Our adventures have proceeded apace and we've already found ourselves in possession of three of the four quantum masks. With one more left, our oldest enemy, Dr. Neo Cortex, has chosen to show himself.
Though our power has yet to reach its peak, we must nonetheless confront that would-be tyrant and stop his plans for world domination. Once he's taken care of, surely there will be no twists. No other threats will appear and space-time will be free to mend itself.
Right?
RIGHT!?
Dr. Cortex and Dr. N Trophy are still ripping space-time apart as they work tirelessly to achieve their plans and enact revenge. With two of the quantum masks accounted for, and two more to acquire before we can mend the rifts, our journey continues.
It's About Time.
I can't think of a more appropriate subtitle for this game than "It's About Time". Discounting the recent remake via the N Sane Trilogy, and the Nitro-Fueled version of Crash Team Racing, the last Crash Bandicoot game to come out was Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 2 for mobile phones in 2010. If we further remove mobile games from the equation, that would be Mind Over Mutant back in 2008.
Either way, it's been over a decade since the orange marsupial has had his time in the limelight. I and many other fans, for the longest time, assumed that the franchise had been fully abandoned by Bobby Kotick and our Activision overlords. While the N Sane Trilogy rekindled the hope of seeing the symbol of our childhood once more, it wasn't until this game was announced back in June that we were able to truly celebrate his triumphant return.
And frankly, I've waited long enough to talk about it on stream.
That's right, everyone. We've reached the legendary cliffhanger that took 3 years and an entire console generation to resolve. Even people like me, who didn't play the Halo campaigns growing up, knew about "finishing this fight".
But of course, the journey is more important than the destination. So join us as we try to stop the Covenant from making a terrible mistake.
The race for the Index/Icon has officially begun, as Humanity and the Covenant compete over the fate of the next Halo ring. Both factions understand that the fate of what is likely the entire universe is at stake, but only one of them has full knowledge of the situation.
Let's find out what happens when their champions meet for the first time, real life sickness be damned.
Our fight continues, as the Master Chief and the Arbiter both continue their respective campaigns, each doing what they believe to be best from their perspective. The war between Humanity and the Covenant rages around them.
With a new Halo ring in play, how will both champions of their people react to the efforts of the other.
One of the simple pleasures that has been denied by the Covid-19 pandemic has been that of getting a group of friends together to play a board game. Obviously, there is no proper substitute for in-person play with friends and family. That said, apps like Tabletop Simulator do a good job satisfying that itch as best as can be.
Another potential salve are virtual board games that invoke the feeling of tabletop, while still leveraging the medium to do things that are extremely difficult, if not impossible, to pull off in a pure tabletop setting. Alongside my old friend Chris, we play one such board game: Armello.
The king has fallen to rot and corruption, and his days are numbered. We can't save him, nor would we want to. Instead, it's time to see who will fill the vacuum of power, ascending to the throne.
After a hard fought campaign against the forces of the Covenant, the Flood that our conflict had unwittingly unleashed, and the mechanical guardians created to genocide all organic life, we managed to escape alongside the Master Chief.
Now, our brief reprieve in the small, scenic town of Little Hope has come to end, and it's time we returned to the frontlines of battle. Earth, and humanity, are once again under attack, and once again the Master Chief stands as a bulwark again the incoming threat.
Welcome to Halo 2.
Like moths to the flame, Acharky and I return to the horrors of Little Hope to unravel the mysteries at the heart of a town seeped in tragedy and sin. Are we doomed to forever live and relive the haunted past, or can we finally let the dearly departed rest in peace?
We all have our demons. And if we don't confront them, we risk losing ourselves to them.
Though I don't purchase, or even necessarily like, all of their games, I always have my eye on Klei Entertainment. They have a unique affinity for looking at a genre, taking the core aspects of it, and refining it to something that is both extremely approachable and mechanically deep. From the excellent stealth game Mark of the Ninja to the survival-based Don't Starve (Together), and turn-based Invisible Inc, all of them are completely distinct from one another, but they all carved their niches out in their respective genres.
So when I heard they were making a deck-building roguelike... Well, I was intrigued.
The spooky times are upon us once more, and there's no better time for a big frighten than now. Supermassive Games, creators of both Until Dawn and last year's The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan have taken it upon themselves to release a new chapter in their ongoing series. The Curator has returned with a new story that we are to conduct.
