August 2023

The Last Faith Beta – Thoughts

I was able to get in on a Beta test of the upcoming game The Last Faith. I have been very excited for a chance to get my paws on this one. I still refuse to use the term “Metroidvania” so we’ll just say this one is an action side scroller. It reminded me of Castlevania SOTN immediately.

Upon starting the beta there is no intro movie just a screen prompting you to pick your character type however only one is available. You have to play as the Brawler and I think this is because they want to push you into the combat system right away. The other classes are Rogue, Stargazer, and Marksman. I’m looking forward to playing a rogue class upon release.

The controls in this beta are HORRIBLE and I only hope they are not as stiff and unresponsive in the final game. When a game is built to be played in this way, controls will make you are break you! However again it’s a beta one can only expect so much.

The score is one track played over and over. It’s extremely melancholy to go with the gray color pallet and darkness you are presented with upon entering their world. NPCs are not very abundant however there are two. The voice acting is very well done and you can almost feel the anguish in their tone and the way they pronounce their words.

Enemies are not varied however again I have to go back to the fact this is a beta. They do taunt you verbally from time to time which is cool. They all fight in a certain way and you with your two main weapon options and a couple of secondary options have to make do with the horrible controls. Death was not quite common for me but it came enough at first that I became frustrated over deaths that had the controls been better wouldn’t have happened.

Anyway, to cut the article short it’s going to be a good one I feel! Now if you’ll excuse me I did pre-order Blapshmous II and that launches in less than 3 hours! So I have some things to get done before that marathon begins!

I’ve gathered a few screenshots while going on my adventure for your enjoyment below!

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August 24, 2023 by .:Game Reviews:. 0

Song of the Deep – My Thoughts

Song of the Deep is an (I use this term because it is all the youth seem to understand today, yes I hate the term) Metroidvania game. The story revolves around a young girl named Merryn whose father has gone missing during a typical day fishing trip and her love for the sea and his stories of it fuel her drive to find him.

Merryn constructs a submersible out of materials she is able to gather from around her home. Diligently testing and re-testing this apparatus until it’s ready to go on her adventure.

The introduction movie is very well narrated and illustrated as I will show in my brief intro to the game and small play demo video. As the game progresses the story is narrated throughout. It’s as if you are playing an actual story along with a WONDERFUL musical score.

Merryn eventually discovers coins and meets a hermit crab that acts as the games store. His prices are steep and force you to think about where to get the coins/treasure to trade to upgrade your sub and eventually obtain equipment to leave your sub. Do all of your upgrades come from the Hermit Crab though…?

The video below is the official trailer for the game from Insomniac Games who developed the title.

Official Launch Trailer

Here is a video I made of the first few seconds of the story and some play through up to the meeting of a strange creature. Please enjoy!

Song of the Deep brief intro and gameplay

As you can see by the very brief intro clip the movie looks like an illustrated children’s book and adds to the beauty of the game. Combine with the natural voice of the narrator you feel you are being sucked into a novel. The music and ambient sounds are engrossing and very very well done!

The game was developed by Insomniac Games (Shown in the video above) and these screen captures are taken from their site to show some of the more advanced areas of the game.

SOTD_Lair_Battle

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If you’d like to see the entire intro movie I did find a walkthrough video that is unnarrated and gives you the full feel of the intro. Clicking on the video should bring you to this person’s channel and allows you to watch the entire game played through in segments. If you are one of those that would rather watch a game than play it. If you like the video please give the author a thumbs up they did a great job with the capture. They have embed locked so I’m unable to post it on my page however the link is valid.

https://youtu.be/AQ2Cfx5qyvQ

In conclusion, I’m very very impressed with this indie title and would advise those of you that support the indie development movement to give this older game a chance. It’s pretty cheap by today’s standards and can be found on PS4, Xbox One, and Steam. The wonderful soundtrack is also available on Steam if you are into video game music or just want something to relax to.

Thanks all for reading!

Source: In-Game and Insomniac Games Web Site

Grammar edited by Grammerly.

August 22, 2023 by .:Game Reviews:. 0

Gordon Shumway (ALF) the lovable alien from Melmac

“ALF” or (Alien Life Form) our lovable brown fuzzy alien from Melmac had a tv show that aired from 1986 to 1990. In my research about this show, ALF’s actual name was Gordon Shumway! I would have known this if I had re-watched the first few episodes before writing this up. At any rate, he crashlands his ship into the garage of the Tanner family.

Such a nice middle-class family they decide to take ALF in and hide him from authorities or in this case the Alien Task Force (a branch of the military) as well as trying to keep their cat away from him (he wants to eat that cat so bad!).

The show was a typical 80’s sitcom relating to middle-class life with undertones of the fear of the use of nuclear weapons (as that’s what destroyed ALF’s homeworld). Among other things, this show had some good subtle social commentary. The show lasted only 4 seasons however it spawned an animated TV Series called “ALF Tales (2 seasons)” as well as a movie called “Project ALF” (1996)

The saga of ALF spilled over into pop culture in the form of many posters, buttons, clothing, and catchphrases “Hey, No Problem!” as well as plushies by the company Coleco and of course like any pop culture item back then trading cards. I’m sure the list is much much long however those are the things I remember from being a kid growing up with ALF as a part of my life.

