Young Souls Got Soul and It's Kinda Bad | FIRST!

Young Souls has a lot of potential and might be a great game, but it spends so much of its opening hour talking your ear off that it's impossible to know how good the game is or what you'll spend the majority of your time doing, unless the whole game really just is, story story story, smidgen of gameplay, story story story. For this type of opening to work, the story has to be really good and Young Souls's story is not really good. It's not even kinda good. It's actually kinda bad, with forced foul language that feels out of place in a game that looks like it would be great for kids (and great for playing with kids if you're a parent). It's not all bad. What I did get to play, I liked, and I wasn't so turned off to put the game down for good, so here's to hoping the next hour is more gameplay than story because I'd love nothing more than to love Young Souls.

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Watch Me Suck at The King of Fighters XV | FIRST!

If you want to watch a video of someone sucking at The King of Fighters XV while talking about how they suck at The King of Fighters XV then this is the King of Fighters XV video for you! That said, if you're interested in hearing what someone who hasn't played a fighter in years thinks of The King of Fighters XV and if the game is accessible and welcoming for new players, this is also the video for you. Either way, I hope find at least some enjoyment from my suckiness, even if it's not the most informative of enjoyments.

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Agent Intercept Drifts Its Way to a Touchdown, but Misses the Extra Point

Spanning three chapters of five levels each across beautiful environments thanks to its simple but striking cartoony aesthetic, Agent Intercept puts you in the wheels of a transforming car tasked with taking down the evil organization, CLAW. In Fast and the Furious fashion, you’ll do a lot of drifting, mixed with over-the-top action, and a story so generic, you’ll forget it as you hear it. With only three buttons required for playing–one for moving left and right, one for boosting, and the last for gadgeting–anyone can feel like an action star, and the music goes a long way in bringing out those 60s spy vibes.

There are many explosions and high scores to chase, requiring combos you do not break, all of it culminating in a showdown between you and a giant mechanized scorpion. The gameplay loop is fun, but not without its faults. Boosting is a crucial mechanic , but the only way to gain boost is by letting your boost meter fill up on its own, or through pickups scattered across each level. You don’t get boost from drifting, stunts, or taking down enemies. This leads to a lot of down time where you’re not boosting and not boosting is not fun. The game is incredibly slow at normal speed, especially in boat form, feeling more like a stroll through the countryside than a high-octane adventure. You also need to be boosting as much as possible in order to keep your combo alive, so it’s not only important for making the game more enjoyable, but for completing certain objectives as well. If boost was rewarded for more actions, or the pickups were more plentiful, the gameplay loop would be a lot more satisfying.

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I Thought Going Commando Was Supposed to Be One of the Good Ones | Attack the Backlog

On this episode of Attack the Backlog, I return to the world of Ratchet & Clank with Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando. I went in with the highest of expectations and left with the saddest of realizations: I, maybe, don't like Ratchet & Clank. I loved the original game when I played it so many years ago and loved the reboot/remake, but, until now, those were the only Ratchet & Clank games I've played. Going Commando was my return to a series I thought I'd continue loving; however, what I found was a game more interested in quantity over quality. This hasn't killed my interest in playing other Ratchet & Clank games, mind you, but it has stunted the growth of any potential excitement in playing more games in the series. At least for the time being.

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I Think We Need to Talk, Wife Quest | FIRST!

Wife Quest makes a good first impression with better-than-expected visuals, but throws it all away with average-at-best gameplay, a grating sense of humor, and an excessive amount of girl-on-girl action. It does get better over time with the addition of new abilities and items, but it only gets better and never good, remaining an average-at-best game throughout. Unless you want to beat countable monster girls into groaning submission or enjoy yourself an easy achievement or two, your time will be better spent playing something else.

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Shadow Warrior 3 is Like Serious Sam...If Serious Sam Was Good | FIRST!

The Shadow Warrior series has been around for a while, but I've never put more than a few minutes into any of them until now, so if you're looking to find out how this one differs from the others, I can't help you. With that out of the way, I liked Shadow Warrior 3. I liked it so much I went back and finished it after recording this episode. It may be full of terrible humor and relatively repetitive gameplay, but it feels good and doesn't overstay its welcome, providing a solid, fast-paced shooting experience that feels good on controller, but likely excels on mouse and keyboard. In many ways, it plays like how I wish Serious Sam played; you have a good amount of tools and abilities at your disposal--dashing, a grappling hook, a chi blast, and finishers--and, while the non-shooting bits are hit or miss, the majority of firefights are a good time and, really, what more do you need?

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Like the Gods, I Wish I Could Forget My Time With Aztech Forgotten Gods | FIRST!

Aztech Forgotten Gods is a mess. There are glimpses of quality there--the movement is fun and some of the art is alright--but it's all sandwiched between two thick pieces of janky, ugly, buggy, and surprisingly talky bread. I wanted to enjoy Aztech Forgotten Gods so much, but when it looks worse than Jak & Daxter, is boring to play 90% of the time, and features objectives that involve nothing but talking to characters, only to follow said objectives with more objectives of talking to the same character, it makes it hard to feel anything other than disappointment. Some things could be fixed in future patches, but too much of the core design is bad and, because of that, there's no way I could ever recommend giving Aztech Forgotten Gods any of your time.

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Explosive Candy World Looks Like Flash Game, but Who Cares When It's Such a Blast, Mate | FIRST!

I'm not going to lie. I kind of hated Explosive Candy World when I first started it. It's not that it took time for me to "get it," but that it looked like crap and didn't bother telling me anything about how it played or what I was supposed to do; talk about a terrible first impression. That said, once I figured things out after a minute or two, all I had was fun on top of fun on top of more fun. Explosive Candy World is incredibly simple and looks horrible, but it knows how to deliver a good time, so who cares if it looks like ass when it's such a blast.

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If Only Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure's Price Was a Joke... | FIRST!

I'm not going to waste your time. Do not buy Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure. I don't care how good the table is--spoilers: it's nothing special--there is no justifying the price of this single table, costing significantly more than every other piece of Pinball FX3 DLC, even the three-table packs. If it's because of the Indiana Jones license--I can't imagine any other reason--it wasn't worth it. I could go on and on about how annoyed I am, but no one needs that, so let me just repeat: do not but this table. Wait for a sale, or maybe just wait forever. Like I said, it's not that great of a table anyway, so if you never pick it up, you won't be missing much.

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Infernax is Bad...for Rhyming, But It's Great for Playing and That's a Fact! | FIRST!

What if Castlevania II: Simon's Quest was a good game? Don't get me wrong, I love Simon's Quest, but there's no denying it isn't without its faults. Infernax feels like the answer, taking everything I loved about Simon's Quest, removing everything I hated, while adding some modern design in order to make a game that looks great, sounds great, plays great, and, more important than anything else, doesn't require a guide to beat. If you have any love for the NES Castlevanias (or retro games in general), you'll find plenty to enjoy in Infernax and that's a fact.

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