Sakeworld | PS4 Review

Some games are merely forms of art and entertainment coded by developers who are into creating fun fantasy borne escapism for their audiences. Others are passion projects, or lifelong dreams made manifest through the medium. In Sakeworld's case it is a heartfelt tribute to a son who lost his life during a police chase gone wrong. An innocent victim caught up and killed during the criminal activities of others. Jack Phoenix was his name. In life Jack was an artist, and loved the rap scene as this game clearly shows. This is made more evident through his father's use of his son's artwork in-game, and the recruiting of real life rappers who contributed to this unique take on the classic brawler genre. 

Filled with over 26 artistically patchworked stages brought to life through Jack's wild imagination we find the populated streets La Brea invaded by otherworldly beings with five rappers in the locale taking up arms to clean the streets of the menacing Martians. As either Trippie Redd, Chief Keef, D Savage, Rucci, or Yung Bans you're mission objective is anything but ordinary. Leading you to places where the very fabric of reality has been distorted, and the rabbit hole you find yourself diving down more deeply disturbing than Alice's adventure in Wonderland.

void* tRrLM2(); //Void Terrarium 2

Returning abruptly from where the last game left off Robbie the AI bot finds himself facing off against a new threat after having defeated cloudAI in it's attempt to resurrect humanity at the expense of Tariko. A distorting threat that is upending his, and Toriko's already bleak circumstances. All of this taking place within the same dystopian scrapyard of a world where humans were been killed off by a toxic fungal miasma, and the remnants of civilization were left behind as a heap of electronic components meshed together in partially functioning capacity. Toriko being the last human survivor among the rubble, and Robbie her sworn protector. 

Previously led by the scrapyard's AI monitor this updated entry finds Robbie trying to find what he needs to get his guiding AI pal back online, so that they can continue caring for Toriko. He accomplishes this about 10 minutes into the game, and from there the problems begin stacking once again. With Toriko's ailments continuing to manifest due to outside contamination, and the deterioration of her terrarium habitat. No sooner is one problem fixed does another arise, and in an instant Robbie has to pack up and move the odd trio to a new safer location. A location where Toriko's care can continue, unhindered.

Ninja JaJaMaru: Retro Collection

Fans of arcade and retro games will be surprised to learn of the release of this unexpected collection of Japanese platformers from the late 80's and early 90's. A decked out retro collection of Ninja JaJaMaru Jaleco titles given the updated Ratalaila games, ININ Games, and City Connection treatment. Featuring 6 full games, a gallery, and bonus options to cater to every gamer type fans, and newcomers will enjoy what was once obscure. 

Ninja JaJaMaru: The Lost RPGs | PS4

Retro RPGs from the 8bit era were the shiz! Most of us of parenting age these days grew up playing the earliest forms of the genre. Including first entries in the Final Fantasy series on the NES, and the first Legend of Zelda games. We grew up in a time where our own imagination carried us far beyond what the pixels themselves could. Through textual conversations, perplexing challenges, and revealing exploration we came to enjoy a fantastical visual journey where heroes and heroines of original origin were masters of their domain. A time where when you heard the protagonists' names you knew exactly from which world they hailed, and whom they had conquered in their fight against evil. Their brave feats forever engrained in our impressionable minds. Giving us someone to look up to and aspire to be outside the realm of our reality.

While we all have our favorites from these glorious times gone by some of the more interesting releases from that era of gaming history found themselves to be so obscure or out of reach that they fell to the wayside. Only to be enjoyed by a handful of gamers privileged enough to have experienced them. One such series, by Jaleco, took the inspiration of classic RPGs of the time while adding the Eastern mysticism of Japan into the mix. Pitting ninjas against yokai. This RPG series was brought to light under the banner of "Ninja JaJaMaru". It had you taking control of a ninja master named JaJaMaru, and in some games the princess Sakura. The games often times included their own separate standalone stories, and featured inspired takes on the RPG genre from seasoned studios like Nintendo and Square. Bringing to us evolving mechanics in the form of textual turn based strategy, and action-rpg antics.