewolf: The Last Warrior</span></b> <b><i>(NES, 1990)</i></b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg42CgqkFTb-GQG17PSrz6_fPIAJxSPTTHFfCsVDrtm1HaisiT5V23Lr-4p-3ZHo8pZbRegVxNnf4bTDuyF5RwTu_C0MN14arNCZcNHMI6Sy7c9wQLsz1Fr-rhpx-Hxg8w2LArRi-XziJJ/s369/Werewolf_The_Last_Warrior_cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="369" data-original-width="269" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg42CgqkFTb-GQG17PSrz6_fPIAJxSPTTHFfCsVDrtm1HaisiT5V23Lr-4p-3ZHo8pZbRegVxNnf4bTDuyF5RwTu_C0MN14arNCZcNHMI6Sy7c9wQLsz1Fr-rhpx-Hxg8w2LArRi-XziJJ/s320/Werewolf_The_Last_Warrior_cover.jpg" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Werewolf: The Last Warrior</span> has always been one of my NES guilty pleasures. I remember being mesmerized at the box art and while the art may be better than the actual gameplay, it never stopped me from trying to beat this game. To date I'm still trying to accomplish this task! Lately I've been experimenting with a few Game Genie codes to help me thanks to the built in ability in my AVS console. Game is still tough, but werewolves fit in perfectly with the season.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>5)</b> <b><span style="color: red;">Castlevania: Rondo of Blood </span></b><i><b>(PC Engine, 1993)</b></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><b><br /></b></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXupDC5gwfA4MQNexg-Xo3UgdTffEQC1PQBSDq2tMU53l-HXmchoh9hVTMfxRIJn5AdoDqZarKwsTpgne80IR2Pj6z4ps6S16l35DXBWn_H5Qz-7e2GszrID-T-JndicTrN1Mn8Z0d2l6i/s220/220px-Dracula_x_%2528j%2529_front.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="219" data-original-width="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXupDC5gwfA4MQNexg-Xo3UgdTffEQC1PQBSDq2tMU53l-HXmchoh9hVTMfxRIJn5AdoDqZarKwsTpgne80IR2Pj6z4ps6S16l35DXBWn_H5Qz-7e2GszrID-T-JndicTrN1Mn8Z0d2l6i/s0/220px-Dracula_x_%2528j%2529_front.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Easily one of the best games in the storied <i>Castlevania</i> franchise, this game eluded my grasp for many many years. I eventually was able to import a copy from Japan long before the game became more accessible on modern gaming platforms. I almost went with <i>Symphony of the Night</i>, but I've played that game to death that I really haven't returned to it. I'm still working on beating <i>Rondo of Blood</i> however so it's a game I often try and during the Halloween season it's a great, creepy 16-bit masterpiece to re-visit.</div></div><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>6) <span style="color: red;">Darkwatch</span> <i>(Xbox, 2005)</i></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBOyRb_wMI4wb2cZatSqYnHuK6ceUA6I44PXhTcrnR4uYP8xjoeh_4Hs95PCMNQdBNBtHwGqON5clBeT3ub3YEeiCcByzVVd3SDLB6dsH2zuT16e4ozN4RrIRmWwwTMIHF2Tm6RLHU0WMo/s300/xbox_darkwatch-110214.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBOyRb_wMI4wb2cZatSqYnHuK6ceUA6I44PXhTcrnR4uYP8xjoeh_4Hs95PCMNQdBNBtHwGqON5clBeT3ub3YEeiCcByzVVd3SDLB6dsH2zuT16e4ozN4RrIRmWwwTMIHF2Tm6RLHU0WMo/s0/xbox_darkwatch-110214.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">High Moon Studios did a great job with this vampire/western first person shooter. I'm really surprised the game's sequel was cancelled as I really enjoyed the game. The art in this game is fantastic and the story of a vampire sheriff is unique and unusual at the same time. The game has a lot of replayability as you can choose the path you take your character (Jericho) down. Do you succumb to your vampire tendencies and increase your vampiric powers? Or do you fight the urges and hold onto your humanity?If you are a fan of FPS game and or vampires then this game is right up your alley. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>7) <span style="color: red;">Zombie Revenge</span><i> (Dreamcast, 1999)</i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><br /></i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIMp8jTPxR-JFzrl-oqRRboaeTjurjRA-Q7BGwl-ZSoR2WAwWqB08tJUWvBu6ud7r6pOuuZ5bZlBdgXrsHTZfPcdSu4ZOvaH5P8FInaBybXOy30RYjln7cLoi0WWfXrYB-6AMp522MJFS2/s1414/81%252BicGEcHNL._SL1414_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1380" data-original-width="1414" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIMp8jTPxR-JFzrl-oqRRboaeTjurjRA-Q7BGwl-ZSoR2WAwWqB08tJUWvBu6ud7r6pOuuZ5bZlBdgXrsHTZfPcdSu4ZOvaH5P8FInaBybXOy30RYjln7cLoi0WWfXrYB-6AMp522MJFS2/w200-h195/81%252BicGEcHNL._SL1414_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Zombie Revenge</span> was one of the first games I purchased for my Dreamcast after winning my console courtesy of a <a href="https://segaretro.org/Press_release:_2000-09-06:_Sega_of_America_and_Bubblicious_Team_Up_to_Introduce_New_Flavor_and_Sonic_Sweepstakes" target="_blank">Bubblicious gum contest</a>. When I first bought the game I had no idea it was part of the <i>House of the Dead</i> franchise, so imagine my surprise when I started to notice the easter eggs in game on my first few playthroughs. I will admit this game doesn't exactly have a lot of staying power, but it's still fun to this day to pick up and play in spurts...particularly during the Halloween season.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>8) <span style="color: red;">Wolfchild</span> <i>(Mega CD, 1992)</i></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnOWHT4J-bGASsPd-8NY0ZAfcwtiN_U5PlYZaBm3ippBaizKrWYylys15keCvAuU6CciN5YJgIxXp1q2mHZPDL2fi3pPoybhVxr9XhVYHR4mggHxuwZU-qBCE5rSOc7znE35XKnr-6cr6k/s640/wc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="640" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnOWHT4J-bGASsPd-8NY0ZAfcwtiN_U5PlYZaBm3ippBaizKrWYylys15keCvAuU6CciN5YJgIxXp1q2mHZPDL2fi3pPoybhVxr9XhVYHR4mggHxuwZU-qBCE5rSOc7znE35XKnr-6cr6k/w200-h176/wc.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Yes, another mediocre werewolf game you may be thinking. While you may be right, I always enjoyed this game for some reason. Albeit in short spurts, this was and still is a fun game. I enjoyed it so much that I tracked down the Mega CD version from Japan and that's the version I still play to this date. While the gameplay may be a little flat for some, it's a beautiful game to watch and the music is quite well done. I'm sure this game isn't on many people's radar, but it's not as bad as some say. Give it a try if you can find any version.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>9) <span style="color: red;">Blood Drive </span><i>(Xbox 360, 2010)</i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><br /></i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAI4mWwIEk9pl7yKJwh4E-59lXpuv3jdBoe0vZlxpRKVidA4RmpVfJI01EP7nAcqpKC9hUjJgYRp-jRdxEQ2z1BpLdWd0BAlLgLLnuo5vASijmqKOziJPsHejnZPiyrngDTBpG910S12So/s1500/bd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1063" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAI4mWwIEk9pl7yKJwh4E-59lXpuv3jdBoe0vZlxpRKVidA4RmpVfJI01EP7nAcqpKC9hUjJgYRp-jRdxEQ2z1BpLdWd0BAlLgLLnuo5vASijmqKOziJPsHejnZPiyrngDTBpG910S12So/s320/bd.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Part destruction demolition, part vehicular combat...with zombies. This over the top vehicular massacre is a blast to play. The commentary is a little tongue in cheek, but I've always like this style of game. It reminded me a little of <i>Vigilante 8</i> or <i>Twisted Metal</i>...just with zombies (and lots of blood) added in. If you're looking for a high octane multiplayer game this Halloween season, give <i>Blood Drive</i> a try.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>10) <span style="color: red;">Vampire Night</span> <i>(Playstation 2, 2001)</i></b></div><i style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfX1S23i0M_GhUAqZbeFSE43xaO-zEG4fS8-cxwgn6_U8YdwmSjwItjWs_ClPg0SctcFMcvFdQcTaRBPKiR3xauJSwtA-u7IKAsWTaOH-CpTDyKJOyzschTt6KgvSNjLx2Yl6l-DM11Vbt/s312/Vampire_Night.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="312" data-original-width="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfX1S23i0M_GhUAqZbeFSE43xaO-zEG4fS8-cxwgn6_U8YdwmSjwItjWs_ClPg0SctcFMcvFdQcTaRBPKiR3xauJSwtA-u7IKAsWTaOH-CpTDyKJOyzschTt6KgvSNjLx2Yl6l-DM11Vbt/s0/Vampire_Night.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Vampire Night</i> just edged out <i>The House of the Dead</i> collection for the Wii simply for the fact that I wanted to play a different light gun game this Halloween season. There aren't a whole lot of GunCon games on the PS2, but this is a fun on rails light gun shooter that lends itself well to this spooky season. Prior to picking this up to play again, it had been a long time since I last played so I had a good time with it.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I thought about listing a few honorary mentions, but I just couldn't decide on a few so I'll end it here. What are some of your favorite games to play during the Halloween season?</div></div></div><p></p>flywheelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404740580161509052noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1291339338150629748.post-19993779993060684572020-10-04T12:51:00.000-07:002020-10-04T12:51:05.571-07:00Final Thoughts - Days Gone (Playstation 4)<p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEFYtKdUKXaciD4UstgXbez5XiHSogf0u3uYi7dAgXR0eQJ6nRO9SD65PaBND6E8ugmQ5IV4VroIG4Wwzv7gAaaRQNjmOVRb5XbZnt5GUPmyHCEuUytesLbZdt3dCcYAUasM4HgjPwg92H/s400/days-gone-ps4-review-7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="400" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEFYtKdUKXaciD4UstgXbez5XiHSogf0u3uYi7dAgXR0eQJ6nRO9SD65PaBND6E8ugmQ5IV4VroIG4Wwzv7gAaaRQNjmOVRb5XbZnt5GUPmyHCEuUytesLbZdt3dCcYAUasM4HgjPwg92H/w400-h225/days-gone-ps4-review-7.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p style="text-align: left;">After countless long nights and who knows how many hours I've put into Days Gone, I have successfully completed the main game. What a ride.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Some reviews I've read online complained about the story, or the repetitive gameplay, or the bugs in the game, but I found it not only to be a fun game, but a story that drew me in and kept me wanting to play so I could advance the story. Now that I completed the game and have the whole picture, I wanted to return and share my final thoughts.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Like with any game there are positives and negatives. We'll start off with the positives.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>THE GOOD:</b></p><p style="text-align: left;">* <i>The story</i>: The game opens up with a flashback scene somewhere in Oregon. Buildings are on file, you can screens and gun shots. People are running from their lives. From what? It's not clear, but you know it's bad. Deacon St. John, the main character, is on the move trying to escape the city with his wife, Sarah as well as his best friend, Boozer. His wife is injured and the scene ends with Deacon putting her on a NERO (National Emergency Response Organization) helicopter.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Fast forward two years and Deacon and Boozer are held up in a observatory tower trying to survive. There are three different camps that survivors have built up. You can run errands for them, gaining credits (in game currency) as well as building your trust with each camp. The higher the trust, the better weapons and upgrades for your bike you can purchase. Most of this is optional, but highly recommended as it does help flesh out points of the story, as well as help you later on in the game.</p><p style="text-align: left;">The cause behind the outbreak is not known, but you do see NERO helicopters later in the game that have researchers checking out points of interest. You know there is more going on to the story, but you have to keep playing to figure out how NERO works into the overall story. In the midst of this, you are presented with more flashbacks pre-outbreak of Deacon and Sarah. Most of these scenes help set the stage on how Deacon and Sara met. Some of these are playable scenes while others are just cinematic. I like it when the story jumps back and forth as it helps keep you interested, getting little glimpses of how everything is tied together.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Towards the end of the game you infiltrate a militia camp and this is where I felt the game was ratcheted up a notch, in both the story and gameplay. You get access to new weapons and better gear as you have two new camps you can run errands for. There are even new Freakers to kill, the zombie like creatures that now exists because of the outbreak.</p><p style="text-align: left;">* <i>Gameplay</i>: This may be debatable for some, but I loved the gameplay. From the motorcycle travel, to the gun play, crafting and even the inventory management - it all feels pretty authentic. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7Elrf0tJhVZT1PqtIdVb7R_gjdhFlY5yFogG7HFJJmCdtmv52bKyptUHB2rT-Dq71XLp2UTNo30aszhw2UzPbZ8WZQzmarSPWB2vC0D-xw1z1KLpN2STGrpnPD4JjLvam59evUIK752hG/s1400/daysgone1.0.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="933" data-original-width="1400" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7Elrf0tJhVZT1PqtIdVb7R_gjdhFlY5yFogG7HFJJmCdtmv52bKyptUHB2rT-Dq71XLp2UTNo30aszhw2UzPbZ8WZQzmarSPWB2vC0D-xw1z1KLpN2STGrpnPD4JjLvam59evUIK752hG/w400-h266/daysgone1.0.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><p style="text-align: left;">I've never been on a motorcycle before, but playing this game makes me want to jump on a dirt bike and hit the road. At first it's a little tedious riding your bike because you are constantly running low on gas and have to pause your current objective in order to search for gas. Luckily you can always find a gas canister on the back of a tow truck, at a NERO checkpoint or fill up at any camp. Once you're able to upgrade your bike some the traversing the large open world map is so satisfying. You can fast travel between camps, but I found myself wanting to drive there just because it was fun.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Weapons. You can only carry three weapons at a time, your main gun, a sidearm and your special weapon. You also start off with a boot knife and can pick up a melee weapon (which can be upgraded). I like it when you are limited to what you can carry as it feels more authentic. You see all of your weapons on your character at all times, another nice touch in my opinion. You have rifles, automatic weapons, shotguns, sniper rifles and more and all of them are so fun to use on the neverending supply of Freakers you'll face.</p><p style="text-align: left;">In addition to your weapons, you can also craft throwables such as pipe bombs, molotov cocktails, smoke bombs and attractors to lure Freakers. Many of these I never used much of in my initial playthrough and what a mistake that was. You can also craft health packs which you'll need. At times it may feel like a collect-a-thon as you'll constantly be picking up items, but you'll need them as you'll go through some of the craftable items quickly at times. It's easy to craft anything and you can even do it as you're running around, though you can't craft while on your bike.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Inventory is managed using a onscreen wheel you can bring up at any time. When doing so the game does not stop, but does slow down. This allows you to change weapons or craft an item while running or shooting, but with you still being vulnerable you have to be careful. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXpj2aM7VVk5gpw1WvoYOdwegP-LyJNy-RdbWtft4gkv8SO0KLWIof3OwNzZtYyKHaBMK2GVhOJ5Dl8Wu8JQ4Wzk0iV1Go-P60DJqp92Fdv3Cu_Zy7C59zLSOSdoIm6jy4ue9ojwOKQvEz/s1920/days-gone-ps4-playstation-4-1.original.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXpj2aM7VVk5gpw1WvoYOdwegP-LyJNy-RdbWtft4gkv8SO0KLWIof3OwNzZtYyKHaBMK2GVhOJ5Dl8Wu8JQ4Wzk0iV1Go-P60DJqp92Fdv3Cu_Zy7C59zLSOSdoIm6jy4ue9ojwOKQvEz/w400-h225/days-gone-ps4-playstation-4-1.original.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p style="text-align: left;">* <i>Freakers / Hordes</i>: Freakers are fast moving zombie like creatures. I look at them as a cross between the cave dwellers from the movie <i>The Descent</i> crossed with zombies from the movie <i>20 Days Later</i>. They are ugly, make blood curdling noises and can be a pain in the butt to kill at times...especially when you encounter a horde of them. At the onset of the game you just encounter "normal" Freakers, but later on you come across more advanced versions, similar to the zombies in Valve's <i>Left 4 Dead</i> franchise.