VIRTUAL BASTION

Super Mario Party Finally Gets It Right!

I’ve been a fan of the Mario Party series since the very first one back on the the Nintendo 64. I’ve played countless hours across Mario Party 1, 2 and 3, and moderately enjoyed the first couple of entries on the GameCube. Ever since then though, I’ve been waiting for an entry in the series…

My Biggest Question Mark of 2019: Anthem

When Anthem was first announced in 2017, I immediately jumped on the “no way” bandwagon. At the time, while I continued to harbor mixed if mostly positive vibes for Mass Effect: Andromeda, I was mostly suffering from open-world fatigue. I just couldn’t see myself investing in yet another large scale and potential meandering space/adventure/combat game,…

Sonic Team Leader Might Want to Remake Sonic Adventure

When Sonic Mania was released, we all were convinced that Sonic Team and the Sonic fanbase had finally reached an understanding. We thought that Sonic was finally on the right track. …and then they released Sonic Forces, putting everything back to square one. I’d say Sonic Team doesn’t know how to get Sonic right, but…

Trophies: My Final (Late) Gripe of 2018

The year of 2018 was a decent year for gaming, and 2019 is looking like it’ll be even better. After spending this last month talking about all the good things we’ve seen this year and all the great stuff coming next year, I figured now would be the best time to finally talk about something…

Listmas 2018: Games that I Want to Play (or Finish) Next Year

Merry Christmas (belatedly) and Happy New Year (almost)! Hope you’ve enjoyed our #Listmas posts as much as we’ve enjoyed writing them. 🙂 Here now, with 2019 coming into plain sight, it’s the perfect time to look forward into my gaming crystal ball to see what games, old and new, will hopefully receive some quality time…

Listmas 2018: Games I Want to Play Next Year

Last week, the Duck talked about games I didn’t get around to playing in 2018. In my final Listmas post, I shall be looking to the future and listing the games I plan to play in 2019! There are some pretty good ones coming up this year….

Listmas 2018: Games I Can’t Wait to Play!

Welp, the end of 2018 will soon be upon us. Much like 2017 before it, it was both a great and terrible year for gaming. The highs reached were almost astronomical while some of the lows really couldn’t get much lower if they tried. That said, 2019 is looking like it’ll be even better, and…

YouTube Highlights, Weekly Edition #87

Hello, good people, one and all. On this happy Friday we wish all of you, in advance, a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! It’s hard to believe that we’ve almost reached the end of 2018 – this year has felt fast and slow all at once! And throughout it all, we’ve had a…

Listmas 2018: Games I Didn’t Play This Year

Up next in our #Listmas rounds is a simple question: What games did you not play this year but wanted to? My game radar this year remained honed in on Red Dead Redemption II for most of it. But that doesn’t mean my head was in the sand otherwise. A number of awesome games presented…

GRIS is Something Special

I realize Wednesdays are usually news days around here, but I’ve got something a little more important to talk about this week. There’s no crisis that needs discussing or anything, just an excellent game that feel deserves all the attention it can get. As you might have guessed from the title, that game is GRIS.

Listmas 2018: Games I Didn’t Get to Play This Year

With 2018 nearly at an end, we’re spending this week listing the games we wanted to play, but didn’t get around to. The Duck’s list is going to include games released in 2018, plus a few others.

Listmas 2018: Games I Didn’t Get Around To

Merry Listmas everyone! As long as the year is, it’s still very easy to run its entire length and still miss out on playing at least a few of the games you’d planned on spending some time with. Just like with my last list, I wasn’t sure how to build this one at first. This…

YouTube Highlights, Weekly Edition #86

Greetings one and all, and welcome to our latest YouTube Highlights post! TGIF, right?! Why not take a break from all the pre-holiday silliness by joining in on our Let’s Plays? Not only are we continuing to feature several ongoing titles, as well as our classic game series, “Nostalgic Notions,” but we’ve got something all-new…

Listmas 2018: The Devil in is the Details in Red Dead Redemption II

Setting aside my personal feelings about Red Dead Redemption II, the fact remains that Rockstar created a very different and very special game. While it doesn’t do everything perfectly game-wise, it contains some of the most incredible details I’ve ever encountered in a game. When small moments add up to something bigger and are able…

Beyond Good And Evil 2 Gets Explained

Beyond Good and Evil 2 is a game that’s been in the making for about 10 years. That’s not 10 years of continuous development mind you, but rather how long the rumors of its existence have been floating about. So when fans got to see actual in-game footage of this long-fabled project at E3 2018,…

Listmas 2018: Top Games with Stylized Graphics

With video game graphics getting more and more realistic, the games that really stand out to me above all others are actually those with interesting and unique art styles. There’s certainly something to be said for a game that looks like a work of art, and below, I’d like to list my top examples of…

Listmas 2018: Games I Didn’t Think I’d Like (But Did Anyway)

Most of time, I only buy games I’m pretty sure I’m going to like. Games aren’t cheap things after, neither in terms of money nor in time. If I’m going to invest in a game, I want to know that I’ll enjoy my time with it. That said, I wound up taking more than a…

YouTube Highlights, Weekly Edition #85

And so it is…that time. That time of the week to…to…have some fun! Yes, we are here to welcome in another weekend by celebrating our week’s YouTube Highlights! We are in the thick of things with lots of 3D platforming and adventuring thanks to the like of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze and Vexx. And if…

Listmas 2018: Most Memorable Moments

Happy Listmas, one and all! It’s that grand time of year where gaming lists rule! We are very pleased to celebrate this blogging holiday once again, and hope that you enjoy the plethora of lists that we have in store for you this month, some of which are themed, while others are of our own…

