This final review will be on…

The return of the legend.

Overview

This is the eighth installment, as well as chronologically, of the God of War series, and sequel to 2010’s God of War 3. This follows the protagonist Kratos, protagonist of all the previous God of War games, and his son Atreus as they travel across the nine realms as they complete Faye’s, Kratos’s second wife and Atreus’s mother, dying wish to release her ashes from the highest peak in all the realms. This is all done while Kratos tries to keep his violent past from his son, who is unaware of his and Kratos’s natures as gods, and while fighting the monsters and gods of nordic mythology.

There are quite a few differences in this game compared to the old one, such as the difference in camera shots. In the previous God of War games, it had a fixed cinematic camera, while this one has Kratos with a over-the-shoulder free camera, with the entire game being done in one shot. There’s even role-playing elements with Atreus being able to provide support in combat as well.

Story Up to God of War 4

“God of War’s Story in 7 Minutes (2018) – IGN”

There is some missed things, like how Kratos, after killing his wife, daughter, and the entire village of Athena worshippers during his service to Ares they were in, he was cursed by the local oracle so that the hot ashes of his dead wife and child would remain apart of his skin, and then he became the Ghost of Sparta.

The chains seared into the flesh of his arms were apart of 2 separate weapons called the Blades of Chaos, given to him by Ares, as they were only for someone that is a worthy servant of him.

Thanatos = Greek god of death

Kratos’s tattoo is to pay homage to his brother, Deimos, who’s birthmark looked exactly the same.

There is also God of War: Betrayal, which takes place between Ghost of Sparta and God of War 2, its just him chasing down a assassin that got him blamed for the death of Argos, as well as battling Ceryx, son of Hermes, and killing him, which Kratos actually did, and inadvertently letting the assassin escape, which further alienates the gods and leads into God of War 2.

Gameplay

Kratos

Now, Kratos plays vastly differently from previous God of War games, especially with a different starting weapon than the ones you would usually start with.

Leviathan Axe

“New LEVIATHAN AXE Combat Tutorial – God of War – Polygon”

“God of War – How to Fight Like Kratos | PS4 – PlayStation”

The Leviathan Axe is Kratos’s inheritance from his recently deceased wife, Faye, that was created by the twin dwarves Brok and Sindri.

When starting out, you get R1 and R2 for light and heavy attacks that can be chained together, and the ability to throw by holding L2 and pressing R1 or R2 for a light or heavy throw, and the ability to recall the axe at will by pressing triangle. As you play the game, you can buy upgrades, or collect runes, that can give you new attacks to use.

Blades of Chaos

“God of War PS4 – Kratos gets the Chaos Blades + Gameplay – Playtendo”

These blades were the marks of servitude to Ares that Kratos bore, the blades that were seared into the flesh of his arms, that slaughtered his first wife and daughter, and countless other innocents, gods, and other being that got in his way, mythological or otherwise. These blades, while they play similarly to how they play in the previous games, they still follow the same mechanics as the Leviathan Axe. That is all there is basically.

There is also Spartan Rage, an ability that increases power, and instead of fighting with weapons, you attack with your fists.

Atreus

Talon Bow

“God of War | Fighting with Atreus | PS4 – PlayStation Europe”

The Talon Bow was gift to Atreus from his mother, Faye. By using the square button, you can make Atreus shoot the enemies, or by holding the L2, where ever you are pointing. As you play, he can be upgraded into being able to take a larger part in combat, as well as the ability to shoot 2 different kinds of arrows, light and lightning, that can be upgraded to have different effects on the enemies.

Upgrades and Customization

As you play the game, you can upgrade your weapons to make them stronger for yourself and Atreus.

