Richard Armitt, Author at koru-cottage.com

Baldurs Gate: Dark Alliance

July 6, 2021 Richard Armitt 1703 Views Action RPG, Classic, Couch Co-Op, D&D, Dungeon Crawl

This takes me back, Dark Alliance was a hit in our household during the early noughties. Recently married we’d happily cosy up on the couch and smash out night after night of Baldurs Gate: Dark Alliance. Followed by Dark Alliance 2, Champions of Norrath, etc, etc. For the time the games hit the mark square on, playable, fun and mechanics that made sense.

Google might tell you Baldurs Gate: Dark Alliance is one of the best D&D video games, I’m not here to disagree. This re-work is coming from Black Isle Studios,

Gaming Game Reviews PS4 PS5 Video Content Xbox One Xbox Series S Xbox Series X

Biomutant, PS4 Review

May 25, 2021 Richard Armitt 1232 Views 101, Action RPG, Biomutant, Koch Media, Third Person, THQ

Biomutant, where to begin? A post apocalyptic RPG set in a world not unlike ours, albeit when ours is the ‘before times’.

We felt the sprawling nature of Biomutant would be a good opportunity to team up Richard and Dylan, let’s see.

A world poisoned by toxicity, inhabited by mutated creatures instead of people. Living their simple lives in a pseudo medieval-samurai-esque setting.

Biomutant has a colourful open world, liberally peppered with ruins of humanity. Shells of buildings and rusted cars, intersected with skeletal tracks of Chuggers, sorry, trains.

Gaming Byte Size Review PC / Mac PS4 PS5 Switch Console Xbox One Xbox Series S Xbox Series X

R Type Final 2, Switch review

May 16, 2021 Richard Armitt 1223 Views Classic Arcade, R Type, side scroller, The Force

R Type Final 2 is a trip down memory lane, for me. I first flew an Arrowhead Fighter in the Arcades of 1987.

Following it up with the Commodore 64 a while later. After that, we parted company for a number of years. From memory the original was a revelation in the schoolyard, Gieger styled enemies and the enigmatic upgrade ‘The Force’.

After growing up on side scrollers like Scramble you had to admit R Type was an epiphany.

Feature Article Gaming LEGO

BrickResales, Brisbane

May 15, 2021 Richard Armitt 2039 Views BrickResales, Brisbane, LEGO, Lego for Adults, Pre-Owned, Star Wars

BrickResales is Brisbane’s best kept LEGO secret.

After running their business as a successful pop-up for many years Judy and Greg took the plunge late 2020 into a bricks and mortar showroom. You could say they haven’t looked back. Over recent years LEGO has been back on another resurgence.

Especially in the hands of some during COVID lockdowns and undoubtedly on the coattails of LEGO Masters success.

BrickResales should be somewhere every LEGO lover knows about.

Gaming Byte Size Review Nintendo Switch Console Video Content

Pioneers of Olive Town, Switch review

April 1, 2021 Richard Armitt 789 Views Busy Work, Farming Simulator, Harvest Moon, Manga, Story of Seasons, Wholesome

The Story of Seasons is a series that admittedly has escaped me, Pioneers of Olive Town being my first foray. Having experienced a fair bit of Harvest Moon over the years it was a fair bet I knew what I was getting into.

This time round and post an 2020 Animal Crossing addiction, I stumped up the cash in curiosity.

Pioneers of Olive Town is undoubtedly wholesome, comfortably reminding me of my Harvest Moon years. The jolly exchanges with the Mayor, the cute animals and safe sojourns into nearby caves.

Gaming Hardware Hardware Reviews Microsoft PC / Mac Xbox Series S Xbox Series X

Xbox Wireless Headset

March 28, 2021 Richard Armitt 1345 Views 3d Sound, Headphones, Microsoft, XBOX SERIES S, XBOX SERIES X

Yes, I got influenced, the Xbox Wireless Headset was not something I really needed, but seeing it flaunted on Socials and flying off the shelves. I decided I’d better shell out for a set before they were gone. So after seeing my local EB Games run out, I hit a quick ‘Click and Collect’ on the JB hiFi website and turned to my flexible friend.