Destiny 2’s Black Armory Has Arrived

The first installment of Destiny 2: Forsaken’s Annual Pass, Black Armory, is here. Instead of the minor update many fans were fearing, it seems that this is will indeed be a proper piece of DLC instead. As the name might imply, the Black Armory is bringing players a new set of weapons to play around…

Listmas 2018: Most Memorable Odyssey Moments

Listmas is back for another season of list-making mayhem! Santa’s got his list of good and naughty children. We here at Virtual Bastion have lists for more gaming topics than you can shake a Wiimote at. In recent months, I got the immense joy of playing Super Mario Odyssey. Though I had many memorable moments…

Listmas 2018: Top Gaming Moments

At long last Listmas 2018 is here and we’re kicking things off by listing our most memorable gaming moments of the whole year. This list was actually a little trickier to build than I though it would be. Despite having less time to just game than I’ve ever had before, I still managed to play,…

Pauline’s Coming To Mario Tennis Aces!

Nintendo released a new trailer a earlier this week revealing some of the new characters coming to Mario Tennis Aces early next year. The first two weren’t anything particularly special: just Luma and Boom Boom. Dunno who Boom Boom even is, but Luma is a nice addition; I was starting to wonder if we’d get…

I’m Grateful For: Overlooked Conveniences

Good day, dear readers! Are you ready to be thankful! I can’t hear you!!! Ahem, it’s time to discuss a few more things the Duck is grateful for in celebration of Thanksgiving. Today will be a random collection of convenient gaming features the Duck appreciates that most people probably overlook.

Making Time For Live Services

Ever since Destiny 2: Forsaken came out back in September, I’ve really been trying to put time into the game. I’ve raised my character up to 585 Power (close to max), did all the strikes, got some nice loot, spent plenty of time in the Crucible with my trust Main Ingredient fusion rifle, and even…

Don’t Forget About ‘Gooigi’

The Luigi’s Mansion remake for the Nintendo 3DS has been out for a couple weeks now and it’s actually pretty good. Aside from the somewhat wonky controls required by the 3DS, the game plays well and even adds some extra challenge for players who’ve already mastered the Gamecube original. Upon completing the game, players can…

I’m Grateful For: Certain Life Changes

In celebration of Thanksgiving, we here at Virtual Bastion have decided, in the spirit of gratitude, to discuss some of the things we’re thankful for in the world of gaming. As I thought over my life, I recalled several things about my early years as a gamer that I’m grateful for…or am grateful that have…

‘Entitlement’ Goes Both Ways

The announcement of the mobile game Diablo: Immortal has been controversial to say the least. For those unaware, the basic gist is this: at BlizzCon 2018, Activision Blizzard decided to announce a brand new mobile Diablo game known as “Diablo: Immortal,” and it sparked a great deal of outrage among fans both in attendance at…

Co-Op Comes to Tomb Raider with ‘The Forge’ Challenge Tomb

Tomb Raider games have always been solo experiences, and that’s held true with the most recent entry in the reboot series: Shadow of the Tomb Raider. However, it appears that’s changed with the arrival of the game’s first DLC challenge tomb: “The Forge.” In this new challenge tomb, two players can work together to solve…

Super Mario Odyssey was…Wow

Though I’m about a year late, I am thrilled to have finally gotten the opportunity to play Super Mario Odyssey on Nintendo’s newest and most innovative console yet. Though I had a rather unhappy history with Mario’s first 3D outing on the N64, Super Mario 64, that doesn’t mean that I don’t prefer playing as…

Warcraft III Is Coming Back

At last week’s BlizzCon, Blizzard made a couple of announcements they were absolutely certain would make their crowd of fans go wild with delight. One was for the now infamous Diablo: Immortal…the fallout for which they’re still running damage control. Seriously though, why on earth would they think that hyping up and announcing a mobile…

Rare Scares: Thaaank Yooouuu…

Good day (or perhaps good evening) to all you lovely citizens of the night! Halloween is almost upon us, and that means Rare Scares month has almost passed. They haven’t all been scares per se, but I’d say Rare’s oddly scary reputation still stands. This final scare isn’t really all that creepy at first glance…

Rare Scares: King Zing Sting

Rare Scares is in full swing here at Virtual Bastion, and we’re leaving no stone unturned as we look at all the ways Rare has managed to startle, spook, or outright scare us over the years. Most of the time the scares come from the obvious horror-themed zones like Haunted Hall, but there are time…

Festival of the Lost Has Returned to Destiny

October is in full swing now; this means that Rare Scares is in full effect here at Virtual Bastion and Festival of the Lost has finally returned to the world of Destiny. Since Destiny 2 only just launched last year, Bungie decided to skip the event, and considering all the cruddiness and controversy surrounding the…

Rare Scares: Kackle

Last week I kicked-off my segment of Rare Scares month with the Temple Guardian from DK64. I was pretty sure at the time that that would be my only entry from the Donkey Kong games, but here we are with another one, and from Donkey Kong Country 2 no less! DKC2 is probably my absolute…

Borderlands 2 Is Coming to PSVR

Vault Hunters rejoice! Borderlands 2 is bringing its signature looting and shooting experience to PSVR! This new version features (almost) everything fans loved about the original, plus a few extras to make the VR experience flow just a bit more smoothly.

Fun with FF7’s Chocobo Breeding

When I play video games, I usually enjoy focusing on the main game first and foremost. Anything outside that, more often than not, feels like a waste of my time. And yet, when I give said diversions a chance, they often turn out to be much more fun than I would have expected. A recent…