These upgrades can do plenty of things, such as increase the amount of arrows that Atreus can shoot, to simple strengthening, and even other special effects, though you need the right material and amount of hacksilver (money) to get it. As you upgrade weapons and armor, you can also get sockets for them. These sockets can have different enchantments that can make you stronger, tougher, heal you, increase defense, even give an attack. Then you have runs attacks for Kratos, which gives him new attacks that due a certain amount of normal damage, frost damage for the leviathan axe and fire for the blades of chaos, and stun damage. There can be two for each weapon, 1 light attack and 1 heavy attack.

“God of War – All Runic Attacks Showcase” – PowerPyx

Atreus on the other hand uses runic summons, summons of different animals that help him in combat or out of combat.

“God of War – All Animal Summons Showcase (Atreus Runic Summons)” – HarryNinetyFour

There is also skill trees for the leviathan axe, blades of chaos, unarmed, shield, and the talon bow that you spend experience on to improve your weapons. It helps more if you have the required stats.

This game review will be on…

A game of signs.

Overview and Gameplay

How to Play and Win

This is a 3-6 player game. Each player chooses what wizard they want to be out of 6 wizards. They all start on the middle with 3 gold pieces each and whatever happens to each person depends on the magic card they choose to use. They basically play rock paper scissors, only they replace scissors with wizards, and they point their magic symbol at their target. The person who goes first is the one with the potion piece, and the order goes clockwise, after each turn, the piece goes to the next person. The goal is to get 25 gold pieces to win, and you get gold by being the closest to the gold hoard on the board. The closest person receives 5 gold, second closest gets 3 gold, the other players gets nothing, but if there is another player or more on the same space as the closest or second closest, then they receive the same amount as them.

Magic Cards

These are what the magic cards are like in this game. They do a variety of things.

Antimagic Field: Caster moves forward 2 spaces, target suffers a wild surge, meaning they pick a card from the top of the deck and that is what they cast.

Confusion: Caster moves forward 2 spaces, target’s sign moves 1 player clockwise.

Chain Lightning: Target gets pushed back 3 spaces, target’s target gets pushed back 2 spaces.

There’s also…

Fire Hands: Target moves back 1 space and loses 1 gold piece (GP).

Couldn’t find one picture in english.

Rating

I give this 10 funny wizard hats out of 10. I would enjoy this very much, it simple enough and seems good for laughs.

Funny Video

“SEAGULLS! (Stop It Now)” — A Bad Lip Reading of The Empire Strikes Back – Bad Lip Reading

This review will be on the board game…

Which, as said, is like chess with lasers.

Overview and Tutorial

Khet is an Egyptian themed board game, formerly named deflexion, that also flexes one’s brain muscles. There are six pieces that have been made the three times Khet was remade that come in 2 colors.

“How to Play Khet – the Laser Game – Chess Variant” – AncientChess

Pieces

Pharaoh: Essentially, this is like the king piece in chess, this gets taken out, game over, each person gets 1 Pharaoh each.

Scarabs/Djed: At first Djed, now Scarabs, these can be considered the most powerful pieces on the board, all mirror, can be used to reflect the laser in all four direction, as well as move to adjacent spots, even switching with other pieces, but can be reflected on your own pieces, be careful, 2 each.

Pyramids: Diagonal mirrors, vulnerable on two of their four sides, 7 each.

Obelisk: No mirrors, all vulnerable, really only used as a sacrifice in an emergency,     4 in deflexion, 2 in Khet 1.0, none in Khet 2.0.

Anubis: Replaces the obelisk, the advantage is that it isn’t affected if hit from the front, only from the sides, only in Khet 2.0.

Sphinx: In Khet 2.0, these hold the lasers, they stay in the right hand corners of each side and have to stay there, but can be moved to two different sides to change the laser’s direction, is unaffected by lasers, 1 each side.

Expansions

The Eye of Horus: Works like the normal laser shooter, but shoots another at a 90 degree angle, 1 of each that replaces the Djed/Scarabs.

Tower of Kadesh: Adds a 3D element by putting a tower that has 4 mirrors to the base that bring the laser up to a second level of the board, players can move vertically or horizontally of the tower, or move the tower itself.

