Review: South Park The Fractured But Whole

South Park The Stick of Truth was praised for many things, and I personally gave it a favouritable score even despite it being heavily censored in Australia. Stick of Truth was so good that I even contacted the Classification Board about it, something I never thought I'd do for any game, let alone South Park. That was how much I enjoyed the game. (Full review of SOT here)

So since the announcement of Fractured But Whole, I have kept a keen, albeit guarded, outlook on the series. I kept my expectations low so that when the game would eventually come out, I would have a fresh perspective, to which I'm happy to say I had during my time playing.
Fractured But Whole isn't perfect, but it still has enough to improve from its predecessor. 

The storyline begins immediately from the previous game. You play as King Douchebag AKA New Kid, fighting to protect the Stick of Truth when suddenly, Cartman changes the game as something only the Coon and Friends could solve has appeared; cats have started disappearing from South Park, and Scrambles has a $100 reward. To start their Superhero franchise, the boys set off to find Scrambles for the reward (and gathering followers on Coonstergram), as trouble begins to loom over the horizon.
The story, admittedly, isn't as strong as the Stick of Truth. Fractured But Whole spends so much time focusing on Scrambles, only to abandon the plotline as soon as the second begins. Don't get me wrong, the beginning and middle are still incredible, but its ending leaves more to be desired than what we got. A special mention to the writing as it is phenomenal in the game. The jokes and puns are what you'd expect from a South Park episode and does well to once more immerse you in its world. I was particularly captivated with the Tweek/Craig storyline, and any parts discovering more of the New Kid (Although I was sad being unable to choose "Australian" after all the crying Koalas I got last time - I would have even forgiven terrible Australian accents after choosing that).
While having plenty of side missions, a large portion and the most time consuming are primarily fetch quests: collecting Yaoi fanart of Tweek and Craig, distributing mugshots, finding cats, etc. Speaking of, the main missions now include boss fights against key people/characters, and unlocking your Buddy, who aids to unlock different areas (Human Kite flys with your farts, Captain Diabetes destroys obstacles, etc).

Gameplay wise is fantastic; instead of being turnbased, each confrontation is contained in small bockbased combat (very much like standard JRPGs), characters needing to overcome barriers, and areas to damage enemies. Missions can also do the opposite where hurting only the boss is key, or keeping enemies contained to specific zones, or even simply fleeing from the battle. This does well to help break up the combat sections, especially once the City Ninja start tracking you down.
Sound effects are more or less the same, minus the new Superhero abilities, which is where they shine. Musical score also experiences the same sort of issue, but does well to help incorporate in the areas that need it for nostalgia.
Customisation is by far the biggest improvement over the previous game. Players can choose their gender (although not until unlocking your Superhero powers), religion, race, even your own weakness. And the mass amount of clothing options is easily more than the previous game. Players can choose their abilities from a set of classes (Unlocking more as you progress), and their clothing as they progress. Power bonuses all depend on what you find/create, from 9 Balls to god damn Fidget Spinners, each improves you/your team and your stats. Crafting new artifacts/health boosts, mixing your abilities from different classes, taking selfies with everyone you can find in the game, there's so much to do to make your character how you want them to be.

Voice acting is brilliant, and really helps to show what affect having the creators of your game's basis can have overall. NPCs do often have Same Voice Syndrome, but this can be mostly ignored if you don't fart on every NPC like I do.
Graphics have been inproved, especially colouring and lighting in cutscenes, while retaining that familiar SP look and retaining the previous game's style. I didn't experience any game breaking bugs, but glitches did occur here and there, mostly resulting in a duplicating glitch of characters (Ms Cartman being the worst offender) or essentially freezing combat due to two conflicting parties joining in (Cops assaulting the New Kid after starting a fight with Crab People, for example).

Personally speaking, I do still think Stick of Truth is a better game, if only in story alone, but Fractured But Whole simply has so much more meat on its bones than its predecessor. Toilet mini-games, visiting the Canadian Wall, turning back time with your farts, everything clicks so well in this game that despite the flaws, it improves on so many areas from Stick of Truth. It may kill Trey and Matt, but I firmly believe one more, one final game, may finally perfect this series of games involving the New Kid with the powerful farts. Developers, take notes.

Fractured But Whole - 7/10

Changes - Update Post

G'day there everyone!

I know these posts aren't generally what you come here for, especially considering we're now deep into AAA Title releases, but I felt as if this is a necessary addition to highlight some changes to this page and how I review games.

