A Green Mushroom

Crypt of the Necrodancer Within minutes of starting this game I knew it was going into my favorites.  I love a good rhythm game, especially if it has a unique twist.  This one definitely does. You're trapped in a crypt and have to do all of your dungeon crawling actions to the beat.  It sounds difficult and like it wouldn't work, but it does.  It's so much fun.  You need to see it in action. It's still in early access at the moment but I can see myself putting a lot of time into this game as it develops further.  It's going into my favorites so I can play it regularly. KickBeat Another rhythm game.  This time I was much less impressed. It's not doing anything unique, it's just skinned to look interesting.  Your character attacks enemies to the beat using martial arts moves.  It looks kind of cool for the first few minutes but that's it. This could easily have a different look and feel but be the exact same rhythm game. ...

X3: Reunion After playing Zero Suit games last night I thought I would keep the space game theme and try X3: Reunion.  I was very disappointed. After struggling with the controls for a good ten minutes I finally got my ship moving in the direction I wanted.  There was no tutorial to speak of, so that consisted of me digging around in the controls menu to figure it out. Then I started flying around and there was nothing interesting to do.  There were some warp gates to fly through, but they took forever to reach.  It was the most boring half hour I've ever spent with a space game.  I do not recommend it. Flotilla Next I moved on to Flotilla.  It's an RTS game with skirmishes between flotillas of ships.  I like the idea behind the game a lot and the simple aesthetics appeal to me too. I didn't actually enjoy the gameplay.  It's not Flotilla's fault, it seems like a really solid 3D plane RTS.  I just don't enjoy managing my ...

Dino D-Day You can be a dinosaur with a gun strapped to its back!  I could tell you more about the game... but really, do you need anything more than that? If you do, I'm somewhat disappointed in you.  This game is $0.99 on Steam right now.  You get to fight in a multiplayer battle of axis vs allies with multiple classes on each side.  At first glance it's like a lot of other multiplayer shooters... but then you realize both sides has dinosaurs.  It's amazing. My friend Professor Beej got this game for me and I'm so thankful for it.  This game is going into my favorites list right next to my other evergreen games.  You should get it.  Why are you waiting?  Seriously. Strike Suit Zero This is a pretty good spaceship dog fighting game.  It has controls that are easy to pick up and work fairly well with a mouse and keyboard.  There's a nice variety of ships and weapon configurations. The story campaign held my interes...

It's nice to have a topic to write about regularly again.  Here's the fourth installment of game impressions from my Steam backlog. Castle Story Castle Story is a game I kickstarted.  It's still in early access and it's definitely rough around the edges, but the core of the game is solid.  It's an RTS full of resource gathering, base building, and defending.  The characters and settings are stylized in an adorable way. I really like the potential this game has.  I wouldn't recommend it yet, but it's one I'm going to continue to keep my eye on as it progresses.  If they clean up the camera controls a bit and make a nice tutorial I could see this being a game I like a lot in the future. Chivalry: Medieval Warfare I'm impressed by how far this game has come since I played it in beta.  It's a medieval team-based FPS and it's a lot of fun.  It reminds me of Team Fortress 2 in a lot of ways.  It doesn't have the same style or lig...

More PC gaming catch-up.  I'm still working through my Steam backlog. Breath of Death VII Here's an RPG with a twist on the classic old school style.  It's by Zeboyd Games  who I know from playing the RPGs they made for Penny-Arcade.  I loved the Penny-Arcade games, but that was more because of the writing and characters than for the mechanics. The mechanics in Breath of Death VII are interesting.  Battles are about building up a combo through multi-hit attacks and then unleashing a combo-breaker that does massive damage.  It's a cool little mechanic. Breath of Death VII is set in a post apocalyptic world where everything is dead, undead, or some kind of mutant.  The main character is a silent skeleton and his first companion is a ghost.  It's a good change of pace from the typical fantasy setting. If I didn't just come off of playing every Final Fantasy mainline game I would probably be more inclined to pick up an RPG with charm l...

I'm still trying out lots of games from my Steam library that I haven't gotten to touch until now.  Here is my second round of impressions. Always Sometimes Monsters Made by Devolver Digital, which usually makes good games, this is a choice-driven story game.  I liked the premise of having lots of choices that matter in the world but the game just took way too long to get interesting.  I gave up after about half an hour.  If a game can't grab my attention in 30 minutes then I don't have more time to give it. I think the premise is solid.  A story driven game with lots of meaningful choices sounds great.  But I didn't like the execution of it. I looked on HowLongToBeat.com and it says the main game takes 8.5 hours to finish on average.  There's no way I could have stuck with it but maybe some of you could if you don't mind a slow paced game. Blackguards A hex-based tactical combat game in a fantasy setting with an overly generic intro...

