PixlBit

Earlier this morning I was supposed to go to the dealership to get the oil on the truck changed. Instead I moved it back a bit because I may have woken up a tad bit late due to watching not only the West Coast late airing of Billions (best show on Showtime) but watching the end of Fast and Furious (F&F 4) on another Showtime but then finding the original F&F was on yet another Showtime channel, probably their action one. Instead here we are, not at the dealership or at my usual spot, on a treadmill complaining about weird guy who dipped himself in Axe Body spray, I am here in front of a laptop typing out my thoughts for games I played this past week including one game I finished.

 

Gear.Club Unlimited - Switch

 

Right before the west coast airing of Billions I finished off the last group of races to complete the solo tour of the game. I already hit the max level of 50, had a ton of cash in the bank and my garage was ok looking. Now I’m supposed to compete in the multiplayer stuff like racing against other driver’s time and move up into the top ranks of the online game but I don’t know if I want to do this because the little in game trophies don’t mean much and while I do like the game I want to move onto other games because I don’t want a crazy mini Switch Mount Backlog, which is starting.

Going back to Gear.Club, it’s a good game. I got my racing fix, upgraded the swanky cars, and raced against some decent AI.

 

Riptide GP: Renegade - Switch

 

After watching Billions and Facetiming family I jumped into this game to continue with my racing mood. Renegade is the next game in the Riptide franchise that started on iOS/Android. They were full on racing games that were full games unlike the crap freemium games that have suffocated tablet gaming. I wanted to experience this game with actual controls, which is why I spent the extra $1 to play it on the Switch instead of my iPad. Renegade continues the same formula of jet ski-like vehicles that can be upgraded and customized while playing through some crazy courses that make you talk about how great Jet Moto was on the original Playstation.

 

You still play through a group of races, after each upgrading/customizing your character and vehicle with prize money and then you move onto the next race. Eventually you take on a boss and then you move up to the next level or races. Rinse. Repeat. Now this might sound boring but I do love racing around crazy courses where the water is constantly moving and you can pull off some crazy tricks jumping off a big wave or a ramp, both earning turbo boost if landed, all while trying to beat the other guys to the finish. For $5 it is a hell of a steal in my opinion because of what you get, a solid racing game that doesn’t look dated.

 

Arms - Switch

This is my surprise favorite game. When I watched the reveal about it during E3 or one of those game events I thought the game was dumb. It showed Switch users in a boxer stance, and it reminded me how silly some games were on the Wii. Yesterday while sitting on the couch I decided to give the little demo Nintendo offered a shot because it was free until Monday. I played a couple of matches and wow I really liked this game so I spent the $40 or so and it downloaded to my SD Card (so far 32GB is a lot of space. I might have to upgrade when I do decide to buy NBA 2K18)

 

Arms is a fun, over the top boxing like game. You have two competitors in an arena, L&R (also A&B) are punch buttons, X to jump, and Y to lean depending on which way you hit the left stick. Push down on the left stick and you block. You constantly keep moving and the goal is to knock out your opponent. In the Tournament Mode you go through a list of fighters that get more difficult as you progress (it’s not that hard), and then you take on the big boss at the end.

 

Sometimes instead of a fight there is a sports themed battle like basketball, or volleyball which adds a fun twist to what could be a repetitive game. There are other modes as well, and you can fight online, but I don’t venture online so this won’t be tried. I also found out through Google that you can unlock different hands and you can mix and match what you are using before the fight.

I’m surprised by how much I like Arms. I thought it would be a typical Nintendo game that is trying to sell the console but instead I am enjoying the game play, and wanting to complete the tournament mode with each fighter and unlocking all the gloves.

 

Toren - Steam

 

There was a bundle sale and one of the bundles I bought was for this game. From what I understand Toren is an action/adventure game where this girl goes on a quest (it seems everyone goes on a quest in games) where her adventures are added to this tree, and eventually she has to fight this big bad guy,

 

So far I’ve started the game, watched the intro movie, planted the tree and fallen off a staircase. What caught my attention is how this game looks, and the art style. Heck I like it so much I installed it to my laptop instead of my external Steam Drive hard drive. I’m going to play more in the coming days.

 

Alright Pixlpeeps I am off. Have a good week!

 

That’s all for now, more later!

-Chris