</p><p style="text-align: left;">At first I ran from hordes as there was no way I was equipped to take one on, but once you get the proper gear (and the guts) to take them on oh what fun it can be. Don't get me wrong, there are times when the story tasks you with taking out a horde and it can be frustrating, but there are so many different strategies you can use that part of the fun is trial and error.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCRLqv2MY2-Z4rgQtOJne5akFme9GhjSjZXI4viaXf1qI9liVvijHCMoqp2Pf4-hckPiDmPA0yUeG6vpbFvTvTXRZP_wDa3jzgNPhyphenhyphenjSVE2Wrvuc-2fyjnG0BsDPafQ9clzf0Ab6eaShP7/s1000/Screen-Shot-2019-04-30-at-10.05.21-AM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="598" data-original-width="1000" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCRLqv2MY2-Z4rgQtOJne5akFme9GhjSjZXI4viaXf1qI9liVvijHCMoqp2Pf4-hckPiDmPA0yUeG6vpbFvTvTXRZP_wDa3jzgNPhyphenhyphenjSVE2Wrvuc-2fyjnG0BsDPafQ9clzf0Ab6eaShP7/w400-h239/Screen-Shot-2019-04-30-at-10.05.21-AM.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p style="text-align: left;">* <i>Graphics</i>: This game is beautiful. The Oregon countryside is gorgeous, whether you're in the woods, the rocky terrain or in the snow. The changing weather and day and night cycle are also great. Watching the ground underneath your bike change area to area or during the rain or snow is equally as impressive. The character models are also done well and the Freakers are pretty eerie looking.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>THE UGLY:</b></p><p style="text-align: left;">* <i>Stealth Missions</i>: The NERO agent (O'Brien) that takes your wife to safety at the beginning of the movie later crosses paths with Deacon and eventually asks you for help in exchange for information. These missions involve sneaking around a NERO landing site and eavesdropping on NERO researches. The problem is these researches are always accompanied by NERO soldiers. You can't harm or kill these guys and if you are spotted you have to re-start the mission. You have to use stealth tactics to sneak around, throwing rocks to distract the soldiers while you run from cover to cover. In some case have to follow the moving researcher which can be tough to stay hidden, yet stay within ear shot. I hated these missions even though they are there to help advance the story.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>THE BAD:</b></p><p style="text-align: left;">* <i>Bugs & Glitches</i>: For a AAA title such as this, I didn't expect to find so many bugs in the game...even more so since I didn't play the game until after it had been out for some time. There were times while playing the frame rate would just drop, barely chugging along. I also found times were the textures just disappeared and I'd be surrounded by smooth, nondescript landscape. These glitches didn't ruin the game for me, but it was a little annoying at times and ultimately disappointing.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>FINAL VERDICT:</b></p><p style="text-align: left;">I give this game a solid A+. The open world exploration and large map will keep you busy, even after you complete the main game. I'm sort of a completionist when I play these games so I opted to complete all of the side missions and optional objectives before I tackled the final mission, but you can play the game however you like. I don't want to spoil the ending of the game, but it has an awesome secret ending you can unlock that leaves a doozy of a story twist. It seems as if this game falls into the Syphon Filter game universe, a game franchise I'm not familiar with...but may have to look into now. Days Gone is a great game with a few hiccups here and there. I've enjoyed the game so much I'm now playing the New Game Plus on Hard II difficulty and I'm finding it to be just as much fun a second time around. Highly recommended...even at full price I feel this is purchase worthy.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKp0EJnrYUTuVaeuIPG99LalagHejF6nNfsqNqa1jUi1QhkLt6MCMkmhcqqAfqWM0-fHE5DHvKH1PAGTtLKW8ralpUeUImJVoAs6AIVFbII5TJZHFlGL8g6O-I31vht2ygMHaw2pfzNCP1/s590/Days-Gone-PS4-screenshot-1127530.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="590" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKp0EJnrYUTuVaeuIPG99LalagHejF6nNfsqNqa1jUi1QhkLt6MCMkmhcqqAfqWM0-fHE5DHvKH1PAGTtLKW8ralpUeUImJVoAs6AIVFbII5TJZHFlGL8g6O-I31vht2ygMHaw2pfzNCP1/w400-h238/Days-Gone-PS4-screenshot-1127530.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>flywheelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404740580161509052noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1291339338150629748.post-14488991811911682142020-09-02T15:04:00.001-07:002020-09-02T15:04:27.937-07:00Initial Thoughts - Days Gone (Playstation 4)<br />
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I've been trying to find time to write this post for weeks...but I've been so drawn into this game that I've had a hard time putting down the controller and pulling up the blog. </div>
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Days Gone is an action/adventure horror survival type game which also is a Playstation 4 exclusive. Like a lot of AAA titles, I was late coming to this game, purchasing it early in 2020 once the price dropped to $20. So far, this has been money well spent.</div>
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I'll be honest, going into this game I knew very little. All I knew is that it was supposed to be a big PS4 exclusive and it was now cheap. I knew it was open world and that appealed to me. Coming off playing Horizon Zero Dawn, this game felt very natural to me. The visuals were beautiful and the story was intriguing, two positive checks on my list.</div>
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At the time of this post I've made my way through the majority of the game...like I said, I've hard a hard time putting down the controller so I could write this. I've enjoyed the game so much however that I just had put my thoughts on "paper".</div>
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You play as Deacon St. John (love the name by the way), a former motorcycle gang/military guy, stuck in rural Oregon during the end of days. Something has happened to the world's population and now these mutated creatures prowl the earth. Known as freakers, these ugly creatures remind me a little of the monsters from the movie <i>The Descent</i>. They prefer darkness so at night they are numerous and during the day the majority of them "hibernate" inside caves and other small/dark places.</div>
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The game opens however with some cutscenes that give you just a small piece of the story. Deacon, his girlfriend, Sarah and your best friend, Boozer, are trying to escape from a city (Portland?). Sarah is injured and placed on a helicopter used by the NERO organization. She is flown to safety while you and Boozer try to escape the overrun city. The story is only given to you in bits and pieces and you eventually find out that the camp Sarah was flown too was overrun by freakers and she died. Much of the early story is Deacon trying to come to grips with this and overcoming his own bereavement.</div>
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It's not that often that I fall in love with a game so quickly. Usually I have to put in several hours before I know if this is something I want to put a lot of time into. Time is precious and I'm a man of many hobbies so if I'm going to sink a lot of time into a game it has to be really good. Days Gone is that for me.</div>
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I love the idea of a zombie like post apocalyptic story/setting...reminds me a lot of <i>the Walking Dead</i>. The varied settings really help keep the game interesting. I'm currently in the southern portion of the world map and wow, what a difference it makes from the first half of the game. </div>
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I'm enjoying the gun play and other weapons, especially as I'm unlocking better and better items. Riding a motorcycle has never been more fun. Sometimes I just enjoy riding around and doing whatever I want to versus taking on one of the many missions in the game. My youngest daughter would rather watch gameplay than play games (most of the time) and even though the language can be salty and the game can be violent, I've put the TV on mute and let her watch when I'm not doing story based missions. </div>
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I've run into a few issues with the game thus far, but nothing that has made me want to stop playing. I'm anxiously awaiting to finish off the story and hopefully getting more answers to my questions as I've started to become attached and sympathetic to many of the characters. I'll leave it at this. If you like open world type games and or horror survival, at $20 you really can't go wrong. I'll be back with a "Final Thoughts" post after I'm done with the game...whenever that may be.</div>
flywheelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404740580161509052noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1291339338150629748.post-17714038737860655962020-08-09T17:24:00.003-07:002020-08-09T17:24:58.309-07:00Retro Store Visit: TF Games<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Last month (July) we visited some family stationed at Fort Knox in Kentucky. In the little town of Radcliffe just outside the base I saw a game store. I asked my brother-in-law about the shop and he said it was pretty cool, citing they sold older games in addition to modern games. My wife was gracious enough to give me some time one afternoon so I could check out this store along with a comic shop I also saw.</div>
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Upon walking into the store I was very impressed. It was well lit and bright. The walls and floor were white so that helped brighten things up. Immediately to the right upon walking in were large glass cases. This is where all of the 8 ad 16 bit games were housed. Instead of the games just being stacked up on shelves, they were nicely arranged and the shelves had a nice overall presentation. PS2, Wii and GameCube games were on open shelves to the left of the glass cases. The other side of the store had a section of video game apparel before giving way to more open shelves that housed PS3/PS4, Xbox 360/Xbox One games.</div>
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There was a section at the back of the store that had accessories, handheld games and a whole section with TVs with various consoles hooked up. I was impressed with how neat and clean everything was and the staff was very polite and courteous.</div>
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When I visit these mom & pop type stores I have to buy something and show them my support. Since I have so many retro and modern consoles in my game room I gave each platform a good look over before making my purchases.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihFTgtoS63YTBl8skDcQQeliu_ZRc2aCYnbyvlR2ldClTo-IVbJhNoglerDk5Lt3Tr-obq31Zk0ubjg618lo13TSizDniIDEmqBiaZLOkv0mbI2trxBXjRvoRY0mXSKhiQ8KIE-6-hAGi_/s1600/IMG_7385.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihFTgtoS63YTBl8skDcQQeliu_ZRc2aCYnbyvlR2ldClTo-IVbJhNoglerDk5Lt3Tr-obq31Zk0ubjg618lo13TSizDniIDEmqBiaZLOkv0mbI2trxBXjRvoRY0mXSKhiQ8KIE-6-hAGi_/s400/IMG_7385.JPG" width="398" /></a></div>
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I first settled on Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves for the NES. I still have a copy of Nintendo Power that has a detailed walk through/review of this game, plus it was priced fairly and it's a game that I don't see in the wild that often. Next I grabbed Alice: Madness Returns for the PS3. I would have rather found the 360 version as that is my platform of choice from that generation, but this game doesn't seem to show up very often and when I have found the game it's been expensive.</div>
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Upon checking out I noticed in the display case by the register their selection of PSP games. While I didn't find any PSP games that I wanted, I did spy two UMD movies that I couldn't pass up...especially since they were each priced at just $2.99. I have a small collection of horror movies, particularly slashers, so these were a nice find.</div>
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This is a great shop and I highly recommend you give them a visit if you're ever in the area. Great selection, more than fair prices and great, friendly staff.</div>
flywheelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404740580161509052noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1291339338150629748.post-77035430812574898452020-05-28T14:59:00.000-07:002020-05-28T14:59:25.029-07:00Transformers A.R.T.S.: Mega Drive MegatronNearly 5 years ago two of my favorite hobbies collided...Transformers and video games...specifically the Sega Mega Drive (or Genesis in the west). Takara Tomy created a new line of Transformers entitled A.R.T.S. and the first (and only) releases were Megatron and a Sony Playstation themed Optimus Prime.<br />
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Even to this day I'm not sure how or why this collaboration happened, but I'm glad it did as it's one of the more interesting versions of Megatron in my collection.<br />
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Megatron comes packaged in a beautiful box with some nice artwork. The background has a nice space image with a transitioning G1 style grid in the center. "16-BIT" is very prominent in the center of box, which is an obvious reference to the original Sega Mega Drive video game console.<br />
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The back of the box has some nice images of Megatron in both his video game console form as well as his robot form. It also shows off some of the features of the toy such as the reset button on the console, the included controller and even a small Sonic the Hedgehog video game cartridge.<br />
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The front of the box is actually a flap that opens up to reveal Megatron in is robot mode. Inside the box flap you can see the classic Japanese Mega Drive logo that Sega once used, above the Mega Drive console. Leave it to Takara Tomy to have a beautiful overall presentation to this release.</div>
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Megatron is packaged in a form fitting plastic tray. His "fusion cannon", Sonic cartridge and Mega Drive controller are also packaged beside Megatron. No twisty ties or plastic bands are to be had! I did have fight a little to get him out of his "plastic prison" however.<br />
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Megatron's fusion cannon is actually the side of the Mega Drive console. Front the front its not as obvious, but from the year you can see the console's reset button and headphone volume slider switch.<br />
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While some liberties were taken with the overall look of Megatron's robot mode, there is no mistake who this is meant to be. Just look at that head sculpt! I don't personally care how the 16-BIT logo looks on the lower portion of Megatron's chest, but overall I do like the look of the robot.<br />
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Surprisingly he features all your normal points of articulation in his arms, hips and legs. At first I had a hard time getting him to stand, but I later noticed I didn't have his heel pieces extended.<br />
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Where this toy shines in my opinion is in console mode. The detail they were able to cram into this thing is amazing. Granted this came out before the current Sega Mega Drive / Genesis mini video game console, this was the smallest version of the iconic hardware I have seen. All of the features are here...from the raised ring around the cartridge slot, to the blue power button and the headphone volume slider.</div>
