TatsMcGee

Darksiders 3 was one of my most anticipated games of last year but then when the game came and I read some reviews, I decided that I would hold off and wait until I could get the game a little cheaper. I’m happy I waited, although I do think the game is a good game, it’s definitely not worth $60. Game Genre Third-Person Character Action The core concept of the game is fairly interesting, you play as Fury who is one of the four horsemen. Or at the very least this franchises version of the four horsemen. Fury is the sister of the four and she is definitely the angriest. Although I have not played Darksiders II, she is definitely much angrier than War who was the main protagonist of the first Darksiders. The interesting concept of the Darksiders franchise is, all the games are occurring simultaneously. So at the beginning of the game, you see War chained up which is what occurred in the first game. In this game, Fury is order by the Charred Council to go fight the 7 deadly sins and that ends up being the premise of the entire game. Unfortunately, after the intro the story becomes all over the place, hard to follow and ultimately not very interesting. Puzzles One of the main staples of this franchise is the puzzles. The game was originally inspired by the Legend of Zelda franchise so it has to have puzzles. I think there is a good amount of puzzles in the game and they were often times a perfect level of difficulty as well. Often times I would be stumped initially but eventually I was able to figure out the solution. Gameplay The biggest change this franchise is the combat, its just a different feeling game now. The first game is a very hack and slashy, you take on hordes of enemies and take them out with relative ease. In Darksiders III, its very evident that the developers wanted to switch it up and try something new. What they ended up doing is making a combat system that is clearly inspired by the Dark Souls franchise. What I mean by that isn’t the standard Dark Souls comparison of, it’s a hard game and therefor like Dark Souls. The system is not built for large groups but rather small groups of enemies or in an ideal scenario, one vs one. The other it’s Dark Souls comparison is, there are literal souls in the game and it’s how you level up. You fight enemies, get souls from the enemies you kill and then when you get to the market (Vulgrim) you invest your souls into attribute points. Then spend attribute points to upgrade your character. When you die, you lose the souls you have on hand and just like in Dark Souls you have to go to the area you died and reclaim your souls. Bosses Main absolute favorite aspect of this game is the boss battles. This is a 15 hour game with 8 boss battles and they all feel unique. That is good game design. The combat was clearly built with boss battles in mind its executed flawlessly. Almost every single boss battle was the experience, fight the boss. Lose the first time but learn the patterns and then the second try I would beat them. I only got stuck on 2 bosses, 1 of them was because it was a bad boss battle. The other one was the final which was just difficult and I had to bang my head against that wall for about an hour. In case anyone is wondering, the boss battle I hated was Gluttony. Its a 2 phase battle and I enjoy either phase. The first phase has an AOE (Area of effect) attack that you just have to stand in a specific location to avoid (that’s never fun) and then the second phase just turned into a gimmick boss battle where you had to have the boss swallow an explosive. Once again, those kind of battles are never fun. Mission/Level Design I enjoy a well designed, linear game and that’s exactly what this is. It feels a little bit like an open world game but it ends up being a lot of linear that just kind of connect. Interesting enough there is no map in the game, the only sense of direction is a bar at the top of the screen that shows the path to the next boss battle. There is something refreshing about playing a game and not having a large map with a bunch of items on it. Even though there is a bar that directs you, a lot of times I didn’t even pay attention to it. I just walked around and explored and stumbled onto the next area naturally. The only time I ever used the bar was when I got lost and didn’t quite know what to do next. Voice Acting Cissy Jones was the voice actress for Fury and she did a great job considering she didn’t have a great script to work with. Mechanical Now to the truly awful part of the game, this is a broken mess. I was playing on Xbox One S and it crashed 8 or 9 times. Which is a problem in a 15-hour game, this is one of the most broken games that I have ever played. The other issue with the game is framerate, when there were multiple enemies on the screen, the game had a time keeping up with the frame rate.

The best and worst thing I can say about Gears of War 4 is, its more Gears of War. It plays very similarly the previous 4 games. It’s a little disappointing in that sense since you always want games to be innovative but in this case, I feel the need to give the developers (Coalition) a pass since this is their first new Gears of War game. So their top priority was proving to fans that they can make a Gears of War game as good as Epic and in that sense, they executed flawlessly. Game Genre Third-Person Cover Shooter Story One issue people seem to have is, the series is no longer about Marcus, Dom, Baird or Augustus. It’s now about the next generation, JD (Marcus’ son), Kait and Del. The fourth member of the team is a spoiler so I won’t go into who that is. The entire game's premise is Kait’s mother was taken by the enemy and the team's goal is to get her back. So even though the protagonist is JD, the main story ended up being about a side character. Favorite Character I don’t really know who my favorite character is, none of the 3 really stood out to me. JD (James Dominic Fenix)-He reminds me a lot of Nathan Drake but specifically Uncharted 1 Nathan Drake. Few jokes here and there but for the most part a character that is not developed. Kait Diaz-She seems like the most self-serious which in fairness to her a very serious thing has happened to her but even before that she was too serious. It’s my main issue with Lara Croft from the rebooted Tomb Raider series. Lighten up a little bit. Del Walker-He’s best friends with JD and that’s all there is to say about Del. Occasionally he and JD have a few quips but for the most part he’s a very bland character. Puzzles No Gameplay Gears of War is not the creator of cover based shooters but it is the poster child. Bosses There are bosses but I have never liked the boss battles in the Gears of War franchise. Since a majority of the enemies are already bullet sponges, the boss battles where the enemy has more health doesn’t really improve the game. Then there are the bosses where there is a specific gimmick and my biggest issue with previous entries is the game never did a good job of letting you know what the gimmick actually was. I can’t take tell you how many boss battles I went and started shooting the enemy and I don’t know if I’m correctly widdling the health down on this boss. Its just trial and error and eventually figure it out. The other issue is, once you figure out the gimmick of what you need to do, it’s typically not fun executing it. This game does a good job of making it clear what you need to do but the issue is, its typically just not that much fun. Because often times the boss has a ton of health so its time consuming of just dumping a lot of bullets into the boss. But its not just that, you also have to shoot specifics area of the boss which is also not a lot of fun because what happens is you’re standing around waiting for the boss to open up, fire into the specific area. then go back to waiting. Keep doing this for 5 minutes and eventually you’re done. Mission/Level Design The games gameplay loop is very indicative of previous Gears of War games. Cut scene, then back to gameplay where you walk into an area. Combat arena and then once all the enemies have been killed you hear a sound that sounds like a gong. This lets you know that you have killed all enemies and now it’s time to move onto the next area. The entire game is killing enemies and cutscenes. So if you like the shooting in this game then you’re going to consider it a good game, if you’re not into the shooting then you’re not going to like it. Mechanical No issues, it ran perfectly. Recap: The Good Cover Mechanics Shooting Recap: The Bad Bosses Recap: The Okay Story Characters

