Tag: gaming

Nintendo Switch Review

Cosmic Star Heroine Review (Switch) – a modern, 16-bit, scifi JRPG delight

By Angie | Backlog Crusader on

Cosmic Star Heroine offers a wealth of content considering its base cost. This scifi romp is a skillfully crafted, complete package of JRPG-style goodness that remains faithful to its 16-bit roots, and it has a great sense of humor to boot! With the polish of Octopath Traveler and gameplay similar to that of Chrono Trigger, if you liked either of those titles and you love scifi, then Cosmic Star Heroine is a game you will doubtless want to add to your collection.

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Nintendo Switch Review

Sea King Mini-Review (Switch)

By Angie | Backlog Crusader on

Sea King is a no-frills party game that released on the Nintendo Switch this past week. Featuring top down cannon fire combat, up to four players can battle on the high seas in pirate ships to their heart’s content. Households with little buccaneer or pirate fans in the family may find a affordable, good fit with Sea King.

There are a variety of ship designs to choose from and exactly a dozen different game modes available, including death match, capture the flag, and battle royale. While Sea King is highly unlikely to hold the interest of veteran gamers for long due to its repetitive simplicity, somewhat unintuitive aiming controls, and lack of content beyond party modes, Sea King could still be an acceptable choice for a family party game or a local multiplayer title that young gamers can easily pick up and play with friends on the couch.

Note: Game key kindly provided by the publisher.

Thank you for reading!

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Nintendo Switch Review

Cattails Review (Switch) – cute, charming, and full of heart

By Angie | Backlog Crusader on

Cattails is a charming exploration game full of cute pixel cats and winsome personality! Many describe it as “Stardew Valley but with cats” and I would agree to a certain extent– mainly in the environmental design, the sacred temple (similar to the community center), and the wake-sleep, daily gameplay loop. Though a bit rough around the edges with room to grow, I found the game entirely enjoyable and addictive.

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Other Nerd Stuff

Zoids… Remember that anime with the giant mecha animals?

By Angie | Backlog Crusader on

Zoids was one of my first and favorite animes when I was a teen. I would build the old Hasbro model kits in middle school and junior high all the time! My parents even used them as incentive for earning good grades. Now I’m 27 and for years I would occasionally get his strong urge: I should build a Zoid...

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Humor Other Nerd Stuff

Monkeys, Pterodactyls, and Polar Bear Dogs, oh my!

By Angie | Backlog Crusader on

Just a quick off topic post while I’m still out of town… I had the weirdest dream I’ve ever had in my life a while back, so I wrote it down at the time. This dream was not lucid at all and I kept alternating between being physically part of it and watching other “scenes” without being there. Okay, get ready to interpret!

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Nintendo Switch Review

The Banner Saga Trilogy Review (Switch) – a dark fantasy Oregon Trail

By Angie | Backlog Crusader on

The Banner Saga Trilogy held my attention from the moment I picked it up! I would describe this series as a hybrid of Oregon Trail and Fire Emblem, nestled comfortably in a Norse mythology-inspired dark fantasy setting. The Banner Saga presents the player with a high stakes story full of make or break decision making, with the player positioned as the reluctant, elected leader of a caravan full of survivors fleeing the end of the world.

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Other Nerd Stuff

ATTENTION Gaming Bloggers – GAMERS BLOG PARTY meet and greet on Monday the 17th!

By Angie | Backlog Crusader on

On Monday Later Levels will be hosting a Gamer Blog Party! Come meet your fellow writers and network to your heart’s content.

From the Facebook event: ”Join us for the next blog party in June, where you can share your posts and meet some amazing bloggers in the community. This time there’ll be a ‘fancy-dress’ theme: change your WordPress profile image to your favourite video game character for the duration of the event!”

Stay tuned to Later Level’s blog and Twitter feed for updates, details, and the post location. Be there or be square!

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Nintendo Switch Video Game Article

Ethics and Tragedy of Blades in Xenoblade Chronicles 2

By Angie | Backlog Crusader on

One of the central themes of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is whether or not Blades should be considered a race of people rather than weapons or tools, or if it is fair to treat them as weapons even if it’s their nature. Are they slaves no matter how well their Driver treats them? Just because a Blade and Driver have a good relationship, even a loving one, does that make it right to use them? On the other hand, is it acceptable to leave them dormant forever, in effect unalive?

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Gamer Culture Humor

Tales From Video Game Retail – Trade in Woes

By Angie | Backlog Crusader on

Trade ins. Dear lord, trade ins. Don’t get me started on those sports games that come out at the same time every year, like FIFA, NBA, Madden, etc. Folks would want to trade in last year’s Madden game and FREAK OUT when they saw the trade in value, having not realized that games depreciate like anything else.

Like, bruh. I’ve got 20 drawers of games back here behind the counter and FIVE of them are FULL of MADDEN, and then I have another shelf of them in the back room on top of that. I could literally put out a dumpster fire with the amount of Madden copies in this store — just dump them in to smother the flames. No one would miss them, and we would still have dozens left! Dozens!

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