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Kyoshi Frost Wolf

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  1. Kyoshi Frost Wolf
    2015....What a year for gaming eh? Went by a lot faster than I expected but still, it was a pretty awesome year for gamers! Many great games were released as well as some...not so great games, but at the very least, the great ones were really, really great. There was one in particular though that was my favorite game of 2015 though and it rose above the rest to my spot of Game of the Year. Which game was that?


     

    Well, without further ado and dilly-dallying, here is my Game of the Year for 2015:



    Forza Motorsport 6 (Xbox One)





     

    Forza Motorsport 6 is, as you may know, a racing game. What? A racing SIM as my Game of the Year!!? What madness Kyoshi! You crazy pony! I might be crazy, yes, but I cannot deny the brilliance that is this game and franchise. Froza 5 was the game that made me love the Racing Sim genre and to me, no other game does it better. What Forza 5 lacked, Forza 6 came along and improved it in nearly every aspect. One could say that this is the game that Forza 5 SHOULD have been.


     

    Forza 6 is a racing game that gives you so much content. It sports 26 different tracks, night and rain racing, over 500(!) cars to race with, tune and even paint to your liking. All of this has extreme detail with fully detailed interiors, realistic looking tracks and a buttery smooth 60FPS framerate and in 1080p. So not only is this a pinnacle racing title but it shows what the Xbox One can do in the right hands. There are a few shortcomings, such as lack of Multi-Class options or Multi-Class racing at all online which Forza 5 did have and the online is still problematic in many ways, and there are not as many rain and night tracks as I would have hoped for, but the ones that are here are fantastic.


     

    With all of that though, Forza 6 still rises above itself and makes for an addicting and even relaxing racing experience. If you own an Xbox Own and have any interest in racing like this, I highly suggest giving it a look. It is worth every penny.


     

    Honorable Mentions:



    Elite Dangerous (Xbox One)


     


    And there you have it. That was my Game of the Year for 2015! ^__^ I hope you all enjoyed reading this, took me a bit to get it up but I finally got to it. What was YOUR game of the year? I made a thread for just that in the Media Discussion section. Let me know what else you think below!


     

    Thank you all so much for reading! This is Krazy Kyoshi, as some might think me as, signing out!


  2. Kyoshi Frost Wolf
    Another year of Halloween, another year of me not doing anything special for it. Kinda sucks. I really want to do something awesome next year if I actually get the motivation, but on a more positive note, my brother did do something awesome. He made a costume from scratch for Mordecai from the game Borderlands!


     
     
     

    And here he is with his girlfriend!





     
     
     

    Seriously, how friggin' cool is that? He did that mostly from scratch buy putting different assets together. My brother is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more awesome than I could ever be.


  3. Kyoshi Frost Wolf
    Welcome back to Kyoshi Shares Music! Today I have a very special song for you all, some of you may have heard it, some others may not. It is one of my favorite songs of all time and I consider to be a modern masterpiece of music. It is the song. It is epic, emotional, beautiful, there are so many words I can describe it with. It is a song that makes me feel renewed anytime I listen to it.


     

    Without further ado, here is Ghost Love Score by Nightwish






  4. Kyoshi Frost Wolf
    I am back for another KSM! This time I want to share a very nice track that I recently remembered. It is a song about love and death together. It is a beautiful song by the Finnish band HIM. I always forget that they are Finnish.


     
     
     

    Here is Join Me In Death by HIM



    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcwiHg4QxuA

  5. Kyoshi Frost Wolf
    Want just a quick summary of the game and my rating? Check out the spoiler below!
    Forza 5
    Platform: Xbox One
    Genre: Racing
    Publisher/Developer: Microsoft/Turn 10

     
    Being someone who never really got into many racing games in the past, especially simulations, I never thought I would really get an addiction to a racing game like many others have. Well, even with that, I can safely say that Turn 10 has made a fantastic and beautiful racer that is a wonderful start for the Xbox One. It may lack some features that other racers have had before and some troubling online play, but it makes up for with just about everything else.
     
    The menu system in the game is very clean and easy to navigate. You will quickly find anything that you want to go to at a moments notice. This is accompanied by beautiful background music that is soothing and creates a wonderful atmosphere.
     
    The game offers multiple modes of play. A standard Career mode, Trials mode where you can beat the times of other players, multiplayer, and free race. All of these modes provide good variety despite the career mode being very simplistic. The trials mode gives you tons of options and plenty to do with each class of vehicles and tracks. The free play mode is excellent as it gives you full control over what you want to race. How many opponents, what track, how many laps, etc. You can even play alone entirely for a more relaxing drive. Multiplayer is the biggest disappointment of the bunch. While it does offer tons of modes which should be fun, there is no penalty system whatsoever with any of them. This means tons of bumping and grinding and often very sinister tactics will be used by some players and they will receive no penalty. It makes the races feel overly chaotic and extremely hostile. I played it for a good while but eventually I went back to the other modes. The drivatar system, while not feeling too revolutionary at first, does create a new sense of how AI can be done in a racing games the drivatars all represent other players and it makes the offline racing feel more social and these drivatars are prone to human errors, though not too often. I did notice one slight thing while playing in the career mode, some drivatars tended rubberband with extreme brutality but thankfully I have only experienced this in the career mode.
     

     
    Across all of the modes you earn experience points to level up your driver level and your manufacturer affinity level. This system is done incredibly well as you earn experience not by what place you came in, but by driving. Yes, the more you drive, you level up. This system is done so well that I wish other games would do the same. It creates a tension less system of progression that is unrivaled in my opinion. It lets you get better at your pace instead of forcing you into unfair scenarios. It is all about how much you drive and this is one of the greatest systems the game has to offer beyond the driving itself. Again, you earn these experience points across ALL modes, so you can play what you want, how you want.
     
    The graphics in this game are stunning. The sheer detail in every vehicle is some of the best I have ever seen by far and the in car view is the default and it is probably the best in car view in racing game history. The lighting system is very good too though there are times where you can be blinded a bit by some of the sunlight on certain tracks in certain spots. While there is no weather system or night racing to be found here, the sheer detail in everything else does drastically help in making me forget about that. Plus, this is a launch title after all.
     
    There are also less tracks and vehicles from the past Forza's. Apparently a decent margin less. While this can be a negative to some I found the selection to still be really good given the detail that has been put into all of the vehicles. Other cars can be purchased through DLC as well, which might be worth it to some and not to others. It depends on what you want. Thankfully, Turn 10 has promised that all tracks will be free of charge as far as I know and so far they have stuck to that.
     
    While there aren't as many tracks as previous games, the detail and variations within them make for a lot of play time. The recently added Nurburgring (Ich liebe diese Rennstrecke!) on its own has already cost me several hours, but it is all worth it. I have no doubt that the lack of tracks when compared to other Forza's will quickly be forgotten just like it was for me. Learning each track and mastering the turns will take a long while but it is so fun doing so. With the rivals and drivatar systems, you always have that little motivation to do better on the next lap. The game will display if you have a current rival that you can beat on the leaderboards, which will make you want to get some good times. Thankfully, the HUD options are very flexible, allowing you to disable these visual cues if you just want to concentrate purely on driving.
     
    There are tons of assist options that can be enabled or disabled for a perfect balance for newbies and veterans of racers. You can ease your way into the game and work your way to disabling some of these options however disabling them is never required, offline or online.
     

     
    One little thing I want to point out, there is a split screen option but it is rather lackluster, with no AI in this mode and no in car view. It works for what it is, but it is a very disappointing aspect.
     
    The last thing I want to mention, when you buy a car, you can tune and paint the car to your liking. There are tons of options when making designs and you can download designs made by others. You like Ponies like me? Well, this game has you covered. This additional feature has been a staple of the franchise and it is just as great here. You can spend hours making your favorite designs and showing them off online, even if the online can be frustrating.
     
    Final Verdict:
     
    Bit of a longer review this time. This game has so much to it that it was hard to compress it all so I apologize if it was tough to comprehend at times. I hope you enjoyed it though. Have any thoughts or questions about the game? Share them below! Thank you for reading.
     
    Until next time,
     
    Turbo out!
  6. Kyoshi Frost Wolf
    Want just a quick summary? Head to the Final Verdict for that and my rating!
    Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
    Platform: Playstation 3
    Genre: Third person shooter/adventure
    Publisher/Developer: Sony/Naughty Dog
    ESRB: T

    Uncharted Drake's Fortune was a title that took many by surprise when it first released in 2008. It had charm, some interesting gameplay elements and very good graphics. It was a good title in a sea of not so good titles at the time for the PS3, even though I was not overly fond with this particular game. Uncharted ended up getting a sequel though in the following year and it quickly became one of my favorite video game experiences of all time. The first level in the entire game will set the tone for one of gaming's greatest adventures.
     
    Uncharted 2 has you playing as Nathan Drake (voiced by Nolan North), like the first game. He is a cocky, sarcastic, and witty treasure hunter that is an expert at breaking into places and being a smartass while doing it. In this game he (as well as a couple of partners) are trying to find the lost fleet of Marco Polo and the treasure that it hides. This begins an adventure of intrigue, deception, and an something truly astounding.
     
    Uncharted 2 is a third person shooter for starters and this aspect it far improved upon the first game. the controls and aiming are very good here and pulling off headshots is very satisfying. Taking cover is simple and switching and jumping over cover works like a breeze. It is a control scheme that is very easy to get into and it very often is satisfying to use, minus some very minor quirky moments. Then the game also features platforming and climbing. Drake must traverse through many different obstacles and deathtraps and this requires climbing, jumping, and more non-shooter aspects. Surprisingly, for the most part, this works just as well as the shooting mechanics. The platforming provides such a great diversity from the shooting and creates some of the most memorable moments of the game for me. The controls here work very well and like the third person shooting, it is easy to get into but also can be a little finicky at times.
     

    Uncharted 2 has one of the greatest first levels ever in gaming.
     
    The locales that Uncharted 2 will take you to is absolutely marvelous. Throughout the 26 or so chapters, you will be going to many different areas and each are so lushly detailed and unique from each other. These areas provide their own sets of challenges to overcome and they also have treasures to find. The sheer variety in the levels combined with the game's superb graphics and sound make for a surreal experience that feels very cinematic but also insanely immersive. As an example, one of my favorite levels in video game history is in this game and that level has no enemies whatsoever. Just pure atmosphere.
     