The holiday break has given me a chance to start catching up on my PC gaming !  Here are my first set of impressions from all the PC games I'm trying out. Mini Metro So good.  So surprisingly good.  Usually I hate early access games, but this might be my new favorite action/puzzler. You take the role of city transportation planner and try to keep the trains running as the city slowly expands around you.  It's amazing and I can't do it justice with words, you need to see it in motion. I can tell you I started the game intending to try it for 5 minutes before bouncing to the next game... and the next time I looked up it was an hour and a half later as I was emerging from some kind of zen state.  Connecting stations, adding trains, rerouting existing routes, making bridges and tunnels.  It all adds up to a ton of fun.  It works really well. This game is so fun already and it's only going to get better as early access progresses.  Go pi...

As I mentioned yesterday, I built a new computer !  I was live tweeting as I was building it.  I wanted to collect all of those images in one place sequentially and that's here.  So, check it out below if you want to see the build as it happened. If you check this post in the far off future you may just see broken links if Twitter has archived my posts, but oh well.  Just take my word for it, building the computer was fun! Computer building... Here we go. pic.twitter.com/6riAtwiYEb — Void (@grnmushroom) December 23, 2014 CPU pic.twitter.com/loSdRTdAHK — Void (@grnmushroom) December 23, 2014 CPU in! pic.twitter.com/ZuNwAhGTne — Void (@grnmushroom) December 23, 2014 Heatsink pic.twitter.com/eMhOsEzLPm — Void (@grnmushroom) December 23, 2014 In the case! pic.twitter.com/JtvOKSRL4s — Void (@grnmushroom) December 23, 2014 Heatsink in pic.twitter.com/WqftH905SN — Void (@grnmushroom) December 23, 2014 RAM! there's one on the other s...

My trusty PC had been slowly dying for the last 9 months or so.  It's not it's fault.  I'm hard on my PCs.  Between high end gaming, video editing, Adobe Suite programs, running a media server, and leaving it on 24/7 it's pretty rough being my PC.  For awhile I was replacing my PC every 2 years from scratch.  This PC had been hanging in there (via 4-5 upgrades) for almost 6 years!  It was finally to the point where hardware was just failing. Because of that, I've been unable to play any PC game that puts strain on my system for the better part of a year.  I've been limited to Hearthstone and some emulation .  I also got the PC version of FFXIII to run on my system, but just barely.  And if you think about it, that's a game designed for Xbox 360 and PS3 which are showing their age.  That's why you haven't seen me discuss PC gaming much this year. I mention all of this to say... I finally built a new computer!  I had some extra m...

When Syl first mentioned writing about community and games for the Bloggy XMAS Calendar I really wanted to participate but I had nothing to write about.  I don't have time for MMOs these days and I don't play a single online game consistently enough to be part of it's community.  How would I write about games and community? But then I had a meeting with an old friend.  We hadn't seen each other in a couple years and we were meeting about a potential business project that we could work on together.  Surprisingly, we jumped right back into our old habits of discussing gaming. I mean, yes, we did talk about business stuff later, but first we talked about the Gamecube hooked up to his TV.  He just moved into a new apartment and it's the only console hooked up so far.  And then, while playing Smash Bros Melee on said Gamecube, we talked about how he's been playing classic EverQuest on a private EQ server.  I mentioned my trials and tribulations wi...

Even with my  Final Fantasy XIII baggage I dove into the game this week.  I'm playing the PC version via Steam. My first reaction to Final Fantasy XIII was, "It's so pretty!"  I forgot how beautiful this game looks.  Final Fantasy developers are always trying to push the envelope in graphics and it shows the most when they jump between console generations.  Final Fantasy XIII was the first Final Fantasy for Xbox 360 and PS3.  It looks so much better than Final Fantasy XII did. The only downside to the graphics is that they're locked to 720p on PC.  Supposedly there is a patch coming soon to allow for higher resolutions, but it's not out yet. Music is much improved over Final Fantasy XII.  It's still no Nobuo Uematsu but it's so much better than the last game.  It actually has one of my favorite battle themes in all of Final Fantasy.  It gets stuck in my head and I'm totally ok with that. It's especially amazing when the...

