Holiday Crunch

Another week, another excuse to have no review up. Seriously, what is this, like, the fifth time I have a post explaining myself? Well, what can I say? ONE WEEK OF SCHOOL LEFT! All those assignments gotta get in. No time for games, or friggin Dragon Ball! BUT, this does mean that over the Christmas holiday, I will be unemployed, and as such will be free entirely to play games and write about them! I’m very excited for that, frankly. I like being secretive of what game is to come next even though it has no impact to do so, but I got a couple of key titles I’m eyeing up.

Also, thinking of making a new segment where I give impressions of a game, but not a proper review as I don’t feel I can do them justice, but want to talk about them. That could just be me being lazy and not wanting to constructively thing about such titles though, but we’ll see if I go through with this new segment or not.

Showcase – PAX Prime in Seattle, WA

Pax PrimeI wanted to talk about an event that is rather special to me. As a child growing up in the north, there are essentially no opportunities to attend conventions of any kind, let alone any focused on the medium I love. Leaving town is an expensive endeavor and not one to casually do in search for these gatherings of communities. But in 2014, my friend Brandon Cooke and I decided it was time that we bust out our wallets and make the commitment to journey down to Seattle, WA for Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) Prime and get a tangible insight closer into the video game industry and culture outside of reddit and NeoGAF. Accompanied by my girlfriend, Erika Thompson, the three of us drove all the way from Yellowknife, NT, to see what we were missing. I was nothing short of hooked. Continue reading

Small update

Got nothing new yet this week. In fact, I’m not finished the game I’m currently playing, which may or may not be my next review. In the next day or so I’d like to have a new Showcase up, but that all depends on productivity, which is at an all time low. Anyways, plans are in place, just got to get them in motion, hopefully I’ll have something to show for it soon.

Saw (Video Game) Review – “Would you like to–” Beat a dead horse? No.

The Saw video game comes as a bit of a surprise to me. Don’t misinterpret, this game is not good, mediocre at the very most. However, as a fan of the Saw franchise, I went in knowing full well that this series isn’t structured well to translate over to video games despite the whole stupid “Would you like to play a game?” tagline the films carry. However, this game SURPRISINGLY showcases some interesting ideas and has a decent premise for its story. Considering my expectations for this game were “total shit”, I can’t quite call it disappointing that the few strong elements the game has are muddled within its fundamental flaws.

Oh, and since this takes place farther in the Saw timeline, there are minor spoilers, but nothing worth covering your eyes over. Continue reading

Missed the Mark

Pic of pumpkins in water - Time only flows one way, and I ran out of it...

Time only flows one way, and I ran out of it…

Halloween has come and gone. So yep, I screwed up. Couldn’t manage to fit all my reviews in before the end of the month. Not a fantastic start for building routine and upholding a schedule. Oh well, I should have my next review up later today or tomorrow and then I’ll try get back on track.

I miss my blog… Q.Q

Currently halfway through the next review, but unfortunately haven’t been able to make the time to complete the game yet. Schoolwork makes it hard to justify sitting down and playing video games…

I DO plan to have this final review done before October ends though! I mean’t to do a fourth game as well but since I’m fighting for the third that’s not going to happen.

Without giving away the next title, my impressions of the current review are better than expected. It’s from a franchise that I enjoy and (mostly) respect, though it doesn’t hold a positive impression among the general public. Nonetheless, I have plenty of good and bad to say about it, very much looking forward to writing about it. If only I could get my schoolwork out of the way first…

Showcase – The Zero Review

TZR-380x340

Figured since I have a blog now, I’d try bring attention to certain things that are important to me in hopes SOMEBODY IS ACTUALLY READING THIS *wink wink* Couullld be yoouuu!! *wink wink*

Anyways, today I wanted to briefly talk about the website The Zero Review!
While I could pretend I was selflessly promoting a site I think could use more attention, that’s not entirely the case.

This year at PAX Prime 2015 in Seattle, I had the pleasure of meeting the two founders of the Zero Review website, Justin and… Justin! Yep, both Just Scerbo and Justin Chou happened to be in line with my group of friends and I for the Divison. After some friendly banter, I discovered they happen to run a games journalism site. What a coincidence, it JUST so happens I am going to school to become a journalist for video games! Turns out they were willing to have a bit of extra content on the site and offered to have me write for them.

Well, I took them up on their offer and started writing articles (well, article singular as of right now) in my spare time. Unfortunately, spare time has been a sparse thing as of late. But I hope to populate their site with some more content in the coming future.

However, ignoring my minuet contributions, they actually do write some pretty good stuff, so I’d recommend checking them out. They don’t update super frequently, but what’s there is definitely an entertaining read.

Below is my first (and currently only) article I wrote for them, so give it a read when you get the chance!
For Honor Impressions: Medieval Multiplayer MadnessForHonor Stock Image

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 Review & Retrospective on the sub-series

Okay, so some might say I’m cheating a bit here, as Castlevania games are not horror titles. But the FOUNDATION of these games lay within classic movie monsters and the ghoulies of Halloween, so it’s still very much in spirit of the holiday!

Castlevania as a series has taken many different faces over its last near 30 years on the market. I myself have come to love the franchise under many of its different guises; from the vintage 2D side scrolling action roots in games like the original Castlevania and Super Castlevania IV to its evolution as a full 2D exploration action title in Symphony of the Night that has since been aptly dubbed “Metroid-vania”.

Continue reading