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Punch Club on the Switch is a Solid Port of a Fun Game

Travis gives this game a solid "Rad" on the Ghost Scale

This is a fun game, with very few bugs or gameplay issues, and is well worth your time.

Travis gives this game a "Rad" on the Ghost Scale

This is a fun game, with very few bugs or gameplay issues, and is well worth your time.

TinyBuild was kind enough to give Cheerful Ghost a key for this game for our review. Thanks TinyBuild!

In Punch Club, you play as a boxer trying to make his name in the ring, and in unlicensed fights. And you fight mutant alligators. But while it may seem like a boxing game, it's really not. It has more in common with tycoon games, and the old Dope Wars games that came out around the turn of the century.

You essentially have to manage your sleep/energy/hunger/etc while making sure you have enough time to get to matches, and making sure you have enough money to do what you need to do. You can select the stats you want to improve by the different exercises at the gym, and... Read All TinyBuild was kind enough to give Cheerful Ghost a key for this game for our review. Thanks TinyBuild!

In Punch Club, you play as a boxer trying to make his name in the ring, and in unlicensed fights. And you fight mutant alligators. But while it may seem like a boxing game, it's really not. It has more in common with tycoon games, and the old Dope Wars games that came out around the turn of the century.

You essentially have to manage your sleep/energy/hunger/etc while making sure you have enough time to get to matches, and making sure you have enough money to do what you need to do. You can select the stats you want to improve by the different exercises at the gym, and you need to pick skills for your fights that match well with the stats you're strongest in, but you don't actually get to control the fights.

And that gameplay loop really works. It's a satisfying resource management game. The only issue I had with it was that the default may be a *little* too taxing. There's an easy mode that's just way too easy, but the normal mode can get frustrating early on.

That frustration dies down after a couple hours, though, but crops back up sometimes when you really don't want it.

I also really wish we could actually control the fights. I feel that this addition would provide a nice action break between the grindy-by-design life sim parts. I'm not complaining about that grind, it's a fun game loop and it pays off, but some variety would help here.

Overall, however, this game really works and I definitely recommend it.

As for the port: I played this most on PC, as that was the original (along with smartphones) and I wanted to compare the two. But the Switch port really holds up. Everything runs perfectly smoothly, and looks as you'd expect. The controller mappings feel natural after only a couple minutes. The only issue I have with the port is that, while the game runs on iOS and Android with touch controls, there's no support in the Switch version for the touch screen. The controls are great but some repetitive tasks like moving around on the map and selecting your skills in fights could be greatly improved and sped up by using the touch screen.

This is, however, a minor complaint. I may actually prefer the Switch port because this just feels like a curl-up-on-the-couch-with-a-handheld game to me. This is odd, because I don't prefer handheld gaming, but I recommend playing this one in handheld mode. It's the same controls either way but it feels more personal and engaging that way.

If you have a Switch and want a fun, low-pressure game to play to take a break from stomping goombas and gliding around Hyrule, this is a great game to have.

The Lackluser AI in Aliens: Colonial Marines May Have Been Due to a Typo All Along

I did a quick review of Aliens: Colonial Marines a couple years back to see if it was as bad as people said it was. I didn't thik it was, but it did have some problems. Read more here: https://cheerfulghost.com/Travis/posts/1538/aliens-colonial-marines-is-it-really-that-bad

That review wasn't a deep dive, nor was it meant to, but the biggest issue I still had with it was the buggy enemy AI. At least it felt buggy. The Xenomorphs just seemed to run around like morons. The embedded gfycat video above is an example.

Well, jamesdickinson963, a modder working on an unofficial patch for the game, may have found a very simple answer. As it turns out, that seems to be caused by... Read All

What Happened During That Mario 3 Race? - Summer Games Done Quick Wrap Up II

Here's another round of awesome SGDQ runs that you might want to check out. But... Jon why? Read on friends!

Super Mario Bros 3 All Forts Race of MitchFlowerPower v GrandPOOBear in 58:34 This run is embedded above and is not only an amazing test of skill by Mitch and PooBear but it also contains two really unfortunate soft locks. After Mitch's console soft locks the first time they are able to restart the run together but after that PooBear takes the win. It's hard to see this kind of thing happen in a race but both players are cool about it and you can see that in the interview afterward. It was reported that PooBear kicked Mitch's console but that's not quite what... Read All Here's another round of awesome SGDQ runs that you might want to check out. But... Jon why? Read on friends!

