Hindsight Entertainment (March 24th-30th)
4/3/2019 Andrew Greenway, Editor
Welcome Cougars once again to Hindsight Entertainment as we welcome you to the first week of April 2019, but as any good historians will tell you, a great way to plan for the future is to take a look into the past. So with another week in the books and another week ahead, let’s take a look back as we take and see where it led.
For many fans of the real-time strategy genre, last week’s Tropico 6 was the island retreat they’ve been waiting for since the series last appeared in 2014. Releasing across PC, Xbox One, and PS4 platforms, Tropico 6 returns the city-building/management simulator to the Caribbean with a new take on the classic Tropico formula by splitting the map into islands and introducing new infrastructure, campaigns, and missions to build your ultimate tourist dictatorship! The devs at Kalypso Media have also innovated on the tried tropical climate and offers 15 new maps to test your leadership skills in mastering. From the dilapidated shacks of the desert to carefully maximizing your isles of cocoa farms, the bustling city-states continue to put El Presidente to the test and with the return of public addresses and foreign relations, there’s never a moment of rest for the hard-working Castro in gaming. With new additions like the Swiss Broker and pirate-contracted Raids to steal international monuments and a good-looking average 7.5 out of 10, Tropico 6 is shaping up to be the best sandbox for RTS fans this year has to offer.
Similarly, pop-punk icons, blink-182 vocalist-bassist Mark Hoppus and All Time Low frontman Alex Gaskarth, released their six-song collaboration Strange Love under the name Simple Creatures. Playing off their pop-punk pedigree, the two took on the side project as a way to challenge themselves and push their boundaries exploring strange, intoxicated concepts and dark melodies, best exemplified in the video of the title track that uses psychedelic imagery and poppy instrumentals. With All Time Low coming off their award-winning album Last Young Renegade and blink-182 seeing a resurgence of popularity after their California tour, the collaboration seems to be coming at an all-time high for the duo; with the reception of “Drug” and “Strange Love” accumulating over 1.3 million views on Youtube within the first few months of their (then unannounced) collab and prominent media outlets toting their ambitious project, hopes remain high. In time, we may see pop-fused punk rock return to the limelight but, for now, we can look forward to more guitar riffs and catchy choruses.
“Tropico 6” Sources: Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Game Informer, Metacritic, Steam Store Page
“Simple Creatures” Sources: Billboard “Adrenaline” Article, Billboard “Strange Love” Article, Rock Cellar Magazine, Simple Creatures Youtube Channel