Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader

An excellent example of how the Warhammer 40K universe should be.

This amazing RPG is set in the Warhammer 40K universe where you play as a scion to a titular Rogue Trader house - "noble" individuals granted a relic from the Emperor that charters them as freelance explorer, merchant and conquistador all in one. It's also set just far enough from the Imperium to give you problems which ever route you go: be it the traditional dogmatic "all heretics and xenos must burn", the nutjob heretical "I will gladly obey your cruel whims demons of the warp", and the foolishly hopeful iconoclast who "strives to treat all people and races with equality and respect".

While you can create your own custom party, you are provided a bunch of companions all eager to betray you or be betrayed by you at every turn story wise but are also very handy when it comes to the XCOM type turn based combat that you will frequently find yourself in, despite of or because of your best and worst intentions. Some of these combats are super tricky too, and that goes doubly so for the space combats where you pick what stations your companions are manning and are often outnumbered with your one ship to however many the enemy fleet has ready for you. 

I especially loved that comparing my play through to that with Jim's was a totally different experience which means your decisions actually have impact on the story, as any good game should. Player agency, tick! The game is also pretty lengthy with a lot of side stuff that is interesting, rewarding and fun (especially for masochists in some combats).  Awesome game, highly recommended!

Oddsparks Lonestar and the Stone of Madness

Three games that are just not for me.

Oddsparks: An Automation Adventure

As you explore this fantasy world you will need to create a bunch of cute helpers to help you do things, like forage, chop trees and... fight? That last one isn't so much of a problem, but the whole idea of this one revolves on automating processes using your helpers like batteries to power magical machinery and conveyor belts to make components turn into other things and so on. The grind is not hidden from the start either, with early quests requiring hundreds of processed materials to complete. I'd probably have given this one more of a chance had I not gotten sick of the whole conveyor belt processor puzzle thing from Arknights: Endfield. 

Lonestar

In this rogue like, you get to pick a pilot from a random trio of options and a ship (based on your level) to then go do some bounty hunting! Majority of this game is turn based battles which are simply about putting power components in your guns and other ship components and then blasting the enemy as it does the same to you. Whoever has the higher numbers hits the other guy, and if you have fuel you can do tiny manuevers to dodge some enemy firing lanes. Minor events in between fights let you refuel, shop, upgrade or treasure hunt, often with a cost and then its onto the next target. Again this gets super grindy very quick.

Side note: Grindy much like Green Hell's: Spirits of Amazonia expansion. OMG. We enjoyed the base game but in this one they decided that you need to do thousands of things over and over just to advance the story. No thanks!

Stone of Madness

A stealth game with awesome hand drawn animation set inside an insane asylum!? This should be right up my alley! Except, its a stealth MANAGEMENT game. You see in it, you (playing as a priest) must assemble a squad of people with special abilities - like a strong guy and a violent woman. While you can only control one person at a time, your other two squadies can either wait or follow you. Except all of you are actually crazy. The strong guy hates darkness and can't be left there. The woman hates fire and can't do anything near it. The priest hates violence so has to be away when the woman is murdering guards. Only the priest can deal with the ghosts that come up at night. What!? Ugh, so yes. As much as I wanted to like this the management part of it was too annoying for me. Recommended though if you don't mind that sort of thing!

Arknights: Endfield

Set in a universe of anime style characters who have spaceships but still use swords and spears, this free to play single player game (currently on Epic Games) features some nice graphics, decent voice acting and a click fest of combat that rewards timing.

Not only do you have to balance your team of four from a roster of operators (most of whom are possibly teenage girls) who will each individually require leveling, gearing, leveling the gear, and such - you also have to get lucky to recruit them from the gachapon style lucky draw that you earn every so often.

You can see more characters in the trailer.

Base building is also a pretty big component of this game (which caught me by surprise). Sure, you can hit minerals and gather bushes to craft stuff. But you can also setup auto mining rigs, processing plants, fabricator factories, conveyor belts between said parts to move materials around and electrical generators and have to run electrical cables to each of these for them to activate. Cable not long enough? Build a relay to keep it going! 

