Kingdoms of the Lost - a swords and sorcery fantasy MUD that gives you the freedom to play how you want.
Sega Genesis Classic Game Console - Gaming Thoughts
The Sega Genesis was one of my favorite gaming consoles of all time. There were excellent fighting games like Streets of Rage, roleplaying like Phantasy Star IV, strategy titles like Warsong, platformers like Sonic and even sports titles like the Madden football series.
Peggle 2 - Xbox One Review
Delightful.
Sometimes I really like having one word that summarizes my time with a video game. One example that stands out was my Ni no Kuni review, where 'enchanting' came to mind. That game had an almost magical quality to the visuals that mixed perfectly with a charming story.
Peggle 2 two certainly has plenty of its own charm, and that helps to make up for a handful of smaller deficiencies in a fun game that might not stack up quite as well to is predecessor.
Sometimes I really like having one word that summarizes my time with a video game. One example that stands out was my Ni no Kuni review, where 'enchanting' came to mind. That game had an almost magical quality to the visuals that mixed perfectly with a charming story.
Peggle 2 two certainly has plenty of its own charm, and that helps to make up for a handful of smaller deficiencies in a fun game that might not stack up quite as well to is predecessor.
Killzone: Shadow Fall - PS4 Review
I have always viewed Killzone as Sony's counter to Halo. They are both science fiction first-person shooters, though Halo has always been regarded as the better of the two by a fairly comfortable margin. I never really go into the Killzone series. I know there have been games from the series on PlayStations 2 and 3, as well as the PSP and Vita. I even went so far as to pick up the HD collection on PS3 several months ago really cheap, though I have not really had a chance to settle down and play it much. I have poked at all three campaigns at one point or another, and I also spent some time with the online. Generally the titles were enjoyable, but they never really hooked me.
Darkout - PC Review
Darkout is an interesting game I had not hear much about prior to its release. Watching video and images of the title, it was easy to draw some comparisons to well-known titles such as Terrarira and Minecraft. Darkout has mechanics that seem similar to these titles, but the aesthetic is completely different, and I actually found that to be my favorite part of the game.
Joe Danger - PSN Review
You know those games that get great reviews, and look like you should really enjoy them because they seem to be well made games with an entertaining theme? We all see them from time to time, and I am sure all of us eventually find one or two that seem like they should just be a lot of fun, and yet for some inexplicable reason, just do not resonate the way you had hoped and thought they would.
Toki Tori - PS3 Review
Toki Tori is a challenging puzzle game wrapped up in an incredibly cute package. This title could definitely catch someone unprepared, as it looks almost like a platforming game. My youngest adores those types of games and was curious about the vibrantly colored yellow chick, but was surprised that it was a slower paced puzzle game instead.
Rainbow Moon - PS Vita Review
SideQuest Studios hits a lot of points in Rainbow Moon that I really look for in a game. I love the RPG genre, and if you can toss in some strategic gameplay to boot? I am going to probably like it. These are the types of games I grew up on when I was younger, sinking just a ton of hours into my RPG games. Rainbow Moon brought back plenty of that nostalgia for me, but it succeeded in still feeling modern and entertaining.
Beyond: Two Souls - PS3 Review
Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory - PS3 Review
The Hyperdimension games have always tried to straddle a line between serious themes glossed over with plenty of tongue-in-cheek humor. The premise is a JRPG set in the world of Gamindustri - with main characters called CPUs that represent each of the video game consoles. This current title takes place several years after the last one, and during that time of peace and prosperity the heroines have become quite comfortable and relaxed to a fault.
Instead of a review today, you get to see me in the hospital
The fun thing about a blog gaming site - not every post is completely about games. I had a review all scheduled to go live this morning, but I decided to scrap it for a couple of days after I wound up with a surprise visit to the hospital two nights ago.
Resogun - PlayStation 4 Review
I really did not know what to expect from Resogun. Shoot-em-ups are not one of my favorite gaming genres, but Housemarque has a great track record with the Stardust games. I dropped hours into Super Stardust HD, so I came into Resogun with a fair amount of confidence that I would enjoy it - and my confidence proved founded.
Happy Thanksgiving!
For those of us in America, today is Thanksgiving Day! I certainly try to remember to be thankful throughout the year, but this is without a doubt my favorite holiday. Football, food... and four days off from work.
