Garbage Game Night

The gang dives into Apple Arcade Games trying out Fox's Warped Kart Racers and Hello Kitty Island Adventure. Frank Hosts this week's two-fer episode!

In the quickly growing field of extraction shooters, The Cycle: Frontier was an exciting newcomer. Once one of the most wishlisted games on steam, just 12 months after launch it announced it's sunsetting. What happened? And can Tom and Bob make friends in the game? We check it out on this shallow dive. 

Do you want to be a filthy creature moving who fails at everything and travels from jail to jail? Lord of the Rings: Gollum might be for you. Shortly after recording this, Daedelic Entertainment announced they are no longer developing games. 

Launched in 2021 and scheduled to shut down in June of 2023, Knockout City is a frantic play 'dodgebrawler'. In this episode we check out what the game is all about, it's struggles to retain a player base and how it plans on going out with a bang. See you in the tournie!

It was 1993 and rodents with attitude were all the rage. In this episode of GGN we take a look at 3 of the brand mascot characters that never quite took hold. We reviewed 'Awesome Possum Kicks Dr. Machino's Butt', 'Rocky Rodent' and 'Rocket Knight Adventures' in this week's episode of Garabage Game Night. For episode citations and more information visit GarbageGameNight.com

A mere 200 days after launch the world's best (?) Melee-focused, Wrestling-themed BR is shutting down. Did it deserve it? We do a deep dive, from the rafters, on Iron Galaxy's Rumbleverse and try to unpack why it would be pulled from Epic stores after a mere 6 months. 

In 1994, at the peak of the 90s NBA-mania, EA had a simple idea: take the most popular big man in the league and put him in a street fighting game. The game was met with confusion and criticism, but maybe it was before it's time? or maybe it's just garbage! We check it out this week. 

It's our second annual Garbage Gift Night! We've picked out each other games available for under $5. Streets of Rogue, Banners of Ruin, Rounds, Egg-k-47, and 'A game that saves the muscles caught in the ceiling of the gymnasium'. We talk through each of these games and whether we recommend them!

On this special episode filled with Holiday Hijinks Frank explains the entire plot to the hit 1995 film Jingle All The Way and we try out the officially licensed card game, in person, in one tiny room. Make sure to check out the YouTube version for Victor's recreation of the film in front of a greenscreen!

"IT LOOKS LIKE BIOSHOCK!" everyone said as they set their expectations far too high for a indie studio game. Compulsion Games took that as a challenge and stepped up their development, partnering with Gearbox to turn a $30 survival game into a premium title with a story driven narrative. How did it work out and why did it drop off everyone's radar? We explore this game and other dystopian worlds in this week's episode. 

Coming out days before the second Zombieland movie, the dev's managed to snag 1 of the 4 main cast members and created a twin stick shooter using the characters signature moves such as... manipulating time and space... and spinning around like a tornado punching things... join us as Frank Hosts and does a 5 minute film with the Zombieland movies and we doubletap our way across the country!

Chess 2 is finally here. Your loyal subjects have abandoned you and you've taken down your royal shotgun. Rapid arcade developer PUNKCAKE Delicieux created this game within 72 hours and dropped it on Steam within a month. Is it good? We put it to the test on this episode of Garbage Game Night!

We let Frank host again, for episode 69. Frank takes us through the saucy history of adult video games and manages to make the time fly while we unlock these anime girls from their prisons. 

Spellbreak is the latest, and perhaps best Battle Royale-focused game to announce they're calling it quits, so you know the GGN crew is sweeping in to pick up the scraps. We check out Proletariat's 2020 release and talk what went wrong and what went right as we discuss wizards and witches. 

AAA developers set the bar high with expecyations and flop, but what if a developer doesn't have a bar at all? Havishamone Games presents Candice Debebe an incomprehensible character and world of lore backed by some of the most confident and bold story telling and original music GGN has ever encountered.

The groundbreaking franchise Battlefield is back with it's newest entry and things are... not going well for them. The garbage gang checks out this massive online FPS, that is, if our computers can run it...

