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.

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.

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.

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.

HyperParasite (PS4)

Oozing with 80's pop culture references, presidential pokes, and a dash of identity politics "HyperParasite" aims to entertain the gamer with an infinite rogue-like replay rich gameplay loop done up in a slight twin-stick shooter fashion. This semi-top down action packed alien adventure puts the player in control of a parasitic mass that is intent on reaching it's presidential target. All in hopes of conquering humanity via nuclear warfare through body snatching. Kind of like the current COVID-19 versus POTUS situation. Something that is oddly referenced in the game's opening cinematic where a Nick Fury looking Commander in Chief puts a bounty on the parasite's head giving the public a shoot on sight order in hopes of thwarting the end times ploy. With the parasite's ability to take control of a host's body though this means that those looking to capitalize will be killing their own kind if they miss the mark. In a villain versus hero situation how you fare as the alien invader will depend fully on how well you can utilize the game's unique mechanics. That, and how well you can make use of Wito's shop upgrades.

Warhammer 40K: Inquisitor Martyr (PS4)

Going into this review I had preconceptions, and expectations. Knowing of GamesWorkshop's Warhammer table-top RPGs, and the legacy thereof I had initial concerns as to how lore inclusive the game would be. I also assumed it would be an action-RPG akin to the Diablo series. Both guesses weren't too far off the mark when it came to the reality of what the game presented. In regards to the lore it felt, as I feared, like a game that would be more appreciated by diehard Warhammer fans in that the lore wasn't origin oriented so much, and at the same time like a game that Diablo fans could appreciate without prior knowledge of the expansive series/universe. I greatly enjoyed my time with the game despite being lost in some of the lore references at times. It is a beautifully rendered masterpiece filled with some of the most impressive cutscenes you'll ever see, and overall visual design elements that impress in their own right as well as a voice actor cast that truly compliments the characters that are being portrayed. The gameplay itself isn't hard to pick up on, and with the touchpad tutorials shown in the initial singleplayer playthrough players will grow easily accustom to mechanics that feature a unique cover system, weapon swapping, weapon based skills, and combat that is more fluid than you could imagine.

Velocity 2X (PS VITA/PS4)

Objective gameplay comes in a wide variety of different themes within the world of gaming. Some games are meant for a quick in, and out session of arcade style scoring while others offer the gamer a more in-depth experience complete with such things as a story, fleshed out characters, or even an action packed adventure. When it comes to Futurlab's "Velocity" series the developer chose to combine the previously mentioned arcade style of gameplay with applied adventuring details, but in a way that was not intrusive to the intended fast paced experience. Initially the "Velocity" series, and it's unique take on the action-adventure/shmup genre began as a humble indie game under the PS3's 'Minis' label. Later, as the game became more popular, and gained more attention from the gaming community it moved on to the PS Vita under a slightly different title with upgraded graphics, and features. This of course eventually led to the latest iteration of "Velocity which continued the tale of those involved in Futurlab's unique Scifi universe.

The current tale of 'Velocity (aka, "Velocity 2X)' takes in account 'Lt. Kai Tana's" collision with a black hole, and her arrival in an alien inhabited universe filled with oppressed Jintinden slaves, and Vokh oppressors. Lieutenant Kai Tana ends up coming to the aid of the alien slaves, and tries her best to free them with the help of a Jintinden alien scientist named Ralan who is taking a more scientific approach to overthrowing his races' captors. As with the previous 'Velocity' you will be piloting the infamous"Quarp Jet" while going on rescue missions, taking out the bad guys/gals, and gathering the resources needed for the Jintinden's uprising. Along with the return shmup style gameplay you'll also get the chance to run in the shoes of Lt. Kai Tana as she goes above, and beyond her duty to do the right thing by a race of beings she has only just begun to understand. Of course it goes without saying that Kai Tana's home planet, Earth is also at stake in the grand scheme of things as well.

Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends Complete Ed. (PS4/PS VITA)

Tecmo Koei's long lasting Dynasty Warriors franchise has persevered through a handful of console generations, has defied the odds regarding it's niche place in gaming history, and continues to go strong here in the new era of gaming across different continents. It's no surprise to me at all seeing as this particular game series has always offered the richest content ever seen within a single game release. Just as the battles that you face within the game are grand in scale you will also find that the in-game offerings are just as epic, if not more so. Things like a well established historical record that is fully documented, shared, and grounded in a true-to-life timeline within the game's content heavy menus are just a scratch on the surface of what you'll find when you get into the latest Dynasty Warriors adventure. There's plenty of faux historic characters to play as, plenty of weapons to collect, and plenty of extras to unlock as you face off against tyrants, or become a tyrant yourself.