You can easily spend sessions not fighting at all but just harvesting, expanding and such. Oh, and you also build outposts that you can assign one of your team to manage, that can then trade and grow on its own too. There's also a stock market where you can buy goods and hope that you can sell for higher, because this "single player" game still takes into consideration what other players are doing. And if that isn't enough you can then fix up and build out your space ship. :O

Yes, there's A LOT going on here with tutorials galore in the form of simulations, including the base building part. Cool game but ultimately just too much for me, and you can almost taste the grinding as you need loads of things to level up your people, build your base and the like.

Of almost forgot one more negative: every single enemy, regardless of your level, feels like an HP sponge. Not sure if that's intentional but it certainly is annoying! 

Hyper Echelon and Haven Dock

Two games starting with "H" that aren't great. 

Hyper Echelon

Despite the name and the obvious attempt to show "hey, you can customize your space ship!" in the tutorial, this pixel game is just another top down, bullet hell space ship shooting the bad guys and/or obstacles while the background scrolls from the top of the screen to the bottom at a steady and fixed pace. Oh, then you can redo the same missions at harder difficulties to get medals. Yay? Hard pass.

Haven Dock

This base building game has you stranded on a small island but don't worry, by somehow collecting the absolute truck fulls of garbage that float by you can magically create (using stone tools according to the voice over) wooden platforms to establish a base, build equipment to pump and filter sea water, make farms, etc. What kills it for me is you often have to wait for materials you need to drift by close enough for collection. Not a lot you can do to mitigate that and "having to wait to have fun" is always garbage design. Not recommended. 

Friday Night Survival

Has it really been a whole year since I posted about our Friday night game sessions? It's a case of out with the old and in with the new: we finished 40K: Martyr, got tired of the long loads of 40K: Space Marine 2 and got a bit tired out with Helldivers 2, which has a pretty good run!

We did try Elden Ring: Nightreign where and beat the first tri-wolf boss (and I soloed the sleepy flying ooze) but it runs too poorly on DL's machine so that's been put on the back burner for now. 

Mechwarrior 5: Clans has pulled majority of the time for us with good gameplay and an interesting story on top of the usual optional customization of everyone's mechs. We've won it now, including the Ghost Bear and Tukayid DLC expansions because it was that much fun! Definitely recommended for co-op sessions, but solo might feel a bit grindy and long.

We've also sailed on Void Crew which is a pretty neat "fly your customized spaceship through an array of roguelike challenges that include enemy ships and multiple space walks into space ruins for salvage". It's also a bit repetitive and I think there are only three bosses currently but we might go back into that in a bit. It's lack of story lets it down.

Green Hell is what we're hitting hard at the moment. Nice graphics, easy enough controls, and a story to boot have sucked us into this jungle survival game that includes hostile natives, deadly jaguars, and cool lessons on why not to drink untreated river water. It's not a style in our usual wheelhouse, but its very fun so far. Again though, seems it would be a drag in single player but three person co-op is just fun. For a tiny sized game it's got a pretty big map, so lets see how long it keeps us lost in the jungle!

Update: Green Hell's Spirit of Amazonia gives more of the same... just way too much more because the grind added to it is insane and not something I recommend at all. 

I hate Visual Novels... sometimes?

When players can't make meaningful decisions, is it still a game?

Return to Ash is a simple hand drawn art where you play as a dead person in the ghost land with loads of reading and options that don't really go anywhere? Too much novel and too little game for me. 

Universe for Sale has better (albeit weirder) art and animation set on Jupiter where the protagonist is a neckless, jointless, cult freak and again most of the dialogue doesn't go anywhere but forward. A few extra mini-games break up the tedium a tiny bit but ultimately its still reading a comic book. 

Eternights has animated anime style art (and full anime cut scenes that include full depictions of blood and gore [NICE]) which is also fully voiced. Its about some sort of zombie contagion outbreak and your protagonist has many action arcade segments of fighting them (complete movement and camera controls, dodging and striking mechanics and special moves). It's also very much a dating sim. WUT? Yeah. Because your companions perform better if they like you. Less narration / "thought bubbles" and funny nicely written dialogue. But you're still going through a single story with no branches. 