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Obviously this is a non-working video came console, but I love how it also came with a tiny Sonic the Hedgehog cartridge and a controller that actually plugs into the console! By the way, the cartridge doesn't do anything. It doesn't transform, but it does have a nice re-creation of the original Japanese Mega Drive Sonic label. It can he inserted into Megatron's chest in robot mode...but why would you want to do that?</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oUcWHD2d4RY/XesGiXzw83I/AAAAAAAAciw/go5Wl4mFQjEv60YnTMXw9dT-tkE7rOJTQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Mega%2BDrive%2BMegatron%2B9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="755" data-original-width="1024" height="235" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oUcWHD2d4RY/XesGiXzw83I/AAAAAAAAciw/go5Wl4mFQjEv60YnTMXw9dT-tkE7rOJTQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Mega%2BDrive%2BMegatron%2B9.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The included controller is modeled after the original 3 button controller. The d-pad does move as well as the face buttons can be depressed ever so slightly. As you can see from the line down the center of the controller, this does split into halves and can be stored on the back of Megatron in robot mode. I didn't care for this as it made it look like Megatron had wings and just looked silly to me. My other gripe about the controller is the cord is too short. It's a minor complaint as it serves its point and looks great when plugged into the console.</div>
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Since the release of both Megatron and Optimus, Takara Tomy has released several other Transformers outside of the current series. We've had transforming pens, cell phones and now I believe a watch is coming out next. I know these type of releases aren't for everyone, but in this case this was a marriage made in heaven for me. Today on the secondary market this version of Megatron may set you back $100-$150. It's a fun piece, but definitely for die hard collectors only.</div>
flywheelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404740580161509052noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1291339338150629748.post-35188114370128753672020-05-20T12:08:00.000-07:002020-05-20T12:08:50.427-07:00GI Joe: War on CobraWhile I'm not a huge fan of mobile gaming, every once in awhile a game comes along that I find interesting enough to download and take up some precious memory on my iPhone. The latest game that I seem to be playing for a few minutes each day is GI Joe: War on Cobra by Emerald City Games.<br />
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I'm going out on a limb to guess this game was released as Hasbro is gearing up another run of GI Joe action figures for retail shelves later this summer with GI Joe Classified. I say this is just a guess because the art style in the War on Cobra mobile game is more stylized and definitely different than the more serious tone the Classified series of action figures seems to be going with.<br />
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Upon downloading the game and launching it for the first time it had a very familiar feel. If your familiar with or have played the Transformers: Earth Wars, this is more of the same basically. If you enjoyed Earth Wars then this is good news. If Earth Wars wasn't your cup of tea, you still may want to try this one out.<br />
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The premise of the game is quite simple. 1) Build your headquarters to defend itself from the opposition's attack. 2) Go out into the field and attack the opposition's headquarters to win medals and materials. Each character or vehicle will have a predetermined point value (battle points), shown with a small red lightning bolt and a number. This is what it "costs" you to deploy that character/vehicle. You'll start with so many battle points to launch your attack. With each item or weapon you destroy of the opposition you'll be rewarded with more battle points. You can constantly launch your characters as long as you have battle points available. Once you run out and your last character dies, you have lost the fight and you'll go back to the map.</div>
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The interesting thing about War on Cobra is that you actually get to play both of the warring factions. I've always enjoyed the Cobra side of GI Joe more than the Joes themselves so I started off by selecting the Baroness and Cobra. This is where I've spent the most of my time playing the game - building up my volcano based headquarters with all sorts of weapons and traps. However playing the Joes has been fun too as I've unlocked different types of characters and vehicles to use and this keeps it fresh - going back and forth between the two factions.</div>
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If you select the Joes the first character you get to use is Roadblock. I love the Sigma-6 esque look to the character models. Roadblock will lay down a heavy layer of fire for you, but it's fairly slow moving on the battlefield.</div>
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Each character/vehicle has a different class. Roadblock falls into the Epic class, which is basically the top tier. You can level up your character/vehicle with gold and cards you get in the game. This will help improve the stats - health, range, damage and speed. You can also rank up your character using different items you unlock or are awarded with.</div>
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This is one of those games it tempts you to spend real world money on. Build your mini gun turret faster, buy in game currency to level up your characters...you get the drill. If you are patient and come back to the game at least once a day, you are awarded with free loot that will range from cards for your characters/vehicles to gold or even diamonds...which is basically the games currency.</div>
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I've been playing the game for several weeks now and have enjoyed it. Since starting I've managed to unlock several characters such as...</div>
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Each character has their own characteristics and attack style, making it tough sometimes to choose your army for attack. Snake Eyes for example will make short work of Cobra Troopers, while Gung-Ho or Bazooka can take out stronger enemies and weapons much faster. There are drawbacks for each character as well such as the larger characters are usually slower and land mines can take them out.</div>
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Once you've played the game for a bit you can start to unlock vehicles. This is where the game can really get fun...and tough at the same time. Knowing what vehicle to use makes a difference. Add one of your characters to the vehicle will unlock even more firepower.</div>
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All of the levels take place on the coast so you have a limited area where you can deploy water based vehicles. Sometimes you may have a battle that consists solely on the water, but most of the time is both land/water battles. I started with a lowly Devilfish, then unlocked the more powerful Megalodon. Most recently I unlocked the MOBAT and I love using it.</div>
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Above is what the map looks like. This is where you get to launch your attacks from. If the icon with the name shows a character, GI Joe in this case, then you are attacking the base of another player. If the icon is a generic crosshairs I believe these levels are just generic. The number below the icon tells you the level of the base. Obviously the higher the number, the more difficult the fight could be. As you level up your HQ's radar dish, you can expand upon the area on the map in which you can attack. The more options you have the better because your army may not be quite ready to take on some of the higher levels. You do have however the option of spending gold to swap out that tougher HQ. It may be replaced with a lower level or it may be replaced with an equally tough fight.</div>
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Earlier I mentioned that I started the game by choosing Cobra. I'm glad that (most of) the characters are different and play different as it makes it fun going back and forth playing both sides. I've devoted most of my time and resources to building up the Cobra side of things.<br />
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You start off your Cobra army with the Baroness. She starts off a little weak in the health department, but her ability is one shot, one kill on most enemies. Deploy her behind your front line of B.A.T.s or Cobra Troopers and she can be a pain in the butt for the Joes.</div>
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Eventually I unlocked Destro and Storm Shadow. Destro is meh in my book so I don't use him much. Scrap Iron is a lot of fun as he deploys and controls from a distance a little rocket pod. This is one of first characters you can use to take out airborne enemies. Storm Shadow is quite versatile and plays a lot like Snake Eyes.<br />
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I love deploying armies of B.A.T.s, then following them up with a some ground fire by a group of Cobra Troopers or SAW Vipers that I recently unlocked.</div>
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Cobra has always had some awesome vehicles and I'm glad to see that some of these have made their way into the game. Like with the Joes vehicles, drop a character into the vehicle and you'll have more firepower. The Maggot for instance. Standalone it will fire a machine gun from the front. With a pilot it will use it's massive cannon to launch spiked projectile bombs at your enemies!</div>
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I understand that mobile games can't compare to console games, however that doesn't mean that they can't be fun...at least in small chunks. Being a GI Joe fan I'm just happy that there is something new out there. The fact that the game is well designed and fun to play is a bonus. If you decide to download the game (it's free by the way) just pack some patience. Don't spend your real hard earned money on anything in the game just because you get frustrated or you don't want to wait. To me at least it's made to be played in short sessions. Enjoy it for what it is...a fun and somewhat addictive mobile game. Yo Joe!</div>
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flywheelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404740580161509052noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1291339338150629748.post-10084292018993112672020-05-08T16:53:00.000-07:002020-05-08T16:53:04.244-07:00Final Thoughts - Detroit: Become HumanI realize that I haven't been as active with this blog as I would have liked to be. While I have been playing a few games here and there, it's been awhile since I really dove myself into a big thematic modern video game. I recently however came back to a game I started last fall and finished it so I thought I'd do another "Final Thoughts" type post.<br />
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I received Detroit: Become Human the Christmas of 2018 and unfortunately it sat on my shelf for almost a year before I finally took the shrink wrap off the case and installed it on my PS4. I asked for this game because I thought it looked beautiful and sounded interesting. It did remind me a little of Until Dawn's gameplay, a game I had previously completed and enjoyed. I know the game didn't live up to it's hype and it didn't take long for the game's price to be reduced to $19.99, but that didn't stop me from wanting to try it out first hand.</div>
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Once you start up the game you're asked to take a survey. This survey asks you all sorts of questions regarding androids and your thoughts on them among other things. Obviously I wasn't expecting this when I first fired up the game.</div>
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This android also helps walk you through the set up of the game, asking you questions about the settings and for confirmation. I immediately knew I was in for an immersive experience.</div>
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Detroit: Become Human is less of a typical video game and more of an interactive movie or story. If you're old enough to remember the old youth "Choose Your Own Adventure" books, this is basically what you are getting. You get to control the actions and make decisions for 3 different androids in each of their own stories. The setting is a future Detroit.</div>
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The game opens with a hostage scenario where you are introduced to and control Connor. He has been programmed to track down these "deviant" androids that are breaking free of their programming. He is tasked to partner up with a Detroit detective, Lt. Hank Anderson (played by Clancy Brown). You've already seen via Markus and Kara how some humans view, interact with and treat or think about androids, but the relationship and story between Connor and Hank takes it to the next level.</div>
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Throughout your journey with these android characters you'll see how your choices are influencing the story in game. Right off the bat you have to negotiate with a deviant android who has taken a little girl hostage. As you do try to unravel the events that lead to this point, you'll see that the more info you have and how you talk to the deviant your chances at a positive outcome are.</div>
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Next we have Markus, an android that is the caretaker for an elderly painter. The game starts out pretty simple, your task is to retrieve a paint order from the local store. On the way back to the bus stop you see a small group of demonstrators that have gathered in a common area of town. The organizer of the group has a megaphone and he's talking to the crowd about how androids cost him his job and how androids will be the downfall of the human civilization basically. This is where you have your first choice to make. Once spotted, do you chose to interact or ignore? When accosted, do you fight back or do you remain civil? A little bit later you are introduced to the painter's son, who comes by the house a little intoxicated. He asks for money, which he is denied. The son thinks that his dad cares more for the android than him. This causes the son to get in the face of Markus, yelling obscenities and again making you make choices that will effect the story. This is where Markus reaches his breaking point and seems to break free of his programing.</div>
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Lastly you are introduced to Kara, a housekeeper type android. She is just coming back online after being repaired and is now inside a CyberLife store waiting to be picked up by her owner. The guy mentions to the sales rep that his android was hit by a car, but immediately I begun to think that didn't seem right. Once you get him you are introduced to the owner's daughter, Alice. While doing some menial housework, her story starts to unfold even more. The father turns out to be a real douchebag and I immediately felt resentment and anger towards him. Then when he abuses his daughter, Alice, it made me want revenge. Kara is told to stand still, but when she sees him go upstairs with a belt in his hand she betrays that command and "breaks free". </div>
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The game is broken up into chapters for each character. Throughout each chapter you'll find yourself facing multiple decisions. Sometimes the "correct" decision may be obvious, but not always. If you view yourself as person with morals or even faith, you may find yourself answering the questions as if you were a part of the story yourself. Or you can chose to approach things with a more aggressive approach...which is easy considering how nasty these android characters are treated as the story unfolds. At the end of each chapter you are giving a map of sorts showing you the choices you made. This is where you'll see all the different branching paths for that character's journey. Answer correctly and the story goes a little longer. Answer wrong, and that chapter may end abruptly. Thankfully after a chapter is completed you can re-start that chapter if you want to answer the questions differently to see how it effects the overall story.</div>
