Retro Game Friday: Ape Escape 2

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m back with a sequel to a classic game. It’s Ape Escape 2!

Plot: The plot is just as ridiculous as the first game, which is saying something as the first was rather slapstick at times.

Gameplay: The gameplay is much like the first game, with the player using various gadgets via the right analog stick and controlling Hikaru via the left stick and the shoulder buttons. In addition the game has new gadgets you can use which add to the wackiness, like a Bananarang to lure monkeys with it’s scent.

Characters: Kakeru, the first game’s protagonist isn’t really in the game, though you can play as him in the New Game Plus mode. Hikaru is our new main character, with Natsumi taking over for the Professor for the most part.

Art: The art of the original game has aged poorly, although there was a PlayStation 4 port with enhanced graphics that was released four years ago.

Music: It fits the game, nothing more really needs to be said.\

Overall: A fun game, and a classic that is often overlooked.

Video Game Tuesday: E3 2019 Reactions

This week for Video Game Tuesday I’m back with a look at this years Christmas in June for gamers. It’s my E3 2019 Reactions!

Microsoft: I wasn’t expecting to hear a name regarding the next-gen console when they teased Project Scarlett. Other than that the conference was rather lackluster and was mostly teasers with a notable lack of gampleay trailers for those games. One notable title that was announced, at least for me, was one that is set to for release next year, Tales of Arise the next Tales of game. Thankfully Tales of Arise will release on more than just the Xbox One with releases on both PC and the PlayStation 4 as well.

Ubisoft: The only real thing of note was the confirmation of the leak that occurred shortly before the conference that said that the next Watch Dogs game would take place in London and would allow you to play as any NPC in the game. That last was a bold move, but I’ll believe it when I play it as other games have tried it before and those NPCs were mostly bland and uninteresting characters to play as. Other than that it wasn’t that interesting a conference.

Bethesda: I had hoped for something interesting here, but overall it wasn’t that awe inspiring so they get a failing mark here.

EA: Mostly focused on Star Wars Fallen Order, but as I’ve never considered EA anything but despicable I wasn’t expecting anything to really impress me and I wasn’t disappointed with that expectation.

Square Enix: They showed off the Marvels Avengers game, which is probably being released too soon. The fact that people will look at it and expect certain actors to portray their favorite heroes is only a bad thing and is going to cause issues. Other than that it wasn’t that great a conference, but the appearance of Yoshi-P on stage to the reception he got was heartening.

Nintendo: And here is the big winner of this year’s E3, Nintendo blew it out of the park by announcing multiple things including the inclusion of Banjo and Kazooie and Erdrick from Dragon Quest in Smash Bros. But the biggest surprise was the announcement of Breath of the Wild 2 which has sparked off huge amounts of speculations in the community who are hoping for a playable Zelda and/or co-op play. Personally I’d love to play as Zelda in this next installment.

That’s it for this week’s Video Game Tuesday!

Retro Game Friday: Splinter Cell

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m back with a game that really took the Stealth genre and made it popular. It’s Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell!

Plot Synopsis: In April 2004, the President of Georgia is assassinated, allowing Georgian billionaire Kombayn Nikoladze to seize power with a bloodless coup d’état. In August 2004, former U.S. Navy SEAL officer and Gulf War veteran Sam Fisher is recruited by the National Security Agency to work within its newly formed division, “Third Echelon.” Working with his old friend Irving Lambert, Fisher is introduced to technical expert Anna “Grim” Grimsdóttír, and field runner Vernon Wilkes Jr. In October 2004, Fisher is dispatched to Tbilisi, Georgia to investigate the disappearance of two CIA officers.

Plot: The plot is pretty standard Military Thriller which should come as no surprise as this is part of the Tom Clancy franchise.

Gameplay: This game took the stealth genre and made it mainstream paving the way for future games like Assassin’s Creed. The main draw of the gameplay was the use of the light and shadows. You were encouraged to take your time and carefully move from shadow to shadow to get around. You couldn’t really go in with guns blazing and just shoot your way through the game. You had limited ammo, and even than your armaments were usually more non-lethal than anything else.

Artwork: Sadly the art has aged incredibly poorly, but at the time they were pretty damn good.

Music: I don’t remember any of the music sadly.

Overall: A fun game, but with a very aged art and gameplay compared to modern day games, it’s probably best left in the bargain bin.

For those who like: Military-Thrillers, Tom Clancy, Stealth.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

Video Game Tuesday: E3 2018 Reactions

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m back with my thoughts on this year’s Christmas in June for gamers. It’s my E3 2018 Reactions!