Super Mario Bros 3 All Forts Race of MitchFlowerPower v GrandPOOBear in 58:34 This run is embedded above and is not only an amazing test of skill by Mitch and PooBear but it also contains two really unfortunate soft locks. After Mitch's console soft locks the first time they are able to restart the run together but after that PooBear takes the win. It's hard to see this kind of thing happen in a race but both players are cool about it and you can see that in the interview afterward. It was reported that PooBear kicked Mitch's console but that's not quite what happened, it seems Poo stomped the ground as he was getting into the fun of the match and that may have rattled Mitch's console.

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures by Zmaster91 in 2:08:59 I didn't know you could play Zelda Four Swords on Gamecube single player but Zmaster91 shows that you can and does it well. It's a really chill run to watch so if you're looking to relax and watch some Zelda, this is it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQvEQK8KMcU

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD by Linkus7 in 1:28:27 Linkus Wind Waker runs shows off just how crazy speedruns can get when the community finds amazing glitches. It's been recently found that if you pause buffer in Wind Waker that you can gain incredible swimming speed allowing you to swim to locations that previously required the boat. This allows runners to skip the first part of the game and other major parts making Wind Waker HD a run you can do in an hour and a half. If you watch anything watch Linkus setup the crazy pause buffering swim glitch then watch the rest because it's awesome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPLytsTfCcE

Kirby's Dream Land by eBloodyCandy in 12:51 Kirby's Dream Land isn't a very hard but BloodCandy's run adds quite a bit of strats to the game I wasn't aware of. I really love Dreamland and this was a fun run to watch because it's really quick and a fun game to watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfQylC7rt2E

Anodyne 2: Return to Dust Is Coming In Early 2019

Anodyne was the Indie Zelda-like released in 2013 that was a fan favorite on Cheerful Ghost during that time. I love the game so much we did a couple interviews with the studio that made the game(linked below). They released a follow up to Anodyne called Even The Ocean to great reviews and recently dropped news of an Anodyne sequel Anodyne 2: Return to Dust. It looks to harken back to the Nintendo 64 3D era which really works for the tone of the game and feels like a proper Anodyne follow up.

For me Anodyne wasn't just an awesome Indie game it also contains one of the best game soundtracks around. I listen to it still and the music is so iconic to me it sort of... Read All

And I'm Out As Quickly As I Came In

When the last Hearthstone expansion The Witchwood dropped I opened the free packs and played the single player content. The single player missions were quite fun and if you completed them with the Witchwood quests you could get a few more free packs to open. I didn't open a ton of Witchwood cards but the single player stuff was fun enough to keep me playing daily. Then one day turned into another and I was back playing Hearthstone each day grinding dailies for gold. A while back I left Hearthstone because I was tired of the grind but things seemed fresh and playing it was fun again.

For the last month there was a special time event where they gave everyone a free arena... Read All When the last Hearthstone expansion The Witchwood dropped I opened the free packs and played the single player content. The single player missions were quite fun and if you completed them with the Witchwood quests you could get a few more free packs to open. I didn't open a ton of Witchwood cards but the single player stuff was fun enough to keep me playing daily. Then one day turned into another and I was back playing Hearthstone each day grinding dailies for gold. A while back I left Hearthstone because I was tired of the grind but things seemed fresh and playing it was fun again.

For the last month there was a special time event where they gave everyone a free arena run, made the quests easier and included dust and gold rewards for dailies. That free arena run was the best i've ever had and the deck I made took me to 7 total wins. Since i'm not a heavy arena player I thought that was a really reasonable showing as a perfect arena run is 10 total wins. Throughout the time I was playing Hearthstone I never looked up the current meta decks to see what the best decks to use were. I simply built my own decks based on cards I had and what I liked to play and what was good enough. One of my favorite classes to play is Hunter and I love beast decks so most of the time I was playing with a Beast Hunter sort of mid range deck and did really well with it. I played each day until the special event ended and the old quests came back and the daily grind just didn't seem as fun. I hope they bring back those special quests because, while easy, they changed up how I played the game. It wasn't about winning, it was about winning quests around really fun and stupid stuff like "Play 3 Dragons" and "Summon 20 1 cost minions" or "Summon 20 battle cry minions." Easy sure, but fun and why does grinding for daily gold have to be a chore?

The next Hearthstone expansion has been announced and the game is still just as expensive as ever and I plan on playing the new content but I don't think i'll stick around as long as I did for The Witchwood. Happy to have fun in Hearthstone again but getting back into the game again proved to me that the base grind is still around and still not something I want to do a lot of.