I absolutely love trying new games!  If you're a PS Plus subscriber on Playstation Network you get to try a lot of them. Every month they give PS Plus subscribers access to a new set of six free games.  Two each for PS4, PS Vita, and PS3.  I always make sure to "purchase" (for free) all of them through their online portal even if I don't want to download them right away.  That way I can play them any time I want in the future, as long as my PSN account is active. It's a great way to sample games I wouldn't normally try.  Sometimes they fall flat, but they're free games so who am I to complain? On top of that, occasionally they'll just give away free games to anyone on PSN.  This weekend you can snag Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare on PS4, Need for Speed Most Wanted on PS Vita, and Mirror's Edge on PS3.  All of them are free.  You just need to jump onto PSN and claim your copies before the weekend is over even if you don't have PS Pl...

If I were playing this game on PC I would be tactical.  I would be pausing all the time to issue orders and micro-manage my characters.  I would basically be playing this the same way I played Dragon Age Origins. But I picked it up on PS4.  It feels great to run into a battle swinging away.  I charge in, activate some abilities, destroy my enemies, and move on with my day.  It's quick and satisfying. It's all because of the input device.  With a console controller in my hand it feels great to tear through enemies.  With a mouse and keyboard it's nice to take my time and plan out every move for every character.  It's amazing how much the input device can change the feel of a game. I got a few hours into Dragon Age Inquisition and noticed something weird about normal difficultly.  It's not fun for either playstyle.  The enemies are too easy to stop and be tactical with my approach.  But they're slightly too hard to demolish ...

I'm coming into Final Fantasy XIII with some baggage.  Way back when I started this blog in 2010 I wrote about Final Fantasy XIII as I was playing it for the first time.  It was in the third month of this blog's existence and I was still finding my way. I'm going to replay it now in the context of The Final Fantasy Project but... it's interesting to take a look at what I originally thought of the game during my first playthrough. My initial impressions were mixed but in my final impressions I ripped the game apart.  Apparently I was completely sick of it by the end.  After I had some time to cool down I wrote a follow-up post talking about a few redeeming features I enjoyed about the game, but even that article had some negatives in it. So, that's where I'm coming from with this game.  You can look back at exactly how I felt during my first playthrough. I'm really hoping that this time I enjoy it more.  Now I have the context of the entire s...

Syl of MMO Gypsy fame has organized a fantastic event this year!  It's the Bloggy XMAS Calendar! It's based on the idea of an advent calendar and will feature posts from different bloggers every day until Christmas.  I'll be participating on my day, December 10th, but I wanted you to start checking it out since it's launching today. Don't delay!  Check out this awesome homepage for the calendar!

This has been hard to write for me.  I've spent over 50 hours with Final Fantasy XII and for most of that I felt like I didn't really "get" it.  I never connected with the story or the characters and that's definitely not a good thing.  I wanted the game to "click" after the first few hours so I could write some impressions... but it never really did.  So, I waited until I finished to write a full review.  Let's get to it. The story is set on a grand scale.  The first half hour is a giant cutscene full of lots of politics and war.  The grand scale continues throughout the storyline of the game.  It ends up dwarfing the main cast of characters.  It's so grand that it feels removed from the actions of your characters most of the time.  The last few hours tie the political events to three of the six characters, but it takes way too long for that to finally happen. Final Fantasy games always invent their own terms but this is the fir...

I don't usually write about DLC.  It's not typically something worthy of writing about.  I think the Mario Kart DLC is a fantastic value for the money so it deserves some talk. There are two scheduled DLC packs for Mario Kart 8.  The first just released a few days ago.  It includes two new cups, which means eight new tracks.  Eight tracks in a cart racer is a huge amount of content.  Along with these come three new characters; Link, Tanooki Mario, and Cat Peach.  Not to mention four new vehicles. My daughter and I have been having a blast with it.  The new tracks are fantastic and they're getting me re-engaged with the game.  I don't know if I've ever had DLC pull me back into a game like this, but new tracks in Mario Kart is seriously awesome.  My daughter has been enjoying playing with the new characters and vehicles. She loves customizing her racer and changing it every race. This DLC has already convinced me to drop $7.99 ...