Resident Evil, beloved father of the survivor horror genre has spawned a monster. In this 20th anniversary game for the franchise, Capcom attempts to turn the game into an e-sports shooter. How did it go? Well, we're covering it on GGN. We talk RE franchise, dead online games and recent video game news this week!

After nearly 7 years in development, the SEGA published Aliens game developed by Gearbox emerged from it's incubation in 2013. The world did not like what it saw. It was savaged in reviews after perhaps overpromising with demo footage and such a long development window. We're taking a look at what happened in development and whether it's possible to enjoy this co-op campaign adventure by packing 6 space marines into a tight spacecraft corridor. Tom gives an impromptu explainer of the film Aliens and we do alien franchise trivia!

Be All You Can Be, specifically, an army recruit! On the eve the official AA servers shutting down, we give America's Army a whirl and talk about how tax dollars ended up funding a video game, whether it's any good, the concerns about video games as a recruiting tool and whether they are the ultimate measurement of a super soldier! We also talk about Pentagon involvement in Hollywood and get absolutely destroyed by pro-gamers while we do. 

Frank hosts in this look at everyone's favorite and most lovable IP, Popeye. Who could forget the classic characters such as Bluto, Olive Oyle, Swee'Pea, and Wimpy. Well, we had, so Frank takes us through a 5-minute-film w/ Frank covering the entirety of 1980's Popeye starring Robin Williams and Shelley Duvall. Then we launch into the game and discover platforming style gameplay without jumping, Freddy Kruger like stalking from the generic version of Bluto and hangman style puzzles that appear to all be an ode to classic Popeye games we never knew existed. Join us as we dive into the incomprehensible world of Popeye.

Georgio Manos is the worlds first revolving limousine driver, what is that? It's exactly what it sounds like. This week the gang checks out No Goblin's debut game, an arcade puzzle game that might just be cringey enough to be endearing.

Using the power of video games Raya Systems (later, Health Hero Network) was on a mission to teach kids about Diabetes, Cigarettes, Asthma and Diabetes again. We cover the entire library of games from this developer as we talk about efficacy of games as a learning tool and potential plot holes with asthmatic dinosaurs.

Hatoful Boyfriend, otherwise known as the pigeon dating simulator has got us egg-cited. Let us take you under our wing as we explore this world of drama, mystery and egrets. Fortunately, there's nothing too unpheasant in the content, but will it be impeckable enough to make the grade, or just be...hawkward.

Ubisoft has announced that their 1.5 year old Battle Royale, Hyper Scape is closing down. Have you have heard of it? Most of us hadn't! We take crack at it and talk about how this game flopped and what lessons can be learned from forgetting to put personality into a game.

Spore, the 2008 Maxis game from famed developer Will Wright has a simple scope - ALL OF LIFE. With the largest scope of any game how could they possibly fail? The hype for this release was huge and the critic scores were pretty good, yet, in 2022 the idea that the game we got had been 'ruined' is everywhere. We played SPORE and have opinions! Chris, Frank, Tom, Carley and Hunter tackle life itself in this weeks episode!

Are you ready to KICK SOME BRAIN? Dexter the Dinodroid has crash landed on earth and needs our help to stop floating brains from zombifying dinos and bringing them into the 1940s. Does Frank know enough dino trivia to win this 1992 CD-i game? Frank, Hunter, Carley and Chris check out this bizarre FMV adventure.

Happy Holidays! It's GGN's inaugural Garbage Gift Night! We got each other steam gifts under $5. How did we do? Crypt of the Necrodancer, Framed, and more. Did we find some gems or some coal? We talk through 6 different short game experiences that were gifted and discuss whether we'd recommend them and if they have caused lasted trauma that Chris will be sued for in 15 years.

On the 20th anniversary of the GTA3 Rockstar Games has brought 'The Trilogy' into a new engine kicking and screaming, and oh my god what happened to that characters neck? This week we talk about unfinished games, the bias of nostalgia and who asked for these games to be remastered?