Lead the party in Eternights, and date them?

I guess VNs are more palatable for me the more they have other systems and mini games going on. How are they for you?

Helldivers 2: Ten Super Credit Farming Tips

If you're like me and just want to unlock all those warbonds in Helldivers 2 without opening your wallet then here are some quick tips to farm super credits! Note: While the tips are quick, the farming is going to be a bit of a grind... :P

1 - Desert planets yield more opportunities. More land space = more chance for points of interest on the map. My regular ones are Choohe and Vernen Wells against the automatons and Grand Errant against the terminids. 

Stars in the red circles give an approximate location of these three worlds.

2 - For the same reason above - illegal broadcast and drop pod data missions are the best ones to do as space isn't "wasted" with enemy bases or other facilities. If those aren't available, do one of the others types on the same planet to let them show up again - ideally an eliminate [single target] one as those are faster than flag raising, activating fuel pumps and sabotaging supply bases.

3 - Difficulty wise level 1 trivial missions are the best for super credits as you don't get "samples" in the pool of RNG treasures when you open up a POI. 

4 - If you have friends or allies, try do some farming with them as the locked bunkers that need two people to open have lots of chances for super credits. Anyone picks up super credits or medals, everyone (regardless of where they are on the map) gets the full amount.

5 - Regardless if you have friends the first warbond you unlock should be the "Control Group" to get the warp pack. Having this lets you teleport into those two button bunkers by yourself, improving your solo grinding immensely! If you find its "bouncing" you out instead of teleporting you in, stand back a little and/or crouch before warping. When warping out, always aim angled left to avoid exploding the potential fork lift outside which might kill you.

6 - Pick a load out for speed: Light armor, sprinting bonuses, the warp pack when you have it. Explosive grenade or weapon to open containers. You might even find such a weapon on planet. Treat it as your "lockpick" with a preference on fast fire / open rate.

7 - Even if my "green" common samples are full, I still pick them up at each POI so that the map marker changes from a white diamond to a regular gray pointer. It takes a little more time, but it lets me not worry about remembering where I've been. The sample count also gives me an idea of how many more spots there might be.

8 - I still do the mission and extraction because I'm interested in leveling up my weapons for customization, but if you have no interest in that and don't care about your win record feel free to just quit the mission as soon as you've hit all the POI's as any super credits and medals picked up are immediately "safe". 

9 - In every warbond, except the premium HALO one currently, there are 300 super credits to unlock which is great. 

10 - To retain your skills and sanity, after every unlocked warbond or two go into a few random super helldive missions (at least one against each faction) and spread democracy!

Space Marine 2

In the grim darkness of the future, there is only war... and grinding?

Thanks to its three player co-op mode my brothers and I were playing this as a Friday game for awhile now, where playing as Space Marines you fight armies of Tyranid and Chaos forces in glorious and bloody combat which focuses on key press timing to excel in. While the graphics and game play are certainly fun, there are some HUGE negatives. Firstly is that it takes 5 minutes for me to start the game, 5 more to join the lobby and 5 more to enter the mission. If there was an award for longest load times, this would certainly be winning it.

Secondly, improving your marine and weaponry is a severe and lengthy grind. You'll only gain XP for the marine class and weaponry you use, unlocking abilities necessary to do well in the higher difficulties. Then once you max out, you get to pick one ultimate bonus and... drop back down to level 1 to do it all again (up to four times if you want to max out fully). There's a small selection of maps to play on, but the designers thought of this and included a PvP mode to make players the content to save them some work. No comment on that part since it holds no interest for us.

So yeah. Despite that we still were putting up with it because it's just so freaking cool, and despite now taking a break to try other co-op games we'll probably end up playing it again sometime in the future. Where there is only war... and grinding...

Touch Type Tale and Super Space Club

Games that combine strange things.

Touch Type Tale

Playing as a boy who happens to find a wizard's magical typewriter this game is a blend of both a typing game and a fantasy RTS like the original Warcraft games, but instead of having a mouse to select anything - you have to use the randomly generated word provided! This is for EVERYTHING: selecting the mine, harvesting from the mine, select the town hall, hire peasants to collect mined stuff, build new structure, farm fields, train units, move units across the map, split units, cast spells etc. 