First and foremost: scoring. I have always scored games out of 10, with the occasional .5 thrown in, but was abandoned after I felt it cheapened the scoring of a game. But as I focus more and more on smaller additions in games and what makes them tick, I feel as if my scoring doesn't accurately portray those little pieces that make a game what it is.
So considering the response for review scores, in the upcoming year there may be a few changes to how games will be scored. I'll leave 2017 with the standard and add something new for 2018.

Looking around, I've also added another search bar near the Archive for quicker access to reviews, and have updated the Upcoming Reviews with titles you can expect to be covered within the next few weeks and months. There's also a Subscription button, as I have been informed by a few that they didn't know how/where to do this.

With all said and done, please stick around for upcoming reviews! Shadow Of War will be my first in the upcoming reviews, but I will also be doing a review/Unboxing of an Xbox One X next month!

This update post is already too long, so TLDR: Vote in the poll, new ways to see my old stuff/subscribe to this page, expect lots of reviews in the next few weeks.

Recording videos is also a priority, but I'm working on something special, so keep an eye out for that! I'm hoping to get it done (At least the first!) before the new year. It's almost 2018! My god, we're in the future.

Otherwise, as always, have fun and game on!

Review: Dishonored -Death of the Outsider-

Dishonored has been a series that I have loved since the beginning. The setting and tone mesmerised me, with a dark setting to undetone such a in depth game. My history with reviewing the series has been just as dark; the Definitive Edition, DLCs and the like all scoring low. I specifically didn't review Dishonored 2 for this, and other, reasons. To make up for this, I thought it best to try Death of the Outsider, to see if Arkane and Bethesda could muster a standalone DLC.

The storyline is fairly basic; playing as Meagan Foster (AKA Billie Lurk), you return to Karnaca some months after the events of Dishonored 2. Setting out into the city, she hopes to find her old friend Daud, former Assassin and trainee to Billie (the protagonist to D1's DLC) in order to see him one final time. It's here that Daud gives Billie one final job: kill the Outsider. 
To be frank, while the story does feature heavily on obtaining the necessary components to hunt down the Outsider, the story itself falls somewhat flat. Billie up and runs at the idea, despite saying otherwise in cutscenes, despite not having anything truly against him, yet continues to hunt down all things necessary to enter the void. You must uncover the ancient knife that slit his throat, enter the void at the place of his ritual and find him there, taking place across the city and beyond. Some of the levels are rehashed and rebranded (With sections cut off to avoid level overload) while others are introduced with new gangs and characters in the mix. A special mention to the level design, as the newer levels felt organic and fitted well with the series. 

Sound effects were fairly well done and add a lot of unique sounds (particularly to Billie's new set of abilities - more on that later) and with the musical score, set the tone of the game. Overall it does almost seem like a "New Sunrise" sort of moment, but it is effective nonetheless.
Voice acting was definitely the high part of this game, with each original voice actor for their role returning. Some parts were a little off, with dying characters having no effect in their voices, but otherwise did not detract from the game. 
Lastly, graphics was well set off and added a lot of vibrancy to the game, something we haven't seen in the series for a while. Lots of reds and greens helped the game along in ways I haven't seen take place before. Backdrops were downright beautiful.
Gameplay is fairly typical and taken directly from Dishonored 2, but what gave the game its own voice was Billies abilities: Billie is given a new eye and arm that are directly connected to the Void. While she isn't branded with the Void abilities, her arm and eye give her new abilities. Displace allows her to place a shadowy figured at any place and teleport to it as long as its in sight (Blink but slower). Foresight stops time and allows Billie to see all around her and mark specific people or objects in the world. Semblance (by far the best new addition) allows Billie to look and sound like any unconscious person she attaches a mask to. New weaponry is also available, such as Voltanic Gun, Hook Mine and so on. 

So, what does this all mean overall? To be fully honest, even hours after finishing the game and putting my notes to written form, I'm still unsure how best to put the game. I purposefully stealthed the game because, as previous experience tells, standalone releases of branded games are generally short. Stealthing gave me little over 4 hours of gameplay. If I did a high chaos run, it would be less, and admittedly, there's no point. While Dishonored 2 had Emily and Corvo to have a runthrough of both, here all it takes is one quick save, reload and sit through it all again to unlock both achievements. The replayability is next to nil, even for people addicted to the lore, as there is very little. Your decisions in Dishonored 2 aren't directly mentioned, your actions in Karnaca are completely avoided, and regardless of choice in the end, nothing truly changes. Three difference stills, a bit of dialogue and the game is over.
I had my issues with Dishonored's DLC, but its setting, pacing and tone perfectly matched what was going on in the game. It didn't reuse maps, it didn't release on its own, and they released at a quarter of the price with at least a few more hours of gameplay length. With Death of the Outsider, there's not much keeping me here, unless the die-hard achievement grinders wish to bump their score.

