Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

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

Jurassic World Evolution Review

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

Azurephile gives this an astounding "Must Play" on the Ghost Scale

This achieves something special, and it would be a shame to miss it.

Azurephile gives this a "Must Play" on the Ghost Scale

This achieves something special, and it would be a shame to miss it.

Review

Recommended

Jurassic Park/World simulation, with dino breeding, expeditions for DNA, and even a bit of a strategy game

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... Read All

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

Looks like someone's a dino fan :D

Azurephile Super 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!

Azurephile Super 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 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...

Azurephile Super 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 wrote on 07/09/2018 at 09:44pm

I guess everything is divisive these days.

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

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

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

Minus the latest, I have yet to see it.

Travis Admin 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 Super Member wrote on 07/10/2018 at 03:06am

I am weird. :)

Travis Admin 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 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 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.

Azurephile Super 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.

jdodson Admin wrote on 07/28/2018 at 05:10am

Checkout this really hilarious Jurassic World Evolution game review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmiUuRmeGsI

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 07/28/2018 at 05:41am

LOL Yeah that pretty much covers it.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 12/31/2020 at 11:49pm

FYI, this game is currently (temporarily) free on Epic Games, so hurry up and grab it while you can! I recently bought the DLC I was missing (some dino packs, Claire's Sanctuary, and Return to Jurassic Park) and have been playing it lately. It's still a great game and I feel like it was easier this time around. I've spent nearly 200 hours playing this game. Luckily, I'm not done yet and I still want more. I'm really loving it. I think I'd like to reiterate that it's not just simply a park builder, but to me it also feels like a strategy game, but still very fun! Now that I think about it, I think I'm going to change my review from "Rad" to "Must Play." I think it's that good!

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The Sims 4 Review

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

Azurephile gives this a solid "Rad" on the Ghost Scale

This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.

Azurephile gives this a "Rad" on the Ghost Scale

This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.

Review

Recommended

Human/household simulation, that’s a fun, calm, easy-going, and interesting game.

Lots of expansions

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... Read All

Far Cry Primal Review

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

Azurephile gives this a solid "Rad" on the Ghost Scale

This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.

Azurephile gives this a "Rad" on the Ghost Scale

This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.

Review

Recommended

Open-world, taming animals

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... Read All Review

Recommended

Open-world, taming animals

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!

Travis Admin wrote on 07/04/2018 at 04:18pm

Gotta support the national feast of hot dogs! We're headed over to have a cookout with my wife's parents later. Otherwise we're doing some cleaning. Fun times! :D

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 07/04/2018 at 04:49pm

Neighborhood party.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 07/04/2018 at 07:43pm

Doing the same thing I do every day. LOL No hot dogs! Pork is causing me problems.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 07/04/2018 at 08:41pm

Beef hot dogs.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/04/2018 at 10:30pm

Turkey dogs are also a thing. Not a great thing but they exist.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 07/04/2018 at 11:15pm

Yeah and tofu dogs, too, I think. I have gallstones and I've noticed that when I eat pork, I have a gallstone attack. I may need to get my gallbladder removed, but since I've cut pork out of my diet, I've ok. There may be other foods that trigger it, but so far I haven't noticed, or at least I'm not aware of all the foods that trigger it. Supposedly I should stay away from hamburgers, but luckily Whoppers don't bother me. :)

Otherwise, I'm gaming. I've been playing Far Cry Primal and I'm nearly done with it. I've also been playing the Sims 4 a bit. And I've been re-reading Jurassic Park.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/05/2018 at 01:44am

TOFU DOGS AREN'T AMERICAN GREG! But seriously, if pork does that, then yeah, cut it out.

I've been playing Hearthstone, but I think i'm going to stop the daily grind as it's getting bothersome. Fun while it lasted though and I have enough gold to open 33 packs next expansion and a junk load of dust for 5 or so legendaries!

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How VHS Changed Film

This might seem like an odd topic for Cheerful Ghost but as we are all lovers of film the discussion seems useful. Cheerful Ghost has a booth at Portland Retro Game Expo each year and as a way to make a few bucks to help cover the booth cost and a stab at doing something a bit unusual we sell VHS tapes. I've been a light collector of VHS for the last couple years and selling tapes at the booth was a natural progression of that. All that said, I recently found a video that takes a second look at the home video format and VHS specifically. It's a great video and I think many of the points are spot on as some films really are better suited to be watched at home rather... Read All

Captain Toad's Treasure Tracker Demo Looks Pretty Darn Great!

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is an upcoming game for the Switch and 3DS that you can play a demo of right now on both systems. It launches on July 13th but we know quite a bit about it already and from what we know it looks like a great Wii U port. Digital Foundry reviews the new Switch and 3DS demo and compares them to the original Wii U version. Some good news is that the Switch version ups the resolution from 720p => 1080p a really nice improvement. The Digital Foundry video mentioned that the Wii U capped most games as 720p as I figured they'd be 1080p but it seems the Switch is a much more powerful system.

Nintendo keeps brining the amazing Wii U ports and in... Read All

Travis Admin wrote on 07/03/2018 at 03:06am

I'm hoping for more ports. At this point I want to eventually buy a Wii U but what I would prefer is not having the need to do so in order to play a handful of games.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 07/03/2018 at 04:12pm

When are you getting a switch, Jon?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/04/2018 at 10:32pm

Right so I think about this from time to time as I don’t have a switch yet but want one. Two scenarios where I’d pick one up. First is if they announce Mario Maker for this year. Second case is this Christmas.

Travis Admin wrote on 07/05/2018 at 03:55am

So most likely this year? Neat!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/05/2018 at 03:39pm

Yep. I think that's a very likely possibility. I'm still super happy with the games I have and the 3DS has turned out to be a great system. In fact I think I could keep going for another year on just 3DS games I have yet to buy and the new stuff Nintendo is brining to it. After I got the Mega Man legacy collection 1 on 3DS it basically made it THE way I play Mega Man 2. I still play it on the NES Classic too but it's a bit easier to pull out the 3DS whenever.

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Modern Mallard Kickstarter Mod Project Brings Duck Hunt To Modern LCD TV's

Back this on Kickstarter!

If you want to play Duck Hunt on a modern LCD TV the Modern Mallard Kickstarter might be the ticket. It requires you to mod your light gun & game cart for it to work and the base pledge is $129. It's a super incredible project but... I got a CRT TV for $10 and it works awesome with Duck Hunt. Still, if you want to HD all the things this is a really compelling option.

"Well, you can't play Duck Hunt anymore with your NES: it doesn't work on modern flat-screen TVs. You need an old, bulky tube (CRT) TV to play. The Zapper can't "see" modern TVs, and modern TVs have enough delay on their inputs to confuse the game. You're out of luck.

Until now.

Do you want to play your... Read All