Recent reviews by Oniell Ford, Kaiju Expert

This guide is dedicated to my long time best friend Amari AKA BillyGoat.

Lemme tell you the funny story of how he became a Yooka-Laylee fan...

He initially thought the game was about "learning shapes and colors". I told him that it wasn't and was a spiritual successor to a family favorite N64 game called "Banjo-Kazooie". I encouraged him to look into the game as it wasn't a kid-only thing. One night I was going through one of Kartos' challenges when I saw a notification pop up. "One viewer has started watching your stream!". I thought "That's strange! I don't remember streaming anything!". I checked, and sure enough it was BillyGoat. I said "Why are you watching my 'stream'? I thought you didn't like Yooka-Laylee!" and he said "fniell (that was his favorite name for me), I did what you suggested and I just can't get enough of this game!". I was surprised and happy to see his reaction! He told me that watching me stream it on Steam was the closest thing he'll get to actually playing the game. Every time it was his birthday or was a time when I had enough cash to spend on something for myself, I tried buying him the game since I thought he deserved it. He was always there for me and never hurt me. He helped me through the toughest of times. So when it became time to buy it for him, he'd stop me and ask what the required specs for the game were. Sadly, due to his poor life, he couldn't afford it nor could his mom's laptop sustain it. When the sequel to the game (Yooka-Laylee and The Impossible Lair) came out I thought "This is a smaller game compared to the previous one! It should work for his laptop!". When I shown him the game and we checked the specs, it still wasn't able to be ran. This isn't much of a spoiler but there's a character in the game that calls out for his assistant named "Billy". Ironic, isn't it?

On 30 March 2022, I woke up to the news that Amari (BillyGoat's real name) had died of a ruptured appendix. He lived in Jamaica and despite living on the rich side of the country, his family couldn't afford him being put in the hospital nor was he able to be delivered there in time to save him. I reinstalled Yooka-Laylee and completed it in tribute to him. Amari's friend "Kes" (who knew him in real life) was the one who broke the news. He & I have been close friends ever since, keeping the spirit of Amari alive.

Rest In Peace Amari. The young man who saved me from some of the darkest times of my life!

And now, the review...

Yooka-Laylee was of interest to my family & I. My parents raised my brother & I on video games. And "Banjo-Kazooie" (the inspiration for this game) was a favorite of ours. We always wanted there to be a "Banjo-Threeie" ("Nuts N' Bolts" was a good game. But it wasn't "Banjo-Kazooie" enough to feel like a real sequel). When Playtonic announced that they were making a spiritual successor to the B-K series, my family & I were hyped. We got the game when it came out. My family members were a little confused initially. But we eventually came to know it as a fun game to play.

Yes, it seems a little bit like a Banjo-Kazooie game. It does feature the return of some familiar mechanics from the B-K series, keeps the goofy sense of humor and has a cast of colorful characters, but I wouldn't call it an outright "reskin" of Banjo-Tooie. For examples: You can't separate the two characters, you can't play as side characters to obtain specific Pagies (the primary item of the game's scavenger hunt) and you can't connect each world to access unreachable areas. But does that make Yooka-Laylee any lesser? No! It's a newly made scavenger hunt game being introduced to a new generation! And since it's the first installment, they have to start small to give room for later improvement. Why put all the handy and innovative mechanics into the first installment? How are you going to improve upon that in the sequels?

To be fair, this is a good game. It's a good "first installment". But it isn't all THAT good of an improvement over "Banjo-Tooie" (the game's predecessor). This does bring back nostalgia for us old gamers but gives the new generation some of it's own nostalgia.

Positives

- Good mechanics.
- Tough challenges.
- Hilarious plot.
- Wonderful soundtrack.

Negatives

- Tonics (unlockable abilities) tend to soften the difficulty (except for one).
- Boring enemies that are more of an annoyance than an actual threat.
- Large landscapes that make searching for items or characters without a minimap a chore.

Overall rating: 7/10

My brother & I have been playing this game a lot over the years. We have this on PS2. We love this game and always wanted to see a PC release. But when we found that there was no multiplayer in the PC version, we were pretty disappointed. We always played multiplayer together even with other friends. I thought about an easy way of implementing co-op. At first, I wanted Bagzton or Isabella to be Player 2. But that didn't make sense since Isabella gets kidnapped and Bagzton never fights. So I came up with something simple: Player 1 recruits a soldier and Player 2 controls that soldier. So, without further ado....


Thanks,
- Oniell.

My favorite Terminator games....

“__________ __________”
Bethesda's "Future Shock/SkyNET"
“Terminator (Sega CD)”
“Terminator Salvation”

"Terminator Resistance" just took top spot. This game is that good! It answers many questions asked by the fans over the years. (Don't worry. I won't spoil them for you.) I hate bad language and I'm against nudity in video games. But this game made up for it in the end. The only thing that they should've had was co-op. My brother & I are major Terminator fans. We've always wanted a co-op Terminator game. It's the only reason why "Salvation" is on my list of favorites. But a free roaming co-op Terminator game? Hell yeah! That would be the perfect Terminator game for us! Regardless, this game is amazing.

As mentioned by someone I knew, watching the first two Terminator movies and immediately playing this is a perfect conclusion to James Cameron's vision of the Terminator franchise.

The DLC mission "Infiltrator Mode" is a real treat for any Terminator fans! Once again, it explains a few more questions fans have had. Nice job, Teyon! This certainly is your passion project for the franchise! :)

8/10

P.S. Although this isn't the best Terminator game, it is a breath of fresh air from the post-90s era of crappy or mediocre Terminator games.

