Wraithleeder Reviews Games

[wraithreviewsgames]

Sonic Mania (and Knuckles)

Now I know what you’re thinking, Sonic fucking sucks, and you’re not wrong, modern sonic games have left, in general, a sour taste in fans mouths. Sonic Mania however was a blast from the past, removing that sour taste and replacing it with minty fresh game play and classic 2D Sonic platforming and graphics. 

Lets begin with the graphics. They’re 32 bit. 32 bits of pure beauty. It looks just as good as any 4k game. Simply because they’re simple but well made. Everything is a sprite, meaning that you can run the game at a silky smooth 60fps. Honestly I’d rather have more games with graphics like Sonic Mania’s. It means the story and mechanics can get more polish. 

Speaking of story, the story of Mania is simple. Eggman is up to good, and has some robotic henchman, the hard boiled heavies, to back him up. He’s trying to get the chaos emeralds. Again. It’s up to Sonic, Tails or Knuckles to stop him. The default option is Sonic & Tails, like in Sonic 2. Speed through levels, collect blue orbs, and chase UFO’s. If you collect enough blue orbs to beat all the special stages then you unlock “& Knuckles” mode. Letting you run round with Knuckles as your partner instead of Tails. You can play Knuckles & Knuckles for maximum meme power. Collect all 7 chaos emeralds and you can become Super Sonic, or Hyper Knuckles, or Hyper Tails. Just play the game as knuckles. It makes finding the UFO chases easier as you can climb walls.

Traditional Sonic mechanics return. You can Spindash, fly, climb walls, drop dash. It’s basically all the mechanics from all the classic games. None of them feel shoe horned in either. The controls are simple, left and right to run, A to jump, A again to perform that characters signature move, crouch and mash A to spin dash.

The audio for this game, oh man. The sound track is incredible, combining exiting music and remixes. Sound effects sound like they’ve been ripped from older games! In fact, as I write this, I’m listening to the Sonic Heroes soundtrack. There’s just something about Sonic Soundtracks that makes them incredible. 

8/10 Gotta go fast and buy this game.

[wraithreviewsgames]

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. (Spoilers)

Let me start this with, it’s a Zelda game. The plot is the same as always, Ganon’s back, and he’s still bad, Zelda’s there doing her thing behind the scenes, and Link hyaah’s his way to victory. The End. Thats the plot. However the way you proceed is somewhat different. The game is open world. How you clear the main plot points is up to you. The order is all yours. You can leave the start area and book it to Ganon, or you can explore everything without out touching the plot til you max out health and stamina.

Breath of the Wild drops in some nice new mechanics. Climbing is a fun way to get around. Unless it’s raining, in which case you’re stuck. It makes surfaces slippery causing you to slide down them. Shield surfing is a fun way to get around as it’s fast and lets you just shred. There’s even a side quest for shield surfing. You get some nice shields and rupees for clearing it. The paraglider lets you fall long distance and travel far quickly, provided you can start a fire under you to start an updraft or climb something tall. 

There are no dungeons. Well not conventional dungeons, they did away with them and replaced them with the Divine Beasts: Naboris (Robot Humpy Camel), Ruta (Shotgun Marriage), Medoh (Birdo), and Rudania (Lizardo). These beasts are actually named after characters from other Zelda games, Nabooru (OoT), Ruto (OoT), Medli (WW) and Darunia (OoT) respectively. There are also 120 shrines, thats before adding the DLC shrines. The Divine Beasts are huge puzzles that you manipulate by causing certain parts to move allowing you to solve puzzles. Then you fight a blight. These blights are part of Ganon. They’re also harder to fight than Ganon. Once you kill the blight you get a heart container, and a special ability. The shrines are small puzzles that take a couple of minutes to beat and always provide a bit of loot. There are some shrines that are exceptions. Some require you to drop a certain item onto a pedestal or fulfill certain criteria, like standing naked on a pedestal during a blood moon. Seriously that one hurt, I left the game running for 7 hours to get a blood moon to occur. 7 HOURS THAT I COULD HAVE SPENT PLAYING MARIO KART 8 OR COMPLETING FINDING KOROK SEEDS. The DLC added 16 more shrines and the ultimate test of not dying. Once you beat the 16 DLC shrines you get another Divine Beast. This one is more like a conventional Zelda dungeon. Then you fight Maz Koshia. He’s kinda easy to beat. you just have to watch where he’s attacking from. Then you get a motorbike. I’m not even joking here, it’s called the Master Cycle. It’s fast and turns well but you have to refuel it often. Just use a horse. The test of not dying requires you to return the master sword to the pedestal you grabbed it from and clear 45 levels of enemies, and you can’t save unless you clear certain levels. On the upside it makes the master sword do 60 damage at all times rather than in the presence of Ganon and Guardians.  Only issue is you have nothing. Just the runes on your slate, and weapons dropped by enemies. 

