Known for both new titles and revitalizing old ones, Ziggurat have brought another game back from the vaults- Terminal Velocity: Boosted Edition.
Terminal Velocity is a flight simulator where combat and tunnel maneuvering are the main focus. Using the Infernal Engine, Ziggurat have not only restored the classic but expanded on the mechanics as well. In what feels like the spiritual lovechild between Starfox 64 and Descent, players fly a high speed craft through tunnels and over the surface in search of targets.
It has been more than a few years since I played a flight simulator of any sort and this one stood apart from those I had played. There isn’t must story to speak of and the visuals were mediocre by today’s standards. That is to say that they didn’t receive much improvement if any to the graphics for this game. Controls were fluid and intuitive.
I would have liked to see improved graphics instead of a title that looked like it was already on the low end during Windows 95 and some sort of story involving voice actors so you didn’t need to look away from the action. With the perfection that were the controls, fast paced gameplay and engaging gameplay though I had a good amount of fun and would absolutely play this again, even with it’s many failings.
Garlic is a game about much more than delicious ingredients, this vegetable is on a mission to scale the tower and see the Goddess again.
The team at Sylph have recently released Garlic on the Xbox One and was previously available on Steam back in 2021. Your goal is to scale a platforming riddled tower to reach the top where you will be able to seduce a cyber goddess at the top. Traps range from jets of flame, dripping toxic waste and even flying fish. Garlic himself quickly picks up the skills needed to fly from platform to platform and the ability to launch in any direction.
Playing as the “onion headed boy” you go from room to room, launching yourself through enemies and around obstacles, climbing ever higher. The platforming itself is challenging but at the same time a lot of fun. Even the bosses give you a decent challenge but are still enjoyable to face. As with any platforming game, some levels are harder than others and larger as well.
The art style is comical as you play a ronin-esque fighter with an anime cinematic style and an enormous head that is also a vegetable. During the gameplay itself though it is similar to what we saw in the days of the GameBoy Advanced but with more vibrant color choices. The gameplay though was so much fun. I’m terrible at platformers, especially ones that are a bit chaotic and this one is VERY chaotic. Despite it being full of mechanics I am terrible at, it has proven itself to be a great game that I look forward to climbing that tower even more.
Modiphius continues their support for the Star Trek Adventures Role-Playing Game with the Shackleton Expanse and Lower Decks!
Star Trek Adventures is back with two more expansions in quick succession, so quick in fact that we hadn’t had time to film the first book before the second arrived. That meant we filmed them together! If you want to check out our first impressions head over to the Table Talk Games YouTube channel. Those expansions themselves are The Shackleton Expanse and Lower Decks, both from Modiphius Entertainment. Modiphius is most known for their creation and mastery of the 2D20 system where EVERY action requires rolling two twenty side die.
Mechanically the game plays nearly identically to the Dune Roleplaying Game that we recently discussed. Only real difference is the world for the game itself and the layout of the books. Where the game system is the same they also both offer immersive worlds where even the books follow this methodology. The book’s layout amazingly looks like the controls on the Starfleet ships themselves, drawing you in further to the world.
Lower Desks is geared towards lower level players which makes sense considering the characters are meant to be lower ranked in the show. Shackleton Expanse focuses on higher level missions in an uncharted corner of the galaxy and in terms of content is the far superior book to add to the core rules. Either way, both are great additions to the game and each are worth the near $60 price tag on them!
On the heels of the cinematic masterpiece that is the first volume of Dune from Warner Brothers, Modiphius has released a new Roleplaying Game within that world.
Modiphius Entertainment are most known for their creation and mastery of the 2D20 system where EVERY action requires rolling two twenty side die. They have taken that system and applied it to the world of Dune and Arrakis. Do you ride the sandworm? Roll 2D20. Are you wearing your moisture suit properly? Roll another 2D20. The system makes for a more cost effective experience while simple mechanics make it easier to learn. My favorite aspect of the 2D20 system is that it makes the focus more the story you are telling together instead of how you complete a task.
The world of Dune is one created with so much depth that jumping into it can be overwhelming. The roleplaying game is just as rich, pulling from all of the books to develop the world. The sheer amount of information contained within the core rulebook was enough for even me to look at it and say, “whoa, that’s a lot to read”. Seriously, I said that.
