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‘Pokemon Sword and Shield’ Everything We Know So Far

          Pokemon Sword and Shield are the two latest installments to the Pokemon franchise and the Nintendo Switch’s 1st traditional Pokemon game. Pokemnon Sword and Shield are set to release November 15th, 2019 and will be the 8th generation Pokemon game. What is interesting about this Pokemon game is that it was built from the ground up for the Switch.

          The game will still follow the traditional style of Pokemon that fans experienced on Nintendo’s handheld consoles, from the Gameboy to the 3DS, where you play as a character on a journey to catch or see all the Pokemon in the games region in order to fill up your Pokedex; a device that keeps track of Pokemon either caught or seen in the wild. The players main goal in order to proceed through the game’s storyline is to defeat all 8 gym leaders of the main towns in the region in order to earn the gym’s badge. This is proof that you have defeated the gym’s leader and collecting all 8 in a region allows the player to take on the Elite Four, the region’s best Pokemon trainers. If all the objects are complete, the player becomes a Pokemon master.

         The developers have been keeping a closed lip on much about the game until June of 2019 and more information was found out when the developers released a new trailer on July 8th. The region named was uncovered as Galar and will feature a brand-new line up of Pokemon. The region takes inspiration from and is loosely based on the United Kingdom. Pokemon games normally are based on real life cities, with the older games mainly based on areas of Japan. The Pokemon team and its developers have begun to expand further in the world with newer Pokemon games, taking inspiration from France, New York, and Hawaii.

          Pokemon games have always given the character a choice of one of three special pokemon that can only be obtained at the very beginning of the game or if traded from another player via online. This is the same case for Pokemon Sword and Shield. You are still able to choose from either a fire-, grass-, or water-type starter Pokemon. Sobble, Scorbunny, and Grookey were revealed in the July trailer as the three starter Pokemon a player is able to choose from. Sobble is the water-type, Scorobunny is the fire-type, and Grookey is the grass-type. Scorbunny has features of a bunny, like its name, and is white with red tips on its ears and feet. Sobble is a blue creature that has a big round head and thin body. Sobble looks very skittish and may not look like a powerful Pokemon, but its evolution could be something great. Grookey, like most grass-type starters, stands on four legs and is green with hints of brown and red. Grookey looks well-built and sturdy, like most grass-types, that gives it a defense advantage over the other two. A couple of other option Pokemon were also introduced in the trailer, like Coviknight and Duraludon, but not much information was given on them. The games also features two legendary Pokemon that are exclusive to the version that is chosen, Zacian and Zamazenta, the legendary wolves.

          When Mega Evolutions were introduced in Pokemon X and Y, I thought that evolution in Pokemon games had reached its peak, but Pokemon Sword and Shieldtake it up another notch. New to Pokemon Sword and Shield, a player is given two new features, Dynamaxing and Gigantamaxing, when it comes to addition evolutions with certain Pokemon. Dynamaxing seems to increase the size of your Pokemon while Gigantamaxing supersizes your pokemon even more and changes its appearance. According to the developers of the game, Dynamax Pokemon are bigger and more powerful than average, while Gigantamax Pokemon are bigger, more powerful and can use a special G-Max Move.

          The last known information about the two games are the gyms. All Pokemon games, as mentioned before, have always had 8 gyms and their leaders in different towns of the game’s region. The difference with this game is that the gym leader and the type of Pokemon they use will differ on both games. For example, one game will have a gym leader with ghost Pokemon, but in the other game, in the same town, the gym leader will be using fighting-type Pokemon.

          The anticipation for the newest installment to the Pokemon series is built up high and now that more information about the game is out after a long silence, gamers are now anticipating the game even more. The Nintendo Switch’s first main-line Pokemon game looks very promising.

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Review: ‘Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’ Arsenal of Characters

          Another installment to the party favorite, Smash Bros., comes to the Nintendo Switch as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. With the game’s release it brings with it, all the characters from the previous games, making this the largest roster of playable characters in Smash Bros. history. The game also adds new characters never played as before, like Animal Crossing’s Isabelle and the inklings from the game Splatoon. Although the new characters adds a fresh experience to the roster, I found myself reverting to my all-time favorite, Cloud.

           Super Smash Bros Ultimate also brings a new experience to the campaign. Ultimate’s solo mode, World of Light, allows the character to navigate the map and take on characters and themed challenges in order to free the spirits of all the fallen warriors to the games mysterious force. Once defeated, the freed spirits are added to your roster for assistance down the road of challenges World of Light has to offer.