There's a LOT of typing, but that's not even the hard part. Most of the difficulty comes from the RTS side in getting units out fast enough to defend! Definitely a challenging game and a strange combo one at that. As such its audience might be a pretty small set of people.

Super Space Club

This is simply "Asteroids" set to some rap music tracks and waves of endless enemies. Sure you can grind points to unlock new weapons and other pilots (rather, their special abilities) but that doesn't really do it for me - especially as the music isn't really my cup of tea. That said maybe the newer generation haven't ever played asteroids and enjoy rap? For everyone else, not recommended. 

Spaceman and the Electric State

Movies with advanced technology?

Spaceman

On an important solo mission to see what's on the other side of Jupiter, cosmonaut Jakub (played by Adam Sandler) disturbingly discovers there's a passenger aboard his vessel - and its here to help him fix his deteriorating relationship with his wife? Yeah, as cool (and wrong) as the space stuff is this is definitely a study about a man who only thinks about himself and is ending up alone thanks to his decisions, conveniently reinforced by him being almost alone on his space ship. While the passenger is my nightmare fuel it certainly makes the movie. I'm not going to be watching this one again though!

The Electric State

In a world where robots gained self awareness then fought a civil war and lost, a teenage orphan (played by Millie Bobby Brown) goes on a quest with one such robot who claims to be her dead brother. While this certainly starts off weak it picks up as more and more action segments kick in (with some decent funny bits thrown in), showcasing a lot of cool CGI for the very goofy robots that really make the show. Does it pick up to the extent of making this visually entertaining flick to be a great movie? No, but decent enough for me not to mind watching it again.

Empyrion - Galactic Survival

Scavenging everything to make everything!

Do you like things that are complicated? Was Bear and Breakfast too simple? If so then by golly this first person survival game for you. Just from the tutorial mission where you begin on a space ship to get your bearings on how food, medicine and anti radiation showers work which are then followed by short space walks to mine an asteroid followed by the ship blowing up so you have to claim ownership of the ship to use the teleporter which puts you on a remote planet where you can kill wildlife for food and disassemble pretty much everything, claim and build buildings and manufacture hover bikes for 5 stones while working towards creating another spaceship with warp capabilities... WTF? Information overload.

But on the flip side, you can do all that stuff. And you can do it cooperatively if you have a server to play on. Gameplay wise (excluding the crafting bit) it reminds me a lot of Project Entropia: beautiful environments and structures coupled with odd looking people and insects. Not one for me but I'm sure this would fill the building/survival itch for someone.

Callisto Protocol

Locked in with the monsters!

This single player sci-fi survival horror sees you imprisoned on what turns out to be the worst planet to be incarcerated as soon after the facility is overrun by humanoid monsters who are out to make you die in very violent and gory ways. It's especially cool since the graphics are really detailed! The voice actors and story are decent too!

While this is very reminiscent of Dead Space complete with an LED health tracker on your back (just ... why?) its not so much horror apart from the gore and jump scares for one simple reason: outside of a few set instances that you can sneak and stealth kill, you will be forced to hand to hand these things A LOT and win (or die in very specific and detailed ways).

Combat is pretty simple too, and these things drop currency that you need to create or upgrade tools, weapons and ammo so... the "horror" part really leaves the building when you are intentionally hunting the monsters down for loot. It's still a fun ride though and one I can recommend.

August 2024: Countries clash... in the Olympics!

We're more than half way through the games now but prior to the start Israeli athletes had been threatened a repeat of Munich. Israel's response was to take out some of the leaders of their known enemies and just get on with it. Meanwhile in the USA someone had tried to off Trump who is running for President again, but it was current President Biden who pulled out from running for his second term, finally understanding that he might be too old.

That shooter wasn't Olympics worthy unlike this pair (Kim Yeji and Yusuf Dikec).

Not all is well in the Olympics though with complaints ranging from uncomfortable beds to the Seine river (used for some swimming events) being so dirty its causing athletes to fall sick. Russian troops in Ukraine know all about bad water as they have a shortage of it, resorting to drinking whatever they can find. To be fair they might be dying too quickly to care about it anyway, but are still gaining ground regardless. On the water itself it's still humorous that the Russian navy is getting sunk by a country without one.

