On July 11th, new content drops for Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2! It’s a ton of new content, the least of which is a trio of new characters to play: Ribrianne, Vegeta (SSG), and SSGSS Vegeta (Evolved)!
Yearly Archives: 2019
Stranded Sails Crosses Harvest Moon with Zelda in October
Merge Games announced a new title coming to consoles in October, and they’re teaming up with Lemonbomb Entertainment and rokapublish to bring it to life. Stranded Sails: Explorers of the Cursed Islands will arrive in October on the Switch, PS4 and Xbox One, digitally as well as physically. Stranded Sails is an upcoming open-world exploration/farming adventure, which has an adorable world and plenty of adventures and mysteries to unlock. Ship-wrecked on a mysterious archipelago, you have to survive, and solve this island’s mysteries – and find a way home.
From finding resources and planting crops, to establishing your own farm to feed all survivors in your camp, Stranded Sails fuses addictive survival mechanics alongside a far-reaching journey which has you undertaking a vast adventure spanning numerous islands, where an abundance of treasure lies waiting. It takes inspiration from Harvest Moon, The Legend of Zelda, and other titles such as My Time at Portia, and Stranded Sails will bring its own style to this adventure genre.
KEY FEATURES
- Experience an open-world adventure full of quests and discovery
- Farm and cook to survive! Provide food for your crew and improve their level of happiness, whilst experimenting with different ingredients to discover new dishes
- Manage the creation and expansion of your crew’s camp and prove your skills as a shipbuilder
- Explore a diverse array of different islands by foot or boat on your travels to find a range of tools and treasure
- Fight against supernatural dangers and solve the secrets of the cursed islands
Nintendo Switch Online – July Game Updates
July 17th has a new update hitting the Nintendo Switch Online digital library – Wrecking Crew and Donkey Kong 3 both hit the online Switch library!
Drodo
Drodo
Lavapotion
Lavapotion
Trove – Trovian Tumbler Mount Giveaway
We’ve partnered with gamigo to give away amazing Trovian Tumbler Mounts for Trove.
Trovian Tumbler: The “Tumbler” is a mount that is a reference to the car that Batman drives, known as the Tumbler. It also has the benefit of Mastery, and Mastery is a type of level achieved by adding new unlockable items to the collection, as well as increasing character level.
Redemption Instructions:
PC:
- If necessary, create an account using this link.
- Follow the process until you need to create a Glyph account. Sign in if you have one already, otherwise, create one.
- Go to the Trion Store via this link, click Account, Apply Code.
- Enter the Code provided.
Console:
- Follow the steps above, then link your Microsoft/Sony account with Glyph via this link.
Monster Jam Steel Titans Review
By Terris Harned (NWOrpheus)
A little part of me has always had a soft spot for demolition derbies (see my review of Wreckfest), and monster truck rallies. Probably because I’m one-quarter redneck on my mother’s side. I never really fell into a liking of NASCAR or anything, so it’s probably not actually racing that I get into, but rather the satisfying crunch of automobiles being demolished. Although I always liked the Gran Turismo franchise, so who can say?
When I was about 10 years old, I used to mow the lawn for a guy up the street, Bob Small. One year, Bob entered, and won, a contest on my behalf to have the legendary monster truck Bigfoot come to our street and host a pizza party. I still remember the sight, as the big truck roared and rumbled its way down N Baldwin Street and pulled up onto Bob’s grass strip to park. The impressions of his 66 inch tires were there the rest of the season, until Bob had to till the strip of lawn and plant new grass the next year.
What I remember even more, despite this being 30 years ago, was the sheer volume of the Portland Memorial Coliseum quaking with the roar of monster trucks. Watching Bigfoot and Grave Digger side by side before exploding off the starting line. Their front tires were propelled skyward from the torque of engines measured not in horsepower, but in dragon power. Or so it seemed to my 10 year old self. The satisfying crunch of derelict cars as the behemoth vehicles plowed across them to the song of cheers from the crowd.