This is a game that I am personally torn on. I enjoyed the story but it was very predictable. I can’t help but compare this season to the first season of Batman and the biggest difference between season 1 and season 2 is season 1 was built around the question of how brutal are you willing to be as Batman. You had some choice in what kind of a Batman you wanted to be and I liked that personally, at the end of the game it told you how brutal or how merciful you were. If I remember correctly I was somewhere in mid 90’s of being a merciful Batman. Enough about season 1, season 2 (The Enemy Within) is all about maintaining relationships which on its surface sounds interesting but everything ended up being boiled down to make a decision and one person will be happy by it and another person will be unhappy with it. Most decisions end up feeling black and white. Game Genre Graphic-Adventure Story The strength of the game is the story, as I mentioned before it is a little predictable and I was kind of wishing they would have gone a little bolder, take some risks like they did with season 1. It is a fun Batman story but comparing it to season 1, its a weaker Batman story. Favorite Character The best part of these Telltale Batman games is, they’re more focused on Bruce Wayne than they are Batman and I like that. Bruce Wayne himself is an interesting character that is rarely explored because it’s less exciting. Look at the Arkham games, those are 100% Batman games where this game is probably 60% Bruce Wayne which I am a very big fan of. Puzzles Yes, Telltale goes back to their roots a little bit and this game does have some interesting puzzles. The downside is, most of the puzzles are in the first couple of episodes and then after that, the game has a major tonal shift. Gameplay If you’ve never played a Telltale game its a pretty simple formula. It’s like sitting down and playing an interactive movie. Most conversations you can chose what the character will say next. Sometimes you get to chose what the character is going to do next. 2 situations arise in the city, obviously you can only take care of one. You chose what fire you will be putting out so to speak. The final major game mechanic of the game is the combat itself. It’s serviceable but not very exciting. It’s done through button prompts and quick time events. It looks cinematic but it’s not the most exciting to do yourself. Bosses Kind of sorta. There are kind of bosses but a game like this isn’t built for bosses. It’s more about the story. Narratively there are some major figures but there are traditional boss battles. Music/Sound Design/Voice Acting Another major strength of this game is the voice acting. For a game like this to work, the voice acting has to be great and it is. I have no complaints and all of the voice actors did a phenomenal job. Recap: The Good Puzzles Bruce Wayne Voice Acting I didn’t mention this anywhere in the review but there are no mechanical issues. I think that’s a first for Telltale. The game ran flawlessly. I was shocked, no frame rate issues. It didn’t crash. Recap: The Bad Nothing comes to mind. Recap: The Okay The Story (good, not great) Gameplay

This is my very first experience with the Forza franchise. I never owned an Xbox until last year so this is just another Xbox first for me. I have to say that this game has blown me away, this is one of the best racing games that I have ever played. Genre Racing Gameplay This is an open-world racing game, a similar vein to Burnout Paradise which was just remastered earlier this year. The big difference is, that game never clicked with me but this game just feels like something special. I think the big difference between the two is Burnout Paradise is an arcade racer 100% and the Forza Horizon franchise is the perfect blend of arcade and simulation racer. The fact that the game is an open world really plays the games strength. If you want to hop into the game for 20 minutes and just drive around, you can do so with relative ease. Although people are definitely starting to feel open-world fatigue this game is not big deal because this is a racing/driving game and its fun to just drive around. So the most basic thing you can do in an open-world is just move around and when that aspect is fun then it instantly becomes a fun open-world game. The other nice aspect of the game being an open-world game is the fact the fact that you can easily pick and chose what racing events you want to engage with. There is street racing, off-road racing, dirt racing, drag racing, drifting, etc. The list goes on if you don’t have any interest in a specific event you can easily ignore it. I personally have 0 interest in drifting so I just didn’t even waste my time engaging with that. Single Player The nice thing about this game is, you can play this entire game by yourself offline and its a great experience. I have played almost 30 hours of this game offline, just doing whatever I want. Online I know the game has online, I’m not entirely sure what the online is. I don’t have it so its hard for me to comment on what the online entails. Recap: The Good Driving Open-World Single Player Recap: The Bad N/A Recap: The Okay I didn’t talk about it in the review, I will just mention it here. There is character customization. Its very basic, some people may have an issue with it. I don’t care personally, I’m not playing a racing game because I care about what my character looks like.

Mario Party has gone back to its roots and I couldn’t be happier for it. As a Mario Party fan, 9 and 10 were massive disappointments because they replaced the board with the car, stars with star bits and most importantly got rid of mini-games at the end of every round. Genre Party Gameplay It’s simple, it’s a video game board game. Your goal is simple, at the end of the game your goal is to have more stars than your opponents. You primarily get stars by purchasing them on the board with 10 coins, yes you read that correctly. It is no longer 20 coins to purchase a star. If you have never played a Mario Party game, the gameplay loop is very simple. It’s a 4 player game (if you don’t have enough humans then computers play as extras) and a standard game is traditionally 20 rounds. Now my friends and I have played around 5 times already and we have chosen to play 10 rounds. Even as a Mario Party fan, 20 rounds often felt like too long. Towards the end ****, it started to feel stagnant with 10 rounds it never feels stagnant. In each round, each player will roll a dice and depending on the number they roll that determines the number of spaces they move (revolutionary stuff for a board game). In the first 8, Mario Party’s every character had the same basic 1-6 die. In this game, the dice are shaken up a little bit. Instead of just having the standard 1-6 die, you also have a character specific die that you can choose to roll instead. Each character die is different so if you chose different characters every time you play, each game has the potential to feel a little different. So moving on from a different kind of die, on your turn after you roll the die. Your ultimate goal is to be constantly moving towards the Star on the board. The first person to arrive at the star may purchase the star for 10 coins. After a star has been purchased, the star location is then moved to another location on the map. So now everyone has to change focus and move onto the new star location. Now you may be wondering, how do I earn coins so I buy these stars? There are two ways to do so, 1 is by moving around the board and landing on certain spaces and you get coins depending on the space. Fair warning though, there are certain spaces that take coins. The other way is the final main game mechanic of Mario Party and that’s the mini-games. At the end of every round, you play a Mini-game. Depending on how well you do in the mini-game you will reward you with coins. This can vary from 10 to 0. There is potential for more but that depends on the mini-game but that’s not too important. The difference between a good Mario Party game and a bad one, are the mini-games. This latest installment has about 80 mini-games and a vast majority I would call fun. There are a few that not so great but I would say that’s a handful. Single Player The weakest part of all Mario Party games is the single player. It’s just not fun to play by yourself. As a matter of fact, I would go as far to say that if you play Mario Party by yourself that’s kind of sad. But of course, there is a single player mode that you’re essentially forced to play because that’s how you unlock 2 characters. The good news is, it’s not awful. You just have to play through (and win) all 80 mini-games but the bad news is, some of the mini-games are completely random so there is potential you will get stuck on a specific mini-game for longer than you would like. If you’re wondering how long it would take to unlock both characters, my friend Manny and I played the mode together. Just passed the controller back and forth and it took us approximately an hour and a half to unlock both. Not awful but there were a couple moments that were classic Mario Party B.S. Online This is the biggest disappointment of the entire game, the lack of online features. Nintendo is charging people to play online now and you can’t play a game of Mario Party. You can play random mini-games online but you can not play a game of Mario Party online. That’s unacceptable, I hope that gets patched and fixed because there is no reason for the game to have full online support. Recap: The Good Back to classic Mario Party Mini-Games Recap: The Bad Single Player Online Recap: The Okay N/A

Motivation to play the Game I've played this game before (or at least attempted to) and just didn't like it. Then this year, I played God of War (2018) and its one of the best games that I have ever played. So I figured that I should give this game another try. Why I did not finish the game I just don't like it, the story is a bad revenge story. The combat just doesn't do it for me and the games main schtick is extreme violence which does nothing for me. Amount of Time Put Into The Game I played this game for a few hours and it never hooked me in. This original trilogy is not for me. Try Again Later? No, I believe in second chances, I gave this game a second chance and the answer is no. It's not for me.

