Friday 21 April 2017

Mediaholics Playlist: Freezeey Peaks

Source Link: youtu.be/nB8pRN89DtI
Playlist Link: youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0UmlA10uAY8JFBgyAE4PJVbaZZbe3dTb

"We used to be the one on top...until a Lizard and a Bat took our spotlight" -Banjo probably

All songs that go up are randomized from a private list, so we may have songs on there that you like too. We are though always open to more suggestions, as between the people who have helped work on this list, it’s still safe to say that we haven’t played every game, listened to every song. Have one you want to see? Comment it down below and we’ll add it to the list.

Thursday 20 April 2017

Mediaholics Playlist: Nokia's Theme

Source Link: youtu.be/2t9dkL4UycA
Playlist Link: youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0UmlA10uAY8JFBgyAE4PJVbaZZbe3dTb

Cheater! Cheater! Cheater! Cheater! Cheater! Cheater! Cheater! Cheater! Cheater! Cheater! Cheater! Cheater! Cheater! Cheater! 

All songs that go up are randomized from a private list, so we may have songs on there that you like too. We are though always open to more suggestions, as between the people who have helped work on this list, it’s still safe to say that we haven’t played every game, listened to every song. Have one you want to see? Comment it down below and we’ll add it to the list.

Wednesday 19 April 2017

Android Triple Hit: Because Blaster can actually do more with his phone now

Pretty on the nose, but yeah that's the reason I haven't done a lot of ios and android games. My iPod touch and phone I got back around 2011, they were out of date, my iPod still is. And before anyone asks, I like dedicated equipment, something designed to do one thing is going to do that one thing better then something designed to do 100 things. I also admit that yes that probably has affected my judgement on these three, I know it has for at least one of them. I ask you hear me out, so that you might be able to see where I'm coming from. As to what those three games are? They are Transformers Earth Wars, Transformers Forged to Fight, and Fire Emblem Heroes. Like with every solo review I do, I will be having images that split up each review so that if you only want to see one, then scroll down until you see the image for the one you want. With that out of the way

Transformers Earth Wars: So this is what its like in between episodes...


The plot for Earth Wars is pretty basic (spoiler, all three of these games have simple plots). The Autobots and Decepticons are fighting on earth, and in order to achieve dominance. To do this, you as the player must build up your base and army, and then use your army to destroy bases of the opposite faction. What's the difference between the factions? Almost nothing in terms of gameplay, the biggest difference being who you have easier access at getting. I sided with the Decepticons, so my base structures have more of a Decepticon look to them, and while I can get Autobots, I have 5 Autobots to around 47 Decepticons. The character selections have been designed as well to make as many characters have the same powers on both sides, which is probably the only reason Octopunch is in the game as he's a clone of Seaspray (look them up, I have to keep moving). The roster itself also has some questionable choices, as I can think of some far more well known characters to go in then the afore mentioned Octopunch, with another being Viper.

Designs themselves, while they try to make them look as close to each other as possible, its a hogpoge of designs from the CHUG era (Classics, Henkei, Universe, Generations. Basically the current size scale) along with Masterpiece/ original generation 1 toy. You've got Megatron who has his Combiner Wars design (granted each of these are tweaked so they aren't one for one) along with the combiner limbs that are in the game as well as the two complete combiners (like I said, I picked cons, so most of my examples are going to be cons). You've then got ones like Bludgeon and Seaspray that have their Hunt for the Decepticons designs back from movie 2, Optimus Prime and Star Sabre who have their Masterpiece designs, though granted Prime's is a little different, borrowing some cues from his combiner wars repaint of Motormaster). It is interesting to see, but what does make it distracting is the model reuse. While some are expected like Nemesis Prime being Optimus like he always is. The afore mentioned Octopunch because Seaspray, along with Slipstream because Windblade, Nightbird because Arcee among maybe more are other examples of it, I can only talk about what I've seen because... well...

All three games covered here are free to play, pay to win, so we have some of my all time favorite mechanics in games including "multiple currencies with the only one you can convert into others being the one you get the least of and the one directly connected to real life money", "timers that mean you might only play a game for 10 minutes before being told "wait or pay", "random number generation that determines what you get and don't get making it harder to get the thing you want, making you want to pay real money" and "no roof for payments before features get unlocked so you can pay every cent you own into a barely rewarding game". Real talk, if you actually do like these mechanics (the lines before meaning to be sarcastic as I absolutely hate them), then you're part of the problem as to why the F2P model is a piece of money grubbing scrap. How does it work here? Well, one part of the game is base construction. You build a base that will get you resources, being Energon, Alloy, both of which are needed for construction and upgrades, and eventually Ore-13, for combiners. You will also, on average, get two crystals daily which will give you power ups to use in battle (more on that later) or low star units. Higher the star count, the stronger the character. If you get a double (which I swear should not be as common as it is), then you can get shards for a crystal that is a star up from the one you get the double of, and other things mainly for powering up units. If you need more of any of these, you need "Cyber Coins", which is the thing you can pay for.

