Resident Evil 3 – Nemesis Never Left

Some would argue this game shouldn’t have been remade, citing it as the “worst Resident Evil game”, but I think that is the perfect reason to remake it. It’s finally getting some justice! I’ve played Resident Evil 3 before and the unique thing about it to me, was always the environments and the perspective from an event happening to you while you’re in the middle of the city. Almost every other Resident Evil involves the main characters purposefully heading into a dangerous situation, but this one takes you by surprise. The city is being torn apart by chaos, and someone wants you dead. Yes YOU, specifically.

In this remake, the destruction and simultaneous beauty of Raccoon City is more evident than ever before, and that’s why I think it was worth remaking. It provides an absolutely stunning spectacle, with the best graphics imaginable with more control over the gameplay than ever.

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Staying Fresh in Quarantine!

When you’re stuck inside there’s always a risk of getting bored or falling into bad habits. Right now we’re lucky to have a brand new Animal Crossing game to keep us busy, but there are certain things your body and mind need to stay happy while you are isolated. Your body needs to move around, your brain needs stimulation, and you need to feel connected. I’m going to give suggestions on how to keep things fresh and stay off the hook. This is purely from a gaming perspective. Of course you can exercise and read books as well, but if you’re here then there’s a good chance that gaming is a rewarding part of your life. Instead of getting burnt out, this could be a great time to get even more joy out of it.

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All That Remains

During a decluttering phase in 2018 I found a deal that seemed too good to be true. A New Zealand based online store, Fishpond, would stock, advertise and sell my used games and give me a portion of the revenue. All I had to do would be post a box full of stock to them, they’d even cover postage and just take the costs from my first $15 of revenue. So a found a Hello Fresh box, filled it with almost all my remaining DS games, half my Wii collection, piles of DVDs and posted it to Auckland 5000kms away. The scheme was too good to be true and after 18 months, Fishpond emailed me to say that they were shutting it down and offered to post me back my remaining stock for the cost of postage. The DVDs could stay, but I asked for my games back. And then the world as we know it ended.

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Doom 64 – Point & Click & Rip & Tear

Another Doom game? You sure mate?

Commonly mistaken as a port of the original Doom, Doom 64 is an original game with its own unique level design, enemies and graphics engine. This is the “third” classic style Doom after 1 and 2, with its own game engine created specifically for the N64. It feels pretty much the same, except the difference with this is that it’s more of a remaster than a port. Doom 1 and 2 have stayed the same since the 90s, but this game has been given a huge upgrade with this Switch port. This is extremely crisp, high-res, widescreen N64 goodness in all its glory. It’s so nice to see games of this era without the blur and slowdown, and I give huge props to Nightdive Studios for bringing both this and Turok back to life on Switch. This game looks really good and plays well.

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Trials of Trails of Cold Steel 3 – Switch Demo

After 20 minutes of this demo I was ready to delete it from my Switch forever. You start off in a busy gameplay sequence at level 35, with dozens of arts, crafts, attacks and formations that make no sense. A battle starts and there are 8 menu buttons for each character. There’s all sorts of bars, EP, CP, HP, TP, NPD, ESRB. Nobody has an actual name, they are just labelled “Pink Haired Girl” or “Blue Haired Guy” etc. for every colour you can think of, it feels like a parody. Is the game meant to be like this? Some kind of war is going on and more characters join you, then more characters appear until you have lost count of everyone and you can’t tell who is on what side. Nothing makes any sense but the music is cool.

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I know nothing about video games, but there’s something fishy about Animal Crossing and COVID-19

A guest post from Roland's partner.

With our lives suddenly controlled by social distancing and quarantine, my boyfriend and I are spending dramatically more time together. I thought this might be a wholesome bonding experience, however he’s dedicating almost his entire time to some game called Animal Crossing. I don’t know if you’ve heard about it? I hadn’t, but it’s popped up in my socials a bit and apparently it’s a bit of a big deal. So anyway, I thought I’d sit down and watch a bit, and after just 5 min I am 100% convinced this game is intricately connected, if not entirely responsible, for the covid19 pandemic. Let me explain:

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Rhythm Fit Adventure – Pushup Superstar

First I would like to offer my sympathies to everyone who can’t find a copy of this game. Ring Fit Adventure is sold out across the world, and it’s gonna be a while before it’s readily available again. Even when it launched it was selling well, but now with the virus situation it’s sold out everywhere as a practical way to exercise indoors. It’s being resold on places like eBay for triple the retail price, and Nintendo’s also had to slow down production a bit. Who would have thought it would be this hot an item? Well, at Pietriots we already knew Ring Fit Adventure was Better Than Real Life, and it was also my personal Game of the Year in the Pietriots end of year podcast. Okay, enough gloating.