           Overall the game stays true to the mechanics that every fan fell in love with. It is a game with a play style that is “easy to learn, but hard to master,” which makes it a game that anyone can play, from a hardcore competitive gamer to the casual play with friends or during a family kind of gamer. This game will always remain a party favorite.

           When it comes to competitive gaming, there is plenty of that, with Ultimate’s multiplayer mode. Multiplayer mode is surprisingly stable online, considering Nintendo’s poor multiplayer network. This allows gamers to play with other gamers around the world online. The previous Smash Bros. did not have this mode so people that wanted to play together had to be in the same room.

           Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is everything that a fan could want out of these games. It remains true to its style while still adding additional content that does not overwhelm and change the game drastically. This game when brought to a party can really stir up some excitement.

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Review: ‘Beat Saber’ Musical Swordplay

           Virtual reality has brought a more engaging and immersive game style into our homes. With the release of PSVR, more and more people are starting to hop on the virtual reality wagon. Beat Saber, a game developed and published by Beat Games, bring together the elements of virtual reality and musical gameplay together in a way never thought of.

           In Beat Saber, the player uses two light sabers of different color, red and blue. The objective of the game is to hit the red and blue blocks flying toward you in coordinance with the song's beat, while matching the color of the block to the sabers. Not only does the player have to match the saber and block color, but the blocks have arrows which indicate what direction that the saber needs to hit the block. If a red block is coming at you with an arrow pointing to the right the block needs to be struck in that direction with the matching color of the saber. The blocks will come at you and be struck with the rhythm of the music.

           You become immersed in the game, with all your peripherals taken over by the virtual reality space that it creates. With the many selections of songs, there is definetly going to be a song that anyone can find exciting. Most song consists of upbeat music with the ability to purchase more songs. Beat Sabers brings back the nostalgia and seems to take inspiration from the previous musical games like, Rock Band and Guitar Hero, or Dance Dance Revolution, being almost a mash up of all of them in a completely different style.

           You may find yourself playing the same songs over and over, but that does not mean that the game grows stale quickly. You will find yourself wanting to go for a new high score after high score, and if you have friends and family to play with, it adds to the fun and competitiveness as you all try to beat each-others’ scores. There is also a campaign in Beat Saber, which offers multiple challenging songs throughout.

           If you find yourself a person that is interested in virtual reality, then this is a game you for sure pick up. It is one of, if not the best, experiences virtual reality could offer.

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Review: ‘Deathgarden: Bloodharvest’ A New Twist to Behaviour Interactive’s Dead by Daylight

          With the relaunch of Deathgarden: Bloodharvest, now on steam for PC, new characters, maps and a new progression system has been added. Now characters can play from 6 different scavengers and 4 different hunters. There are also 4 multiplayer maps that have been added for more content.

          Deathgarden: Bloodharvest follows in the footsteps of Behaviour Interactive’s, Dead by Daylight, except now, guns and a different progression system is added. The concept is still the same as Dead by Daylight, escape. Unlike its counter-part, Deathgarden: Bloodharvest, allows for 5 scavengers (equivalent to survivors in Dead by Daylight) instead of 4, allowing for more friends to party up and survive together. There is still one killer, or in this case a hunter, scouring the map in hopes to diminish the numbers of the scavengers and keeping them from escaping.

          In this survival game the objective of the scavengers is to harvest blood from blood pools scattered across the map and drop it off at one of the three pillars, also scattered across the map. Once the number of blood-harvested reaches 140 collectively between your team, 2 escape gates open and the scavengers must make a run for it before the hunter eliminates them. For the hunter, his objective is to keep the scavengers from collecting blood. He is equipped with an assault rifle and a shotgun, with tools that allow the hunter to reveal the scavengers’ positions. It is a survival struggle the whole way through for the scavengers. I found that playing as the scavenger was more exciting than the hunter, as it is the same for Dead by Daylight. It is not to say that the hunter has all the advantage. Each scavenger has a slingshot, or vambrace that allows them to tag objects that allows the whole team to see. Each scavenger also has their own personal special ability in their vambrace arsenal to assist in escaping and collecting blood from the blood pools. For example, Ghost, a very popular scavenger, has the ability to go invisible for a short period of time, allowing for a chance to be hidden from the hunters view during a chase.

          With the relaunch of Deathgarden: Bloodharvest, there has been an increase in players on the game from the first launch. The tweaks and new progression system allow for an equal playing field on both ends. The game gets an update on a regular basis based on the feedback given by the community. I can see this game going as far as Dead by Daylight, if not farther if Behaviour Interactive stays on top of the updates. Surviving from a blood thirsty hunter has never been more exciting.

