Small update

It's been a little while since I've posted anything, so I thought I'd post an update.

I'm getting some things set up to try and make some videos again. Not sure if it'll work or not, so keep an eye out on the YouTube channel.

Also, I've been playing around with some older games, as well as Hearthstone. Needing to replace the hard drive for the 360, which hopefully will be here next week.

Until then, I'm gonna try to do some reviews and previews a little more frequently. I'm not gonna lie, I do get caught up in the day to day and forget things, but I will try to make at least 2 posts a week, maybe 3 if I have the time.

Anyway, hope I can bring some news on some games that'll interest everyone, and thanks for reading.

Dangers of mobile gaming.

I know, I said that I wanted to do reviews and previews here, but decided that I would do an entry on this, after seeing some of the dangers of mobile gaming. I also want to stress, that I'm not talking if physical dangers. This is strictly a monetary thing, and something I wanted to share with everyone who has kids that have phones and tablets.

A went over to a friends house today, to pick up my sister and nephew after they stayed over with him, his daughter, and her mother. There was also another little boy staying, all in the 5-8 year old range, as the little girl was having a sleepover and wanted to invite them.

So, as I'm sitting there, he gets on his iPad, and notices that there's a lot of charges to his account. I'm not sure the exact amount, but one of them was well over $400 on a UFC game that his daughter had downloaded. When asked if there was a password, he said yes, but she knew it.

Now, I know that that's probably asking for trouble, seeing as to how she can download just about any app at any cost, and with telling the password to my nephew and their friend, they could download anything from the app store. After looking and realizing that the apps they had downloaded were free, the only thing we could think of is buying things in game.

Now, I personally don't know how the apple store works, but I do know that the Play Store has options to where you can set up to have your password entered for every purchase. I'm assuming that, of course, Apple does have some sort of system in place that does the same.

Now, the thing that bothers me, is that there's a way to actually spend $400 on an app. I mean, surely there would be some sort of limit on your purchases, but apparently not.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you shouldn't spend money on a game or app you enjoy, and there's nothing wrong with supporting the developers who make these. But when you're spending literally hundreds on an app, then there's a problem.

Now, I know that part of the problem, was the fact that my friends daughter knew the password, which meant that she, or my nephew, or the other little boy, could've been responsible for what happened. To me though, that's only one part of the equation.

The other part is some of the purchase prices for items and stuff in these apps. Admittedly, I spent some money on on Game of War, and I don't care to admit that, even though now I regret doing so, which is for another article another time.

These prices though, really do bug me. For instance, in Final Fantasy Record Keeper, there is an option to spend $85 on coins in the game. Now, I love the game, and have thought of spending some money on it, just to support the developers. But $85? That's a brand new game, possibly 2 or even 3. Hell, for that price, I can go buy most of the series and be able to play them all the way through, and they'll last longer, and retain their value, or even continue to go up.

Another instance is Hearthstone. For the most part, theirs is not bad. Unlike in FFRK, Hearthstone actually does give you a way to get packs, to get new cards, without ever having to spend a dime. For me, that makes it not so bad, because then you can do quests to gain coins, to buy packs, and play the game completely free. I still think that $50 is a steep price to pay in an app, but I also know from personal experience the feeling of opening pack after pack of cards. I know the rush from doing that as well, which in part bothers me, because someone looking for cards, with little or no self control, can blow through $200-$300 in no time.

Game of War also had the option to spend large sums of money in it as well, and admittedly I wish I had covered that aspect of these games when I did reviews for them.

I guess the one thing that should be said, is just be careful. Not only with kids, but also when playing mobile games. These types of games can be fun, and if you enjoy them, there's no reason not to support the developers of these games. I just want to stress caution. When these apps have options to spend money in them that are anywhere between 1-2x what a new game costs, you should exercise caution. I know many people can control their spending habits, but still, it's better to be safe and let people know of these things.

Hearthstone tablet and phone review.