Knack - PlayStation 4 Review
Knack is a game that carried a lot of weight on its shoulders, being one of the two retail exclusives for the recently released Sony PlayStation 3. The titular character is at times quite large in the game, but often quite small. Unfortunately this title buckled under the weight of its expectations, creating an average game that makes for a lackluster release title.
Xbox One hardware review, plus FIFA 14 for PS4
Busy, busy weekend. Despite what SOME bloggers out there think, I do not get to game for a living. However, I did spend most of my weekend in front of the television. At least a major chunk of that was done from my exercise bike, so that is semi-healthy, right?
The Xbox One is set up and rolling
So early this morning, I got up and ran out to nab my Xbox One and get it set up. I waited until the younger two kids were gone for school (the oldest already knew it was coming and takes classes online from home, so there was really no getting around her on that one as I save the big 'reveal' for the household on Thanksgiving next Thursday morning.
Super Motherload Review, additional PS4 thoughts
It has been a very busy few days in my neck of the woods. Aside from trying to keep up with my online PlayStation 3 titles (my franchise in Madden 25 with a buddy there, and currently 3 different games of chess going in Pure Chess at the moment), work has not really been taking it easy on me (we just had a big slew of software releases, so my Support team has been putting in some extra time). Still, this gives me a chance to talk briefly about one of the titles I have reviewed for the PS4, another that is coming up shortly and to share a handful of other quick thoughts about the system.
More PlayStation 4 love
So I did not get quite as much time in with my shiny new system as I hoped this weekend due to some serious storms in my neck of the woods yesterday and some running around on Saturday. Thankfully sleep was treated by and large as optional and I did manage to sink some time in on several titles. I also have fielded some questions here and on Digitally Downloaded I thought I would try to answer as well.
The PlayStation 4 has left its box...
... and it has found its way onto my shelf near the PlayStation 3. A much more detailed write-up will be appearing on Digitally Downloaded tomorrow as I break down the console, the controller, set up, operating system and more.
Not a lot to 'report' today... but over the next week?
PS4 content. I'll be posting over at Digitally Downloaded as well, for those of you who visit both sites.
Final Fight: Double Impact - PSN Review
I remember dropping plenty of quarters into the cabinet for Final Fight when I was younger, and though the console ports were never quite as good - I picked them up and enjoyed them just the same. Early on after I got my Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, I found myself flocking to some of the old arcade titles that showed up to download. I still have most of my older consoles and have these versions of Final Fight or Double Dragon - but they are not quite the same thing as the arcade ports.
4 Years of Chalgyr's Game Room
So... I finally remembered my own Blog's Anniversary for a change. The last few years, I kept meaning to get a post written up and set to go live and... inevitably each and every year something comes up, I get busy and I forget about it. Well, not this year!
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| One of my first blog headers |
Some other articles, what's new around here and more
Posts have been down just a tad lately here, only getting two or three in a week lately. Lots going on that is contributing to that, but I have been seeing lots of hits and good comments when I do get things live - for that I am very much appreciative!
Dead Nation - PSN Review
Coming right off of Halloween, this one seemed appropriate for a quick Monday morning article.
I am not someone who was ever really smitten with the zombie craze of the last few years. There are a few exceptions in both movies or games, but generally speaking zombies make for boring, mindless antagonists that gleefully shamble about like rotting Lemmings.
I am not someone who was ever really smitten with the zombie craze of the last few years. There are a few exceptions in both movies or games, but generally speaking zombies make for boring, mindless antagonists that gleefully shamble about like rotting Lemmings.
Battlefield 3 - PS3 Review
The FPS genre is not my favorite. I enjoy the games, but tend to burn through the campaign modes quickly and burnout on the multiplayer as well. I enjoy them for short periods of time and move on. I believe the first Battlefield game I played was Vietnam, but with DICE's popular series seeing its latest release a few days ago (sadly I do not have my hands on that one yet), I figured I would talk a bit about its predecessor.
The Guided Fate Paradox - PSN Review
First off - Happy almost-Halloween! Bit late for a background update to match the season, but I went ahead and made a quick one. Now, onto the main event:
The Guided Fate Paradox is a title I caught a trailer of in passing a few months ago, and I have been looking forward to it since. I cannot put my finger on just what it was about the game that caught my eye back then, and even asking most of my friends about it, most have not heard much about it aside from what I have been telling them. Their loss - but I will encourage the JRPG fans among them to give this one a go as soon as it releases on PlayStation Network on November 5th.