    This stage is one of my favorites in gaming history.
     
    Speaking of the graphics and sound, this game has some of the best I have ever seen. Even though the game came out over 5 years ago, it still holds up completely and will most likely continue to hold up for years to come. The graphical detail in the environments, the character models, the cutscenes, everything here feels polished down to every pixel and I cannot praise this enough. The sound design is equally wonderful with excellent music that fits the mood, fantastic sound design in each level, and excellent voice acting for every character that further makes you feel like you are in an amazing adventure film, only it is YOU that is experiencing it yourself. Naughty Dog stepped up the bar in almost every aspect with this game.
     
    The game also features multiplayer which was the first of this series. It was definitely a fun romp even if the balance is not always there and I found it to be a nice little bonus. You can unlock plenty of stuff as you play and it has a nice variety of modes. The multiplayer, while not perfect by any means, is a fun time waster and I see it as a bonus in the overall package. There is also a horde mode that is pretty standard but fun.
     
    Honestly, the only two complaints I have with this game are this, the generic enemies and lackluster weapons. While the weapons are definitely fun to use and there is some variety, they are all mostly standard fair from an AK to an RPG to a Grenade Launcher to others. They work just fine, but still, it is pretty standard fair but perhaps it works for the real world setting. The other thing is the generic enemies. These are mostly really bland mercenary types that purely exist for cannon fodder and none of them have any kind of personality of their own. One particular enemy, the armored shotgun brutes, they are the one enemy type that I consider to be frustrating as well. These little complaints just cannot take away from the overall experience though, it is that good.
     
    Final Verdict:
     
    /end gushing. Thank you so much for reading this week's Turbo Review! This is easily one of my favorite games of all time and I am glad I was able to share this with you. This game made me have a feeling of wonder and adventure that I rarely ever get from most types of media. Go out and give it a try if you have a PS3, it is quite cheap now.
     
    Until next week, Turbo out!
  8. Kyoshi Frost Wolf
    Want just a quick summary? Head to the Final Verdict for that and my rating!
    Ziggurat
    Platform: Xbox One, PC
    Genre: Rogue-lite FPS
    Publisher/Developer: Milkstone Studios
    ESRB: E10+

    Hello and welcome back to Turbo Reviews! Been a while. Well, I have returned to review more games and such! So let's begin that!
    Ziggurat is a rogue-lite FPS surprisingly from Milkstone Studios , a team that brought us the wonderful...uh, Avatar Farm Online and other 'gems'. In Ziggurat you play as one of many different wizards to ascend a tower, defeat baddies, and level up and find new gear along the way. The Ziggurat itself is the test that every wizard apparently goes through to...be a wizard I guess. You shoot a decent variety of enemies with your wand and soon 3 other tools, a spell, a staff, and an alchemy weapon. Each of these weapons have their distinct traits and you will unlock new ones as you play. You get experience orbs from defeating enemies which in turn levels you up and you then choose between two perks to help you through. You also unlock many more of these as you play.

    The game definitely has a nice visual appeal.
    Speaking of this, this is one of the driving forces to keep playing Ziggurat. As you start, you only have one character to use and a limited amount of perks and weapons overall. As you play though, you will be unlocking many new items and even characters once certain progress based goals are hit. Experimenting with new characters and new perks and weapons is definitely fun though it is all completely random what you get, since everything is randomly generated in each playthrough, ala rogue-lite. You will often get repeats until you unlock more stuff, and even then you may get repeats quite often.
    The competence of the controls are very important for a rogue-lite and Ziggurat handles quite well in this regard. Your character has a surprising amount of mobility, with a good jumping distance and unlimited sprint to accompany this. I was surprised by how well my character controlled and I commend Milkstone for achieving this, though the jumping controls take some time to get used to, especially in the limited first person platforming sections, which are uncommon, but also kinda pointless in this type of game.

    One of the bosses in the game, none of which are spectacular.
    The enemies that you fight and how they fight you, is one of my gripes with the game. The enemies here are fairly generic, though there are a decent amount. It seems quite a few enemies rely on the objective of running towards you and whacking you until you die. If they are not doing that, then they are shooting projectiles at you, many of which are homing for no reason. The game also deems it necessary to bombard you with these enemies in certain rooms and given how small some rooms are, it can be near impossible to avoid getting hit, especially since some of the enemies are especially cheap. The bosses fair a bit better but still, they are pretty generic and have bland combat tactics.The way the enemies were handled could have been better but perhaps it was a limitation of the engine, that being Unity.
    Speaking of Unity, for it being a game on this engine, the game looks and sounds very well for an indie game of this type. I found the visual aesthetic to be very pleasing to the eyes and the sounds of the game are very nice, with soothing music and great sound effects overall. I really have no complaints in this area.

    This grenade here is an example of an Alchemy weapon, one of the four weapon types.
    One huge praise and also criticism that I must give, are the modes. The game features 4 modes, Easy, Normal, Hard, and Endless. Normal on its own is pretty difficult overall but the game features an Easy mode, where you can play through the game at a much more relaxing pace to get used to the game itself, all while still unlocking things! This mode separates this game from others of the genre as it gives a nice way to get accustomed to what the game has to offer while making progress with unlocks. I commend them for this greatly. However, once you beat the five floors of Ziggurat on normal with a character, you unlock Hard and Endless modes for that character. These modes, are absolutely terrible. Hard mode, while it is called Hard mode, it should be called 'near impossible' mode and it breaks the game in a lot of ways. Hard mode features much more challenge and getting past even the second floor on its own is a feat. The problem is the cheapness in this mode. Because of some of the cheap spawning and random nature of the perks, you have to get very lucky to get through this mode. Unlike Normal and Easy, success in Hard mode relies mostly on getting certain perks and leveling them up to level 5, which of course is random in itself. This makes Hard mode an unbelievably frustrating mess that makes many perks useless, ones that would be good otherwise. Not once did I ever enjoy hard mode and I suggest avoiding it unless you really want an ungodly challenge. Endless mode is the same as hard mode only somehow a bit more difficult and it has endless floors, though good luck getting past the second one. I do think Hard mode should of course be challenging, but the way it is handled here is just far more frustrating than anything. The shining spot to counter this is the Easy mode that I am happy they included, and the fact that you still unlock stuff even upon death, even if dying feels really frustrating in this game.
    Final Verdict:
    Thank you for reading this week's Turbo Review! It feels good to be doing these again. If you are new to Turbo Reviews, I try to post one every Friday, usually at 6pm EST. If you want notifications for all new reviews, you can follow this blog if you wish.
    Until next time, Turbo out!
  9. Kyoshi Frost Wolf
    Want just a quick summary? Check out the Final Verdict for that and my rating!
    Animal Crossing
    Platofrm: Nintendo Gamecube
    Genre: Life Simulation
    Publisher/Developer: Nintendo

    For many, video games are a great escape. There are many times where life really isn't fun and we just want to play a game to escape from that reality for a short time. Now what about a game that loosely simulates life and goes in real time? That could never work! Well, Nintendo made it work and it was awesome.
    Animal Crossing has such a deceptively simple premise of gameplay. You start out on a train and after having a nice little conversation with a purple cat (Happens all the time on train rides). Upon having this conversation you arrive in the village that you will call your new home. It is randomly generated for starters and that is a good sign. You are greeted by a raccoon named Tom Nook who kinda sneakily sells you a a house. He is the shop owner in town and he has a way with words for sure. After this, he tells you that you owe him a bunch of money, called Bells in this world, but he is lenient and will let you pay it off on your own time, whenever you please, though the first initial payment is used for the tutorial of sorts.

    Even when nothing really happens at night, it was always so peaceful
    After this, you are free to do as you wish! First off, Animal Crossing runs on real time. Using the clock in your Nintendo Gamecube, assuming you have it set correctly, the game actually goes by your clock and calendar, with of course day and night cycles, events that pertain to such and the seasons even change! This feature alone set it apart from pretty much any other game at the time and it still is the best of that kind. When you are not playing, events will happen even when you are not there! This makes you want to check in every day to see what is new and whats happened.
    In the game, you will be chatting with your animal neighbors, who are also randomly generated at the start, doing many simple activities such as fishing, bug catching, planting trees and flowers, picking fruit, and so much more. Even in its simplicity, there is a surprising amount of things to do and to collect. You can customize your home with furniture that you buy from that Tom Nook fellow and as you do these activities, as well as helping fellow citizens of the town (which you name the town by the way), you will get the Bells that you need overtime. Again, for such a simple idea, the game gives you the drive to keep doing these things, as they are fun and watching your house grow and seeing the town change overtime is quite addicting. There is just so much to do! My description does not and cannot do it justice, there is that much content. You can even make custom designs for outfits and more at the Able Sisters! Even just getting new mail or digging something up yields wonder and excitement, which is pretty crazy for something that would otherwise be mundane.

    Speaking of mundane...
    The graphics and sounds really help this game further. The game has a very relaxing atmosphere and it helps make this game be a wonderful escape, even though it itself is kinda like a life simulator. The graphics are very simplistic but they are have a definite charm. They aren't graphically intensive at all but this game was a port of an N64 game in Japan, so really not much can be complained about. the music here is absolutely delightful. Every hour of the day has its own unique, each just as wonderful as the one before it. This game has one of my favorite video game soundtracks by far. Hearing these tunes while walking around in the snow in the Winter time is pure bliss. The other sounds of the game are great in their simplicity as well. The sound of the snow beneath your feet in Winter, the cute chattering of the world's inhabitants, so many things in this game are done so simply yet so effectively. As a side note, I think this game has the best visual and sound styles out of all of the Animal Crossing games.
    One other thing I need to mention is that you can have up to four players in one village, though there is no simultaneous multiplayer here. You can also travel to the villages of others but you need their memory card to do so. For such an early game in the Gamecube's life, this was a really nice feature, even with its limitations. Oh, and this game knows when you quit the game or reset the system without saving. It doesn't like that, but I will let you find out how it expresses this.