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I give the creators major props for this game. While it may not suite everyone's tastes, the story is very captivating and heart breaking at times. If I'm being honest I found it hard to answer some of the questions. Of course I'm trying to figure out the correct answer, or the answer that will take me the furthest, but being who I am I tried to answer all the questions honestly. I tried to "do the right thing". The whole plot of the story is that these "deviant" androids are wanting to be recognized by humans as being living beings, wanting to be free and want to abolish slavery. Perhaps this resonated with me so much because I've been helping my 4th grade daughter with her homework on the Emancipation Proclamation. Or perhaps it resonated with me because I have morals and that I recognize that slavery is wrong. That's what kept me playing this game and ultimately brought me back to finish this game. The story is powerful. The story is sad. The story is captivating.</div>
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In closing I can see why this game may not have sold that well. This game is different. This game tackles real world social issues...from a different angle of course. It's not a fast paced, intense action oriented game. It's a slow paced, methodical game. If you're up to trying something different then I highly recommend the game. It does seem like you're watching a movie more than playing a game, but if you do decide to give it a try then buckle up as you're in for a rollercoaster of a ride (and maybe emotions?).</div>
flywheelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404740580161509052noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1291339338150629748.post-55383017722366492872020-04-09T11:38:00.001-07:002020-04-09T11:38:50.837-07:00Gaming RelicsIf you're into collecting retro video games (and I assume you would be if you've visiting this blog) then you've probably heard of Custom Game Cases. In fact, I've done a post on them and showed off their work. While this is a good company, the lead times in getting orders filled can take months. I've been looking for an alternative and I've finally found one...<a href="https://www.gamingrelics.com/">Gaming Relics</a>.<br />
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Gaming Relics use the same awesome type of hard plastic clam shell like cases that Custom Game Cases uses, but they'll get your order to you in a matter of days after your order has been placed. I recently placed an order last Tuesday and the order arrived Saturday. I'm located in SC and they are located across the country in CA. Best of all, their prints are beautiful and make your loose carts look so much better on your shelves.<br />
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My recent order just consisted of 3 cases, 1 NES and 2 Super Famicom (SFC). I'm slowly working on having cases made for all of my loose NES and SNES games. I can't find many custom SFC covers so when I noticed that Gaming Relics had cases for Chou Makaimura (Super Ghosts 'n Goblins) and Super Mario: Yossy Island (Super Mario World 2) I wanted to check them out first hand.<br />
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I'm very happy with the outcome and I've already placed them on my shelves. From what I can tell these are more or less feature the game's retail artwork that just wraps around the case...which I'm OK with. These were priced a dollar less than their SNES cases at just $4.99.</div>
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I only have a handful of NES games left to get cases made for. I'm going alphabetical order to get these done so the next up was Bible Adventures. </div>
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If you aren't familiar with these case, they are about the same size as an original NES or SNES cardboard box. The plastic is a smokey dark gray and very sturdy. The cases snap shut and features a firm grasp. The inside of the case has two clips (left side) to hold the instruction manual in place. The other side (right) has a place designed for the different type cart and has 4 clips that hold the cart in place. The outside of the box has a clear film that allows you to insert you own artwork or the artwork that places like Gaming Relics offer.</div>
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I mentioned I just placed an order for 3 cases because that is their optimum number of cases you can order and they can still ship via USPS 1st class for around $5. This is my second order with Gaming Relics and I couldn't be happier. I will be placing additional orders in the near future as my OCD just can't come to grips with a shelve full of loose game cartridges!</div>
flywheelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404740580161509052noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1291339338150629748.post-86753814196290134742020-03-24T11:55:00.003-07:002020-03-24T11:55:55.675-07:00Mega Construx Borderlands 3 ClaptrapOne of my favorite modern gaming franchises is Borderlands. I was hooked with the first game and Borderlands 2 took it to the next level. I anxiously awaited the announcement of the inevitable third game in the franchise and was excited when the details of the game were released online. I resisted the temptation to buy the game on release day, opting to wait and ask for the game for Christmas. While I still haven't really jumped into Borderlands 3 feet first due to work and other priorities, I like what I have seen.<br />
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The toy collector part of me has wanted to pick up some of the various action figures I've seen from the new game, but so far I've resisted. However when I saw that Mega Construx had released a small Claptrap how could I resist?<br />
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Mega Construx aka MegaBloks, has a history of obtaining licenses for various pop culture franchises. Probably best known for their HALO sets, they have released the first of many (I hope) Borderlands figures.</div>
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I found this Claptrap at a Walmart while I was traveling for work. The $4.99 price tag was a little steep for my liking, but I caved as I love this annoying little robot. Claptrap comes on a small blister card where you can clearly see the figure and it's accessories.</div>
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A lot of these new single blister carded Mega Construx figures don't require much building. In Claptrap's case all I had to do was pop on the flaps that go on just the arms, afix the computer pad in his hand and then attach Claptrap to a clear rod on the display stand.</div>
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I love the weathered look on the body. The paint apps are spot on and look fantastic. The arms are attached to the body using a ball joint so they move freely and have a good range of motion. His wheel is made of a rubber like material and rolls smoothly across a flat surface.</div>
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This is a fun little toy and makes a nice little shelf decoration down in my game room. I don't know if there will be more Borderlands 3 figures released, but if not this is a great little piece.</div>
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flywheelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404740580161509052noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1291339338150629748.post-91006412095219799902019-10-21T18:53:00.000-07:002019-10-21T18:53:33.189-07:00Player 1 UpI know it's been awhile since I've posted anything new on this blog. I've been picking up games here and there and still playing said games into the wee hours of the night, however I've just had a creative block when it comes to posting new content.<div>
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However I recently had a chance to (finally) visit a new "barcade" that moved into downtown Rock Hill, SC, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/player1uprh/">Player 1 Up</a>. I took several pictures while I was there because I thought it could make a good blog post.</div>
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While I'm not a drinker, I do love playing arcade games so when I heard this establishment was moving into my hometown I was super excited. I kept peeking through the door before they opened so I could see some of the cabinets they had. It was like a kid on Christmas Eve, anxiously awaiting for the next morning. I had hoped to go to their grand opening, but kids aren't allowed and I couldn't find anyone to watch my girls. I was OK with staying home because (for now) the place is rather small and on opening night it was jammed packed with people. Small space, lots of people = hot, not fun.</div>
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A few weeks after the opening my wife and I finally got a "date night" and we headed downtown for dinner and some fun. While we initially thought about grabbing some food at Player 1 Up, neither of us wanted to settle for bar food so we hit up favorite place of ours right on Main Street instead. Afterwards we made the short walk to Player 1 Up, paid our $5 cover charge at the door and then walked around, trying to decide which game we wanted to play first.</div>
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I was impressed with the variety of games. They had some older games like Dig Dug (that's my wife playing), Asteroids, Frogger, Donkey Kong and more. They had some great beat 'em ups like the TMNT arcade game, P.O.W., and Bad Dudes. Great fighting games like Primal Rage, Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat II. My wife and I first tackled the TMNT game and played it through completion. Why not since they were all on free play?</div>
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The whole bar was decorated with video game related content - from posters, banners and even old video game marquees mounted around the top of the bar. Many of the sports game (like NFL Blitz) proved to be really popular later that evening.</div>
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I eventually made my way to the other side of the bar and I found Bad Dudes tucked away in the corner. Man I lost so many quarters to this game back in the day. While it's not the best beat 'em up (too bad they didn't have Double Dragon!) I did have fun working my way through the game.</div>
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The "upper level" of the bar housed 5 great pinball machines. I love pinball...I mean love pinball. My wife took me to the Pinball Hall of Fame in Asheville, NC and I was in heaven. I was glad to see that Player 1 Up had some great tables too, such as the classic Pinbot!</div>
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My personal favorite of the tables was Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast. I had not seen or played this table before and it was great. Jurassic Park was to the left and it was pretty awesome too.</div>
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Near the pinball tables was a dining area with some tables and chairs. Several posters from the era adorned the walls in this area, along with a projection screen. As the night wore on this place got more and more crowded. Again, since I'm not a drinker my wife and I only hung around for a few hours before we ended up calling it an evening. I should mention they have a little outdoor patio section where they have ping pong tables and corn hole. </div>
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Overall I'm really impressed with the bar and I look forward to some of the future changes I've seen mentioned on their <a href="https://www.facebook.com/player1uprh/">Facebook page</a>. Since my initial visit I saw they brought in the awesome Golden Axe: Revenge of Death Adder. I'll go back just to play that game again! If you're in the Rock Hill area you owe it to yourself to drive to downtown and check out Player 1 Up.</div>
flywheelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404740580161509052noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1291339338150629748.post-14990221225017348992019-04-14T06:37:00.001-07:002019-04-14T06:37:40.339-07:00The search for arcades @ Myrtle Beach, SC<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Located on the upper floor (or is the bottom floor?) inside Ripley's Wonderworks at Myrtle Beach, SC is one of the last arcades I've managed to find at the beach. It's a shame really because I have so many memories have taking a roll of quarters to the Pavillion area and playing random video games until the money ran out. Double Dragon was always a favorite of mine back then. Now finding arcade games at the beach isn't an easy task.</div>
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While the actual game selection was somewhat limited inside Wonderworks, the designs on the walls leading to the bathrooms (of all places!) were too cool not to show. There were several different classic arcade games showcased and underneath each was a plaque that gave a brief history of the game. You can click on any picture to view a larger image.</div>
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One of the few games I hadn't seen in an arcade before was this Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game. While it's no "Turtles in Time", I found it pretty fun to play. The graphics were very animated and the action was very fluid. I would have liked to have had more time with the game, but the upper level also included a ropes course that my daughter was waiting to go on with me.</div>
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Growing up my family took many vacations to Myrtle Beach and one of my favorite rainy day spots was the old Briarcliffe Mall. Inside was a cool arcade, KB Toys and a movie theatre. Now called the Myrtle Beach Mall, it's a shell of itself. There isn't a lot inside the mall to be honest. The movie theatre is still there, but I don't think I've seen a movie there since A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 5! However there is <strike>one</strike> two reasons to go to the mall. Player's Choice. </div>
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Player's Choice alone is worth going if you love video games and all things pop culture. For as long as I can remember there have always been great arcade cabinets and pinball machines inside the store you could play for just a quarter. Games like Konami's Simpsons, Capcom's Alien vs. Predator, Ivan Iron Stewart's Super Off-Road and even Sega's Spider-Man arcade game. They also sold new and used video games and systems going back to the Atari and NES through current gen. Comics, TPBs, Pops! and other assorted action figures are also always in stock. I know I could spend a good bit of time in the store alone...but a year or so ago they leased the empty space next to their store and put in a full fledged retro arcade!</div>
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On my last visit I was greeted with Pac-Man and Kung-Fu at the entrance of the black light soaked room. I was never good at either of those so I continued to keep looking around.<br />
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On the left side was Dragon's Lair, Dr. Mario, Super Mario Bros., Kangaroo, Ghost 'n Goblins...<br />
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Followed by Track & Field, Joust, Burger Time, Double Dragon and an old school juke box in the back left corner. In the center of the room were a few more classic games like these Donkey Kong games.<br />
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On the opposite side was Commando, Contra, Tetris, Jungle Hunt, Q*Bert...<br />
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Toobin', Dig Dug, Tapper, Punch Out! and a few other games. Along the back of the arcade were several pinball tables, but in my haste to start plugging quarters into the games I forgot to snap more pictures!</div>
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The walls of the arcade had various video game art/logos with some 80's nostalgia mixed in. At one point I do remember looking up from my game and seeing Skeletor from Masters of the Universe! Like the games inside the Player's Choice store next door, all the machines in the arcade were just $.25. It was so much fun re-living a part of my childhood as I beat Double Dragon again. I played several other games as well, but I didn't get to play everything that I wanted to before I had to leave. Thankfully however the place we stay at the beach is just down the road from this mall so I get to frequent both the store and the arcade with each trip to the beach.</div>
