PSA: Forced site change

If you don't live in an area that connects to a European server to connect to this site, feel free to ignore the following

So I just got a notification from Google and Blogger concerning law changes. Due to the fact that I'm not connecting via a European network, I cannot check to see if the notification is showing up, altering European users that this site does indeed use cookies. Both Blaster's Projects and Blaster's Reviews use, to my knowledge, two types of tracking cookies, one for analytics, so that I can see what pages are being viewed, where and what operating system and browser are being used. The other is concerning the Ads that are displayed on the reviews site. There are potentially more that I am not aware of though.

For those who don't know what they are, Tracking cookies, normally just called cookies, a small trackers that many sites use to gather data. Some use them to gather more... inappropriate data then others. To give an easy example most will know, if you're familiar with the "100 in the "x" area want to talk to you" popups, its those tracking cookies they use to find out the suburb you live in, not magic or lucky guesses. Cookies should easily be detected by your anti virus and clearing your browser history should delete any that the Anti virus doesn't get.

This is basically going up on both sites so that, should anything happen, I can use this to inform people of what's actually being used. If there are any more cookies used on this that anyone should know about that directly affects them pop up, I'll add them into this. The only other one I know about is one that only affects me, it just makes sure that my own viewing of the sites don't tamper with the analytics.

On a side not, by only one vote (at time of writing), it looks like I will be covering Ben Drowned tomorrow, that could still change though.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask: "This wasn't what I meant by 'when the moon goes down'"

With the sucsess of Ocarina of Time, its no surprise that Nintendo wanted a second game on the N64, now to use the expansion pack accessory for the system. With the use of Ocarina of Time's engine, what many regard to be one of the creepiest games ever made came to be. Time to look at the game that makes children scared of faces on the moon, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. Like with Ocarina of Time, while I will be taking screenshots from both games, I've used the recent 3DS remake as the base of this review. Also, this WILL contain spoilers for Ocarina of Time as well as Majora's Mask.

First Impressions: Spectre: Back to the bar for this one

What do you think of when you hear "London Spy", I'm sure most of you think of "Bond, James Bond" (don't judge me, of course I was going to word that in). With a film series that has existed since 1962 and a book series since 1953, there's a reason why he's an iconic character. This film though took me off guard, as I had no idea this was happening. But, it is, so time to delve into Bond's latest outing: Spectre.

Opening Impressions: Star vs. The Forces of Evil: I hope the magic you believe in isn't this magic...

Its not often I'm lost for words with content... but this... this... I can't...


Star vs. The Forces of Evil.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: How doth thou stand the test of time?

The 32/64 bit era was a time of dramatic change in the industry. It was the push from 2D to 3D, it was the rise of Sony with the PlayStation. New genres were made, new characters created, and it was a time where games would become legends thanks to what they bring to the table. Often regarded as one of, if not the greatest game of all time. A legend in its own right, introducing mechanics that wouldn't only be used in later installments of the Zelda series, but also games of other genre's to this day. But before I start, I must ask you. For right now, A Dark time is approaching. Willst thou run? Or Fly? Wilst thou sink? Or Swim? Willst thou finish? Or Die trying?" "Willst thou soar? Or willst thou suck?" "Willst thou flee? Or Fight? And in the end Willst thou get the girl? Or play like one?" Sexist quote from a 90's commercial out of the way (I'm not kidding, child friendly Nintendo green lit that for their commercials of this game), time to look at "the game that became a legend": The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the... I mean Ocarina of Time.

I know its not the cover, but I'd rather do one shared between both, not a version exclusive

Hatfall: Why? Because I'm bored right now.

Sometimes when I'm bored, I'll look around, maybe play a browser game, or what I probably should be doing, catching up on sleep. However in this case, I went for the first option because "Live while you're alive, sleep while you're dead" and another reason you may or may not know of in the future... So Hatfall...

I'll start with the plot, as I could clear it in one sentence. To paraphrase a paraphrase in the game itself. Hats are falling, you need a hat.What else were you expecting? It's a browser game also in smart phones.

Gameplay wise, you do just that, you get hats. You use the left and right arrows to position yourself under an object and hope its a hat, the more hats you get, the more of a chance you have to get unlockable costumes and items, to which, by the looks of it, they're all purely cosmetic. Levels get harder by adding in more dumb AI walls and more chances of objects not being hats, like polls, fridges and more.