Game Genre Third-Person Shooter Action Adventure Story The strength of this game is not in the story. There is an attempt but it’s just not there. Unfortunately, with this trilogy with each iteration, the story gets a little worse. At best, the story is forgettable and at its worst, it doesn’t make sense. Favorite Character This is entire trilogy may be about Lara Croft but the best character continues to be Johah. The problem with Lara in this trilogy is, she is so focused on her goals that she can come off as self-centered. Now if you played the games you know she is much more complicated than that. She is just very focused on the big picture. Jonah is the opposite of that, he’s looking out for the little guy, he’s very friendly and ultimately very likable. Puzzles The best part about this game is the puzzles. There are 9 main story puzzles that you have to complete but then there are also 8 additional challenge tombs. I didn’t pay attention too much to the main story puzzles but I do know each challenge tomb took me about a half hour to complete so they were a good mental challenge. It should also be noted that I am not the brightest person so depending on the person the time will vary. Gameplay The gameplay continues to somewhat solid but if I am comparing this game to Rise of the Tomb Raider, I would say that the gameplay is less polished. The bow still feels great, the gunplay does not feel great though. Use the bow for 95% of the game, don’t use the guns. The stealth is very good in this game, its good stealth where if you get caught it’s not game over. As a matter of fact, the Stealth is very forgiving where if you’re caught it’s not hard to get back into stealth mode. Some people may look at this as a negative but for me personally, I think easier stealth is always better. The other major aspect is the climbing and traversal and this is the part that feels the least polished to me. I died so many times, just climbing traversing around. It’s not a case where I died because the platforming was particularly difficult, it was more because inputs wouldn’t be read or she would jump the wrong way. Little B.S. things that make you say, “well that was fair.” It always became much more exasperated in the games major set pieces. First off, there were far too many of them and secondly, I would die far too often. The best part of set pieces is if it works then its cinematic gold but when you keep dying and seeing the same thing over and over again. It ruins the moment and I died multiple times in every set piece so I would have to sit there and experience each set piece a minimum of 3 times each. Bosses Pretty forgettable bosses, I do remember early on you end up fighting Jaguars which is fun but then I don’t remember any bosses until the final boss. The final boss is okay and that’s how I would describe this entire game. It’s okay. Mission/Level Design One thing I have always liked about this franchise is, it strikes the perfect balance between open world and linear. As you progress through the story, you unlock little open world areas that are all connected but it never feels overwhelming. I just remember last year playing Assassins Creed: Origins and saying “this is too much”. Music/Sound Design/Voice Acting Lara’s and Jonah’s voice is excellent. After that, it does start to get questionable. The music itself is definitely tailored to more ambient sounds where there is music but it’s not noticeable or distracting. Recap: The Good Bow and Arrow Puzzles Level Design Stealth Recap: The Bad Climbing/Platforming feels unpolished Gun Play Story Recap: The Okay Music Bosses

Game Genre Third Person Action-Adventure Open World Story One of the strongest aspects of this game is the story. The Developers Insomniac set out to not only write a well-written video game story, but it’s also quite apparent that their goal was to write a well written Spider-Man and Peter Parker story. It’s an interesting as you have Spider-Man at his peak, he is hitting on all cylinders but then you have Peter Parker where every aspect of his life is falling apart. Favorite Character It’s a Spider-Man game so its hard not to pick Spider-Man. I love his little quips and his jokes, there is just something so charming about Spider-Man. Puzzles This is hands down the worst aspect of the game, there are two types of “puzzles” and they’re both terrible. Luckily there is a setting in the game options that you can skip all puzzles. That way when you’re narratively forced to engage with one of the “puzzles” you can hit the “R1” button and the game instantly solves them. Gameplay There are two major aspects to the gameplay. The traversal through the world (web swinging) and the combat. The swinging is extremely satisfying and just works flawlessly. The way you seamlessly swing through the city and then hit a building and instead of losing momentum, you just switch gears and start running the building. Some of the buildings will have fire escapes on the outside and that’s doesn’t slow you down either. You just start hopping along the fire escapes. A lot of thought went into the mobility of the game and it shows. The other major aspect is, as I said the combat which is reminiscent of Arkham franchise but it is different enough. One of the key differences is, in Arkham you’re much more grounded where in this game, you definitely want to focus on more aerial combos. It’s not difficult to do so but its very important to pop an enemy up in the air and try to knock them out in the air. Bosses There were a grand total of 7 Boss battles in the game and they were all for the most part well done. There is one boss that you end up fighting twice, the first you fight him, it’s not much more than a quick time event boss battle. Although the second time you fight the boss, it is much better and I think it may be my favorite boss in the game. Looking back, all of the boss battles did feel different and that’s what you really want in a video game. Mission/Level Design There are 3 keys that I want to touch upon in this section. The main story missions, the Miles/MJ missions, and the side missions. Main Missions: These were all fantastic with the exception of a few that I will touch upon in the next part. The main story of the game is maybe 20 hours and Insomniac did a fantastic job with the Main Story missions, it doesn’t feel like you’re rehashing the same missions over and over again. The Miles Morales/MJ, however, are just awful. They are forced stealth and they’re bad stealth in my opinion. What I define as bad stealth is stealth that if you’re ever caught, you lose instantly. Missions that are structured this way just lead to frustration and never fun. Luckily, these missions are not too common and there is maybe 6 of them, which equates to about 45 minutes to an hour. The third type is side missions and there is an inconsistency with them. Some are good but most are okay. My recommendation is mess around with a handful of them and then focus on the main story. Music/Sound Design/Voice Acting The sound design of the game is nearly perfect. I didn’t have any issue with the voice acting and the music felt like a Marvel movie. It’s exactly what I wanted. Recap: The Good Main Story Combat Swinging Music Voice Acting Recap: The Bad MJ/Miles Morales Missions Puzzles Recap: The Okay Side Missions

