QCF: Volta-X (Steam)

hen I first viewed Volta-X, I was drawn in by the art style; a blending of giant robot battles mashed together with Japanese monster movies and Saturday morning cartoons. But once I started playing the release from GungHo Online Entertainment America, I felt that the game was difficult to understand, and even harder to define. After my twenty plus hour initial playthrough of the game I can say that I still can’t quite define what it is, and unfortunately with a lack of community to battle and a UI that leaves plenty to desire, that may keep other players away from what could be a fantastic, albeit grindy RTS / RPG hybrid.

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QCF: Helheim Hassle (Xbox One)

The word hassle is a good way to describe what Bjørn Hammerparty has to overcome; a pacifist Viking that refuses to die in battle and go to Valhalla, only to accidentally die in battle and go to Valhalla. Now after centuries of not quite fitting in, Bjørn has the chance to gain a permanent spot in the peaceful underworld of Helheim. All he needs to do is help an inexplicable but laid-back skeleton named Pesto retrieve a magical item for their master and survive a multitude of puzzles constructed by undisciplined goblin cobblers.  But maybe the real hassle was the friends they made along the way. Hmm, that last part doesn’t really land like I thought it would. Anyways the game was fun, but not without its frustrations. Sort of like this intro. Okay, moving on then.  

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QCF: Super Crush KO (Switch)

So far in my brief experience with the Nintendo Switch, I have enjoyed several beat-em-ups and action games. However, I seem to struggle with the titles that rely heavily on combo-driven combat and precise controls. Something like Bayonetta or Devil May Cry would be a struggle for not only a novice such as myself, but for playing on a Switch that is never hooked up to a television or using a controller. Thankfully the fine individuals at Vertex Pop have made a name for themselves releasing approachable and stylish indie games that do not compromise on the action. Their latest release, Super Crush KO is a colorful and stylish hybrid of the above-mentioned genre and run ‘n gun that although is short to complete and possibly less of a challenge for experienced players, nonetheless is a worthwhile addition to the platform.

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QCF: Yoku's Island Express

ith so many open-world adventures on the indie game market today, a majority of newer titles are now throwing all of their weight behind the craziest gimmick they can offer with their experience in hopes of finding a large enough of an audience that will praise it. While the experimentation hasn’t paid off every title, there is one new idea that has crossed expansive level-design into a territory that it has never been in before—pinball dynamics.

Villa Gorilla’s premier title explores the juxtaposition between side-scrolling platforming and a pinball table turned on its side in Yoku’s Island Express, a tale about a dung beetle who employs his spherical excrement as a means to bounce around and about through the obscure tropical arrangement of flippers and bumpers just so he could deliver some mail. In all honesty, the game is a lot weirder than that made it sound, but fortunately, it’s a whole lot more enjoyable too.

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QCF: A Robot Named Fight

hat was once a niche sub-genre that was only romanticized by its rabid cult-following, has now gradually begun to spill into the mainstream of the independent video game scene—Metroidvania games are available on just about every system at this point, to the point where the style is bordering on stagnation.

In an intriguing twist, however, similar to the Nuzlocke challenges that have swept numerous play-throughs of the Pokémon series, the iconic games that pioneered the formula, like Super Metroid, and Castlevania Aria of Sorrow, are now getting modded with the “randomizer” treatment. This modification works to alter the order and location of key upgrades and items in their core game, forcing an entirely new Meta into the gameplay for players to tackle.

One developer by the name of Matt Bittner took notice of the trend, and took it upon himself to push the concept to an entirely different level; developing a Metroidvania adventure that would not only randomize items, upgrades, but the map layout itself, in a manner that’s similar to roguelike dungeon crawler titles. His efforts led to producing an ambitious pixelated tribute to the genre called A Robot Named Fight, releasing for Steam and Nintendo Switch, and while the release does make good on its premise, its execution leaves a lot to be desired.

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QCF: A Hat in Time

012 gave us the year of the bow, then 2015 became the year of the sequel, and while it 2017 has been a significantly memorable year for video games as a whole, there’s no denying that it will also go down as the year that hosted the return of the 3D Platformer.

Granted, while there’s been a lot of praise for the throwback titles that have dropped so far, the craze has also seen its fair share of criticism, generating a lot of commentary on whether or not the genre even deserved such a renaissance in the first place.

Of all the games in the conversation though, one KickStarted-project stuck out as the dark horse of the topic; Gears for Breakfast’s A Hat in Time. While most games like Polykid Games’ Poi or Playtonic’s Yooka-Laylee were heavily promoted as spiritual successors to the iconic gems that best defined the collection-driven gameplay, the folks behind A Hat in Time were more concerned with creating an adventure where the journey itself is as, if not more rewarding than the destination. The Humble-Bundle published title establishes early that it’s 3D Platforming gameplay relegates the collectibles or objectives into being more of an accessory than a direct extension.

As novel as these ambitions were on paper however, A Hat in Time fails to step with its best foot forward at the early going, and barely manages to stick its landing, taking far too long to pick up any sort of real momentum in what’s ultimately, a clumsy outing.

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PPR 103

on’t have a cow man! We get that America’s favorite dysfunctional family may have hit a slump in the ratings as of late, but doesn’t mean that we’ve completely fallen out of love with the people of Springfield and their crazy misadventures. In fact, there hasn’t been a more noticeable void in gaming than the lack of Simpsons games—like, the only way you’re going to get your fill right now is through the expensive toy add-ons of Lego Dimensions, or the casual mobile app Tapped Out.

It’s a real bummer that we’re on the 28^th season of the show, and that there hasn’t been any plans from EA to do anything with the license, and even to this day, Video Games owe a lot to The Simpsons.

Join George, Andrew, and Ser as they talk about their experiences with the older Bart-centric games, and the various titles we’ve seen come out of the property, among other important gaming commentaries that the show has covered in its near thirty-year run on television. The gang also talks about the discontinuation of the NES Classic, the disaster of Fyre Festival, the 2DS XL, Jack Bros, Nintendo Switch Sales, Destiny 2, Flinthook, Yooka-Laylee, the disappointment of the Wii U, and more on 103^rd episode of Press Pause Radio!

Mail us at our new email Mailbag@presspauseradio.com, leave a voicemail at 469-PPR-TALK, and be sure to stop by at our Forums if you haven’t already registered and post your thoughts about the show. Finally, make sure to rate and subscribe to us on iTunes and YouTube, follow us on Twitch page and Twitter, and finally take part in our Facebook and Steam group!

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QCF: Night in the Woods

o matter how old you are, there’s always going to be this unspoken acceptance between you and the friends you makes; an acceptance of who’s going to stay for the long haul, and who’s going to be a memory, if anything at all. Some of the key elements that define the human condition are ones that’re fundamentally tied to the concept of loneliness and the effects that it has on people.

This leads to a misinterpretation that the relationships we form are done from out of mutual interests and similarities, glossing over the fact that mutual hatreds and fears have a lot to do with who interact with and trust on a daily basis.

There aren’t a lot of experiences that I can think of that have evoked these ugly truths quite like Night in the Woods by Finji. The tagline of the game tells its players that at the end of everything, you have to try to hold onto anything, setting a tone that consistently sticks it to you the further you dive in. The messages and themes offered in the adventure side-scroller are poignant in their relatability to the hardships of youth in modern Americana, and struggle with mental health issues that stem from the experience.

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