Some of this is made possible by drones. These things can do everything it seems, from spying on Olympic soccer training to killing helicopters. The UK has recognized the threat at has made an anti-drone laser system (which probably doesn't work well in fog, snow or rain but neither would flying drones). The crafty Ukranians solution is just to shotgun them from an old Yak-52. On a random tangent, I checked if someone made a laser to kill mosquitos and the answer is yes, but it currently isn't practical. Damn.

Meanwhile more bad news for Ukraine as Hungary is upset Ukraine is blocking their oil (despite them blocking aid to Ukraine for over two years) and NATO has also deemed Ukraine too corrupt to join them. Perhaps Russia's joint venture with China to establish a moon base, possibly in Mare Tranquillitatis Pit if they can claim it first, might take some heat off? With the ISS being retired in a few years that would be a pretty big achievement.

Not sure how China plans to bank roll this given their current financial troubles, but maybe it involves assimilating the Tibetans? They've still got around 10 years to work it out anyway. Not sure the way Thailand is handling their finance would be the answer. They're simply handing out digital money to citizens!

Guardians of the Galaxy: The Split

[Part of Superhero Stories]

The trip back to their unofficial headquarters at Knowhere (a colonized severed head of a giant Celestial floating in space) was a quiet one with Gamora upset at the loss of Nebula, Peter upset at the loss of Drax, Rocket upset at the loss of the treasure and Groot saddened by the state of the team. As soon as they landed, Gamora was the first one off with all her things slung over her shoulder and Peter not far behind, chasing her.

"I want nothing more to do with any of you!" she yelled angrily behind her, but Peter wouldn't be dissuaded so she turned around to look him in the eyes. "I'm joining the ravagers. Goodbye Peter, next time warm your bed with the rodent!"

"Yeah, that ain't happening Quill," piped in Rocket having over heard from the base of the gangway.

"Rocket, just wait for me while I talk some sense into Gamora OK?"

Rocket nodded and gave Peter the thumbs up, and as soon as he was two hundred meters away immediately pulled Groot back into the Milano and took off. "See you never, suckers!" Rocket yelled as he could see Peter mouthing "Oh, come on!" below. "I am Groot?" asked his tree friend. "Well, he's the one who said he'd give me the ship okay? Besides maybe we can form our own Guardians or maybe just do some bounty hunting again for a bit like we used to? I've got just the mark too - just look at him: 'Doctor Spectrum', what a joke. All I see is an easy payday!"

This does not go well for Rocket and Groot.

Back on Knowhere Peter found himself drinking alone a bar having been abandoned by his friends. "What happened Peter Quill? You smell so sad," came a familiar voice echoing in his head as a cold nose nuzzled his hand. Peter looked down to see Cosmo the space golden retriever-labrador looking up at him inquisitively. "I screwed up," Peter sighed. "I was thinking maybe I should take a break and head back to Earth. Maybe my life wouldn't be so messed up right now if I was there."

Cosmo's tail wagged slowly as the dog's voice once again came through telepathically. "I'm not so sure about that. The grass isn't always greener on the other side, da?" Peter couldn't help but pet the good dog on the head.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Table Turning

[Part of Superhero Stories]

With the cup artifact now in his hands, Peter listened closely to Nebula. "You need to put it on that circular altar in the center of the room, and if you turn it right it powers up the artifact. If you turn it left, it will destroy the artifact."

"It's too powerful for anyone to have. We should destroy it," advised Gamora, who was backed by an "I am Groot".

"No, we should use it to revive my family," countered Drax. "And my friends," continued Rocket. "And ... even your mom, Peter."

Peter thought about it for a moment then put it on the altar. "I'm with Rocket and Drax, we can really make use of this," and turned the artifact causing it to begin to shake, crack and glow. "Peter! What did you do!?" yelped a dismayed Rocket. "I turned it to the right! Wait... was it your right or my right?" At this moment the Kree main force arrived, blasting away with their rifles and damaging Peter's jet boots and hitting Nebula multiple times as she moved forward to shield her sister.