And I guess that's what's holding me back; this game is techincally good, but it lacks in a lot of areas. It shines in the voice acting, it shines in level design and graphics, but the story, the pacing, even the price itself, hold it down. It holds so much more potential, but I only wish it was a little longer, for stealth and hostile players alike.
Perhaps wait for a price drop, or a collection bundle of the entire series.

Death of the Outsider - 6/10

Review: Destiny 2

As I look down onto my Ghost sitting on my desk, I'm reminded of three years ago, with the original release of Destiny; made by the now infamous Bungie, Destiny had been in development since Halo 3: ODST days, and a new IP from the creators of Halo took the world by storm. I was one of these people. I played the Beta, I preordered the Ghost Edition (long live Dinklebot), I stood in line for six hours for the midlight release.
And admittedly, I enjoyed the game. I wasted plenty of hours slogging through the Raids, Strikes and repetitive gameplay to get that sweet, sweet, RNG loot. By the time the DLC came around, I was Destiny-ied out and barely played them, skipping the last all together.

Destiny 2 has been excitedly waited for for some time now, with many younger fans eager to try out the new addition to the series. In truth, I was less excited this time around, but I was curious to see what three years of perfecting Destiny had done to the series.
Now here I sit, writing this review and I've barely mentioned the game. How would you feel if I ended this review now? If over such a long stretch of time I set up this written piece, simply to end it without answering the lingering questions from before and now?
This is what Destiny 2 is.

First and foremost, the biggest positive about the game: the gameplay. Just like the update to the original Destiny, the game plays exactly the same way, right down to controls. Newcomers to FPS may struggle, but any person who has played any other will only falter for the first thirty minutes, as the introduction mission does take about an hour to complete and well establishes itself in what you need to do in order to survive.
To give credit where its due, throughout the game you will be given sections (albeit brief) where the gameplay will rely on your driving skills, navigation, parkour skills, etc. These do help tie together the run and gun gameplay style of the game and help pad the time for otherwise shorter missions.
Musical score is great, but also a little lacking. During the fall of the Tower, and the impending parts later on in the story, we hear a flourish that reminds me a lot of the aforementioned  Halo 3: ODST, and personally speaking, I loved this score. It was beautiful, heart-wrenching and added a lot of character and depth to the story overall. But it lacked that spark that the original Destiny was able to capture: So much of the fighting had these flourishing scores that sparked inspiration. Destiny 2 captures that desperation of the cause well, but fails to deliver the opposite.
Lastly I have to mention the last overly positive aspect, that being graphics. Cutscenes look undeniably beautiful and are much too short for my personal liking. In-game scenes look fairly well, with colours improved somewhat, but that is where the line is drawn. Textures in many parts of the map (especially Io and Jupiter) are clearly unrendered and have been missed, especially tree limbs. Lighting has taken a step back, and black areas without torchlight-via-Ghost are more present than before, leaving players to stumble around black areas with a faded blue screen covering their work. 
Other than this, there hasn't been much improvement that I can notice beyond what we've seen since The Taken King DLC.