As you build your base, you attack other bases to get boosts in resources, but if you can attack others, others can attack you. I've had 10 people attack me, only successfully two attacks so far. It's very easy to attack, a lot harder to defend because the combat is all automated. You can choose when to use special moves and where units start at, but apart from that, its a cutscene. Considering you need to be online to play this, I'd rather be spending my time with something else now that I've cleared the, at times brutal, campaign to get the combiner lab that I can only use if RNG lets me get the right Constructicons and Combatacons. Moving on!

Transformers Forged to Fight: Transformers goes Street Fighter


"How do we mash up as many continuities as we can into one game?" Apparently the answer was street fighter with micro transactions and a hexagon rock paper scissors mechanic. Ok then...

I admit this is the game I've put the least amount of time into, more due to technicals, in terms of plot, Optimus Prime has crashed onto a planet that is in a state of spacial and temporal flux, bringing characters, both autobot and decepticon to the planet and making them fight each other. To unlock more characters, you go through the same RNG system as Earth Wars, but what makes this one more annoying is the variety. I've only just taken out Starscream again, but for that, I had to fight Movieverse Grindor, Ironhide and Bumblebee, I could have fought Windblade, I did fight Rhinox, and there's more in the game, and probably a lot more to come. I'd be down for some Unicron trillogy love, though that's more transformers general. The character collection is basically the same as what it was for Earth Wars, so I won't dwell on it here.

My issues with the game come down to performance, and controls. This is a fighting game, but the controls don't feel very precise, not very detailed, all the fights I've done so far, and this is coming from someone's who's main experience in fighting games is Super Smash Brothers, I've won by tapping the touch screen at random, overpowering my opponents with speed and luck over skill. What also doesn't help is that my actions could lead to the move I didn't want to do because its a combination of taping, swiping and holding the screen for your light, heavy, ranged, shield, dodge and super move. The game also chugs at times in terms of a solid frame rate. What that rate is, I don't care about, but it does noticeably drop and stutter. I don't know why, it shouldn't, my phone's as up to date as possible in terms of hardware, so it comes off as "optimized for tablets" which makes me wonder why it wasn't, if possible, locked to being just for tablets. Presentation's also pretty bleak. In Earth Wars, the characters had animations during dialogue, whereas here, its still portraits, which does feel like a downgrade by comparison. The art style also goes for a "realistic" approach, in that every colour looks depressingly dark. Was it because of the Beast Wars and Movieverse characters? Regardless, I personally would have preferred a lighter colour pallete. But, to each their own. If they can get the technical side to the game sorted out, I'll give it another try, but until then, if you want a new fighting game, probably not the best place to look if you're into the Street Fighter/ Mortal Kombat/ Tekken ect style.

Fire Emblem Heroes: Chibi powers, activate!


Might as well get this quickly out of the way, as people are going to ask, I didn't get into Super Mario Run, it just didn't hook me.

Fire Emblem Heroes, the third in house Nintendo game on phones, bringing the stratergy from Fire Emblem to the phone. As a short answer to if they did it, I'd say yes. The plot for it is that two kingdoms are traveling to the realms of the main games, from the original Fire Emblem, all the way to Fates, siding with the playable characters from each game. You have the power to summon random heroes, and you're tasked with breaking the contracts of each of the heroes to stop the villain army, or rather one spoiled little kid and her army. From where I stand in it right now, its a veil for the game, and an excuse to get the characters, which to me, is interesting because most of my experience with Fire Emblem is limited to Awakening and Fates (along with Smash, but that goes without saying), so getting a feel for each of these characters, almost all of them I had either forgotten about, or had never heard of before. All of the characters do have English voices too, so for the first time ever, Marth and Roy have an English voice.
I was lucky enough to get her early on, she's one of the strongest in my team right now thanks to her Dragonstone. I also participated in the Easter event, so I do have Bunny Lucina, I just don't want to risk that genie getting out. Will say though that Bunny Lucina is cute, not as rediculous as Chrom or Xander, and not as... expected, as Camilla

The gameplay is as close to Fire Emblem as you can get when taking into account the mobile format. Permadeath's disabled because of the F2P parts of the game (but more on that later), characters only have one weapon to them, and special moves are easier to pull off, but the trade off is a 4v4 environment for combat, and maps limited to the one screen, so what you see in map size is what you get. This takes some getting used to because there's not much safe room to move, and some characters got a nerf for the sake of balance (I liked it when mages didn't need to be a space away to attack), but it is Fire Emblem on a handheld. The F2P model also feels more player friendly here. It might be because I'm not very far into the game, but the play session timer hasn't run out for me yet, orbs that are needed to summon heroes are plentiful, and while I have had double ups, they haven't been as ridiculously common as earth wars where 47/130+ means I keep seeing characters I already have. If we have to have the F2P model, I'd rather a version of it that is player friendly in some form rather then punishing because you haven't paid them everything you own for the sake of that rare item.