Pretty fun game. A little unfair sometimes. But fun. I hate the lack of a chat system (similar to Fallout 76). The game is still in development so it's bound to have bugs and errors. Not much variety in content either. But I don't know what everybody's crying over about the matchmaking system. I start a match and get a full party in about a minute. I don't ever have to wait thirty minutes for people to join.

Fantastic game! Great story, great gameplay, great sense of humor and great fun! So many stories are told in this game. Some with morals I agreed with and others that I didn't. This game can last for a very long time. There's a "New Game +" feature, but I'm not going to play that. Not until some time in the future when I have a lot of free time.

Special thanks goes to Ortepo for gifting this game to me for my birthday! The "Mothra" fight in this game was awesome. I totally didn't expect it! lol You rock, man! :D

- Oniell.

CHAMPIONS ONLINE REVIEW

Greetings, all! Welcome to my review of my all time favorite MMO called "Champions Online".

My Gameplay Experience

(For a full description, visit my Blogspot. Link coming soon!)

For years, I've played this game. It is my second most played game on Steam. I have a total of 2,567 hours on record. That's a total of 106.96 days. I love Champions Online. It gave me the inspiration to write stories and (non-sexually, you perverts! -_-) roleplay in-game as my characters to develop their background. I roleplayed as my characters with friends, my brother and even complete strangers. Their support and input made much of my stories possible. Champions Online is where my first and most famous fan fiction story came from: Blood & Steel.

Shortly after using Steam, I was hyped for "Star Trek Online". When Cryptic obtained the rights to STO, I saw that they made "Champions Online". They were having a free weekend for the Halloween event. So I decided to give it a try. I was into Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' "Watchmen" when I first discovered this game. When I made a character and saw that the police worked together with superheroes was strange to me. But I got used to it eventually. lol

My brother & I loved this game. Of course, my brother made a rip-off of Deadpool on my account which nearly got my account deleted when they were doing a crackdown on players making characters based on copyrighted ones. Won't get fooled again! lol I made my first characters "Agent E. Blake", "Dark Owl" and "Metal Overlord". My main was Agent E. Blake. He had (honestly) the most famous Nemesis of all my characters: Communism Man. He was shown in the middle of my "Champions Online 1st Year Anniversary" video. He got a lot of praise from other players. I was proud of creating him.

We joined guilds and fought with our leaders many times. But, in the end, we had fun. Making a Nemesis was fun. I was so proud of my brother when he tried following me in making stories for our characters. Making characters and costumes was a little overwhelming at first, yeah, but it was easy to adjust to over time.

Champions Online was one of the first MMOs to have achievements in them, unlocking titles and costume pieces (which required a lot of effort to do). The game was one of the first to have "microtransactions" in them. But the in-game money was interesting. It wasn't the typical "gold, silver and copper" money you'd see in modern MMOs. It was reputation. "Charity", as they once called it. Cryptic loved us and we loved them. They gave us the first large-scale expansion/DLC "Vibora Bay" for FREE! They asked us, the community, and they delivered. THAT was dedication! Soon, the game became free-to-play.

However, after 11 years, the game is finally falling. "Star Trek Online" was making them more money than they could count. Champions Online was losing members, Cryptic stopped giving the CO community the updates they deserved and they began transforming it into mandatory pay-to-play game. With repetitive holiday events as "game updates". A lame cash cow. They even spam you with lock boxes!

That's all Cryptic wants from the Champions Online community now: Money and nothing else.

Pros
- Detailed character creation.
- A lot of in-universe lore.
- Great weapon and power Customization.
- Community roleplay support.

Cons
- Lazy Developers.
- No new updates.
- No more "monthly" subscription. Only subscription option is the $300 lifetime subscription.
- You have to pay for the most basic features of character customization.
- Dying community.
- Minimal PvE and PvP content.

Review Score (Pre-STO)
8.7
Review Score (Post-STO)
2.1

Afterword
As much as I love Champions Online, I'm not going to recommend it. If it was the same as it used to be, I'd recommend it. If you want to play it for free, go ahead. Play it while you can.

Thank you for the years of fun memories despite all the pain!

*Salute*

- Oniell.

Good game. Graphics are the only difference. See my previous review for everything else.

One of the first games that lets you go in and go in and go in and go in and go in and go in like U.S. Marshals! At first the mighty GabeN thought "I never asked for this", but I said "What a shame!" and gave him my money. I Installed the game. Nothing happened. I punched the computer for an orange soda, but it gave me lemon lime. IT'S THE MAINTENANCE MAN!!! HE KNOWS I LIKE ORANGE!! Then, my computer shouted "OH MY GOD, JC!! A BOMB!!" So I averted the crisis by performing a non-lethal takedown. It was all in the numbers (each one being "terror"). UNATCO? Savage. UNATCO? Savage. UNATCO? No, Savage. It took me a week 6 months to complete the game. I'm still waiting for that mythical "Revision" on top of the hills to come.

(In all honesty, buy this game. The fun I had was beyond mere words!)

- Oniell.

**EDIT: I feel real stupid. I just realized the differences between the Steam copy and an emulator. My apologies for the idiotic comment on the graphics!**

Terrific game! I grew up playing Turok on the Nintendo 64. This game made it sooooo much easier to play than on an emulator with a controller! But, other than the audio, I saw nothing different than using an emulator. The game looked exactly like an emulator copy.

Still, I had a lot of fun playing! Worth buyin' just for the memories. ;)

P.S. My favorite part in the game? Shouting "I... am TUROK!!"

If you're a fan of Spider-Man, you might enjoy it. But, if you're a video gamer, you probably won't.

***UPDATE***
Despite how disappointing the game is, it still turned out better than the movie it was based on.

P.S. Carnage. 'Nuff said!