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Month in Review - March 2017



Looks like it's that time of the month again! See everything that we've been up to and catch up on anything you may have missed.

First and foremost this month is that Nintendo finally released their new hardware. Love it? Hate it? Let us know and check out what we thought!

Along for the ride of the Switch's release was The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild which also saw a simultanious Wii U release. Tackling it on the new platform is a new writer to the team as we welcomed our second Marc! I myself tackled the Wii U version of Breath of the Wild since Marc, who also happens to be the second Lanthier on the team, had both our Switch and the copy of Zelda to go with it since we went halfsies. Who says I'm not an awesome older brother?

Article by Pierre-Yves
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SCUF Elite Collection Xbox One Controller - Hardware Review


Here at Chalgyr's Game Room "SCUF" has been synonymous with "quality" and in their most recent endeavor, that word remains at the forefront of thought whenever SCUF is brought up. When Microsoft launched its Elite Controller I was a bit concerned as the controller looked, felt, and behaved in a fashion very similar to how I have found SCUF controllers to behave. In retrospect I would go as far as saying that Microsoft took SCUF's approach to a professional controller to heart and really upped their game with the Elite controller. As far as I was concerned the Microsoft Elite controller was amongst the best ever made… Then SCUF went along and made it better.

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Danganronpa 1.2 Reload - PS4 Review: Part 2


Diiiing doooog… diiiing dooong… Ahem, may I have you attention please? The time is now 10:00 P.M. "The Second Part of the review" is now in effect. As such hang onto your hats as the dark dreary school has been replaced with a bright sunny beach somewhere down south. The name of the game is the same even if the scenery has changed.

Starting off in the same manner as the first, the protagonist is invited to the school though unlike the first, they are an Ultimate. What's their Ultimate? They forgot due to the shock of having walked into the school and then having found themselves on a sunny beach paradise with a pink bear who's told everyone involved that if they want to leave? They have to live in peace and harmony. This is Danganronpa though and sunshine and rainbows don't last for very long. Hello again Monokuma, what do you have in mind this time?


Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair

Because of some of the similarities, I left a few things out in Part 1 in order to concentrate more on them in Part 2, such as "Ultimates". The original fifteen students of the first *spoilers* plus the one that was already hidden away *end spoilers* were all invited to that particular school for a specific reason. They were all known as the Ultimate in what they did. A prodigy in their field. Baseball, being an Idol, a Writer, a Businessman so on and so forth. The same can be said for this second group of sixteen. They are all Ultimates in what they do though I found that unlike the first, I found it a lot harder to actually like this group.

The cast of Danganronpa just clicked. Even those that I didn't quite like eventually grew on me. The cast of Danganronpa 2 however? I didn't mind half the cast and of the half that remained? I was annoyed with some and I had honestly hoped that some of the others were on the fast track out. It's not to say that their writing or their designs were bad, actually the opposite, they were quite well written and as such, I hated their person.

Going straight from the first into the second it's easy to see both the similarities, the improvements and the contrasts from the get go. The similarities come in the playstyles. You move around in the first person, you can inspect how many points of interests that a room has by the click of a button and you can interact with those or another person by simply clicking on them. Improvements come in how much smoother it is to move around and how much smoother the environment looks. It's much less blurry than its predecessor. The contrasts? Those come with some of the other similarities.


You are trapped on this island with fifteen other people who now all have a motive to leave. If they kill someone, get away with it, they can leave. Doing so however means that everyone else dies. This gives the rest of the group a motive to stop them as they obviously don't want to die. Even if this paints a clear cut picture of how things are, there's never a clean cut picture even when you've amassed all the clue as Truth Bullets which is what makes Danganronpa's experience so damned good. Mentally scarring, but good.

Visually Danganronpa had a muted color scheme with a building completely shut out from the rest of the world including the "natural light". All the windows were covered with sheet metal and bolted down and all the doors to the outside were locked. ZERO natural light could make it in making night and day all sort of blend into one short of the two announcements from Monokuma for it being 7am and 10pm. Basically wake up and get out of bed and hurry up and get to sleep all while the interface turned from Yellow (Day) to Blue (Night).

While Danganronpa 2 follows this same formula, there's all the natural light in the world but the feeling of being trapped is just the same. Instead of being locked away in a giant building, you are essentially marooned on a resort island with no way off. While you can see the sun, feel the breeze at your back and even jump into the ocean for a swim, you are just as trapped here as you were inside the school making it possibly worse than before as there's no real way to enjoy yourself when you're constantly watching you back to make sure someone doesn't try to stab it.