Khet 2.0

The gameplay is the same, just the board and pieces have a more modern look to them, expansions for 1.0 won’t work with 2.0, but 2.0 versions of the expansions have been made.

Rating and Next Up

I give this 9 khopesh blades out of 10, I think this could be a very fun game for people. And next up would be…

Magical rock, paper, scissors.

Just for Fun

“INTERROGATING ZUCKERBERG”- A Bad Lip Reading- Bad Lip reading

This review will be on the fighting game…

A 2.5D Dragon Ball Z fighting game for a new generation.

Overview and Gameplay

Now as stated, this is a 2.5D fighting game developed by Arc System Works and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment based on the hit Dragon Ball Franchise. I don’t want get into the story, mostly because anyone who has watched Dragon Ball Z or Super can guess how this will go, but I will say it is a brand new, unique story that is divided into 3 arcs called the Super warriors Arc, Super Villains Arc, and the Android 21 Arc respectively, so instead, I will get into the gameplay. Many elements of this game take after classic 2D Dragon Ball fighting games such as…

Hence the title of this post.

It also takes stuff from Marvel vs. Capcom 3 in the sense you select 3 characters and play as one at a time that you can with out with at will, or can call on to attack your opponent and string together combos with the entire team, all three characters on either team must be defeated to win.

You can also gather the dragon balls as the fight progresses using special moves and combos and can summon Shenron,

the wish granting dragon, that does 1 of the 4 options you can pick: increase strength, health, damage resistance, or revive a fallen ally. Then there is also “dramatic finish”, which is a cinematic that occurs when you beat a specific enemy.

“All Dramatic Finishes and How to Activate Them”- PowerPyx

This also has a ranking system for its arcade and online multiplayer

Playable characters include 24 characters from the Saiyan Saga from Dragon Ball Z to characters from Super, along with any future DLC characters.

“Dragon Ball FighterZ – SSBK Goku VS Hit Gameplay 1080p HD60”- KabukiSage

Rating

10 out of 10 for the nostalgia factor and because I’m a bit of a Dragon Ball fan myself.

Next Up

The next game I’ll be reviewing will be…

This board game review will be over the game…

A dramatic game of political intrigue and betrayal set in 1930’s Germany.

Tutorial and Overview

This is a 5-10 player game where the goal is to win (obviously). Now, there are two groups, the majority are the liberals, while a few are fascists, and 1 is Hitler. Now players will elect 2 people called the President and the Chancellor who will vote to enact policies. There are 2 boards to place the policies down on upon, one liberals and one for fascists.

You may notice how the fascist board has symbols on the panels, that’s because unlike with the liberal board, as more fascist policies come into play, it gives certain abilities that the president can use against other players. Now, someone becomes president by passing off the name plate to the person next to them, but the chancellor works differently, the president picks the chancellor, but the players vote him in with 2 cards each player is given that either have “Ja” or “Nein” on them. A majority of players have to vote “Ja” for the person to become Chancellor, if “Nein” though, the person with President nameplate passes it off to the next person over. To win, the liberals must have their board all filled with liberal policies, or assassinate hitler, for the fascists, they must have the board filled with fascist policies, or if they have at least 3 policies in play, then Hitler is elected chancellor and they win.

Tutorial Video

This is a how to play video by The Rules Girl.

Gameplay

This is gameplay done by Smosh Games. There are more videos of them playing this.

Rating and Next time

9 out of 10, very fun, very nice.

Next time, I will be reviewing…

Described as chess with lasers.

This game review being done this week will be on…

The sequel to the game Shadow of Mordor.

Story

This is, as stated before, the sequel to the game Shadow of Mordor, following Talion as he wages war on Sauron using his own ring of power against Sauron. Don’t feel like stating more than that.

Complete gameplay by TetraNinja.

Gameplay

I would imagine the combat system would be quite similar to the first game, but with new features and upgrades to it to make it better.

They have also expanded on equipment and made it more advanced.

