Substance TV – Video game reviews with substance

It’s fair to say Blaster Master Overdrive lived up to the hype, since it was released merely two days after it was announced. The verdict? Well, Overdrive turns out to be a failed experiment and feels very much like an unfinished game. Here is list of fundamental issues I had with the game:

1. The tank’s main gun overheats. (The gun has it’s own bar that drains with every shot, but refills). This means you have to wait for the gun to cool down before you can use it. What now?

2. The tank jumps half as high as the original NES game. Not nearly high enough.

3. The BLAAHHHH looking enemy explosions.

4. Walking outside of the tank in the sidescrolling areas feels like you should be using a walker.

5. You no longer can throw grenades, instead you have a rocket launcher that fires a shot every 2 seconds.

6. THE FLIPPIN’ TANK’S GUN OVERHEATS!

But, the enemy’s are in full color instead of monochromatic. Hmm… I guess that’s game’s biggest plus. As a no name freebie Flash game, it may work, but as a Blaster Master game, it fails. So please, spend your hard earned money on anything but this.

- Erik

From out of nowhere, Sunsoft announced yesterday the release of a new Blaster Master game titled: Blaster Master Overdrive. Announced on 2-6-10 for a release on 2-8-10 via WiiWare for 1000 Wii points (talk about no hype). This isn’t even listed on the ESRB website. Sunsoft likes to surprise us I guess. From first impressions, this COULD BE and amazing game. It looks and sounds reminiscent of the old style and many game mechanics look intact. But is Sunsoft rusty after all these dormant years? Will find out Monday when the game is released. We will be purchasing the game tomorrow and will post impressions as soon as possible to let you know if it’s worth your Wiibucks.

- Brian

It always amazes me how people can merge their love of a game, person, show, or anything with their individual skills and talents. In this case, a young lady uses her artistic skills to create a marvelous painting of the one and only Conan O’ Brien, but the rabbit hole goes much deeper. Paint is boring and stupid, we all know that. So what other options would we have? Yes, of course, bags of Cheetos shall be our medium of choice! So begins the epic creation of a artistic monument worthy of a spot in an art museum. LONG LIVE COCO!

As promised, episode 11 is out! As previously mentioned, we cover Shinobi III for the Sega Genesis. We also take a look at Klonoa 2 for the Playstation 2. You know how I mentioned we had a big game up for review, well I wasn’t lying. Substance TV has the exclusive first video review of the brand new shmup from our boys at Cave, Mushihimesama Futari Ver. 1.5.

We’ve made a few additions and improvements to the show to make it more enjoyable and viewer friendly. Give us your feedback on the show. We always strive to make it better and better each episode, and your comments and criticisms help in that.

BTW: Right click the icon below to download the Windows Media version instead of streaming it. Doing so will allow you to watch the episode in the highest quality running at 60 frames per second.

DOWNLOAD:

As an exclusive bonus of being the totally awesome people you are by faithfully visiting this site, we’re giving you the release date of episode 11 of Substance TV. In production since late October, the final game I was patiently waiting for came in last month, giving me the chance to finish the episode. As a cherry on top of the aforementioned bonus, we’ll reveal one of the games up for review. For those who recognize the ninja like figure in white as the infamous Joe Musashi, you already may know.

One of the games up for review is…. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been a little hush hush about a big secret in my life, but now that my wife has gone public on Facebook, it’s time to spill the beans. My wife and I are going to have another baby! We’ve been a quiet on the subject for a few months now, but we thought it was time to start telling friends and family, and I consider all of you friends.

This is also a major reason why episode 11 has been delayed longer then I’d like. After we found out awhile back, I knew things were going to be a whirlwind, and indeed they were. I wanted to focus my entire attention on being not only a father to my son Avery, who is now almost 20 months, but the new baby to be. That means less time to work on the show, and more time devoted to family. Things are going very well, and from time to time I’m able to do some work on the show. Nevertheless, progress on episode 11 is coming along nicely.

Anyway, thanks for all the support from our fans and friends. We’re lucky to have folks like you around. I’ll keep you updated on all the pertinent baby information as it comes.

BTW: Tommorrow we will be announcing not only the release date of Substance TV episode 11, but I’ll tip my hand and let you know one of the three games we will be reviewing. Check back tomorrow to find out!

Again proving the rule that Ninjas + anything = ultimate combination.

P.S. PatrickBoivin has some amazing stop motion videos and has been a favorite video creator of mine for some time now. Check out his YouTube page for more goodness.