Unfortunately stabbing does ensue and as such, murders and Class Trials are both back and in full force but not without some upgrades to keep things interesting. Searching for Truth Bullets for Class Trials remains the same with you requiring to talk to others and to investigate several locations in order to find clues. This ammunition is still going to be used in the same manner, but, why keep something the exact same when it works? Danganronpa 2 has you not only counter-argue with others but also agree with them in order to drive your points home.

That threw me off the first time. Wait? I have to agree with, crap then I can't say A, B or C! Multiple other features make their returns but not without some changes of their own. Hangman's Gambit which was an easy fill in the blanks now requires a lot more effort and gives a lot less help. Instead of floating letters that you just need to aim and break you've now got to mix two or more AND make sure they are going in the right order.

Even the comic book styled conclusion have gotten a revamp though personally I'm not sure if for better or worse. Now instead of having all the pieces with some extras thrown in to mess you up while putting it all together, you instead have sets of clues with extras thrown in to throw you off. Instead of saying "Go" to have everything play out you know now immediately that a clue was placed in the wrong slot. Going from having everything to work with over to a small set was off putting at first and after a bit of trial and error I did prefer the original style of having everything to work with from the get go. Everything to work with and immediately being told that you're wrong could be nice for Danganronpa 3. I guess we'll find out soon.



For anyone that's never played Danganronpa or Danganronpa 2, Danganronpa 1.2 Reload is a must as long as you don't mind be a tad horrified and mentally scarred. They are both brilliant in their presentations and their writing with each hitting the right level of emotions such as some lighter stuff after the heaviness of a murder and then a trial. Yes you know another one will be coming but in the meantime they let you relax just that little bit before taking it away all over again.

Game Information

Platform:
Sony PlayStation 4
Developer(s):
Spike Chunsoft
Publisher(s):
NIS America
Genre(s):
Visual Novel?
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
PC
Originals also on:
PS Vita / PC

Source:
Provided by Publisher


Article by Pierre-Yves
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Danganronpa 1.2 Reload - PS4 Review: Part 1


Diiiing doooon… diiiing doooon… Good morning, you guys! It is now 7:00 A.M.! Rise and shiiine! These words I never thought could be so horrifying. Trapped in a fully equipped and locked off from the rest of the world high school, fifteen students are presented with two options. Live in harmony together for the rest of their lives or kill someone, get away with it, and be allowed to leave. The catch? If the student who murders another gets away with it and is granted their freedom, everyone else dies.

I'll start off that Danganronpa 1.2 Reload has probably been one of the more traumatizing experiences that I've had in a long while. While a lot of people will be coming back to this either from the original release on the PlayStation Vita or the ported PC version, this, in its entirety, has been my first playthrough. This goes as much for D1 as it does D2 and other than the crazy not panda colored bear as he's quite literally split down the middle in Black and White, I knew nothing of anything. Feeling a bit like John Snow, I had to piece things together and at times be horrified as said things could go from bad to worse on said bear's, Monokuma's, will.


Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc

Fifteen different people. Fifteen different personalities. Fifteen different tempers just waiting to go off with the right push or motivation. Not one to sit around, this is exactly what Monokuma does. He gives them a reason to either prove that they are better than he thinks they are or simply give into the motivation and possibility escape at the cost of everyone else's lives. Needless to say that it doesn't take long for this crazy bear to be proven right and then the clock starts ticking. What kind of evidence can be found about "whodunit" and even with that evidence, can you prove it was them?

Danganronpa is a blend of a visual novel mixed in with a point and click. There's a lot, and I mean a LOT of dialog, so it wasn't unnatural to sit for ten to fifteen minutes at a time (minimum) either reading or listening to the voice overs. The writing however, even with the "whodunit" murdered corpses of your fellow students and sometimes close friends, was amazing. This has to be one of the best things that I've read in a long while as I didn't even bother to read a real book while going through this. We can't always just play through games and so I do read a lot to compensate but the level of writing, the interesting nature of each character, the sheer insanity at times of Monokuma, all of this made for one hell of a read which may be about the only issue that I had. My Kobo meanwhile collected some dust in the meantime.

Before getting into pointing fingers. Before getting into who did what and why. My biggest issue is that with everything that is on the line, with how high the stakes are, there's no way to lose. In that regard, Danganronpa is a Visual Novel with a straight path that can't be missed. Nothing will advance until after you've had the time to find everything that you need to. Once you do the ball starts to roll again but I would have figured that with the original concept that could have almost come out to a battle royal, there would have been more than one way to end this. I tried.