EA: Well I was expecting pretty much everything that was shown, except for hearing about Jedi: Fallen Order, a game that truly slipped my mind in my predictions post. We knew that it was in development previously, but I had forgotten about it. It’s being developed by Respawn Entertainment, of Titanfall fame, and will release in Late 2019.

Microsoft: We had quite a few surprises, including the news that 4 independent studios have been bought by Microsoft, including Ninja Theory of Heavenly Sword fame, and DmC reboot infamy. My favorite thing was learning about Tales of Vesperia coming to the current set of consoles remastered and featuring everything from the JP only PlayStation 3 version. Considering that it’s one of my top 5 Tales of games, I’m really stoked for this.

Bethesda: We knew about Fallout 76 prior to E3, and rumors were confirmed that it was going to be an Online Multiplayer game. How that works out I’m not too sure, given the turn based nature of previous Fallout games that I’ve played (I haven’t touched 4). Not shocking anyone we learned that Elder Scrolls VI is in development, probably for the next generation of consoles. Maybe they’ll fix the nature of console mods so they don’t screw over mod creators by the time it releases and PlayStation owners won’t be screwed more than the Xbox players already are because they insulted mod makers. I have little hope of that, given the unruly nature of mods.

Square Enix: A really disappointing show, while in the Microsoft conference we learned about Kingdom Hearts III’s release date, we didn’t get much more info from the Square Enix press event. That being said it’ll feature both Frozen and Pirates of the Carribean, so that will be interesting to say the least. No other news of note really came from their event except that Monster Hunter World and Final Fantasy XIV would be getting a collaboration event.

Ubisoft: In probably the most shocking news. and yet not at the same time, from this year’s E3 is the fact that Ubisoft is releasing Just Dance for the Wii. Yes you read that right, for the Wii, not the WiiU or the Switch, the Wii. In less shocking news we saw a bunch of the next Assassin’s Creed game which takes us to Greece as a child of Leonidas of Sparta. Frankly I’m not too excited for that, Unity really ruined the series for me, and despite only hearing good things about Origins, I’ve no desire to get back into that series quite yet. In more disappointing news, Beyond Good & Evil 2 still hasn’t really started development, I mean come on really Ubisoft? Just make the freaking game already.

Sony: In one of the oddest Press Conferences ever, with showgoers being shuffled to multiple locations instead of it being just in a single spot, Sony showed off a bunch of new things including the Spiderman game that I’m personally hoping is amazing. Whether it is once remains to be seen on Launch this September. We also got some more looks at Destiny’s latest “Expansion” Forsaken, which Bungie says will fix all our big issues. I have my doubts, but that’s a post for another day.

Nintendo: In what might just be the biggest news of E3, Nintendo formally announced Super Smash Bros Ultimate, which will feature EVERY character, from EVERY entry in the entire series. Newcomers confirmed thus far are Splatoon’s Squid Kids, and Ridley from Metroid. I was hoping to hear about someone like Isaac from Golden Sun, but Ridley will do for now.

There are lots more stuff that I haven’t covered, but this post is large enough already. I may, or may not, make a Part 2 of this in the near future.

That’s it for this week’s Video Game Tuesday.

 

Video Game Tuesday: E3 2018 Predictions

Hey all I’m back with a look at some of the possibilities from this year’s game development version of Christmas! It’s my E3 2018 Predictions!

NO Next-Gen Console Announcements: I’m not expecting to hear about the next generation of consoles this year. If they announce anything other than slim versions of the XBOX and PS4 Pro I’ll be honestly shocked. Regarding the Switch, I’m expecting to hear nothing new, except maybe a more streamlined version equivalent to a slim version if anything at all.  Next Gen consoles are the announcements I’m expecting to hear about next year at E3, but not this year.

Pride Reductions: I’m expecting to hear that the PS4 Pro and XBOX will get some price cuts, and probably the switch as well.

EA to announce more annual sports games: This is less of a prediction than a certainty to me at least, but I’m fully expecting to hear about the next Madden game and other sports game equivalents. Color me unimpressed and uninterested once more.

Super Smash Front and Center for Nintendo: If they don’t really beat the marketing drums to death on this one I’ll be just as surprised as if Sony and Microsoft announce the next gen consoles. Nintendo has no reason not to keep up the momentum that last year’s launch of the Switch and Breath of the Wild brought to the company. Smash Bros is a surefire way to do that.

Pokemon Switch: I’m also expecting to hear about a mainline Pokemon game for the Switch. The system is just begging for a brand new Pokemon game given it’s dual nature as a portable and a console.

That’s it for this week’s Video Game Tuesday and my predictions for E3 thus far. I may do a what’s been leaked so far post closer to E3 happening, but we’ll see. Do you expect to see anything that I didn’t mention happen at this year’s E3? Leave a comment below!