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I'm sure there are other gaming spots at Myrtle Beach that I haven't quite found yet, but when I do you can expect me to be in my element.</div>
flywheelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404740580161509052noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1291339338150629748.post-43807359480829653912019-03-25T08:59:00.000-07:002019-03-25T08:59:59.370-07:00Japan Retro Direct - A service you may not know about, but should!Importing video games from Japan seems to be catching on with more and more gamers around the world, but especially here in the US. There are many retro games that now sell for ungodly amounts on the secondary market that are relatively affordable in Japan. However obtaining those games without having to pay a huge mark up can be difficult.<br />
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In the past I used a proxy service to acquire games from Yahoo! Japan Auctions with mixed results. While I did score Chip Chan Kick for my PC-FX for cheaper than eBay prices, it still wasn't cheap with all of the additional fees and essentially having to pay for shipping twice. So the question remains where can gamers go these days for imports that are reasonably priced?<br />
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If you aren't familiar with Japan Retro Direct, you should be. Vinnk (from Famicom Dojo fame) runs a nice little business on the side and does a <i>wonderful</i> job with his store. One of the best things about his listings is that most of them contain a good description about the gameplay and also feature a YouTube video embedded in the listing w/ actual gameplay. Being a gamer/collector himself living in Japan, he finds a lot of great games and passes them on for a fair price. I can also be confident that he's not selling me junk either as he tests each game thoroughly before he lists them. Sometimes he gets so hung up "testing" games that there is a small delay in new stock being listed for sale!<br />
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If you use Facebook, best thing to do is Like his <a href="https://www.facebook.com/JapanRetroDirect/">page</a> so you can stay up to date with his store updates and news announcements. Or just bookmark the <a href="https://japanretrodirect.ocnk.com/?fbclid=IwAR1OXMBl8Ibibee6Vo2iroLO2SeyzzbQBfa5h-wMj6zgtEBK-b66AiwsGe4">actual store</a>...whichever floats your boat. Lately he's added a "frequent shopper" program where purchases of $20 or more (shipping excluded) will earn you 1 point. Points act as store credit on future purchases. By the way, a $20 order will generally net you several games because that's how generous his pricing can be.<br />
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My latest haul from Japan Retro Direct contained 4 games...all from different platforms. First up is a loose cart of Wave Race 64 Shindo Pak Taio. This is the re-release of the game with added Rumble Pak support. I also believe some sound and music were altered in this version.</div>
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Next up is Pinobee for the Game Boy Advance. This was a game I remember seeing in the past that I wanted to try out. I first purchased this game on the Playstation, but how could I pass up on a complete, boxed copy for just a few bucks? It's a fun Hudson Soft platformer that I rarely see mentioned by fellow gamers.</div>
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I've never been a huge fan of fighting games, but the Guilty Gear series is a lot of fun. The first Guilty Gear game I played was on the original Xbox, but so many titles in the series exist that I was unaware of. GG XX Midnight Carnival #Reloaded is one of those. I have a Japanese PS2 and could use a few additional games and it was priced right. Just need to get a good fighting pad for my PS2 now.</div>
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Lastly we have Bomberman World for the Japanese Playstation. My experience with Bomberman is very limited, but this game looked fun and I needed something to bring me up to that $20 threshold to earn a point on my order. What little I've played of this game has been fun...but I'm sooo bad at it and I think I blew myself up more than I killed my enemies!</div>
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Vinnk has a good thing going here and while I'm not being paid or compensated to spread the word of his game store/service, I feel obligated to spread the news just because he's doing such a wonderful job. There are a lot of websites that specialize in importing games from Japan, but nothing like Japan Retro Direct.</div>
flywheelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404740580161509052noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1291339338150629748.post-3434468796999101052019-02-22T09:32:00.001-08:002020-04-10T06:26:20.866-07:00Initial Thoughts - Resident Evil 4 (Xbox One)Welcome back to another rendition of Initial Thoughts. This is where I share my, well, initial thoughts on a game (not necessarily new) that I've begun playing for the first time. Fresh off the heals of me completing <a href="https://adventuresinvideogames.blogspot.com/2019/01/resident-evil-7-biohazard-final-thoughts.html">Resident Evil 7</a> on the PS4, I decided it was time to pull that copy of Resident Evil 4 off the shelf and give it a try. Yes, you read that correctly. Not Resident Evil 2, but part 4.<br />
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As I touched on in my post regarding RE7, my experience with this gaming franchise has been spotty at best. When I grabbed RE4 off my shelf the other day I was reminded that I grabbed this game from Target on clearance for $9.98 some time ago. How much time has passed since I purchased, who knows, but I grabbed it despite owning it for the GameCube as well.</div>
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I installed RE4 on my Xbox One over the weekend, knowing I was ready to tackle the game finally. It would be a few days later before I'd actually find the time to sit down and play however. Once I did I was ready to experience a "new" Resident Evil experience. Going into the game I still knew very little, which was mostly intentional. I let the cut scenes play, setting up the story and once I got control of Leon Kennedy I immediately was reminded of how old this game was. Veteran RE fans by this time were used to the "tank" controls, but coming off of playing RE7 this game and it's controls were obviously a step back so to speak. While I have gotten used to the controls for the most part after about 5 hours of game play, I still don't like them. I will go on record and say I haven't tried to remap the buttons...if that is even possible. I've gotten down the combat mechanics, but I still hate having to press & hold the left bumper to wield the knife.</div>
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I remember people saying that RE4 was a different style of RE game and it didn't take long to realize that. Gone is the familiar setting. No cities, no police stations, replacing these with a setting somewhere in Europe. You're not evening fighting zombies...at least I think. The enemies, Ganados, seem to function like normal humans judging from what you find in the first village. They even communicate, though I don't know what language they are speaking. Since I'm still in the middle of the game I'm trying to figure out what's going on, but from best I can tell from the cut scenes and what not there is some sort of mind control going on.</div>
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At first I wasn't all that impressed with this game if I'm being completely honest. I found the controls to be very cumbersome and Leon to move very slugglish. Of course after I realized I could make him run and got used to the controls my opinion started to change. I also made the game harder than I needed to as I was trying to conserve as much ammo as possible and just use my knife to attack the Ganados. I had often heard of how scare ammo was in RE games, but much to my surprise I didn't find this to as big of an issue as I thought going in. I've learned that I can't go blazing in and shooting everything, but I also don't have to be as stingy. This made the game more fun for me. It didn't take long before I was fully immersed into this game, so much so that I opted to play over watching the recent UNC vs. Duke men's basketball showdown at the other night!</div>
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So far I haven't found the game to be overly difficult, but this boss, El Gigante did give me a pretty good run for my money. While the game isn't open world and more linear, I have found that backtracking and re-visiting previous areas has it's rewards...and dangers. I may have cheated a little and used a guide at times in my early play of the game so I knew this boss fight was coming up. I tried backtracking a little to see if I could find some more health since I was running low of reserves, however I was caught off guard by several Ganados. Eventually I figured it wasn't worth the time (or ammo) and turned around to face the giant himself.</div>
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By the way, I hope you freed the dog caught in the bear trap at the very beginning of the game! I instinctively knew setting the dog free was the right thing to do, but I didn't necessarily expect the dog to come to my aid in the battle w/ El Gigante.</div>
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I continued playing after taking down the giant and proceeded back to the church to rescue Ashley, the president's daughter. Shortly after the cut scenes that helped advance the story I saved my game and quit for the night. While I did know I was on a rescue mission, I failed to really think about having to escort her to safety. Why? Because I friggin' hate escort missions! I hated escorting survivors to safety in the Williamette Parkview Mall (<i>Dead Rising</i>) so much that I didn't even want to attempt unlocking the "Frank the Pimp" achievement! </div>
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There are two things in modern games I simply cannot stand. Escorting survivors and quick time events. Well if you've played this game then you know that's two strikes against the game for me already. I wasn't ready to tackle having to keep Ashley safe as we had to go back through the village so and it was late so I called it a night. However I've read up a little on what's to come next in the game and it appears that commanding her and keeping her safe isn't as bad as I thought it would. No matter because I'm fully vested in this game and seeing how the story plays out.</div>
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For me that is the sign of how truly good a game is. That despite my frustrations with the controls, or difficulty level or whatever, that I'm determined to see the game to it's end regardless. Growing up the games I played didn't have this level of story telling, so the game play had to be the thing that hooked me. Now with modern games the story has to keep me intrigued to keep on playing. I have a huge backlog of games to be played. More games than I do time. If the game doesn't captivate me early on then my mindset is why waste what valuable time I have playing a game that I don't like? Thankfully this 4th installment of the RE franchise has done a good job at grabbing my attention. Now my only regret is it taking me nearly 14 years to actually play this game since it's release in 2005.</div>
flywheelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404740580161509052noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1291339338150629748.post-56013570714500773092019-01-25T18:53:00.001-08:002020-04-10T06:26:04.929-07:00Final Thoughts - Resident Evil 7: Biohazard<br />
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Over the last two weekends I've been (finally) playing my copy of Resident Evil 7 on the PS4. I'm not an early adopter to video games usually, but that has it's advantages. I paid $20 for the game and if I had the VR headset then I could play that version of the game as it's all on one disc.</div>
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As much as I love horror movies, I'm not a big fan of the survival horror genre of games. My experience w/ Resident Evil is rather short, only previously playing RE2 on the N64 back in the day. That's it believe it or not. I have bought other versions of the game, but they have gotten lost in the back log of games to be played.</div>
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I'm not sure what drew me to purchasing RE7, but once I finally sat down to play the game I was hooked. I was on edge too. The setting of the Louisiana bayou was creepy enough, then Capcom had to throw in a old house and a crazy cast of characters. Before picking up the game, I had pretty much stayed away from any coverage of the game so I really didn't know what the story was going in, or even that the point of view had been changed from the normal 3rd person to 1st person perspective.</div>
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The game looks beautiful, even though parts of it are down right terrifying at times. The controls are really good and responsive for the most part. I'm not the biggest fan of the Dual Shock 4 controller, but the more PS4 games I play the more I'm beginning to get comfortable with the layout. Even though the game is from the 1st perspective and you have weapons, it doesn't feel like or play like a shooter in my opinion. Whether you agree with that statement or not, it doesn't take away from the feeling that this is a fun game.</div>
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I have read that parts 5 and 6 of the series were more action oriented, so Capcom wanted to take the series back to it's roots for part 7. While I haven't played much of the original game, I can see the similarities. The action in the game is up and down. It's not full on action, giving way to story telling and puzzle solving at times. I particularly liked the way the game handled the VHS cassette parts of the game.</div>
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By now I doubt I'd be spoiling the game for anyone, but you take control of Ethan Winters, trying to track down the whereabouts of your missing, formally presumed dead, wife. The Baker family (above) are your main protagonists and this scene reminded me immediately of when Sally met the Sawyer family in <i>The Texas Chainsaw Massacre</i>. Coincidence? I think not. Anyhow, you are tied to a chair at dinner time and let's just say I doubt Ethan is very hungry after he sees his choices on the table. Once you escape, you are trapped in one part of the Baker's house, looking for away to escape. During this time the father, Jack Baker, patrols the house looking for you. You also start to realize that things aren't what they seem.</div>
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As the game progresses you find more clues that not only help advance the story, but helps shed some light to the mystery of just what the heck is going on. Personally, I was on the edge of my sofa while playing as I couldn't wait to find out what happens next. As with previous RE games, there are safe houses (rooms) where you can save your game. Instead of the old typewriters from previous games, now you use a cassette recorder (it is 2017 after all - at least in the game). There are also those large storage chests where you can store your items and they'll magically appear when you find chests later in the game. Initially you are limited to the number of items you can carry so you have to be smart about what you carry with you. You can combine herbs and other items to create medicine and ammo. Later on you can find backpacks that increase the amount of items you can carry.</div>
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During the game you'll also find multiple weapons, from a simple survival knife, to handguns, shotguns, flamethrower, grenade launcher, machine gun and a chainsaw. Ammo is limited, but depending on the level of difficulty you play on the enemies will take less shots. My first play through was on easy and I ended up with a surplus of ammo for just about every weapon.</div>
