QCF: Ghost of Tsushima

uring the Feudal era of Japan, the land of the rising sun saw many conflicts, ranging from invading forces to civil unrest within its regions, balancing out into an age of strife and prosperity. To maintain order and peace through the land, the Shogun appointed Samurai, soldiers who adhere to a strict code of honor, to oversee the safety of its people, and protect the sanctity of their laws.

But what happens of the sanctity of your honor means nothing to an enemy that threatens everything you hold dear? What do you place your faith in more to uphold your Samurai code?

In the last three generations of PlayStation hardware, the developer Suckerpunch has pumped out some hard hitters in the Stealth and Open-World genres with titles like Sly Cooper and inFamous, but this time, they’re aiming to combine dynamics of both gameplay styles into one unforgettable experience with the Ghost of Tsushima. While there are some valid arguments against a western studio being able to do justice towards delivering an authentic-feeling Samurai tale, the Sony studio spared no expense in ensuring that Ghost of Tsushima conveys the mysticism of the Japanese warrior, in a world that’s beautiful beyond compare, if not a bit too familiar all the same.

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PPR Games Club: The Last of Us Part II

ere at Press Pause Radio, we make it a point to ask the hard-hitting questions that no one else will, like if there were only 3 food trucks in the world, and they were operated by the Seraphites, Washington Liberation Front, or the Fireflies, which one would risk life-and-limb to eat burritos from?

It’s been over four years since we’ve done a Games Club episode on the cast, which has honestly been four years too long; Naughty Dog has finally released the epic sequel to their 2013 masterpiece, The Last of Us Part II, and it was an experience that was begging for a Games Club to be done.

The conversation at hand is no easy one to be had though, so we invited our friends Liana and Matt Ruppert of Don’t Feed the Gamers and Prima Games to join the episode as we talk about what we bare it all on this emotional roller coaster of a game.

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: Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

t’s weird to think that Naughty Dog’s modern-day, prize winning property has become ten years old in 2016. It only seems like yesterday that we were teased with screenshots of the first entry in development in Electronic Gaming Monthly when it was code named BIG (hell, I even remember that weird brief stint where the name “Dude Raider” was seriously being considered as a title.)

But low and behold; what some panned to be a pandering attempt at building what appeared to be a male foil to the iconic Tomb Raider franchise as flagship exclusive, turned out to be one of the most successful properties to have ever carry the Sony brand instead.

And now it’s at an end—A Thief’s End to be exact. While Drake’s Deception managed to deliver more of the spectacle and action that the franchise is famous for, it was still very much a sequel that mainly geared at delivering more of the same.

Uncharted 4 drives towards something different though; finality, and it doesn’t simply settle at doing this this with flashy action or over-the-top production value, it does it with the one element that I think best defines Uncharted, charisma.

We’re talking pure, unadulterated, captivatingly charming charisma…

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QCF: The Order: 1886

t’s safe to say that gaming is continually reaching new levels of spectacle and showmanship, and that next plateau of tech is never too far out of reach as the medium advances; it’s just too bad that the medium has a ways to go when it comes to expanding upon new concepts and ideas that are afforded by the advancement.

Ready At Dawn’s The Order: 1886 is a perfect example of how to squander such an opportunity—a technical achievement in presentation and production that’s sadly held back by an antiquated sense of design.

I’m fully aware of just how harsh that opening statement sounded, but that’s the take away that this PlayStation 4 exclusive left me with, and it didn’t take long before I came to it either.

This may sound cliché, but The Order’s greatest strength also happens to be its biggest weakness; the cinematic direction of its pacing and world—a trade-off that just isn’t worth it.

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