Friday, June 20, 2014

Magical Beat (PS VITA)

Magical Beat is a delightful little pixelated puzzle game filled with five modes of play, a wacky cast of characters, a unique beat based gameplay system, and an underlying story about the world's inhabitants who were left in the wake of a great world war. At heart it's a game not unlike 'Tetris', or 'Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo". The only real difference between it, and the previously mentioned puzzle games lies with the applied art style, the Japanese songs that are included, and the beat based gameplay that helps the player to decide when it's best to drop the current block ...

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Battle Princess of Arcadias (PS3)



Complicated, and demanding are two adjectives that immediately come to mind when I think of "Battle Princess of Arcadias". The game which is a blend of strategy, and action starts off smoothly with the usual character, and plot introductions then quickly escalates in complexity with the introduction of an overbearing battle system. It is this battle system, and the applied character/unit leveling that more often than not will leave the player ill-prepared for the sieges, and skirmishes ahead. Before I jump the gun with gameplay explanations let me explain the story behind the fairy tale title ...

At the start of "Battle Princess of Arcadias" we find Princess Plume (who looks a lot like the princess from "Child of Light"), the proclaimed "Battle Princess" tending to the fallen princess brigade members who each have been fatally wounded by a dragon that looks as if it were ripped straight from Pokemon lore. Despite the overwhelming odds Princess Plume stands her ground against the beast, and scares it away for the time being. Unfortunately even after the gained momentary victory the remaining fallen soldier that the Princess had aimed to save prior to the epic fight dies leaving a final request that a man by the name, "Raltz" should take his place as her protector. Soon afterwards the transformed goose king, and other whimsical characters come into the picture adding depth, and variation to the ever-growing story. The story, as it were is one of betrayal, medieval espionage, and outright conquering. Some of the characters involved play a behind-the-scenes role while others are main players within the game's story, and battles. Additional elements such as NISA's signature naughty humor, and fun loving RPG antics are all thrown in the mix as well as a part of the game's core experience. While the Princess is brave enough to face the threats ahead you will find it will take some morale boosting as well as proper recruiting, and equipping to take on the more challenging confrontations that are in store for the kingdom of "Schwert".

Gamestop's "Renew or Die" Program

About a week, or more ago I received an odd, and menacing looking email from Gamestop. It was in regards to my soon to expire membership. The email heading was bluntly titled as, "Renew or Die". I thought it may have been a hacked email message, or either that someone over at Gamestop had gone over the deep end. As I came to find out it was the latter. Gamestop obviously finds it humorous to send fake death threats to motivate their customers to renew their subscriptions. I personally did not find it funny at all, and honestly may not renew my membership, because of it. I managed to capture a screen shot of a significant portion of the email, and will be sharing that with you. I hope this article gets tons of page views as it would serve as a proper lesson to Gamestop on what not to do when it comes to promoting their services.

Saturday, June 14, 2014

McFarlane Akira Action Figure

Recently while out at "Billy's Toys & Comics" I found a loose McFarlane Kaneda action figure complete with accessories. It was from the "McFarlane's 3D Animation From Japan Series 1" collection. While I would have preferred a boxed figure the loose figure was affordable, and in excellent condition allowing me to snap some photos to share with you. If you're ever in the northeast Georgia area be sure to stop by "Billy's Toys & Comics". He's got everything you can think of from classic toys of the 80's & 90's to more modern releases. You'll even find some obscure Japanese toys like a bigger than !@#%^ limited edition "Devilman" figure still in it's package. That sucker will be mine!!! If you are into Graphic novels, manga, comic books, and MTG cards you'll also find a lot of that type of merchandise over at Billy's as well. I was glad to see he was thriving in business, because I want to return as often as possible! Keep in mind though that most of Billy's for sale items will set you back a pretty penny as they are set at collector's prices. Given you will find a bargain if you look hard enough though.

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Murdered: Soul Suspect (PS4)

Video games come in a variety of different makes, and models these days. The design can sometimes be elaborate to the point that the experience lasts for days, or even months. Such is the world of RPGs, and open world sandbox games. Other games are short lived, but leave a lasting impression on the gamers' mind. In the case of Airtight Games' "Murdered: Soul Suspect" I think it falls in dead center of the latter category. The developer has made the game more than just a quick run through opportunity, and instead has the gamer focus on every tiny detail that went into the game's design. Everything from the characters involved, the special effects, the locations, the stealth gameplay, and the crime solving puzzles come together in a nice neat package that will keep your attention wholly focused on everything that is happening, and everything that is being shown onscreen. Not only that, but the graphics are good enough to boast about, and the game's applied atmosphere is one that definitely screams "AFTERLIFE!".