Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!!! | 2019 A Year In Reflection ...

This year has been a roller coaster ride for me. I've had my ups, and my downs. Both in life, and in the review realm. I've struggled at times, and have triumphed on occasion. Out of all of it I found my most proud moments being the time I shared with my followers on social media. It is that time spent that pulled me through, that gave me purpose, and helped me soldier on when I wanted to give up and quit. The moral support was plentiful as were the thoughts and prayers. My friends, and my online family were definitely there for me when I needed it the most. I hope that with my shared wisdom, my advice, and the review posts I typed up I was, in some way, able to pay it all forward. I hope that at some point this year I was able to point my followers in the right direction. Whether it be in regards to video games, or life choices. I hope that I was as there for you as you were there for me.

Prophetic Predictions In Gaming: Erron Black & The Death of the Western World

Erron Black has been in two mainstay Mortal Kombat fighting games, and in both, his origins have remained a mystery that was only hinted at. Erron Black is the embodiment of the Western Cowboy or Outlaw within MK lore. His costumes, his weapons of choice, his voice-over, and his physical appearance accounts for this. Looking at Erron's namesake, and his presence in recent MK games it might appear as if it were all a simple creative design choice, but what if there's more to Erron Black's presence than meets the eye? What if he is a predictive precursor to the fall of Western society? Hear me out.

Demons With Shotguns | A Pump Actioned Religious Fight & Smite Pixel Party Platformer

Demons With Shotguns is a competitive, and cooperative action platformer in the guise of a religiously themed 2D brawler/shooter. The kind of game that harkens back to Smash Brothers, but with a more mature tone. It features a handful of playable characters to choose from including a gruff cigar smoking angel, a traditional nun, a Satan looking deceiver, Death, a bulky demon, and a worse for wear preacher. Each with the same selection of weapons, and abilities. Including things like a shield for blocking and bashing, a shotgun with limited ammo for shooting, and a holy water bomb for tossing. These base abilities are further enhanced in-game, and within the modes by power-ups that come in the form of symbol marked tarot cards. Cards that can boost speed, and give other religious buffs like the power of Christ shield, the Holy Spirit damage boost, Angelic wings, and the power of Satan bullets. All things that once gathered activate under an announcer's voice that sounds an awfully lot like the honest trailers dude. Overall it's not the most complex game of it's kind, and as such it does have it's limitations in regards to fun value. If you buy into it you'll either be playing locally with friends in a 2-4 player versus mode, or you'll be going solo or locally co-op in a wave based fight for survival known as the "End of Time" against the minions of darkness with one other friend. With the available stages unlocked in order as you complete one of two difficulties per stage.

Straimium Immortaly | Space Ninjas Fighting Tha Queeni & Her Nasties

If "The Binding of Isaac" were warped six ways from Sunday, and thrown into the void of space in the presence of a crude alien narrator with worms gouging out it's eye sockets then "Stramium Immortaly" would be that experience. It's oddities, and innuendos know no Earthly bounds, and the stuff you'll encounter as a Straima Ninja is not something easily rationalized. Amid the grotesque alien world, and it's biologically diverse ecosystem you'll be tasked with engaging a randomized room to room hunt for loot, keys, and the final boss. It is a trek with numerous secrets to uncover, and mysteries to reveal. Much like Isaac's battle through his Mother's dungeon basement you will travel room by room dealing with deadly enemies of varying types as you find weapon upgrades, and abilities to see you through to the end. It is by no means an easy undertaking even with the modifiers you can unlock to cheat the system. Nor is it made any easier with the seed keys that can be generated for map replay.

Demon Pit | Arcade Arena Shooting In Hell

Demon pit, a pit of demons. That pretty much sums up this oldschool 3D arena shooter. You are basically a no named demon hunter who finally succumbs to death, and is thrown into the fiery pits of hell with the very demons you killed in life. While that would be torment in, and of itself, this unnamed and marked protagonist that you are is not unarmed. He comes packing a pistol with infinite ammo, and can collect new weapons as he faces endless waves of demonic denizens. The end goal, being to survive as long as humanly possible before being put back into the fray again with weapons collected remaining available. Outside of the simple plot it is a score based affair with a global leaderboard. A leaderboard with waves completed, and score accounted for.High scores being the endgame.

Tamashii | Puzzling Occult Horror

Normally one wouldn't think of occult horror when they think of December or the Christmas holiday season. That sort of entertainment is usually reserved for Spring time or October for Halloween's sake. Oddly enough Digerati Distribution decided to publish, and release such a game though. That game being "Tamashii". Tamashii which could best be described as Luciferian, or Pagan in nature features a light illuminated, and pyramid headed female-like God whose temple has been corrupted by minions of darkness. To combat the problem he/she send his/her loyal subject, which happens to be the character you play as, to deal with the corruption culprits. To do this you will be entering portal chambers in puzzle platforming areas that require your timer inclusive effigies (a limited set of 3) that can be sped up to deactivate or waited on in order to activate switches, avoid hazards, and do what needs to be done to open up sealed gates to the next area. Along with an additional double jump or delayed jump you will need to figure out each room's puzzle, solve it, and move on until you reach the boss. Between start, and finish you will find challenge portals that are either difficult and highly rewarding, or easier and less rewarding. A play on the left hand and right hand of God premise with the left handed choice bringing the biggest reward.

BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle Expansion | Bonus DLC For The Right Price

Not too long ago Arc System Works released a big patch to the core BBTAG base game. It was called patch 2.0, and with it came a laundry list of feature, system, and character changes (2.0 Update). This patch was freely given to any owner of the game, and allowed the base players to play against 2.0 characters without having to purchase the additional DLC expansion. The expansion, which this review will be about, comes with 9 additional characters, a newly introduced scenario, new character interactions, and colors. You even get access to special lobby avatars not available in the base game. It's a $24.99 dollar upgrade that holds it's own in value. Normally character DLC would cost you around $7.99 a pop, but with this DLC you get what equates to three new sets of characters plus the bonus content. It's definitely a discount deal in that regard. That having been said if you have yet to get into BBTAG, and are interested in the current full experience there is a full price special edition that will set you back $49.99. The difference is that it includes character DLC 1-7 plus the new expansion. The physical edition, in particular, comes with a code for the new expansion. Needless to say you have choices when it comes to BBTAG 2.0 and it's content.

Gunlord X | 32bit Shoot 'em Up Metroidvania Platforming At It's Finest!

Nostalgia level over 9,000!!! Gunlord X has a lot of good going for it. NG-DEV's improved upon version of the retro Turrican inspired classic comes to life not only with 32Bit oldschool aesthetics intact, but also with new quality of life tweaks, and additional content not originally included. This smooth as butter platforming shmup hybrid with collect-a-thon goals and a quest to save the waifu is one that will no doubt leave a mark in modern gaming history. It is hailed as being the definitive version of the classic. The one that's worth playing, and worth owning. To that extent I think it definitely lives up to the boastful claims. Though it is still extremely challenging, and borderline unforgiving Gordian Gaiden's fight against the demonic soul stealing alien menace known as the "The Master" is one not easily forgotten, or passed up.

Pinball FX3 | William's Pinball Vol. 5 (PS4)

William's Pinball Volume 5 under the Pinball FX3 label continues the tribute trend by treating the players with a trio of new yet old tables. In this collection you'll find two tables by John Popadiuk, and one by Pat Lawlor. Each table in question hailing from the late 1990's, specifically around 1996 and 1997. John's tables are both interesting selections focusing on a more magical set of themes. One table is the "Cirqus Voltaire" Bally release, and the other the "Arabian Nights" table that most of you will be familiar with. Pat's table tribute is one lesser known, but definitely inspired table called "No Good Gofers". A table that reminds me an awfully lot of the old Bill Murray inclusive film, "Caddyshack". As a collective the set of tables is one of unique quality with each table bringing something notably different to the player. Of course the challenges with each also vary as do the many scoring opportunities made available.

SuperEpic: The Entertainment War | A Poignant Parody Of The Pig-Like State of Gaming (PS4)

SuperEpic is a poignant parody of the pig-like state of the pay to play, and pay to win parasite that is a good portion of today's games industry. In it's humor, and quite fun metroidvania platforming experience the game not only opens the gamers' eyes to what is going on in real life, but offers gameplay not ruined by the monetization efforts it pokes fun at. The story that you'll start off playing features a raccoon protagonist named TanTan, and his Llama sidekick. An unlikely duo that dishes out corporate punishment via a trio of weapons that allow for direct, upwards, and downwards strikes that can be delivered from the back of your trusty Llama pal. With this accompanied by RPG gear, upgrades, and abilities tied to meters TanTan is set to join the revolution against Regnant Corp, and it's staff.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare Battle Pass | Impressions

Battle passes have seemingly become a staple of live service games these days. A common creation goal for game developers, and publishers to implement for business sake. On average they'll cost you, at base level, around ten dollars. That, and commitment to grinding for each reward tier in order to be able to get the most out of what you paid for. Most battle passes are centered around experience point earnings, and will utilize the game's XP system in order to make your ascent up the tier ladder either cumbersome or quickly progressed. In the case of Fortnite's battle pass the XP earned is fast tracked via events that allow the players to capitalize on significant bonus XP for completing certain missions or feats. In Modern Warfare's battle pass though you creep along at a snail's pace on a per kill basis in multiplayer or Spec-Ops until you unlock a tier with an XP boost that can be used to amplify your experience points earnings for 30 minutes to an hour. Even with the boost though the grind in MW, per tier, can take several matches to complete, and in a battle pass that is filled with filler rewards such as XP tokens and lesser items it makes the grind to 100 all the more tedious, and demanding of your time. Once you buy into MW's battle pass for 1,100 COD tokens ($9.99), and the season begins you will have 60 days to complete the 100 tier pass, and unlock everything there is to unlock. While the grind is doable if you clear at least 2 tiers per day it is the artificial lengthening of the pass, and the filler materials that take up potential item unlocks that makes the whole thing less than desirable.