The Death Of Retail Outlets

As more and more video games go via the route of digital download, the retail chains will begin to fall behind. Why would someone risk buying a disk that can physically tear itself apart? Or wear out? More and more, consumers want the convenience of digital downloads. The ease of access, the wide variety of selection and not needing to worry about physical teardown, are all attractive concepts to gamers. 

I suspect that digital downloading will become the standard rule for gaming developers as opposed to the exception. Physical CD's are getting phased out, as digital content becomes the golden standard.

Fire Emblem Warriors

Fire Emblem Warriors is another excellent entry in the understated Nintendo franchise for the Nintendo Switch. The excellent cell-shaded graphics combined with solid RPG gameplay makes for a rewarding and satisfying experience. Cooperative tactics are the name of the game, as you design multi-pronged strategic attacks on enemy outposts, as your fighters activate environment-altering triggers. It's not just senseless combat, the world itself is part of the battlefield, adding to Fire Emblems uniqueness as an RPG!

The game's combat is ever-evolving in its challenge, but not so hardcore that new gamers cannot pick up and play. History mode allows Fire Emblem fans to replay older maps from previous titles, Arena Mode enables you to earn extra gold and EXP points through combating waves upon waves of enemies a la Halo's Firefight. Grinding is cut in half through Free Mode because side quests are optional, allowing you to play Emblem Warriors at your own pace and unlock extras whenever you so desire to do so, making Fire Emblem Warriors less chore, and more fun!

The shaded cell style is attractive, but the game does have some unfortunate N64 style textures that detract from the visual fidelity of the Emblem experience. But the art styles charm translates 2D retro into a 3D style very efficiently, bursting with color and flavor, and the satisfying combat mechanics which interact seamlessly with the in-game world craft a truly unique and pleasing RPG. 

Fire Emblem Warriors has a few chinks in its armor that Nintendo must patch to craft a genuinely excellent game on the same quality level as the untouchable Legend of Zelda series, but there is little doubt Fire Emblem Warriors is a well worthy purchase for your money if you are an RPG fan!

Final Verdict:
Graphics: 8/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Sound: 7/10
Replayability: 7/10
Overall: 8/10 (Great!)

WOLFENSTEIN 2: THE NEW COLOSSUS

Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus is a pulse-pounding action FPS developed by the award receiving studio MachineGames! If the saying goes, "The only great Nazi is a dead one" then Wolfenstein 2 fulfills this promise with curb stomps and AK47's! The kill animations are savage with realistic blood effects, with a silky smooth new game engine. The story takes a unique angle on World War II, emboldening players as to the dangers of imperialism and the dehumanizing effects of militarism, but never bothers to cut down on the blood, act, on and mayhem for a single second!

Your late Blazkowicz hero charges into an over the top action fest so stupid that it's ingenious. You vacillate between discussing Jim Crow politics and shoving knives through Nazi eye sockets as you mow down Nazi's with sub-automatic machine guns and AK-47's. Following the story of the prequel to a tee, Blazkowicz is riddled with physical deterioration and mental scars, with his wounds confining him to a wheelchair. Your protagonist teeters on the edge of insanity, with only his family keeping his beating heart alive. The goal is simple, fight until you break into pieces or die to try!

To me, Wolfenstein 2 is everything that the hideously overhyped and awful Duke Nukem forever should have been. Over-the-top action, savage violence and engaging combat; all while uncovering the perfect balance between delivering a severe social commentary narrative on the horrors of war, while not taking its world and premise too seriously. Massively destructible environments, new weapons and abilities and improved stealth mechanics make Wolfenstein 2 a substantial enhancement over its predecessor. And who doesn't love dual-wielded shotguns? If you're looking for an action-thriller FPS with all the badass trimmings, Wolfenstein 2: The New Collusus delivers. Any FPS fan worth their salt needs to reserve a copy posthaste!

Final Verdict:
Graphics: 10/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Sound: 8/10
Replayability: 8/10
Overall: 8/10 (Great!)

Assassins Creed Origins Kicks Major Ass!!!

Yes, my friends, the long-awaited Assasin's Creed Origins is finally here, and it KICKS UNFATHOMABLE ASS!!!! After the disaster of Assasin's Creed Unity, I was terrified that this fantastic franchise was slowly losing its legendary status as the successor to the brilliant Prince of Persia series. This is especially true, given the fact that Ubisoft has been fucking up all over the place with terrible business practices and shady post-release patching. Overreliance on the evil microtransactions cancer of the modern gaming industry (ABORT!!! ABORT!!!). Lay your fears to rest, for Ubisoft has redeemed themselves with quite possibly the most jaw-dropping, gorgeous and epic Assasins Creed ever delivered by human hands!