Rukus The Crusher Rage 2 Special Edition

Rage 2 was one of my most anticipated games out of E3. They teased a Rukus The Crusher talking head and it looks like it's a thing you can buy with the upcoming collectors edition. It doesn't seem to steeply priced at $119 considering it comes with Rukus, the base game on the platform of your choice(as long as it's only three systems) and a steelbook case, a collector’s poster, an exclusive mission, & wasteland wizard cheat codes. There's also a bit more DLC included such as a monster truck, an armor set, and the... BFG. Looks like all pre-order versions of the game get the "Cult of the Death God" exclusive mission, settlers pistol, Nicholas Raine armor, and a... Read All

The Boomsday Project Is The Explosive New Hearthstone Expansion

It's that time again for a new Hearthstone expansion and this next one looks like a lot of fun and it's called The Boomsday Project. Doctor Boom is an old Hearthstone Legendary card that was one of the most overpowered in the game before he was rotated to wild. He's back and in his own expansion that looks like it fuses explosions with Hearthstone SCIENCE! Speaking of fuses a new mechanic MAGNETIC is for Mech cards allowing MAGNETIC cards to fuse to other mechs giving them the stats and abilities of the MAGNETIC card. It's a lot like Deathstalker Rexxar's Build a Beast ability but for mechs which looks to be very interesting.

A side note... the Hearthstone team is... Read All

Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 28: "Solo: A Star Wars Story" Review, Part II

In this episode of Cheerful Ghost Radio we’re going to bring you the second and most important part of our two part Solo: A Star Wars Story Review. Tim couldn't make it for the last review, so we get his thoughts on Solo and some comments about what we said in the last episode.

We also talk about the future Star Wars movies we may see, and how Solo's somewhat limited box office take might mean for those.

Celebrate Prime Day With 19 Free Games On Twitch!

If you have Twitch Prime head over to Twitch now to collect on all the free games you can! Amazon Prime is a pretty big day and since Amazon bought Twitch it's now partaking in the festivities giving away a ton of indie games for Prime members such as Metal Slug 3, Broken Age, Brutal Legend, Tacoma, Next up Hero and Qube 2.

With all the free game giveaways on Twitch by having Twitch Prime I have an ever growing Twitch catalog. Curious if Twitch is going to position itself as a competitor to Steam, GOG and Origin as it's already ramping things up to become an interesting digital store.

... Read All

Build Your Own Jurassic Park/World

https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/648350/header.jpg?t=1530634318

GregoPeck gives this game a solid "Rad" on the Ghost Scale

This is a fun game, with very few bugs or gameplay issues, and is well worth your time.

GregoPeck gives this game a "Rad" on the Ghost Scale

This is a fun game, with very few bugs or gameplay issues, and is well worth your time.

If you ever thought it’d be cool to create your own Jurassic Park (or World), then the time for you has come! Jurassic World Evolution is pretty much a Jurassic Park/Wold simulation game that was recently released and seems pretty popular (especially on YouTube). It’s an interesting game and I’ve played some of it, so I thought I’d share it with you.

You’ll start off on one of a few different islands (not Isla Nublar, which you unlock later). You’ll have a basic structure going on, such as a large pen already built. You’ll still need a few other buildings, but you can purchase them whenever you can afford them. The starting layout is pretty good, but there’s more room... Read All If you ever thought it’d be cool to create your own Jurassic Park (or World), then the time for you has come! Jurassic World Evolution is pretty much a Jurassic Park/Wold simulation game that was recently released and seems pretty popular (especially on YouTube). It’s an interesting game and I’ve played some of it, so I thought I’d share it with you.

You’ll start off on one of a few different islands (not Isla Nublar, which you unlock later). You’ll have a basic structure going on, such as a large pen already built. You’ll still need a few other buildings, but you can purchase them whenever you can afford them. The starting layout is pretty good, but there’s more room for you to grow your park. You’ll also start out with a few million dollars to buy new buildings or get started on dinosaur incubation.

You won’t have all (48 I think) dinos unlocked right away, but I think you’ll have at least one “viable” genome with which you can incubate into a dino. You won’t be able to incubate a dino until you have enough DNA, which you get by doing expeditions. This part of the game is pretty simple. You’ll see an expedition map, which contains real-life expedition sites that actually exist. You’ll click on one to send your team to (for a price) and they will come back with fossils after a few minutes. You then have to analyze fossils in order to get more DNA for whatever dino you’re working on. You’re going to want to constantly send out expedition teams to gather more fossils, so that you can incubate more dinos.

Obtaining more of the dinos genome means you’ll have more success when incubating a dino. I believe 50% is “viable.” Also, with a full genome, you can modify each creature, giving them extra stats like disease resistance, better rating, or a new skin. Personally, I’m very fond of the rain forest skin, which gives dinos a bit of blue.