Mid-fight the very ground began to shake violently as the cup artifact exploded into tiny pieces, encouraging the remaining Kree forces to flee. "Earthquake!?" yelled Peter. "Unlikely, as we are not on Earth," replied Drax from behind cover. With no feasible exit for the team, Groot encapsulated them all with his branches to cover them as the very floor gave way sending them falling to some large tunnels below and right into the nest of some voracious tunnel worms!

Telltale's delisted game didn't have the best graphics but it was OK.

With an endless assault of the monsters it was clear they needed to get moving, but Gamora wouldn't leave the already expired Nebula's side. "Gamora! She's dead weight, you gotta leave her!" yelled Rocket as he blasted away another batch of worms just as his gun jammed. With little time to let her process her feelings, Peter decided to give an order: "Groot, carry Gamora!" The tree obliged, gently taking the furious assassin into a basket cage on his back while Peter picked up Rocket who was too slow with his little legs.

While it looked like they were making some distance from the little worms, the sudden roar of a huge mother worm alerted them to the new threat that they couldn't outrun. "Oh flark, we're not gonna make it!" cried Rocket as Drax decided to turn around. "Drax, what are you doing?" asked Peter as he ran past him. "I will cherish the time we had, Peter Quill." With both blades out and not looking back Drax leaped at the mother worm with a mighty yell as it came around a corner, knocking it and himself off into a deep and seemingly bottomless abyss.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Holy Grail

[Part of Superhero Stories]

"Guardians of the Galaxy," crackled a transmission on the comms as the Milano's engine's suddenly came back online. "This is Nova Corps, we require assistance and have remotely deactivated your engine disabler. Please respond." Peter stuck his head out of his room and called out "Rocket! You hearing this?"

"Yup! We're all systems go. I say we flark off and leave those cops to whatever trouble they're in; serves em right for keeping us adrift for a week!"

"No, we need to go help them," demanded Gamora as she left Peter's room wearing only his blanket, much to Peter's chagrin. "What?" she asked him defiantly, "It's not like they don't know what we were doing." Without looking up from the book he was reading Drax, lounging on the couch, agreed. "Indeed, we could all hear Peter Quill's squeals the entire week. He was very loud." Groot nodded with a smile.

Quill, you lucky dog.

"Send us your coordinates and we'll be right there," Gamora said into the comm link, having shoved Rocket away and in no time at all the Milano was touching down outside an abandoned temple on a dusty barren planet - remnants of Nova Corp ships and corpses of troopers littering the surroundings and the interior. "Sheesh, it doesn't look like it went well for the Nova Corps," said Rocket, stating the obvious as he kicked one of the bodies.

They followed some dusty stairs down to what looked like a treasure vault, still literred with gems and baubles with a squad of Kree infiltrators standing guard. The Kree opened fire immediately but they were no match for the combined skills of the Guardians of the Galaxy (especially as they had just finished fighting the Nova Corps guardsmen) and as Gamora moved to take care of the last hostile she stopped mid-swing. "Nebula? What are you doing here?"  

"I was hired as a translator for ancient Kree. The pay is good," she responded cooly. "Are you going to raise your weapon and fight us with honor now or stab us in the back later?" asked Drax gruffly. "The pay isn't that good," Nebula replied with one eyebrow raised. "You need to hurry though, their main force will be here soon to retrieve this," holding up a strange cup-like artifact. "Oh yeah? What's it supposed to do?" asked Rocket.

"According to the text, it can raise the dead."

Guardians of the Galaxy: Dead in Space

[Part of Superhero Stories]

"Look whose come crawling back to us," grumbled Rocket having watched the latest transaction take place. Groot, as always, was far more welcoming - offering a beaming smile and a wave as Peter made his way to them. "Guys, I'm sorry," said Peter earnestly. "I could really use your help." Rocket waved him off. "It's always 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry' - until you screw everything up again! What makes you think we're even going to help you this time?"

"Because I'm going to give you the ship." Rocket's ears perked up at this. "No kidding? What do you need?"