The premise alone of an Assasin's Creed set in Egypt should be enough to make this game amazing. Origins run in stunning 4K resolution, and Egypt has never looked sexier! Towering pyramids replete with mysterious sand dunes. Swaying palm trees, crowded marketplaces and savage assassin bloodshed all mix together in a harmonious creamy smoothie of bad-ass perfection. None of the quests feel forced, and microtransactions have been replaced by Helix currency. This currency unlocks as you kill enemies and complete missions. Your skill in the game determines what weapons and abilities you unlock, not how much money your willing to shell out for an incomplete experience, as God and nature intended! This system removes all pointless grinding from the Origins experience. Focus instead on scaling pyramids and assassinating your targets at any pace you like!

Every element of Assasins Creed Origins is polished to a mirror shine! The world feels organic and alive, with a massive, unprecedented sense of scale. The scope of detail remains humbling in every manner, there is no open-world game out there short of GTA V that even comes close to Origins luxurious attention to the smallest details, crafting a masterpiece of gaming. The story is filled to the brim with three-dimensional characters. Excellent voice acting, photo-realistic cutscenes, and chilling plot nuances and twists! There is so much freedom in Origins to play how you want that it makes all other open world games look entirely bare bones and pathetic by comparison. The game plunges into concepts of corrupt men of power, lower classes being worked to death and a rebel against a society of control and dark influence. Every action carries weight, it feels like playing a movie in real-time, and the stunning photorealistic graphics make Origins leap off the screen as it dominates your brain. Roman, Greek, and Egyptian history are all given respect and prestige in this game, and every element is rife with stunning details and subtle nuances only enriching the lore and historical validity to new, uncharted heights. This game feels like a movie in real time, it is extraordinary to behold, stunning and absolutely breathtaking!

It is rare that a video-game transcends all expectations and raises the bar for the entire industry, but Assasins Creed Origins is just such a title, a once in a lifetime experience and worth every last penny! This is the type of experience the new Bioware is incapable of creating unless they return to the drawing board. You are wasting your money and time on any other open world video game in 2017! The King has now earned his well-deserved crown! Without a single doubt, Assasins Creed Origins crafts a revolutionary new chapter for open-world video-games! An industry shaker in every conceivable category.  The undisputed Ocarina of Time of 2017, and my pick for Game of The Year!


Graphics: 11/10
Gameplay: 10/10
Sound: 10/10
Replayability: 11/10
Overall: 11/10 (REVOLUTIONARY MASTERPIECE!!!)

Mario VS Sonic: Mario is the Winner

Since the 1990's, one battle has defined the platforming industry more than any other. Super Mario VS Sonic The Hedgehog. I love the old Sonic games, and as exciting as Sonic Forces (coming this November) looks, frankly in my eyes, this battle ended a long time ago with Mario being the undisputed winner. More honestly, even if Sonic Forces is a great game, Super Mario Oddessy is a masterpiece as the reason to pick up a Nintendo Switch! The number don't lie! The Sonic series has become so emaciated and on the brink of death, that it remains undeniable:

You know that franchise has completely gone down the toilet when one of the largest gaming retailers in the world is only charging $40.00 for the latest Sonic game, but Super Mario Odyssey is being billed at $60.00. I expect Sonic Forces to release at $40.00 and stay that way because SEGA themselves have already admitted that Sonic The Hedgehog is a dying franchise. Sonic Forces now has a feature Sonic fans have demanded for decades. The ability to create your own Sonic character. But its too little, far too late.

Just looking at these two screenshots tells me everything I need to know about why Mario has won this battle. SEGA has given up on trying to innovate with the Sonic series and is now going back to the old formula and sticking to it, while Super Mario Odyssey has Mario crossing worlds between the Mushroom Kingdom and Earth seamlessly. One feels natural, the other is scared to leave its comfort zone and evolve. The Sonic The Hedgehog series has ceased growing because the backlash was so swift at every convoluted new direction for the franchise that now they are playing it safe. Whereas Nintendo continues to innovate with the Super Mario series time and time again, just as they accomplish with The Legend of Zelda, without sacrificing the original qualities that make Super Mario a household name. 

The facts don't lie, Sonic The Hedgehog has no relevance as a franchise anymore. And this is coming from a gamer who loved Sonic Generations, but the only reason Generations and Sonic Mania are good games is because SEGA has given up on innovation within the Sonic franchise to play it safe, keeping the franchise stagnated as Mario continues to evolve and grow its legacy as a gaming powerhouse. SEGA has admitted defeat, and playing it safe and giving up on innovation is the death of any franchise. The battle is over, and Super Mario officially won. Prove me wrong SEGA, prove me wrong.