Basement Crawl (PS4)

When this game first came into the spotlight Bloober Team teased at it's more mature nature with an excellently crafted CG trailer. As a horror movie enthusiast I got excited, and briefly fell in love with the innocent yet nightmarish look of the toys, and characters involved in the cinematic teaser. The voice acting was as eerie as the post-apocalyptic look of the environment in which the game's main female character resided in making me want to see even more. To me it hinted at a possible plot, and a possible singleplayer experience. Unfortunately when I got my hands on the game I realized two very disappointing things. The first being the fact that the multiplayer offerings which were what the game was all about were busted, and secondly that the game gave little in the way of plot material, or control explanations.

Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition (PS4)

If you grew up as a young lad during the PSOne era of gaming you'll no doubt have spent some quality time getting acquainted with Miss Lara Croft's naughty physique, and her noteworthy archaeological  adventures. Prior to the release of the original Tomb Raider series no one in game development had ever touched base on such an adventure as the ones Lara Croft embarked on. Not only was she the female version of the well known "Indiana Jones", but she was more badass than he ever was. This gun toting hottie put away many historic, and prehistoric threats during her treasure seeking days, and always walked away to tell the tale. From a guys standpoint Lara was the video game epitome of sexy. She was a virtual goddess that captured the attention of many like minded guy gamers. I for one fell for her unreal beauty, and even once attempted to make a bogus nude code work. By the way, thank you friend for bursting my bubble with that one. You know who you are ...

"INJUSTICE: Gods Among Us" - Fighting GotY My @$$

In the world of gaming journalism you will find opinions based on truth, biased opinions, and bought out lies. I think of myself as a man of opinions based on truth. I do not sugarcoat BS, and do not accept bribes in exchanged for a biased opinion. I'm what you'd call a freelance journalist with no official ties to anyone. I strive to bring to you news, and reviews on the latest industry offerings, and try to keep you in tune with what is going on with various products. I consider that part of my job, and obligation. This of course brings me to the point of this particular article. It seems that someone (I'm not going to call out names) took it upon themselves to crown a particular fighting game as the official "Fighting Game of the Year" for 2013. Having played the game on two different consoles prior to the claim I could tell you without hesitation that the game in question was rubbish in some very significant ways.

Resogun (PS4)

When it comes to indie shmup concepts I think "Resogun" easily earns it's place amongst the best. This eye-popping spectacle of a twin-stick shooter will either put you into a seizure induced spasm due to sensory overload, or will have you staring at the screen in amazement as next-gen special effects fill the screen in front of you. The idea behind this shooter is a simple yet effective one. As mankind's last hope you are piloting their only way off of the cylindrical cities. For some reason, or another humanity is about to face Armageddon several times over, and they are slowly waking from their suspended cubicles only to be dropped out on the street, and blasted/abducted by the robotic alien life forms who are attacking. You, and your ship will not only aid these poor helpless human beings in their time of need, but will also fight against wave after wave of alien spacecraft in the process.

First Impressions - "Blacklight: Retribution (PS4)"

PC owners were the first to get their hands on this futuristic FPS multiplayer experience known as, "Blacklight: Retribution, and will no doubt have already turned away from the PC version seeing as it is old news. For all of us PS4 owners, and dedicated console players though this Scifi inspired shooter is a new thing, and one that should definitely not be overlooked. The fact that it's free-to-play gives you no reason to skip it, even though you may not be inclined to spend actual money on DLC content. From a personal point of view I can tell you that the game definitely has it's pros, and cons. The gameplay which can be described as run & gun friendly is a welcome addition to the FPS genre due to the fact that you can actually run & gun. The standard issue offerings that require no money to use also make for a welcome addition to gameplay. If you are a gamer that is looking to impress though, and wish to show your online prowess with your weapons loadouts, and perks then Zombie Studios does offer a payment plan for such things. You merely have to exchange your PSN credit for some Zcoins, and you are ready to shop.

Zen Pinball 2 (PS4)

By now you know that I'm sold on Zen Studios' pinball related arcade games. I've covered nearly every table, and every set released on both the "Pinball FX2", and "Zen Pinball" formats. While last generation's offerings are still good to this day I have to say that next generation's is even more impressive than that. Not only are the graphics enhanced, but the gameplay itself is more fluid than ever before. Scoring high is now an easier task due to the next-gen upgrade, and the complimentary PS4 controller (which is truly a spectacle in itself). Sadly though not every table from the previous "Pinball FX2", and "Zen Pinball" iterations have made their way over to the new consoles. Sony ended up limiting the amount of tables Zen Studios could include. As such the developer had to pick, and choose the best from the lot.