By the time the Milano returned to the Nova Corps cruiser there was there was a sizeable fleet around it but none of them stopped what they assumed was more worshipers on the pilgrimage to their new god. With Quill flanked by Groot and Rocket, they walked like the other converted did - a bluff that fooled almost all onlookers until they reached the old man with the worm. "Halt," said a familiar muscular form that blocked their path. "We come to join the promise," Peter said. "I hear your lies, Peter Quill," grumbled Drax as he unsheathed his blades.

"It's pronounced Star-Lord," said Peter as he used his jet boots to hop up and let Groot's roots grab Drax by surprise to toss him into the crowd where Rocket began launching smoke grenades. The old man lifted his robotic arms to fight back when suddenly a blade sliced right through his head, causing his limp body to collapse to the floor. "Gamora?" asked Peter joyfully. "A good assassin waits for their moment to strike," she replied with a smile. Peter couldn't enjoy it though as the black space worm angrily raised itself behind her. Boosting forward he grabbed the burning gem from what was left of the old man's head and rammed it straight into the dark creature before it could strike Gamora from behind, somehow sealing it back into the stone.

Some really good graphics in this game!

With it gone, all those previously mind controlled by it were suddenly released again - the only damage a brief headache. "We need to get rid of that thing," said Gamora as she wiped the blood off her blade. Peter agreed, "I know just the place." With that, the stone was unceremoniously dropped on the dead planet of Vormir where no one would ever think to look for it.

"So uh, when are does this ship become my ship?" asked Rocket as Peter took the captain's chair once again. "Uh... soon!?" was all Peter could come up with. At that moment, the engines suddenly cut out leaving them drifting in space. "Peter Quill, did you forget to pay off the Nova Corps fine?" asked Drax much to the groans of all on board.

Guardians of the Galaxy: A Big Deal

[Part of Superhero Stories]

It was quite the sight from the metal cat walk, a whole platoon of Nova Corps troopers on their knees worshiping a "floating old guy" as Mantis had described, but Peter could see that the strange worm he had accidentally released earlier was hugging the old man's back like a leech, and the orange gem was implanted in his forehead. "Did you really need to see it for yourself!?" hissed Mantis angrily as she snuck up beside him with Drax and Gamora not far behind. "Yeah... I..." stammered Peter before he noticed Drax suddenly stand upright as if possessed, a purple glow eminating from his eyes. "My friends!" announced Drax while addressing the Guardians and catching the attention of all those below. "Come join us in the promise!"

Of course Drax would beat Gamora.

Catching Gamora by surprise, Drax grabbed her by the back of the neck like a kitten and threw her over the side but her assassin reflexes let her twist into a position that took both of them over to fall to the level below. "GAMORA! DRAX!" yelled Peter but Mantis quickly grabbed his hand and led him back the way they came, all the way to the hangar bay where other ships had begun to dock - their crews mindlessly shuffling forward towards worship with the same purple glow in their eyes. As if by instinct Peter just powered up the Milano and took off out of there, dodging the other ships arriving around the Nova Corps cruiser.

Once they were out at a safe distance, Peter killed the thrusters and put his head in his hands. "We have to go back," he said as Mantis put a hand on his shoulder. "Peter, they've got an ever growing army over there and we just have the two of us. Even if we could ask for help from anyone, who is to say they wouldn't be affected too?" Peter sighed. "This is my fault Mantis. I've got to fix this."

"I understand... but could you maybe drop me off somewhere first?" asked Mantis sheepishly. "Don't worry," Peter replied with sudden confidence. "I've got a plan. What do you say to being an advisor to a powerful ruler?" Mantis blinked her big eyes in confusion as she soon found herself in the throne room of Lady Hellbender.

"Peter Quill, I am not running an Earth pawn shop. All transactions are final," spoke the leotard-clad giant of woman. "Lady Hellbender, I'm offering you all your units back plus this empath to serve as your advisor." She looked at Mantis from head to toe, appraising her value. "And you, little one. Is this what you truly want?" Mantis took a minute to think.

"Well... at first I was like really scared, but I can tell you really are passionate about your collection. And you have really cute pets too, so yes - I think this benefits all of us."

Lady Hellbender smiled at this. "Very well, Peter Quill. You have a deal."