    Catching bugs for money, worth it
    My only complaint about the game might be the fact that on some days, there just is not much to do. Some days you may hop on to only check in for about 5-10 minutes and you could be done for the day. I remember doing this myself plenty of times. Once night settles in, the stores are closed and at that point there is not much you can do at all. There is no way to accommodate the shops times for your own schedule, which this was solved in the latest entry on 3DS. This makes nighttime kinda boring and empty, kinda like real life in a way. Really, this isn't so much a flaw but more like a victim of the game's own design. Some day's are just completely boring, much like real life.
    Final Verdict:
    Thank you for reading this week's Turbo Review! Anything you want to add? Have you played the game? What are your thoughts?
    Be sure to follow this blog if you enjoyed this review and want to be when a new review is posted.
     

     
    Until next time,
     
    Turbo out!
  10. Kyoshi Frost Wolf
    Want just a quick summary? Head to the Final Verdict for that and my rating!
    Luigi's Mansion
    Platform: Nintendo GameCube
    Genre: Adventure/Puzzle/Exploration
    Publisher/Developer: Nintendo

    Oh Luigi's Mansion, what a classic we have here. Well, surprisingly it wasn't that way when it released. Upon the immanent release of the Nintendo GameCube, you can tell many were excited for the new generation of Nintendo, especially after the masterpieces of Ocarina of Time, Goldeneye, and of course, Mario 64, just to name a few. Many were expecting a wonderful new Mario platformer to accompany the launch of the purple cube of games. We did not get that though. Instead, we got a totally different game. It was not a Mario game, but a Luigi game. Not only was it not a Mario game, it was not a platformer. It instead was a puzzle/exploration game with ghost busting. Many were disappointed at the time. Me? I loved it!

    Luigi's Mansion has you playing as Luigi who finally gets the spotlight. He mysteriously wins a mansion for no reason and upon entering it, it is filled with ghosts! He meets Professor Egad who gives him the trusty Poltergust 3000 and from there, the real game begins.
     
    You control Luigi as you explore this mansion. As you do, you will run into ghosts which are your main problems. Most areas have ghosts that must be defeated in order to progress. To do this, you just flash your light on most of them and suck them up with your vacuum. This is the most common gameplay aspect and for how different it is, it is quite fun. There are a different variety of ghosts throughout that require different methods of capture and even boos later on. You also obtain different power ups for the Poltergust that are used to catch more specific types.
     
    Beyond this you also have puzzle elements where you have to get certain keys to unlock certain doors, lighting up certain areas and so on. It is not immensely difficult by any means but it still challenges your brain a bit on what to do next. On top of the regular ghosts and the boos, the other large aspect are the boss ghosts. These are ghosts that have way more health than the regular ghosts and require specific conditions to be met for them to appear and to even capture. Each one has a specific theme and I found these to be one of the more fun parts to the game, figuring out how they are captured and finally defeating them is oh so satisfying. Some are even real boss fights where you must catch the ghost but also survive.
     

     
    Throughout the game you will also be collecting money and a lot of it. As you open certain areas, chests, objects, whatever, you may get money which comes in the form of bills, coins, and gold blocks, as well as pearls that you get from the boss ghosts. While at first this may not seem like much, collecting this money is quite fun and I love that they included an overarching collecting aspect to the game. The amount of money you have at the end determines a certain aspect that I won't spoil here. This whole aspect actually reminds me a lot of a Wario Land game which is a pretty good comparison to have. This was a part of the game that I did not expect but ended up really enjoying.
     
    The game's visual and sound areas are immensely charming. The graphics at the time were amazing and they actually still hold up in certain ways. The expressive character models and the overall look have that distinct Mario feel while also matching the not-so-Mario adventure. The texturing also holds up well in a lot of ways, many things do not have that kinda fuzzy look that many of the early PS2 games had. The sound is delightful as well. The sounds of the characters and ghosts are all distinct and while some might be annoying, the sound design here is also very Mario-like in a very good way. The music is one of the best aspect of this game in my opinion, as it uses many creepy-vibe tunes that are very cartoonish but match the atmosphere oh so perfectly.
     

     
    My only real gripe with the game is the overall length. This game is actually pretty short and can most likely be beaten in just a few short sittings. There are many different hidden rooms and things to find but they still don't add a whole lot to the play time. This really is a testament to how fun the game is though, I wanted more!
     
    Final Verdict:
     
    Thank you for reading this week's Turbo Review! If you enjoyed it, feel free to follow Turbo Review's for notifications for every new review!
     

     
    Until next week,
     
    Turbo out!
  11. Kyoshi Frost Wolf
    Tomodachi Life is a game that uses Mii's that you create on your 3DS. You can make them in the Mii maker, import them from it, use a QR code, or make them in the game itself. Since the back cameras on my 3DS are borked for some reason, I have to make them from scratch. Currently I have about 16-18 Mii's and to my knowledge you can have waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more than that and the more Mii's you have, the more fun the game is. :3
    So I was thinking, how about the community here decide some Mii's for me? That is what I am gonna do. Community interactivity!
    Basically, using this format, just let me know what Mii's you would like to see. The suggestions could be anything, so have at it.
    Mii Format
    Mii Name:
    Favorite color:
    Date of birth:
    Gender:
    General appearance: (Describe what you would like the Mii to look like, this is optional)
    Of course the Mii Maker has plenty of limitations but I will do what I can. I just think this will be fun to add many new Islanders to the game.
    Also, if you want to, you can add my 3DS friend code which is located on my profile. My Xbox Live Gamertag is there as well. Gaming!
  12. Kyoshi Frost Wolf
    Here we are at the end of another year. Next year we will have all sorts of futuristic technology like hover boards, flying cars, and even time travel! For now though, it is still 2014 and what a year in games it was. Overall, it was a year of 'mixed bags'. While there were some great titles, there were others that were either just plain terrible or could not live up to the extreme hype that the developers gave it.
     
    However, there is one game that I feel rose above its competition in being incredibly painful to play and not fun in the slightest. A game that has a focus that just does not work like it should and makes the game downright terrible, to me at least. Many games could make the worst game category for some, but I feel that most of the games this year, no matter how overhyped, did accomplish at least something decent. This game though, I feel did almost nothing good. Now, there are some of you that will completely disagree with me and you might enjoy the game. That is perfectly fine, don't let my opinion dampen your enjoyment, but I will be speaking rather harshly about my choice. So let's get on with it.
     
     
     
    Kyoshi's Worst Game of the Year is....
     
     
    That is my worst game of the year. It might not be the worst programmed game, far from it, but it is the one game that angered me in way more ways than one. It just doesn't feel like what a game should be, fun. Again, you might disagree, that's fine. Enjoy what you enjoy.
     
    Now that we have that negativity out of the way, be on the look out for my next blog, Kyoshi's Game of the Year. That will be a lot more positive I think.
     
    See you all then!
  13. Kyoshi Frost Wolf
    Want just a quick summary? Head to the Final Verdict for that and my rating!
    The Eye of Judgment: Legends
    Platform: PSP (Available on PS Store for the Vita)
    Genre: Collectible card battle game
    Publisher/Developer: SCE/Japan Studio
    ESRB: E10+

    The original Eye of Judgment game on the PS3 was what I would consider an experiment gone wrong. It tried to combine a collectible card game WITH a video game as its battlefield. This sounds like a great idea on paper, but it turned out to be an overly-expensive mess that was difficult to set up and was incredibly easy to cheat thanks images online that can be printed. Later, developer Japan Studio tried to revive this idea with the digital only PSP release Eye of Judgment Legends. While it is an improvement upon its predecessor in many ways, it still shows glaring issues within the card game itself and fails to truly stand with its competition.
     
    As mentioned before, EOJ is a collectible card battle game. Instead of buying real booster packs like the original, this time all of the cards are in the game and can be bought individually with the gold that is earned in game. With these you can make decks with a selection of themes and elements, which play a strategic role. The gameplay overall works like this: There is a 3x3 grid and the first play to control 5 of the 9 spaces wins the match. The way you do this is by summoning creatures to these squares. Each square has an element That does not change game to game and you can use these to help further your board control, as well as spells that can 'flip' these spaces to different elements. The concept of winning here is entirely board control. each turn, the current player gets 2 mana and can save these points up and they are used to pretty much use anything, from spells, to creatures, etc. There is a story mode here (unlike the original), standard battles, and standard multiplayer, though I never played the multiplayer portion.
     

     
    One of the best aspect of Legends is the card shop and deck building itself. While unlocking certain cards can be slow, earning gold is simple and the ability to buy cards directly rather than in random chance boosters greatly speeds up the process of building a deck that suits you. Plus as you progress through the story, you unlock additional cards in the shop, though some of these are kinda hard to tell exactly how they unlock or when. The deck building and card shop aspect is by far the best part to the game. It definitely beats buying real boosters like the original game. Another great thing that is obvious is the lack of real cards. Thanks to this you no longer have to fumble with the PS Eye camera which was very finicky with light. Being able to pick and play feels far more natural for this type of game and that works here.
     
    Another aspect I actually liked was the presentation. While it is not perfect, the game does a pretty good job at displaying information to you though accessing certain commands is a pain, such as ending your turn early. For a PSP game, it manages to look the part of the original game, though without the animations of battle, but this is good as it speeds things a long. This game has a good sense of pick up and play if you have decks made, if you happen to like the battle system itself.
     

     
    Speaking of the battle system, this is where Legends starts to crumble. While the overall presentation is nice and there is some strategy involved, the overall gameplay of The Eye of Judgement is fairly flawed for a card game. The overall goal is immensely simplistic and there are not too many ways you can alter the flow of battle, so the luck of the draw is very strong here. Since the goal is only for board control, the whole game feels far too restricted in its design and it can be frustrating when the AI gets that lucky creature early on, which it will do that often. This also goes with deck building. While deck building is fun in the process, knowing if you have a decent deck is very difficult and more often than not, it took constant tuning to finally make some of the decks even remotely playable in a competitive standpoint.
     