Breath of the Wild ditches the traditional items that you pick up. Gone are the iron boots and the power bracelet, instead you have the bomb runes, magnesis, stasis and cryosis. These let you summon bombs, lift metal objects, freeze an object in time, and make pillars of ice in bodies of water. To get the runes you have to complete 4 shrines on the Great Plateau, netting you the paraglider, an item so useful that you can’t leave the plateau without it as you’d fall to your death. You still have your normal arrows and stuff though, ice, fire, electric, bomb and regular arrows, you can hold as many arrows as you can find. Breath of the Wild also forces you to switch up which weapons you use as they break. Often. Spears, hammers, swords, axes, bows and shields all break, except the Master Sword, that can’t be broken, but it does run out of energy, meaning you cant use it, though I’m sure it could still be used as a sword. Shields take damage if you block attacks with them, deflect guardian lasers or shield surf on anything that isn’t snow. As you progress further and collect more heart containers and korok seeds and stamina vessels weapons get more powerful to let you deal damage to enemies, this means you can find a hylian shield (base defense of 90) that has a massive defense boost making you hard to kill. The Master Sword doesn’t get these bonuses.

I mentioned that in each Divine beast you get a heart container, this would take you to 7 hearts, to get the maximum 30 you have to beat 92 shrines as you must collect 4 spirit orbs to be able to trade for a heart piece. There are 120 shrines with these orbs, meaning the rest can be used to increase your stamina. The problem is that you max out at 30 hearts or 3 wheels of stamina, which is fine because you can over fill both of these with the correct ingredients when cooking, unless you pixked the 30 hearts in which case you can’t you can just recover all of them at once, if you eat a “hearty” meal. You can always over fill your stamina even if you have 3 wheels by eating meals that contain ingredients that boost stamina when cooked. I took the 3 wheels of stamina because I climb and swim more than I fight. Also because finding Korok seeds is easier when you can climb longer. Oh, and if you find all 120 shrines and beat them you get the Tunic, hat and shorts of the wild. These are Links traditional green garments. Pretty cool and useful.

I’ve brought Korok seeds up several times now. Korok seeds are the bane of my existence. You collect them and trade them to Hestu, the most hipster Korok, to expand your inventory. You need 441 to be able to carry the maximum number of weapons, bows and shields. That’s fine. I understand making it harder to upgrade stuff towards the end of the game. Whats not fine is the fact that there are 900 seeds around the map. NINE HUNDRED LITTLE TURDS HIDDEN IN OBSCURE NOOKS AND CRANNIES. Once you collect all 900? You get “Hestu’s Gift”. This “gift” is literally a golden turd. A GOLDEN TURD. The worst part? It was hinted at. The flavour text literally reads “ This small seed was given to you by a Korok. It has a distinct smell. If you gather a bunch of them, you never know what may happen...” IT HAS A DISTINCT SMELL YOU SAY? YOU FIND ALL 900 AND GET THE GIFT. Want to know what the flavour text reads? It reads “A gift of friendship given to you by Hestu. It smells pretty bad.” IT SMELLS PRETTY BAD. HESTU LITERALLY HANDS YOU HIS OWN SHIT AS A GIFT. AND YOU CAN’T EVEN FUCKING SELL IT.  WHY NINTENDO? WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO US?! 

