QCF: Ghost of Tsushima

uring the Feudal era of Japan, the land of the rising sun saw many conflicts, ranging from invading forces to civil unrest within its regions, balancing out into an age of strife and prosperity. To maintain order and peace through the land, the Shogun appointed Samurai, soldiers who adhere to a strict code of honor, to oversee the safety of its people, and protect the sanctity of their laws.

But what happens of the sanctity of your honor means nothing to an enemy that threatens everything you hold dear? What do you place your faith in more to uphold your Samurai code?

In the last three generations of PlayStation hardware, the developer Suckerpunch has pumped out some hard hitters in the Stealth and Open-World genres with titles like Sly Cooper and inFamous, but this time, they’re aiming to combine dynamics of both gameplay styles into one unforgettable experience with the Ghost of Tsushima. While there are some valid arguments against a western studio being able to do justice towards delivering an authentic-feeling Samurai tale, the Sony studio spared no expense in ensuring that Ghost of Tsushima conveys the mysticism of the Japanese warrior, in a world that’s beautiful beyond compare, if not a bit too familiar all the same.

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QCF: Helheim Hassle (Xbox One)

The word hassle is a good way to describe what Bjørn Hammerparty has to overcome; a pacifist Viking that refuses to die in battle and go to Valhalla, only to accidentally die in battle and go to Valhalla. Now after centuries of not quite fitting in, Bjørn has the chance to gain a permanent spot in the peaceful underworld of Helheim. All he needs to do is help an inexplicable but laid-back skeleton named Pesto retrieve a magical item for their master and survive a multitude of puzzles constructed by undisciplined goblin cobblers.  But maybe the real hassle was the friends they made along the way. Hmm, that last part doesn’t really land like I thought it would. Anyways the game was fun, but not without its frustrations. Sort of like this intro. Okay, moving on then.  

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PPR Presents Late to the Party: Judgement

f I were to liken Ryu ga Gotoku Studio’s Yakuza series to a mixed drink, I would compare it to the sweet, yet effectively potent combination of Rum and Coke. It has all the thrills, and action you could ever want, while maintaining an accessible sense of pacing that can synchronize with just about anyone’s rhythm.

I can’t say the same thing out of the studio’s newest release, however; Judgment is more like Whiskey and Coke—a mixture that commands time and patience the moment you press your lips to the glass. Toting itself as a spiritual successor to Yakuza, Judgement throws a twist on the crime-drama formula from Toshihiro Nagoshi that empathizes new Detective-focused dynamics, encouraging observational skills and deduction from players instead of relying on the trademark brute-force that the world of Kamurcho is famous for offering.

While the novelty of the concept is admittedly hampered by strict pacing that drags on the early hours of Judgment through an annoying slog, the game eventually opens up into one of the most fulfilling experiences from the developer yet, consistently rewarding the commitment it demands a slower-than-usual pace that Ryu ga Gotoku design is known for.

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PPR 126

hit is scary right now y’all, so believe us when we express just how grateful we are that our director of creative content, Serraxor is alive and well among his Press Pause Radio family!

We have plenty of catching up to do with our friend, along with a butt-load of vidjya games to hash out & talk about in this quick get-together of “what’s in your console?” The conversation covers a bunch of different topics ranging from the giant Nintendo leak that was covered by Kotaku and other outlets the last two weeks, George discovering the sheer depth of the MSX library, and everyone contemplating on whether or not they should sign back up for Final Fantasy XIV with the huge trial Square-Enix is putting on for the game right now.

Other topics include Fantasy Zone for the NES, Airgrave, Sessions, Skater XL, Desperate Housewives ASMR, Ghost of Tsushima, Maneater, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE Encore, Paper Mario: The Origami King, Trials of Mana, SD Snatcher, and more! Be sure to keep six feet apart from one another as tune in and give us a couple of hours of your day here on episode 126 of Press Pause Radio.

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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PPR Games Club: The Last of Us Part II

ere at Press Pause Radio, we make it a point to ask the hard-hitting questions that no one else will, like if there were only 3 food trucks in the world, and they were operated by the Seraphites, Washington Liberation Front, or the Fireflies, which one would risk life-and-limb to eat burritos from?

It’s been over four years since we’ve done a Games Club episode on the cast, which has honestly been four years too long; Naughty Dog has finally released the epic sequel to their 2013 masterpiece, The Last of Us Part II, and it was an experience that was begging for a Games Club to be done.

The conversation at hand is no easy one to be had though, so we invited our friends Liana and Matt Ruppert of Don’t Feed the Gamers and Prima Games to join the episode as we talk about what we bare it all on this emotional roller coaster of a game.

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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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: The TurboGrafx-16 Mini

or all the times you heard the arguments on the school playground of who did it better, there was always that weird kid who managed to sneak an underdog into the conversation. Pepsi versus Coke-Cola had RC Cola, DC Comics versus Marvel Comics had Image, and The Super NES versus the Sega Genesis had the unassuming TurboGrafx-16; an upstart machine with a unique design and library that was unlike anything else available on the market in the early nineties.

Nowadays the console has earned a cult following that’s elevated the resale value of the hardware and games into the upper hundreds, but in doing so, the platform had deterred any interest from the casual retro gaming spectator market that has ballooned over the past decade. Nevertheless, thanks to the growing popularity of miniaturized versions past gaming platforms running on modern emulation technology, the trend has motivated Konami to join the tiny ranks with the release of the TurboGrafx-16 Mini.

Developed in part by the luminary studio of Japanese retro gaming, M2, The Pachinko giant has commissioned the production of three different models for the line that are respectively based on the console’s regional runs; the PC Engine Mini, PC Engine CORE Mini, and the TurboGrafx-16 Mini. This review will focus solely on the TurboGrafx-16 Mini, as to center the assessment on the experience it promises within the context of the 16-bit generation from an American perspective—specifically in terms how made the system a brand in the west, along with the choice of imports included to cater to the sensibilities of the western market, and more.

With that being said, the TurboGrafx-16 Mini hits the road impressively hard to catch up with likes of the SNES Classic and Sega Genesis Mini, but fumbles the landing from a slew of shortcomings that ultimately keep it from reaching beyond the same crowd that’s been cheering it on the machine from the start.

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QCF: Wintermoor Tactics Club (Steam)

The older I get, the more I miss my D&D group. I have so many great memories of our various adventures, some that were recorded here on Press Pause Radio for a podcast called Critical Fail. I had to stop playing on a regular basis once I started having children, and nowadays I look back on those days and realize how important that group and those antics were for me at the time. The same can be said for the group of students that make up the Tactics Club in Wintermoor Tactics Club. However, the difference for this organization at the fictional Wintermoor Academy in 1981 is that their bond and abilities may save the world while participating in a snowball tournament dubbed “The War of Clubs”. 

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