The Evil Within 2: Survival Horror Upgraded

For years the Resident Evil series has held the crown as the reigning survival horror franchise. But by Resident Evil 6, the wear and tear of the series were beginning to show.  Action-adventure and shooting mechanics have supplanted survival horror in which the set gained its fanbase. The Evil Within 2 has now stepped in to replace Resident Evil as the reigning king of survival horror! The cutscenes and gameplay are meshed together beautifully, blending fantasy into reality with intense, visceral and gory imagery!

The visual design and pacing of The Evil Within are near perfect. Brooding, dark and atmospheric gameplay that continually leaves you on the edge of your seat. The combat features an excellent pinpoint accurate targeting system making battles effortless, tense and engaging. All the set pieces are dripping over with horror elements that keep the audience on edge. The entire experience feels like more than a video game, but a trip to an authentic haunted house of evil and horrors, interacting with the player in real time! The pacing works well to this game's advantage, it's not short enough to where you stop caring about the experience.Yet the game isn't drawn out enough to where you get bored or disinterested in combat. There is something for everyone to love in The Evil Within 2. For Resident Evil fans, your new franchise of choice has arrived in stellar and terrifying formation!

Gameplay: 9/10
Story: 9/10
Graphics: 10/10
Replayability: 10/10
Overall: 9/10 (Amazing!)

ELEX: A Mediocre RPG

If you are picking up ELEX and expecting a quality RPG like Divinity II Original Sin, prepare to become INCREDIBLY disappointed. The game is riddled with nonstop bugs that render the whole experience next to unplayable. Terrible gameplay, awful characters, and a throwaway cliche narrative. 

The story is weaksauce compared to most RPG's. Poorly designed set of characters. An overused, trite cliche save the world narrative that has been done a thousand times better in superior RPG's. Its as if the developers took a bunch of different characters from multiple scripts and jammed them together into a blender. No logical consistency! Post Apocalyptic Outlaws, dinosaurs, robot mechs, Vikings, and wizards fart around onscreen with no explanation, not that you would ever care. The framerate drops below 30 FPS consistently, even on good personal computers, making the entire experience a nightmare to play through when the framerate dips so often, you'd swear your shooting through Elmer's glue!

Gameplay combines the most wretched qualities from both third-person shooters and close-quarters combat simulators, ever designed by a game developer! Janky, imprecise movements, based around colossally poor hitpoint direction mechanics for hours on end. Clunky and unresponsive, brain-dead AI scattered throughout every level make your allies pointless and the enemies boring to fight. ELEX does not challenge your skill as a gamer, just your sanity. There is nothing that ELEX offers which makes the game replayable. It's an inferior RPG with laughable AI and terrible glitches. Purchase ELEX if you can get past these glaring flaws, but don't expect any fun whatsoever. A total embarrassment, an epic failure of a video game on every level!

Graphics: 7/10
Gameplay: 3/10
Sound: 5/10
Replayability: 1/10
Overall: 1/10 (Abysmal Garbage)

Middle Earth: Shadow Of Microtransactions & Loot Grabs

Woe to all true Lord of the Ring's fans! Your hopes have been dashed, and the one ring of power has deceived the greedy game developers of Middle Earth: Shadow Of War!















Sure the graphics are polished. The gameplay is semi-decent. But allowing single player loot drops, and forcing gamers to pay microtransactions to advance through the single-player game with real-world money is disgusting! A shameless cash-whoring malignant cancer upon gamers! This takes sadistic pay-to-play microtransactions to an abhorrent low. Did I forget to mention the collector's edition of Shadow of War costs $300.00?! That's three hundred dollars plus paying for loot drops with extra real-world cash, just to advance through the single player game! 

It gets even worse! Once you beat the game, the only way to avoid shelling out real-world money for any unlockables is to play through the game again multiple times on pointless fetch quests. Grind through side missions endlessly, or shell out more cash for a garbage ending that resolves nothing. But hey! Thanks for your money suckers! This is a video game that should become purchased by absolutely no one who hates microtransactions and pointless grinding. 

Gamers must vote with our wallets and reject this virtual poison before it infects the entire industry with such a blatant cash grab! Its such a shame, because Shadow of War has excellent potential, with amazing graphics and solid gameplay, but the insane amount of grind-fests and pointless loot drops, not to mention forced microtransactions to even advance in the single-player game, just to get a shitty ending is worth no one's hard-earned cash. You may wish to wear the ring of Middle Earth: Shadow of War, but trust me you do so to experience absolute misery! 

