Jazz Jackrabbit 2: The Secret Files (PC) Review

After the first game (and it's Christmas shareware episode) I can not say this is a franchise that started on the right foot with me. Between being way too zoomed in to run at the speeds the game wants you to and "clever" level design that served more either bounce the player around to take damage or send them a ways backwards, it just did not feel like a good game. However, it seems Epic Megagames learned from their mistakes the first time and released something that, while not spectacular, is certainly MUCH better this time around. Come on in.

Outlast: Whistleblower DLC (PC) Revew

As soon as I finished the first game, I knew I was coming back for more. It would be serendipitous to make this choice as gog put the whole series on sale, however, and a twist of fate I was NOT going to say no to. Now another chapter is complete, and this series is on an upswing! Come inside!

Deponia 2: Chaos on Deponia (PC) Review

It has been a LONG time since I played a Deponia game. Back then I had not yet reached a point of giving series I was in the middle of priority to continue, and to be fair, I'm honestly not 100% sure I would have had I been in those early days. But that did not mean a sequel would be bad... would it? Would it? Well... yes and... no.... kinda... you know what? This time, it actually is kinda complicated.

IT HAS BEGUN!!!!!!

No I do not care how old this reference is... it fits the way we do this every year and now, we may truly begin. The Red Sector now has a team page on the Extra Life site, so yeah, our hat is officially in the ring. I still have a little tweaking to do since there is little customization on the page itself, but functionally we are up and my quest to show off games you might see on the big day continues.

This will take the form of two weekly games, though the times may vary (I'm sorry, I work and I have rather chaotic schedules for the most part:

• Celebrating the Series (Wednesday nights): Generally this will be at night after expected work hours, but I am making a point to highlight a single franchise at a time for a weekly game to both celebrate the ability to use these games to help sick kids as well as our past in gaming. Right now we are getting ready to wind up the second game in the Phantasy Star series (appropriately named Phantasy Star II) and you are welcome to come with me as we finish it up and get ready for round 3.
• Variety hour (Saturday afternoon/night): This was the original weekly game I began when I decided to stream during the year and show off games for the big event... and the rules haven't changed. Every week, we start with a game I have never played (my backlog or demo... I let the dice choose). If there is time after, we may take on a game I'm working through. Today we will be opening the demo of BioForge, a game I have zero experience with outside of testing to make sure my capture setup was ready.

And we will be getting to that second stream shortly after I post this entry. So come on in! Lets have some fun! You can find us on the above team page OR on the side panel where team member's twitch pages are listed.

Thank you for your time, and again, lets have some fun out there. - Megabyte

DanganRonpa V3: Killing Harmony (PC) Review

If you've been with me during my gaming journey you know I have enjoyed my time with this franchise. The previous two entries were both amazing, mixing the perfect blend of detective investigation and pure anime-esque madness to be something special. Even when I wondered if they could capture lighting in a bottle a second time, I had to ultimately say, yes. But this time? It looked like it just might pull a hat trick with the trilogy. At least until the very end.

Ys X: Nordics (PC) Review

It's been a long time since I started playing video games, having grown up in the 80s and 90s. I have watched series come and go being a steady favorite of mine before either being shut down due to a badly selling entry or making some insane turn somewhere and just ceasing to be what made me so excited to see each new entry. To this end I don't think I hold up too many series as flawless and loving every game in the series. Ys was one such series... until today, when I found myself not wanting to continue after giving it more then it's due time (14 hours in this case). This isn't a review of a bad game necessarily, but it is one of a game that, if it could think, might wonder why it's part of this franchise.

Jazz Jackrabbit Collection (PC) Review

This collection has been a long time coming. About 5 years ago, I picked this one up as part of a holiday sale dirt cheap, wanting an old classic I remembered fondly as a kid. At the time, I only played the shareware and even then only because a friend had that. But I remembered having fun as a kid, and for literally a buck, I was able to give it a shot. Unfortunately this is not a game that aged well.

Now before we begin, this is not so much one game as a game pack, containing both the main title and a little Christmas episode, so I reviewed them both in sections. Also, while this experience I reviewed is BASICALLY out of the box, it is not exactly. As per most MS-DOS games, modern controllers are not exactly well supported. As such I used a program to emulate keyboard buttons to an Xbox controller to gain that functionality back. I have listed the program in my specs at the end of the review, but whether you use that or another of your choice, I highly recommend doing so.

• Jazz Jackrabbit CD-ROM versions
• Jazz Jackrabbit Holiday Hare '95