What starts out looking like classic Tetris quickly goes off the rails as the game tries everything in its power to mess you up! This is quite possibly the apex of the Tetris Effect experience!
PlayStation 4
Shantae: 1/2 Genie Hero
Finally getting around to a game I’ve been eyeing for quite some time. Let’s play Shantae: 1/2 Genie Hero! Apologies for the abrupt end, but I was really enjoying this one so far!
Buy Shantae: 1/2 Genie Hero Now From Amazon.com
Ashe is Revealed as the Latest Overwatch Character
Now that I’ve had a few days to recover from Extra Life, let’s catch up on the Overwatch news!
McCree’s old buddy Ashe makes her debut in Overwatch! She packs quite the punch, from her single-shot rifle that she can aim with a sight, to a powerful shotgun that gives her the equivalent of a rocket jump, to the ability to blast shields with DDT. She also has B.O.B. as her ultimate, a separate character who runs on screen to wreak havoc.
Though the game already has a ton of Damage-class characters, she looks great! Love her visual and gameplay design; particularly the super jump with the shotgun. Looking forward to playing as her in the future!
Buy Overwatch: Origins Edition Now On Amazon.com
5 Reasons Why You Should Check Out Paladins
Ever since I started playing it a few months ago, I have been a champion for Paladins. While the hero shooter space is dominated by one big player who I will try to avoid using by name in this piece, its presence doesn’t invalidate the fun to be had in the alternative created by Hi-Rez Studios. Yet on numerous occasions, I’ve seen and heard from players that they won’t touch Paladins with a 10-foot pole because they’re either fans of “the other game” and don’t want to let go, or they dismiss it for not being the “other game”.
That other game is fantastic. In fact, nowadays, I play it more than this one. Ultimately, you’re allowed to play or not play whatever you like. However, I think it’s unfair how overlooked Paladins is relative to what it has to offer. Because of that, I was inspired to make this list of five reasons why you should check out Paladins!
Falling Behind in Street Fighter V
For almost a decade, my prowess in Street Fighter has been an integral part of my gaming identity. Making the climb from scrub to 17th at the WorldGaming national championships many years later, I put everything I had into being the best I could be and it paid off. It proved to me that my knowledge and talents in games can go incredibly far if I really put my mind to it. Not only did all of that effort pay off for Street Fighter, but it increased my overall fighting game chops considerably to the point where I was a worthy adversary in almost every other fighting game I touched.
Flash forward to the present. Due to my personal grievances with the way the game was designed and the meta that built around it, I left Street Fighter V behind. I’d poke in here and there to check out new characters or major additions, but my time trying to be the best was behind me. Coming back to the game now in light of the update that reduces input lag only amplifies how far we’ve drifted apart.
Into the Breach Review
As much as I love Advance Wars, I understand why the series has laid dormant for over a decade. At a root level, the franchise’s game mechanics simply weren’t built for the long haul. Fighting with replenishable nameless and faceless units led to levels that could drag while also lacking emotional weight.
Advance Wars and Fire Emblem are both turn-based strategy games made by the same company, but the latter’s focus on individual characters with names, faces, skills that develop over time, and the threat of a shortened lifespan makes for an easier-to-renew franchise with each set of fresh faces to care about. Eventually, fighting with the same tanks and planes got stale, to the point where Nintendo disastrously attempted to resuscitate Advance Wars with a gritty reboot that sank the whole franchise to this day.
When I first saw Into the Breach, I came into it with expectations of it playing like Nintendo’s wartime strategy franchise. Even with the latter’s design faults, it’s been so long that I’d be okay with it as long as I got to manage units on a battlefield again. What it ends up being is a really clever twist on the formula that breathes new live into a formerly-stale concept.
First Ranked Matches in Overwatch
My first time jumping into the Overwatch ranked match deep end! It starts out pretty terribly, but I find my mojo by the end! That was a lot of fun! And thank you to everyone that kept me company on the chat!
Life is Strange 2?
I have a soft spot in my heart for Life is Strange. Years late to the party, I took on season 1 and Before the Storm in a one-month span and came out of it an emotional wreck. Taking the template pioneered by The Walking Dead, Life is Strange upped the ante with characters and a story that hit a lot closer to home than the zombie apocalypse. Yes, the time-traveling mechanic makes Life is Strange more fantastical than anything in The Walking Dead, but much of what made Life is Strange special were the parts that felt grounded in reality. From the strain in Max and Chloe’s friendship, to the search for Rachel, to ultimately experiencing the fateful day where their entire worlds turned upside down, the authenticity and plausibility of it pulled on the heart strings till they snapped.
Season 2 is here and…I have nothing to say about it. What gives?
My Favourite Paladins Characters Version 1.0
On the heels of my favourite Overwatch characters, I had to do the same for the other hero shooter in my life. With a roster that’s over 30+ characters deep, Paladins has many to choose from. With so many equivalent characters across the two games in terms of look and function, how many of these parallels make it onto my list?
Let’s Talk About a Hypothetical Marvel vs. Capcom 4
I thought Marvel vs. Capcom had bitten the dust off the lackluster performance of Infinite. But recently, a fairly-reliable source has stated that a Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite update is on the way, and it will be renamed Marvel vs. Capcom 4. Whether it’s true or not is beside the point. What I wanted to do was to use this as a jumping-off point for a discussion around a future entry in the Marvel vs. Capcom series. Real or not, what does a hypothetical next entry in the series need to look like in order to rebound from disaster? Continue reading
In Third Person 