    Also because of this board control focus, going second has no real benefit unlike other card games. Since you get 2 mana at the beginning of your turn. your opponent will most likely get a creature out on their first turn. Of course it will not be a very powerful creature, but in a game where the point of winning is board control, it can quickly throw things off, especially since there is no accurate way of knowing who will go first. Another huge aspect I found to be very frustrating, are the opponents in the campaign. While I am glad that there is a campaign here, it is designed very sloppily. Not only does the AI feature some very brutal decks, the real problem is with the special abilities that each one has. Each opponent in the campaign has a passive ability that triggers upon certain conditions. You, the player, have no such thing. This was a terrible decision as it makes most of these campaign fights beyond the first one very unfair and frustrating and luck plays a massive role in winning these and at times you are forced to make and use a very specific deck type to defeat some of these broken AI. The abilities should not have been a part of the game or at least you should have a choice in one as well.
     

     
    One last thing I will say, the term 'pay-to-win' is a popular term in these types of card games, where the more rare and expensive cards can break the game. This game is no different, as the AI in the campaign has specific Ultra Rare cards that once summoned they can potentially break the entire match. This is a problem when the Ultra's that the AI use are not obtainable by any normal means and that system I still don't understand. This weird AI pay to win nonsense combined with the AI abilities makes the campaign far more frustrating than fun most of the time.
     
    Final Verdict:
     
    Thank you for reading this week's Turbo Review! I hope you all have had a good holiday.
     
    If you enjoyed this review, if you want, you can follow the Turbo Reviews blog itself for notifications on every new review!
     

     
    It is hard to believe we are at 20 reviews...Never thought I would have this many.
     
    Until next time,
     
    Turbo out!
  14. Kyoshi Frost Wolf
    Want just a quick summary? Head to the final verdict for that and my rating!
    Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
    Platform: Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360, PS3, PC
    Genre: First Person Shooter
    Publisher/Developer: Activision/Sledgehammer Games

    Call of Duty is a massively popular franchise that is the subject of extreme hype and criticism. With each new installment offering little that differs it from the previous entry, this immense powerhouse has seen a decline in both sales and ratings. Now, Sledgehammer Games aims to bring the series back to its beloved form with a 3 year dev cycle, new gameplay and story, and more. This in turn results in probably the freshest take on the series in years, but it still has design choices that perplexes me even now.
     
    As the title implies, this latest entry has Call of Duty taking place in the future, more specifically mostly 2059. Soldiers are no longer just soldiers, but now super soldiers thanks to the new Exosuit technology and now advancements are being made everywhere. While Black Ops 2 dabbled with a near future concept, AW takes the time further and manages to look and feel the part, for the most part.
     

    A shot of the Bal 27 in its overpowered glory.
     
    The devs have stated that a new vision and focus for the campaign was a very large aspect for AW. They wanted to revive the campaigns and make them feel like they are actually worth playing for once, as past COD games have failed to really have any impact within their campaigns. AW manages to rise above the games of the last few years in this way, but sadly, not by much.
     
    The campaign has you playing as a soldier in the future who is sent with his best friend to North Korea to destroy a vital airship that they wield. After which, you go through a predictable romp of shooting things, completing mostly linear objectives, and shotting more things. What sets this campaign apart though are the new technologies at your disposal. You can now double jump, there are exo abilities such as a shield you can deploy, the two categories of grenades are now all on two different grenades that you cycle through, and more. These actually made the campaign far more enjoyable to play in my opinion and you have a lot more choices for combat. When a grenade flys your way, instead of being mostly powerless, you can now dodge away from it. These new gameplay elements might be small, but when combined they make a campaign that is worth playing through at least for the gameplay, even if the story does not live up to it, even with Kevin Spacey, who is excellent here. The story is predictable and pretty shallow towards the end. Some concept of choice would have done wonders for the story, but no innovations were made here. One pretty neat aspect of the campaign are the challenges. As you play and take out enemies, you will be working towards kill challenges that when hit, reward you with upgrade points that allow you to upgrade your exo. This again is small, but for me it was a nice addition. The length overall is 6-7 hours and while that is still a bit short compared to other campaigns, it does outclass the length of past games in this series. Overall the campaign is a lot better than past games of this series, so kudos for that, but the story really is a letdown.
     

    Kevin Spacey AKA the only great character in the campaign
     
    Another mode that is introduced is the Exo Survival mode. In this mode, you and up to 3 others have to survive waves upon waves of enemies, earning points, upgrades for your weapons, and your exo. You also choose one of 3 classes that can only use specific weapons and exo abilities. Honestly, there is not much else to say about this mode. It is pretty straight forward and sadly is not tied to your multiplayer rank at all. It does have its own unlockables but they are limited. I found this mode fun to play for a short while but only with a friend. It is a mode that just does not have enough variety or replyability. It is not bad by any means and it can be enjoyable for sure, but it is nowhere near what it could have been.
     

    The graphics are a step up for this series, but still lags behinds its competition
     
    Now, onto an aspect that seems to be the biggest selling point for this series, the multiplayer. At first glance, the multiplayer feels very much like Call of Duty, it has that distinct fast paced feel. However, thanks to the new gameplay additions, AW has the most verticality than any other entry and that does set this game apart in that aspect. Thanks to the double jump and the dodging and dashing, you have more control over your character and his movements, though the basic movement still feels the same. It is easy to tell that this is running on the same tired engine that this series has been using for many years. Beyond this, there are more new things to be found, some of which are better than others. This game introduces a few new modes and returns many favorites, such as TDM, CTF, Domination, and more. The new modes, Momentum, Uplink, and others are a mixed bag. Uplink is a surprsingly intense mode that is quite fun and a great match for the the new gameplay mechanics. Then ones like Momentum, it is not as fun. There definitely could have been more new modes to match the new gameplay so that is a slight disappointment. Other modes like Kill Confirmed are definitely more fun thanks to the gameplay additions.
     
    Beyond the modes, some other new additions are the Supply Drops, which is the new loot system. This also ties into the new customization system which lets you 'customize' your own soldier. Through the Supply Drops, you will gain new clothing, weapons, and even things like Double XP. The way these are earned is through timed play, I noticed I earned them mostly after I was killed after a certain point, which this is a great idea. Even if you get duplicates of items, you can redeem them for extra XP if that item has a rarity of some kind. Overall this new loot system is a great new addition to the series, even if it inconsistent at times.
     
    The character customization itself is passable for sure once you start collecting items from the Supply Drops, of which there are a lot of, but still it might be hard to make your soldier look exactly how you want. I myself was able to get a good loadout overall, but others might find it more difficult. It is a system that is a massive improvement over Ghost's pathetic excuse for customization and while it isn't completely to its potential, it is a good step in the right direction. As a side note, you can still do local multiplayer with bots as well as system link play if you are interested in that as well. The create a class system is also very customizable to fit your needs with the Pick 13 system. This is a slightly updated version of Black Ops 2's Pick 10.
     
    Now, onto what I thought went wrong with the multiplayer. For one, there is a definite shortage of weapons here. While there are some neat weapons that feel good to use, there is a smaller amount of weapons here than the past games, easily smaller than any of the more recent games. This is kinda alleviated with the weapon variants, of which there are 10 for every weapon, but you still need to get these mostly from the supply drops. More weapon variety would have been nice, especially due to the weapon balancing.
     

     
    The balancing is the next issue. While I do feel this is one of the more balanced entries, there are a few weapons that really break the experience at times, mainly the Bal 27 assault rifle. Not only is this weapon very powerful and basically broken, it is actually the VERY FIRST assault rifle in the entire game that you can use. How Sledgehammer completely missed this is totally beyond me but it is a thing that has frustrated me and others. If this weapon was earned much later then I could understand it, but instead it is a problem that should have been fixed easily, but wasn't.
     
    Speaking of shortages, there are others in the multiplayer. There is an obvious lack of playercards and camos here. Given the 3 year dev cycle, you would think that these things would be pushed even further and made better, but instead there are less of these than Black Ops 2 at launch. These things might not seem important to some and fair enough, but for me, they can help the player further personalize their gameplay experience and for multiplayer, I always see that as a good thing but they instead give us the bare minimum with that. One positive here is that the Emblem Creator is back after its omission from Ghosts (Thanks again IW) and it works quite well, which this does help ease the other obvious lack of work.
     
    One last thing I will mention, the graphics and sound are definitely the best this series has ever had, on the next gen consoles and PC at least. While this is true, it still holds nothing against games like Battlefield 4 in terms of sheer detail. While Sledgehammer was definitely able to set a new benchmark for the series, they still trudged behind the competition. This could be a result of the engine, but it is still a factor.
     

     
    Final Verdict:
     
    Thank you for reading this week's Turbo Review! If you enjoyed this review, feel free to follow the Turbo Reviews blog for notifications on every new review!
     

     
    Until next week, Turbo out!
     
    And for those that buy the Call of Duty games for the Zombies mode present in the Treyarch games, it has been confirmed that a zombies mode is coming to Advanced Warfare, which sounds like a neato idea, but apparently it is going to be in the Season Pass. Sorry Activision, I am still not paying another $50 for that.
     
    *There has been a patch recently to the game that has updated some small things and apparently balanced some weapons. If this patch changes my opinion on anything I will update the review, but so far it doesn't seem like much has changed.
     
    For the record, this game barely escaped my 'Meh' rating. You may have noticed a new addition to this review, my new 'How do they compare' rating where I compare the rating for the just reviewed game with a past game of the series to see how it would compare to the rating I did it or would have given it. Let me know what you think of that below.
  15. Kyoshi Frost Wolf
    Want just a quick summary? Head to the Final Verdict for that and my rating!
    Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix
    Platform: Xbox 360, PS3
    Genre: Puzzle
    Publisher/Developer: Capcom/Backbone Entertainment

    Originally released on the Playstation and Arcades during the Street Fighter 2 craze, Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo came to make us all out of breath with its long name but also entertain with it's surprisingly fun gameplay. I remember playing it constantly back in 'the day'. Such a shame I have to call that time as it is but whatever. Capcom much later decided that we needed a longer name with a huge visual upgrade with Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix. You may breathe now.
     
    Puzzle Fighter's gameplay is simple. You move and drop pairs of differently colored blocks. When you get four of them together or more, they from a much larger block. You use these trippy orb-like items that randomly appear with a block to break the blocks of its corresponding color when it comes in contact with that color, this will break the blocks it comes in contact with and any it is connected to, again, if it is the same color as the orb. One thing that makes this a bit different though, is it uses characters from the Street Fighter and Darkstalker's fighting games and once you break blocks, you will then drop blocks onto your opponent! This makes it feel a lot like a fighting-puzzle game especially thanks to the animations that play out as you 'attack'. The gameplay here is addicting thanks to the very fun combos and chains you can create, pummeling your opponent after making a huge chain of blocks.
     