Game Genre Third Person Action Adventure Open World Story The strength of all Yakuza games is the story and this game’s story takes it to another level. Kiwami’s story was good but not really live up to Yakuza 0’s story. Really thinking about it, Yakuza 0’s story is probably better just because with 0 throughout the entire game I was engaged. The quote on quote “problem” with Kiwami 2 is the has a lot of lulls in the middle and it started to lose towards the middle-end of the game. Towards the end, the story does start to pick up but then during the final chapter, the train is off the rails. What happens is just **** crazy and I loved every second of it. Favorite Character Majima continues to be the best part of the Yakuza series. He’s not in a ton of scenes but every time he makes an appearance, his performance just steals the show. He is a special character and is one of my favorite characters in all of video games. Puzzles One thing that the Yakuza franchise lacks is puzzles. Gameplay The gameplay is very basic. Its a very small but condensed open world and the combat is a very simple beat em’ up. The combat is one of the weaker parts of the game but the nice thing is, each game is loaded with mini-games. These mini-games range from arcade games to bowling, to baseball to running cabaret club. There are a ton of options for keeping yourself busy. Bosses This is a crux of the Yakuza formula. Bosses there are a number of bosses in the Yakuza franchise and in each game, you will typically go back and fight the same one a number of times. Each time you fight them, they get a little stronger. The boss battles are funish, they at least shake up the game’s formula a little bit. Mission/Level Design Every chapter is pretty much set up the same way, start at Point A and then go to point B which takes under a minute to get there. Talk to some people or fight some people (sometimes both), then move to point C, D, just keep going until you reach the chapters final boss. Music/Sound Design/Voice Acting I don’t remember much about the music so it’s not too noticeable. There is voice acting but its all in Japanese, it seems like the voice actors are good but I don’t Japanese so it’s hard for me to say. Recap: The Good Story Majima Mini-Game Variety Recap: The Bad N/A Recap: The Okay Bosses Combat Music

What is the genre and subgenre of the game? It's a third-person Action-Adventure Shooter What did I think of the story? The story is complicated because its kind of two very different story arcs that are kind of pieced together by an overarching story. In case you're not familiar with this game, there is a gimmick with this game, it's not only a game but there is a mini TV series that goes along with the game. So the game is bouncing around from standard video game cutscenes, gameplay, and episodes from the TV show. The weird this is, the TV show and the game have two very different stories with not a lot of overlap. The main character in the game is Jack Joyce who is played by actor Shawn Ashmore but he barely shows up in the show. Some characters are only in the show and then there are a few that do show up in both. The main connector between the two is the main villain Paul Serene who is played by Aiden Gillen. It's a very strange concept that did a great job making me care about certain characters in the show but didn't accomplish the same thing with the game. Favorite Character? My favorite character is a guy who did not show up in the game much at all and was primarily in the TV show and that's Liam Burke. His story arc is a pretty common story arc where he is a guy that was in the military, came home and couldn't find work so he turned to the games evil corporation and worked for them doing some not so legal things. What makes his story so compelling is they do a decent job grounding him by him a backstory. He has a wife and his wife is pregnant so his motivations are driven by his family. He's just an easy character to cheer for. Are there puzzles and How are they? I'm trying to think and no, there really weren't any puzzles. What is the gameplay like and how does it feel? This is where the game itself is at its peak. The gameplay and combat are very solid. Its a third-person cover shooter but your character has some abilities that make the game fun. First off, although it is a cover shooter you need to keep moving so you're goal is to move from cover to cover. The first ability you learn, I can't remember the name of it but you throw out a time sphere type thing. Basically, time stops for anyone or anything in that time sphere so you should that at an enemy. They're frozen in time, then you shoot bullets at the enemy. When the bullets hit the time sphere, they stop in place and then after a few seconds when the time sphere dissipates the bullets instantly hit them and they're dead. The second ability you learn is a quick dash, I didn't use it too much because a little later on you learn a better ability. The third ability is like a shield. Basically, you hit a button and then you have a protective shield completely surrounding you so it blocks all bullets. It's very useful when you need to heal up. The fourth ability is a run dash. This you hold a button and as you're running time stops moving. So you're able to move from one area to another with little consequence. Between these 4 (really 3) abilities, it made the game a lot of fun. Once you develop a rhythm with the abilities and their cool downs, the game becomes a very fun combat arena. What is my favorite moment or sequence from the game? Nothing really comes to mind, it's a fun game but there aren't really any memorable set pieces. How are the missions/levels designed? The missions and levels are very linear. It reminds me of Uncharted where you start in an area you platform from area to area and occasionally there is a gun fight. How is the sound design and music? The voice acting is top notch, its very well done but they use a lot of recognizable actors. The music itself, I didn't notice it at all. Recap: The Good The Combat Recap: The Bad Too short, only about 10 hours. Recap: The Okay The Music The Story

Tabletop Simulator 2 What is the genre? Its less **** and more of Physics-Engine. Are there any similar games or is it a sequel? It's like Garys Mod or something along those lines. Its a not in its self but its a Physics Engine that allows the users to play any game that they want. How is the gameplay? As I said before, it gives options to allow users or players to play any game. Specifically any card, board or tabletop game. Tabletop Simulator comes with a few basic games but where the application truly excels is in the Steam Workshop where there are thousands of games. It's a great way to try new games before spending $70-80. How is the offline and online? It includes both, I have yet to play online with other people but I have played locally and it works very well. Is there any single player? Of course, you can. You can download Mods that have single player. You can also create your own games. The nice thing is, its a great way to playtest a new game that you're working on. Would I recommend it? Absolutely, I keep trying to get my friends to get the game. We used to get together and play Tabletop games every Sunday but then one of my closest friends moved away. Now obviously don't get together to play tabletop games, I keep telling them that this is a fantastic alternative. Recap: The Good The possibilities with this are endless. The perfect way to create a new Tabletop Game Recap: The Bad It's not much **** Recap: The Okay N/A

What is the genre and subgenre of the game? Into the Breach is a turn-based strategy game. What did I think of the story? The story is simple, you make your way through a series of Islands fighting giant bug-like creatures called Vek. Your goal is to survive the attacks but at the same time level up mechs but also the pilots flying the mechs. Ideally what you want is to make it through each Island and then reach the final Island where you defeat the mech. Favorite Character? The game has 27 different Mechs that you can unlock by replaying the game. The mechs come in sets of 3 so there are 9 different mech sets. After about 10 hours, I unlocked 5 different sets. Unfortunately, I don't like any of the Mechs that I've unlocked and preferred the original 3. Are there puzzles and How are they? Each level is essentially a puzzle. The enemies (the Vek) their goal is not to attack your Mechs but rather the buildings because that's how the Vek actually defeat you. So sometimes your goal isn't to do as much damage to the Vek as you can but rather moving the Vek out of the way so it can't damage a building. The game requires you to rethink the way you normally approach turn-based strategy games. How is the sound design and music? I didn't pay attention to the in-game music too much. I just listened to my own music. How are the missions/levels designed? Every level is set up on an 8x8 grid. The enemies take up one space and so do your Mechs. Every grid will also include some buildings for the Vek to attack but then there is some uniqueness depending on each level and which Island you're on. Some levels are more mountainous, some have an ocean, some are in the desert and have earthquakes. There's is a good amount of variety within each level. Recap: The Good Makes you rethink classic turn-based strategy game. Recap: The Bad The unlockable mechs are not for me. Recap: The Okay The Story.

