Good morning everybody,
Last night's stream started with Star Trek Online, with the big focus on course being on doing the Endeavor Quests... and regretfully , one of the quests called for playing a single PVP (player versus player) match... and this exposed one of the things the developers of Star Trek Online stopped caring about, at least in terms of 'balance' in regards to all the gear in the game. Back in the early days of Star Trek Online, a lot of patch updates involved tweaking what powers and abilities did what, but since about 2013, the developers just stopped and so any time a new console, space or ground set came out it threw things further out of what , making PVP just basically a dead concept.
Anyway we do have a couple of clips from STO for last night here.
Twitch Clip: Kick Tires Light Fires and Get Exploded Right off The Bat!
Twitch Clip: The dreadnought did not stand a chance!
Following the Star Trek Online portion, my attention turned to older games, so we hooked up the PlayStation 2 and the first thing we played was Space Jam, on the medium setting and with the 'mini games' turned off, so it was straight up 4 quarters of 5 minute basketball. Space Jam does show its age, but it is still a charming little game, and if you can pull off some of the Tunes special dunks in makes for some great moments. Playing defense is tough and it's easy to lose track of the ball. Something that does stand out is the fact the scoreboard only goes up to a max of 99, so one you score 100, it turns over to 00, so the scoring gets really fucking weird and doesn't totally reflect what is happening. Beating MonStars does cause the credits to role, so technically we beat the game and added it to the games finished list. There is another game mode called Intergalactic Tournament which would make for an interesting challenge, having to win 5 game straight using the Tune Squad without Michael Jordan that could make for an interesting night.
That said, it blows my mind the Space Jam 2: A New Legacy gets a fucking beat'em up game instead of a basketball game for it's tie in. I mean why? I was told that it was became the concept won a contest? If you have a movie that is based around basketball, you make a basketball game. An updated version of what we saw on the original PlayStation would've been great.
So, here are some clips of Space Jam:
Twitch Clip: Lola Bunny: She Don't Look Like No Doll
Twitch Clip: The Thunder From Down Under! Raz-Ma-Taz!
Twitch Clip: Le Pew For 2... Daffy Hits The Back Board!
Twitch Clip: Wile E Coyote: Super Genius Super Star
Next my attention turned to Cartoon Network Racing for the PlayStation 2, and I was surprised by the face not only is there music from the shows represented but everything is based around the early Cartoon Cartoon breakout shows (Johnny Bravo, Dexter's Labortory, Cow & Chicken, I Am Weasel, The Powerpuff Girls & Courage The Cowardly Dox), with plenty of characters (and unshockable) representing each show. It does use a variation of Mario Kart controls, and it does control a little stiffly, but there is a surprising charm to it that just works. Of course the first driver we used was Johnny Bravo... and you can mix and match between the drivers and their partners, so you can have say Dee Dee driving and Mojo Jojo being her partner for the race.
Here are some clips of this particular game
Twitch Clip: Johnny Bravo For The Win!
Twitch Clip: For Science!
Twitch Clip: Dreadful!
George of the Jungle: Search for Secret was a game I was aware of that had a bad reputation, having a 30 metric critic score. It's a 2/3D plat-former adventure that has George looking for a bunch of papers from a book that apparently is the solution for the common cold. George has several abilities basic combat, vine swinging, a ground smash to break through barriers. But the game's biggest drawback is the stiff controls combined with the punishing '3 lives and you're done' approach. Meaning once you die, you start over... or you start the level you died at with 1 life instead of 3. I can see why just based on that why the reviews were bad.
So here are some clips from it!
Twitch Clip: Figuring Out Stuff
Twitch Clip: Come on George!
Twitch Clip: Taking down the Superintendent of the Monkeys!
Lastly, for the first time ever I played SNK vs Capcom 2: Mark of the Millennium, a game that arrived in the mail yesterday morning. Choosing to go into arcade mode on default settings and going with 1 on 1 fights, I picked Sakura and made my way through it, even managing to draw out a mini-boss battle against Geese.... everything was going well until I ran into Rugal, the final boss (I think), and got my ass stomped. The game disc did glitch out (against my PlayStation 2 slim is well over 15 years old and the game disc is about 20 years old), but we gave it a good shot. Maybe I'll take another crack at it someday! On the plus side: Sakura does handle the way I like to use her in other Street Fighter / Capcom fighting games... hey she's my main for a reason!
Here are some clips of my first time messing with Capcom vs SNK 2!
Twitch Clip: Well I Beat Geese! (Arcade Mode)
Twitch Clip: Let's FN Go! Sakura vs King (Arcade Mode)
Twitch Clip: The only round I won against Rugal
Twitch Clip: Sakura vs Terry! (Survival Mode)
A long time reader of some of my old fan fiction came to me with an offer for me to write a fic involving a particular WWE Hall of Famer as a follow up to a story I did for them back in February... I liked the concept so much that I already started it!
Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout lasted 31 minutes with an estimated calorie burn of 576 kcal. It's funny that after over a year I finally start to feel I'm improving in regards to breathing with every punch thrown. Anyway we didn't do anything extra today, just stuck with the daily. We're now up to 71 out 100 for the Evan's Best Friend achievement.
Tonight we're back to God of War on the PlayStation 4, and we'll be advancing the plot forward, since we spent so much time on Side Quests last week!
And on that bombshell we'll see you later over on twitch.tv/fredcasden!