The park has a variety of needs. Each building requires power and a path. Each building also has it’s own utility. The Asset Containment Unit uses helicopters to tranquilize, move, or sell dinos. You’ll also have a Ranger station which uses jeeps to repair structures or resupply feeders. You can drive them yourself, which you may want to do at some time. It also can heal dinos and allow you to take pictures.

Guests have other needs such as shopping, food, fun, and security. You can increase these with an appropriate building. Hotels will increase how many guests you can have. There are also shelters you can place to give your guests some where to go when an emergency happens such as a bad storm or a loose dino. Satisfying all of these needs will earn you ratings on that specific island. In order to unlock further islands you will need to get a three star rating for the island you’re on. Each island is a bit unique. Isla Nublar is pretty much the “creative mode” island, where you have unlimited funds and can pretty much do whatever you like. Another island has a problem with frequent storms, including tornadoes that can severely damage structures or even fences.

It’s worth noting that each island has it’s own amount of money. However, you can use one island to send an expedition team and retrieve fossils. Sometimes these expeditions recover materials that you can only sell. So, once you have those materials, you can switch over to another island and sell them, increasing the amount of money you have on that island. (Pro tip!)

Dinos also have their own needs such as food, water, grassland, forest, social, and population to name a few. If these needs are met, the dino will be comfortable, if they get uncomfortable then they start to break fences and escape their enclosure. This is definitely a problem as herbivores can stampede and trample guests, while carnivores will eat guests (and you can watch this happen). If they break out of an enclosure, you’ll have to use a Ranger team to repair the fence and an ACU unit (helicopter) to tranquilize and move them back into their enclosure. So, it’s very important to keep your dinos comfortable, or else there’s going to be serious problems.

There are three “factions” within the game, science, entertainment, and security. You can do tasks for each of them that will increase your reputation with them. Doing so will unlock a variety of things such as dinos and buildings. They have missions on each island, but they also have contracts. Contracts are basically activities you can do that will not only increase your reputation with that faction, but also reward you with money (which you’ll need).

As you play more and do more, you’ll unlock new buildings, technology, and dinos. You may wish to be careful of which dinos you put together as some of them will obviously not get along and start fighting. Or, you could just decide to see for yourself which dino would win in a fight. You could even edit their genome and make one much better than another. It’s pretty interesting.

The game looks good and runs well. There are some issues you may run into. For one thing, sometimes building is difficult due to obstructions of buildings or the terrain. Also, it seems that some of the animations don’t quite work together. For instance you might see a Rex kill a Raptor, but you won’t actually see them touch, just almost touching. Hopefully this is something the developers will fix.

So far, the game does have one cheap DLC that adds (I believe) 5 new dinos to the game. There was also a free update when Jurassic World Extinction was released, which added more dinos, including the Indominous Raptor. It has been speculated that the game will get aquatic and aviary dinos in the future, but so far that doesn’t seem to be guaranteed.

If you like simulation games and Jurassic Park/Wold, then this game is probably for you.

Travis Admin Supporter wrote on 07/08/2018 at 05:37am

Looks like someone's a dino fan :D

GregoPeck Member Post Author wrote on 07/08/2018 at 01:19pm

Hell yeah! I went to Jurassic World Extinction. I have the other movies on Blu-Ray and I just recently finished re-reading the first book.

jdodson Admin wrote on 07/09/2018 at 05:47pm

Awesome. I can't wait to see Fallen World myself! I also have all the movies on Bluray and even liked Jurassic World!

GregoPeck Member Post Author wrote on 07/09/2018 at 06:10pm

Fallen World, I thought it was Extinction, getting confused with Ark. LOL

Travis Admin Supporter wrote on 07/09/2018 at 06:43pm

> and even liked Jurassic World

Huh, I thought it was pretty well liked. JP3 on the other hand...

GregoPeck Member Post Author wrote on 07/09/2018 at 07:02pm

JP3 is my least favorite, although I still like it. JW was apparently "divisive" as I've seen around the web. I liked it, too.

Travis Admin Supporter wrote on 07/09/2018 at 09:44pm

I guess everything is divisive these days.

Will_Ball Game Mod Member wrote on 07/09/2018 at 10:47pm

Jurassic Park 2 is the worst. All others are good.

Will_Ball Game Mod Member wrote on 07/09/2018 at 10:53pm

Minus the latest, I have yet to see it.

Travis Admin Supporter wrote on 07/10/2018 at 02:11am

That's an interesting take! If someone only dislikes one of the films, it's almost always the third. You may be the only person I've heard of who cared for the third, actually.