On this 53rd episode spectacular the gang unwinds while we play some Powerwash Simulator, discuss the traumas inflicted upon us over the past 52 games, and try to wash it all away with a pressurized jet stream. Master of brevity, Frank, summarizes each game we've tackled, one by one. We have crunched the data on who enjoys and hates games more, and we announce the winners of this 53-episode-periods Trashy Awards.

It's poker. You can't screw that up, right? Brought to you from the folks who did the episodic The Walking Dead series, Tell Tale Games... GGN takes a look at their first foray into the gaming world which was later built into the successful Night at the Inventory games. Original Characters, witty banter, dangerous backstories, in this episode the gang faces their own casino royale and put it all on the line against each other as we play Tell Tale Texas Hold 'Em for episode 52. 

In 1987 an ambitious project was embarked upon for Hasbro utilizing a new video game platform ends up a premiere feature of congressional hearings on violence in video games. How did a game intended to run on VCRs end up being pulled from shelves? We dive into the 1992 SegaCD release NIGHT TRAP

Is there such thing as 'The Room' for video games? A game with such bizarre writing and pacing, a game that is so terrible it's good? That's exactly what Jim Sterling has said about Deadly Premonition, the game with the specific honor of being more divisive survival horror scored game. We take a deep look at the plot of this game and wish we hadn't in this spooky episode. 

The classic retro franchise Bionic Commando has been given the gritty reboot treatment! The gang GRAPPLES with the new super power of a bionic arm, tries to get a HANDLE on the web-slinging, and tries to GRASP the subtle plot twist. Were the critics wrong? or were they all RIGHT. He's got a bionic left arm, if that's not clear, but he's also got a bad attitude. We discuss how to ruin a super-hero 'what-if's, Burger King, and better 2009 games w/ Frank, Tom, Victor and Chris. 

A game series about political espionage and stealth takes a turn to the... fence construction genre? This week we do a deep dive into this Kojima-less entry into the Metal Gear series, we talk series plot, what makes a good survival game, and try out the co-op live!

This week, we embark upon a mysterious reboot of a game with 2016's 'The Ship: Remasted'. We discuss social deduction games, cruise ships and micromanagement. Did the developers gambit of including 2016 candidates pay off? Or was it a sloppy remake of one of the earliest social games on Steam? Chris, Tom, Frank, Bob and Fredo dive in.

In 2006, we take a look to the distant future of... 2016... where we find out in... 2046 that the sun will turn red giant on us and cook earth? Can we defeat the sun? What is the AX corporation up to with this vaccine? Why is our protagonist so blood thirsty? We tackle all these questions in this episode w/ Chris, Frank and Tom

The Demon Rush: Legends Corrupt is a little known video game by a small canadian company with a lot of potential. We do a table read of the first hour of gameplay, discuss the graphic choices and grapple with the metric ton of lore and angsty characters thrown our way. 

A government-sponsored game about going to the moon and repairing astroid damage to your base all while going far slower than you ever thought possible? Sign us up! We talk about government and moon games, but mostly just about this amazing text-to-speech function. Chris, Tom, Grace and Frank try to save the lunar colony in this week's episode.

No Man's Sky has had one of the more notorious launches in video game history, and yet, the developer and many members of the community, never gave up. This week, the gang blasts off into the unknown and is overwhelmed with the depth the experience offers as they discuss the game's development, gameplay and reception.

The Rock was tied to a SpyHunter movie that was never made... and yet... there is a game for it? The Rock takes SpyHunter franchise in a new direction by stepping out of the car, but there's NOWHERE TO RUN (except through half of the game). We take a look at this anomaly of a game and see if he can suplex his way out of the garbage valley. 

In a double-header, the gang tackles two games from 1994 that fuse ROCK N' ROLL with video games. First, we take a look at a 3DO game called 'Virtuoso' in which 'Our Hero', a rockstar, uses a virtual reality headset to escape the fandom you experience every moment of every day. With absolutely nothing at stake, we explore the power of the 3DO, discuss what the hell a 3DO is, and doom-clones in our the first half of our podcast. In the second half of our podcast we launch into something with a little more meat, the arcade light-gun shooter Revolution X. What was originally going to be a Jurassic Park shooter was transformed into a fully-backed Aerosmith tie-in. We watch some behind the scenes videos of Aerosmith recording the digitized footage for this game, whether Aerosmith is the right band to save us from a neo-industrial corporate militaristic empire and how arcade games port to console.