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Review: ‘Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice’ The Tools of a Shinobi

           Activision’s game, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, brings back the elements from their beloved series Dark Souls, in an all new story and style. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, like its predecessors, is a challenging atmospheric game. To this point I have accumulated about 9 hours of progress into the game and have finished it, and although challenging, it was just as satisfying, if not more than the previous games of the same genre.

           This story driven game takes place during the Sengoku period of Japanese history. You follow the protagonist, Sekiro, a shinobi given a mission to protect the lord, Kuro, by his father, known as The Owl. Kuro is the Devine Heir with the “Dragon’s Heritage,” and has the blood of a dragon flowing within him, making him nearly immortal. One-night Genichiro, a war chief, attacked the castle, struck down Sekiro, and kidnapped the lord. Now Sekiro sets out on a quest to rescue the young lord Kuro.

           The game visually, has a low, darker tone to match the settings and the enemies to face; bloody war zones and creatures with red eyes. There are bits of Japanese lore embedded into the game that offer crucial information to the storyline. Although the language is in Japanese (with captions), the story has incredibly good dialogue with a lot of subtle, but crucial information to progress in the story.  

           When it comes to the game mechanics, they play similar to the Dark Souls titles with a couple of major differences; dodging is not as effective in Sekiro and now one must build up posture damage on an enemy to defeat enemies more sufficiently. This is something that I particularly like in this game. You clash with other ninja, while also fighting monsters, but when fighting ninja, it feels like a real shinobi battle. Deflection after deflection, until posture damage is built up and an execution can be landed; it is like a game a chess. This game offers challenging boss battles that any hardcore gamer would appreciate.

           Although a pretty linear game, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice offers a lot of content through a story with good dialogue and challenging fights. There are also side bosses that did not need to be defeated in order to progress in the story that you can go back to fight after the main story is finished, allowing more playtime than other story driven games.

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Review: ‘Kingdom Hearts 3’ Was it Worth the Wait?

           The long-awaited sequel to Square Enix’s, Kingdom Hearts 2, is now available on Xbox One and PS4. Kingdom Hearts 3 closes the franchise’s 17-year-long saga. But was it worth the 14-year gap between Kingdom Hearts 2 to Kingdom Hearts 3?

          You reprise your role as the Keyblade wielder Sora, and his objective is to regain the strength that he had been taken away from him in the spin-off, Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance on Nintendo 3DS, from the saga’s main antagonist, Master Xehanort. He is again joined with friends, Donald, Goofy, Riku, and Mickey in a last attempt to stop Master Xehanort from stealing the hearts of the 7 princesses to open the door to Kingdom Hearts. Assuming you have played the spin-off series on various consoles and platforms, you would understand how Master Xehanort is back in his original form, but if you have not you should before diving into Kingdom Hearts 3, as there is a huge chunk of important information to the plot line.

           Although a beautiful and eye appealing game, I found that the dialogue between characters was sort of, bland, considering how the Kingdom Hearts games are all story-driven. Compared to Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2, Kingdom Hearts 3 lacks the content and dialogue that made you fall in love with the series to begin with. The game itself is visually appealing, and if you are a Disney fan then you will appreciate the game even more. Sora, Donald, and Goofy explore the worlds of some favorite Disney movies of today and past times, including Frozen, Toy Story, Big Hero 6 and more. You also revisit some expanded worlds previously seen in past games like, Hercules’, Olympus. Although these Disney worlds were beautiful, they still had a feeling of emptiness, or that there could be more to it.

           When it comes to the gameplay itself, it is as everyone expected to be; fast-paced hack and slash with stylish Keyblade moves. This is a positive when it comes to the game. As a long-time fan of the franchise, I was hoping the fighting mechanics would not change drastically. However, when it comes to the reaction commands in the game, I felt that there were too many chances to get them and it would make the game too easy. Depending on the location, when a reaction command appears, Sora will perform a move that takes on a theme from a ride from, Disneyland, and they appear way too often, allowing you to wipe out waves of enemies without much effort. For example, Sora will call upon the Spinning Tea Cups from Disneyland, and Sora, Donald, and Goofy ride around spinning in the cups destroying any enemies that it touches. I felt as if I was on auto-pilot when doing so. You are able to turn off the reaction commands, but then it takes it away from the game completely.  Fighting in the game is still exciting, but more of a challenge would have been appreciated, especially with hardcore gamers.

           Kingdom Hearts 3, although not worth the long wait, is still a success to the series and does a good job in the finale to bring it to a close. The game is still able to bring the emotions people felt from the previous installments and answers everyone’s long awaited question: what happens to Roxas? For the answer, you will have to play the game yourself.