Why did I want to play it? Growing up, Need For Speed Hot Pursuit 2 was one of my favorite games on the PlayStation 2. Unfortunately I never really liked any of the other NFS games and it was obvious EA favored the other NFS titles more than Hot Pursuit so I stopped paying attention to NFS. Then one day I saw Hot Pursuit on Steam for sale so I bought it for very cheap. How did the game age? This game has aged very well. It looks good for an 8-year-old game and plays well. This may be the best racing game that I have ever played. What is the genre and subgenre of the game? It's an arcade racing game What did I think of the story? There are two different campaigns, neither one has any story which is fine. I don't want this game bogged down by a narrative. Just let me race. One of the campaigns is from the street racer side and the other is from the police side. Both you just kind of advance by racing and as you do well you unlock new cars and equipment. Favorite Character? My favorite car in the game was the Koenigsegg CCXR Edition. It was so fast but also controlled well. I could zip around corners almost seamlessly. Are there puzzles and How are they? No, no puzzles. Just get from point A to point B as fast as you can. What is the gameplay like and how does it feel? The gameplay is what makes this one of the best racing games that I have ever played. For the most part, the cars control so well and the game does an amazing job of making you feel like you're going very fast. When you're playing an arcade racer, that's what you want. You want to feel like you're going 200+ miles an hour. What is my favorite moment or sequence from the game? Its nothing major but there are so many cars to unlock in this game and you do it so quickly. The game gives you instant gratification by having you constantly unlocking new cars. Was it fun? Yes, of course, some of the most fun that I have ever had with a racing game. How is the sound design and music? The music is weak in this game but luckily that's easy to fix. Go into settings, mute the in-game music and then play your own music while playing the game. Recap: The Good Controls well and feels good Recap: The Bad Music Recap: The Okay N/A

What is the genre? Third-person Shooter, Battle Royale Are there any similar games or is it a sequel? Its similar to PlayerUnknowns Battle Grounds but it does have its own unique spin on the gameplay. The biggest difference is, this is much of an arcade shooter and it has a crafting/building mechanic. How is the gameplay? The shooting is, its far from the best shooter that I have played but the shooting is serviceable and good enough for a free to play game. There are three game modes, solo, duo or squad. Solo is 100 people and they're all out for themselves trying to be the last survivor. Duo is 50 teams of 2 competing against one another to be the last 2 on the map and Squad is 25 teams of 4 competing to be the last ones on the map. The gameplay is simple. You start in a flying school bus as it takes you across the map. You can jump at any point and start anywhere you want on the map. Once you land, its time to start looting to find weapons to kill people with. How is the offline and online? There really isn't any offline. It's an online shooter. Is there any single player? Nope Would I recommend it? Maybe, if someone is looking for something to do. I would recommend it only because its free. The free makes it so its low risk for anyone to try it. Recap: The Good Its free and it can be fun Recap: The Bad The Shooting is not great for a competitive shooter Recap: The Okay The building mechanic is okay

Why did I want to play this game? I have never played a Sonic game before but obviously being around video games for 25 years, I have heard a ton about Sonic. I mostly heard bad things about the franchise but then this game came out and I heard universal praise. I figured this game is the perfect game to finally give Sonic a try. What did I not like about it? I know how stupid this makes me sound but I just don't get the game. I understand the core of always be running and always move to the right. But first off, it's so jarring when you lose momentum but then there is also the issue of all of these multiple paths and none of it feels fun or rewarding. I just don't get it. Sonic is not for me. How much time did I put into it? I put about 3 or 4 into the game, it was enough for me to know that this isn't for me. Will I try it again at some point? No, I'm good. I will let Sonic fans have this one and I will stay far away from this franchise.

Why did I want to play it? Lately, I had been feeling nostalgic towards this game. It's my favorite of the Call of Duty franchise and its simply because of the Zombies mode. I had thought about picking it up for PC but they charge like $20 for the base game digitally. The game is 10 years old, I don't understand why. Luckily I was wondering around and they had a buy 4 games for $10 deal. This game was in that pile so I was able to pick up the game for a couple bucks on Xbox 360 which the game is backward compatible on Xbox One so I am able to easily play it. How did the game age? The game has aged surprisingly well. I don't know if the XBox One up-resing the game at all but for a 10-year-old game that's on a prior console. It looks surprisingly well. The other nice thing is, the previous Call of Duty standardized FPS controls so going back to an older FPS is not that difficult. At their core, all COD games control very similarly. I don't know about the original trilogy but after the Modern Warfare, there is at least a standard. What is the genre and subgenre of the game? Its First Person Shooter What did I think of the story? 10 years ago when I had the game on PS3, I played through the campaign but I haven't here. Just playing it for Zombies. How are the Puzzles? Zombies have some puzzles but they're very basic. I know in future iterations the Zombies get very convoluted and complicated but this is the original zombie game so it's much simpler than future installments. What is the gameplay like and how does it feel? It feels good, I know there its popular to **** on COD on the internet but anyone who has played COD will say that the games at least play well, control well and feel good. How are the missions/levels designed? There are 4 map packs for Zombies and online. I didn't buy all 4 for Xbox because I only like one of the 4 Zombie maps anyways. The Map packs still cost $10 a piece but honestly, I have played enough of it to make the purchase worthwhile. How is the sound design and music? This is the one thing that the original Zombie map gets perfect. The music creates this haunting nervous energy. The music and sound design are very well done. In the 4th map pack, its a little more light-hearted and most importantly your main character is obnoxious. He is constantly running his mouth and saying stupid **** It's just something you have to learn to zone out. Recap: The Good Controls Well, Feels Good, Fun, Aged Well Recap: The Bad The main character is annoying Recap: The Okay Nothing

