QCF: Owlboy

he concept of “living to fight another day” has always been a strange perspective, and easily one of the most endearing when it comes to the human condition, and this underdog theme has only resonated with me more and more as I got older—it never stopped being so captivating to me.

As much as I want to believe that I identify with that try-hard sentiment though, the reality is that I would immediately weigh in on the option of cutting my losses before I ever considered staying and finishing what may end up being a losing fight. I kick myself every time I stray towards the mindset, but the realist in me can’t help but eek out some semblance of control over which hill I choose to die on, and which I don’t. It’s this weird struggle to describe, and one that I’ve never really seen explored in great detail within most narratives we consume in modern day media.

That is, until I booted up D-Pad Studio’s Owl Boy; a game starring an introverted hero who’s only wish is to do what he thinks is right in spite of his personal flaws, and the flaws of everyone else around him for that matter. Hidden in this surprisingly charming platformer is a tale that’s deceptively rich with character and heart like none that I’ve seen in quite some time.

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Bullet Heaven HD, Episode 156 - The Hurricane of Varstray

t's not especially often that a super-polished caravan-style vertical shooter is released these days, but Studio Siesta (Trouble Witches Neo!, Episode 52) seems to have it locked down with The Hurricane of Varstray. But how does it stack up?

CHECK OUT THE HURRICANE OF VARSTRAY:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/416380/

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QCF: Code of Princess

reasure's games seem like such a distant memory. Their last original game, Sin and Punishment: Star Successor (Wii) was released all the way back in 2010, with nothing more than re-releases of its now-ancient properties seeing release since.

One such game, Guardian Heroes, would see a release on Xbox Live Arcade, finally making it available to the masses for a very affordable price compared to its original Saturn release. Fast forward to 2013; Code of Princess debuts on the 3DS, by way of Atlus games. It features nearly carbon-copy gameplay to Guardian Heroes with a neat ragtag cast of interesting characters, led by the practically unclothed Princess Solange. It was also a pretty limited release, all told, which is where Degica Games' newly released Steam version of the game comes in.

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Bullet Heaven EX, Episode 23 - Deathsmiles Revisited

n episode 86 of Bullet Heaven HD, we took a look at Deathsmiles, am occult-themed, gothic-lolita styled danmaku shooter from cave with gameplay cues straight out of games like Side Arms and Formation Z. We seriously dug it, and now it's available on Steam,  thanks to Degica Games! Just how does it hold up?

 
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QCF: Umihara Kawase Trilogy

n a lot of ways, action platformers were the first-person-shooters of the 16 bit era. There were really only one, or two franchises that arguably hit it big though, and most of the others were… kinda dumb.

But, every now and again, one of them defied expectations and turns out to be something really neat. Umihara Kawase (Super Famicom), its sequel, Umihara Kawase Shun (PSone) and Sayonara Umihara Kawase (3DS) definitely fall into the latter category, but remained as Asia exclusive releases until their recent Steam emergence by Agatsuma (and subsequently, Degica.) So how does this classic platforming series stand the test of time?

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QCF: Street Fighter V

hen Street Fighter IV was initially released, it far exceeded all expectations among its casual and hardcore fans—and even then, it didn’t last long before Capcom squandered a majority of that good will, with some ill-advised decisions towards the direction of the entry, and it’s content.

Decisions that have prompted the brand to take a different path with the fifth entry, a path that will better speak to the modern sensibilities of content expansion for games today.

Sadly though, Capcom screwed the pooch right out of the gate on this one, and the results make for a solid core game, that’s trapped within a lazy framework that does very little to drive the engagement factor of that core—something that feels oddly unfinished, and rushed.

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My thoughts on That Dragon, Cancer

 spent my weekend building up the nerve to boot up That Dragon, Cancer on my Ouya, and never have I felt so anxious about something like this, in such a long time.

The memories from my very first encounter with the title are still burned into the back of my skull, for better or worse. Knowing that I would be playing this game in a critical capacity, only made the whole thing even more challenging—I mean, how exactly to you review a game that serves as an interactive retelling of a true story about two parents, doing their best to raise their terminally ill child?

The thought of quantifying the quality of this particular title under the conventional criteria of criticism felt demeaning to the message of hardship and love that its story was trying to express.

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Bullet Heaven HD, Episode 143 - DARIUSBURST CS

In episode 31 of Bullet Heaven, we took a look at Darius Twin, a ho-hum console-exclusive side-scroller in the long-running Taito shooting series. With another three games under Taito's belt how does the latest entry in the series, DARIUSBURST CS, hold up? And, by the way... how does one get through over 3000 stages?!

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