XNA: PLATFORMANCE Castle Pain

Here’s a real gem of a game! Platformance: Castle Pain revels in how old school and punishing it is. See it’s deceivingly simple, and honestly the easier difficulties don’t prove to be much of a challenge at all. But once you crank up the difficulty, it becomes a gauntlet of countless deaths and infinite frustration. And it’s glorious.

XNA: Nuclear Wasteland 2030

I really want to open with "this game is garbage", because as much as I really hate this game, it's not technically garbage. Pointless, not great.. but not garbage. The main problem is that this game has no real reason to exist. It's an FPS for a dollar, and boy do you get what you pay for.

XNA: Breath of Death VII

How about we kick this off with the game that cemented my faith in the Indie channel in the first place? Breath of Death VII: The Beginning, a retro style RPG that parody’s pop culture and the RPG’s of days long gone. It might not sound terribly exciting, and truthfully I’m one of the few people who still really enjoy JRPG’s, but it really is amazing.

XNA: Intro to Xbox Indie Games

(I originally posted these on another blog back in December of 2010 and early 2011. Really though it didn't make much sense to have another blog, and was very short lived anyway. So I plan on posting the four entries about Xbox Indie Games here starting with this introduction. I also may, or may not, finish the last review of another indie game I was planning way back then, but maybe not. This might lead to more Xbox indie games getting covered, or is a cheap ploy to post more. You decide!)

Triggered: The Metroid Series

Every so often I find a podcast that I really enjoy and binge listen to it. Bonfire-side chat is a Souls-centric podcast that I discovered when they had just started diving into Dark Souls II. I wound up forgetting about them waiting for them to finish covering the game, and recently stumbled upon them again. They do appendix episodes between most regular episodes to cover listener questions and whatever else. In Appendix 55: 3D Dot Heroes one of their listener's raised a point about how they felt Metroid isn't actually a good video game series, but that it has one great game. I'm here to say, fuck that person.

Road to Justice: An Unjust Path

Simply put, I just don't give a shit anymore.

Dem Bones: Cat Tower

Cat Tower
Reverse Jenga
2-6 Players
Playtime: 15 Minutes
Designer: Aza Chen
Publisher: IDW Games
Year of Release: 2013

For a while now I've been fairly interested in board games. Sure as a kid I played plenty of the standard cavalcade of games, Monopoly, Sorry, Yahtzee, Apples to Apples, Clue, etc. And I think everyone's played Cards Against Humanity by now. But I've always been aware of this larger world of hobby board gaming. Sporadically I'd read or watch reviews and wish I had money to try some of these games out. Slowly, but surely, I've finally started amassing a collection. So let's start off with a kid's game that is essentially backwards Jenga! Meow!

Games I Beat: Dark Souls III

Dark Souls III
Action RPG Lore 'Em Up
1-3 Players via summons
System: Playstation 4
Developer: From Software
Year of Release: 2016
Beaten: April 29th, 2016

Dark Souls has quickly ascended the ranks and become one of my absolute favorite series, including precursor Demon's Souls and spin-off Bloodborne. There's just something about the world From Soft has managed to craft that speaks to me, even the least liked of the series, II, was an amazing game in my opinion that I played through several times. This is one of the few series where I say "fuck it" and purchase the outrageously expensive collector's editions (glad I skipped that "Estus" Prima guide bullshit though) because of just how much I know I'll connect to these games. Even at their absolute worst they provide an interesting world with fun, engaging combat. Dark Souls III is no different

Pit of Despair: Pokkén Tournament

Pokkén Tournament
Pokémon Fighting Game!!??!!!
1-2 Players
System: Wii U
Developer: Bandai Namco
Year of Release: 2016

Don't be fooled by the title, Pit of Despair doesn't mean these games are horrible, just that they let me down in a big way. And oh, how Pokkén Tournament let me down.

Freemium Perdition: Magic the Gathering Puzzle Quest

Magic the Gathering Puzzle Quest
Match-3 "RPG"
1 Player
System: Android
Developer: D3PA
Year of Release: 2015

I didn't think I would wind up writing another Freemium Perdition, then something comes along and proves me wrong. I think it's telling that instead of keeping me engaged for a few months, and even longer (though in shorter bursts), this one only held my interest for a few weeks. Although I think I'll continue to play sporadically. Magic the Gathering takes two franchises I'm a fairly big fan of. Magic the Gathering is a rich universe that's been around almost as long as I have, I've been playing off an on for sixteen years now (I hate already being able to feel old) and for anyone who's a fan of tabletop games it's well worth checking. I'll never advocate for organized play, but getting a decent collection and playing with customize decks against friends is ideal (for my friends and I at least). Mix that with Puzzle Quest, which made match-3 puzzle games appeal to me on a grander scale (although the series basically died for me personally after the first when none of the sequels seemed to keep up with it's lofty ideas), and you've got a great idea.