What is the genre and subgenre of the game? Captain Toad is a straight up Puzzle game and its one of the best Puzzle games that I have ever played. What did I think of the story? The story is very basic and its a classic Nintendo story. Toad and Toadette are hanging out and all of a sudden the main villain Wingo appears and takes Toadette. Toad has to make his way through the levels to find Toadette. That's Act 1, Act 2 is Toadette makes here way through levels and then Act 3 is them coming together. Favorite Character? The characters are Toad and Toadette. They're exactly the same except for a palate swap making Toadette a female that has more pink. How are the Puzzles? This is the bulk of the game, each level is a small series of short puzzles. Each level has 3 diamonds that you want to collect and you want to make it the star which is the end of the level. You need to collect the diamonds because that's how you unlock new areas in the world but you also need to collect the star at the end of every level because that's how you move onto the next level. What is the gameplay like and how does it feel? I kind of went over the gameplay before. Start a level, figure out how to collect all 3 diamonds, then figure out how to get to the star so that you have completed the level. Rinse and repeat for maybe 10 hours and then you've beaten the game. It's a very simple concept and it's a fun game to make your way through slowly. Personally me, it took a couple weeks to beat the game but that was because I would sit down and go through a few levels so I sat down and played maybe a half hour every night for a couple weeks. What is my favorite moment or sequence from the game? I really like the way the game set up the first boss battle. Where you're just traversing up through the level and then you accidentally defeat the boss. Its a perfect way for Toad to defeat an enemy. Unfortunately, they rehash this boss battle 3 or 4 times. After the first time, the idea loses its charm. Was it fun? Yes, its a very simple concept but very rewarding and enjoyable. It's not too difficult but there are times where you will have to stop and just think about your next few steps. How is the sound design and music? As with any Nintendo game, the music design is on point. How are the missions/levels designed? Every level is on its own separate cube where you just move around. Which keep in mind Toad has very limited mobility. He can walk, slowly run, climb ladders but can not jump. So if you need to get to a higher elevation, your options are to walk onto an elevator or climb a ladder. Now keep in mind, every level has secrets hidden on all sides and all over the place. So you're constantly rotating the camera around looking for areas for Toad to explore. Recap: The Good Great Puzzles Recap: The Bad Rehashed Boss Battles Recap: The Okay The Story

What is the genre and subgenre of the game? This is hard game give a subgenre to because its a Platformer because its a puzzle esque platformer but it also can be a competitive racer as well. So its kind of like speed runners but speedrunners is more of a racing game where this is a puzzle platformer that requires some tight execution. What did I think of the story? Non existant Favorite Character? Your character doesn't matter too much I would typically choose Shantae from the indie platformer games. How are the Puzzles? Every level is almost a puzzle. To break the game down, each platform has its own color lets there are 2 different colors red and blue. Now the background changes every couple of second (or maybe every second) from the two different platform colors (red and blue). When the background is red, the platform blends in with the background so it makes that the platform has disappeared. You can not jump or land on a platform that is the same color as the background. So while the background is red you're standing on a blue platform. When the background changes to blue you have to move to one of the red platforms. So the game is kind of a puzzle as you're trying to traverse through the levels. What is the gameplay like and how does it feel? So now that I have laid down the basics of the game but the gameplay is not only trying to stay on the right platform. You're also racing against other people trying to get the end first. This is where the game gets that much harder, you have to follow the game patterns, get the rhythm down and then get to the end. Its difficult for someone like me who is rhythm deaf. I really struggled with the game. What is my favorite moment or sequence from the game? At one point, I just stopped playing and started watching my friends compete against one another. I had a lot more fun watching them fail for 20 minutes on one level. Was it fun? Its okay, they're definitely an audience but it's not me. If you're looking for a difficult platformer than this is a game to look up. How is the sound design and music? The music is catchy but very repetitive, you hear the same tune for hours which eventually I just started to tune out completely. Recap: The Good The jumping is tight and controls well. Recap: The Bad It's pretty difficult. Recap: The Okay The music.

What is the genre and subgenre of the game? It is a First-Person Shooter What did I think of the story? I wish the Halo Story did more for me but I just can't get into it. It's okay and there certainly is an attempt but I just don't care what's going on with the story. The sad truth is, Bungie doesn't do a great making me care about any of the characters. So what's going on narratively doesn't have much weight. Favorite Character? Master Chief? I don't know, no one really. How are the Puzzles? Halo is not really known for Puzzles. What is the gameplay like and how does it feel? The shooting feels good, that is one that the one that Bungie does very well. The shooting is very well done. How are the missions/levels designed? This is my biggest complaint about the entire game. Often times you're often times backtracking through the same part. So the mission starts and you start at point A, go to point B and instead of going to point A. You go back through to point A. Then maybe you go to point C. Then to point D and then back to point C. Backtracking is lazy level design in my opinion rather than designing something new, you can keep the same assets. What is my favorite moment or sequence from the game? There was a plot twist involving the Guilty Spark that did surprise. For most of the game, the narrative wasn't doing much for me but that moment did draw me and make me ask the question, what is going on here? Was it fun? Yes, despite the okay level design and okay story the game is fun to play. That is in large part thanks to the combat and specifically the gunplay. It just feels good to shoot enemies regardless if its the covenant or the flood. How is the sound design and music? The one thing that I don't quite understand about this game is the music. I'll be in the middle of a fight and then all of a sudden the music will start playing. I don't quite understand what triggers the music. Now granted its very good when it's playing, I just don't quite understand why it starts. Recap: The Good Combat/Gunplay Recap: The Bad Level Design Recap: The Okay Story

Why did you want play this game? I have heard nothing but amazing things about this game, was told how beautiful and amazing the game was. It seemed like something that I had to try. What did you not like about it? I don't really understand what all the fuss is about, its nothing special. All the game is, is a series of boss battles scattered through an open world. The climbing itself in the game feels unitutitive, the boss battles feel underwhelming and the world itself is completely empty. Its a pretty flat experience. How much time did you put into it? I played the game for a few hours, took out a few of the monsters or bosses or whatever you want to call them. I stopped playing because the game didn't feel like it was worth continuing. Do you think you'll try it again at some point? No, this game is gone and I don't plan on picking it up again. If you love it, great but man its not for me.

Why did you want to play this game? Horizon Zero Dawn is one of my favorite games of all time. The same studio that made that game, made this game. I also really like First Person Shooters so I thought this game was going to be right up my alley. What did you not like about it? I don't know what it is about this game but it just did not click for me at all. The shooting felt off, the story tried to make me care but I just did not care. The levels of themselves were just too big and convoluted. It's just not a great game, there are much better FPS available. How much time did you put into it? I probably played the game for 4ish hours. Do you think you'll try it again at some point? No, this game is just not worth your or my time. There are much better options out there.

What Kind of Adventure? Action-Adventure Was it fun? This is a very enjoyable game, hands down my favorite Zelda game ever made. Are there any similar games? This is a video game series that really transformed the action-adventure genre. Its hard for me to pin point a game that its similar to. Favorite Character? There really isn’t a lot of character development in this game so I guess its going to have to be Link. Favorite World/Stage? If you want to be a technical ass, I guess its technically a “dungeon” but my favorite one is probably the Ice Palace. Its so cool and has penguin enemies, how is that not everyone’s favorite? Would you play it again? Yes this game has a lot replayable value. How many hours did you play it? As a kid, I would probably say its too long. But as an adult, I think its a great game. Its hard but I absolutely love playing it.