Will_Ball Game Mod Member wrote on 07/10/2018 at 03:06am

I am weird. :)

Travis Admin Supporter wrote on 07/10/2018 at 03:47am

I rank Episode 3 higher than Episode 6 so yeah me too :D

jdodson Admin wrote on 07/10/2018 at 04:01am

There are things that are universally loved but movies do seem ... I don't know if divisive is the right word but.. well commented on? I suppose because any yahoo can have a podcast every yahoo does. I feel that's a fair critique as I am on such yahoo. That said, people seemed to dislike it because it was too much like the original, not good enough for various small plot reasons or large plot reasons or mildly pedantic to large issues depending on your perspective. Personally I liked it because it had Dinosaurs eating people and that's what I watch Jurassic Park movies for. It was big and dumb and quite fun. I think some people didn't find the fun part. Odd thing is all the critique is valid for other movies I love so I don't get why some movies it's OK to not say it's bad and others it is?

I'd say Jurassic World is just as good as Tremors or Predator and Jurassic World gets way more disdain.

Travis Admin Supporter wrote on 07/10/2018 at 12:35pm

I think a lot of the movie criticism I can’t get behind comes from people taking something too seriously.

I saw an argument shortly after TLJ. Someone giving the example of Yoda controlling the weather as an example of how TLJ doesn’t care about established lore.

Like in this movie about freakin’ space wizards you guys are arguing about whether one space wizard who can come back from the dead would be able to pull a lightning bolt out of a storm cloud? That’s an insurmountable problem?

Your take on Jurassic World harkens to that. It’s a film that’s meant to be fun and fantastical (in a way) sci-fi action but people take it too seriously. I guess I can see why. The first Jurassic Park was big and important. It was fun but took itself seriously. I don’t think any of them have done that since and that’s not a bad thing.

jdodson Admin wrote on 07/10/2018 at 03:29pm

> Like in this movie about freakin’ space wizards you guys are arguing about whether one space wizard who can come back from the dead would be able to pull a lightning bolt out of a storm cloud? That’s an insurmountable problem?

Right, I agree. The Emperor shoots lightning from his hands yet the thing that's hard to understand is that it can come from the sky? That's the most believable part, because lighting actually comes from the sky. If the force is everywhere then all Yoda did was spark the force to do the natural weather thing, which seems canonical to me if not done before.

So if many people's problems is that Star Wars does too much new stuff, then I think when everyone complained Force Awakens was a retread needs to rethink that. Sounds like it would be the best sequel ever. It did new stuff, but it's basic plot and themes were very similar.

> It was fun but took itself seriously. I don’t think any of them have done that since and that’s not a bad thing.

Yeah and the biggest parts where the film breaks down is in basic genetics. Like copy pasting from Frog DNA wouldn't really create Dinosaurs and if it did they'd be really strange looking. The basic premise of Jurassic Park doesn't work yet that's not what the main problem with the series is? Paper thin characters are pretty common in campy films but I think people expect each film to be Chaucer, which I think movies like Fallen Kingdom are clearly more like Mad Magazine.

jdodson Admin wrote on 07/10/2018 at 03:42pm

Also, people don't have to agree on what's good. People also don't need to be consistent, i'm not. I guess i'm just raging(not really) against the notion of some kind of art based consensus. It can exist in communities, but it's OK to think differently and we don't need to all agree.

Form your own way. That's a big reason why this site exists else i'd just be posting game reviews on Facebook.

Travis Admin Supporter wrote on 07/10/2018 at 04:32pm

Amen! Enjoy things when you can, move on when you can’t. The idea of things being “objectively bad” seems rampant these days which I cannot get behind.

GregoPeck Member Post Author wrote on 07/14/2018 at 11:59pm

I may have to edit my review of this game, now that I've spent more time with it. This is a good game, perhaps much better than I originally thought. It's not just a Jurassic Park/World simulator, it's a strategy game! It's also challenging. There's so much to do and plenty of things take a lot of time to do (like analyzing fossils for DNA and completing a genome). I actually do wish the game was a bit easier, but there's no difficulty setting. The easiest it gets is when you unlock Isla Nublar, which is the game's "creative mode." Here, you don't have to worry about money and you can turn off storms and make it so dinos won't try to break out of their pens. If only I had those options for the other islands! I feel like this game is pretty much worth full price, even though it's definitely not cheap. In a way I want to pull myself away and let go of the various goals in the game. I've unlocked all the islands, but I keep wanting to play it, there's still more to do.