Here is a full showing of episode 1 from ALF on youtube.

ALF S01E01

I’ve done some research on youtube and found a playlist of the episodes of ALF Tales:

ALF: The Animated Series

Found a full copy of the movie Project ALF on youtube as well for your viewing:

Project ALF Movie

Much to my surprise, I read this in my research on Wikipedia: “In August 2018, Warner Bros. Television announced the development of an ALF reboot, which was later canceled in November of that year. In February 2022, it was announced that Shout! Factory had acquired distribution rights to the ALF titles, and would “develop new ALF-related content”, with the company Maximum Effort subsequently joining in July 2023 to develop new material as well.”

Could this actually mean more ALF for future generations? I sure hope so however WB likes to trash titles they acquire and bury the evidence. But that’s a story for another day.

Below are some pics of the trading cards and the stuffed plushie by Coleco. Be sure to look out for my review and unboxing of the ALF action figure by NECA that I just picked up the week of 8/14/23. That will appear in Loot Crate on the site as soon as I get around to it.

Alf

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Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ALF_(TV_series)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0365971/
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117397/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_Project%2520ALF
https://www.youtube.com

Grammar and Spelling checked by Grammerly

August 21, 2023 by .:Pop Culture:. 0

Cuphead the hardest platformer I’ve ever played

Cuphead what can I say about the game that hasn’t been said yet? A game looking like the late ’30s / 40’s era cartoon and sounds just as good as one comes to the PC. I’ve loved this game since I first saw the highly original style of it however the difficulty is a bit much for this older gamer. I just don’t have the reflexes anymore to really progress. I believe I’m only 10% finished with the game and the video below will show you why.

Cuphead makes a deal with the devil and I believe for you to beat this game you’ll probably have to do the same. I have picked up a wonderful coffee table art book. The Art of Cuphead. Beautifully illustrated showing everything from the development of the characters to the development of the story and all the way to great finished artwork comps and stills.

The book can be found on Amazon here.

cover

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Just to prove how bad I am here’s a video I made of me playing this monster of a game. (Knowing I’d be watched didn’t help the situation!) The intro screen is showing with the DLC installed. Usually, it’s just Cuphead and his brother.

My horrible ability to play this game.

So in conclusion the game itself is AMAZING, along with good vintage sound. I can’t recommend the game enough. You can purchase it on Steam Here. Purchase includes both Windows and Mac versions which to me was very important. The video above was made on my PowerBook M2 and it recorded and played very well despite me not really playing but getting it handed to me!

(Edited and corrected with Grammerly, Free Version. I’m not a professional writer)

August 21, 2023 by .:Game Reviews:. 0

G.O.R.F. (Galactic Orbiting Robot Force)

Let’s take a trip down my memory lane to about 1983/84. I was at an arcade with my favorite aunt when I heard in an electronic voice “Tatatatatata”. The game was taunting me! Oh, how it mocked me with its electronic voice which at the time was unheard of when it was released anyway in 1981.

The cabinet I remember looked similar to a Tron cabinet using the same controller method except for the neon glowing handle anyway. It had everything a person wanted in a shooter! EVERYTHING! We had Space Invaders, Galaxian, a high-speed warp zone shooter level, and the MOTHER SHIP! KA BOOOOMMMMMM! It would EXPLODE if you managed to land that one critical shot.

TOKEN TOKEN TOKEN I was hooked the sounds were outstanding as I blasted away at enemy ships thinking I was piloting my newfound ship against aliens from another world. My aunt saw my love of the game and it would be that year I would find a copy for my Colecovision for my birthday.

With Colecovision’s ability to bring home the arcade. THIS ONE WAS better in my opinion graphically but lacked the taunting voice chip ability. It is still one of my most played games on the system bringing back memories of sitting in my parent’s room playing on the ‘ol t.v. until my wrists hurt. Pushing my rank higher and higher as I’d complete round after round of gameplay.

The game was also ported to the 2600, 5200, and several computers at the time. But none touched the CV in my opinion. I wish I had more hands-on experience with the arcade game in my adult life but finding one is very difficult let alone finding a classic arcade. So my wrists will hurt until I die playing my CV version in the future.

I found a great video showing the CV version of gameplay on Youtube. If you like it be sure to subscribe to the author to give credit where credit is due!

Video of the Colecovision game.

The following was written by ChatGPT and was used because I’m not really great at expressing certain things. THIS IS THE ONLY PART that used that tool. The game consisted of the following aspects.

  1. Space Warp: Players faced individual enemy ships one-on-one.
  2. Astro Battles: Similar to Space Invaders, players had to destroy formations of enemy ships.
  3. Laser Attack: This level involved dodging and destroying enemy laser fire.
  4. Flag Ship: Players had to defeat a large enemy mothership that launched various types of attacks.
  5. Galaxians: A variant of Galaxian-style gameplay where formations of enemy ships would dive down to attack the player’s ship.

That’s all for ChatGPT. I highly recommend this game based on my childhood fun with it and the difficulty that it provides. As well as the ability to play different types of games within the overall game.

(The document was edited for grammar by Grammerly)

August 20, 2023 by .:Game Reviews:. 0
Pixelcade
A child of the 80's and 90's here to remember the good old days. A careless whisperer...with a REBEL YELL!!!

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