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I don't recall the number of hours it took me to complete the game, but I enjoyed every minute. The story is compelling and the game play is fun. I played several 3-4 hour sessions at night once the family was in bed a few nights for two weeks before I was able to get to the end. Speaking of the end, depending on a choice you make in the game after the mid-way point, you can get one of two different endings. The choice is fairly obvious to get the better ending, but I saved my game right before you have to make this choice so I intend on going back to that other save game and playing it again to get the other ending.</div>
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I already mentioned I played the game on easy, but it was so much fun I will be playing it again on normal. I already unlocked Madhouse difficulty and an exclusive weapon, but I'm not sure that I'm ready for that yet! I enjoyed this game so much that I made me regret waiting so long to play it, but it also has me thinking about revisiting some of the previous games. If you've been sitting on the sideline w/ RE7 and you enjoy horror movies/games or even 1st person shooters, you ought to give this game a try. I really should move onto the next game in my stack of unplayed games, but I'm not sure I'm ready to leave the Bakers behind yet. There are 3 different DLC packs after you finish the main game, one of which is free! I believe all 3 of these either help flesh out the story or continue the story. I'm looking forward to jumping into those very soon.</div>
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flywheelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404740580161509052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1291339338150629748.post-89246688671668525812019-01-07T19:06:00.000-08:002019-01-07T19:06:04.312-08:00What do you do w/ a naked HuCard?That was the question I've been asking myself for quite some time after tracking down a cheap, but loose copy of Mesopotamia for the PC Engine. If you aren't familiar w/ the game, then perhaps you know it by it's TurboGrafx name - Somer Assault. Still doesn't ring a bell, well I can't blame you because it's a odd game that I can't believe sold very well...in any market.<br />
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I've done business w/ Mega Box Reproductions in the past so it was time to revisit their <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/MegaBoxReproductions">Etsy store</a> and see if they could create a jewel case for my naked HuCard. Of course they were able to bang out a beautiful case and it arrived the other day...check it out!<br />
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I wasn't sure how the back of the case was going to look since the original HuCard cases had a solid black back, but dang if they didn't nail it! I really don't know how they find scans of everything like they do, but I'm very impressed with the case.</div>
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I hate buying loose PCE games, but thankfully with MegaBoxReproductions this time it paid off...at least for me. </div>
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If you need a custom case for one of your loose games, or are looking for a high quality reproduction of a highly sought after game, head on over to their <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/MegaBoxReproductions">store</a> and let them create something for you too!</div>
flywheelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404740580161509052noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1291339338150629748.post-68369251823380656782018-11-14T17:20:00.001-08:002019-03-23T19:36:13.477-07:00Latest Haul from Japan Retro Direct If you're looking to import games from Japan but are sick and tired of the crazy asking prices from eBay sellers, all is not lost! Enter a great new way to acquire Japanese games at a fraction of those high prices...<a href="https://japanretrodirect.ocnk.com/?fbclid=IwAR3YIewqjQQaanop_XuKUeNYWn1rLzDENeGuwq4-jH6-g6B-Ri03js0PFz8">Japan Retro Direct</a>.<br />
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You may have heard me mention them before as I've been doing business with them since their early Game Gavel days. A few weeks ago I saw a few things in their latest <a href="https://www.facebook.com/JapanRetroDirect/">Facebook page</a> update and as soon as I sold a few things of my own, I made a small order and it finally arrived over the weekend.<br />
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From left to right, I got Caravan Shooting Collection for the Super Famicom. This is a collection of Hudson's 8-bit shmups originally featured on the Famicom/NES. I've already given each game a few rounds of play and I was quickly reminded of how horrible I am at these simple shmups, but also how much fun they still are to play.</div>
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Next up is Space Invaders for the PC Engine. I haven't given this one much time yet as I was out of town last weekend with a surprise trip for my daughters to the mountains. However this version of the classic game has a little different spin so I'm looking forward to spending more time with it. Good PC Engine games go quickly when added to Japan Retro Direct's store so you have to act quickly...after all, they are priced to sell.</div>
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Also in my package was a set of Pokemon stickers (which my 7 year old daughter quickly confiscated) and a rather cool fold out (promotional?) poster for the upcoming Super Smash Bros. game for the Nintendo Switch.</div>
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The poster is so big I couldn't figure out a good way to photograph it all unfolded! One side features gorgeous art of the cast of characters while the other side gives you a little bio of sorts for each character included in then new game.</div>
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Although I'm not the biggest Smash Bros. fan, I really appreciated the small token added to my latest package. I'm currently trying to find the best place in my game room to display this cool piece of video game art.</div>
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Make sure you jump on over to Facebook and like their <a href="https://www.facebook.com/JapanRetroDirect/">page</a> so you can keep up w/ the latest stock updates so you can score some great games and save a little $$.</div>
flywheelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404740580161509052noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1291339338150629748.post-91100247995923955362018-10-31T15:06:00.001-07:002018-10-31T15:06:20.469-07:00Retro Halloween Horror - Part 2Yesterday we looked at some good retro games to play this Halloween from the 8 and 16-bit generations, so today we're going to take the next step into the 32-bit and more modern generation. Let's start with a great puzzle game for the Neo Geo.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUP3o1F_Rn3xNvScZxtAcDhE3hBNt3KfWjc0M64cznVU4MYj39A84UbYwA6hi2eDEcqiQ-3TxD9ILv_NDwiG4XpEvoZfJCHKCeKKYHyLqrolVsVOQWg2GVwHplKZhus8ZVY2U6ZlAuUJj_/s1600/IMG_E4762.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1210" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUP3o1F_Rn3xNvScZxtAcDhE3hBNt3KfWjc0M64cznVU4MYj39A84UbYwA6hi2eDEcqiQ-3TxD9ILv_NDwiG4XpEvoZfJCHKCeKKYHyLqrolVsVOQWg2GVwHplKZhus8ZVY2U6ZlAuUJj_/s320/IMG_E4762.JPG" width="241" /></a> <iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/esTq3L5LR0U/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/esTq3L5LR0U?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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Nightmare in the Dark was released in 2000 for the Neo Geo MVS arcade system by SNK. You play as a gravedigger who finds graves that have been desecrated and you attempt to stop more damage from being done. You attack by using your lantern, swing it at your enemies which causes small balls of fire to fall in front of you. Initially it stuns the enemy, but if you keep hitting them consecutively the enemy will envelope into a large ball of fire, which you can wield and throw. This ball of fire acts as a bowling ball and will keep carrying on, knocking out enemies in it's path until it hits the wall. The gameplay is rather simple, yet it's difficult once you get past the first few handful of levels. Very addictive gameplay. </div>
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I love a good light gun game and while House of the Dead may be the first light gun game Saturn owners think of when it's spooky outside, I decided to go w/ Crypt Killer instead. In this game you are a crypt raider of sorts going through six different levels. You get to chose with level you want to take at the end of each level so it helps add to the replayability. Along the way you'll face skeletons, mummies, lizard people and more. The game was also released on the original Playstation, but I have more light gun shooters on the Saturn so I went with this one. Beware though, it can be pricey however you can opt for the Japanese release, Henry Explorers and save a little money.</div>
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I never got into Resident Evil when it first debuted on the original Playstation, however for some reason I gave Parasite Eve a chance and I'm glad that I did! The game plays a lot like RE, including the tank controls, but once you get used to navigating the character you'll find yourself immersed in the eerie atmosphere. The visuals, including the cut scenes that help advance the story are beautiful, as is the soundtrack. I don't see this game get mentioned much on the various retro sites or YouTube channels I visit and I don't know why. This is a very heavy story based game, but that just helped me get more and more into the game. If you've never played it, you need to give it a try.</div>
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Land of the Dead: Road to Fiddler's Green for the original Xbox was released in late 2005 by Brainbox games and published by Groove games. I only included this game on the list because I'm a huge George Romero fan and this game is based off of the movie of the same name. Let me say that this game isn't all that great as far as first person shooters go. The controls are sluggish, the visuals are muddy and the zombies are way too hard to kill. You can get the shotgun right off the bat, but it seems to be nearly useless. I stuck with the game and I enjoyed it, but I had to look past it's many flaws. Had I not been a big fan of the zombie genre then perhaps I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much? The game is tough and I was only able to beat it by finding some hidden book towards the end of the game that taught my character king-fu moves where I could easily take down the dead. Yeah, it's as stupid as it sounds. Like I said, this game was panned by both critics and fans alike, but it's not completely broken. Fits the Halloween season quite well and if you ask me, the "story" in the game is better than the actual movie is based upon.</div>
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Another light gun shooter on the list? You betcha! I am a big fan of Namco's Time Crisis series so when I saw they made another light gun game I had to give it a try. If the name of the game does explain why I've included this on the list then I don't know what to tell you. The game plays a lot like the Time Crisis games, better enjoyed with a second player in my opinion. If you have a PS2, a GunCon 2 and a CRT television, then you owe it to yourself to pick up this game.</div>
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Hmm, how can I describe Blood Drive for the Xbox 360 (and PS3)? Let's just say it's Twisted Metal or Vigilante 8 with zombies. If that description isn't enough to get you playing this game then I need to check you for a pulse. This is your standard vehicular combat game with upgradeable vehicles to chose from, bloody zombie kills and a rocking soundtrack. The game doesn't take itself too serious though as the PA announcer and characters you'll hear during the game sound silly and say dumb things. I guess it just helps add that bit of campiness that fits the horror genre. It's been awhile since I've sat down with this one, but I think I may have to play a round or two tonight!</div>
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This is the only game on the list from my collection that I've yet to play. I know, I know...what's wrong with me. I bought it not that long ago once it hit $20 and it ended up on my shelf and forgotten about shortly later. A month or so ago when I got the idea for these posts, I started to comb through my game library to re-play certain games. When I came across this one I was all jazzed to sit down and play...and then a certain PS4 exclusive super-hero game came out and I found myself immersed in that world. Halloween may come and go before I sit down and experience this new Resident Evil, but it's one that I really look forward to playing...with the lights on of course!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-3H8TUH-8x0-YRHxmLT-nGDrdTB8J2wpktX30lUX2K_LpEDg4Tx7iTDPf2i7w9U4LoSxceHDiiqEUMhAUMQAnCobowsgJLUp0Pqzni3nzCo8TICGOwuHUayqxgR1LiiNHLVo7o1kISkEE/s1600/UD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1371" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-3H8TUH-8x0-YRHxmLT-nGDrdTB8J2wpktX30lUX2K_LpEDg4Tx7iTDPf2i7w9U4LoSxceHDiiqEUMhAUMQAnCobowsgJLUp0Pqzni3nzCo8TICGOwuHUayqxgR1LiiNHLVo7o1kISkEE/s320/UD.jpg" width="274" /></a> <iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/3NcF7EOnjow/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3NcF7EOnjow?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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This is another game that I was late to experience, but once I finally sat down to play I was instantly hooked. Calling this a game is being generous. I like to think of it as a interactive movie more than a traditional video game. You take control of a group of college students that are at their friend's mountain home, reuniting one year after twin sisters have gone missing. What makes this game stand out so much to me are the characters. Yes you have your generic horror movie characters, but instead of watching them make stupid decisions that lead to their death, you get to make those choices now! Everything you do effects the overall story of the game, which will bring you back to play through time and time again. The characters are voiced by and modeled after some good actors and actresses, such as Hayden Panettiere (Heroes, Nashville), Brett Dalton (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) and Rami Malek (Mr. Robot). You get to control all of the different characters at different times during the game and the object is simple...keep everyone alive Until Dawn. Easier than it sounds. I've played through this game about 3 times now and I still have yet to get everyone out alive. It's partly because of the quick time events. If you aren't a fan of quick time events then you may want to steer clear of this game. However if you can tolerate them then you'll most likely find yourself wrapped up in this game. It's super cheap and it's available in the PSN store so there isn't any excuse to not give it a try.</div>
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And with that it's time for me to bow out as the trick or treat kids are already starting to come. Hopefully between yesterday's list and today's list you found a new game or two to try out. Thanks for stopping by. Happy Halloween everyone!</div>
flywheelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404740580161509052noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1291339338150629748.post-98609224112150372018-10-30T09:27:00.000-07:002018-10-30T09:27:39.442-07:00Retro Halloween Horror - Part 1I've neglected slowing this particular blog some love as of late (like most of 2018!) and with Halloween quickly approaching this week I thought it would be fun to make my own "Top Ten" style list of some of my favorite retro horror style video games.<br />
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While there are a lot more games I could add to these lists, I've tried to pick out games from my own collection that maybe aren't as widely known about, or at least played, but fit the theme. I've tried my best to stay away from some of the obvious candidates, however there may be a few games that sneaked onto the list that you'll be familiar with.</div>