What Kind of Adventure? Platforming Adventure Was it fun? No, it wasn’t. My friends were telling me how great this game was. So I borrowed it from one of them and at best I was content and mostly I was annoyed. Are there any similar games? It reminds me of a really poorly made, Super Mario 3D World. Favorite Character? No one. Would you play it again? I tried this game twice and I had to stop both times. Any Complaints? I didn’t like the controls on the game and although there aren’t a lot. There are enough motion controls to be annoying. I didn’t like all the gravity changes and going upside down and all the camera angle changes. There’s a lot about this game that didn’t work for me. How many hours did you play it? I played this game for about 4 hours. I gave it a fair chance and just didn’t like it. I know its a popular game and I legitimately tried to like it but I just couldn’t.

System: PS4 What Kind of Adventure? Action-Adventure Was it fun? I wanted to like it but it was poorly made. Are there any similar games? Its like a poorly made Uncharted or Tomb Raider game. Favorite Character? I only played as Lara so I guess her. Would you play it again? No, I tried to like the game but just couldn’t. Any Complaints? I hated the controls, you had to up on the right analog stick to shoot? It was just bad. How many hours did you play it? About 4 hours.

What Kind of Adventure? Third Person Action-Adventure/Shooter Was it fun? Yeah, it was okay. Are there any similar games? The Ratchet & Clank series is just a 3-D platformer but with guns. Would you play it again? No, not this Ratchet & Clank. Any Complaints? It was too short, 7 levels and each level probably took me about a half hour each. Also the game was not beginner friendly. Meaning, if you have never played a Ratchet and Clank game, you probably would have been lost as to what you should do next. How many hours did you play it? Maybe 4 hours, its really short.

What Kind of Adventure? Action/Adventure/Third Person Shooter. Was it fun? Yes, I didn’t know what to expect with this game but it wound up being a very fun experience. Are there any similar games? Its a GTA clone. Favorite Character? I guess, Vito the main character. He seemed like a good guy who grew up poor and just found the best way to make it. Favorite World/Stage? I really enjoyed the 12th chapter where you, go to the loan shark, buy the drugs, you’re looking for a quick buck. When I first saw the scene where they were talking about buying the drugs and selling them for a quick profit. I knew things would go wrong and it ended up being an interesting chapter as that played out. Would you play it again? No, probably not but now I’m excited to play Mafia 3. Any Complaints? I know it was part of the story but I didn’t like that my house burnt down. I was really excited about the idea of becoming a Mafia king pin but that didn’t really pan out. How many hours did you play it? It took me about 12 hours to beat the whole game and it was enjoyable through out.

What Kind of Adventure? Point and click, Graphic Adventure. Was it fun? It was okay, one of my favorite TV genres is Investigative Crime but I just don’t think it works overly that well in video games. Are there any similar games? The Agatha Cristie: ABC Murders come to mind, also Murdered Soul Suspect. Favorite Character? I like Sherlock Holmes as a fictional character and he was okay in this game. Any Complaints? Load screens made playing this game very tough. Basically in a case you would have 3 or 4 different locations to go to. To give you an example. You’re at the crime scene and you need to go home,load screen. While at home, you find 1 piece of evidence then have to go the police station, long load screen. Then you need to go back to the Crime Scene, load screen. I feel like I spent more time in a load screen than I did actually playing the game. How many hours did you play it? Probably about 3-4 hours and I got sick of load screens. I finished the first case and stopped in the middle of the second case.

When I first played Xcom 2, I instantly fell in love with the game. Then I quickly realized that a lot of people were saying the same thing about Xcom 2. That it’s not as good as the first one. Xcom: Enemy Unkown was a much better game so I knew that I had to give the game a shot. Enemy Unkown plays the exact same way as Xcom 2 and that made me very happy. If I could go back and redo the 2016 Game of the Year then Xcom 2 would have been on it. Regardless Xcom: Enemy Unkown is a turn-based strategy game where you level up units and send them on missions. Its a very stressful game because on top of its difficulty and the random nature of the shots there is also permadeath. What I mean by “random nature of the shots” each shot taken by a unit has a percentage chance of hitting. It could be 62% chance, 83% or 99%. You never know for sure whether the shot is going to connect, I have had shots in 90’s miss but I’ve also had shots in the 20’s hit. That’s what I mean by random nature when you take essentially dice rolls and mix that with permadeath. Stress levels go up. The one thing that impressed me above all else is this is a good game. Its extremely well made and since its turn-based the game mechanics don’t feel out of date. It’s also important to note that this game can be played on the Xbox One so you don’t even have to bring out your old Xbox 360 to play it.

This is probably going to be one of my favorite indie games of the year. It’s to hard to classify this game because its kind of a fighting but not in any of the traditional sense of what a fighting game is. Its one vs one and each level has 7 rooms total. So you start in the middle so room 4 and depending on where you start you want to get to either room 1 or room 7. If you start on the left side, your goal is move to the right and get to room 7. If you start on the right, you’re moving to the left and you’re trying to get to room 1. Its kind of hard to explain but it’s easy once you get playing. So at the start of the match, you’ll each start with a sword. The two fight and whoever wins they get to move forward. So if its the person on the left, they start running to the right and you want to keep running until your opponent respawns. Then you go into another battle where the two of you will fight again. Let’s say Left wins again so they’ll keep running to the right. This continues until one person reaches the end of the level. So far from what I’ve described, the core gameplay is the exact same as the original. The 2 big changes are 1 the art style. As you can tell from the pictures above, rather than just being stick figures. The game does have some artistic design. Initially, people were really complaining about the design but I really liked it. The art design really fits the gameplay. The other big change is the weapons. In the original, there was one weapon and that was a sword. In Nidhogg 2, there are 2 different swords, a dagger and a bow and arrow. What this has done is, it’s created a meta game within the game. Weapons counter other weapons and one of the biggest changes is, in the original dive kicking was really strong and OP. In this game, one of the swords is a great counter to dive kicking so it’s not as good anymore. Why I like this game is, it’s a fun “party” game. I hate using that word because I feel like it has some negative connotation to it but trust me when I tell you. This is a fun game.

I’ve never been a big tower defense guy but there is something about this game that I’ve always kind of liked. It’s probably a mixture of the strategy involved, the cartoony style and simplistic gameplay. This is a game that I’ve sat down and played many times but I’ve never actually beaten the game. It was on Steam, it was on sale so I picked it up. If you don’t know what Plants Vs Zombies is, it’s essentially you vs Zombies. What you use to defend yourself against Zombies with plants. You can shoot them, eat them, slow them down or light them on fire but the thing about Zombies is. They keep coming. That’s the tower defense aspect of the game. Sometimes they come during the day, sometimes it’s at night and at the end they try getting into the house via the roof. As you progress through the campaign, you unlock more effective plants to use against the Zombies. This is a fun game, I was a little surprised to see this game on Steam if I’m going to be honest. I always thought of this game as a mobile app but honestly, it’s a well-made game. Not only is there a main quest but there is also mini-games and several puzzles to solve. I ended up putting 50 hours into this game. There is a depth to the game that is unexpected but and when you deploy thoughtful strategies and they work out. Its an extremely rewarding game. This game has me thinking that I should give more tower defense games a chance.

