PPR 87

hen it it’s hot, and nothing new is happening, the day just goes by slower, I mean, what exactly do you do with that kind of time? We have a few suggestions, but we decide to try and poll our answers together like a bunch of assholes; Press Pause Radio has the summer doldrums, and we talk about what our plans are during this break in games—and of course, our stupid backlogs too.

Aside from talking about stuff like the World Cup, The ‘Noid, and EVO 2014; we also argue over Mighty No. 9’s stupid funding campaign, Watch Dogs, California Extreme, Shovel Knight, Potato Salad, Mario Kart 8, and World of Warcraft—it was an episode that had a lot more range than usual. Persona 4, The Wolf Among Us, Bravely Default, Another World, and other games also get talked about a lot, along with Andrew being a new daddy and the idea of actually going outside…on a video game podcast? Yeah, it’s true, we really do entertain the subject.

Mail us at our new email Mailbag@presspauseradio.com, leave a voicemail at 469-PPR-TALK, and be sure to stop by at our Forums if you haven’t already registered and post your thoughts about the show. Finally, make sure to rate and subscribe to us on iTunes and YouTube, follow us on Twitch page and Twitter, and finally take part in our Facebook and Steam group!

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QCF: Life Goes On

ired of survival horror, first person shooters, and basically every other video game forcing you to stay alive in order to play? Life Goes On takes the conventional gaming strategy of trying to survive as long as possible and turns it around - to beat the levels, you have to kill your character several times, and use their corpses as stepping stones to get to the prize. Morbid? Yes. A metaphor for capitalist society—possibly…but aside from being an interactive existential social commentary on our pointless lives, it can also refreshing and fun.

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QCF: Conquest of Elysium 3

onquest of Elysium 3 is an old school turn based strategy game. Swedish developer, Illwinter Design Group, released the game back in 2012 with many small updates and tweaks since. Versions have been created for windows, linux, mac, and most recently android.

At the start of the game, you can tinker around with the map editor or jump right in with a randomly generated world. Similarly, you can take some time to explore the 17 different character classes or get going with a randomly selected one. You really are left up to your own devices here. Blindly play and learn as you go or devote some reading time to a wiki/forum to familiarize yourself with all the ins and outs.

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QCF: Knightmare Tower

nfinite runners are a genre that has sprung up mostly on mobile devices, easily using touch interface to manipulate specific, simple actions to get as far as possible. There's no denying that Jetpack Joyride is the clear trendsetter here, and an addictive one at that. However, what if you're tired of Barry Steakfries' antics? Enter Knightmare Tower.

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QCF: Shovel Knight

ot that it's a bad thing, but retro styled games are practically everywhere now. Both visually and gameplay wise tons of products on the indie scene are embracing gaming's origins to varying degrees. Some are parodies like Super Meat Boy or Retro City Rampage, while a smaller batch are genuine attempts at capturing the actual feel these classics gave us in the very beginning. Shovel Knight is the latter.

While many games fall short of replicating the mediums glory days, Shovel Knight does the near impossible and surpasses it. If you've been looking for a new benchmark in retro gaming then the day has finally arrived. Shovel Knight is the real (old school) deal.

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QCF: Entwined

hether you choose to side in the camp that video games are art, or sit with the folks who think they’re too dumb to be art, there’s generally one consistent consensus that both parties can agree to; gamers from either belief can attest to playing at least one game in their life that made them feel something.

Granted, while there are few games where a majority of people can civilly agree on the game’s merit to elicit whatever emotion they felt, these game do in fact exist, and some of them share even considerably larger common ground within the gaming community than most would accurately presume; some games just have that it factor.

Entwined is such a game, one that’s entirely capable of rendering any who play it into puddle of feelings that they can’t quite explain articulately into words, but can’t deny that the presence of them either.

I’m going to try my best TO articulate these feelings, and why it’s important that Entwined brought them out of me, and became a memorable experience in the process.

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QCF: Tesla Effect- A Tex Murphy Adventure

or all of the long lost franchises to reappear, Tex Murphy might just be the most obscure property to surface again. Let’s get one thing straight: Tesla Effect has probably got to be one of the most bizarre game releases in recent memory—not in style or content, but just its sheer existence. For those not in the know the following game reviewed here is a Tex Murphy adventure; as in an FMV Tex Murphy adventure, a “last seen in 1998” Tex Murphy adventure, a “originally appeared on the Commodore 64” Tex Murphy adventure. 

Despite the quality, because of this the game is at least worth some degree of admiration that unfortunately may just be the only thing it deserves from you at all.

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QCF: Avadon 2: The Corruption

f there's anything the last generation taught us, it's that platform specific experiences are quickly becoming a thing of the past. With fewer and fewer exclusive games, it really doesn't make sense anymore to restrict a game to one system. That is of course, unless the game only really works well on one control scheme.

Avadon 2 is a game like this. With its complex RPG system and familiar top-down keyboard controls, it's very hard to imagine this game being on anything but a PC. In essence it's a shout out to a lost era of PC-centric RPG's- with all the advantages (and flaws) that the genre had to offer. And depending on your tastes it may feel like a tribute to the past, or an insult to it.

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