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I've also decided to break up the list into two different posts, starting with games from the 8 and 16-bit generation. Look for another post tomorrow that contains games from the 32-bit era including a few modern games.</div>
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Let's get started shall we? Let me preface this with these games aren't ranked in any kind of order as I enjoy all of them too much to assign a ranking too.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi38scYBVuDfx-Jx2mO1TWFm2UmYeWVzqFNQuRK9CK-613UXo4uXhJYQJjsUSLm3VLJHW4Lh8Cy8lglpmf9Zu0efiyFaqbTzEKhcmoDXrxJwT3wziGWhJD7MqEpqrx4YmCNPTU_TlvZGSFg/s1600/IMG_E4760.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1247" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi38scYBVuDfx-Jx2mO1TWFm2UmYeWVzqFNQuRK9CK-613UXo4uXhJYQJjsUSLm3VLJHW4Lh8Cy8lglpmf9Zu0efiyFaqbTzEKhcmoDXrxJwT3wziGWhJD7MqEpqrx4YmCNPTU_TlvZGSFg/s320/IMG_E4760.JPG" width="249" /></a> <iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/LFHcsEiFOH4/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LFHcsEiFOH4?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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The tough as nails Ghouls 'n Ghosts is often overlooked on the Sega Master System platform, however that is criminal as this version of the game is very impressive. While it won't surpass it's "big brother" version on the Genesis/Mega Drive, this 8-bit version features some impressive graphics. The soundtrack isn't too shabby either and most importantly the controls are good. It's still a tough game to master and complete, however it's the better of the two games in the franchise when it comes to the 8-bit platform.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgVpxLgv2ZTW2yJqfnUIFi6qpvVH5MNBvjk-tGF23chVGoWJiu4FXinkU6g2GjCevCDaQxGm_FFeQep1YVeY7E7Mx8f-YYcZ1x0fhuPsDdrjFqmFc_x6yQNLF7VEaa8IU5hDKnM29IiPCQ/s1600/IMG_E4759.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1211" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgVpxLgv2ZTW2yJqfnUIFi6qpvVH5MNBvjk-tGF23chVGoWJiu4FXinkU6g2GjCevCDaQxGm_FFeQep1YVeY7E7Mx8f-YYcZ1x0fhuPsDdrjFqmFc_x6yQNLF7VEaa8IU5hDKnM29IiPCQ/s320/IMG_E4759.JPG" width="242" /></a> <iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/CqcvVAsJG-A/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CqcvVAsJG-A?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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This great Castlevania inspired game sadly wasn't available for the Master System in the US, however this European version of the game plays just fine on US hardware. I feel there was a time where this game flew under a lot of gamers radar, however now it's existence is more widely known. The game may look and play a lot like Castlevania, but unless you're not a fan of the classic Konami franchise then you'll find this to be a good thing. The gameplay is pretty solid and it's a lot of fun. This was one of the first Master System games I purchased for my collection years ago and it remains one of my favorites to play, not just at Halloween.</div>
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If you're a fan of video game pinball, then you're probably familiar with Alien Crush and Devil's Crush games that were available for the TurboGrafx-16 and PC Engine systems. However it seems that not as many people knew of the third game in the "crush" family, Jaki's Crush. Made exclusively for the Super Famicom in 1992, this game features more of the same great pinball formula. Scrolling table, eerie atmosphere and addictive gameplay. I purchased a boxed copy of this game years ago when it was dirt cheap, but the price seems to have increased a bit since then...perhaps it's because of it's exposure on popular YouTube shows like GameSack? Either way, if you're a fan of digital pinball games, you need to try this one.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV9Etp2MU3BxCmvUWETkI0b-F-uBTFMaHHRmiOH6tUWA2F6SSyZ1l4yDEG93Qgq4drXWw4YSQgsf8BSSOTDJgriCUQ8xQSrmXL_FsGMKu38wZbxdzICE0BtlHvJdzo0jXS-oENxyiDakeL/s1600/IMG_E4756.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1265" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV9Etp2MU3BxCmvUWETkI0b-F-uBTFMaHHRmiOH6tUWA2F6SSyZ1l4yDEG93Qgq4drXWw4YSQgsf8BSSOTDJgriCUQ8xQSrmXL_FsGMKu38wZbxdzICE0BtlHvJdzo0jXS-oENxyiDakeL/s320/IMG_E4756.JPG" width="252" /></a> <iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/g102-LIqJG8/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/g102-LIqJG8?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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Musya, the classic Japanese tale of horror has a great ring to it, doesn't it? While this game may not be high on everyone's list, I thought it was worth including. The Super Famicom exclusive Majyuuou (King of Demons) may be the better of the two horror themed side scrolling action games, but since I don't own Majyuuou I'll stick with Musya. The game was released in 1992 by Seta and while the game has it's share of faults, it's still a fun game to play. The visuals are one of the best parts of the game as the creatures you'll combat are well designed and have a creepy vibe. Controls are a little stiff, making the game tough to play at times. Overall though the dark and creepy atmosphere lend themselves to making an appearance on this list. It may not be the best game in the SNES library, but still worth giving a try if you've never played it before.</div>
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Undeadline is a port of the 1989 MSX2 game. It was ported exclusively to the Sega Mega Drive in 1991 by Palsoft and was never released outside of Japan. Some may question why I'd include this shmup on the list when there are so many other games that I could have gone with. Well for starters, I love shmups and this is my list! Seriously though, the game fits the Halloween motif pretty well as you fight all sorts of scary monsters. Undeadline offers a unique style of vertically scrolling shooting action and I find it refreshing. The original Japanese Mega Drive version of the game can fetch quite a pretty penny on the secondary market these days so I'm happy to stick with my Genesis reproduction version.</div>
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How can I make a list like this and <i>not</i> include Castlevania: Bloodlines? While I've never been as good as Bloodlines as I am other games in the series, I've always thought the franchise's one and only outing on the Sega Genesis was fantastic. Perhaps the different characters you can choose from with their own distinct attacks that made this game stand out, or perhaps the beautiful orchestrated musical score? Bloodlines is truly a gem in the Castlevania series and one that I don't mind re-visiting often.</div>
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Now here is a game that I'm betting may have flown under your radar. Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ has to be one the best video game names out there! I first discovered this game at my local Game Stop and picked it up, 1) for the cover art and 2) it was a $20 budget title. I had no idea how difficult to find it had become until years later. The game is a vertically scrolling shooter where you control Little Red Riding Hood on the lower screen of your Nintendo DS. Using your stylus, you slide her along the bottom of the screen, while holding in one of the face buttons to shoot your enemies. As you can tell from the video, it doesn't take itself too serious, but that's part of the charm. This game is fun to play, but hard to master. I've never been all that great at it myself, but it's one of the few DS games that I return to when I find myself traveling and want to take some games on the go.</div>
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One of my absolute favorite games hands down to play anytime of the year, but especially during Halloween is Castlevania: Rondo of Blood. I'm so glad that this game is more readily available now as when I first learned about the game I had to track down a used PC Engine Duo system, not to mention fork out a little over $100 for the original game. While I don't regret my decision, I am looking forward to replaying this game as part of the new Castlevania collection made available on the PS4. What is there not to like about this game...say other than it's difficulty? Rondo of Blood is a return to the classic Castlevania gameplay, featuring great graphics and animated cut scenes, new enemy designs and one of the best video game soundtracks from it's era. Rondo of Blood is one of the crown jewels in the Castlevania family and deserves to be played no matter the time of year.</div>
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Come back tomorrow for round 2 of my retro Halloween Horror fun!</div>
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flywheelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404740580161509052noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1291339338150629748.post-73417886984451350932018-10-19T18:03:00.000-07:002018-10-19T18:03:44.842-07:00CustomGameCases.com - A ReviewIf you are like me and take pride in how you display your collection, then you may have heard of or used <a href="http://customgamecases.com/">CustomGameCases.com</a> before. A lot of people are fine with just shelving their loose games on a shelf and calling it a day, but my game room is out in the open on the lower level of my home and I want the game shelves to look as nice and clean as possible. Enter custom cases.<br />
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I've printed my own DVD covers for Sega CD, Sega Saturn and Sega Dreamcast games in the past and even did several Game Boy Advance covers for old DS cases, but this is my first time branching out and wanting to case my loose NES and SNES game library. I had heard good things of Custom Game Cases before, especially in the forums over at <a href="http://www.thecoverproject.net/">The Cover Project</a> so I decided to place an order earlier this year.<br />
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Back in January I placed an order for a 2 NES cases, 2 SNES cases, 1 N64 case and 1 Game Boy Color case. The GBC case was for an import game where they would have to build the cover so I knew it would take additional time, but I had no idea just how long it would take.<br />
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Fast forward to May of this year and I still didn't have anything from my order in hand. I sent in a few emails via their website asking for an update and eventually I got half of my order in the mail. While I appreciated the gesture, the lack of communication was frustrating to say the least. I was told that the vertical SNES and N64 artwork I had requested was still being built and was pretty far down in the que. I was also asked if I follow them on Instagram (which at the time I didn't even use Instagram) as they did post an update there that included my custom GBC cover/case. I asked if I could substitute those SNES & N64 cases with NES cases for different games and they did get me two cases out pretty quick...however they didn't ship my GBC case! Several emails went back and forth before they finally shipped my GBC case...which arrived earlier this week.<br />
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The case turned out beautifully. I've owned this loose cart of Ketto Transformers Beast Wars: Beast Senshi Saikyo Ketteisen for several years now, acquired for fairly cheap in a Yahoo! Japan auction. I've never seen a boxed copy so having a case made was the next best thing. </div>
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As you can see, these cases are made by Custom Game Cases themselves and specifically made for Game Boy games. In addition to Game Boy, Atari Lynx carts fit in the case great too. There is a place on the left to securely hold an instruction booklet, but as you can see that is something that my copy of the game is lacking.<br />
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Over all I LOVE these cases. At $4.00 each they won't break the bank, however shipping will...more on that later. I don't have enough room on my shelves to case my whole loose Game Boy collection, but these are so nice I may have to case some of my favorite games.<br />
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I also decided to try one of their NES cases. I've previously tried a Bit Box that Stone Age Gamer offers, but found them to be too bulky and I worried about how they would hold up in the future. These cases are very sturdy and bout the same size as your typical Sega Genesis case. The quality of the printed insert is good and mimics the original box art perfectly.</div>
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I like how the spine is laid out, with the black block at the top w/ the Nintendo Entertainment System logo. I've seen designs that leave this off and stay more true to the box art, but I love how uniform these cases look side by side on my shelf.</div>
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Similar to the Game Boy cases, the cart fits snuggly in the case on the right side. The left side has two tabs that will hold the instruction booklet securely in place. When closed, the case snaps together tight and will keep out dust or other contaminants.</div>
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The only SNES case that I was able to get with vertical artwork was for my Musya game. I'm not sure why I chose this particular game to get cased first, but it turned out beautifully. I like the vertical artwork over the original horizontal layout, simply for the fact that the spines match the NES cases. </div>
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The interior of the SNES case is nearly identical to the NES case, only with the cartridge area shaped differently. I did find out that the cart only snaps in with the cart's spine label facing to the right as shown.</div>
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A few pros and cons regarding the cases and my first ordering experience with Custom Game Cases:</div>
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<b>PROS:</b></div>
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<li>Fantastic quality in both the cases and the prints. At $4 each the cases are affordable.</li>
<li>To save on money you can also order a blank case and print your own cover.</li>
<li>Great selection of covers available for selection.</li>
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<b>CONS:</b></div>
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<li>Shipping. I don't know how they base their shipping, but to ship 6 NES cases to my home is about $18! In my opinion they could use the flat rate shipping products from USPS, or just use normal USPS Priority mail and ship for less. The shipping is one reason I've not placed my second order yet.</li>
<li>Communication is lacking. They need a better way of communicating with their customers. I understand it takes time to build custom covers, but keep the customer in the loop - don't leave them hanging!</li>
<li>Not all cover art is readily available. I originally purchased a N64 case for Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth and requested the vertical artwork. I was told much later that the artwork had to be made and my order was like 19th in line...basically it wouldn't be ready anytime soon. I wish they wouldn't give the option between vertical and horizontal if they aren't ready to be printed.</li>
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I don't know if this business is the primary business for the owners or if it's more of a side project, but they seem to have a lot of orders coming through at all times that I wonder if more hired help would benefit them. As frustrated as I was that my initial order took 9 months to be completed, I do plan on placing smaller orders to case my loose NES collection. After that I'll move onto SNES and maybe N64. I'm not a fan of the Universal Game Cases so I'd like to get rid of the N64 cases I have...but it'll take a lot of time, money and patience going through these guys. Recommended, but be ready for delays.</div>
flywheelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404740580161509052noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1291339338150629748.post-19235207112511923842018-09-09T19:10:00.003-07:002018-09-09T19:12:16.330-07:00Tomy Mini Nintendo CapsulesIf you have a dedicated game room, you may be like me where you like to adorn your room or shelves with video game related toys and knick knacks. You've probably seen these red toy capsules at your local Target or other retail store in your area. When I came across a few that were on clearance I finally took the plunge and bought one out of sheer curiosity.<br />