This brings me to the nagging bits that have remained behind with me after completion and starting off, I want to mention the Storyline. Before I say anything else I will say this first; the story here is exceedingly better than Destiny 1.0's original story, by far. BUT that does not give it a free pass.
In short, the story of Destiny 2 follows your previous Guardian (if you played any) and starts by showing your actions (the original game and the DLC). As sudden as it begins, the Tower falls, the City and the Traveler follows and you, not cut off from your Light are thrown from a ship and left to die.
Struggling, you escape the city to a zone outside the City's limits and are saved by what little humanity remains outside the borders. From here, you set off to the Traveler's Shard: a piece of the Traveler lost centuries ago in this zone and hope to rekindle your Light to become the beacon you were once more.
The game does well to explain why you must restart your progress all over again and does so easily. While being with the other players does detract from this, the game sets up well that you are truly the only one with the Light left. But therein lies the issue; because the focus is purely on their current predicament, nothing from the previous game is seen, and barely mentioned.
Destiny's 1.0 story and the hidden mystery of The Stranger? Not mentioned.
Mara Sov, The Awoken, and The Reef? Nothing.
The Iron Lords? Nothing.
Eris Morn's set up at the end of the Taken King? Absolutely no payoff.
The House of Wolves and Eris are mentioned a fair amount in the game to be fair, but absolutely nothing comes out of them other than name drops or what appears to be inspirational dialogue for the player. There are a mass amount of extra side missions for you to complete on each world, but these are simply optional. I definitely recommend them as some of them can be more interesting than the main story.
I also have to quickly mention that anyone hoping for more planets will be a little disappointed. Players can travel around Earth in the EDZ, Titan, Io (A new planet made by the Traveler eons ago) and Nessus. The maps on each are massive and with plenty of hidey holes to explore, but it is a clear drop of places to visit in the long run. No returning to The Reef, no returning to the Cosmodrome, or any other of the previously available locations. Everything is brand new.

This is where the issues of the story comes into it. Our entire focus all throughout the game is to free the Traveler, stop the destruction of our sun and kill the Cabal Red Legion Leader, Dominus Ghaul.
Ghaul, like the Red Legion, are set up as these ultra-baddies, the toughest of the tough, a group of Cabal that have never known defeat. But that's where the issue is: we are TOLD they've never known defeat. Yet past the initial loss of the Traveler, they're defeated over and over again by our protagonist, and Ghaul (The final boss fight of the storyline) is by far the easiest boss fight in the game. The Vex AND the Taken (Which both make a return) were much harder than the final boss fight of the entire game!
We are TOLD Ghaul has never known defeat, we are TOLD he's a badarse Cabal who has destroyed worlds, but we are never SHOWN. We see a cracked Mercury being mined for resources, we see his plans to destroy the sun, but otherwise nothing is shown. Why not show him undermine us? Kill our base? Destroy Mars or any of the other planets?
And throughout the game we only see him in cutscenes. We never talk face to face, he doesn't reach out and communicate with you, he never reacts to discover you're still alive, he simply says "I won't let you escape again", despite the fact he let us go. 
*Spoilers for the ending*
And by the time you fight him, you're given a chance at unlimited Light to use your abilities against him. I understand why they're there for him, but why not let us take away his Light from him?
And even after you kill him, he emerges as a giant, Light driven being, proclaiming himself a god, before being killed by the Traveler.
We don't release the Traveler from its cage, we don't affect the electronics around it, we're just told "The Light always finds a way" for an excuse. Imagine if we could have fought him in this massive form. Sure it would be similar to The Taken King Raid, but this would have been forgivable if he was shown as invincible. Imagine Halo Reach Epilogue-like ending: Ghaul is attacking you in this form, massive waves of Cabal are flooding out attacking you, you have no possible way to survive but you fight on, desperately trying to stay alive to free the Traveler. Your Ghost realises there's a way, but we won't like it. He sacrifices himself to free the Traveler and in turn he kills Ghaul.
The Traveler's free, the Cabal retreat, and the Light returns to the galaxy, to everyone and everything but you. But a single call from your Ghost reaches you and you set off from the City to find your Ghost.
Bam. Game over, perfect set up for Destiny 3 or DLC.
But no, we get an all-is-well, the City rebuilt, not a single casualty (despite the cast complaining of it the entire game through) and one small hint at ships in dark space.
*end of spoilers*

The voice acting is fine, the main cast help hold up the game fairly well (including everyone's favourite Fillion, Nathan), and help break the monogamy against the backdrop. The Guardian's few voice lines from before have been completely dropped for mutage, which honestly I'm not too big a fan of, but whatever helps in development. 
Customisation is back in force, but if you're familiar with the previous game, than Destiny 2 shouldn't be too hard. I quickly ran into duplicates on weaponry and clothing (even on names - if I get Project Snow one more time...) which was a shame. Players can also choose the colours for their own pieces of clothing, but they only last so long and are a usage type of thing. Run out of your favourite colour scheme and you're donezo. This isn't even mentioning the smaller issues such as Sparrows and ships customisation not unlocking until you've finished the game, Strikes and Patrols not unlocking until the end as well (I still haven't found how to unlock Raids, although Nightfall makes a return so fingers crossed).
Lastly, I want to mention the microtransations. I've always been a firm believer in never mentioning them as an issue in the games I review as they are optional and totally by choice, but because Destiny has such a massive youth following, I'm putting this here as a warning to parents.
To buy Engrams in the game, you need a currency known as Silver. So far in my travels and my research, it is unavailable to find anywhere outside purchasing some from the in-game screens. Considering that Destiny 2's largest Silver purchase is a third of the cost of the game more than other FPS microtransations (in this case, Overwatch) and offers less chance and no duplicate refund back, is a concern. Parents, I do advise you to watch out in case your children ask for this.

