Retro Game Friday: Bloody Roar

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m covering a game that very few people remember now a days. It’s Bloody Roar!

Plot Synopsis: The game’s story centers on a group of warriors known as “zoanthropes”, who have the power to transform into half-human half-animal “Beasts”, and the Tylon Corporation, an underground organization that seeks to use zoanthropes as mind-controlled weapons.

Plot: The plot was decent enough for a fighting game, but it wasn’t anything amazing either. Average would be the best word for it. I’ve played games with worse stories though, so at least this has a semi decent premise.

Gameplay: The gameplay was pretty fun, even if I only button mashed at the time, I was a kid, bite me. The main draw of the game was to morph into each character’s animalistic forms to deal more damage, allow more moves, and be even more of a badass in general. The cast was pretty fun, although this being the first game in the series the character list to select from was fairly small.

Art: The art was great for the time, but it’s aged poorly like most 3D games do.

Overall: This is a great game, if you get the chance to play it do so. It’ll give you an hour or two of good fun.

For those who like: Weres, Fighting Games, Action.

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

Bookish Wednesday: Brutal Asset by John Conroe

This week for Bookish Wednesday I’m back with the third entry in the Demon Accords series! It’s Brutal Asset by John Conroe!

Plot Synopsis: Partnered in an uneasy alliance with federal law enforcement, Chris Gordon has been hunting down the outlaw gang, Loki’s Spawn, who attacked his vampire girlfriend. But when he finds unexpected hostages who trigger his baser instincts, Chris is thrown into a search for answers to dark questions. How to control his inner demon, what do the Spawn want with children, and who is hunting him?

Plot: This entry is probably my least favorite of the series, but that isn’t to say it’s a bad book. In fact it’s pretty freaking awesome, I just don’t like this entry as much as any of the other entries. This entry is actually really good compared to most Urban Fantasy books, and definitely proves that John Conroe can contend with heavy hitters like Jim Butcher.

Characters: We get introduced to a few new characters in this entry, although the best newcomer is probably Katrina. We also finally put a name to Chris’s darker persona, Grim. Grim is an awesome addition to Chris as a character, because it makes him vulnerable and badass at the same time. As for the why I’ll leave that to you to RAFO (read and find out).

Overall: An excellent entry in an awesome Urban Fantasy series.

For those who like: Urban Fantasy, Demons, Vampires, Weres, Drama, Action, Romance, Excellent Plot, Fantastic Cast of Characters.

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

Bookish Wednesday: Twice Bitten by Chloe Neill

I’m back with the third entry in the Chicagoland Vampires series for this week’s Bookish Wednesday! It’s Twice Bitten by Chloe Neill!

Plot Synopsis: Shapeshifters from across the country are convening in the Windy City, and as a gesture of peace, Master Vampire Ethan Sullivan has offered their leader a very special bodyguard: Merit, Chicago’s newest vampire. Merit is supposed to protect the Alpha, Gabriel Keene-and to spy for the vamps while she’s at it. Oh, and luckily Ethan’s offering some steamy, one-on-one combat training sessions to help her prepare for the mission.

Plot: The plot is intense as usual and while I cringed with the way Miss Neill decided to progress Ethan and Merit’s relationship it was the only real issue I have with the book. I did enjoy the supernatural political issues we get to learn more of in this book, and we get to see lots of ass kicking.

Characters: Of all the newcomers Berna is probably my favorite, with her being a gruff no nonsense sort of person she was an instant favorite. The rest of the newcomers were nice as well.

Overall: This was an excellent entry for the most part, but the romance part did feel off.

Bookish Wednesday: Friday Night Bites by Chloe Neill

This week for Bookish Wednesday I’m covering the second book in the Chicagoland Vampire Series. It’s Friday Night Bites by Chloe Neill!

Plot Synopsis: Ten months after vampires revealed their existence to the mortals of Chicago, they’re enjoying a celebrity status reserved for the Hollywood elite. But once the public learns about the Raves—mass feeding parties where vampires round up humans like cattle and drink themselves silly—the citizens might start sharpening their stakes.

Cadogan House Master, vampire Ethan Sullivan, wants Merit, the House’s newest Novitiate, to reconnect with her upper-class family and work with the city’s other supernaturals to keep the more unsavory aspects of the vampire lifestyle out of the media.

Plot: The plot gets pretty intense fairly quickly and it’s quite a satisfying entry in the series. There are some parts I don’t enjoy, but that’s because of the use of certain romantic tropes.

Characters: We get introduced to a few new characters in this book, my favorite being Gabriel. That being said Ethan and Merit are still their snarky selves and I enjoy the heck out of them as well. Jeff is still another favorite and hopefully he’ll continue to be so in future books.

Overall: This is an excellent entry in a series that’s shaping up to be quite awesome.

Bookish Wednesday: Written in Red by Anne Bishop

This week for Bookish Wednesday I’m covering the first book in a series I came across just a week or two ago. It’s Written in Red, Book 01 of the Others series, by Anne Bishop!

Plot: Humans grew and flourished, and gradually expanded from their humble beginnings, but once they reached the borders of the lands they inhabited they learned that there were other sentient beings on Namid, and everywhere else was their land. Wars were fought, sometimes humans won, but mostly the Others won. Humans crossed the Atlantik and settled Thaysia, only to incur the wrath of the Others living there and die. Until the third time this happened, when the human settler’s leader brought things to trade with the Others in order to lease the land. This pleased the Others and they agreed to let humans live on their land, but it was an uneasy peace. Now hundreds of years later, once more the tension has begun to build between Humans and the Others. Now a young woman named Meg Corbyn is on the run from a fellow human and she stumbles into a place where even she’s not sure she’ll live the next minute, land called a Courtyard run by the Others in order to keep humans to their bargain from long ago.

Plot: I just summed up the first 15 minutes of the book, and while I won’t go spoiling it, I will say that this is one of the best Urban Fantasy books I’ve read in the last six months. It’s enthralling and wonderfully well done. It takes a world where instead of Humanity being the dominant predator, we were only the second from the top, which was a really interesting concept.

Characters: I think of all the characters I enjoyed Chester and Winter the most, but I loved almost all the characters. Simon might be gruff, but I still like him, and Meg is wonderfully innocent, a trait in a main female lead that is rather intriguing. She’s not really a damsel in distress, but she’s not some badass like Gin Blanco.

Overall: This is an excellent start to an Urban Fantasy series.

For those who like: What Ifs, Urban Fantasy, Weres, Vampires, Drama, Action, Excellent Plot, Fantastic Cast of Characters.

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