Platformer – Active Quest

Active Quest Episode 122: E3 2021 Predictions And Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart Takes It To The Next Level

June 8, 2021June 8, 2021 by Chris Penwell, posted in Active Quest, Platformer

Chris and Joseph go over their totally accurate E3 predictions, answer a question about God of War being overrated, and discuss Insomniac’s open world approach with Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart.

Joseph Yaden – twitter.com/josephyaden
Josh Nichols – twitter.com/itsjerkjersh
Chris Penwell – twitter.com/PenwellWrites

You can find us on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify, and Google Play. You can also subscribe through our RSS feed.

Email us @ ActiveQuestPodcast@gmail.com

Rate us on Apple Podcasts, and Podcast Addict so we can continue to grow. Reviews are so helpful for discovery and opening doors in the industry for us!

Get our official shirt!

teespring.com/active-quest-shirt#pid=2&cid=566&sid=front

We are proud to be a part of the HP Video Game Podcast Network!: itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewArtistSeeAll?cc=us&dkId=4&section=0&ids=1482427275

Music

Theme Song made by Novila. soundcloud.com/novila-edm

Chris’ Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart review

Quick News

Bend Studio is working on a new IP that ‘builds on Days Gone’s open-world systems’

Tom Ivan

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/bend-studio-is-working-on-a-new-ip-that-builds-on-days-gones-open-world-systems/

Upcoming Releases/Announcements

News

God of War 2 delayed to 2022

Jordan Gerblick

https://www.gamesradar.com/god-of-war-2-delay-2022/

New Battlefield reveal coming June 9

Michael McWhertor

https://www.polygon.com/22463141/battlefield-6-announcement-date-stream

E3 2021 Schedule Details Revealed As Fan Registration Opens

https://e3expo.com/news/e3-news/e3-2021-schedule-and-fan-registration

All summer gaming live stream events – How to watch Summer Game Fest, E3 2021, Ubisoft Forward, and more

Rumor: Square Enix Set to Announce a New Action-RPG Final Fantasy Spinoff

Imran Khan

Rumor: Square Enix Set to Announce a New Action-RPG Final Fantasy Spinoff

E3 Predictions

Joseph

Chris

Listener Questions

#1 Turner and Hooch Fan

@TurnerandDouche

Hey buckorooni’s, I need some help. Can you send me some cheat codes for The Mummy on PS1? Brendan Frasier is lookin pretty rough and I want to give him a funny hat.

Sterling Silver

@SilverSt3rling

Do you think this is the Switch’s most important E3 since we’re in the consoles second half of its like and its gotten releases for all their major franchises? We get to see where their priorities are with smaller series and if we’re getting sequels to certain games.

Andrew McMahon

@McMahon_BearPig

Convince me god of war isn’t overrated. Like, it’s good, but still sits at a 4/5 for me due to repetition

PlayStacin

@PlayStacin

Why do people gotta complain about cross-gen titles? Its annoying af

What We’ve Been Playing

Joseph:

Resident Evil Village (review code provided)

Chris:

Virtua Fighter V Showdown
Fortnite
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (review code provided)

Active XP: It Takes Two Review

April 8, 2021April 8, 2021 by Chris Penwell, posted in Active Quest, Gaming, Platformer

Joseph Yaden and Chris Penwell review Josef Fares’ latest epic It Takes Two. Spoilers: they absolutely loved it, but there are a few hang-ups to consider.

Review code provided by EA

Hosts:

Joseph Yaden – twitter.com/josephyaden
Chris Penwell – twitter.com/PenwellWrites

You can find us on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify, and Google Play. You can also subscribe through our RSS feed.

Email us @ ActiveQuestPodcast@gmail.com

Rate us on Apple Podcasts, and Podcast Addict so we can continue to grow. Reviews are so helpful for discovery and opening doors in the industry for us!

Get our official shirt!

teespring.com/active-quest-shirt#pid=2&cid=566&sid=front

We are proud to be a part of the HP Video Game Podcast Network!: itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewArtistSeeAll?cc=us&dkId=4&section=0&ids=1482427275

Music

Theme Song made by Novila. soundcloud.com/novila-edm

Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time Review

October 21, 2020October 21, 2020 by Chris Penwell, posted in Gaming, Platformer

Joseph, Josh, and Chris review the superb Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time. Did it go over their expectations or was it too much of a blast from the past?

Review code provided by Activision

Music from Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time by Walter Mair

Active XP: Ary and the Secret of Seasons Review

September 12, 2020September 22, 2020 by Chris Penwell, posted in Gaming, Platformer

Chris reviews the disappointing Ary and the Secret of Seasons from Modus Games, eXiin, and Fishing Cactus. A review code was provided by the publisher.

Image from Ary and the Secret of Seasons by Modus Games, eXiin, and Fishing Cactus

Chris Penwell – twitter.com/PenwellWrites

You can find us on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify, and Google Play. You can also subscribe through our RSS feed.

Email us @ ActiveQuestPodcast@gmail.com

Rate us on iTunes so we can continue to reach people, go to E3, get more review codes to provide coverage to you all and more. Reviews are so helpful for discovery and opening doors in the industry for us!

Get our official shirt!

We are proud to be a part of the HP Video Game Podcast Network!: https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewArtistSeeAll?cc=us&dkId=4&section=0&ids=1482427275

Music

Theme Song made by Novila. https://soundcloud.com/novila-edm

Ary and the Secret of Seasons Review Notes

Puzzles are a bit awkward. There was a lever that needed to be pulled but there isn’t a pulling animation until later on. So I had Ary walk into it to pull the lever. It was super strange and took me out of the game. The puzzles are terrible. I had to finagle my way through them rather than thinking of a proper solution. It doesn’t give you a clear thought process on what to do. I literally had Ary walk into a ball to make it roll. Then, I was given a tool to pull things across; that would have been nice earlier rather than awkwardly pushing Ary into a ball by running into it.
Combat Isn’t that fun. Parrying, rolling, and striking. There aren’t any special moves. Combat is dull and there’s only so many times I can hear Ary say, “Son of a cow” before it gets old.
It’s cool that the dialogue changes when you alter the season around characters. NPCs mention they’re cold when you make their area winter. You can also heat up their environment by using the summer ability.
The characters and the animations are so adorable.
The graphics are down right ugly at times.
The art behind the bad graphics stands out. I loved seeing fireworks set in front of the castle.
Frame rate is choppy, despite my laptop being able to run it easily.
Repeating dialogue. “Son of a cow” was cute a few times, but when I hear it a dozen times over one play session…
Ary is so adorable. You could make plushies out of her and they’d sell.
It carries such a light hearted tone
The game is unfinished. Doors aren’t unlocking in the Winter Temple and it mocks me with an opening noise. I can tell something is on the other side by looking through the crack.
After leaving the cathedral to upgrade Ary so I can fight the hyenas more effectively, I couldn’t go back in. Issues like this make me worry that I can’t continue the game. I’ve tried to progress but I’ve literally had a block that won’t let me through, hence reviewing this earlier than I’ve wanted to.
Music is generic, repetitive, and mixed awkwardly from field to battle. I don’t know why they bothered marketing the album release as it’s painfully lifeless.
Side quests failed at being interesting distractions to the main story. I would have loved to know more about the world around her rather than generic fetch quest missions.

3/10