PPR 125

andemic be damned, Team PPR is here to make sure that we can cover the latest news in video games with that hard-hitting flavor y’all know and love…

Man, who’re we kidding, we’re late as hell to the party because this “new normal” is, unfortunately, hitting us harder than we would care to admit (seriously you guys, goo pay Ser some love whenever you get a chance because God Dammit does he especially deserve it right meow.)

Before we set to record our upcoming Games Club special on The Last of Us Part II, we took it upon ourselves to cover the some of the bombshell announcements that happened over the last month in this “news” centric episode that will strangely be the closest thing to our “E3” episode of 2020; the news, of course, includes our thoughts on the official reveal of the Sony PlayStation 5, and the teased launch lineup for its release later this Fall, the Woozle Consolizer mods for the Neo Geo Pocket Color and Nintendo DS, The Sega Astro City Cab Mini and Game Gear Micro, and how everything seems to bee made out of cake now for some reason…

This one is a bit of a shorty but man, oh man is it a goodie—see y’all next time when we talk about The Last of Us Part II and get real sad together and stuff.

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: Trials of the Blood Dragon

ou know what made David Sandberg’s Kung Fury so endearing and enjoyable? It genuinely convinced you to feel good about romanticizing the nostalgia of the 80’s and the pop culture of that generation, making so easy for the audience to buy into the love letter that it was creating.

With a runtime of just 31 minutes, the direction of its presentation and callbacks within its theatrics exuded a sense of authenticity; it just knew when to slap you in the face with something neon and low-res, and when to subtly drop a synthesized interlude to the scene from the soundtrack…

Kung Fury is the finest example of how to glamorize the culture and style of that era, and the closest video game equivalent to that success would be FarCry 3: Blood Dragon—the design and tone of that game managed to hit upon those same principles, and successfully conveyed 80’s sentimentality as well as a result.

So I’m sad to say that I’m a little surprised, and gravely disappointed that Trials of The Blood Dragon didn’t follow suit, and almost delivers a reverse effect. It constantly vomits out nostalgic imagery and noise from the era it panders to without any specific rhyme or reason other than to be as obnoxious with its aesthetic as it possibly can.

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PAX Prime 2014: Getting intimate with Far Cry 4

hen Far Cry 3 first hit the scene, it was the sequel that few were excited for, and the surprise experience that no one ever expected when it eventually became a sleeper hit. Ubisoft Montreal was quick to chase the lucky break of possibly striking lightning twice, by ostensibly amplifying the all too familiar ingredients of its predecessor to a level that further pushes technical limits, and any remaining suspension of disbelief left in the brand to boot.

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PPR Presents Play Play: Child of Light

t’s rare when a game with an attempt at being larger than life shows up out of the blue, and actually follows through with being just that; moments of play start blurring into a makings for an experience. George believed that when he initially reviewed Child of Light, and took it up on himself to show the rest of the crew what exactly they were missing out on. Ser shares his trademark cynicism, Ren can’t stop saying the word pretty, and Toast is mostly won over, but do you fight dragons? All this and more on the latest Play Play—be warned though, the footage of Child of Light may spoil certain story moments so viewer discretion is advised.

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!

QCF: Child of Light

he philosophy to telling a good fairy tale carries a specific ingredient for success that will always remain consistent to the process, no matter what the subject matter may be; imagination—just how much mileage does it stretch out of the minds of all who give the fable the time of day. The humble beginnings of a fairytale can make all the difference between merely entertaining you, to completely transporting you to completely different world entirely, and even when it’s all done, you’ll never exactly be the same ever again.

Ubisoft hit this nail square on with Child of Light, and it took everything within me to rip myself away from one of the most enchanting worlds I’ve been to in the last ten years, and I do this just so that I can share with you all, how incredible this unassumingly brilliant title really is.

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QCF: South Park: The Stick of Truth

eventeen years and going, that’s nothing to sneeze at as far as commitment goes, and even more so when you factor all the consistency to be found in this ever mounting legacy—well, except for one; the shitty video games it’s spawned.

In what’s nearly amounted to almost two decades, I have continually found it strange that a solid property like South Park (one that has faithfully employed satire on the culture of video games on several occasions within its run) has failed to inspire developers to truly capture the spirit of the license in a video game five times.

That’s what makes The Stick of Truth so special; Obsidian and South Park Digital Studios didn’t aim to deliver one of the most ground breaking games to release in 2014—no, they instead have labored towards crafting the most satisfying vehicle of interaction for its property first, and above average game design to shoulder it secondly.

Ironically, this direction is makes The Stick of Truth one of the first must play games of 2014.

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QCF: Rayman Legends

acky colors, unintentionally subliminal adulterated themes, offbeat animation, and ridiculous character design; these are the hallmarks of the French cartoon culture. French cartoon have this unique approach with seizing certain demographics or markets to give way to license that would capitalize best in that field. The older demographic has Tintin, the younger crowd has Marsupilami, and gamers have Rayman.

Ubisoft enjoyed somewhat of a renaissance of sorts with Rayman after releasing the revamped throwback Origins back in 2011, but perceiving an ideal sequel seemed a bit ham-fisted when Origins is lauded for being charmingly simple, how do you improve on something like that? Make it a Wii U exclusive and use the shit out of that newfangled gamepad, that’s how! Though the wind shuttered out slightly from beneath Nintendo’s sails when Ubisoft decided to lift the exclusivity of the title and delay it, leaving curiosity to clamor over just how unique or definitive the Wii U version would be.

Dunking several hours into the wild platformer, the latest title to feature the floating torso with hands and feet is has set the standard on being both the model example of an improved sequel, and a must-own for the Wii U library.

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QCF: Assassin's Creed III: Liberation

From the moment I booted up Assassins Creed: Liberation, and for the majority my play through, one word kept popping   into my head, wow. To say that it wowed me from the very beginning might make you excited at the prospect of a full Assassins Creed title that you can take with you on the go. And it is a full AC game all the way through with pointless side quests and rhythm based combat being all a part of the package. But sometimes when you say wow it’s not always a good thing.

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