     
    Each of the fighters have their own unique drop patterns and this is one of the better aspects of the game. While some patterns are better than others, each one feels unique and adds a bunch of replayability to a game that already plays pretty well. The modes in the game also change this up. You have the new X' mode, which changes some of the fighter's drop patterns to be a bit more competitive, X mode which has the original drop patterns, and Y & Y' modes which are variations of the gameplay. The main meat of the game is in the X modes as they are the standards and the most fun. The Y modes, which have you breaking blocks in very weird ways, feels tacked on and I honestly never played much of them. I doubt many play these regularly. Each of these four modes are also like the standard arcade mode, where you go through the fighters until you beat the boss.
     
    There is also an online mode where you can play against other players in ranked and non-ranked play. This is what you would expect, it's Puzzle Fighter online! This obviously not being in the original makes this a pretty interesting addition and it works well, though it is pretty standard fare. My one gripe beyond the lack of features, is the occasional online lag. While it never completely hampers the gameplay, at times it can make some of your block movements be delayed which can really mess up a specific strategy that you were aiming for. Beyond that there is not much else to say about the online, it is very standard, but it works.
     
    One of the biggest additions to this version obviously are the revamped HD visuals. The art style and graphics have been completely overhauled for most of the game, especially for the blocks and visual effects and it shows. When played on an HD display, the colors are far more vibrant and pop out way more than the original. Even the sound is vastly improved! This definitely puts this game far beyond the original in the graphics and sound area. My one gripe here though, are the character sprites. I am sure there was a reason behind this, but for some reason the character sprites did not get the same visual upgrade, they are actually the same sprites from the mid 90's essentially. This makes them look kinda fuzzy and quite out of place in comparison to the rest of the eye popping visuals.
     

     
    Another thing I want to mention is in my opinion a decently huge addition to this Remix, the ability to press Up on the controller to instantly drop your current block. In the original game, you could not do such a thing, you had to hold down in order to drop the blocks and it dropped at a standard pace. Here, you can press down but now pressing up will instantly drop your current block. This makes for some really intense and much faster gameplay when this is mastered. I found that to be one of my favorite additions to this game and I am happy it was made. Going back to the original felt so much slower in comparison.
     
    One last thing, this remix is missing the unlockables from the Playstation version, for reasons beyond me. This game could have used something like this because while the gameplay is very fun and replayable, it does lack in content overall. I want my sound clips and artwork!
     
    Final Verdict:
     
    Thank you for reading this week's Turbo Review!
     
    If you enjoyed this review, be sure to follow Turbo Reviews for notifications on every new review!
     

    Until next time,
     
    Turbo out!
     
    (Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix is available for Xbox Live Arcade and PSN for $9.99)
  16. Kyoshi Frost Wolf
    Want just a quick summary? Go to the Final Verdict for that and my rating!
    Mario Party
    Platform: Nintendo 64
    Genre: Party Game
    Publisher/Developer: Nintendo/Hudsonsoft

    Mario Party was a strange yet interesting release when it launched. A board game stringed together by a bunch of mini-games starring Mario characters? That actually sounds awesome! Well, it is actually kinda cool. Now it has become a franchise with over 10 games in the series. Let's see how the first outing fares!
     
    In Mario Party, you go through differently themed 'boards', compete against others in mini-games, and collect coins and stars to become the next Superstar! Apparently becoming the Superstar is the main point of the story.
     

    Each board has its own theme and are also based on the different characters
     
    The main place to do this is in the standard Adventure mode, where you pick your stage, turns, characters and so on. This is the standard go to mode for the goal of Superstardom. You can pick from 6 characters in the Mario universe, Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, DK, and Wario, which some oddly enough have their Japan only voices used here. Compared to the newer games, it is a small roster but it was awesome for the time. This mode overall is pretty fun to me, though a couple more stages would have been nice. looking back there wasn't that many overall. You also run into different obstacles on the board depending on its theme, Bowser and a Boo are always on these boards. Bowser exists to make your life miserable and Boo is there to be your personal thief, stealing coins and maybe even stars for you. The overall variety of the boards themselves is good.
     
    Beyond the standard Adventure, you have a Quest mode, where you go through set locations, completing Mini-games along a path with a limited number of lives, which coins from the games give. Surprisingly, this mode is pretty well done as it takes you to many locations and has a good variety of the games, which gradually get pretty hard. I'd say this mode is just as good as the Adventure mode and actually better if you are a solo player.
     
    Beyond this, there is a shop to buy things with your earned coins, a Mini-game hut to buy mini-games and play any of them as you like, an options area, and..thats kinda it. The game does seem like it has a lack of content but overall the replaybility can make up for that, mainly due to multiplayer.
     

    Bowser exists to do one thing: Make you all miserable
     
    The mini-games themselves are the meat of Mario Party and they range from fun to meh to ugh. There are games for tracing objects, shaping a Bowser face to match the center, Shy-Guy says and many more. Even if some of the games are hit or miss, there definitely is a good variety here that cannot be overlooked. There are 4-player games, 2vs2 games, 1 Player only, and 3vs1 games that further add to the variety, though there are not near as many games for the last three, the 4 player games received the most attention for obvious reasons.
     
    Speaking of 4 players, this game can be played with up to 3 other players and multiplayer is where the game really begins to shine. It is clear that this was intended. Playing alone is nowhere near as fun as playing with others though this game has a history of creating bitterness between players at times, it can definitely do that. The game just needed a couple more modes centered around the Party aspect and more games for the other categories, such as 2vs2 and so on.
     

    Face Lift was always one of my favorite mini-games
     
    The graphics and sound get the job done. The graphics themselves don't have the same shine as say Super Mario 64 but they aren't bad at all. The sound fares a bit better though with very catchy melodies in the games and for the worlds, though no real classic Mario tunes are present for some reason, except for when getting a 1-UP.
     
    Final Verdict:
     
    Thank you for reading this week's Turbo Review!
     
    Until next time,
     
    Turbo out!
     
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  17. Kyoshi Frost Wolf
    Want to see just a quick summary? Check out the Final Verdict for that and my rating!
    Minecraft
    Platforms: Xbox One, PS4, PC, PS3, Xbox 360, iOS, Android
    Genre: Sandbox, Building/Adventure
    Publisher/Developer: Mojang/4J Studios
    *This is a review only for the Xbox One version of Minecraft.

     
    Minecraft is now a gaming phenomenon. It's simple yet immensely deep and rewarding premise has won over many people and it's success has been one of the fastest in gaming history and it is not slowing down. Having it's start on PC, Minecraft has been ported over to consoles by 4J Studios and now it makes it's next gen console debut on the Xbox One. Prepare for a good time.
     
    Minecraft, as many may know, is a game about breaking blocks and using them to build. What do you build? Anything you can think of. The game features two modes, creative and survival. In creative mode, you have unlimited resources for any kind of block and you can fly and move really fast through the world. This is for anyone that wants to just build to their heart's content. The other mode, Survival, has you spawn into the world with no resources to start with, you must gather these and build tools and many other things to stay alive, defeating enemies along the way. This is by far my preferred mode but each one is great for any type of player.
     

    This forest is one of the many biomes in the game
     
    The game uses randomly generated worlds, with near infinite possibilities. You can have the game generate a world for you randomly or you can put in a specific map seed to generate the world. This adds near infinite replayability as no two worlds are built the same. Like many other versions, the worlds here are not 'infinite' as they are in the PC and now mobile versions, this is due to save file limitations. However, the world size is drastically enlarged compared to the PS3 and 360 versions. Finding the 'edge of the world' is much, much harder to do here and given the massive size, them not being 'infinite' doesn't really matter.
     
    Another big improvement for this version is the draw distance. The overall view distance is much improved just like the world size. You can see for a far greater area with far less object popping into the world off in the distance. It is great to see an improvement on this and it really helps with exploring and keeping track of where you are.
     

    Side by side comparison of the draw distance for last gen and current gen
     
    Speaking of keeping track, this is where the one flaw of this version comes to mind. In the last gen versions, you had a map that would help you keep track of where you have explored and show your coordinates. In the 360/PS3 version, once you hit the edge of the world, that is the edge of the map and you stop. On the next gen versions however, the map is not accustomed to the much larger world size. Once you hit the edge, your character icon on the map changes shape and you keep moving, but the map shows you have hit the 'edge', or what would be the edge in the 360 version. It isn't a game breaker, it just requires more attention to be given to the coordinates, I just wish this was changed somehow as it can be really easy to lose your place if you travel really far.
     
    The graphics are exactly what you expect, the classic and wonderful blocky look is here and it is only in a higher resolution. It is still as appealing as ever and the console texture packs are all here if you want to change it up. The Natural pack is my favorite of these. Some criticize the look of the game, but that is not a fair complaint as the graphics serve the gameplay perfectly and have a wonderful charm to them. I would not have it any other way.
     
    The music is another aspect of this game that is absolutely superb. The music is mostly piano and synths and the tracks here are all relaxing, and go with the tone of the game. This is some of the most wonderful in game music in my opinion. There are a few new tracks that go along with this theme well, though one of them is kinda loud in spots.
     

    Note: I have never made anything like this, but you probably can
     
    There is also multiplayer here, up to 8 players online and 4 player Splitscreen like the last gen versions, 4J has plans to increase the online player count as they weren't able to implement this at launch. The Splitscreen multiplayer is wonderful and it is one of my favorite aspect of the game. Having an adventure in Survival mode with a friend is always fun.
     
    There is just so much to do and so much to see. Whether it is finding rare materials underground, finding a dungeon or an abandoned mine, or just building a cozy shelter in a snowy land, there are just so many possibilities for adventure.
     
    Final Verdict:
     
    Thank you for reading this week's Turbo Review!
     