Speaking of useless quest rewards, theres a compendium that you can fill by taking pictures using the sheikah slate. It’s simple, see an item and snap a picture and it’ll get added to the compendium. A nice little sidequest really. Until you complete it and get nothing worth while. Just an envelope with a picture you can’t see in it. Nintendo is just screwing with us with some of these rewards. 

The soundtrack for the game is just incredible Kataoka did an incredible job, all the tracks blend seamlessly. The music will queue you into whats going on, certain tracks play at night, or while riding horses (or both), while in combat, when in specific places. It’s incredible, but no transition feels forced at all. It’s just a good time when you listen to it. 

I give this game 9.5 “gifts” out of 10. It rains too much.

[prideprejudce]

my cat has been fucking playing me for weeks, playing me like a fucking harp. I feed my cat twice a day with prescribed diet food because she’s really fat and doesn’t know when she’s full so she never stops eating. usually when I come home from class she is all over me like the whore of babylon all over me putting on a pity party and trying to get me to sin and give her more food but no matter what I only feed her the amount of food for her prescribed diet. but after awhile i started noticing that she wasn’t loosing weight at all and was actually just getting fatter. so I called the vet pissed and i’m just like the fuck she’s still getting fat. so I switched her to another diet food and that still didn’t work and I was so confused and frustrated like what is wrong with this cat? so a couple weeks go by and I start noticing that I go through bags of food really fast like a week fast and I remembered how I thought that was so weird like I God honest could not figure out why the food disappeared so fast (my former naive and innocent mind) well y'all ready here’s the fucking climax - the other day my class was canceled and I come downstairs at like noonish and do you know what I see when I get down? I see my fucking cat sitting in the food bin. with my own two eyes I see her sitting in the fucking food bin. my spoiled ass cat has been eating like a fucking queen and living it the fuck up while I’m in class and then pretends like she’s hungry when I get home. and you know what’s the real kicker? when she leaves the lid gets knocked shut which is why i never caught onto her scam. she’s fucking been working the system and playing the food game right under my fucking nose like i want to scream and now I have to call the vet and the morning and explain to him how I, a well educated adult in college, got one-upped in intelligence by my fucking cat

[actualdogvines]

pool pug wants you to be motivated for today

[halal-bb-deactivated20160619]

[werexwolf-deactivated20151031]

OK but have you guys ever got the bright idea to look at videos under the “dog” tag?? It’s like an endless supply of silly dog videos haha

[livesickdieill]

omg

[ruthyless-deactivated20140511]

when i was younger i had a really bad fear of danny devito when i was going to sleep so my older brother gave me a watch that he set to like 8 hours ahead so that it was always daytime on the watch when i was asleep and he told me it would confuse danny devito and he would think it was daytime and get scared of the sun and leave me alon

[tardis-mind-palace]

Your brother is the best

[elrondbaggins]

Who the fuck changed this from vampires to Danny devito

[aliceinpunderland-blog]

the real question is why I was completely ready to accept that this person had a debilitating childhood fear of Danny Devito

[just-shower-thoughts]

Dyson should make a body-sized “Airblade” dryer kit for your shower.

[just-shower-thoughts]

It’s called Steam because it comes out a Valve

[wraithreviewsgames]

Me: *leaves room*

Family: whOaA????1????? ThE VAmPiRE HaS DAreD tO LeAVe iT's CaVE???????1???1??

Family: *mocks my weight*

Family: *mocks my interests*

Family: *mocks my friends*

Family: *mocks my feminist beliefs*

Me: *returns to room and vows to never leave again*

Family: but why doesn't she want to socialize with us????1????1?1?? Silly moody teenager

[wraithreviewsgames]

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Skyrim is an open-world RPG, that follows the story of the dovahkiin (dragon-born)- a being that can speak the tongue of the dragons. They use the tongue to produce a thu’um or shout that provides an effect that can be made more powerful as more words of the thu’um are used. The dovahkiin is tasked with killing Alduin- a dragon of immense power. At the same time the dovahkiin can choose a side in a civil war between the Empire and the Stormcloaks. There are numerous other factions to join (i.e. The thieves guild, The Mages of Winterhold, etc.) along with dozens of dungeons that contain forgotten treasures, new words for shouts and draugr (zombies that can use swords, bows and magic). 