Graphics: 10/10
Gameplay: 5/10
Sound: 7/10
Replayability: -1000/10
Overall 2/10 (Garbage)

South Park: The Fractured But Whole

The gaming community has basically assumed, due to a long string of shameless movie-based video game cash-ins, that all movie-licensed video games are total garbage. Then South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker delivered with Ubisoft the excellent South Park: The Stick of Truth, with both fantastic gameplay and excellent writing from the show's creators themselves! Now in 2017, South Park continues breaking the mold of trashy movie licensed video games with South Park: The Fractured But Whole

Fractured But Whole combines excellent RPG elements with a satisfying story that expands upon the Coon South Park episodes and as a direct sequel to The Stick of Truth. The graphics are 100% faithful to the classic cut-out style of the show, and you will often feel like your directly in a South Park episode interacting with the universe. Particularly in the opening hours, it's difficult to advise what should be genuine and what's all in the children's aggregate creative energy – and The Fractured But Whole takes pleasure in obscuring that line. 

Except for Professor Chaos' anime super-move introduction, we generally observe the main characters outfits as stopgap cosplay powers cobbled together from tinfoil, Tupperware, and cardboard, however, their forces have appeared with splendidly shaded vitality impacts and accomplishments of superhuman quality and speed. You'll have children shooting lasers out of kites and transporting one minute, at that point delaying the battle to release an auto by the following. At that point, grown-ups get included, and you need to begin pondering what's truly happening. This is South Park, so it's not precisely obliged by authenticity, so it's a bewildering question that is always raised.

Given South Park's tendency to push the boundaries of controversy, its hardly surprising that The Fractured But Whole pokes offensive buttons, such as fourth graders visiting a strip club, or a priest self-flagellating with rosary combined from anal beads, along with super racist cop portrayals. Yet the quick and sharp pacing of both the writing and the satisfying combat keeps both gamers and South Park fans equally engaged the entire ride! South Park: The Fractured But Whole is a unique anomaly in a sea of terrible movie-licensed or television proprietary based video games, featuring both excellent writing and excellent gameplay, a worthy purchase for any South Park fan!

Graphics: 9/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Writing: 10/10
Replayability: 9/10
Overall: 9/10 (Amazing!)

Echo Arena: Another Milestone For Oculus Rift!

It's not every day that you get both a fantastic Oculus Rift experience and a temporarily nonexistent price tag, but Echo Arena delivers on this promise! Your player is suspended in zero gravity in a competitive e-sports based arena, where gamers compete in a fast-paced and fun e-sports competition. Not only is Echo Arena completely free to play until the end of October, but this game has the added benefit of added DLC with ZERO MICROTRANSACTIONS!!! 

That's right, no microtransactions in a futuristic game of ultimate frisbee in three dimensions. Combining space combat with virtual frisbee Echo Arena is an absolute blast to play, and requires the Oculus Rift to make the most out of the experience. Although you will be flying about in a zero gravity arena, clambering over sizeable towering space structures and grappling against your friends to score, there is no accompanying nausea, and the game developers are highly friendly and willing to give players advice on how to maximize your experience. There are few games like Echo Arena available today, and best of all, its FREE until the end of October! If you love competitive e-sports gaming at its finest, Echo Arena is a must add to your Oculus Rift and VR collection straight away!

Blade Runner 2049: A Colossal Misfire

So I saw Blade Runner 2049 today, and all I desire to know is how much top-shelf angel dust Rotten Tomatoes were clearly smoking when they gave this movie an 89% rating? Are you fucking kidding me? I will give this movie credit where it deserves, however, the visuals and art direction are utterly stunning and truly beautiful. Bladerunner 2049 takes you into this future dystopian fantasy with lifelike worlds and captivating set pieces. The environments are incredible to behold, this is a movie you are going to want to see in 3D to get the full weight of the art direction, it is masterfully executed and gorgeous to behold.

Too bad the rest of the film falls flat on its ass in nearly every other category! The main character, acted by Ryan Gosling is so persistently boring that it defies all logic and description. It wouldn't matter if you smashed his mother in the face with a 2x4 or gave him a hundred million dollars, he would still act like a piece of petrified wood. I love Harrison Ford, but his character motivations make little sense, and the fight scene between him and Gosling is so stilted and unnatural that you are continually losing immersion! The villain is so stereotypical you half expect lighting to strike along with an evil laugh vinyl after every line he delivers. Gosling's love interest is quite attractive, but her acting is so robotic and forced, I half imagined steel tendrils to envelop Ryan as he tried to make love to her hologram. 