Perhaps it is unfair to hold Monster Jam Steel Titans (MJST hence) to this sort of nostalgic benchmark. Suffice to say, it fell short. The game wasn’t entirely a disappointment, but there are many ways in which I feel the developers could have done better.
First off, the game is single player. There is absolutely no way to compete against other players, even in split-screen/couch mode. With the internet and technology being what it is today, why any racing game is made exclusively single player is beyond me. If you are going to do this, however, then you owe it to the market to at least have interestingly programmed AI opponents. MJST fell short on this mark as well.
It’s almost creepy how in line they are.
In the races I competed in, it seemed as though the opponent vehicles were essentially on a very set track, making little to no effort to pass each other. This felt more like old classic slot-car races than monster trucks, and reduced the racing’s competitiveness to how your vehicle performed, rather than any skill you might have.
The upgrades themselves were purchased by an in-game currency that I don’t remember the name of, if it was ever divulged. They were simply little yellow triangle thingies that you could earn by doing races. These could then be used to unlock vehicles, as well as to upgrade said vehicles by increasing acceleration, traction, maximum speed, bounce, and stability. The amount these articles can be upgraded is limited by your career rank (Novice, Rookie, Amateur etc), as is your access to tracks. To raise your career rank, you simply “compete” in the career mode.
Each career mode set has 10 events of various types. You must rank 3rd place overall to pass a given set. Also, they feel tediously long.
Completing missions in career mode will also open additional areas of the open world portion of the game. Within this open world portion are a number of collectibles for you to acquire, typically through some sort of aerial maneuver that would make the Blue Angels jealous. It was fun for about 10 minutes, and then just felt trite.
Which is basically what I would say about the career mode itself. There are a variety of different races within career mode, but as I mentioned before, the AI tends to move on rails through any given event, which detracts a great deal from the game. Either there’s no challenge, or an impossible challenge, with no realistic “in between”.
The list of vehicles you can drive is relatively expansive. There’s definitely a giant, glaring, and obvious hole in the lineup, however. While the game does have such iconic vehicles as Grave Digger, Earth Shaker, and the (sarcasm) “Great Clips Mohawk” truck (/sarcasm), it doesn’t have Bigfoot. While I understand how intellectual property works and all, it still feels like a gaping hole in my heart that might have given me more impetus and desire to play the game. Even if I had to do some extensive things to unlock Bigfoot, that would have been something to aspire to.
The on-the-rails driving of the AI vehicles wasn’t the end of MJST’s gameplay woes, either. The physics never quite felt right. Vehicles rolled at the drop of a hat, and things just got… real strange, during some races. To be honest, the physics felt more like a Tony Hawk game than a monster truck rally.
Physics? What physics?
The game does have some decent features. The combo system for scoring points can make things fun and interesting. Essentially you do one trick, such as a wheelie or big air maneuver, and then you have a certain amount of time to do another. So long as you continue to complete scoring maneuvers before the timer runs out on the last one, your multiplier increases. The higher the multiplier, however, the faster the timer elapses.
The monster truck lover in me gives Monster Jam Steel Titans 4 out of 5 crushed automobiles, but the gamer in me gives it a solid 2. It really lacks any significant content. If I could either race against real opponents, or at least AI that wasn’t just poorly created, it could have been a lot more fun. Unfortunately I think this sort of game is such a niche market that it will never quite draw the funding it needs to be designed well, and this title seems to be proof of that.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s Begins New Season, ‘Operation: Apocalypse Z’
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 has a new community event beginning today on Playstation 4 (with other platforms to follow), called Operation Apocalypse Z. In this operation, hordes of the undead are unleashed upon the game, not just in the Zombies mode. The new content also includes a fan-favorite specialist in “Reaper”, who makes their Black Ops 4 debut. This update also adds three multiplayer maps (Der Shatten, Remnant, Havana), and a new atmosphere permeates the Blackout map. Players can also return to the Aether story in the new Zombies Experience, Alpha Omega.