I would think that there is plenty of game mechanics that they used and expanded upon from the original game.

New Feature

Now in Shadow of War, instead of dominating and forcefully controlling Uruks (stronger than average orcs), you can instead recruit them to fight for you, though this also gives them the ability to betray you later on. With this, you can build up an army of your to fight and take over fortresses all while being based no the nemesis system that has been upgraded and expanded upon from the original game.

Enemies

In Shadow of War, there are different orc tribes that can different effects based on what they are.

The tribes are known as the Terror Tribe, Machine Tribe, Marauder Tribe, Dark Tribe, Feral Tribe, Mystic Tribe & the Warmonger Tribe.

This video can give a more, in-depth look at what the 7 tribes are like in Shadow of War.

TBC

Due to the amount of features to cover, this will be continued in part 2 of this blog. Be on the lookout.

As stated in the Exploding Kittens review, I will now be going over…

“an offensive card game from CYANIDE & HAPPINESS”

*WARNING*

This is a rather highly graphic game as it does have pictures to go along with the offensive and sexual, but very funny, content that this game does play with, as anyone who has either read the online comics of “Cyanide and Happiness” or seen the YouTube series of videos, and as such I will not post many pictures on this post, this one will be a more tame one though.

Read, and watch, ahead at your own risk.

*END WARNING*

How to Play

The videos that these people post will usually have some explanation at the beginning of how to play and as you watch along will tell you anything they miss if it pops up, but if it is confusing, here’s a tutorial video.

Rating

I will give this a 9/10 due to how much Cyanide and Happiness can make me laugh, but I was a little underwhelmed by this.

No expansions or such have been made to this as far as I can tell. I figured it was best to keep this post short and to the point due to the board game reviewed.

Next Time

Next board game I will review will be…

Today’s game review will be on…

A game that follows a man named Talion who, after an encounter with the Black Hand of Sauron, gains an ally in the once elf lord now wraith named Celebrimbor, become the grave walker, and sets out to avenge his family against the forces of Sauron.

If it wasn’t obvious, this is a play through of the main game by TetraNinja.

Combat

Now the combat at it’s core is simple, you have light and heavy attacks, distraction attacks, bow and arrow for long range, a broken sword and stealth for sneak attacks, and plenty of other stuff. Now here’s the videos you want to see about the combat.

It won’t show everything, but it does show some good stuff. Video done by Grzegorz Piwosz, weird name.

Weapon Runes (Upgrades)

Now this is a generic kind of thing, but you can get runes, upgrades for your sword, bow, and dagger that can also give a different variety of extra effects as well. These runes are leveled, which means, the higher your level, the better the rune you get.

Epic runes are golden and way stronger.

Movement

Pretty basic, similar to Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag where you hold down a button to sprint and climb, there’s more than that, but I’m not the best at explanations, and this guy does go a bit more in depth with this.

Unique

This game has something called the “nemesis system” where enemies that kill you not only brag over your temporary corpse, but will actually get stronger and stronger each time they kill you, advancing through their ranks until they become war chiefs themselves. This here is a good video to make this point.

Video done by MATT BAKER

DLC

Now while there’s plenty of skins and other stuff you can download as dlc, I will be focusing on the Lord of the Hunt and the Bright Lord dlcs that count as expansions.

Lord of the Hunt

Talion must join forces with Torvin, a dwarves hunter you meet during the main storyline, to combat an encroaching army headed by the Beastmaster Warchiefs, intent on claiming the wilds of the Land of Shadow for their master, and turn a new breed of powerful beasts against them, proving that Mordor cannot be tamed.