First things first, this game is great. I absolutely love this game and find it very addicting. If you're someone who loves playing Magic the Gathering, this is a game for you.

The list of characters is a who's who from WoW. I love most of these characters from the game, so being able to play as them, even if only in a card game, is pretty cool. I also like the graphics. Some of the minor things, like the fireworks and effects from the cards are impressive.

I also love the gameplay. The game itself, I've noticed, seems to be built around the original card game, but only with the quests removed to streamline everything, which is kind of sad, because that's one of the things I enjoyed about the original card game. But it seems to work really well, so I can't say too many bad things about it.

One thing that I wanted to address is the difference between the phone and tablet versions. Outside if the obvious smaller screen, the only real minimal difference is that you have to go through things more on the phone.

For instance, to see your hand, you have to tap where your hand is, then drag from there, as opposed to on tablet it's all laid out for you, and is easier to see. Phones seem to have a graphical advantage, why I'm not sure, but from seeing it on mine and 2 others phones, and playing on the tablet, it's clear that phones have an edge graphics wise.

The one thing I don't like, is that the classes aren't all equal. Mage seems like a really good class, Hunter, Paladin, Warrior, and Warlock are decent as well. Rogue and Priest just don't seem to be very good though. Shaman is just slightly better than them, but not by much. Maybe they should introduce some more cards to help make those classes better. Right now though, I just don't see myself using them, and haven't seen anyone else using them either, outside seeing a Shaman every once in a while.

Other than that, the game itself is pretty good, especially for those who like playing Magic the Gathering, or any other TCG's. It is definitely worth a download to try and see if you like it.

Destiny review

I've been playing this off and on, right up until my hard drive decided to give out on me. There's a lot about this game that I liked, and wanted to like. So, let's get to it.

The first thing I like is the gameplay. It feels almost distinctly like Halo, which I've always enjoyed playing. The gun play is one of the things I've always enjoyed in Halo, and for me, it's great that this game has the same type of gun play.

I like some of the loot, but one of the problems I have is that it generally doesn't drop enough, and by the time you level up to what the vendor sells, he's already selling higher level gear and no longer has what you were going for. This creates a problem, because you have to spend the in game currency to buy stuff before you level, which wouldn't be bad, but then when you actually do find loot, it defeats the purpose of buying it.

If there were a way to either pick up a little more loot or be able to buy what you were wanting when you level up, then that would better. The current system now just isn't very good, from what I've played.

The graphics are pretty good, and I've not had any reason to complain about them. The character models look great, especially the enemies. More than once I've just sit and admired the graphics in the game, especially whenever I come across a new area.

There's a lot of gripes that I have for this game. For starters, for this to be an MMO, there's not that many people. I mean, the hub world has had at most, 20-30 people whenever I'm there. As someone who's played WoW, and used to seeing anywhere around 100-200 people online at a time, seeing that few people seems to give the game more of a sense of isolation.

Occasionally when questing or exploring, you come across a couple of people, but overall, the world just seems really isolated, which for this game, doesn't feel right.

The other problem I have is the PvP. How in the world, does a level 9-10 guy, get grouped with players that are 29-35? How does that happen? Also, when it does happen, how do you not scale the players to the others level for that period? That happened multiple times when trying out the PvP.

Something like this just leaves a big hole in the competitiveness, and makes it practically no fun to try and play PvP, which is one of the major draws of this game.

Other than those complaints, the game is fairly good. I like what Bungie tried to do here, but it seems like they didn't implement everything correctly or just didn't think everything through. The game is good, but don't go in with high hopes, and you should be good.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

First of all, I have to say, I really like this game. As someone who didn't jump on the CoD train until Black Ops, I have to say that this is by and far my most favorite CoD game ever.

I have to say, I love the Exo abilities. They add so much more to the game then what has been seen in quite some time. Double jumps, jet-boosted dodges, the ability to cloak yourself, there's so much to love about it.

