Brandish: The Dark Revenant – Whip Out That PSP One More Time!

Posted on January 8, 2015 by geelw

I was going to use the word “Brandish” twice in that title, but my brain is all fried up from today’s rather mind-boggling “finale” to the kitchen repair job that still has me reeling. They’re done… but NOT done. I give up! Well, not quite yet, but man… am I wiped out from all this nonsense.

Anyway, next week (January 13) sees Nihon Falcom’s remake of its classic Super Nintendo RPG Brandish land on PSN for the PSP and Vita rechristened as Brandish: The Dark Renevant. I need something nostalgic like this to keep me sane, so it looks as if it’s going in the queue. Xseed Games deserves props one more for keeping the PSP alive after all these years,but as noted, the game will also run perfectly on the Vita as well as PlayStation TV if you’ve committed some money to that newer device/service. $19.99 is the MSRP and the game promises some old school challenge just like the original (but harder!).

As for what the game is all about, a peek below the jump should satisfy your curiosity… Continue reading →

Buy This! Bundle Stars’ Abstract Bundle Makes The Odd Oddly Comfortable…

Posted on January 6, 2015 by geelw

Bundle Stars, you rascals. Getting out another great deal on this cold and snowy day and me, too damn busy to play anything thanks to poring over CES news. I shake my press release filled fist at thee, then realize this deal goes on for two weeks. Oh, okay. Well, for the rest of you with time enough at last on hand, if you have $2.49 burning a hole in your digital wallet, you should get the Abstract Bundle not because it’s dirt cheap, but because of the nicely weird mix of games this time out. Me, I’d drop that loot just for the chance to play Vangers again after too many years. This 1998 open world driving/sci-fi RPG hybrid is just too offbeat to describe other than to say it’s like a cerebral version of Mad Max as re-imagined by some talented Russian developers who worked in a free-form style of storytelling and gameplay that’s still unique. Intentionally tough at the outset and vague if you’re not reading dialog and thinking about what was said, the game is strangely addictive and those voxel graphics give the game a strangeness that still works in its favor.

The other game well worth that money is Knights of Pen and Paper, a double throwback that references the good old days of Dungeons and Dragons plus some of the classic console RPGs from the 1990’s. This one’s less tricky to describe but still going to be weird to some new to the experience. I’ll let the game page description take over here:

Take on the roles of in-game players taking on the roles of their characters in a traditional pen and paper RPG session in the ultimate meta role playing experience.

Yeah, it’s that quirky, but quirky is good in this case. There are eight other fun games in the bundle from “old” reliable hits like the two PixelJunk games to more recent oddities that will bring a big grin to your face once they click with your smarter parts. Anyway, I’ll shut up now and post this so you can grab this deal and get your own game on. Play a little for me, please. I may not be coming up for air in a while…

DmC Devil May Cry: Definitive Edition – Dante’s Return-O…

Posted on January 6, 2015 by geelw

Oh, I kill me with these puns, don’t I? Um, don’t answer that. Anyway, both Capcom and the supremely talented development team at Ninja Theory took a tremendous deal of grief and worse from some gamers when DmC was announced and that very different Dante graced that mockup mugshot poster. While the fanboy ire raged and internet fires blazed up on message boards, the game’s development continued as developer and publisher pretty much ignored the haters as they made the game they wanted to make. For the most part, the new game was solid, fun to play and like every other game out there, not without its flaws. Still, it must have moved enough copies to warrant a major upgrade to new consoles as PS4 and Xbox One owners are soon going to see DmC Devil May Cry: Definitive Edition smash onto those consoles in March.

