Star Trek Online (PC) Review

This is a game I have some history with. When it first came out, I ordered a copy and had it delivered to my door. Back in the day I believe I was still playing on an Athlon 64 x2 based PC, and I fell in love with this game. It made it all the more heartbreaking when I had to stop playing within the week due to technical issues in the game that were so bad, when it crashed I would have to restart my computer to get out of it. With this sour taste I walked away for years, and yet I could not deny the temptation to see if it was still worth playing when I saw the game join Steam as a free to play title.

But come November my group of gamers decided we were going to play together in the Extra Life marathon and the game was suggested.... so I installed and on the big event began one of the longest games I have played to date (competing with the Phantasy Star Online and Universe titles almost exclusively for time I sank into them). And while I did not finish the story line before ultimately a tech issue told me it was time to hang it up, what we have now is MILES ahead of what we once had and I have only one thing I really can say. Welcome to Starfleet, Captain.

Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst (PC) Review

Much like for many gamers, E3 and it's big presentations from the console makers is traditionally an exciting time for me. They show off a whole slew of new and exciting games to drool over each year and it is even kinda fun to discuss who "won" the convention. However as the years have marched on we have seen a decline. Nintendo bowed out entirely, Konami no longer makes games at all, and most of us have been given reason to distrust anything to come out of either EA or Ubisoft. But this year, Microsoft would announce something I have been waiting literally 7 years to hear: Phantasy Star Online 2 is coming to the United States.


This is arguably the biggest news for me personally to come out of E3, as Phantasy Star is one of those series that I have collected every game that was on shelves for and shy of one Gamecube exclusive, I have absolutely loved every instance I have played. But at the same time, I never did get to finish the two online titles. Now that the direct sequel to one of them was finally coming out in the US, I had to change that. And despite the game being officially shut down over a decade ago, private servers would give me my chance. And now after over 90 hours of gameplay, I can say this game too is now finished. And I absolutely loved... well, most of it.

Marvel Heroes 2015 (PC) Review

I remember watching for this game as news hit that Marvel was making an MMO. At the time Diablo 3 was still new and the controversy of needing to be online all the time and the Live Auction House were fresh, hot, and scalding. You either loved the game or hated it, and usually all the hate came from these two issues combined. So obviously with half the people who bought the game seriously upset with it, the search for alternative Diablo-style games was on. At the time, I was interested in this title, if only because I could imagine what an Isometric RPG could do with that universe. But at the same time, I don’t do betas much anymore. You could say between Transformers Universe and Darkspore, I’ve been let down way too hard just in how they ran, so I generally wait for the full game now. As such, this game fell to the wayside for a while.

When I did play, I decided I was going to run with Black Panther, and did for about a week. At that point, I found out one of my all-time favorite characters were being added to the game: Venom. And with that I walked away. You see, I was really very early in the story line when this happened, and I wasn’t walking away disappointed. I was walking away with a promise to myself to return when Venom was available and I could play through the game as a new experience from Symbiotic eyes. We have not been disappointed….

Guild Wars 2 (PC) Review

This is a title that I probably should have played a lot sooner, but had a very unfortunate history that prevented me from doing so. For starters, the game it’s a sequel to (the original Guild Wars) kinda sucked. I played it back in the day because my brothers bought it to play together and none of us were ready to fork out $15 a month to play “just one game.” Even then, they were leading me down bad paths, it seems.

But it still took place in a rather interesting fantasy world, so when this sequel was announced and it was promising to fix all the issues and STILL have no monthly fees, I was willing to listen. When I found out you could play the Charr, the feline race you were fighting for most of the original game, I was interested. And by the time the game launched, I was ready to go. Unfortunately, it launched about a week before Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, and a month or so before I was going on vacation with the folks to visit family across the country. It’s day simply never game and it sat on my shelf for a few years.

Fast forward to a few months ago and I found myself without any “must play as they come out titles” since the Halo game I had bought to play with my brothers was not ready to play and while Venom was on the horizon for Marvel Heroes, he wasn’t there yet. I came back to this game, playing it seriously for the first time and dedicated what I should have the first time.

PSO2 Announced for a US launch!

You heard right! First (that I know of) announced by PSO World, Phantasy Online 2 has officially been slated for a US release! I for one could not be more pleased at this news. To date I have an almost complete collection of the Phantasy Star Franchise for a reason… the whole thing rocks! And the original PSO is no exception. (PSO Episode 3 was… but I have a hard time considering a card game a main part of the series.)