You can play as several races: Nord, Breton, Imperial, Khajiit, Argonian, Orc, High Elf, Wood Elf and Dark Elf. Each with it’s own unique perk. 

Now if you are a PC user then chances are you have an internet connection, allowing you access to the Skyrim Nexus- the ultimate Skyrim mod database. When I’m playing I have a specific set of mods that I use for immersion, graphics, extra content, or just plain laughs. For immersion I use Frostfall, Realistic Water 2, Immersive Armour and Immersive Weapons. The ast two alter the designs of the armour sets and nothing else. I usually add a few extra followers, because I lose Lydia a lot. For laughs I change the dragons models, into trains, or something amusing.

[wraithreviewsgames]

Star Wars: The Old Republic

Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) is an MMO taking place approximately  3643–3640 years before Episode 4 (BBY). It has 8 playable classes, and 2 advanced classes for each class. It uses a morality system in conversations (’you see a group of enemy engineers in an airlock: do you kill them or trap them?’ thing) Each class follows a separate storyline (until the Rise of the Hutt cartel expansion) and has over 1600 hours of story content (over 66 days) and numerous flashpoints and operations. As part of the Rise of the Hutt Cartel expansion hard mode flashpoints were added. Currently there are 3 active expansions and a 4th (Knights of the Fallen Empire) is in the works and comes out early August. 

Classes and advanced classes:

Republic: 

Trooper- The two advanced classes are Vanguard (tank or damage) with a blaster rifle and Commando (damage or healer) with an assault cannon.

Smuggler- The two advanced classes are Gunslinger (damage) wielding dual pistols and Scoundrel (damage or healer) with a pistol and a shotgun.

Jedi Knight- The two advanced classes are Guardian (tank or damage) bearing one lightsaber and sentinel (damage) waving two lightsaber’s around.

Jedi Consular- The two advanced classes are Shadow (tank or damage) with a double bladed saber and Sage (damage or healer)holding one lightsaber.

The shadow and the scoundrel both use stealth, and the sentinel has a combat stealth ability to escape combat. It may be worth noting that since launch the sentinel is a little broken and dies a lot.

Imperial:

Sith Warrior- The two advanced classes are Juggernaut (tank or damage) bearing one lightsaber and Marauder (damage) waving two lightsaber’s around.

Sith Inquisitor- The two advanced classes are Assassin (tank or damage) with a double bladed saber and Sorcerer (damage or healer) holding one lightsaber.

Bounty Hunter- The two advanced classes are Mercenary (damage or healer) wielding dual pistols and Powertech (tank or damage) with a pistol.

Imperial Agent- The two advanced classes are Operative (damage or healer) using a blaster rifle and Sniper (damage) with a sniper.

The Assassin and the operative have stealth abilities. Note that the marauder and the sentinel may have the same issue.

Expansions:

Rise of the Hutt Cartel takes you to Makeb for what is effectively a long group quest and some operations. Whilst I have never needed to finish Makeb due to being overlevelled, from what I have heard it is a great place to get credits. Rise of the Hutt Cartel also introduces Oricon- a rocky planet that is home to the dread masters. The storyline there is a series of daily quests and 2 operations. You are also taken to an abandoned Czerka Base/factory for more dailies and a couple of flashpoints.

Shadow Of Revan starts off as a series of solo mode flashpoints (it’s you, your companion and a GSI droid that can do everything) leading to the planet Rishi (not Rishi Moon- the one in the clone wars cartoon) where you meet with Theron Shan (SIS), Lana Beniko (a sith) and Jakarro (a smuggler with C2-D4 strapped to his chest). Where you battle pirates and revanites. Revan then goes to Yavin 4 (you should know this one) to resurrect the Emperor. At the end you can either run dailies or run an operation to beat Revan. I have a feeling that the new expansion will be good as you receive another set of companions.