For some gamers who’ve already played this one on the older consoles, the idea of shelling out $39.99 to play it again may seem like a not so hot idea. However, Ninja Theory and Capcom intend to deliver to old and new players buying in a game that’s vastly improved over the previous version… Continue reading →

Review: Elegy for a Dead World

Posted on January 3, 2015 by geelw

Platform: PC/Mac/Linux

Developer: Dejobaan Games

Publisher: Dejobaan Games

# of Players: 1

ESRB Rating: N/A

Official Site

Score: A- (90%)

Whether or not you like to write, there’s an excellent chance that you love storytelling in one way or another. Dejobaan Games’ excellent Elegy for a Dead World is a game about writing that’s not just for writers and to some “gamers” out there, isn’t really a videogame in the traditional sense. There are no scores tallied, no bad guys to dispatch, and only three relatively small and short themed planets to explore. But it’s neither the journey nor the destination that’s the selling point here.

The game encourages you to sit down, unhook your brain from its box and let your fingers do the talking as you write anything you wish. Yes, there are numerous writing prompts you can use and there’s great fun in pretending to speak in another voice as some of the prompts suggest. But for some players, the experience of free-styling their way through each world and sharing their stories with others will be the big draw… Continue reading →

January’s PS Plus Lineup (Provided PSN Is Working!)

Posted on December 31, 2014 by geelw

Poor Sony has been through the wringer this year. Between “hackers” hitting a few of the company’s entertainment divisions and among other things, knocking PSN offline for a bit over the last holiday weekend and a truly crazy class action lawsuit allowed to proceed, all of 2014’s successes seem so very far in the past. Nevertheless, PlayStation Plus subscribers will still be getting a bunch of free games as usual. January’s list of freebies is a nice one indeed, but at this point, it’s all up to whether or not PSN will be running properly so gamers can actually get all of that content. The privileges of membership, indeed…

Review: Alphadia Genesis (Wii U)

Posted on December 27, 2014 by geelw

Platform: Wii U

Developer: EXE-Create

Publisher: Natsume

# of Players: 1

ESRB Rating:

Official Site

Score: B+ (85%)

As surprising as it is that there’s been a lack of original Japanese RPGs on the Wii U, it’s an equal surprise that Alphadia Genesis manages to be a pretty solid port of a mobile game and for those who only own console, the only true JRPG currently available for the system. Released for iOS and Android earlier this year by Kemco, developer EXE-Create has cooked up a game full of familiar tropes that works hard at delivering the nostalgic goods. For the most part it succeeds, thanks to nice 2D visuals, speedy combat and a fairly lengthy quest. However, veteran JRPG fans will wish the developer had gone the extra mile in a few spots that would have made the game even more impressive… Continue reading →

BUY IT! Monday Bundles Will Keep You Warm and NOT Broke!

Posted on December 22, 2014 by geelw

Let’s see now:

A few days before Xmas and you need a fix.
Some cheap games to gift yourself for some kicks…

Okay, this week’s IndieGala Every Monday Bundle, go! Six indie games for $1.89? Sure, why not? Well, you do get a gory and hilarious holiday-themed game (not for the kiddies at ALL!) called Viscera Cleanup Detail: Santa’s Rampage (yuk!) that’s bound to tick off the believers in the fat man with the red suit and reindeer. Heck, the description is bound to get your eyeballs floating in boiling brain soup if you hold the myth sacred and dear:

Tragedy! Santa; the toy giving folk-hero, and purveyor of fine Christmas goods, has had enough. Endless requests from greedy children wanting more and more every year, tax increases, pressure from elf unions, bills, reindeer!

It is your duty, as an employee of Polar Sanitation Inc, to clean up the grisly aftermath of Santa’s bloody rampage. Elves, reindeer and ruined masonry from Santa’s brief breakdown are all strewn across his famous workshop.

So don your cap, grab your mop, and get this place sorted out so the company can get a replacement in here ASAP, and restore Christmas for another generation!