The Guided Fate Paradox is a title I caught a trailer of in passing a few months ago, and I have been looking forward to it since. I cannot put my finger on just what it was about the game that caught my eye back then, and even asking most of my friends about it, most have not heard much about it aside from what I have been telling them. Their loss - but I will encourage the JRPG fans among them to give this one a go as soon as it releases on PlayStation Network on November 5th.
The Wolf Among Us - Episode 1: Faith - Xbox Live Review
I admit I have only played a small portion of The Walking Dead, the hugely popular episodic game released by Telltale Games. It is not that I am not interested - quite the opposite, I just keep getting distracted from it. I have it and I have watched my son enough to know I would no doubt enjoy it. Still, as much as I like the series and enjoy a good zombie game, the idea of The Wolf Among Us appealed to me even more.
A preview of The Guided Fate Paradox
One of the games I have really been looking forward to this fall has been The Guided Fate Paradox. NIS America has released some new screenshots, a trailer and some character art I figured I would share.
Super Stardust HD - PSN Review
I owned an Xbox 360 before I had my PlayStation 3, and most of my friends who had an Xbox 360 were hooked on a little game called Geometry Wars. I played the demo and liked it enough for the most part, but it never quite clicked with me for some reason. Fast forward another year or so, and I had a PlayStation 3 and one of the first titles I picked up was the similar but much flashier looking Super Stardust HD.
Preview: Infinity Wars - PC
There are a lot of collectible or trading card games out there these days (CCG or TCG depending on your favorite term), and while they seem to be flooding the mobile market, a few notable ones have made their way to bigger screens as well. In the last year we have seen the latest Magic: The Gathering hit just about every format imaginable, and I still think Might & Magic: Duel of Champions is an outstanding offering as well.
Skydive: Proximity Flight - PSN Review
Heights in video games seldom 'get to me', as there are usually several disconnects that keep me from getting completely immersed in the situation. Skydive however, is all about the heights and there were a few moments when I found the ground rushing up to me and I was pulling back a bit harder than normal - or leaning with my body as well as the controller to try and bank around a mountain's edge.
Girl Fight - PSN Review
Girl Fight is not trying to set the bar for creative storytelling here, as it was obviously marketed to a very specific demographic. The permise circles around a collection of lovely women gathered up by a nebulous group by the name of THE FOUNDATION. These subjects are then virtually reconstructed in a device called The Mainframe, and these women are pitted against one another in an attempt to escape.
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WipEout HD - PSN Review
I am not by nature a huge fan of racing games. Mario Kart is a pretty good example of how realistic I want them to be. I have played some like Forza, Gran Turismo and Project Gotham Racing, and I am neither terribly good at nor particularly enamored with them. They are generally fun in small bursts, but I do not log hours upon hours with most racing games.
Magic 2014 - Duels of the Planeswalkers Expansion - PC/PS3 Review
I was very happy with the earlier Magic 2014 release, reviewing it at 8.25 out of 10. It introduced some new sealed deck options, cards with lots of new mechanics and thankfully - more deck variety than the prior couple of releases.
Batman: Arkham Asylum - PS3 Review
Licensed games have a really rough history in the video game industry. E.T anyone? But every now and then a few of them get it right, and thankfully Batman: Arkham Asylum is a great example of a well-known character being treated right. I have owned it for a while now, but for whatever reason I never sat down and played through it. I still have Arkham City sitting on the shelf next to it, but I promise it will be getting played sooner than later after having experienced Asylum.
Military Madness: Nectaris - PSN Review
Military Madness: Nectaris is one of the older games out there for the PlayStation Network, and one of those I have had sitting on my hard drive for a very long time. The turn-based strategic combat of Military Madness years ago always appealed to me, so I was anxious to dive back into this game and give it a go.
Persona 4 Arena - Xbox 360 Review
It was pretty recently I wrapped up playing Persona 4 Golden, which I absolutely loved. It is still my favorite PlayStation Vita game to date. I have actually been sitting on Persona 4 Arena for a few months now - but I kept putting off playing it because the events of this title were set two months after Persona 4. It was a good decision to wait, because while anyone can pick up Persona 4 Arena and play it, I definitely felt a stronger connection to the characters I knew from Persona 4 Golden than I did to the ones from Persona 3 I did not know anything about.