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Sim Life

https://eu.playgames.dk/9397/the-sims-4.jpg

GregoPeck gives this game a solid "Rad" on the Ghost Scale

This is a fun game, with very few bugs or gameplay issues, and is well worth your time.

GregoPeck gives this game a "Rad" on the Ghost Scale

This is a fun game, with very few bugs or gameplay issues, and is well worth your time.

I wouldn’t call myself a die-hard Sims fan, but I have played some of the games in the series, starting with the first one. I’ve also played The Sims 3, as it was given away for free on Origin. However, there was a recent sale and I was able to buy The Sims 4 for just $10. I thought that was a great deal, so I got it. Unfortunately, I was pretty blown away with how many expansions there are for the game and there doesn’t seem to be an all-in-one version, which I think would be cool, although probably a bit expensive. I figured if I liked the game enough, I could buy expansions whenever I wanted or catch them on sale. That said, I didn’t buy any special version of the... Read All I wouldn’t call myself a die-hard Sims fan, but I have played some of the games in the series, starting with the first one. I’ve also played The Sims 3, as it was given away for free on Origin. However, there was a recent sale and I was able to buy The Sims 4 for just $10. I thought that was a great deal, so I got it. Unfortunately, I was pretty blown away with how many expansions there are for the game and there doesn’t seem to be an all-in-one version, which I think would be cool, although probably a bit expensive. I figured if I liked the game enough, I could buy expansions whenever I wanted or catch them on sale. That said, I didn’t buy any special version of the game, there are some that come with an expansion, but I decided to just get the base game.

If you’re familiar with The Sims or have ever played one in the series, you pretty much know all there is to know about it, with some differences. However, if you don’t know, The Sims is a simulation game. You control people in a household. You move them into a furnished or unfurnished house pre-made or built by yourself. The Sims (the people in the game) have their own needs and desires. They can take care of many of these things alone without your direction, but you can still command them to do other things. Getting a job is not something they will do on their own, so you’ll have to pick one for them, if you want them to be employed. There are a good variety of jobs you can choose from, each suited to different kinds of sims. For instance, creative geared sims may find a job in the music industry. You could also have a writer, who can write and sell books on their own, a cook, a gardener, etc.

When you start the game, you can create your own sims. You can create a household of one or more, if you wish. There are a lot of customization options! You can customize how your sims look and most definitely create unique looking sims. They look good though, there’s a lot of detail in them. There are also a variety of wardrobes you can customize, such as their informal and formal wear. Along with looks, you will be able to customize their personalities. In The Sims 4, you can select their aspirations from a decent list that even breaks aspirations down into more specific aspirations. For instance, creative sims could be creative at art, music, or comedy.

Once you’ve created your sims, you can have them move into a house. There are a couple of neighborhoods to choose from, each unique in their own ways. The neighborhoods pretty much contain the same social buildings such as a library. Different families live in them, too. Once you’ve decided on the neighborhood, you can choose which house or lot to move them into. Here you can have them move into one that’s already built and furnished or unfurnished or you could build your own. You’ll start out with some simoleons, the game’s currency, however there is a cheat you can use to give yourself infinite simoleons and thus plenty of money to be as creative as you want. The game doesn’t punish you for using cheats.

Once you’ve moved in and furnished your house (if need be), you can then start managing your sims. They have a variety of needs such as hunger, energy, bladder, social, fun, and hygiene. In this version, you can actually click on these needs and set them so that the sim will take care of it own their own. One of the first things you’ll want to do is get the sims a job, but you can always switch jobs, change careers, or just be unemployed if you wish. There are other ways to make money without having a job. For instance, writers can write their own books and sell them to a publisher. This ends up generating a lot of income, especially with a high writing skill. You can practice skills by doing them or reading a skill book. So, a programmer could level up their programming skill by practicing programming on a computer.

Since I’ve played The Sims before, I noticed a few differences, although it’s been a while, so I probably didn’t fully notice all of them. The camera was one of the first things I noticed was different. I had to Google how to control the camera, as it is different from The Sims 3, however you can enable an option to use the same camera settings from The Sims 3. Another thing I noticed was the lack of an alarm clock. Previously, you needed an alarm clock to wake up a sim in time for work, otherwise they’d miss it. This time, it seems, you can wake them up manually on time. A notification will tell you, for instance, that your sim starts work “in one hour.” So, you have plenty of time to tell them to get up and take care of whatever needs they have. They will automatically go to work on time, so long as you don’t have them focused on something else. There is, what I guess you’d call an activity bar, where you can cue up various activities for your sim to do. They mostly do them one by one, but there is actually some multi-tasking they can do, like eat and watch TV. It’s easy to cancel an activity, just by clicking on it in the bar.

