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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PPR 99

ebruary can be many things; the home of Valentine’s Day, named after the saint who loved birds, and hated Pagans—or it’s the month that precedes one of the more eventful game release schedules of the year, your pick.

We here at PPR however, have decided to riff off the theme of love from Valentine’s instead, and talk about the aspect of sharing the experience of playing video games with your significant other, and what games we think would be ideal for that sort of social union.

It’s Personal Pause Radio up in here, and it’s a fun episode; we also talk at length about Arby’s, Street Fighter V, Lupe Fiasco, Unravel, Pocket Mortys, Umihara Kawase Trilogy, Gravity Rush Remastered, Project X Zone, Kanye West, and more.

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 Presents Play Play: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5

isten, we’ve gone at length by now about awful this game really is; it’s bad, and I’m sure we’re all sick of hearing about it…

So instead, here’s a Play Play of us SHOWING you guys just how bad of a video game that Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 really is—we’re kinda sorry about this.

Keyword being “kinda.”

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!

PPR Presents Play Play: WWE 2K16

he landscape for wrestling video games is pretty bare these days (we cover that in great detail here.) So, with there not being a whole lot of choice to base off of these days, we’re somewhat stuck with the annual releases that the WWE 2K feed us, and well, to bounce off of the dumb drivel that get out of the Big Guy,  we want to be fed more—because this shit is kind of dry.

George and Andrew hop on for this edition of PPR’s Play Play, as they wax on about the good, and the bad, of the latest game to bear the wrestling giant’s name and brand, WWE2K16. There’s a little more bad to be shared than good, but hey, at least these dumb Marks can play the role of fantasy booker, and nerd out about the Mat sport, so, I guess that counts for something?

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!

PPR Presents Play Play: Rocket League

t’s funny how two niche past times like the sport of Soccer, and hobbyist RC Car driving, have been known to cater to an exceptionally small, but fervently dedicated fan-bases, and yet when you smash up the ideals of the two together—everyone loses their shit over it, in a good way of course.

This is Psyonix’s Rocket League, an indie sports-action hybrid that seemingly came from out of nowhere, and is now currently among the hottest online titles played across all major platforms, and why is that?

Because it’s fun as hell, and Georgie is going survey Ser’s take on the game and more, in this latest Play Play from Press Pause Radio—GO ORANGE! BOO BLUE!

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!

PPR Presents Play Play: Brave Fencer Musashi

he frontier of platformers back in the late 90’s was uhhh, endearing to say the least. And man, oh MAN, were they ever just a wave of cutesy, mascot-ready, big-headed snark-slingers filled with all of that ‘tude.

Brave Fencer Musashi is a charming little melting pot of those sentiments, standing out among the herd with a bunch of action-RPG dynamics, with some Kirby mechanics on top. Now the question is whether or not this game aged very well? Not to mention where it comes into play with Nomura design timeline of limb belts and superfluous zippers on zippers, and more as Ser and Georgie wax on about it between all the shitty Haikus they hear about death.

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: Life is Strange: Episode 5: Polarized

 guess that Ian Malcom, the Chaos Theorist of Jurassic Park said it best when he quipped at another character within the story, John Hammond, that Life, uhhhh, finds a way…

In the context of that story, this philosophy was used as a McGuffin to introduce tension. Tension that would lead the game through a series of events that steered the plot towards it’s tragic turn within the penultimate chapter of this harrowing youth drama.

The subtitle “Polarized” most certainly lives up to its name, this entry will test your emotional constitution more than any other interactive experience would ever dare to.

I’m not going to pull any punches here; the last episode walked a thin tight rope of taste when it came its depiction of disturbingly dark subject matter, so it was only a matter of time before the Finale would fail to discern the line between what’s enthralling, and what’s just plain disgusting.

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