I also love how they've upgraded the grenades and the weapons as well. I like(and hate) the laser based weapons, but the grenades are really good. I like the ones that can tag nearby enemies myself, but they're all good in their own way.

The campaign is also pretty good as well, which is saying something because I literally had given up on the campaign up to this point. It has a strong sense of pacing, and I absolutely loved Kevin Spacey's role in this game.

I really liked the gameplay in this one as well. Where past titles introduced cool ideas through one-off, barely interactive sequences, this game delivers combat tools that let you be an active part of the spectacle, then brings them back through multiple levels.

The multiplayer also is aided greatly by this as well. The added mobility adds makes each fight less predictable and makes things more interesting, with all three dimensions of movement coming into play.

The new Pick 13 system for create a class, which draws in scorestreak rewards and a new class if exo abilities, makes creating a loadout that fits your personal play style a much deeper affair than in past installments.

The new zombies mode is one thing I don't like, though that is more just me than it is the mode is bad. I didn't care for zombies in BO or BO2. The one thing I have to say is that this time it seems easier than the modes in either Black Ops games. That's just my opinion though.

This series has never struggled to tack on more features, but it's often been unable to improve upon the existing ones in any meaningful way. Advanced Warfare manages to be both bigger and better, and that's something to be excited about for the future of this series.

Update

It's been a little while since I've posted anything, so just wanted to post to let you know what's going on.

I've been playing a lot if Advanced Warfare multiplayer here lately, and have been playing the campaign some as well. This will probably be one of my next written reviews, so keep an eye out for it.

I've also been playing Destiny and Hearthstone as well, and should have something up on them soon as well too. When I do Hearthstone, I'll go over both the tablet and phone versions(just started using the version today, love it), and talk about some of the differences between the 2.

Anyways, that's what's coming up here soon. I'm also going to be looking up some info on a couple if more games as well, and I can't wait to get some more info in Black Ops 3 when becomes available. Odds are though, we probably won't see anything on it until E3, which I'm going to try and do some entries on what all is shown this year.

Hopefully, I'll have the reviews up by weeks end, either Saturday or Sunday. If I can get them done sooner, I'll post them when I'm done.
Now, to get back to Hearthstone.

Final Fantasy Record Keeper Review.

So, I've been playing the new Final Fantasy mobile game, Final Fantasy Record Keeper and want to share my thoughts on it.

First things first, I want to just put out there, that I'm one of the biggest Final Fantasy fans out there. Outside the MMO's, the 13 series, and the newest one, I've played all the others. In fact, the original is what started my love for the rpg genre. So, I have a lot of history with the series.

With that, that is who this game is really made for. From what I've played of the game so far, it's based on going through all the highlights of all the past games, which with this series, there's plenty of.

The game plays exactly like the battles in the old school entries. In fact, they also harken back to those games graphically as well, which is another reason I like this game.

The music is essentially everything in the series. This series is known just as much for it's music as it is it's stories. All if it is great to hear, and getting to hear the best of each game is really pleasant.

I also like the equipment system as well. I like how pairing equipment from a game to the character from that game gives them a bonus, and also how they get an additional bonus when doing scenarios with characters from those games as well.

I also like combining orbs to create the spells and abilities. The same also applies to the equipment as well. You can combine equipment to make it better and level it up. You can also gather items that can also be used specifically to upgrade equipment as well.

As much as I like this game, the one thing that I don't like is the gating. Every free2play game has something like this. Time limit, stamina bar, or something implemented to get you to spend money. I know that the game's creators have to make money, and I get that. I just don't think limiting someone's time with the game is the answer.

I'm not a big fan of the f2p format, but that's an argument for another time.

This game is a great game. If you enjoy Final Fantasy games or rpg's in general, then this is a definite download. The stories, characters, and music make this one of the better games in my opinion. The chance to go back and relive these stories are great. Every rpg fan should give this a try.