I think emotions are new to this version of the game. Sims can be happy, sad, uncomfortable, focused, flirty, and a lot more. Certain activities or events will trigger different emotions. For instance, sleeping in a cheap bed will cause the sim to be uncomfortable. There are also a variety of items you can put in rooms that will change a sims mood, which is handy.

Another interesting, new addition is the smart phone. Sims no longer need telephones as they all have smartphones. They can use them to call another sim, travel, or just browse the web.

An employed sim will have a daily activity (such as “practice programming”) and other goals in order to gain a promotion. One of these goals could be to reach a certain skill level (such as reach level 7 programming skill). Some sims will also want to go to work with a certain mood, like “focused.” Promotions can change the job schedule and they definitely increase income.

You can change the speed in which things happen with your sim. For instance, you can make time go by faster while they’re sleeping, but this is something the game actually does automatically. This also happens when they’re at work. So, you don’t necessarily have to wait around forever for them to finish completing an activity. Some activities (like leveling up skills) will also show you a progress bar. Usually for skills, you’ll want to pay attention to the meter above their head. However, other activities, like hacking, will have an outline of the activity in the activity bar that shows the progress being made for that activity.

Other than needs, your sim will have up to three different desires, which depends on their mood or their aspirations. This could be something like “chat with” another sim or “buy an instrument.” If you have your sim complete these activities, they earn another kind of currency which can be used in the aspirations menu to buy traits or potions. For instance, you can purchase a potion to make your sim younger.

It’s a fun, calm, easy-going, and interesting game. I do believe that the latest versions (The Sims 4) is definitely an evolution to the series, as the game has progressed during development. If this sounds like something you’re interested in, you should check it out. Perhaps catch it on sale, buy it a full price, or catch The Sims 3 if it’s ever on the “on the house” part of Origin (the EA standalone game launcher).

Become The Beastmaster!

https://steamcdn-a.opskins.media/steam/apps/371660/header.jpg?t=1530032970

GregoPeck gives this game a solid "Rad" on the Ghost Scale

This is a fun game, with very few bugs or gameplay issues, and is well worth your time.

GregoPeck gives this game a "Rad" on the Ghost Scale

This is a fun game, with very few bugs or gameplay issues, and is well worth your time.

I found out about Far Cry Primal from one of my favorite YouTubers, Sl1pg8r. He had early access to the game and was able to show it off before it was released. I had never played a Far Cry game, so I knew nothing about the series. I only knew what I saw in those videos Sl1pg8r posted. It looked interesting enough, so I added it to my wish list (on various sites). I ended up buying it recently at a good discount. I recently finished it, so it’s time to write about it!

The game is called Far Cry Primal for a reason, it takes place in 10,000 B.C.E., so you’re not going to have access to modern technology. You do still have a variety of primal weaponry, such as bows (and... Read All I found out about Far Cry Primal from one of my favorite YouTubers, Sl1pg8r. He had early access to the game and was able to show it off before it was released. I had never played a Far Cry game, so I knew nothing about the series. I only knew what I saw in those videos Sl1pg8r posted. It looked interesting enough, so I added it to my wish list (on various sites). I ended up buying it recently at a good discount. I recently finished it, so it’s time to write about it!

The game is called Far Cry Primal for a reason, it takes place in 10,000 B.C.E., so you’re not going to have access to modern technology. You do still have a variety of primal weaponry, such as bows (and arrows), spears, clubs, and “bombs.” Although this may sound like a short list, it gets a little longer considering that there are variations of each weapon. For instance, later you can unlock the long bow and also the ability to use two arrows at once, which is definitely very effective against enemies. Also, there’s a one-handed club and a two-handed club. There are also stone shards you can throw at enemies, like throwing knives. You can also toss a rock into a group of enemies to distract them, aiding you in maintaining stealth. Not all missions have a stealth bonus and I don’t seem to recall any actually requiring stealth. However, in some missions if you’re not stealthy then the people you are trying to rescue will get killed.

This is an open-world game, but you won’t be able to explore every area right away. In order to get to some areas, you’re going to need to unlock the grappling hook, which is done while finding a tribesman. There are some humorous cut-scenes, especially with the one who unlocks this skill. Basically the point of the game is to reunite your tribe and defeat the other two tribes. One tribe is a group of cannibals and the other are pyromaniacs.

You’ll have a small tribal gathering, which you can expand by finding new people. They will give you their own missions, which will unlock skills. There’s a small handful of them, but they each have their own role within the tribe. My favorite is the shaman who helps you become the beast master.

