PSVita is Dust In The Wind…

I hacked my Vita last night and heard today that Sony Japan will no longer be manufacturing the Vita starting in 2019. Shortly after the announcement the deathblow came from Limited Run games announcing they’d stop releasing Vita games in 2019. Stick a fork in her, she’s done.

Polymega Official Launch Trailer

Welp, color me impressed. This thing is beautiful, the price is perfect, it plays pc engine cd, and they used the Saturn as a selling point which was unusually cool. And the fact all the systems output in HD is lovely. As I stated before I want that pc engine controller.

CUT N’ RUN The History of the new Atari…

For those of you whom may have backed atari latest venture or those skeptics like myself whom are curious if this is a scam/cash grab. There latest ventures have been broken down and what adds up is it stinks.

XBOX One has a New Controller And it Looks like Trash

XBox has unveiled its new accessibility controller and it looks terrible. While it has a similar look to classic controllers we know and love from the 8-bit generation, this over-sized button gimmick looks like garbage and seeing that the buttons are greatly over-sized not quite sure what the heck you’d use the controller for, but its programmable!

Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon Official Trailer

Stretch goal for Bloodstained was an 8bit game well, that game is finally upon us with a late may release. This looks really cool, and for 9.99 I think it’s worth a bite.

Is God of War The best game of 2018? Here’s my review!

As a new player of the God of War franchise I wasn’t 100% certain of what I was going to get from this game. The God Of War games already had a whopping 7 titles out and I’ve not played a single one – that is until now! God of War for PlayStation 4 was released here in Australia on the 20th April 2018 and I completed it within 2 days! Why did I get so immersed in this game? Let’s get into that now.

Brought to us by Santa Monica Studios exclusively for the PlayStation 4, God of War is one beautiful game. The development team have created a gameplay experience that is seamless with beautiful scenery throughout, excellent dialog between the characters and controls that rival the best platformer games out there. I almost feel that even if you don’t enjoy gaming you could easily pick up this game and be hooked from the first chapter.

Now keeping in mind I don’t wish to give too much away with this review, there are going to be some spoilers if you wish to stop reading now.

Cinematic and visually breathtaking from the intro.

 

After meeting Kratos and Atreus at the beginning of the game you’re already feeling the anguish and pain of the journey to come. The voice actors Christopher Judge as Kratos (also known for his work in StarGate SG1) and Sunny Suljic as Atreus both give outstanding performances. Also with the graphic design and lifelike effects given to each character it’s easy to be swept up in every emotion and feeling as the story unfolds.

The direction, production and cinematic style of the game was also well thought out and written. The scripting between the two is heart felt at times – when Kratos is not sure to console Atreus I could feel his pain and see that he is unsure if will he be doing the right thing by holding his son. Those tender moments are all timed perfectly throughout the game giving it the extra edge of feeling like your watching a movie.

Moving moments between father and son.

 

It’s important once progressing through the game to continue to upgrade each character. Taking on stronger enemies will also help you to grow however, they have the ability to kill you in a single hit if you don’t have adequate armour and stronger weaponry. This is easy enough to do whilst playing through. Just always be on the lookout for chests, ruins, side quests and favours along your journey. By completing these tasks or opening chests you will receive enchantments and items that will build up your weapon levels. The combo’s are also exciting to use and very straight forward with R1 & R2 used to strike. The controls to also use Artreus in combination with Kratos is so well done. The speed and accuracy in both of their movements is a credit to the studio and once you have a stronger pair even level 7 mini bosses will be a breeze to fight.

Upgrading weaponry is a must to successfully beat the game.

 

The game was action packed at every cornerstone of the game. It was also at the right moments and never too much or not enough. One fight after another is also concurrent in some areas which keeps your heart pumping so be prepared for some epic battles. Certain areas also have a greater difficulty to their mini bosses / sub bosses. The enemy characters are all exceptional and the boss fights at the end of each location are quite challenging. The final area fights can also go for quite a while – with some of the fights taking me 10-15 minutes from my last death to complete. The last boss Baldur is probably one of the best fighting scenes I’ve ever played and without spoiling it further I just hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Epic battles and cut scenes that are jaw dropping.

 

Now you might be thinking is a game guide required to complete this game? 100% no! I completed the game without the need for a guide. I’m not saying it’s easy however. Once you get the game play and achievements you quickly realise that areas will be visited again (sometimes up to 3 times) so that when you’re stronger or have additional weapons you’ll be able to complete the tasks. The game map is a vast area but don’t worry, you will be able to travel back quickly by opening portal doors the first time you visit them. Once you return with extra weapons such as electric arrows or the Krato’s blades you’ll be able to open chests that had been once locked. This will continue to build your level strength and give you more goals to do within the game.

Do I have any gripes with the game? Of course but only minor ones. I found that the controller can be particular on the O button when going up to the boat and sometimes I’ve found Atreus to be in the way. Other than that I found the battles to be challenging but fun once I had the controls downpat.

Once you’ve beaten the last boss you’ll be back on the initial story journey. This part of the story again brings you back to the cheeky and loving relationship between father and son. The ending has such a great explanation of Atreus and possibly what the future holds for the game franchise. I am expecting more games of this caliber from Santa Monica Studios and hopefully very soon! God of War is easily 2018’s best video game release and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Secret of Mana Remake PS4 | The Completionist | New Game Plus

Jirard The Completionist embarks on a journey to finish Secret of Mana for PS4.

The Collectorvision System: A Niche Game Console w/ Potential for Success or Disaster?

Recently Collectorvision Games showed off some work in progress art for an interesting system they have in development called The CollectorVision System. According to CV’s instagram page the system will be FPGA based (such as the Super NT) and will be able to play Colecovision, MSX and Sega Master System games via cart slot/SD cards in Full HD on your modern television.

Wow! This is something niche collectors like myself have been waiting for! I personally love Colecovision and Master System so this would be incredible. The WIP design looks great, it’s reminiscent of a Colecovision but also has a vcr / tape recorder look that’s very similar of electronics of the time period.

Now that we pointed at the positives, let’s play devils advocate… Collectorvision is responsible for the highly anticipated game Sydney Hunter a throwback platformer that boasted nice graphics and good gameplay for a plethora of retro systems. The game is out now for SNES and has mixed reviews in the community, the game is buggy and has many glitches and some have said it felt rushed. On top of that Collectorvision used Kickstarter to fund this game and they didn’t deliver what they promised to backers, people who pre-ordered the game from their website recieved the game before backers!

Not only did they mess up there but they also promised numbered golden carts, golden carts did come out but they weren’t numbered, like promised. You can also read the Kickstarter comment section from fans and backers tearing them apart, but the worst part Collectorvision just ignored their investers….

This display of disrespect is truly frustrating for those who backed a project they believed in. Now I’m not sure if this is related but John Lester aka Gamester81 who runs a successful YouTube channel reviewing retrogaming related products is the PR and Community Manager of CVG and was also part of the team trying to bring out the RetroVGS/Coleco Chameleon… And we all saw what a shit show that was. If John Lester does the PR and community manager he’s not doing his job as I assume those job titles means he’s the one who handles answering Kickstarter messages. So it makes me leary about this project.

In closing the system looks amazing and it’s features are more than appealing. If CVG goes the crowd funding route, I’m not sure if I’m confident in them delivering promises to their investers as they couldn’t do it with Sydney Hunter. While I’d like to have high hopes for this project, I guess I’ll wait to see what happens. What do you guys think?