Worst of all, this movie has more cutaways than a fucking Family Guy episode. Every few minutes the film changes direction with a cutaway, you never have the time to get invested into any of the characters or their inner motivations. Not that you would give a fuck anyways because the movie's pacing is so tedious, so monotonous, and so slow that you may pass out halfway through. All of the action feels forced, all the characters motivations feel pointless, and nothing feels natural. Its an absolute shame given that the actors are great, but the script they were handed is so riddled with holes there is no way they can make an unfixable mess work. I wanted to love this movie, and if it were solely about cutting edge technology and art-direction, this movie would place 10/10 for me! But when it comes to a solid script, good character design, and a plot with a satisfying beginning, middle, and end, BladeRunner 2049 falls flat on every conceivable level. Worth watching once for the incredible art direction, but unworthy of repeat views!

Art Direction: 10/10

Story: 4/10

Characters: 6/10

Overall: 6/10 (Slightly Above Average)

Rez Infinite

Every now and then, a video-game comes along that redefines innovation and transforms the boundaries of what we believe to be possible for interactive entertainment. Rez Infinite is just such a title, hurtling the gamer into an abstract, surrealistic world of wonder! Imagine a virtual reality platformer, in which the boundaries of the space-time continuum and gravity no longer exist, a world in which quality overtakes quantity every time! Rez Infinite may only be playable for a few hours, but every minute of gameplay remains unique and undoubtedly satisfying. 

The PC version is the best version of Rez Infinite, make no mistake. The PC's superior upgradability and embracement of modding allow for a truly unique experience in Rez Infinite, unlike any other rail shooter you have ever experienced! Rumble controller features make the worlds come to life, and you feel like your flying through the universe at light speed, with acute collision detection built in. The sound has been remastered from the ground up as 3D surround audio, which integrates itself perfectly with Oculus Rift technology for full 360 immersive sound!

Rez Infinite has both style and substance, as the game's visuals alone are breathtaking to behold! But its the combination of intricate platforming and on-rails shooting, combined with a surrealist world and virtual reality that makes Rez Infinite a perfect companion for Oculus Rift technologies. Few games can match Rez Infinite's innovation and unique designs, it is a work of art that is a rare combination of being as much fun to watch, as it is to play.

If you're looking for a truly unique gaming experience and the very best in on-rails shooters, Rez Infinite, combined with the Oculus Rift is the wave of the future!

Forza Motorsport 7: Ultra Realistic Racer!

Like most video-gamers, when I think about racing games, Mario Kart is the first franchise that comes to mind! Tossing red and green shells about with wild, reckless abandon. Power sliding, and the infamous Blue Shell of death! Naturally, this flavor of cartoon style racing is not every gamer's forte. Some players want more of a realistic approach. Real car mechanics and handling, realistic terrain and gear controls, and a real sense of unhindered speed. The Forza Motorsport series has long delivered on this premise. The licenses latest sequel iteration, Forza Motorsport 7, is racing or NASCAR fans wet dreams come true!

There is an unfathomable amount of racing vehicles to collect in this game. Fan-favorite brands from Porsches to Ferrari's to BMW's,  two Lamborghinis and Mercedes Benz's, all, making a dynamic appearance!  All of the cars handle with super realism, complete with changing aptitudes subordinate on weather contingencies. Car upgrades, engine tuning, a powerfully engaging progression system, Forza Motorsport 7 has it all! The level of polish in the graphical fidelity remains astounding, every car appears photorealistic, bumpers and wheels change texture depending on the environment, and the online mode is super robust with no lag present. This is one of these rare titles where purchasing a peripheral device, in this case, a controller specifically designed for racing titles makes a considerable difference in fully experiencing all Forza Motorsport 7 has to offer!

Every single element of Forza Motorsport 7 screams polished to a mirror shine! The tracks are varied and beautiful, with locations set all around the world.  There are multiple race modes included keeping gameplay fresh. Drifting, Drag and Endurance racing as the contest times can now be set up to 4 hours in length!!! You can auction your vehicles in the game for better parts and sexier whips to ride. Variety in vehicle selection is endless and impeccable in its execution. This game now claims the crown as one of the greatest racing games of all time. If you love cars, you are doing yourself an insult not snatching up Forza Motorsport 7 as quickly as possible! Buy now!

Graphics: 10/10
Gameplay: 10/10
Sound: 8/10
Replayability: 9/10
Overall 9/10 (Amazing!)