    Until next time,
     
    Turbo out!
  18. Kyoshi Frost Wolf
    Some of you know that earlier this year, I did basically daily gaming streams. Nothing insanely special or anything but it was a nice way to hang out with members here and actually be a bit more social since I kinda have the social life of a rock. Rocks aren't too social overall so that isn't too good. For some reason I stopped but I think it was due to me burning myself out. I did it on a daily basis which others might be able to do but I think that it was a bit much for my mind to handle overall. Does that sound weird? Yeah, but thats why it is so hard to explain.
    I have actually gotten questions from some asking me if I am going to return to streaming, which honestly surprised me. I know that some enjoyed them, but I did not think anyone enjoyed them enough to actually ask about it later. So I have been thinking about it and I have been wanting to do it again.
    I may do so, but there are no guarantees. I actually have some new plans on what I might do if this becomes a thing again.
    My first idea was to do a series, starting with Minecraft, calling it Turbocraft, where I play a survival world.
    Second, it would actually have a schedule. I was thinking perhaps once every week to start, probably on a weekend day, maybe Friday or Saturday, starting at a currently undetermined time. This would help tremendously with organizing and discussing it later.
    Third, I want it to be interactive. This is one of the most important aspects. Like I said, one thing I love a lot about streaming is interacting, even if I have problems doing so. So to support that, I want to make it an interactive series, where you all help decide a ton of stuff, like where to go, what to build, what map seed to use, all of that. That way, we are basically creating our own little adventure together and that way it isn't just me and my boring self calling the shots.
    Fourth, I want to upload all of this in episodes on Youtube as well. If I recall, broadcasters can download the file of their own streams (I could be wrong there) so if that is the case, I can take the videos afterwards and upload to Youtube for an easy archive. I originally planned to do some major editing as well within the videos but I won't be able to just yet,
    And Fifth, I honestly just want to have fun with it, of course, I know many, many, MANY lets players exist, they are too numerous to count. With this, it is just a purely crowded space that is filled with fanboy wars and turmoil, depending on the Youtuber in question.
    I also, like I said, am not the most social person, I have a lot of issues talking with others effectively and I am also not the most artistic or creative Minecraft player. I have never built anything too fanatical ever. So this might make my streaming dull compared to everyone else, but if you have never seen my streams, I do hope to improve so I hope that if you are interested that you will give it a chance. The interactivity with viewers can help this a lot as well.
    With the addition of interactivity, I think this has the potential to be an enjoyable way to spend a Friday or Saturday night. The streams would last maybe and hour or two, two at the very most.
    So that is my proposal of what I am thinking of. What do you all think? Do you have any suggestions? Let me know below.
  19. Kyoshi Frost Wolf
    Want just a quick summary? Head to the Final Verdict for that and my rating!
    Spyro the Dragon
    Platform: PS1
    Genre: 3D Platformer
    Publisher/Developer: SCEA/Insomniac Games

    Oh boy, it's another classic game that we have here. Spyro the Dragon is a 3D platformer made by the now famous Insomniac Games. When it arrived, it captured the love of many gamers and became one of the most cherished games of the 32-bit era. Why you may ask? Well, let's find out!
     

    That simple yet glorious title screen.
     
    In Spyro the Dragon, you play as...Spyro, sometimes titles give away spoilers. In the beginning of the game, you see a bunch of large dragons having some sort of interview for...something, as you can see a microphone hanging above. They discuss the state of their treasure and then, an evil character known as Gnasty Gnork. Once a dragon starts insulting him and then calls him ugly, he somehow hears this and gets a bit cheesed off, turning all of the dragons to stone, except for one. I will give you one guess on who that is. Yeah, the story here is very slim but that intro holds a place in my heart for being simple yet kinda funny in a way. Just don't expect anything serious here, it's about the gameplay!
     
    Once the actual game starts, you begin playing as Spryo. Your main objectives are to collect treasure, defeat enemies, explore worlds, and free dragons from their stone prisons. Spyro controls quite well. You roam the world with full 3D control. You can jump, charge, breathe fire, glide, and more. This gives Spyro a really fun sense of control, you are controlling a small dragon and it definitely shows. Several enemies have different ways that they need to be defeated, such as being flame resistant, too big to charge, or even both! I really like the variety of enemies throughout the game. The only real problem that the control has is some slight camera issues, they are only majorly apparent sometimes when jumping or running back, but the camera can be oriented to your liking. There are some jumps that can be troublesome too, but it isn't a game breaker at all.
     

    Wonky textures cannot stop this game at all
     
    There is also a dragonfly named Sparks that indicates your health. When you kill sheep, they release butterfly's somehow and these are consumed by sparks, raising his health. The controls may not be entirely perfect, but for the time, they are very well executed, especially for the first game of the series. Taking out sheep for the purpose of gaining health became a staple of the series.
     
    As you free dragons, they will tell you certain hints or random facts, or sometimes just a simple 'thank you' and that's it. Each dragon has a name and while having a main collection mechanic being the focus is not unique, this was one of the better ones of the time. For some reason it is quite satisfying when freeing them, especially when reaching a difficult one. Freeing them also leaves a platform that can be used to save your game. You have to free a certain amount of dragons to advance to the next overworld, which has its own number of stages.
     

    Go home Spyro, this is where you belong (in good games)
     
    The graphics might be hit or miss depending on your preference. Like many 32 bit games, the graphics can be kinda choppy in places and kinda fuzzy too, but this is expected. Other than that though, the game does have a charming visual look. The world is vibrant and colorful and the enemies have nice variety in their designs. I personally enjoy the graphics in the game. The nighttime levels have a very distinct look that I like as well.
     
    Speaking of the levels, they are great too. There is a good variety of places and worlds to see, each with their own particular style and brand of enemies. The later levels do get a bit more challenging, but overall the game never seems too hard, not until the final boss. If you want a platformer that will test you constantly and make you sweat, this isn't one of those, but that isn't a bad thing. Thats not to say the game is a cakewalk though.
     
    The last thing I want to mention is the sound. The game boasts some great music with its own very unique style. Like Crash Bandicoot, it is music that goes very well with the game. Each stage has it's own music, usually to accompany the style of the level itself. The game also has voice acting, as (sorta) mentioned earlier. Spyro and the other dragons have pretty funny voicework though they don't speak often. Overall the voice acting is pretty entertaining at times but not really great, not that it needs to be.
     
    Final Verdict:
     
    Thank you for reading this week's Turbo Review! It's a shame that Spyro is not really Spyro anymore, thanks to Activison.
     
    Until next time,
     
    Turbo out!
  20. Kyoshi Frost Wolf
    WARNING: This post will be filled with details and spoilers for Death Note. Do not read if you have not seen it and plan on watching it. Also, please keep in mind that I get very strongly worded with what I say especially when I rant.
    Welcome to my second Turbo Rant GO!
    Death Note, really popular anime starting in 2006. I had heard about it so much over time and never did have the chance to watch it. I seen in was on Netflix and I was thinking, sure, why not? It sounded and looked really interesting! Despite ALL OF THIS though, the show basically shoots itself with its very own Death Note. The cause of death? Absolute idiocy. I made it to episode 18 and I have given up. It is just so pointless now. Why?
    Well, lets start off with the very beginning. We have our main character, Light Yagami, whom I will be talking about later in detail, who is a high school student and abruptly and for little reason, after a Death Note falls from the sky without ANYONE else noticing, he randomly decides to look in the general place at his school where it fell, he did not see it either! So right off the bat, we have something forced that makes little sense.
    Okay, lets now discuss Light himself. He is perfect. PERFECT. I f*cking HATE this type of cliche in anything, but anime is where it is most common. There always has to be that one character that is magically good at everything. I get that, it is in every anime. HOWEVER, here it is just terrible beyond words.
    Let me tell you why:

    Light is a perfect student, he aces everything and is perfect at studying. He even gets into a university with perfect scores, unlike almost everyone else. How f*cking ironic.
    He is a good looking hottie I guess
    He is loved and popular to everyone at his school
    He is a perfect son. His parents and sister love him and admire him constantly.
    He is great at sports for some reason
    He is somehow able to thwart the world's greatest detective constantly
    He is also the perfect psychopath, putting forth his plans perfectly and conveniently thinking of everything
    On top of this, he is a perfect actor and is brilliant at coming up with sh*t on the spot
    And even with ALL OF THIS, he is able to maintain a perfect home life
    There, we have established Light and his godlike existence. How many times have you seen this sh*t in an anime? Way too much. Here, it is just pathetically laughable. This character is not even remotely relate-able in any way whatsoever. Why exactly does he want to be a god on earth again? He already seems pretty godlike to me.
    Now onto more reasons.
    Here is another thing, after Light gets the Death Note, which is just a notebook that says Death Note then tells you all of the rules to kill someone, he doesn't believe it at all. Oh, but this perfect genius that gets everything right all the damn time, for some reason gets so stupid and curious that he actually just tries it out with the intention that is ACTUALLY WORKS. Of course, for the sake of the show, he was actually right here, but come on.
    So Mr. Perfect Yagami starts killing criminals and stays completely hidden from everyone, of course. He gets a Shinigami, a god of Death that he now basically owns. Ryuk is his name and he is one of the very few characters that has any real personality because he is just a crazy demon guy. However his main function apparently is to point out obvious sh*t to Light right after it happens. OH LOOK, another anime cliche. Keep them coming writers. Ryuk is the one that dropped the Death Note in the human world, which is how Light got it. Oh but wait, it is made very obvious numerous times that he actually dropped TWO Death Notes, we have to make it obvious to set up plot points later, okay. Speaking of this, Light's dad is also chief of police, which of course further helps other plot points too. Sooooooo shocking, I know.
    Another huge problem I have is the whole thing with L. L is the master detective that conveniently lives in the same exact region as Light. 75% of the show is Light and L thwarting each other back and forth. Here is the thing, L is one of the only relate-able characters in the show. Yeah, he is pretty perfect too in almost every way but he does have a very strange appearance and he does act weird. Holy sh*t, a human character that kinda has a real human trait. Even then, L is still a rich (for some reason), perfectly smart genius. He also gets into the same university (for no real reason) as Light with perfect scores. JUST LIKE LIGHT. Yeah, L was the other perfect scorer. Big f*cking shocker there. Of course we have the other students looking at them and talking about how amazing they are and blah blah more anime cliche nonsense. No no, keep doing it writers, you are going to do it anyways no matter how stupid it is.
    Here is another thing, L is basically the world's GREATEST detective who has solved some of Japan's most difficult cases ever and he is the same age as Light apparently. Yet, Mr. Perfect Light is so perfectly smart that he is able to thwart the world's greatest detective NUMEROUS TIMES. So much so that the constant back and forth between gets old really fast.
    That is another thing, the show constantly tries to create mystery and intrigue by spouting out a bunch of mathematics and detective jargon and this and that, yet it does it so much that it eventually makes the plot so much harder to follow. So it becomes so mysterious that we are left not knowing what the hell is even happening. This is one of the most convoluted and irritating plot's I have ever witnessed in anything, let alone anime. Constantly doing plot twists and making twists and turns only makes your story boring and painful to keep track of, if not done right and this show sure as hell does not do it right. When you don't really do much world building either, that makes it worse.
    Later, Light meets Misa, a girl that has the other Death Note that Ryuk dropped (ANOTHER HUGE SHOCKER WOAH) and her own Shinigami. She also posses Shinagami eyes which lets her see the name and age details on any human. Another little convenience is that for no reason Death Note owners cannot see each other's info. Why? Who knows.
    Anyways, she is nuts over Light, and eventually she meets him, a few times in fact. The first few times, people can clearly see her. No reactions. Then, a couple of days later, it turns how she is actually a model for some reason and for some reason everyone at her school just now remembers that after someone says something. If she was a damn model, wouldn't you know what she looks like??? Also, there is yet another anime cliche: The only characters that are popular or are worth a sh*t are the characters actually related to the main plot. She cannot just be some everyday teenage girl, she has to be some loved-by-everyone model.
    The whole time in the show after L for no reason reveals that he is L to Light (Again no one else besides the police force and PERFECT Yagami is worthy because who cares right?), he constantly suspects Light of being the killer. Mainly because of Light's genius skills at everything. He constantly spouts stuff about how there is at least a tiny chance that Light is the killer, going so far as to put camera's in his home. Yeah, only his and another detective's house. The killer could be ANYONE else in that region but we gotta keep this connection. Of course, since Light is perfect, he figures out the camera thing and fools L there too. By the way, L said there is like a 3% chance that Light is the killer, if not less. Yet, that equals him putting cameras all through his house. That makes a whole lotta sense.
    Okay, I can go on and on for hours about this nonsense show, but I want to point out something that happened in the last few episodes that I watched. At this point, the plot has already begun getting so claustrophobic and scattered at the same time that I started to get annoyed. Then, this happens; Since Light could not figure out L's real name, which he needs if he wants to kill him, because again, even after all of the stupid nonsense that has happened, Light is still determined to become the god person of the world, he needs to find a way to get L's info and kill him. He could never figure this out.
    Then, the convenient second Death Note plot device comes to the rescue. See, apparently Shinigami can easily kill humans with the Death Note at all times, that extends the Shinigamia's life. Of course though, in true cliche fashion, Ryuk, the Shinigami with Light, explains early on that he will not help Light with killing others and he won't tell him names. Oh, but Misa's Shingami will kill L' for Light. HOW SURPRISING.
    Here comes the best part: Light now has the way to kill L. He plans to do this at least within the next few days. The very next day, when he is talking to L (keeping his perfect act going as usual), L literally turns around, (are you ready for this?) points at Light, and says "If I die within the next few days, I am going to have everyone assume you are Kira (the killer)"
    Let that soak in. He literally just said something that completely, 100% thwarts the plan that Light had made the night before without knowing ANYTHING ABOUT THE PLAN AT ALL. WHAT. THE. FAQ. He only had very tiny suspicions of L being the killer in the first place and now he is just making that crazy ass assumption on Light and ONLY Light with no real basis at all. Why? Because to hell with any real logic, we just want cliche after cliche to move the plot forward, anime style! This was the final straw for me, at that point, I was done.
    Okay...I have gone on about this enough. Honestly, I do know that so many people love this show and think that it is brilliant but I just do not see how. In my opinion, this show is a perfect example to all that is wrong with a decent chunk of anime and manga. Completely unrelateable and annoying characters, cliche after cliche just to move the plot forward, constant exposition, and a plot that gets so convoluted and 'mysterious' that it eventually gets annoying.
    If you disagree with me and enjoy the show, thats fine, but these are some of the things that I found to be terrible with it. I even heard it gets worse near the end. How can it get any worse than this? This show really makes me appreciate Attack on Titan even more. That show isn't perfect but it definitely is one of the best anime's I have seen in a long time.
    So that is my rant. Hope you liked it or whatever, I am just tired and the more I think about this show, the more it angers me.
    In conclusion: In my opinion, this how is the epitome of anime problems, tropes, and cliches. I love worldbuilding, I love great storytelling, I love great and interesting characters, I appreciate it when this stuff is done, but this show has NONE of this. NONE. Not to me at least. It isn't the worst anime out there, but for how mainstream it is, I don't see how it has gotten the popularity that it has.
    I also do apologize for the sheer anger but I am very expressive.
  21. Kyoshi Frost Wolf
    Want just a quick summary? Go to the Final Verdict below for that and my rating!
    Super Time Force
    Platform: Xbox One, Xbox 360, PC
    Genre: Retro 2D Shooter Bullet Hell
    Publisher/Developer: Capybara Games

    Super Time Force starts out very promising. It is a very retro style 2D shooter game with a neat time bending twist. While these retro games lately have kinda bothered me, I thought this one might be genius. Actually...no, at least, not entirely.
     
    As I said, it is a retro 2D shooter. You move about in a very pixelated and colorful world and you shoot things. Sounds simple enough, but there is a catch: you can control time! With a simple click of a button, you can 'Time-out' and reverse time a good length. Then, you can start at any point, and your past self will play back all of the action that it had just experienced and you keep playing. This creates a sort of single player co op play, as the game calls it. You use this mechanic to take down tough enemies and to defeat bosses. When you time-out you also reveal little short power ups to help you along the way when they are shot, like one that slows down time. I like these but they can be hard to spot and hit due to the chaotic gameplay.
     

     
    While this system works fine, the game is very chaotic. You die in one hit. With that, you will be rewinding a lot. You get a lot of lives to do so, but you will still die plenty of times. The gameplay is very frantic. Bullets will be flying in so many directions during the game that it is insanely hard not to get killed during sections. You can keep rewinding to your hearts content if you have the lives and you can do this until you eventually kill the enemy, but this feels like tedious trial and error thanks to the sheer chaos. At times, this game is definitely a bullet hell game, a genre I have never enjoyed. The games control is tight and works well, except aiming can be a bit finicky and stressful.
     
    To add further to the chaos, there is a timer in each of the stages. Each stage you have 60 seconds to get through. Seems terrible huh? Well, you can collect time extenders a long the way. These extend the time slightly but even with these, the time limit adds just way too much tension to complete the levels. It almost feels like you have to speed run through each level just to get through. Which will of course result in further deathification. This timer definitely goes with the theme, but I really wish this was a bonus mode for the game rather than a major mechanic. The game would be far more enjoyable without this mechanic.
     

     
    During the game you start with 3 characters that each have their own special abilities. You can shoot normally by tapping the X button or charge the shot by holding it down. Doing so will do the character's special shot, like shooting through a wall or shooting a spread shot of bullets. Throughout the game you will find many additional characters that each have their own abilities, which these can all be chosen when you time out. This is one of the best parts of the game, it is fun experimenting with each character to see how they can handle a scenario and then timing out to try another while your past self wreaks havoc.
     
    One aspect of the game that bothers me is the humor, while there are some funny little references to past games and movies, the humor overall really comes off as forced a lot of the time and it just gets annoying and cliched. I am all for making humor a centerpiece of a game, but only when it is done well. Here, it isn't much. It comes off more as a kind of 'bro-dude' sense of humor. It made me chuckle at parts but it is very hit or miss. You may like it more than I did.
     

     
    The last thing I will mention is the graphical and music style, which are both very retro. This has been a popular style lately and while the music is quite good, I found the graphical style to be a bit...off. As a retro look it does work but even then it sometimes feels way too blocky but some of the enemy designs fair quite well despite this. In comparison to another recent retro game, Shovel Knight, the graphics here work, but they are hardly memorable.
     
    Final Verdict:
     
    Thank you for reading this week's Turbo Review!
     
    Until next time,
     
    Turbo out!
  23. Kyoshi Frost Wolf
    Want just a quick summary? Check out the Final Verdict for that and my rating!
    Stubbs the Zombie
    Platform: Xbox, PC
    Genre: Third Person Action/Shooter
    Publisher/Developer: Aspyr/Wideload

    Stubbs the Zombie was a very neat release from 2005. In a world populated by zombie media, movies, games, etc, Stubbs came along and through a wrench in the zombie game formula by adding comedy, a neat setting, and instead of killing the zombies, you ARE the zombie.
     
    You play as Stubbs, formerly known as Edward Stubbs, an entrepreneur from the early 1900's who unfortunately met his fate in a rather...precarious situation. He rises from his grave during 1950's America in a city built for the future. It has floating cars, robots, lasers, all of that cool future tech that we still don't have most of today! Well, it's all about to be ruined.
     

     
    Stubbs's adventure leads him through several parts of the city as he goes to exact his revenge. The game runs on the same engine that Halo 2 was built upon and it shows. You control Stubbs in a third person perspective, beating up cops, and other baddies with basic Melee attacks to start with. Once you kill an enemy with Stubbs, they will shortly rise as a zombie companion that will fight by your side! When they kill others, they too create more zombies for your horde. Granted these zombies are much dumber than Stubbs and don't have the staying power he does, but they pack a punch in numbers. Like zombies! Another big aspect is brain eating, which can be done once an enemy is stunned or if attack from the air or from behind. Eating brains refills your health, your power ups that you get, and is a quick way of dealing with enemies. Not all enemies are susceptible to this though so think wisely.
     
    Throughout the game, you get several 'power ups' that help you dispatch your enemies and these add variety to the gameplay. You get things like a flatulence blast which stuns enemies allowing for quick brain eating, a gut grenade, and even
    removing your hand to mind control different enemies, allowing you to use their firearm as a weapon! These are recharged as you eat brains and they add a good amount of variety to the game's combat since the standard Melee attacks would get old quick.
     