If you are one of the lucky million people who got their hands on Ring Fit early on, good news! A free update has just launched with a brand new rhythm mode. It features 17 new songs, with two ways to play and multiple difficulties. The songs are mostly from Ring Fit itself, with a couple of guest songs from other Nintendo games like Super Mario Odyssey, Breath of the Wild, Splatoon 2 and Wii Fit.

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Bravely Default 2 – Demo Impressions

Surprise! A meaty demo for a hotly anticipated JRPG just stealth-dropped during the mini Nintendo Direct while you were playing Animal Crossing. The Bravely Default 2 demo is free, and appears in the New Release section of the eShop as its own thing, since there’s no page for the main game yet. The demo is a 2.3GB download, and claims to have a different story to the main game with harder battles, in order to encourage everyone to experiment with the job system and get used to being Brave and Default.

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Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Welcoming Wisp

It’s been a busy few days. I’ve just turned my tent into a house, and after heavy construction the island of Straya already has its own Museum. We all gathered outside for a big celebration, with lots of clapping, laughing and party poppers. It was a wild two minutes and everyone had a great time, including all the other island residents. Both of them had gone to bed, but I was too full of adrenaline to sleep after all that hype. There wasn’t much in the Museum yet, but it was just going to be the start of a huge attraction that would bring people to the island from all around the world. It was just the first of many projects I’ve been discussing with Nook, and after a successful Museum opening we can move on to the next thing.

With today’s work done, I was winding down with some fishing. It’s a good activity to calm the senses. A cool ocean breeze washed over my face, while the soft splashes of waves soothed my ears. I was walking along the shore looking for my next fish, when something else caught my eye.

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Doom 3 – Rip & Tear in Isolation

It’s time to RIP AND TEAR! AW YE!

Oh, this is awkward. Why’s everyone just standing around? Right, there’s no enemies, of course. Don’t mind me, I’ve just been playing a lot of Doom 1 and 2. Doom 3 however has a very different feel.

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Yoku’s Island Express – Pinball Platforming

Don’t mind me, I’m just a dung beetle doing my best. It’s a little hard to see with this big ball of poop in front of me, but I just roll with it. Life is all about perspective, and I take things with a side-on view. Getting from one place to another can be difficult, but life is all about the journey itself and I’m having a lot of fun.

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A Plague Tale: Innocence – Life Before Toilet Paper

The year is 1343 AD, in a small village in medieval-era France. You’re having a nice day when a messenger runs into town screaming. There’s been an outbreak!

The Black Death! It’s coming! The plague is coming!

What do you do? Do you believe it? Do you assume the worst, or shrug it off? This could be a lie to force people out of town. It could be true. It could have taken weeks for this news to get here. Some people hid in their homes. Some people traveled to find more information. Some took to alchemy. Some descended into madness and violence. A Plague Tale: Innocence tells this story from the very vulnerable perspective of young children. They are separated from their parents, and forced to face a mass outbreak of disease on their own, dealing with all the best and worst aspects of human behavior on the way.

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Resident Evil Revelations 2 – Vacation Isle

Barry Burton is back in all his low-budget glory, with more greys than ever. The identity of this game is subject to a bit of confusion, which makes it a great game to write about. What is it? Let’s backtrack to the original game first. Resident Evil Revelations started as a spinoff title on the 3DS, with the idea of making a traditional Resident Evil game on a handheld. It kept the 3D gameplay style of RE4 and RE5, and introduced a brand new story on a spooky cruise ship. It was very exciting at the time and an impressive accomplishment on a handheld. It was so successful they made a digital-only episodic sequel for home consoles. It’s a semi-sequel to Revelations that also ties into the main series. It started with just one episode, then they slowly added three more until it was finished. Now, after every episode of Revelations 2 has been released, it’s available as a full package on Nintendo Switch and finally feels like a normal game.

You wot m8? Innit Resident Evil or not?

Yes. It’s an awesome and legit Resident Evil game.

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Pietriots Radio – Episode 6 (Snack World, Coronavirus, Resident Evil 3 and Platinum Games)

We’re back! Straight from the freshly cleaned Pie Studio comes a brand new episode. Join Grubdog, Akai (Bill), Deguello, RABicle, Pro Daisy and Matto as we talk about current games we’re playing, the impact of coronavirus on gaming, the future of new game consoles, and upcoming games like Animal Crossing, Resident Evil 3make and Platinum Games developments.