Shantae and the Seven Sirens (REVIEW)

WayForward's half-genie hero Shantae returns in her fun loving form to face a new mystery, and threat. This time around Shantae, while on vacation, finds herself confronting the disappearance of five other half-genies who have seemingly vanished into thin air. During a staged performance put on for the mayor and patrons of Paradise City Shantae finds herself to be alone in front of an audience of equally baffled onlookers. Shortly after having been in the presence of the half-genies of a similar pedigree. Going against her uncle's and friends advice about staying put Shantae ventures forth into Paradise City to solve the case at hand. Armed with her hair whip, belly dance, and a few new additions to her arsenal she braves the depths of the sunken ancient ruins that lie just below Paradise City.

Demon's Tier+ (PS4)

Completing the Diabolocal Minds trilogy is "Demon's Tier+". A game that follows loosely in the footsteps of the unrelated standalone indie titles within the developer's series including "Xenon Valkyrie+", and "Riddle Corpses EX". All of which found a home on the PlayStation 4 platform. With this third entry by developer Diabolical Minds, and publisher COWCAT we get a somewhat familiar story set in a kingdom brought to ruin by a corrupt king's evil deeds. Through King Thosgar's legacy of evil, and his binding blood contract with a demon the future of the kingdom under his reign of terror falls to an invasion of monsters, and the mysterious return of said monsters thousands of years later through a hole in a nearby village. As a ragtag group of heroes for hire you set out to investigate the hole, and the monstrous plague. Through provided services you ready the weapons of your trade, pack for the perilous dive into the depths below, and face what awaits in the demon's tiers.

Call of Duty | 3 Battle Passes In

Call of Duty for me is a love/hate relationship. On one hand it is my go to guilty pleasure. I enjoy playing it for the laughs, and the grinding. It gives me something to work towards, and with the latest installment there is so much more to earn, and unlock. With the battle pass being as generous as it is it gives even non-paying players a reason to grind. On the flip side of all that is the glaring problem that is the online multiplayer. That, and matchmaking. It is plagued by a handful of problems. These problems include the usual player mischief as well as decisions made, and implemented by the developer in such a way as to steer the player base towards a certain type of experience. With the latter I'm talking about the throttling of players' internet speed when they opt out of crossplay. They seem hellbent on forcing crossplay despite the community collectively calling it out as bad. I've personally known before the cross console play was a thing that going up against PC and mobile gamers was a major issue. With different controls, and netcode between the platforms there are both advantages, and disadvantages to some. This of course still has not been addressed by the developer.

The Daily Grind | A Poem by Brad Carver

Superhero-X (PS4)

Well, what can I say? This game, Superhero-X, is ambitious. It's definitely indie. It most certainly feels like the foundation to something that could be better. For those of you who happened up on this review, and are wondering what the hell I'm blabbering on about it's all about a new 2.5D fighting game on the PS4. A 2.5D fighting game known as "Superhero-X". It is a bare bones concept style of experience that isn't anywhere near as polished as modern fighting games, but does present some interesting features that are unique to it. Coming in with the staple arcade mode, survival mode, missions, and training mode is a character customization that is somewhat decent. It allows you to create your own Superhero-X from the name to appearance, and allows you play as said character offline, or in couch co-op. Something that's been done to an extent in 3D fighting games, but not in 2D fighters. Unfortunately that plus side, is greatly overshadowed by the game's glaring issues.

SHMUP Collection (REVIEW)

I think it's safe to say that at this point the Nintendo Switch is the new home of the SHMUP, or shoot 'em up genre. With the debut of PixelHeart's SHMUP Collection this is made ever more evident. With the 'SHMUP collection' PixelHeart, and Astro Port not only bring back to life a trio of classics, but also offer revamped versions for a couple of them. Included in the collection are two versions of 'Armed 7', two versions 'Satazius', and a single version of 'Wolflame'. All of which are brilliant examples of just how impressive games from the genre can be. Each with similar yet unique approaches to gameplay mechanics. A little side-scrolling here, and a little top-down vertical climbing to boot

Ion Fury (REVIEW)

Enriched with excessive amounts of estrogen, and booming with badass bitchery "Ion Fury" answers that age old question scratching at the back of everyone's brain noodle ... What if there were a female equivalent to Duke Nukem?

Based on the goings on within the fictional world of Neo D.C., a distant future locale where augmented cyber criminals disobey a mandated martial law ordinance, Cpt. Shelly "Bombshell" Harrison steps in to be the judge, jury, and executioner. Wielding a revolver, and a stun baton she ventures forth into the city to dispatch local scumbags with extreme prejudice. All while offering one liners that would make the Duke himself shed a proud tear.

Slayin' 2 (Nintendo Switch)

Indie games these days seem to follow the inspiration of the more well known, and well liked genres. The safe bets. Things like shmups, platformers, or metroidvanias. When a developer strays completely from this expected norm, and hits the mark with something new, unexpected, and well executed though it is the most welcome of surprises. Such is the case with "Slayin' 2". This sequel to an iOS original release comes to the Switch offering the gamer not only two modes of play, but gameplay that is both fun, and frantic. As a hero or heroine of your choice you will be battling in plane based combat an army of darkness that has destroyed a kingdom. Going from location to location besting waves of creatures in combo fashion as you loot them the best you can. Ultimately spending said looted treasure on helping rebuild a destroyed civilization, gaining perks from said rebuilding, and in doing so unlocking the tools and heroes for hire that will aid you in said grind going forward. Against minions, and bosses alike you must learn how to most efficiently gain fame and fortune utilizing a sword, meter based attacks, and plane/lane changing capabilities. That, and limited health. All within two modes of play that offer a slightly different experience each in regards to the game's core mechanics.

Task Force Kampas (PS4)

I have decided to do this review differently, and include my Youtube video review. I took to Twitch to stream some hands-on impressions, and go over the features and mechanics which I then exported to Youtube, and have in turn included here. As it turns out I found a shmup with potential lost to artificial difficulty. Through a narrow playing field, oppressive bullet hell/enemy population, and recovery options that reduce the long lived potential of a playthrough things are made much harder than they should be. It left me unable to make it past the first boss on Easy difficulty despite choosing different pilots with different perks that each offered a different advantage in regards to shot type and health. Visually the game is very appealing, and the soundtrack quite impressive. Sadly I found out that it was a game experience not worth buying into. Hopefully the developer can heed my advice, and improve upon this game or the next.