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I believe the MSRP on these capsules is $5.99 and for that price I just wasn't willing to give one a try. Clearance price of $2? Sure, why not. After all, I had the chance of landing a cool Famicom controller I could put on my keychain.</div>
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At least with this wave, there were 5 different controllers randomly packaged inside the capsule. The classic Famicom, Super Famicom, N64, Wii and Wii w/ Motion Plus controllers. I was really hoping for either the Famicom or Super Famicom myself. Instead, I was lucky enough to pull the...</div>
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The Wii controller. At least I got the black controller w/ Motion Plus. Despite it not being the controller I was hoping for, it's actually not that bad. The level of detail put into it is quite well. The clear translucent A button can actually be depressed. The is a hole in the top of the controller and I initially thought that maybe there was an LED bulb inside...but it's hollow. None the less, it's still a neat little Nintendo branded item to place on my Nintendo gaming shelf. </div>
flywheelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404740580161509052noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1291339338150629748.post-50494260797265379202018-07-14T20:47:00.002-07:002018-07-14T20:47:33.557-07:00Retro Store Visit: Matt's Game ExchangeI first learned of Matt's Game Exchange when I picked up managing a few locations for my company in Greensboro, NC. I have visited the store a few times and made a few purchases over the last year or so, but I never thought to do one of these retro store visit type posts. I'm not sure when I last visited the store (I'm going to guess sometime in the fall of 2017) so these pictures are probably outdated now, but I've got them sitting on my laptop's hard drive so why not share them?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc9_ZMeKElJEGbNsyuvYGNeF1T1piSHZLSVuRtMd6VvKcG82u9Jv4BXL3vLjsYgsP6pnrq1-ll0OmOejiLSjumiGGFmpjj20nTgaNUit4Mu-vaH1VfElGuxmdSsKgokHKPkaKqQKM3WIuw/s1600/IMG_8842.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc9_ZMeKElJEGbNsyuvYGNeF1T1piSHZLSVuRtMd6VvKcG82u9Jv4BXL3vLjsYgsP6pnrq1-ll0OmOejiLSjumiGGFmpjj20nTgaNUit4Mu-vaH1VfElGuxmdSsKgokHKPkaKqQKM3WIuw/s320/IMG_8842.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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This particular store is located at 2924 West Gate City Blvd., Suite A in Greensboro, NC. The store isn't that far of I-40 and it's pretty easy to get in and out of. The store is located in a strip mall and is a rather large store. So large in fact that their shelves help create a smaller shopping area, while the rest of the store is used for storage (?). They never seem to have huge inventory of games, but their selection is pretty varied and they seem to have a good flow of trade ins.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUnkmosbAjCGf5AMIR65Xk3QWMf26NWtyK38Dli8iAUj_z8m58l5GraWkjMBoPNFq-j1hVvENp_2Xiyj4U1jrxBve7yF324CUKJVUxHZej4cLlel5iCNgOlWQafkIkn1aCRYbgbD6EgpC_/s1600/IMG_8843.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUnkmosbAjCGf5AMIR65Xk3QWMf26NWtyK38Dli8iAUj_z8m58l5GraWkjMBoPNFq-j1hVvENp_2Xiyj4U1jrxBve7yF324CUKJVUxHZej4cLlel5iCNgOlWQafkIkn1aCRYbgbD6EgpC_/s400/IMG_8843.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Most of the higher end (i.e. expensive) games are kept in the glass cases over near the register, but that doesn't mean there aren't some good games out on the shelves. The first section of games that you can easily browse is their NES section. Here you can see a decent amount of loose NES carts as well as a few boxed games. Looks like I spy a few boxed SNES games too.<br />
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I swear everyone's SNES section these days seems to be filled with the same sports and low budget titles. I don't remember anything in this section standing out to me...though I have been know to buying a baseball game if I find one I don't already own.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpmtQorv9OlrwvFzePTPBWcnNW7pOPVmf1U0MssyUnZGi2SNWRlICYYJB4yWI9bAeFxpLCdeEzxXZ9lLkpujG7_APxtaBiPfE4BaNBu0icZEwfmbn6Ou5VJGdY4PpLmQuE00iLcFWaHi2o/s1600/IMG_8846.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpmtQorv9OlrwvFzePTPBWcnNW7pOPVmf1U0MssyUnZGi2SNWRlICYYJB4yWI9bAeFxpLCdeEzxXZ9lLkpujG7_APxtaBiPfE4BaNBu0icZEwfmbn6Ou5VJGdY4PpLmQuE00iLcFWaHi2o/s400/IMG_8846.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Below the SNES section was their Genesis selection. A good bit of boxed games, something I'm always glad to see. I'll buy those cheap priced boxed Genesis games sometimes just for the clamshell case. I believe I purchased Double Dragon 3 from this location in one of my previous visits. Plenty of loose carts on the shelves below, but I rarely even look at those.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnc0TXRt-8pw8tZAsfKsIUEi9JSSJfZdb361IYXduZtPv3hpkL1VRKBKen773e0Um-cugJeFVWr4Lcnn9rZDaCAGFIvoob57bmsxAo68K-7rJR9hoTpkxe1TKLfjRiL4MVse0tVl_osgJ4/s1600/IMG_8844.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnc0TXRt-8pw8tZAsfKsIUEi9JSSJfZdb361IYXduZtPv3hpkL1VRKBKen773e0Um-cugJeFVWr4Lcnn9rZDaCAGFIvoob57bmsxAo68K-7rJR9hoTpkxe1TKLfjRiL4MVse0tVl_osgJ4/s400/IMG_8844.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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My guess is now that Hyperkin has released their Retron 77 that old Atari 2600 carts may start moving a little faster. Their selection was small, but they had a few decent games for just a few bucks each. Crystal Castles anyone?</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVzcAOPXELhUcB3T-rEZbPAfF4fKZ6_WQe3oz74QTu0vzhbcDUbbNRfyZ4hZVG-8ZK2qyv45nWoYcxEjLO0N37CDncowzUjbLSmG5jP9Ay1Hja7zgsF8QZhavIbbdaH4m4RbIDG0IDZgHr/s1600/IMG_8848.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVzcAOPXELhUcB3T-rEZbPAfF4fKZ6_WQe3oz74QTu0vzhbcDUbbNRfyZ4hZVG-8ZK2qyv45nWoYcxEjLO0N37CDncowzUjbLSmG5jP9Ay1Hja7zgsF8QZhavIbbdaH4m4RbIDG0IDZgHr/s400/IMG_8848.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
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The next section over contained GameCube games. This is one system I'd like to have more games for, but it's getting harder for me to find games that want and aren't priced too high.</div>
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Playstation 2 was the next section and I was surprised to see that it barely filled up the 4 foot section it was given. Usually finding PS2 games isn't hard. At least their selection (on this visit) wasn't all sports titles.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhWYl0WALSnyvxzPgg6625o_PX9qDZzD59MZ_0idQYH1NvQbPGvkOKRgn1QaYzFxgeCtuWWmOB4rVjVCo3WGtCPFAT-20nRpQDmL1fzXtsmRkTaWIaVq9otdp2pynza-w-58bkmfYWhCFa/s1600/IMG_8852.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhWYl0WALSnyvxzPgg6625o_PX9qDZzD59MZ_0idQYH1NvQbPGvkOKRgn1QaYzFxgeCtuWWmOB4rVjVCo3WGtCPFAT-20nRpQDmL1fzXtsmRkTaWIaVq9otdp2pynza-w-58bkmfYWhCFa/s320/IMG_8852.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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If I thought the PS2 selection was sparse, check out how bare the Xbox 360 section was during this visit! Either they have been moving a lot of 360 games or people just weren't trading them in.</div>
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The Playstation 3 section however had a few more games to chose from. Nothing that grabbed my attention, but I wasn't a huge fan of the PS3.</div>
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Their Xbox One and PS4 sections were filled in a little more. Decent selection from what I can remember, but I usually look for more retro stuff when I visit these type stores.</div>
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Unfortunately I wasn't able to get any pictures of their display cases, but they had some great retro games under the glass. Everything from NES to TurboGrafx. I enjoyed talking to the guys that worked in the store. They were courteous and I could tell that they knew their stuff. It also seemed as if this particular location was smaller than the the store located in Florence, SC. I haven't visited that location, but I'll have to try and swing by there on my next trip down to Myrtle Beach.</div>
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Overall the store is pretty cool, but like with many retro stores you may not find necessarily what you're looking for on your first visit. Stores like this you have to visit often and be ready to jump on that "rare" game when you find it as the inventory is constantly changing. Their prices overall are about what you'd expect to find in a brick & mortar retro game store. Not super cheap, but not quite eBay prices either. If you're ever in the Greensboro area or just passing through, you oughta stop in and give them a whirl.</div>
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You can find Matt's Game Exchange <a href="http://mattsgameexchange.com/">online</a> or check out their Facebook <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MattsGameExchangeNC/?hc_ref=ARR0ahYihhnjtLzrDWSy-zdC_2tGdhJ6eZZgZoc447ONkapXToBohRi28HqwFXLf6zk&fref=nf">pages</a> for more information.</div>
flywheelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404740580161509052noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1291339338150629748.post-65414881362224947262018-07-01T18:44:00.001-07:002018-07-01T18:44:41.353-07:00PlayStation Days of Play<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Well so much for getting this post out on time!! When Sony rolled out their Days of Play campaign Father's Day weekend this year, it officially marked my 1 year anniversary as a PS4 owner. Why is this a big deal? Well for me, I haven't had much of a relationship w/ Sony or the PlayStation brand.</div>
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Last year when Sony first unveiled the gold PS4, I contemplated purchasing the gold console. Not because it was gold or limited, but for the fact that it was a good deal. Last year, 2017, the gold PS4 retailed for $249.99 and contained a 1 TB HD as opposed to the 500 GB HD that most consoles at retail currently had. There were a few games that had caught my eye from time to time in my Game Informer magazine and it just seemed as it the PS4 had the "edge" over the Xbox One that I also owned. As much as I loved my Xbox 360, my love for Microsoft's platform was waning and I needed to do something about it.</div>
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I ended up grabbing the gold PS4 as a Father's Day / early birthday gift to myself. I started building my library slowly with Ratchet & Clank as my first purchase. I was a huge fan of the series on the PS2 so I knew that was a safe place to begin. Once I finished I wasn't sure where to go next. Thankfully with the PS4 being out for several years there were no shortages of games for me to try. I grabbed a few games from a GameStop during one of their better sales events and I tried The Last of Us Remastered Edition next. I did a <a href="http://adventuresinvideogames.blogspot.com/2018/01/initial-thoughts-last-of-us-remastered.html">post</a> at the beginning of 2018 as I was just getting into the game and after I finished it, I was hooked. While I enjoyed playing the Dead Rising games on my Xbox One, I was falling in love w/ the PS4 after playing just a few games.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3N_toemYI6j-Tk175_EeArdM7d4ACl_TqH4f-B-7gubDP4jkizURkvsf5xSSsk0eMCpVZf_RC2EGYw87PbJUcjlsrfien4blXj-PB1A3qX9OJyfiJIs0uo4OQ7hQqylQVk_Xqv16inDrG/s1600/sony_3000550_ratchet_and_clank_ps4_1243557.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3N_toemYI6j-Tk175_EeArdM7d4ACl_TqH4f-B-7gubDP4jkizURkvsf5xSSsk0eMCpVZf_RC2EGYw87PbJUcjlsrfien4blXj-PB1A3qX9OJyfiJIs0uo4OQ7hQqylQVk_Xqv16inDrG/s200/sony_3000550_ratchet_and_clank_ps4_1243557.jpg" width="200" /></a>Ever since Sony threw their name into the home video game console wars, I've always had a luke warm reception to the PlayStation brand. I have always been a Nintendo fan (and closet Sega fan) so when the PS1 was announced, I was still firmly in Nintendo's camp. It wasn't until the first PlayStation was remolded as the PSOne that I bought my first PlayStation console. I waited a good number of years before jumping onto the PS2 bandwagon. I had bought the original Xbox over the PS2 so it took me awhile to get acclimated w/ the PS2's library. As I mentioned before, the Ratchet & Clank became my go to franchise and the games I played the most. I mostly skipped over the PS3 era because of my love for the 360. I have a PS3, but it rarely gets used these days. Hopefully that paints a decent enough picture of why I was a little hesitant in buying a PS4, but let me tell you one year later it's a decision that I do NOT regret!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjNEXaTYX06-ka7a3dAPIKP7mZvYBju2cG64-EAh4Jk-2RmDXcAWWwgRw78gHALRP8gxv3zLOfdGRdpjPBv6E-LiF9AYF-JE2BxZ-O3jyOvSXQ-DRJQor1zOg6TML8fI51LhizcG72n4iU/s1600/6138365_sd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="550" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjNEXaTYX06-ka7a3dAPIKP7mZvYBju2cG64-EAh4Jk-2RmDXcAWWwgRw78gHALRP8gxv3zLOfdGRdpjPBv6E-LiF9AYF-JE2BxZ-O3jyOvSXQ-DRJQor1zOg6TML8fI51LhizcG72n4iU/s200/6138365_sd.jpg" width="200" /></a>Most of my modern gaming has been back and forth between the PS4 and the Nintendo Switch. I've enjoyed picking up some of the Limited Run exclusives as well as some of the exclusives from PlayAsia.com for my PS4. I still game on some of my retro consoles as well, but when it comes to modern gaming I have found my two favorite platforms. Microsoft as fallen behind in this modern gaming era (at least for me) and I'm not sure what it'll take for me to buy a new game on release date. Maybe this upcoming Halo game they teased at E3 will draw me back in for awhile, but right night I just can't see my Xbox One getting much use. Currently I'm finishing up the DLC for Horizon Zero Dawn, a game that I have <i>loved</i> every minute of. I find it a little ironic too that this was one of the games that was featured in last year's Days of Play and I knew nothing of the game. Thanks to my public library of all places, I rented HZD a few months ago and instantly fell in love with the story and gameplay.</div>
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I don't know what game I'll jump into next. It may not be a console exclusive, but it will be on the PS4. Perhaps I'll visit the Resident Evil universe (haven't played a RE game since RE2 on the N64!) or I try to find a reasonably priced Far Cry 5? I'm still juggling a few other games at the moment, but whatever path I take next with my PS4 I'm assured it'll be a fun ride.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCHWaDsHxiyAy8nMGDxMWQYMB52sKsgDlhhZa7zfRpxeIbIwATm6wPFP4rq20I-ZGvsEm77maM6TjCbvE5ju8YnF5CHGUEaSim4VjxADUEVVPYFtzeGPIsmvnqvrjCu3mOjjP7ElkJUWUT/s1600/27552178157_ba71da6fc0_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCHWaDsHxiyAy8nMGDxMWQYMB52sKsgDlhhZa7zfRpxeIbIwATm6wPFP4rq20I-ZGvsEm77maM6TjCbvE5ju8YnF5CHGUEaSim4VjxADUEVVPYFtzeGPIsmvnqvrjCu3mOjjP7ElkJUWUT/s400/27552178157_ba71da6fc0_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I was surprised to see that this year's Days of Play exclusive PS4 console jumped $50. If anything I thought the price may have dropped if not stayed at $249.99. I wasn't wild with the new design so I'm glad I grabbed the gaudy gold edition last year. My only grip was that I <i>just</i> paid $39.99 for the deluxe version of Horizon Zero Dawn and then it winds up being $20 as part of this sale!</div>
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Looking forward I have my eye on the new Spider-Man game coming. I don't buy many games new anymore these days (for many reasons), however this may be a day one purchase for me. I feel like I've come a long way in a short time with Sony and the PS4 has really helped renew my interest in the PS brand and the company as a whole. Not sure what lies ahead w/ their next console, but for now I'm loving my "new" PS4.</div>
flywheelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404740580161509052noreply@blogger.com2