Guardians of the Galaxy: It's not Fine

[Part of Superhero Stories]

"NO," was the chorus of Rocket, Gamora and Peter to Drax's suggestion. "But Lady Hellbender's planet is close by and she will pay handsomely if we can capture Fin Fang Foom for her." Rocket rolled his eyes, "Yeah but we also want to live you big lug. There ain't no way we're surviving a fight against that dragon." Drax nodded. "It would be an honorable death," much to the groans of the others.

"I am Groot," suggested Groot which shocked Rocket. "No, no way. Groot... Groot's volunteering to be sold to Lady Hellbender so we can pay the fine. But we're not even going to be considering that right?"

Lady Hellbender does love her animals...

 
Drax, Quill and Gamora looked at each other in silence... and at the twelve thousand units now on their mess table that Lady Hellbender paid for their 'flora colossus'. Rocket decided to stay with him - though as a guest of the Lady instead of as a new pet. "We'll get them back," said Peter quietly to himself for the hundredth time. "Let's just go pay off the fine," said Gamora, disgusted at both at herself and her companions. Only Drax was more positive, musing "At least now it is just the three of us using your toothbrush, Peter Quill."

It wasn't long before the Milano re-docked on the Nova Corps cruiser but this time the hustle and bustle of the Nova Corps crew was noticeably absent. "Where is everyone?" asked Peter out loud as they entered an empty reception area, and all three are surprised to hear "Shhhhh..." in reply from underneath a counter. "Mantis? What are you doing here?" asked Gamora upon discovering their friend. "And why are you whispering?" asked Drax loudly.

"Guys, keep it down!" hissed Mantis. "I was learning how to fly a spaceship and... well... I crashed into some other spaceships and now I'm here to pay my fine but something's not right - I've seen Nova Corps killing each other and worshiping some floating old guy, and I can't leave since all the ships were put into lock down."

"Your ship must be weak. Ours was not locked down," said Drax proudly. "Probably because we arrived after the lock down order was given," explained Gamora. "Really? That's great!" beamed Mantis. "We need to get out of here right n... Peter? Peter! Where are you going?"

Guardians of the Galaxy: What the Flark

[Part of Superhero Stories]

Peter Quill recoiled in pain as he let go of the orange gem sending it clattering off on the metal deck of the abandoned space mining rig, the burning sensation in his hand immediately dissipating as he did so. He quickly drew a blaster with his other hand as he watched a shadowy worm ooze out of this "lucky find" and out a nearby grating and after just five tense seconds the entire (already unreliable) structure began to shake. Without missing a beat he turned tail and ran, back to the hallway where the rest of his team shot him quizical looks while trying to keep upright.

"Peter... what did you do!?" asked Gamora in an accusational tone. "Nothing, I swear! Come on - we need to get back to the Milano before this entire place falls apart!". With more than a little bickering Peter, Gamora, Drax, Groot and Rocket made it back aboard their ship, boosting off the collapsing heap of space debris, out of the illegal quarantine zone and right into a patrolling Nova Corp cruiser just as their engines conked out. An authorative voice came over the comms: "Guardians of the Galaxy, you are under arrest for trespassing into the Quarantine Zone. Prepare to be boarded." The Guardians could do nothing but groan with Rocket muttering "again?" and Groot imparting an unhappy "I am Groot."

Peter named his ship after his childhood crush.

To their surprise, their incarceration only spans a matter of hours before they find themselves back on the Milano, albeit with a new piece of Nova Corps gear attached to the helm. "What did they do to my ship!?" questioned Rocket as he poked at the newly added device. "My ship," corrected Peter. "And that's a disabler. I managed to convince the captain to let us go with just a fine that we need to pay in three cycles. Yeah, she and I go way back."

"What the flark Quill, you sleeping with cops now?" asked Rocket, but Drax's more direct question of "How much is this fine?" is what they all paid attention to. "...seven thousand units," replied Peter with a squirm. "SEVEN THOUSAND!?" exploded Gamora. "Where are we going to get that kind of money!? We'll be lucky to find forty units on board right now." Peter shrugged. "I'm open to suggestions..."