Starting off with fifteen students, the atmosphere is tense because everyone knows the rule. You want out? You murder someone. This is thankfully never a choice for you as they sit you into the passenger seat with a view of the events only after they happened. Some of these were brutal to see and I'll be honest. I set the controller down once or twice because I needed a second to look away as I wondered how someone could have done something the way that they did. On that level? Spike Chunsoft are pretty good at making a murder mystery. In some cases, even I wish they hadn't been that graphic as they weren't "over the top" compared to a lot of other series*. Instead they were quite plausible making the whole thing a tad bit much at times. That said, it means that they reached the goal that they set out to do.

Like the students inside of the school, Danganronpa is also good at taking things away from you as well. The tense atmosphere that is created slowly dissipates over time and with it both the cast, and you, will finally start to relax a bit as you think to yourself "Good, they are above this". WRONG. Just when things have mellowed out that's when it hits for maximum efficiency. EVERY TIME. They've done it and they've done it well. More than well really but I swear I'm still mildly scarred from some of those deaths.

Not everyone is the same. Some people may not even feel like it does anything while others may turn it off after the first murder because they cannot handle it. That is a person by person basis. The point that I want to make with not everyone is the same and not everyone will be attached to the same characters. Unfortunately for me, some of those that I liked the most were on the fast train and didn't make the credits.


I don't want to give any spoilers just in case that if you were like me, and haven't sat down to this yet, you won't know "who's" on their way out. What I can go into is how interesting things get once someone is murdered though. Once you can get past the horrors placed in front of you Danganronpa switches it up from being a school life simulator over to a murder investigation point and click. Investigating where someone died is just as important as talking to everyone else that remained either to find discrepancies in their stories, look for clues such as blood tracks or splatters on the wall or find that something isn't where you had originally seen it. All of these little facts get placed into what are known as Truth Bullets and you're about to need them for the Class Trial.

Class Trials, which even at the beginning will take up the bulk of your experience, will only get longer as the time allowed to investigate gets shorter. It's not a bad trade off as there's much more dialog and "sense of purpose" when in the trial than wandering down the halls for the xth time wondering what you missed in order to move on. Was it one person? Was it two people with one helping another out? Or was it two separate people and one decided to have fun with what they found another another fled the scene? All of these come together in the Class Trial and you'll need both your Truth Bullets and some creative thinking at times to get it all right.

Once the trial starts there's no stopping this train. Stopping to save because you need to go somewhere? Not going to happen. Just hope that your rest mode doesn't screw you over as by the end these can at least easily take up to an hour depending on how fast you put your answers together. What impressed me the most about the trials is that it never got stale and kept introducing newer elements to spice up the ones already present from the first. Also a nice touch is that they don't bore you if it's not your first time as there's an option to skip right into it. For me though? I was glad for the briefing.


These trials are simple enough in their concept. Arguments are made between all the remaining students, fingers are pointed and all depending there will be highlighted text that scrolls or flies on by. This text is what you can use your Truth Bullets on in order to disagree with what is being said as you have evidence to the contrary. Will you always be right? Hell no. If you get it wrong you lose credibility that comes in a visual representation of hearts. If you lose all your hearts? Game Over, but not Game Over like you would think. Instead, at least on the medium difficulty, you have a chance to try again from the last checkpoint in the trial. This plus there being no real way to lose, like I said before, is the only disappointment even if I'm going to be scarred for a little while.

That's not all a trial is though. Sometimes someone is so stubborn that you need to reinforce how wrong they are. This comes in the form of a rhythm game where on each beat you can select their statements and on the next blow them up. This is a their credibility versus yours affair so taking too long will also result in you "losing". Side to that sometimes you need to come up with your own idea which is a fill in the blanks before going back to the standard trial practice of picking out statements that don't make sense with text scrolling across.

Things do get harder as each case makes its appearance. Extra text that requires to be blasted out of the way can mess up what you were trying to counter argue. Sometimes you don't have the actual Truth Bullets requires and because of this you need to "absorb" some of the highlighted text flying by in order to use that as your counter argument. It's actually kind of fun, fast paced and has a good music track to push things along.


