Sunday Roundup: 6/5/16

It has been a busy couple of weeks! The end of May I went back home to watch my brother get married! It was amazing, of course, and it was the first time I was back home in Indiana in almost two years! The weekend immediately after was Fanime, an anime convention here in California that we’ve gone to for the past few years. We dressed up, we bought stuff, and we had a good time. Following that we had a friend move in with us until he can find a place of his own, and now Laura’s sister is back home for a couple weeks before her job starts! Phew! Thankfully though, a visit home means a ton of new video games I can’t get here in California! Let’s break it down!

 

Sunday Roundup: 4/10/16

Hakuoki: Memories of the Shinsengumi 3DS Release Date: September 19th, 2013 Purchased at: GameStop (Sunnyvale, CA – $18) Releasing a few years back, Hakuoki is as random a JRPG one can get on the 3DS. I decided to pick up this one for a couple reasons: I needed a game to fit into a Buy 2 Get 1 Free category to maximize the potential of the free game, and two it was released awhile ago and I likely won’t see too many more of it out there. The game isn’t particularly rare, and you can still find it on sites like Amazon, but it might be a game to keep in your collection. If for nothing else, it’s supposed to be a pretty decent strategy game.

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed Wii U Release Date: November 18th, 2012 Purchased at: GameStop (Sunnyvale, CA – $18) Way back in 2012 I reviewed this game for the 3DS and was impressed by its variety in levels, characters, and quality of the racing in general. I have heard good things from a lot of people about this Wii U version (which also happens to be a console launch title!), with some people going so far as to say it’s a superior game to Mario Kart. I don’t know if I’d go that far, but I’m all for games I can play with my friends on the couch! Unfortunately though this might just be a two player co-op game. Can anyone shed some extra light on this for me?

Darksiders II: Deathinitive Edition PlayStation 4 Release Date: October 27th, 2015 Purchased at: GameStop (Sunnyvale, CA – Free) The original Darksiders happened to be one of the very first games I ever reviewed for the now defunct Inside Gaming blog of the Machinima network. I thought it was pretty great back then, but not great enough to pickup the sequel until this “Deathinitive” re-release. Granted, I have had the game on Xbox 360 for awhile now, but this is in HD! Following Death as he fights in the war between the Angels and Demons, Darksiders II takes what made the first game memorable (the Legend of Zelda-esque exploration and gameplay) and makes it all better and pretty on the PS4!

Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars Wii Release Date: March 24th, 2009 Purchased at: GameStop (Cupertino, CA – $2) A port of an old point-and-click adventure game released on the PC way back in 1996, Broken Sword has gone down as one of the more influential games of the genre. Despite this, and the countless systems this game has come out for, I feel like the game has still gone unplayed by a lot of gamers, myself included! The game is a story driven adventure centering around the Knights Templar, a terrorist attack in Paris, France, and the mysteries around those involved. It’s interesting, don’t get me wrong, but I almost feel taken aback by how old the game is I don’t want to even try it. But we’ll see; maybe I’ll be surprised by it one day!

Laters,
Jsick

 

Video Review: Muramasa: The Demon Blade

Often regarded as one of the Wii’s best hidden gems, how does Vanillaware’s action RPG actually play? It’s definitely beautiful, but it wasn’t the best game out there. Watch my video review for all the details!

Laters,
Jsick

 

Video Review: Little King’s Story

Often called one of the Wii’s best hidden gems, is Little King’s Story worth all they hype?

Watch my latest video review and find out!

Laters,
Jsick

 

Sunday Roundup: 1/31/16

A handful of DS games and a duo of games I’ve literally been spending years trying to track down finally fell into my collection this week! After our move, I’m living closer to a different GameStop than before, but seeing as I still work at the same Target, I happen to be close to that ol’ GameStop of mine. And man, this week they delivered: apparently a “regular” who goes to this store often turned in dozens of great DS games. They were all loose, but some of them had incredible prices! I couldn’t say no to these and a few duplicates for possible reselling. Hmm… maybe I’ll finally start getting into that this year…

 

Video Review: Mad Dog McCree: Gunslinger Pack

I recorded this audio and cut the video over a year ago, but for this, that, and the other I was never able to put it up on YouTube. Because of this, the audio is a bit low as to avoid the ambient noise my old microphone picked up. Aside form that, this is a fresh new video review for your viewing pleasure!

Laters,
Jsick

 

Top Ten Game Pickups of 2015

Another year is coming to an end, and with it a great assortment of new games added to the collection. This year was a lot more memorable than the previous years, mainly because I was actually able to play a lot of the new games that came out! Just check out my Top Ten Games of 2015 and see what I mean! 2015 Was also the year I really got to enjoy my PS4! I’m looking forward to what the next year has in store for Sony’s home console. And who could forget the Wii U! Haters gonna hate, but I still love that system, and this year saw several great titles added to Nintendo’s black box. The 3DS is still going strong, and the next game I’m most excited for in 2016 happens to be for the 3DS (Fire Emblem: Fates!!). I never mentioned it before (or at least I can’t recall if I have), but this year also happened to be the year I surpassed 2,000 games in the collection! Yay for game collecting but boo for my aching wallet! Just like last year, instead of doing a complete rundown of all the games of 2015, here are the top ten best games I found last year!

 

Top Ten Party Games

One of the best things video games can do is bring people together. Multiplayer has been around for decades, and with a general shift toward online multiplayer being the only way to play with others, local multiplayer and party games have been declining. Despite this, some of the greatest video games created were made specifically with local multiplayer in mind. Recently Nintendo seems to be the only publisher making games to fit in this genre, but there have been dozens of games released over the past years that exemplify the party genre. Here is my list of the ten greatest party games ever!

 

Video Review: Fortune Street

It’s been months since I was able to get behind my desktop, record some voiceover, edit a heck of a lot of video, and make a new review, but here it is!

Fortune Street on the Wii is not like any other “Party” game I’ve played. I think the misconception about the game is just that: it’s a party game. While Fortune Street is best enjoyed with other players on your couch, it’s just not as endearing as a Mario Party or a Monopoly. Unless you’re a stock broker who moonlights as a Mario junkie.

Laters,
JsickA

 

Sunday Roundup: 10/18/15

This is going to be one of the biggest Roundups for the site! I made it a goal last week to hit up literally every GameStop in the greater San Jose area in hopes of finding some harder to find gems in the ranks of old DS, Wii, and even some Xbox 360 and PS3 racks. While most of the GameStop’s I won’t be making special trips to again, there were a few stores in some nicer areas that really surprised me! Unfortunately none of these games I would classify as “Super Rare” or anything like that, but there are some fun games here that I’m happy to have in the collection. And I can safely say if you are looking hard enough, you can still find some diamonds in the rough that is retail video game shopping.