South Park: The Complete Twenty-Third Season
It’s funny to think at one time the decision for Comedy Central to option South Park seemed a risky proposition. Given the outre animation style and obscenely juvenile humor, the show looked to be an artistic endeavor without a true audience. Sure, cartoons for grownups had proven a potentially profitable product, with the likes of Beavis and Butt-Head and Space Ghost: Coast to Coast making ...[Read More]
FIFA 20
FIFA 19 saw the conclusion to the Alex Hunter saga; one that sent him and his closest far and wide to progress careers and achieve their fever pitch dreams. The new featured mode is VOLTA. Meaning “return” in Portuguese, this portion is doing just that. While the height of EA Sports’ Street catalog had run its course by the crest of the 2010s, the publisher did kick the refresh b...[Read More]
South Park: The Complete Twenty-Second Season
Since 2013, each new season starts in early autumn and wraps up by the end of the year. Ten entries from South Park Studios are strewn across this time frame, with premieres still occurring on Comedy Central. Co-creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker come out of the gate swinging with “Dead Kids.” South Park Elementary becomes a haven for repeated shootings. So much so, that Stan, Kyle, C...[Read More]
FIFA 19
Pomp, panoply, pageantry. All apt descriptors for the beautiful game’s most prestigious club competition. For years, FIFA‘s biggest (now only) rival Pro Evolution Soccer by Konami owned exclusive rights to use the UEFA structure in-game, including Champions League. This annual event features the best clubs from each top flight league in Europe, starting earnestly in September with grou...[Read More]
South Park: The Complete Twenty-First Season
Season 20 fell on hard times. Equating the effective and humorous 19th batch was a lofty proposition. Worse yet, funny was sacrificed for the progression and contemplative nature of exhaustive storytelling. There weren’t any chapters that could be considered stand alone to an appreciable mark. All ten steps relied heavily on the last. Creations like Member Berries and continued President Ga...[Read More]
UFC 3
Venerable in it’s own right, THQ’s Undisputed line of the last generation got better with each release, culminating in the astute Undisputed 3. Although consistently on the “arcade” side, the fighting systems worked very well, had stellar collision detection for 2012, and offered Pride FC fighters and presentation for good measure. EA acquired the Ultimate Fighting Champion...[Read More]
UFC 3 Beta Impressions
In 2014, Electronic Arts took their first crack at the newly acquired Ultimate Fighting Championship license with EA Sports UFC. With decently large shoes to fill from THQ’s retired Undisputed line, designing with the Ignite Engine was billed as the key to revolutionizing MMA titles for the Xbox One/ PS4 generation. While the graphical prowess and presentation was undeniably excellent, some ...[Read More]
WWE 2K18
As a kid, the first thing that I considered “appointment viewing” was WCW Monday Nitro. At the height of the Monday Night War between Ted Turner’s backed brand and Vince McMahon’s then WWF product Raw is War, WCW was doing the unthinkable and reversed professional wresting gravity by beating Raw in the Nielsen Ratings 82 weeks in a row during the mid ’90s. Eventually,...[Read More]
Forza Motorsport 7 Review
Since 2005, the Forza Motorsport brand has actually espoused a fair amount of varied complexion. At its inception, another first party racing franchise was already burning rubber on the “OG” Xbox. Project Gotham Racing started as a launch title for the console in November of 2001 and produced inviting driving mechanics just a tick on the arcade side. Forza was tuned more “simR...[Read More]
FIFA 18 Review
At the jump, you’re thrown right into the ’53 minute of El Derbi madrileño match between Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid. Drama heats up as current Ballon d’Or holder Cristiano Ronaldo is fouled right outside the box, resulting in a golden opportunity to bury a go-ahead goal. From here, you step in and play out the rest of the tilt. This is an initial assessment test to attain y...[Read More]
Time Recoil Review
The narrative of Story mode is clandestine to start, but reveals happen as you move through chapter events. The jist of it is there’s a nefarious actor by the moniker Mr. Time that has taken control over most of Europe. As a member of the Recoilers, your mission is to travel through time by way of wormholes, collect data or high value targets, and bring them back to HQ while merking any fool...[Read More]
Observer Review
Welcome to 2084; welcome to Poland; welcome to the KPD. You are Daniel Lazarski, voiced by the unmistakable Rutger Hauer. Detective Lazarski is an Observer, those dispatched to look into various crimes in the “Lesser Poland” city of Krakow. What makes this particular group of police different is their authorized use of an investigative measure known as the Dream Eater, a shielded wire ...[Read More]