The thickness of the tome isn’t daunting, not like a Game of Thrones novel would be. The words aren’t even tiny themselves, there’s just a lot per page. That being said though, there needs to be metric ton of information contained to build the world right. It’s unreasonable to expect every player to have read every book in the franchise like I have. This is how you convey what’s important without forcing players to read more than a dozen novels. Add all of the sourcebooks and campaign books and at a glance it’s a bit much.
In Summary-
The mountain of information simply makes sense when you take a simple rules set and combine it the vast lore of Frank Herbert’s most famous world. The production quality is some of the best I’ve seen from a roleplaying game. Between hand drawn/painted images, highly detailed maps and a plethora of lore there is enough here to make a diehard fan of the franchise excited, even if they don’t play it. The game system is designed for easier play which in turn makes for a more cinematic experience. Add to that the fact that you can play this game using any point in the timeline, you have a game that is a must for replaying and Dune fans alike!
I can’t wait to see what other sourcebooks get released. Specifically I hope we see some centered around individual great houses so that we can have more dedicated details for some of them. The top houses and groups I’d like to see more from would be IX, Atreides and Harkonnen of course, but also the Tleilaxu. However the sourcebook I want to see the most would be centered around the Jihad era. I want to specifically engage with or play as the Cymek. I’d even kill for an army based tabletop game like A Song of Ice and Fire or The Lord of the Rings that puts the Cymek against the Butlerian Jihad. Please make this happen Modiphius. The time is right for this to finally work too! What forces would you like to play?
The team at Frictional Games bring the latest in their Amnesia series and first person horror with Amnesia: The Bunker!
Amnesia: The Bunker is the fourth full title in the Amnesia series from Frictional Games and takes place at the earliest point in the timeline, centered around World War I. Each game features a protagonist that suffers from Amnesia and is chased by some sort of evil entity. The atmosphere is a bit muted to start as you wander the trenches until the guns start firing around you, which adds to the realism.
Gameplay and premise remind me of a recently covered indie title called Trenches. I wonder which was in development first? Based on the official release dates Trenches was first but the world of Amnesia has been around much longer so it’s quite possible The Bunker was in predevelopment before Trenches was. My Google-fu was not able to identify the true order of development and without reaching out to the devs directly we’ll likely never know.
As I mentioned there are a few similarities. Both center around the trenches of World War I where some otherworldly evil chases you. Visually The Bunker is the superior title but when it comes to the ambiance Trenches has it beat! Trenches also wins in overall creepiness factor, specifically because of their use of audio and unnerving visuals with those creepy dolls all over the place. The experience between the two felt nearly identical but Amnesia: The Bunker had a lot more polish.
IT IS RARE FOR ME TO SEE A MOVIE WHEN IT’S STILL IN THEATERS BUT THANKS TO Marvel Entertainment I WAS ABLE TO CATCH UP ON A FEW THAT I MISSED!
Recently the fine folks at Marvel Entertainment (their home page is here) had sent me a code to one of the movies I missed so that I could share my thoughts on it with you. This will be a regular series and Part 1 we talked about Black Widow. Part 2 discussed Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Part 3 shared our thoughts on Eternals and straight to DVD release Spidey and his Amazing Friends. Part 4 focused on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Part 5 discussed Thor: Love and Thunder. Part 6 shared Black Panther Wakanda Forever and Part 7 talked about our thoughts on Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania. We are back with Part 8 and Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3!
Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3
This is the final installment of the franchise, at least that will be directed by James Gunn. The story centers around an attack that puts Rocket into a coma where his friends discover the fail-safes in place on his body. In order to save him these need to be removed and in order to do so they must track down the people responsible for putting them there. I have seen many of Gunn’s films and every Marvel film of the current cinematic universe and I must say that Volume 3 made me feel more than any other in either category. The writing, the direction, everything about this film was fantastic. Even Chris Pratt gave a performance light years better than I thought he was capable of. Even the twist at the end with Groot left me shocked and provided further proof that Gunn is the best director and writer that we have seen in the MCU.
Planet of Lana is a side-scrolling adventure featuring playing hide and seek with robots that have no qualms about ending you!