Marlow Briggs and the Mask of Death is a game starring Marlow Briggs and a mask of death. It is difficult to summarize the self-awareness and joy that this game finds in it's niche of over-the-top action and absurdity. With it's God of War style mechanics, it's excellent tone and startling apt graphics, this may just be the most enjoyable (but lowest critic reviewed) game we've found on Garbage Game Night.

It's Guess Who, but it's got a sexually implicit name and is maybe a commentary on capital punishment? Frank hosts this 2015 game by the team who brought you Super Meatboy and The Binding of Isaac is... a game... We discuss the difficulty of discerning what things are 'not gross' in this art style, kill a lot of people, Frank gives us stats on capital punishment and we meander into talk about Invincible and Justice League. This homage to Frank's finger tips leaves us thinking of newgrounds and ebaumsworld, but despite the fandom from Edmund Mcmillen the reviews aren't all good. 

This week we dive back into the 90s childhood of Apple II games, among the Oregon Trail's and Number/Word Munchers, you might have played a business sim called DinoPark Tycoon. This very early theme park managing game taught children the value of income and expense as well as the inevitable failure of owning your own business. Were we better at this game as kids? Why the hell is it so difficult? Are we in an alternate universe where dinosaurs enslave dinosaurs and there was a T. Rex president? We cover it all in this episode with Tom, Grace, Frank and Chris.

From 2009 - can fantasy games work without being Tolkien Based? Chilean developer ACE Team thinks so. In their 2009 game Zeno Clash they have created a world full of unsettling creatures and mysterious plot. Plus, you can punch it all in the face then kick it while it's on the ground. The gang checks out this PC/XBLA release a decade later. 

This week we take a run at running a slower life, the life of a modern day farmer. Will this simulator give us the pure unadulterated farming experience? Or is it another one of those farming sims that give you a manufactured bells and whistles experience. Join us as we salute the heartland heroes by plowing a field for 35 minutes and doing farm puns.

In 2003 our favorite Slovokian Republic game developer, Cauldron, created a massive epic story that might have slightly been based on Total Recall. You are Chaser, or are you? and you are trying to figure out why you're being hunted, or are you? We try to unravel the plot and get some help from Frank as he explains the plots of Total Recall and Face/Off.

In 1992 (or maybe 1993) Mario-mania was sweeping the nation. The educators wanted to get kids interested in learning again, and what better way to trick them then using the Mario Brothers. But enough spotlight on Mario, why don't we make Luigi the star? The gang explores this Edutainment game released on DOS and ported to NES and SNES. Does the plot make sense not particularly. Are the facts correct? No. But it's a game. You can say that about it. Tom, Frank, Hunter and Chris go on a worldwide quest to find Mario despite knowing exactly where he is. 

In a special Valentines Day episode, Carley Hosts our second dating sim, targeting the most dangerous animal, dad. We play through the first couple hours of the game reading characters and learning about the creation of this... experience. Will we be able to seduce a dad? Is the game about a lot more than dating? Lets find out. Joining us: Scott, Moe, Richard, Kristen, Frank, Chris, Hunter, and Carley

What is an Ibn Battuta? This Saudi developer Semaphoor is on a quest to tell us. In their first full-fledged game using an episodic approach in 2013's Unearthed: The Trail of Ibn Battuta. The gang tries their hand at tomb raiding and killing so many people who just don't want you to be destroying historical artifacts. We talk Indiana Jones trivia, Uncharted and how this game exists and what's in its future. Chris, Tom, Hunter, Carley and Frank dust off the adventuring gear 

The gang explores the furry world of Fur-Fun, the remnants of an abandoned Kickstarter project. Was there a pearl of an idea among this game, did the spiritual successor title of Banjo-Kazooie go to the wrong title? We explore platforming and cough up a few furballs as we dive in.