Aesthetic wise, if you're used to Zero Punctuation's art style, then you know what this is going to be, its the style used in his review, just more fluently animated thanks to the fact that this is a video game. Music's alright, nothing spectacular that hasn't been used in the reviews before.

Overall? If you're looking for a time waster, then this is alright. It doesn't do anything stupid like put in micro transactions, though you can choose to see an ad every now and then for a few extra hats, which is the currency in the game. Am I basically wasting your time with this? Yes, but I needed something to do, and now this has beaten the Kirby's Adventure record at 15 minutes to do... yay...
I'll see you for Ocarina of Time.

Opening Impressions: Gravity Falls: "Where's my phone? I need to call them"

I swear this wasn't intentional, considering as a 3DS game has been announced for this series recently.

Round 2 of the Adventure Time art style marathon, and today we travel to Disney. With the amount of stuff they've done, I don't think there's a person alive who hasn't seen a Disney show or movie in some form. So let's see what child friendly Disney does in this style, as we travel to Gravity Falls.

First Impressions: Shantae 1/2 Genie Hero: *Insert obvious music refference here

Last post of this marathon. Remind me not to write these one after the other.

This is a series I've only recently herd of, even though it dates back to the Gameboy Colour. With my interest in Metroidvania's growing as I go on (still yet to actually finish a Castlevania, though my Metroid counter is at... one... again, new interest), new games have been appearing more and more in my feeds, one of them being this series, and with a new game being successfully kickstarted, thought I might as well throw this in while we were at it today, so: Shantae Half Genie Hero.

First Impressions: Need for Speed: Welcome back old friend

I know I harp on EA often, and not without good reason mind you. However, there was a time I loved their games... well, two in particular. Burnout 3: Takedown, which I still maintain to be one of the best party games I've ever played (yeah, you herd me Mario Party). And the Need for Speed series, especially Need for Speed Underground 2. One of the best gaming memories I have from when I was a child was when me and my father would boot up Underground 2 on the PS2, spend the afternoon building a car up from scratch and once we were done, sending them to the "City loop" track (I can't remember the name), and racing them to see who was the better driver... let's just say there's a reason why Burnout 3 was a fairer challenge, though I did get better. However, I haven't really followed the Need for Speed series as close as my father has, and even then he doesn't play it that much now. I loved watching him play Most Wanted and Undercover, but that was about it. I was going to do the same with this one... and then I saw E3...

One thing you should know about Need for Speed, no one cares about the plot. The plot's there to give you missions and races. Which is pretty much all you're doing in this game: Going from point A to point B, doing races, outrunning cops, and getting better cars to do the same thing. Its a mix of arcade racing and realistic racing games. Now I don't know how that will hold in this day and age, however it'll still have its audience.

One of the things I enjoyed about Underground 2 was the overworld. I completed races to unlock more areas to drive to more so then anything else, and I'm glad to see that back here. Basically this Need for Speed is a fusion of three others. The car customization from Underground 1 and 2, the pursuit from Most Wanted (and maybe Undercover, I don't know if you can drive Police cars as well) and the overworld of Carbon, one I have no experience playing, but I have seen in action and it looks like it was well designed... at least according to memory. Those alone have sold me on this, if the entire world is unlocked at the start, then I'm sold...

Unless this ends up suffering from some of the problems I have with the industry at the moment, and with it being EA, I wouldn't be surprised if it did. I hope not, but I know there's a chance of it happening. I'll see you all soon for another game: Shantae 1/2 genie hero.

Yes, today is literally an experiment, I hope you like the flood of content, but don't expect this to be often, I'm not that crazy.

First Impressions: Transformers Devastation: I'm getting him ready now

Probably about time I covered the games I said I'd cover in the post E3 vid, isn't it? So yeah we got the announcement of a new Transformers game, and it has nothing to do with Bayformers. In fact, not only is it based on Generation 1 for all you Gen 1ers, but its also a prequel for the current line in the toys and IDW comics (something I really need to start reading soon, I'm actually ashamed that I haven't yet), being the Combiner Wars. And with Platnium games as the main Development team... let's just say I have a few words... so what are my thoughts on Devastation? Well, unlike a lot of other people doing posts like this, I don't have nostalgia goggles for Generation 1, as I said during the Transformers Marathon last year. However, that doesn't mean I'm not excited to play this.