The folks at Thunderful Games have delivered a side-scrolling adventure, full of hand painted environments. That game is Planet of Lana where the focus isn’t on just fighting, I mean there is some of that, but it features a plethora of puzzles to solve to reach your destination. Some of these puzzles or effectively games of cat and mouse, where others manipulate the environment around you to help you escape. The studio under Thunderful that developed the game was developed in 2018 and this is their first published title.
You play as a young girl who watches as her friend and village are abducted by robots. She must save both herself and the world while avoiding the dangers of the robots. Who sent them? Why are they capturing and likely enslaving the populace? What’s their end goal? Hopefully these questions get answered as you progress the story but so far they have not.
Visually the game is captivating and the attention to detail is quite impressive. When running through the fields and climbing the mountain you can see the wind blowing through individual blades of grass that are all hand painted. It feels like you are playing in a living painting, that is until the robots come. The beauty of the art draws you in and the story keeps you playing. Overall this was a great experience that leaves me wanting to get back to it to see where the story leads me next.
IT IS RARE FOR ME TO SEE A MOVIE WHEN IT’S STILL IN THEATERS BUT THANKS TO WARNER BROS I WAS ABLE TO CATCH UP ON THOSE I MISSED!
Recently the fine folks at Warner Bros (their home page is here) had sent me copies of some of their movies I missed so that I could share my thoughts on them with you. For the first part of this series we talked about Scoob, Birds of Prey, The Way Back, Goonies 4K, Beetlejuice 4K, Full Metal Jacket, Sherlock Holmes 4K and Sherlock Holmes A Game of Shadows 4K. Part 2 ‘twas massive and discussed V for Vendetta 4K, 300 4K, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy 4K, The Hobbit Trilogy 4K, Blade 4K, Bill and Ted Face the Music, Tenet and The Wolf of Snow Hollow. Part 3 talked about Wonder Woman 1984, The Little Things and Judas and the Black Messiah. Part 4 discussed Tom and Jerry the Movie and Godzilla Vs Kong. Part 5 was all about Wrath of Man, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and Space Jam. Part 6 had discussed Mortal Kombat and Those Who Wish Me Dead. Part 7 discussed In the Heights, The Conjuring 3: The Devil Made Me Do It, Zack Snyder’s Justice League and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone 20 Years of Movie Magic edition. Part 8 discussed A Clockwork Orange, Space Jam: A New Legacy and Shawshank Redemption. Part 9 talked about The Suicide Squad and Reminiscence. Part 10 discussed The Outsiders, Cry Macho, Malignant, the Many Saints of Newark and the Mad Max film collection. Part 11 talked about Dune, Matrix: Resurrections, The Batman, Dog and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. Part 12 discussed Elvis, DC League of Super Pets, The Lost Boys and Poltergeist. Part 13 shared some classics with 8-Bit Christmas, Casablanca, A Christmas Story, Three Thousand Years of Longing, The Polar Express, Elf and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Part 14 had Don’t Worry Darling and Part 15 was discussing Black Adam. Part 16 had Bones and All, House Party plus the 4k release of Training Day. Part 17 returned for the 4k release of Rocky the Knockout Collection and Magic Mike’s Last Dance. We are back for Part 18 and the Superman 5 Film Collection, Creed III and Shazam! Fury of the Gods. Part 19 is here with A Good Person, National Lampoon’s Vacation 4k Edition and Evil Dead Rise.
A Good Person
The film follows one woman’s struggle with recovering from grieving the loss of a loved one and Florence Pugh and Morgan Freeman give some of their best performances in this film. The only real issue I had with the film was Morgan Freeman. The studio has been quite inconsistent when it comes to using problematic (or supposed problematic) actors. With the last Grindelwald film Johnny Depp was replaced based on accusations he was later cleared of but Morgan was accused of something similar but was not removed from roles for this.
National Lampoon’s Vacation 4k Edition
Prior to seeing this edition of the film I had only ever seen Christmas Vacation from National Lampoon’s Vacation films. I had no idea that the kids weren’t the same in all of the films until now. Chevy Chase remains a riot and John Candy is a treasure. For the two of them alone this film is worth watching and with the higher resolution of 4K it’s an absolute win.