Content

• New Story & Lore – Discover more tales from Torvin, the Dwarven Hunter, as the Ranger must work together to tame the beasts of Mordor and fight Sauron’s minions.
• New Missions & Challenges – New Beast Hunting challenges and collectibles open up new trophies and achievements.
• New Nemeses – Face off against the Beastmaster Warchiefs, Uruks especially trained to tame and control Mordor’s deadly wildlife. Unlike other Uruks in the Nemesis System, these Warchiefs are five specific characters, who will appear in every playthrough.
• New Beasts – Ride into battle on the Wretched Graug to vomit toxin at your foes, stalk your enemies on the predatory Caragath and attack from the shadows, or raise an all-consuming Ghûl Horde with the Wraith’s power.
• New Epic Runes – Make your Mount unstoppable with five new epic Runes that make you the ultimate hunter.
• Test of the Wild – Test your skills against the Beastmasters and mount your trophies on the leaderboard.
• New Character Skin – As the Lord of the Hunt, Talion transforms into the ultimate hunter.
• New Collectable Artifacts – Scour through Nurnen to find pages of Torvin’s dairy, and read of many tales.

Quests

Main Quests (Torvin)

• (Initial Quest)
• Matrons Rising
• Swift Tracking
• Unwarranted Aggression
• Hypocritical Oath

Beastmaster Warchief Quests

• Call of the Caragath
• Stronghold Uprising
• Blasted Uruks!
• No Rest For The Wretched
• Homewrecker

Legend of the Hunter Quests

• From Hunter to Hunted
• Heaving Rampage
• Belching Monstrosity
• A Feast of Flesh
• Beast Master

A complete walkthrough of Lord of the Hunt by SpottinGames.

The Bright Lord

It allows you to play as Celebrimbor, the wraith that had infested Talion in Shadow of Mordor. This DLC will task you with some interesting missions to help you gain a following to take down Sauron. There will be some new abilities in this DLC as well as all the old ablities from the original game. Will you have what it takes to take down the Dark Lord?

Features

• New Uruk Models
• Shadow Brand and Flash Brand
• Using the One Ring
• Uruk Power level 25 max

Missions

Tower Missions

• Tools for the Task
• Petty Minds
• Press the Advantage

Stronghold Captures

• Lawless Disorder
• Hearts and Minds
• Servants in Chains

Tower Siege

• The Dark Lord Answers

Sauron Battle

• The True Lord of the Rings

One Ring Missions (Optional)

• Don’t Shoot the Messenger
• Shoddy Construction
• Strength in Numbers
• Silver Persuasion

War Letters (Optional)

• On the Origin of Orcses
• Many Legs, Clacking Fangs
• Endless Shadow
• Promotion Problems
• Elf Witchery
• Black Screams

A complete walkthrough of The Bright Lord dlc done by tokshen.

Rating

I give this a 10 out of 10, despite it faults, I loved everything about this game, and I loved the different outlook of Mordor done from a new perspective. Be sure to pick up a copy of Shadow of Mordor and… Out now on:

I haven’t done a board game in a while, so I will be doing a number 1 backed-up  kickstarter ever called…

Yes, the bottom, unreadable line does say “AND SOMETIMES GOATS.”

How To Play

This is a relatively simple game that does say on the box “2 minutes to learn, 15 minutes to play.”

This game is usually 2-5 player game that is labeled ages 7 and up and is like a some normal card games you can find with a twist. Besides the kitten theme.

You draw cards from a pile that can have an effect on the next player when used, like Uno. You lose when you draw an exploding kitten card, but you can use a defuse card on it to stop it. You want to see an exploding kitten card, look at the featured image, defuse will be at the bottom.

This might not be all of them, but some of them can be really funny looking.

Now there are more cards that can attack and other stuff, but I don’t really remember much, so this guy is here to explain.

Rating

I give this a 9.5 out of a 10, I do like this game, but I’m also a bit of a cat person, though I do also like dogs.

There are also expansions to this game such as Imploding Kittens…

Or NSFW…

Yes, the last two lines are like the original box, except with “BOOB WIZARDS” “AND SOMETIMES BUTTS” respectively.

Links

Here’s Smosh playing the game.

Be sure to be on the lookout when I review the card game “Joking Hazard” based on the “Cyanide and Happiness” comics.