Finally once it's all said and done, it's time for the closing argument. This is a comic book styled fill in the blanks in order to show exactly what happened from start to finish to prove, without a doubt, who the culprit is. Once it's done, once it's over, it's time to be horrified all over again as the murderer, known as the Blackened, is executed horribly by Monokuma in a "special manner" designed for exactly that person. This means that not only did you have to see the corpse of a friend, but you get to see a whole new one of someone else that could have been your friend because they chose to kill another.

Like anything, there does come a point where you become a bit desensitized to what you're experiencing as the last ones, both murders and executions, while just as bad as the first aren't as shocking. By that point you've been there, you've done that and that boat has sailed. So and instead of putting down the controller for a few seconds, the detective hat comes on as it's time to do it all over again.

What? No conclusion? Nope! Come back tonight at 10pm for Part 2. They did come together after all!

Game Information

Platform:
Sony PlayStation 4
Developer(s):
Spike Chunsoft
Publisher(s):
NIS America
Genre(s):
Visual Novel?
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
PC
Originals also on:
PS Vita / PC

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Pierre-Yves


*Even Mortal Kombat or the newest Doom couldn't make me feel sick to see what they've pulled off because they were so over the top on purpose. 
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Touhou Double Focus - PS4 Review


Everyone has that one friend who regardless of what you tell them not to do, well they've already done it. This is exactly how Touhou Double Focus beings as Aya opens a book that probably would have been best served staying closed. Thus she succeeds in dragging a number of people into said book. Those now stuck in the book have a plan for getting out, but of course things are never quite that easy. As a result, they are tasked with finding what they need as they embark on crazy trip from medieval castles to smoldering deserts and fairy worlds.

Touhou Double Focus is a platformer in the Metroidvania vein. Attached at the metaphorical hip through their Hit Points, Aya and Momiji will have to scale both high and low through many dangerous environments to find what they need to get both themselves and everyone else out. Each of these environments have their own quirks to make them separate from one another and do very little to hold back their fangs. If you screw up you're basically dead and brought back to the last time that you saved. Learning this aspect earlier on will save some bouts of crying as nobody likes having to redo segments multiple times over because they didn't see a lion coming at them or was that Silent Hill's Pyramid Head in a wedding dress? Oh yeah.

Exploring each area will be done with both Aya and Momiji though only one will be visible with the other constantly ready to swap in at any time. Even with their "reduced abilities, exploration is a breeze with Aya being able dash around and float in the air with her wings as a Tengu while Momiji can run up walls as a Fox. Between the two, the basics for combat are also pretty much covered with Aya specializing in ranged combat while Momiji is specialized in close quarters with her giant sword.


Where things can get a bit "hairy" is while choosing to use the actual analog stick instead of the D-Pad. Double Focus is really best played with the D-Pad as the chances of accidentally doing other things becomes reduced to zero. The reason for this is that the analog stick is very sensitive and even the mildest twitch will transition from walking / running to trying to either fly or crouch if you were in control of Aya. Outside of that particular issue the mechanics are well constructed.

While combat isn't hard per say, it's both slow and hectic at the same time. There's no real running and dashing attacks but instead stopping and swinging. The same can't be said for some of the boss fights so learning exactly what Aya or Momiji can do early is a must. Switching between the two takes a second which will be something to master as Aya can dodge while Momiji can block a hit. All of these actions take away from each person's stamina bar though their health is shared - so if it goes out, that's it, game over.

The concept of the shared health is interesting in it's own right. Just because one character hits their "zero hit points" it does not mean that they are down and out. Instead they just go into their partner's portion. Obviously the more hit points currently on hand the better but sometimes healing items are a bit far and the main hub happens to be even further. With potential game overs around every corner, thankfully there are portals that instead of being at predetermined locations, are instead wherever you decide to put them.


This has to be the most brilliant and the most frustrating feature that could have ever been created and implemented. The absolute choice paralysis! I can put a permanent one time use portal wherever I want? But where is a good place… oh there could be but then it's a bit far to that other location I need to go to and… and… and… ugh. I'm serious as it took me just about game overing to finally place my first portal down in order to use it to get back to town in order to heal Aya and Momiji which is a bi-product of saving. Very useful two in one feature!

The environments themselves are fun to explore and pretty to look at. Just about all the character models are chibi making even the toughest of enemies cute even if they will kill you without hesitation. I'm looking at you in particular Wedding Dress Pyramid Head. The Metroidvania comes out to play with walls that need some extra force to open through "skills" that you may not have access to yet. Some of these skills can be equipped on either Aya or Momiji while others are character specific like breaking open cracked walls. This only Momiji can pull off and even at that? It's not really her, but her summoning someone else to break it and holy hell is she a scary boss fight.

