Books by RedDogFun:

When I reviewed the original Octopath Traveler almost five years ago, I absolutely loved it. I was completely smitten with its art style, its spiritual and artistic connections to the 16-bit JRPGs I grew up with, and its amazing battle system. Playing Octopath Traveler 2, I was excited to see everything I loved about the original return. What’s surprising, however, is how little it’s advanced in the last half-decade. In fact, outside of the specific stories being told, Octopath Traveler 2 is almost indistinguishable from its predecessor. That means it’s just as great in many ways, but that lack of novelty also makes it a bit less magical the second time around.

Because Octopath Traveler 2 is so similar to its excellent predecessor, there’s no reason not to go back and play the original...

I had been under the impression that bringing a gun to a knife fight was strictly the Chicago way, but apparently it was the way of the samurai too – at least if the mix of gunslinging and sword-swinging in Like a Dragon: Ishin! is any indication. This 2023 remake of a 2014 Yakuza series spin-off that was previously only available to Japanese audiences transposes the tried and tested street fighting formula from modern Tokyo onto the final days of Japan’s Edo period, replacing the weaponised traffic cones and potted plants with katanas and primitive pistols...

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Mafia, Day Six. Prison Break

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Mafia, Day Five. The war rages on…

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Mafia, Day Four. It’s War!

Remember when Final Fantasy 7’s Aerith and Sephiroth teamed up with Final Fantasy X’s Yuna and Seymour Guado to fight Gilgamesh and Kefka from Final Fantasy 5 and 6? While that might sound ridiculous, you can make it happen in Theatrhythm Final Bar Line thanks to the power of music. The latest in Square Enix’s rhythm series had me tapping both my feet and fingers as I matched the beat alongside 35 years of my favorite Final Fantasy songs with some very light RPG gameplay. It’s a colorful and enjoyable journey, and one I had a hard time putting down.

The Theatrhythm series has always been about assembling a party of four recognizable RPG characters to tap, slide, and hold buttons to the music, leveling them up as you go...

Just before my group of four young astronauts with major, personal conflicts of interest blast off to the red planet, I’m assured by our team leader that, while some corners had to be cut to get our ship spaceworthy, it should do its job just fine. And it does… kind of. Which is a great metaphor for Deliver Us Mars as a whole. This platforming, puzzle-solving, interplanetary adventure is trying to do too much with too little, and it ends up touching down just North of adequate.

The backstory for our plucky, rebellious, sometimes even endearing hero, Kathy, is that she was separated from her father Isaac just before he boarded a colonization mission bound for Mars...

My YouTube Channel: Red Dog Fun

Mafia, Day Three

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Mafia

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Mafia