I do really like the presentation for the game though. I'm assuming the soundtrack is a mix of original and remixed/ reused songs from past fire emblem games, I cannot confirm that though, but what I do like about it is the new artwork. Each of the character portraits is well done, and their in battle/ overworld chibi sprites are very cute. I'd love to see this style used in the main games for things like FE 2018, as I think its safe to say they're not in Shadows of Valentia or Fire Emblem Warriors.

Hard to do a full summary for each of these games, they may be worth looking into if you're looking for something new to play, but for the next two reviews, what should they be? The strawpoll can be found here http://www.strawpoll.me/12771732 and before I'm asked, Heart Gold and Soul Silver arc will be after these two. I haven't forgotten... Ok I completely forgot about how much time was left in the month, but I'll stick to it.

Mediaholics Playlist: Battle for Storm Hill

Source Link: youtu.be/toTn9h3DA18
Playlist Link: youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0UmlA10uAY8JFBgyAE4PJVbaZZbe3dTb

Bongo drums... to play a platformer... I'm game

All songs that go up are randomized from a private list, so we may have songs on there that you like too. We are though always open to more suggestions, as between the people who have helped work on this list, it’s still safe to say that we haven’t played every game, listened to every song. Have one you want to see? Comment it down below and we’ll add it to the list.

Tuesday 18 April 2017

Mediaholics Playlist: Ezio's Family

Source Link: youtu.be/jH9qoXlQyj0
Playlist Link: youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0UmlA10uAY8JFBgyAE4PJVbaZZbe3dTb

This was a time before they started crediting the Microsoft Word find and replace function as a developer

All songs that go up are randomized from a private list, so we may have songs on there that you like too. We are though always open to more suggestions, as between the people who have helped work on this list, it’s still safe to say that we haven’t played every game, listened to every song. Have one you want to see? Comment it down below and we’ll add it to the list.

Monday 17 April 2017

Mediaholics Playlist: King K Rool

Source Link: youtu.be/OgEToLiv0fc
Playlist Link: youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0UmlA10uAY8JFBgyAE4PJVbaZZbe3dTb

Does it hurt knowing you'll never see him again?

All songs that go up are randomized from a private list, so we may have songs on there that you like too. We are though always open to more suggestions, as between the people who have helped work on this list, it’s still safe to say that we haven’t played every game, listened to every song. Have one you want to see? Comment it down below and we’ll add it to the list.

Sunday 16 April 2017

Mediaholics Journal: Blaster's Happy Home Designing Week (9/4/17-15/4/17)

Well so much for my week long break... that's going to be all the free time I get isn't it?

Well I can assure you things have not been interesting this week, only doing four houses this week, though now I get to decorate houses... and most of the ones I've seen haven't needed anything outside. I turned Cesar's house into a construction site, and all through the process I'd been questioning the purpose of a manhole on a beach and why I was even needed to turn a house into a construction site. I also think I've broken the laws of physics and put Carrie and Pecan's houses on the same lot, because that's how physics works. And put Pekoe's house in one of the most peaceful places I can think of, the middle of the desert.

I was also tasked with three new buildings, the hospital, a cafe which for some reason they didn't want a kitchen in it, so I didn't give them one, and a store which I honestly didn't use as an excuse to use the car as furniture...

The only other bit of note was an excuse to use those playcoins I'd been collecting since Super Smash brothers for 3DS on... tutorials and more furniture, which for some reason I cannot get all at once even though I have 300 of the useless bits of digital gold. What, you think these weeks are going to get longer? I can only do one house a day. Down below are the pictures taken for your enjoyment.

















Saturday 15 April 2017

ACNL: Medaiton Journal Week 2

Mediaton Journal: Bear With Me


Day 8:
I wake up and a house moved in right next to me…surprised? Not really. Inside was the new neighbor, Tex. He’s a pretty chill villager. Heh…get it? He’s still moving in so I’ll give him time.

                The Mona Lisa shipped to my house so I went to the museum to donate it. I noticed there was construction going on near Nookingtons. At the museum I learned that the painting I got was a fake. I am never trusting that Fox again.

                I went over to town hall to see the results for the poll. The result was yellow bench. I placed it near Butch’s house because I plan do to something great there in the future, possibly a park or something. I donated for the bench upfront, mainly due to my impatience.

                While combing the beach, I found a sailor knocked out cold. He called himself Gulliver. He forgot where he was going and needed me to help him remember. We figured out he was going to Singapore after he told me some landmarks he saw there. He promised me that he’ll bring me back a souvenir for helping him.