     
    The controls are fairly straight forward. You control Stubbs with the left stick, camera with the right, and all of the other buttons perform your different actions. Since it runs on the Halo engine, it actually feels a lot like that in control, well, except for the zombie part. This carries into controlling the different vehicles you can use throughout the game, which further adds to combat variety. Despite being a zombie, Stubbs does manage to control well except in jumping, which sometimes can feel floaty and imprecise.
     
    The story is very cliche intentionally with a ton of random humor thrown into the dialogue and the world. The humor here is actually really effective which is hard to achieve in a video game and it will have you laughing at several points. The humor involving the futuristic aspects of the city are also well done.
     
    The game also features a co op mode where you play through the story with another person, who plays as a zombie that looks eerily similar to Stubbs but is a different entrepreneur entirely. While this mode is basic, I actually found it quite fun as it basically doubles the carnage you can cause. Granted it definitely makes the game easier but that's what the harder difficulties are for.
     
    Another great aspect that was unexpected for me was the wonderful soundtrack. It features many wonderful songs that belong in the timeframe that the game takes place, with classic songs and remixed versions of those songs. Yeah, the soundtrack surprised me greatly and it was one of the best for that year.
     
    My only real complaint other than some of the simplistic aspects of the combat is the length of the game itself. The game is rather short and can be beaten in only a few or even a couple of
    sittings. This may put off some and it depends on how much you enjoy the game itself. I found it fun and unique enough to look past it but others might not be able to.
     
     
     
    Thank you for reading this week's Turbo Review!
     
    Until next time,
     
    Turbo out!
  24. Kyoshi Frost Wolf
    Want just a quick summary? Head to the final verdict for that and my rating!
    Destiny
    Platforms: Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360, PS3
    Genre: MMORPG/Sci-fi First Person Shooter
    Publisher/Developer: Activision/Bungie

    Destiny was originally a hugely ambitious title. It is the first game that former Halo developer Bungie has made since their split from Microsoft. Now with a contract to Activision and an apparent and massive $500,000,000 budget, they set out to create a fascinating new game with unique gameplay, storytelling, and overall extreme fun. Well, they failed.
     

    The character creator disappoints right at the start
     
    The beginning of Destiny screams promise and quickly begins to fall apart in the story area. After setting foot on Mars, humanity found the Traveler, a mysterious orb that brought about massive advancement to mankind, like expanded lifespans and technology. After a while, some strange force known as 'the darkness' apparently got tired of that and somehow nearly ruined everything. Now, you must fight off this terrible force. Whatever it is.
     
    You start off with a very minimalistic character creator. You choose one of three races, your face, hair, and colors of the eyes and so on. This creator is ultimately limited and actually worthless as most of the time your character will be wearing a helmet anyways. Within this creator you can choose one of 3 classes, Warlock, Titan or Hunter. Each of these classes honestly have little difference in the overall gameplay and does little to make yourself seem any different from others. You do not get to choose specific outfits or cosmetics as those are your 'armor' and you will be using what has the best stats. So personalization in this game is pointless and nearly nonexistent.
     
    After you are mysteriously brought back to life thanks to your Ghost (voiced by Peter Dinklage), you are immediately told exposition with little explanation about how long you have been dead and why you are so important now or even what is actually happening. Instead, you just start killing things and begin your journey of grinding for loot and frustration.
     
    First off, I want to say what Destiny gets right. First, the visuals. The game has this wonderful graphical look that oozes in polish. The detail on areas like the moon and Venus are astonishing and the game's art is very well crafted. The skyboxes in particular are beautiful. Same goes for the music, the music in the game is one of the best parts of the experience. It ranges from peaceful to sheer intensity with wonderful orchestral compositions.
     

    The graphics and atmosphere are very well done
     
    The other thing that is done well is the gunplay itself. The control here is tight and like the music and art, it is polished with precision and it is very easy to get into and to start feeling powerful against your foes, in the beginning at least.
     
    This goes well with the fun of early progression. You can level up Your character and the armor and weapons that you get as you use them. Eventually you unlock a subclass that also gets upgrades of its own. Early on, this system feels very rewarding but it quickly falls apart thanks to the games many glaring problems. Let's get to those now.
     
    For one, the story in the game is almost nonexistent and what little bits of story that are here are told terribly. The game constantly spouts out exposition and tries it's best to seem 'intriguing' and 'mysterious' but in the end you are given little to nothing in terms of answers about anything. What exactly is the traveler? What are the other races? Why are the alien races fighting us? Who is that random Exo woman you met early in the game? The answers are you get no answers. The game even mocks you a few different times by telling you that they either could explain what the hell is going on or that they just don't have time to tell you anything, which they never tell you anything anyways. The voice acting is sub par and again tries to sound mysterious but comes off as boring and lifeless. Peter Dinklage as your Ghost fairs no better here.
     
    Another massive problem is the way you get loot. Like an MMO experience, weapons, armor, and other things are acquired through completely random means. After you kill enemies or complete quests, you MIGHT get something good or something useless. Items have different rarities and getting anything higher at all will take countless hours of grinding. Even then, it is all random anyways. This carries over to PVP where the system is entirely out of whack. You can be the best player in the entire game and yet you may not get anything at all, while the lowest player may get a Legendary piece of equipment. This makes earning new things feel way less rewarding and more like winning the lottery. You feel great if you do, but you never know anything beforehand and it never takes any real effort, just sheer luck.
     
    Mission design is one of, if not the biggest problem in this entire game. As you play through the 'story', you will be doing different missions called raids and strikes. These are the meat of the PvE experience. As well as doing these you can get a certain amount of bounties that are basically challenges that earn you experience and 'reputation' for an unexplained 'faction'. Increasing this gets you the chance for better loot but honestly I was unable to care about this. These missions are where you complete these, as well as the multiplayer. Where was I...Oh yeah, mission design. 'Design'.
     

    This Strike boss only takes about an hour of constant shooting to kill
     
    Here is the mission design in a nutshell: Run to point A, have your Ghost scan something, run to point B, have your Ghost scan something else, he says he needs time to scan it, you fight off waves of enemies, then you proceed to a bullet sponge boss, you kill it and you win. Yay. I am serious, this is basically the entire PvE gameplay. There is no innovation here, there is no interesting or varied mission design, it is just run, shoot, run, shoot, and repeat over and over, all against some of the most generic enemies I have ever seen in a game with a budget like this. It is tedious, repetitive, and above all else not fun, at least not after a short while. While other games like Call of Duty have you primarily shooting people, at least you get worthwhile leveling and other modes to play with, giving you variety. Here, shooting stuff is all there is.
     
    All of this and for what? Meaningless progression. Like I said, early on, the leveling feels satisfying, but it quickly dies off. Soon it just becomes a grind for better equipment and gear as playing for the story is entirely useless. Eventually leveling doesn't feel rewarding and it feels more like a chore. Even then killing enemies themselves hardly levels you up, it is about completing certain strikes and raids and completing contracts. Enemies are just pure cannon fodder that might drop loot, loot that you may not even need or want. More frustration is added thanks to the asinine Strikes where you ward off tons of enemies and then get to fight a massive bullet sponge boss while the game is constantly throwing everything at you. You will get lucky if you complete these and they take an ungodly amount of time just to kill one boss. Again, you may not actually get anything good for doing this tedious and frustrating mission.
     
    The PVP does not fare any better. Called 'the Crucible', it is what many other reviewers have praised despite the idiotic loot system. To me, the multiplayer is shallow, barebones, and unsatisfying. Here, unlike other games, you get no interestingly new modes, you don't get fun class building or extensive ranking up, there is no destruction in the environments, it is bare minimum shooter fare with maps that feel uninspired. There is nothing else here to give you satisfaction, it is just run of the mill multiplayer and feels incredibly tacked on. With so many multiplayer options out there, this one just doesn't even try to stand out. As ProJared once said, zero asses were put into this multiplayer.
     
    One last thing I will mention, remember how I said there is little to no information in the game about anything? Well, here is Bungie's answer to that! As you play and find enemies, items and what have you, you are given a little notification at the bottom, telling you that you unlocked a Grimoire card, which tells you all you need to know about whatever you just found. Only problem, it tells you to go to Bungie.net to view the damn things! That's right, none of that information is in the game itself, it is all external. This is just one of many slaps to the face and makes the game feel even more half assed and shallow.
     
    Final Verdict:
     
    Thank you for reading. I know this review is much longer and more scattered than my regular reviews, but there was a lot too cover and I wanted to include as much as possible without making it too long. Also, I know some will disagree with my review on the game and that is fine, but this is honestly how I feel about this game.
     
    Until next time,
     
    Turbo out!
  25. Kyoshi Frost Wolf
    Hello all and welcome to the 4th edition of the Highlights that are Turbofied! Today I will be sharing a particular music group, or solo project if you will. It is the German music act known as Solar Fake. I will give a short description then share a couple of songs afterwards.
     
    Solar Fake is a gothic/electronic solo project by Sven Friedrich, lead singer of Zeraphine and formerly Dreadful Shadows. He is from Berlin Germany. Sven is also accompanied by...I have no idea. While there is a particular back up keyboardist named Frank that worked with him, he seems to not be mentioned by any major sources. So..solo project it is then.
     
    The musical style is a gothic and electronic mix, using piano and synth sounds for the music. The atmosphere of the songs can usually be described as gloomy yet peaceful. Some others it is a combination of that with a bit more upbeat sounds.
     

    Sven Friedrich
    The lyrics seem to be inspired by past experiences that Sven has had, as they often have a depressing nature and tone or deal with perhaps a lost love. They are not as doom and gloom as they seem though. The lyrics are very well done and this project is all in English, unlike Sven's two other music ventures, which featured many German tracks as well as English.
     
    Solar Fake is a music act that I absolutely love. Its music is something that is both calming yet intriguing and it has various different sounds across the albums. I feel it is an act that is fairly under appreciated so I have shared them here.
     
    Without further ado, here are a couple of songs by Solar Fake.
     
    More Than This

     
    No Apologies

     
    Be sure to check out more of their music and their social media!
     
    Thanks for checking out this Turbo Highlight! I hope you all enjoyed it.
     
    Until next time,
     
    Turbo out!
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