One of the features of the game I found most intriguing was that you could tame “beasts” and use an owl as a scout. There are a variety of animals you can tame and each one has their own unique abilities and stats (such as speed, strength, and stealth). Even with a variety of animals, most have their own varieties as well, especially “rare” versions. For instance, there’s a brown bear and a cave bear. Other than bears you can also tame dholes, sabertooths, and wolves. As you advance in the story, you’ll unlock different animals that can be tamed. Eventually, you’ll even be able to tame some that are “hard” (or “very hard”) hunting missions. These animals are the best of the bunch.

Taming animals is very helpful, because throughout the entire game you are alone. You can, however, have one tamed beast with you at a time, which removes that whole fighting alone thing. Your beast can scare away other animals and even attack enemies or other animals, which is why they’re so important. You can also ride some of them, once you’ve unlocked that skill. This can help you move through the map much more quickly and safely.

You’ll also have access to an owl that you can use to scout ahead. However, as you progress and unlock new skills, the owl can do much more for you. It can eventually attack and kill enemies (with one hit). It can also drop “bombs,” which there are a few in the game such as the ball of bees, my favorite, or the fire bomb. The owl is actually extremely useful if you’re trying for stealth. Some missions give bonus experience points for stealth and thus the owl is the way to go. It does have a cool down, so you can’t spam it too fast, but if you’re patient, you can still take out a small group of enemies. You can also use the owl to send your tamed beast in to kill your enemies, this still seems to give you the stealth bonus, as long as you’re not seen.

Not all animals in the game can be tamed, like birds or badgers, but you can still use mammoths, even though you can’t tame them. Once you reach a certain point of the game, you’ll be able to ride wild mammoths, but I think it’s only the young ones. There are still a variety of wild animals that are dangerous and can’t be tamed such as crocodiles, woolly rhinos, elk, and hawks. The hawks will attack you and it’s hard to attack them, but I did once see a hawk pick up a deer and fly away with it, it was amazing!

There are a variety of optional collectibles you can find. There are four types, I think, and I collected all of three of them. However, even by collecting all of them, you still won’t spend a huge amount of time in the game. My total game play was probably about 40 hours, maybe less.

One thing I really liked about the game was how solid it was as a program. The game never crashed nor did its performance ever drag. It is definitely a solid piece of work. It seems there were only two or three patches done to it. I once did run into an issue where I got stuck in the world, or in between things, but I was able to resolve it by fast traveling to another location. Otherwise, I didn’t run into any bugs and I think that says a lot about the Ubisoft.

Metal Jesus Reviews The RetreoN 77 Atari Remake System

Metal Jesus got his hands on the new RetreoN 77 Atari Remake system and put it through the paces. The whole retro console remake market is pretty hot and this system seems to have a nice light footprint starting out at about $70. That said, it's not perfect and it seems RetreoN is having issues with the controllers in the first run. That said if you are looking for a good way to play your Atari games in HD this is a solid option.

"PROS:
Runs real 2600 cartridges (approx 99% compatibility)
720P HD output
Supports original Atari joysticks and paddles
Toggle 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio
Super long controller cable
Looks nice

CONS:
Joystick may break during heavy use
Doesn't support... Read All

Summer Games Done Quick 2018 Was An Incredible Event

This years Summer Games Done Quick was one of the best i've seen to date I think a couple reasons for this is that there are a lot of great new speedrunners running awesome games and the Games Done Quick team is better than ever. This years charity was Doctors without Borders and it's a cool thing to consider that Games Done Quick is the biggest single funding event it has and this year was a blowout with 2.1 million raised! If you want to relive the entire week you can stream it all on the Games Done Quick YouTube page or just check out the runs i'll highlight here. I wanted to talk about a few now and will create a few more posts in the upcoming weeks.

Final Fantasy... Read All

Happy US Independence Day!

Wanted to wish all the stateside Ghosts a very happy Independence Day. Drop off what you’re doing in the comments and enjoy the national feast of hot dogs!

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Build Your Own Jurassic Park/World

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Become The Beastmaster!

Metal Jesus Reviews The RetreoN 77 Atari Remake System

Summer Games Done Quick 2018 Was An Incredible Event

Happy US Independence Day!

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Build Your Own Jurassic Park/World

What Happened During That Mario 3 Race? - Summer Games Done Quick Wrap Up II

What Happened During That Mario 3 Race? - Summer Games Done Quick Wrap Up II

What Happened During That Mario 3 Race? - Summer Games Done Quick Wrap Up II