At the end of my ranting, I haven't mentioned the Crucible or any bugs, so I'll have to sum it up here in short: it's your classic FPS. King of the Hill, Team Deathmatch and so on in new maps. Bugs were present in the game, but to their credit, a lot less than I expected with a new release. Some NPCs did glitch in the floor, enemies sometimes transported randomly and killed me (even in the singleplayer moments), but nothing gamebreaking so far. 
What else can I say about Destiny 2 at this point? Honestly, I'm simply just...disappointed. My excitement from Destiny 1 got the better of me, but this time around I went in with low expectations and still ended up disappointed. Other than the few new enemies in game, it's the same mobs, with the same tactics, with the same bosses, with the same weaknesses, with none of the lore that attracted me to the series in the first place. The Darkness wasn't even mentioned this time around as far as I could find. 

In my mind, Destiny 2 is held up by its solid gameplay, voice acting and mechanics, but so much of it lets me down in a way that unless Destiny 3, or its DLC, truly brings about massive change to the series and how its told other than "Here's a mob of enemies, kill them to advance the story", I think I'm done with this series. I don't want to be so harsh against this game, I truly don't. I highly respect Bungie and their team for creating a world that managed to entice me, and my history with gaming is tied closely to theirs, but if I don't voice my disappointments, how can I call myself a reviewer?

A lot of bang, but not enough to stave off the ebbing of disenchantment.

Destiny 2: 5/10

Beta Notes: Call of Duty WW2

G'day there guys and gals!
The following is my recollected notes on the latest Call of Duty beta! Admittedly they aren't as wide based as previous Beta Notes have been, but otherwise if you missed out on the chance to play it, this may give you an idea!
See you in November for the game's full release! Keep an eye out for the review!

• Appears to be set after DDay for the MP. Beach established and signs welcoming recruits
• FIVE classes:Infantry, Airborne, Armored, Mountain, Expeditionary. Each has their own weapon class, skill and training.
•  Decent Customisation: Set faces to choose from both male and female (POC included), Card, emblems and clan tags make a reappearance (Although only set choices). Hopefully more in full release.
• Killstreaks renamed Scorestreaks: So far only 8 have appeared in the Beta:Molotov Cocktails, Recon Aircraft, Care Package, Mortar Strike, Glide Bomb, Fighter Pilot, Artillery Barrage, Paratroopers (To replace dogs I assume)
• Divisions can be reselected and chosen at will, but weaponry must be unlocked with Tokens earned by levelling up
• Weapon Attachments unlocked the more you use the weapon.
• “Basic Training” includes 12 options available to unlock, which act as your perks: collecting ammunition, have two primary weapons, reload faster while sprinting etc
• Top 3 players can emote whole being shown off
• End-game killcam highlights best kill of round, not the final one, of either team.

Beta Playlist

•      Modes are as follows: Team Deathmatch – 8 to 12 players, 10 minutes limit to 100 Points

Domination – 8 to 12 players, unlimited time limit to 200 points
Hardpoint – 8 to 12 players, 5 minute time limit to 250 points
Most Pit – 6 to 12 players, 10 minute time limit to 100 points
War – 10 to 12 players, time and score unlimitedNew addition of War: “A Furious Allied vs Axis battle across the war-torn village of St.Lo, France.” All out onslaught against enemies.

Beta Experience

•      End-game killcams seem to lag and glitch during playback
•      Player running feels halted and sluggish, until a few seconds in and they run incredibly fast.
•      Lag in beta rating: Often. Appears to happen midway during matches while skipping killcams.
•     Having the ability to be near enemy spawn – randomise player spawn across map or not have players spawn together in groups outside initial spawn
•     Cannot fire weapons while in LT zoom animation: Bad luck for quick scopers
•     Maps are evenly distributed: elongated areas for sniping, close quarter areas for fighting.
•     Machine gun turrets appear often on maps at fixed positions.
•     Near-instant respawn times can wrack up high K/Ds and killstreaks.
•     Sub Machine/rifles have fairly accurate recoil on firing.
•     Graphics and setting change from bleak and dreary to bright and colour settings. Fighting takes place at various locations on the western front of the war.
•     Player Divisions act as Classes; pick a faction and your weaponry for it.
•     Beta Weapons were limited to 3-4 for each section. More to come likely.