“We have a team of talented storytellers that have been helping to craft Zombies experiences for more than 10 years, and we wanted to bring that imagination to every mode of Black Ops 4, which is why we’re excited to put Operation Apocalypse Z in player’s hands,” said Dan Bunting, Co-Studio Head, Treyarch. “This is a veteran team that strives to do their best work with each new experience and this is no exception – Operation Apocalypse Z represents a ton of creativity and passion from everyone to really immerse fans in our unique world of the undead.”
“We can’t wait for the Zombies faithful to experience Alpha Omega, which marks the return of the Aether story and the opportunity to play as both the Primis and Ultimis crews – it’s a unique mix of gameplay that has truly been inspired by our community of fans,” said Mark Gordon, Co-Studio Head, Treyarch. “This map is over four times larger and features more dialogue than the Nuketown you’ve played before, and combined with everything else that’s coming in Operation Apocalypse Z, this is our most exciting season to date.”
- New Blackout Updates – As the Zombie apocalypse has begun, sunny skies have departed in favor of something more un-deadly in the main Blackout map. Zombies have leeched most of the life from the landscape forcing the alive to take refuge and survive amongst a deep fog and familiar Zombies sights and sounds. Additionally, the Alcatraz map debuts a nighttime atmospheric change complete with new Zombie enemies. Coming later in the Operation, brand-new Zombie-themed Blackout modes will also debut in the game, including Pandemic and Alcatraz Horde.
- New Specialist – Available now in both Multiplayer and Blackout, Reaper makes his Black Ops 4 debut. Reaper is a cutting-edge combat robot with a robust fighting style wielding the Scythe, a high-powered, two-handed minigun unleashing heavy gunfire. This fan-favorite Specialist is also equipped with a Radar Shroud that prohibits enemies from using their minimap and deploys a scrambling device to block out areas on enemies’ minimap.
- New Black Market Gear – The Black Market has been restocked with a variety of new Zombie-themed Specialist outfits and personalization items, weapon camos and gestures for Operation Apocalypse Z. This includes new weapons like the Reaver C86 Crossbow, Black Ops III’s Argus Shotgun, Daemon 3XB Mastercraft, MOG 12 MKll and Vendetta MKll that players can acquire and master.
- New Zombies Features – Operation Apocalypse Z introduces new Perks and Elixirs across all Zombies maps, providing new variations on gameplay once they’re equipped and activated.
Bake ‘n Switch Hits Steam Early Access Later This Year
Streamline Media Group announced a new IP, which hits Steam Early Access – Bake ‘n Switch! It hits Steam Early Access in Autumn 2019, with a full commercial launch planned for PC and consoles later down the line. Bake ‘n Switch is a couch co-op and PVP game where adorable dough creatures must be sacrificed to the Guardians of Dough, in order to appease their hunger. This will earn their help in fighting the Scourge.
“We’re excited to start nearing the Early Access launch on Steam for Bake ‘n Switch and we can’t wait to hear what players think of it,” said Stefan Baier, COO of Streamline Media Group. “As a local multiplayer party game, it’s important for us to receive community feedback so that we can develop a more exciting, fun, and engaging experience, so let us know what you think!”
A long time a-dough in a bakery far, far away, The First Bakers came together to defeat the Scourge. The Scourge threatened their precious food source – unreasonably cute and blobular dough creatures that roam the land. To save their world, The Bakers must combine the dough creatures – the bigger the dough, the higher your score – and bake heaving mounds of them in the oven before time runs out.
Dragon Quest Builders 2 – Launch Trailer
The Children of Hargon have banned building and creation throughout the land, but that’s not going to stop our hero. It’s almost time for Dragon Quest Builders 2 to hit shelves!