Boss fights were fun and terrifying if you rushed it. With massive health bars, rushing in will just about get you killed throwing you all the way to the last time you saved. You know when it's boss time though so heading back to heal up and save or dropping a portal right outside the door is quite recommended. The bosses themselves once you know how to beat them aren't as terrifying as you may have once thought but getting cocky is quite likely to net you a quick death. They hit hard and they can hit fast. Dodging with Aya or blocking with Momiji is really the only way to stay alive while waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.


Aqua Style's Touhou Double Focus doesn't do anything revolutionary in the style but it's fun to play and pretty to look at with the chosen color palettes and chibi character designs. Better yet it was great to have a Touhou entry release outside of Japan that was not a Bullet Hell or a Shoot 'Em Up! I'm looking forward to more and Touhou Genso Wanderer's review should be here soon!

Game Information

Platform:
Sony PlayStation 4
Developer(s):
AQUA STYLE
Publisher(s):
NIS America
Genre(s):
Platformer
Metroidvania
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
Sony PlayStation Vita

Source:
Provided by Publisher


Article by Pierre-Yves
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Monster Monpiece - PC Review


Monster Monpiece is an interesting spin on the trading card game style that has been quite popular over the last few years. A well thought-out blend of collection and strategy, with card art created by more than 5fifty different artists and a plethora of re-imagined mythological creatures, now available for your "viewing pleasure" on PC.

In Monster Monpiece you play as May, an aspiring Poke-, err, monster trainer. A rather weak-willed and self-deprecating one, but a monster trainer nonetheless. So then, what type of monsters are you training? Well, monster girls, obviously. Yes, that's right: all your favorite mythological monsters are re-imagined and drawn as cute girls, whom you capture and fight with. Despite the skepticism, the game is actually surprisingly addicting. As you join May and her werewolf partner, Fia, as well as her friends Elza and Karen on the road to becoming professional trainers! Or so you think. Not long after setting out to visit the neighboring town for practice battle matches, Elza gets mind-controlled/possessed and now you've got to go save her, while overcoming adversity and your own poor character traits. While the storyline isn't winning any academy awards, the focus of Monpiece is on the battle system and, uh, a "unique" function.

Battles between trainers take place on a seven wide by three tall grid, where the left-hand 3x3 panels are yours, the right-hand 3x3 are the opponents', and the remaining column of three in the middle is "neutral ground". You and your opponent take turns dropping cards on your sides of the field, and the cards sprout into 3D models that make their way across the field to the opponents' base. Every turn they take a step forward, unless blocked by an opponent, and upon reaching the enemy HQ, they smack it once and disappear. When the opponents' base has fallen, you win! There are four different types of units, with four different "auras", and different specie types. Unit types are classified as melee, ranged, healer, and support. Melee units tend to have high HP and attack, ranged units can attack at a distance but usually have low health and attack, healer units use MP to restore the health of the unit directly in front of them, and support units add their INT stat to the attack of the unit in front (which doesn't consume MP).


As for the aura types, they are based on card color: red, yellow, green, and blue. Auras don't seem particularly useful at first, but if you play card chains with the same aura, you get bonuses. Two cards in succession gives you an extra mana point (which you use to summon units), and three successive cards of the same aura give 3 mana and increase the attack and health of all the friendly units on the field by 1. Even ignoring the stat buff, since the default mana recovery per turn is three, the chains become well worth it, even if they do reset after three successive cards. Specie types can be played on top of each other as a buff, combining the stats of the two cards, although you can only do so once per unit. This fusion can also be done in enemy territory, if your opponent is getting annoying and you need that last little push to get through.

At this point you are probably curious about that "unique feature" I mentioned earlier. Well, you can power up your cards, increasing their base stats and summon costs, through the power of love, friendship, and mercilessly "rubbing" their "feel good zones". On PC, this involves a combination of clicking either or both of the mouse buttons and moving the cursor back and forth. Yes this is a thing, and no, I don't think anyone who sees you doing this will look at you in the same light again. The thing is though, upgrading your monsters is actually pretty worth it, as health and attack tend to be low, so even a point or two increase can be a great advantage. In addition, the unit may learn a specialized skill, which can involve them taking action faster, turning them into an immobile unit, or applying a buff effect as long as they remain on stage.