Card Hunter - PC Review
Card Hunter was not even on my radar a few weeks ago, and until a friend pointed it out to me, I had never heard of it. I missed the online beta, but it it up right when it released to the public, but I admit I was skeptical going into things. Web browser games have a somewhat iffy track record. Free-to-play often does not fare much better. Still, the game was described as a strategic collectible card game, and I am a bit of a sucker for both those genres.
Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl - 3DS Review
Games like Etrian Odyssey mimic what Wizardry and others did for years. While these types of games tend to build up loyal followings, they can be somewhat difficult for newcomers to enjoy. There is a lot of grinding and plenty of challenge to be had. Recently Atlus released the latest in the series, which is why The Millennium Girl almost caught me by complete surprise, coming out so close to the last title.
AiRace Speed - Nintendo 3DS Review
Racing titles, like platformers, are not the first genre I generally leap at, but having seen positive reviews for the prior AiRace titles and having seen the screens and gameplay footage for AiRace Speed, I was curious to see how this futuristic racing title would pan out.Tales to Enjoy! - 3DS Review
This is going to be one of my busier posting weeks - with five reviews in five days. Because of that, I figured I would go with a quick, lightweight review today about a pair of DSi download titles I recently had a chance to play. Tales to Enjoy! is sort of an overarching, almost 'brand name' for a series of games by Enjoy Gaming that target a much younger demographic than most video games.
Fatal Inertia EX - PlayStation 3 Review
I have gotten some very cool games from the PlayStation Plus program since signing up for it. Of more recent note are some of the bigger, full games like Borderlands, Sleeping Dogs and Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition. There have even been some very timely releases like Double Dragon: Neon for free on the day it came out.
Unfortunately the earlier offerings were generally not quite as good. I have touched on some of those, like Inferno Pool or the PlayStation Minis I reviewed here. There is no doubt in my mind that the PlayStation Plus service has only gotten better.
Well, one of the remnants from early on I still had not spent much time with until recently was Fatal Inertia.
Unfortunately the earlier offerings were generally not quite as good. I have touched on some of those, like Inferno Pool or the PlayStation Minis I reviewed here. There is no doubt in my mind that the PlayStation Plus service has only gotten better.
Well, one of the remnants from early on I still had not spent much time with until recently was Fatal Inertia.
Journey - PSN Review
Journey is not your typical video game. It does not try to be, and that is a good thing. It is more of an experience, often compared to titles like The Unfinished Swan, or to some extent, Limbo. On the one hand, because Journey uses a fairly unique style and presentation, I can understand those comparisons, but Journey is also very much its own game.
Angry Birds Star Wars - iPhone/iPad Review
Angry Birds is such an interesting title, because it can be so divisive among gamers. The concept is simple and reminds me of older trajectory based games like Scorched Earth - a title I spent a lot of time with back in high school. There is no denying the overall appeal of the game. It is readily available on lots of devices, the premise is simple but varying levels of success yield more stars for personal accomplishment, and as the many iterations since have demonstrated - there is a lot of variety that can be injected into the basic formula.
Hamsterball - PSN Review
This is a cute, quick little game that was yet again one of my earlier PlayStation Plus freebies. It sort of reminds me of the old Marble Madness game I played for the NES a million years ago - except I did not enjoy this title nearly as much as I recall Marble Madness.
Persona 4 Golden - Vita Review
I was excited when my wife got me my Sony PlayStation Vita earlier this year - and rightfully so. The hardware is very impressive - I reviewed the system here. Still, as I cited then, the hardware can only do so much. I am more impressed with the Vita than the 3DS as a console, but Nintendo's handheld has a better stable of games. This is still true today - but Persona 4 Golden is my favorite game on either console, which is saying something because Fire Emblem Awakening is still one of my favorite titles this year.
Digitally Downloaded and Otaku Gaming - more of my writing
I just figured I would take a few moments today to plug a couple of the other sites I write for - Digitally Downloaded and Otaku Gaming.
Star Wars: Force Collection - iOS Review
Two things most people who know me are aware I enjoy a great deal: Star Wars and CCG's (collectible card games). So when I heard that there would be an iOS game mixing those two elements together, I was more than a little excited. Still, when the recipe for success seems so certain, that usually means you are in for some degree of letdown.