Day 9:
                I walk outside and there was another plot to the north right of my house. This is starting to become an issue. I saw Tex walking outside, and he was just enjoying the cherry blossom petals that seemed to be falling through the air like confetti.

                There was a small celebration for the completion of the town bench. Isabelle made it somewhat of a big deal, but I suppose it is the first PWP that we worked on. I understand her enthusiasm.

                Isabelle informed me about the new gardening shop in town. It is run by a Sloth named Leif. That shop really helps me with my hybrid gardening. I got some cooler flowers there like lilies and violets.

                An interesting visitor came by the town tree today. She was a fortune teller known as Katrina. She gave me my fortune for a relatively cheap price. She told me that luck was based off the clothes I wear. Since my dress was already lucky that day, I felt pretty good after that. That day I happened to shake a tree and out came a lucky cat!

Day 10:
                Today was the fishing tourney! So everyone was wielding their fishing rods to compete for the biggest catch. Except for one villager, the one that was moving in. Her name was Pinky and she was a pretty big panda. It has come to my attention that I have three bears in my town now.

                For the fishing tourney, Chip the Beaver set up his tent in the plaza. The rules were that any fish goes. So I grabbed my rod and fished for the majority of the day.
                At the end of the day though, even after I caught a good number of sea bass, Wendy won the tourney by a couple inches. I ended up taking second place. Don’t worry, I’m not bitter at all…..Wendy….


Day 11:
                I saw Pinky outside after she unpacked everything. She seems really nice. For some reason she likes to make Waluigi sounds at me.

                Naomi asked me to deliver Tammy a shirt. I gave it to Tammy but…it honestly looked kind of silly on her. I held back my laughter and told her it looked good. I guess she’s going to wear that for a while.

                Butch said he wanted to move away. I begged him to stay and it actually worked. Why would he want to move away so soon? It almost felt like he just got here. I’m pretty sure this town still has room for just one more villager anyway.

                Wendy asked me to start calling me Muffin, because she heard it from Merengue. I said sure, why not. I count her in our little friend group anyway. Afterwards I was tending to my flowers. I grew a few hybrids, but the most that was growing was my rose garden. It already produced a purple flower!

  Day 12:
                I talked to Chester and he asked me to give something to Merengue that he forgot about. He started whispering to me about it when Merengue was in earshot. I wonder why he’s worried about it.

                While going around town I kept on tripping over myself. Katrina happened to be in town that day and I asked her about it. It did have to do with my luck after all, and she told me my only saving grace is a long sleeved shirt.

                When I went to the Able Sisters, Mabel was there with a brand new sewing machine. She told me that I can use it to make intricate designs. I could actually make a decent town flag with this, instead of the place holder we have now. I bought a long sleeve shirt as well as other clothes to match with it. I was all dressed in blue.


Day 13:
                I found a lost book on the ground. I asked Biff first who was walking there at the time and the first guess I had was right. I also figured because the title of the book was Pecs and Quads of the Rich and Famous.

                A skeleton fell out of a tree. I’m not sure if I should call the cops, the skeleton looked pretty fake. I figured I would just take it home for it to be a cool decoration. I’m not sure if I regret my decision or not.

I felt so tired after that for some reason….I just kinda….slept….

Day 14:
                I walked into town to find that Nooklings was closed for renovations. There was also another store being built next to the Able Sister’s. It’s pretty exciting to see the shopping district get bigger.

                I got done paying my home loan, so I went to Nook’s. Nook introduced me to an otter that honestly won’t shut up. His name is Lyle and he’s a spokesperson for the Happy Home Academy. There’s a competition to have the nicest house. I suppose I won’t have that much competition around my town. It feels like everyone wants me to ruin their houses.

                The day was a lazy one afterwards but there was an interesting camper today. He was a cat that traveled from far away. He speaks of a land filled to the brim with terrifying monsters. He gave me a few items including a little pet pig, and what’s supposed to be a monster egg. I’ll guess I’ll keep these in my house.


Friday 14 April 2017

Mediaholics Playlist: ID (Purpose)

Source Link: youtu.be/Cjq2bLlP8Pw
Playlist Link: youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0UmlA10uAY8JFBgyAE4PJVbaZZbe3dTb

Should probably note that most of the Fire Emblem songs come from Awakening, as the only one of us who has played Fire Emblem at all, has only played Awakening and Fates (and Heroes right now, but that's besides the point). If you'd like more variety, we're open to ideas.

All songs that go up are randomized from a private list, so we may have songs on there that you like too. We are though always open to more suggestions, as between the people who have helped work on this list, it’s still safe to say that we haven’t played every game, listened to every song. Have one you want to see? Comment it down below and we’ll add it to the list.