While the "rubbing" mini-game feels, well, weird, to be honest, it's actually rather difficult. You need to find the specific zone that the unit likes to be rubbed, then figure out which of the four types of "touching" they prefer, and then go find another spot when the first one "runs out of pleasure", as it were. I can see why this was originally for the Vita, or maybe a phone app, because trying to do this with a track pad or mouse is what I can only be describe as "infuriatingly frustrating". On the plus side, the character art is all really well done for the cards, and upon upgrading the card portrait does change.


The music in Monpiece is much better than I was expecting, which is good, because you'll be hearing the battle themes a lot. If you thought zubats were bad, they've got nothing on the arbitrary amount of people that challenge you to a fight in Monpiece, and for some of the dumbest reasons. No really, "you smell weird" isn't exactly what I'd use as a defining moment in whether or not I want to beat someone up. My personal favourite was something along the lines of "I don't know who you are, so I'm going to kick you out of my country/domain/whateverthedifferentlyruledareasareconsidered". They are seriously relentless. It's a little mean, especially when the world map is set up as a series of points that you travel to, and they taunt you with random items, money, or cards off the main path, promptly throwing everyone in the local frat building at you to keep you away.

Cards can be collected in one of two primary ways: on the world map or through purchasing card packs. As you roam the world map, icons appear indicating items, money, cards, events, and battles(sometimes). Traveling to a location with a card icon will net you a cute(hopefully) monster girl to join your cause. Best not think too hard about the fact that the cards are actually close to Pokeballs in nature, meaning if you visit the store, you're literally buying sentient being as a raffle prize. Whoo monster rights? The only issue you might have is that card draws are random. Yep, that's right, your old friend RNGeesus is back to mock you. Or me, in this case. If your IRL luck stat isn't that good, expect to spend some time mugging people for cash so you can build up your arsenal of warriors.

Despite the somewhat questionable nature of the card characters, and their artwork, Monster Monpiece features a really well thought out combat system with a decent amount of strategy involved. The artwork is really good and the music is excellent, and while the plot and characters may seem a little bland, I enjoyed sending the cute little 3D models to go destroy my enemies' buildings much more than I was expecting too. While I wouldn't recommend playing in public by any means, Monpiece is, relatively speaking, a surprisingly cheap way to pass some time with some engaging combat.

Game Information

Platform:
PC
Developer(s):
Compile Hearts
Idea Factory
Publisher(s):
Idea Factory International
Genre(s):
Strategy
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
Sony PlayStation Vita

Source:
Provided by Publisher




Article by Richard
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Week in Review - March 20th to 24th


Following on the back of last week, here's this week's Week in Review!

Monday Rémi asked everyone to dance with a preview of The Behemoth's Pit People that is currently available through Steam's Early Access. What did he think? He believes that it's a gift to the gaming world:

"Wrapping this up, here. Because yes, I believe Pit People indeed IS a gift to the gaming world (gift… wrapping… yeah), or at least it's shaping up to be. Its appeal, style, quirkiness and extremely diverse gameplay, alone, would make it a recommendation, but the Behemoth touch, through the narrator and the truckload of personality the game exudes make this one a special kind of game. "
- Rémi

A little hard to follow up on that, Tuesday saw Robert's Review of 343 Industries's Halo Wars 2.

"Halo Wars is a comfortable and appropriate evolution of the original and is a glowing successor to the original's daring attempt at creating a real-time strategy game for consoles. A new threat, an old friend, Halo Wars 2 fits into the entire Halo franchise quite well."
- Robert

Wednesday Richard tackled the differently styled Shoot 'Em Up Blue Rider.

"While not necessarily best in class or most unique, Blue Rider offers a fresh new 3D take on an old 2D style of game. Environments are bright and transition between each other fluidly, controls are smooth and easy to handle, and stage design was overall well done."
- Richard
 
The Switch saw a bit more action on Thursday with Nick tackling Blaster Master Zero by Inti Creates. Worth it? I would already say so being from Inti Creates but don't take my word for it!

"Blaster Master Zero hearkens back to a much older age in video gaming, but it does so with a certain loving care that does more than just rely on nostalgia."
- Nick


Finally yesterday I tackled Hollow Ponds' Loot Rascals. Like Adventure Time's art style? Like Roguelikes? Stop waiting and start playing!

"Loot Rascals was one of the more entertaining Roguelikes that I've played in a while. The visuals are pretty to look at and the mechanics are different than the "norm" making for a new and fresh experience to a style that I know very well and love for some strange reason."
- Pierre-Yves (Me)

That's it for this week. Have a great weekend!

- Pierre-Yves
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