Welcome to Little Hope. Joining me as he did in our last outing at the Man of Medan is my old friend Acharky. The Dark Duo is back, and this time it appears that the mystery is not as cut and dry our seafaring adventure prior.
What can I say? This game has been on my mind a lot lately, and my Wednesday stream seemed to be the perfect excuse to go for another run.
Prince Zagreus is ever eager to break out of his lord father's domain, and I'm ever eager to aid with on the way.
(A warning: As I had beaten the game prior to playing this session, there may be spoilers.)
It is difficult to describe how irrationally excited I was to stream this, not just because it was time for me to finish up my first playthrough of Halo: Combat Evolved. As many of you may know, my job requires me to spend about a week every month acting as the on-call support, meaning that I can't stream on those weeks since I may have to end the stream at any moment.
Recently, we got some hires that log in at around 8-8:30 PM EST, which means that I now have these Sunday nights to myself. And though I can't stream at the usual time, I can start an hour late and still do the thing I love doing on my Sunday nights.
I cannot express how happy I am to no longer have to cancel streams on weeks I'm on-call, but I can absolutely give the Covenant, the Flood, and that evil little robot a thrashing they won't soon forget.
Thumbnail, as always, is from Sam Callahan.
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We continue our fight against the Covenant alongside the Master Chief. As it turns out, Halo isn't a superweapon that we can use to wipe them out. Rather, it appears to be the prison for a race of parasitic monsters known as The Flood.
Military Commanders... Always leaping before they look.
Now we've got to clean up their mess.
Thumbnail, as always, provided by Sam Callahan.
The plot thickens on our first mission with the Master Chief. Where we saw a simple weapon with the potential to terrify and/or eliminate the Covenant, the truth was so much more sinister. Our military leaders, such is their wont in their endless hubris, unleashed and awakened sinister forces that threaten all life.
Thankfully, we're here to see if we can clean up the mess and stop The Flood from spiraling out of control.
And as always, thanks go to Sam Callahan for the thumbnail.
With the closure of one series, it's time to start another. And just like before, this one harkens back to a by-gone age in video game history. Though I have no experience with the Halo campaigns, I've obviously played my fair share of their multiplayer modes at the houses of various friends from my childhood. Additionally, I've played many console shooters, all of whom trace their DNA, in some way, back to Halo.
This is a series that's been on my list for a long-time now, and I can think of no better way to run these games than on stream for everyone to watch. Naturally, since I'm running this campaign for the first time, I'm going so blind.
Join me on the new adventure with the Master Chef.
Thumbnail by Sam Callahan.
For the fourth time, our adventures with the blunder from down under have come to an end. Although the odds are that we'll eventually return to the series once the new Crash game comes out, and It's About Time, for now we can close the book on the bandicoot.
And of course, there are no drivers more fitting to end this series than the titular protagonist. Since we're on the PS4, we also have access to the old-school, retro version of him. Truly, there is no better way to go back to where it all began. My co-host Acharky even agrees with me.
It's been quite some time since our last foray through the Greek Underworld with the handsome and kind Prince Zagreus. Back then, the game was still incomplete, even if all of the stages, including the final boss, were ready and waiting for anyone who could brave through a full run.
And yet, much has been tweak, added, or adjusted between then and now. Additionally, the game has a proper ending for players to experience when they finally succeed. Join us, as we take this opportunity to take a few Quick Runs through what has become one of my favorite rougelikes from the past few years, and possibly my favorite game from Supergiant to date.
Our favorite little dragon had to retire back to the Dragon Realms: Something about Gnasty Gnorc coming back for the umpteenth time. Nonetheless, Team Newdarkcloud still needs a new driver to continue our efforts to win the right to face Oxide for the fate of the planet.
Fortunately for both myself and my Marvelous Duo cohort, Acharky, we had another lined up for just such an occasion. Everyone's favorite unreasonably muscular, top-heavy gladiator, Tiny Tiger, is ready to represent!
Move over, bandicoot! A new protagonist has seen fit to take the reigns. You could even say that he intends to reignite the race track and set the competition alight. That's right: Everyone's favorite purple dragon has made his way into a crossover than my childhood self could only dream of.
But I tire of dragon my feet. This week, let us continue our adventures in CrashSpyro Team Racing.