I'm sick.  It sucks.  My son has been fighting off a bug for the past two weeks and in taking care of him I managed it pick it up. But, one benefit that has come out of being sick at home all week is getting to blast through some of the new releases that have been coming out.  They're hard to keep up with.  And I got to try a mobile game that's been on my radar for awhile.  Let's go rapid fire impressions here. Assassin's Creed: Unity I'm playing on PS4.  I've seen tons of hate for this game online and it seems to be especially buggy.  In my experience on my console I've only had frame rate slow down a couple times in the course of over 10 hours of play.  I only hit a weird animation bug once.  Your mileage may vary.  Especially if you're playing on PC or Xbox One.  Apparently they're much worse than PS4. I'm a huge fan of Assassin's Creed so I'm still having a lot of fun with it.  That being said, if you aren't a huge f...

I was worried about how I was going to play Final Fantasy XII.  Almost every Final Fantasy game has either been re-released, remastered, remade, or released on multiple systems.  Final Fantasy XII is the only mainline game that hasn't been.  It is available on PS2 and that's it.  There's a rumor that it's going to get the HD remaster treatment the same way Final Fantasy X did, but a rumor doesn't do me any good right now. I own a PS2 and a copy of Final Fantasy XII.  They're sitting in my closet right now.  The problem is I don't have any good spot to set up the console, I don't want to view the game in low resolution via composite cables, I don't want to be tethered via a hardwired controller, and I don't want to have to get to save spots to save my game.  I've been spoiled by my iOS and Vita games.  I need the ability to suspend or save anywhere.  It helps games fit into my life so much better.  The rest are just minor inconveni...

Let's talk about Final Fantasy XI and The Final Fantasy Project.  As I mentioned when I started this project , I'm not planning on including the MMO Final Fantasy games.  MMOs are living breathing worlds.  They're generally not good at telling a single player story.  But, at this point in my playthrough, I would be remiss to not mentioned a fully numbered mainline game. My experience with Final Fantasy XI was short.  I bought it a few months after it launched and tried it out.  Based on the release date listed on Wikipedia , this would mean I was trying it out in the winter of 2004, about eleven years ago. I didn't like the game.  I really wanted to.  I was a huge fan of Final Fantasy and MMOs by then.  I had played Final Fantasy VII through Final Fantasy X and enjoyed each one.  Unfortunately, Final Fantasy XI never clicked with me. The biggest problem was most likely my experience with other MMOs.  By the time Final Fan...

I really enjoyed Final Fantasy X.  I finished the whole game in a week and a half.  That's the fastest I've finished any game in the series.  It hooked me and I was engaged enough to pick up the game every single night. Overall, my initial impressions still stand.  This is a great game with wonder characters that interact in a well realized world.  The story is strong and drives the whole game.  It's not too difficult and very friendly for new players.  This is where I'm going to direct Final Fantasy newbies if they ask me where to start the series. Compared to my  initial impressions I did have a change of heart about the sphere grid.  I thought it was simply a gimmicky replacement for leveling up.  At low levels that's still true.  That changes when characters start to break out of their primary sphere grid path near the end of the game.  They get the option to cross over into other characters' paths or even telepo...

I'm playing the Final Fantasy X HD Remaster on my Vita and I'm loving it.  The remaster is also available on PS3 or you can grab the original game on PS2.  Final Fantasy X is such a great game in the series.  It's another leap forward in console generations since it's the first Final Fantasy game on PS2.  I always knew that Final Fantasy IX and Final Fantasy X were some of my favorites and this playthrough of Final Fantasy X is reaffirming that. The setting is a technologically repressed world where a giant monster called Sin runs rampant.  Sin kills and destroys for no apparently reason.  An entire religion had been built around Sin and it's effects.  One of the outcomes of the religion is a group known as Summoners.  They can call on powerful mystical creatures known as Aeons to help them.  Summoners must journey throughout the world on a pilgrimage to gather all the Aeons.  Once they have done so, they can conduct a final su...

Mistwalker studios was founded by the creator of Final Fantasy , so I always keep an eye on what they do.  I don't always end up enjoying their games, but I like to give them a shot. That brings us to Terra Battle.  It's a new game by Mistwalker studios and I've been playing it for the last couple days.  Terra Battle is a puzzle RPG game on iOS and Android .  For reference, I've been playing it on my iPhone. It has some basic free-to-play mechanics.  There's a stamina system that slowly refills over time.  It costs a couple stamina to start a battle.  That hasn't actually limited my playtime at all.  I've never run out of stamina to the point where I couldn't do another battle.  It recharges really fast.  They also have a shop where you can buy heroes and items for real world money.  I haven't spent anything and I don't plan to. The basic mechanics of the game are really interesting.  Use two or more units to flank an en...