Evil Dead Rise
This film had me very conflicted. I’ve never made my dislike turned appreciation for the horror genre. The ads alone were creepy as hell and this film looked fantastic. The only problem with the ads was how they played on YouTube channels aimed at children. My 7 year old freaked out each time they came on. The production quality, makeup and music alone are fantastic. Where the previous Evil Dead film felt more like a reboot this is more of a true sequel in the series as a whole and includes the greatest costar in the franchise- Bruce Campbell himself! His appearance is worth seeing alone if you are a fan of the franchise and we thoroughly enjoyed this gorefest of a film.
Which of these Warner Bros films have you had the chance to see? Which was your favorite? Let us know on our Twitter!
IT IS RARE FOR ME TO SEE A MOVIE WHEN IT’S STILL IN THEATERS BUT THANKS TO 20TH CENTURY STUDIOS I WAS ABLE TO CATCH UP ON A FEW THAT I MISSED.
Recently the fine folks at 20th Century Fox (now 20th Century Studios- their home page is here) had sent me codes to several of the movies I missed so that I could share my thoughts on them with you. Part 1 was all about Underwater and Part 2 focused on The New Mutants. Part 3 we talked about The Personal History of David Copperfield. Part 4 discussed The Empty Man. Part 5 talked about Nomadland and Speed 4K Ultra HD. Part 6 discussed The Night House and Free Guy. Part 7 focused on The Eyes of Tammy Faye and Part 8 had The Last Duel. Part 9 discussed Ron’s Gone Wrong and Part 10 talked about The King’s Man and Summer of Soul. Part 11 discussed Nightmare Alley and West Side Story. Part 12 highlighted Death on the Nile and Part 13 talked about The Bob’s Burgers Movie. Part 14 highlighted Barbarian and See How They Run. Part 15 discussed Amsterdam and Part 16 talked about The Banshees of Inisherin and The Menu. Part 17 shared our thoughts on Empire of Light and Part 18 with Avatar: The Way of Water. We are back for Part 19 and Avatar in 4k and Chevalier.
Avatar 4K Ultimate Collector’s Edition
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Avatar is a fantastic film and that still holds true. The acting is fantastic and despite the blatant “save the environment” messages this remains a family favorite. The visuals, while already gorgeous after all these years, look even better than before. I honestly didn’t think it was possible. If you have a 4k capable television then this is a must for you.
Chevalier
This a film that challenges that great talent can come from any race or background, despite the fact that society may not be ready to accept that talent. The cast of this film was fantastic and the costumes looked perfect for the era. The story highlights how racism and slavery resulted in not only the destruction of lives but the destruction hiding of music created by Bolagne, whom the film is about. Overall it was a great film that was full of wonderful music.
Replikator is a twin stick shooter from the folks at Ratalaika Games and posits that death is only the beginning of the story.
Ratalaika Games how been kind enough to share a copy of their latest twin stick shooter, Replikator. The game places you as a mercenary aboard an, until recently, abandoned scientific facility in space. Your role is to explore the facility and learn the secrets of the Replikator device. The first time you are killed by the denizens of the facility you learn that the device be able to make duplicates of any item, including yourself when you die. Like most twin stick shooters the game provides an isometric view that looks like feels like JRPGs from the SNES era.
Unlike most games of this style there is a limited amount of ammunition for your guns so aiming is essential. The good news is if you do run out you have a powerful melee attack you can use. Most enemies will have consistent attack patterns making both easier if you are patient. Trying to speed through the map is one of the easiest ways to end up dead. Along the way you will find dozens if not hundreds of weapons to use and items to improve your skills. Remember to explore everything and be patient. Did I mention, be patient? My impatience resulted in my death more than any single foe.
Visually the game felt like I was returning to some of my favorite titles from the early 90s and matches the level of quality we are used to seeing from Ratalaika. Overall I found the game engaging and at the same time frustrating. I have terrible aim and with limited ammunition some of the map sections were harder than they should have been. That is entirely a reflection of my skill and not of the gameplay quality. At $10USD the price is quite reasonable for the hours of gameplay you’ll find and I have played some garbage titles with higher price tags too. Once again I find myself looking forward to seeing what Ratalika comes out with next.