Review - Infinite MiniGolf

Golf has always had a small place in my heart, and has been an experience I've shared with family for some time now. Although rare in this day and age, every few years or so I'll head to my local golf course, pay out the wazoo for nine holes and have a great time with family from near and far.
Stepping back in time, I was also a fan of minigolf, as my childhood town featured a carnival every year and I'd look forward it every summer. It was the only thing that made me brave the harsh Australian sun; a Batman and Robin Slushie and minigolf go hand in hand in my memories. 
"But what about the game?" I hear you wonder. "Why talk about your memories?". That in itself is the point; Infinite MiniGolf is charming, family friendly and in my opinion, one of the best golf games on the current gen consoles to date.

First and foremost is the gameplay. This was a game I saw in the store on launch and I immediately took interest and from the get-go, I was honestly surprised the game played incredibly well. The reason for the surprise is how the game is laid out; players have multiple options from the start such as Tournaments, Quick Play, Online Play, Creative Editor and so on. To explain these in short, Tournaments is the main focus across three separate settings (Giant Home, Nightmare Mansion, Santa's Factory) with four characters observing your progress. Online or off, your progress is tracked and while traditional golf scoring is present, your points are tallied by how you play and what you pick up along the way.
This is where the creative aspects come into play; much like 3D Ultra MiniGolf on the previous generation of consoles, Infinite MiniGolf features power-ups that can help you progress through the levels. Items such as Rocket for quick boosting, Glue to slow down, Wings for hovering at the angle you use it on, Spring for bouncing over objects and so on. Each level is tailored with specific traps and obstacles you must overcome to achieve the highest score possible. 
Where this game truly shines is in the Creative Editor. If players tire of playing Quick Play (Which features a lot of dull maps people have made quickly for achievements) and the Tournaments, the Creative Editor allows you to create your own courses in one of the three themed areas. Players can edit, mix and create whatever type of map they'd like: twisting turns that are luck based if you get to the hole, flying with power-ups that need to be timed at the perfect moment, straight and narrow bridges that require dead-eye marksmanship with your putting, whatever your heart desires. It's no secret that I personally adore when games give me this type of freedom to express myself in how I'd like to, to create things in game that others can enjoy. In an hour of making the perfect map you can upload it with a press of a button and watch as others try it out and rate it accordingly. I have experienced no bugs or issues in playing in either mode as of yet, however I must admit I wish the mapping of the Creative Editor was just slightly bigger, to accommodate into the walls of the map, but that's just splitting hairs.

Sound effects are clean and very well done, musical score is good but somewhat repetitive, especially in the menus and Creative Editor. Going from testing back to editing or edit a map for too long will kill the music (or restart it over), and this becomes a bit annoying over time. Another small nitpick would be the moving traps such as the RC Cars and planes; their buzzing will repeat over and over as soon as you add them to the course, so your ears are filled with them as you edit. Automatically pausing them until you begin to test your map would be appreciated.
Voice acting is basically non-existent and limited to your player model yelling for joy or sadness for a good/bad accomplishment on the course.
Graphics are very clean and bright, so parents don't need to worry about the Halloween themed courses scaring kids too badly. Characters in the Tournaments are also pretty friendly and mostly there for comic relief. I cannot believe I've never said this before, but Infinite MiniGolf is the first game where I've seen a vampire enthusiastically play the electric guitar before.

Lastly I want to mention the great customisation in the character models. Your choices are limited to two models (a boy or girl), but once you start leveling up the game, you may purchase new hairstyles, eye colours, shirts, shoes, pants, belts, putters etc etc at your leisure. And even as a bonus, there is no in-game Microtransations to buy these options, as the currency in the game is easily earned. Players simply have to complete holes and tasks on those courses, and most are as easy as "Make a Hole in One from 10 Meters", so parents don't have to fret about their kids using their Credit Cards to buy a new hairstyle.