I had an email from them by 6:30pm, and was dashing into late night shopping to pick it up by 7:30pm. No supply issues there.

Fortunately we’ve had a few Headsets run through the team in recent times. Wired, wireless and both first or third party.

At the end of the day, it’s about how they enhance your game time. The Xbox Wireless Headset is no exception, the first reveals promised a quality unit and they didn’t mislead.

Fresh out of the minimalistic packaging and box, which is more PS5 than Series X the new Headset smell is unmistakable.

Gaming Feature Article iOS PC / Mac

Confessions of a DOGE Crypto Virgin

February 8, 2021 Richard Armitt 1535 Views #DOGE, #DOGEcoin, Crypto, Elon Musk, Gene Simmonds, Snoop Dogg, To The Moon

A few weeks ago, before I knew about DOGE Crypto the only Crypto I was familiar with was the badass little alien from Destroy All Humans. His (allegedly) life-size statue is staring over my shoulder right now.

Then there was the sudden flurry over trading Gamestop shares in the U.S. Which lead to people suddenly understanding stockmarket terms like Shorts, Bears and ‘Stonks’. Maybe not the last one.

I figured a shallow dive might be a fun feature.

Feature Article Gaming LEGO

LEGO Bonsai, Botanical Collection

January 26, 2021 Richard Armitt 1763 Views Bonsai Tree, Botanical Collection, Building, LEGO, Lego for Adults

LEGO Bonsai, not a couple of words you’d expect to put together. Being a growing fan of the complex interlocking building system as an adult, I’m not surprised.

As a child I loved LEGO as much as the next kid, I had the classic Space Cruiser and Moonbase – they were happy days. After that we grew apart for a while.

Feature Article Gaming Microsoft PC / Mac Playstation PS5 Xbox Series X

2020 Roundup, the year that was.

January 1, 2021 Richard Armitt 1872 Views Cloudpunk, DOOM Eternal, Dreams, Dualsense, Flight Simulator, Ghost, Hot Pursuit, Maneater, Microsoft, PS5, PSVR, Sackboy, Star Wars, Sucker Punch, The Last of Us Part 2, XBOX SERIES X, youtube, Zombie Army

How do you have a 2020 Roundup? A year that has put the Annus in Annus Horribulus. The ongoing pandemic notwithstanding its been a year where everybody seems to have shared tragedy on some level. Having lost close friends, dear pets and suffered a weather event catastrophe I’m just glad COVID has not yet reached my door.

Here we at the dawn of a New Year, and just like twelve short months ago. Everybody is wishing that when that calendar clicks over the trend gets better. We should take a quick spin around the highlights of what we managed under such adversity.

Gaming Game Reviews PC / Mac PS4 PS5 Xbox One Xbox Series S Xbox Series X

Black Ops: Cold War, the 2020 Call of Duty

December 6, 2020 Richard Armitt 1513 Views Acti, Black Ops, Call of Duty, FPS, Online Shooter

Forget your Modern Warfares, this year its time for Call of Duty, Black Ops : Cold War. What a mouthful, that said, you can’t go through Silly Season without a new CoD can you?

Its been a decade since Black Ops first joined the roster, opening ups that whole Treyarch vs Infity Ward fan service argument. Much like the even numbered Star Trek movies it all comes down to taste. Black Ops for me back in the day was a hot mess, the campaign tried too hard to be clever. Throwing hallucinations and reveals at you in artillery style, it didn’t really do it for my taste. Some of the action pieces were superb, a lot of the story elements were forgettable. That was a decade ago, we don’t talk about the things we did then.

Gaming Game Reviews PS3 PS4 PS5 Switch Console Xbox One Xbox Series S Xbox Series X xbox360

Need for Speed : Hot Pursuit Remastered, XBOX

November 29, 2020 Richard Armitt 1473 Views Burnout, Crash Physics, Criterion, EA, Hot Pursuit, NFS, Payback, Spike Strips, The Run

I first discovered Need for Speed : Hot Pursuit around ten years ago.

It came in an unmarked padded bag and was a surprise review.

Knowing nothing about the game I went in blind, it was early in my ButtonmasherNZ days and I was keen.

Out of that came an overlong and excitable review, the game was good and had its turbo boosted hooks in me.