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2017 was a very weird year for me. I was in a funk for much of the year and not really enjoying any of the things that I used to love so much. I wasn't happy running my game store, I didn't want to air guitar to my favorite bands, I wasn't exercising or eating healthy like I typically do, I wasn't watching cool sci-fi movies or TV shows, I wasn't reading any new comics, I wasn't socializing much if at all most months, and for the first time I can ever remember I didn't really have a desire to play games when I had the chance. It was a lame year and 2018 started off just as depressing. Early in 2018 though I was able to get control of my mind once again and make some important changes in my life that made me start to appreciate things again and see the joy in all the things I used to love so very much.
Continue reading The Joy of Gaming
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I've often talked about how I feel like I'm no longer the target audience for most game makers these days and how I've been more rapidly retreating into older generations of gaming to get the types of games I love most. One of the amazing side effects of the current state of gaming is that when games come out that appeal to me, they are quite often niche games or passion projects that have decades worth of influence to draw upon and implement, or use for inspiration in their new project. Octopath Traveler was immediately on my radar when it was announced due to the beautiful visual style of the game coupled with the fact it was a console quality JRPG. The young Square Soft fan that has been locked deep, deep inside of me and has slowly been losing faith in them really wanted this game to scratch the itch that they used to for me. To say that Square has finally put out a game that is everything I love about the genre and is one of the few games that takes newer gaming concepts that I thought I would never enjoy and makes them fun and appealing to me is a true pleasure in every way.
*The following review is spoiler free*
Continue reading Octopath Traveler
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Posted on Mar 2nd 2018 at 01:00:00 PM by ( Crabmaster2000) Posted under Mario, Nintendo, Platormer, NES, SNES, N64, GCN, Wii, Wii U, Switch, GB, GBA, DS, 3DS |
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I've reviewed games casually on and off for the better part of the past 15 years. It's something I enjoy doing and I feel like I've got a relatively decent handle on objectively looking at the whole package of what a particular game consists of. What I don't have a lot of experience doing is comparing a game directly to another game, as I usually just look at what is in front of me and for the most part ignore any past or future releases. Can games even be, or should they even be, directly compared to one another?
Continue reading Comparative Mario
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2018 is now upon us! That means a whole new year of games to look forward to! Here's a few that I can't wait to dig into this coming year in no particular order
Spider-Man
I said no particular order, but Spider-Man is the exception. I am more excited for Spider-Man than any other game on this list by a significant amount. I have high hopes for this game as well as licensed franchise games in general. My hope is that Insomniac is able to tell a new unique Spider-Man story as they see fit and build the game they want to build around that story. Batman Arkham Asylum was so special and I believe this game can have a similar impact. I don't necessarily want it to become a franchise or even have a sequel. I just want Insomniac to put out a great game and get rewarded with great sales to match. Hopefully it's significant enough that other companies take notice of what Batman and Spider-Man have done and see that if they put their licensed properties in the hands of caring studios and don't require them to tie it to an upcoming movie (or other property), they can be rewarded with critical and commercial success that helps their brand overall. I want to see better Star Wars games, Ninja Turtle Games, Transformer Games, and of course, better superhero games in general. I believe this game is the next stepping stone on that path.
Continue reading A Lot To Look Forward To
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The Switch has been out for roughly 8 months as of this article. It's been selling at or above expectations each month. Software attach rates are incredibly high. In general, people seem quite enthusiastic about the system. I picked one up at launch hoping Zelda would tide me over while I waited patiently for much of the future software that has been promised. Zelda didn't strike me like I'd hoped it would. Arms and Splatoon 2 are for a different audience than myself, and while I had a bit of fun playing both with my son, they are not games I've returned to or have ever been interested in playing by myself. As a day one Wii U owner, I've played a significant amount of Mario Kart 8 already, so the deluxe version isn't quite what I want to justify owning the system.
With games like Fire Emblem, Shin Megami Tensei V, Kirby, Dragon Quest and others looming in the distance, I've never been worried that I'll regret my purchase in the long run. But after 8 months, I really do long for something to play that gets me excited to own a Switch. With that in mind, I have very high hopes for Super Mario Odyssey and how it will make me feel to be a Switch owner.
Continue reading Super Mario Odyssey
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