Well, I’m not shocked at all at this kooky indie game. It’s a good thing I realized at about age ten or so that “Santa” was mom or dad and other relatives with that holiday cash or credit cards going into debt for us kids. Hey, I’m not sitting on a stranger’s lap in public just to hope I get a present! Ewwwwwww. Fun financial fact: If you take out a loan for $5000 and repay it only with minimum payments at about 21% interest, you’ll end up paying $8000 extra over 20 years. YIKES. Hell, that would get me on a nifty little rampage to the nearest credit card company that buries that crap in the fine print, that’s for sure. Remember, cash is king, kids! if you don’t have it, don’t borrow it unless you don’t have to pay it back!

Meanwhile, back at the bargain ranch:

Nice but what about Bundle Stars? Funny you should ask. The want you to become KING for a While thanks to the $4.99 King Arthur Complete Bundle that gets you King Arthur: The Role-Playing Wargame, its sequel, King Arthur II and six DLC expansions. That’s a huge hunk of fantasy gaming to get in, folks!

Holiday Gift Guide 2014: Some Illustrated Reads For Almost All Your Needs!

Posted on December 22, 2014 by geelw

I should have done this post sooner, but I was busy catching up on a lot of reading. Ha and ha. Anyway, books galore came this way (most of them digital) and I still have a huge backlog of stuff to read into 2015 thanks to the crunch of reads of too many types. In case you’re stumped for a last minute gift idea or just want to know what I read when I’m not writing or reading about stuff to write about (it’s a damn vicious cycle, friends), here are a few titles you might want to sample in this somewhat hastily prepared guide… Continue reading →

PAC-MAN Comes to Android Wear – Your Watch Now Has Retro Classiness!

Posted on December 19, 2014 by geelw

Got an Android Wear Watch? Good. Like Pac-Man? Even better! Bandai Namco Games has just released a cool PAC-MAN Watch Face now available to download to Android Wear smartwatches for $0.99 via the Google Play store. Yes, you should buy it, as it’s an instant attention getter and even better, the safest way to enjoy the classic character on a device while walking down the street.

As it’s not a game, but a fun watch face that has Pac munching away the minutes as he makes his way ’round the dial, you don’t need to worry about anything but looking stylish as you strut your stuff. Of course, if you get stopped by someone wanting to check out that buck you’ve spent, just let them know that it’s not an interactive addition to your wrist. That and poor Pac would probably go kooky if he was doing nothing but looping in a tiny circle or rectangle all day eating dots without a single ghost to munch. Hey, everyone needs a hobby, right?

The Entire Screen of One Game: Life Imitates Games…

Posted on December 18, 2014 by geelw

So, yes indeed plus tax, my week has been crushing on a few fronts (starting with the kitchen nightmare now going on for over a MONTH. Who’da thunk it? Me, grrrrr!). But at least I’m taking it more or less in stressful stride. Anyway, I got a massive laugh earlier today thanks to someone sending me a link to a “game” that intentionally can’t be beaten no matter what your skill level is.

The words “You can’t win the game. It exists only to destroy your mind.”, prod you to play this browser game, more likely than not with a defiant gleam in your eye and a steady hand on the keyboard. Controls are dirt simple: move with the left and right arrow keys and jump with the Space bar. Of course, this is easier said than done as you’ll see in most likely under a minute that truer words have never been spoken about this game being mind destroying. Well, unless you’re also talking about life in general, of course. Ha and ha-ha.

Created for the Ludum Dare a 48-hour competitive game jam that takes place at least thrice yearly, Tom Murphy (or Tom7) went and cooked up the more than aptly titled The Entire Screen of One Game for this December’s Ludum theme of Entire Game on One Screen. A simple platform jumping game that turns into a lesson in… um, something,

I laughed within about five seconds as the game quickly changed from a simple platformer to one that in no way shape or form could be beaten by conventional means. Of course, this won’t stop some hard-heads out there who refuse to let any game get the better of them. To those hardy souls with too much time on their hands, I wish the best of luck. To those non-gamers who just want a unique and always transforming digital art piece, I say enjoy the view and maybe move those squares around a bit just to change up things every so often. Oh, and retro visuals aside, this one will require a fast computer and decent modern browser. You’ll soon see why (he says, cackling madly)…