It's a shame this game has mostly been overlooked by the community at large. At its launch, finding online matches was impossible, and there only existed around 400 holes made by those who purchased the game. As of writing this review, courses in the Quick Play stand at over 10'000 and the Online portion is adequately moderate, although most of the fun would be made with friends and the player created courses overall.
For the asking price of only $20, there is simply too much here with so little complaints that I cannot recommend this game enough, even if a few more tweaks would make it perfect. If you're a fan of playing Minigolf with your friends or simply need something to quench your creative thirst, I would absolutely point you towards this game.
Fun for kids and adults alike.

Infinite MiniGold - 8/10

Review - Splatoon 2

Nostalgia. Old brands. Familiar faces. It's no lie to admit that this medium of entertainment and art is no stranger to its remakes, sister releases and so on, much like the movie industry. Although it is a small disappointment to admit it, but new IPs in recent years have become a rarity, with the majority coming from smaller companies or indie developers. One of those more recent titles was Splatoon.
to simplify its premise; humanity has been reduced to Squid Kids, people with squid (and octopus) like features that can, surprise, turn into squids. With the use of neon coloured ink shot and spread from a variety of weapons, they can travel through this ink with speed and attack their fellows in a high energy shootouts. Its charm, fun nature and lightheartedness made it an icon and cult classic, and helped bolster the sales of the struggling Wii U.
Two years on, Splatoon 2 had released to the world and so far in its early released, has already launched half a million copies in Japan alone. But how does this game stand against those of us new to the series (much like myself)? In full honestly, I'm pleasantly surprised.

First and foremost, for those wanting to avoid the online portion of the game, there is a campaign known as Hero Mode. Carrying on shortly after the events of the first game, Marie had discovered that both her cousin and bandmate Callie, along with the Great Zapfish has gone missing. With help from Sheldon (The weapons expert in the game) and newly made member of Squidbreak Splatoon Agent 4 (AKA you), you traverse multiple stages and puzzles recovering the kidnapped Zapfish while searching for the lost pair.
To be frank, considering the game is primarily a multiplayer shooter, I didn't expect too much out of the campaign. The plot itself doesn't truly kick in until halfway and by then, the ending's plot twist wasn't as big a surprise as the game wanted it to be. What did make it better than expected was the map layout of each hub world and mission, the unique bosses of each area and its music. By the end of the game, the swell of music, the gameplay and everything in between felt, in the lack of the a better word, incredible. Perhaps its how the final boss fight reminded me a lot of another cult classic (where players grind on objects shooting paint at enemies - hint hint SEGA), but either way I was truly immersed with Hero Mode at that moment, despite the cliches.

There isn't much I can say about voice acting, as the majority of it are measured blubs and gurgling, but each suit their characters fairly well and work in the universe. Sound effects are clean and very well done; I especially love the attention to detail in inks, and the timing with other variables in scenes (character movement, musical changes, etc).
Gameplay in a word; excellent. Controls are simple and easy to pick up, with differences in weapons barely changing the controls. My one complain would be the motion control options in the game. I cannot speak for all, but personally speaking I couldn't much get them to work with my play style. Handheld mode, joy-cons separated, pro controller, sensitivity changes, none of it worked. A lowered sensitivity with the pro controller did make things easier to ink, but battling enemies still remained a hassle for me.

Multiplayer is what many people will be coming for, and Splatoon 2 definitely delivers. Turf Wars makes a return for players in Regular Battles. Ranked Battles features Splat Zones, Control Tower and Rainmaker, while League Battles allow you to group up with friends in these rotating modes and maps, which change every few hours, with the inclusion of Salmon Run (a sort of horde mode) also available. There are more modes and things to do but I feel its best these things be discovered on your own.
Lastly I want to mention the brilliant customisation in game; instead of a predetermined set like in the previous game, players can customise their weapon choices and clothing. Weapons harder different sub abilities you gain while playing in matches, while clothing contains boost unlocked and chosen at random. Even unaccounting for the smaller things such as the Drawing card, the ability to save sets to Amiibos and so on, this amount of  detail is greatly appreciated.

When it comes to writing reviews, I must look at many things with plain eyes, and new IPs are definitely a way to do that. To be fully honest, I expected a standard multiplayer shooter through ink guns, but what I found was a charming game where teamwork and fun are the main basis of winning a match. This is a game your children, nieces and nephews can pick up and play within a few minutes, mastering it with a few minutes more, and for us adults, its a fun and relaxing to enjoy anytime. 
Fun, charming and addictive with plenty to enjoy. A great buy for all. 

Splatoon 2 - 9/10