Lately, I have been feeling nostalgic towards the NHL 2K series. It’s very much in large part due to the fact that EA has been dropping the ball for the last 5-6 years. After they whipped out the competition, EA no longer had to try. During my Playstation 2 and 3 days, I would only buy 2 games per year. EA NHL and 2K NHL. I always prefer the gameplay of EA but then I preferred the franchise mode of 2K. There were three things that I really liked about 2K10 was 1, shareable rosters. Back in the day, I spent days crafting my roster and keeping it up to date and then sharing it online. My roster was given 4.5 stars and was one of the most downloaded rosters. The other feature that I loved was editable Entry Drafts. That way, every few years I could create the occasional franchise superstar. Basically “The Next Wayne Gretzky.” The third was the fact that I could control all 30 teams in the franchise mode. I would sim the seasons, draft for each teams needs, try to do fair trades that benefit both teams and sign free agents that benefitted each team. Unfortunately, the online features of the game are no longer active but I still had fun, creating draft classes and simming through the franchise mode. I stopped after 10 seasons because it stopped being fun but the nice thing is. When I feel like playing the game again, I won’t have to create the draft classes. They’re saved on the system and they’re right there. All in all, the game is pretty much what I remember. I never really liked playing the hockey games and always preferred to play the game as a franchise mode simulator. In that sense, the game has aged well. I definitely could see myself going back to this game once or twice per year. Definitely worth the $5 I spent on Amazon.

I know a couple years ago, I did a “review” of Banjo-Kazooie but I this time I wanted to talk about the Xbox port (plus I just really like talking about this game). It is my childhood favorite game so I love sitting down and playing the game. After playing through the XBox version, I can say with 100% confidence that I will never play the N64 version ever again. The Xbox version is better because its easy saves, a wireless controller and my favorite added feature the Music Notes save. One thing that I hated about the original was if I collected 52 notes and then died. My best run of that world would be 52 but if I wanted to 100% the game then I would have to recollect all of those music notes again. The Xbox version saves that, it doesn’t force me to go back through and redo the same thing if I die or just leave the world. If I’ve collected a note then its done. I don’t have to get it again and I love that. Typically what would happen when I would sit down and play Banjo-Kazooie, I would start out trying to 100% the game and then about half-way through I start to do the bare minimum to get through the game. This time I didn’t do that. I wanted to 100% this game because I had never done it before. Now, I can say that I have 100% one of my favorite childhood games. This is not a game that I would recommend to anyone. Especially anyone young but for us older gamers playing for Nostalgia. Yea, it’s still a fun game and this port makes the game better.

Why did you want to get the game? I have heard about this game for a while and it’s been something that I have been wanting to pick for a while. Then I saw it on Xbox Game Pass and figured that this is a great opportunity to finally sit down and play it. What did you not like about it? I played the game for a number of hours, it wasn’t bad but it never really hooked me in. I played it one night for 3-4 hours and then I just never had any motivation to go back to it. Sadly the game just didn’t have anything that was worth going back to. It just felt painfully average. How much time did you put into it? As I said before, it was about 3-4 hours. Do you think you’ll try it again at some point? I haven’t deleted it from my Xbox yet so that should count for something. I may go back to it if I am feeling desperate but at this point, there are a lot of other games that I want to try. On my backlog, it’s at the bottom of the list which should say everything that needs to be said about this game.

Why did you want to play it? I have recently fallen in love with the Gears of War franchise. I played through the original trilogy and I certainly want more Gears of War so I decided to play this as well. I know this one is considered one of the weaker of the Xbox 360 era but I still enjoyed the game. How did the game age? I personally think it aged well, it played as well as all of the other Gear games. What is the genre and subgenre of the game? It is a third-person cover shooter. What did you think of the story? I have to give the creators of this game some credit, they tried to do something unique with the story in this game. Essentially what you have is a squad of 4 people and they’re in a courtroom and they’re recalling the events that have happened that ultimately led them to be in the courtroom. Throughout the game, you play as all four characters so the game has an overarching narrative but there are 4 different stories being told as well. The stories are nothing groundbreaking but interesting enough. Favorite Character? It is and always will be Cole Train. He’s the cook black guy of the group. How are the Puzzles? One thing the Gears of War franchise is not known for is Puzzles. If you’re looking for puzzles then you’re going to be severely disappointed. What is the gameplay like and how does it feel? The gunplay in Gears of War is the draw of this game. The gameplay loop is simple, there is a cut scene, walk into an area and enemies appear. Kill all of the enemies and then you’ll heat a gong-like sound which means you have cleared the area. Then go into the next area and kill the enemies move on until another cutscene happens. Do this for 7-8 hours and the game is over. It’s simple and fun, sometimes that’s all I am looking for in a video game. What is your favorite moment or sequence from the game? Sadly nothing really stands out about this game. Its good but a very boilerplate Gears of War game. How is the sound design and music? I don’t remember anything about the music or sound design. Its nothing special and certainly didn’t stand out. The voice acting was on point though so I wouldn’t call it a negative but I wouldn’t call it a positive either. Just a very average sound design experience. Any Complaints? No, nothing that comes to mind. It’s an average Gears of War game which don’t take that as a negative because I do think the Gears of War franchise is very good and this is a solid addition to that franchise.

There is something about the Gears of War franchise that I’m really enjoying. The games have all aged very well, there is a story here and there are characters that are likable. Gears of War kind of reminds me of PlayStations franchise Uncharted. They’re both third-person shooters, the big difference is Uncharted is much more story and character driven where Gears is much more shooter driven. If that makes sense. With that being said though, this iteration is definitely the most cinematic of the three. The first one didn’t really have any narrative, the second one had its moments that felt cinematic but the third is really where they perfected the nuance of storytelling. Gears of War 3 was an excellent addition to the trilogy. I would really have to sit down and figure out which one is my favorite. I’ll probably do that at some point after I’ve played Judgement and Gears of War 4. But for now, this is an excellent game that has aged very well.

I have just recently completed Gears of War, the first one and my goal is to play all of the Gears of War franchise. This is just the 2nd one and I will keep continuing to play them all. Gears of War 2 feels like a much better game than the original. It also feels much easier, it seems like they knocked down the difficulty settings quite a bit. Personally I kind of liked it though because it allowed me to play the game as a little bit more of a run and gun rather than the cover shooter that its suppose to be. I enjoy a fun shooter campaign and the Gears franchise seems to be a well-made shooter campaign. I am having a fantastic time with the franchise. As I’m playing these games, I can’t help but appreciate what Gears have done for the Genre. Who knows without Gears, there may not have been Uncharted or if there was. It may not have been as good. The game itself has aged very well. The shooting works great, honestly, for an Xbox 360 game, I was impressed with how it looked. Sure its a dark and grimy game but it still looks good. I thought the first Gears game aged well and I think this game is even better. The Gears can be picked up for cheap and I highly recommend it.

When I initially bought my Xbox one of the franchises that I really wanted to play was this one, Gears of War. I’ve known for a long time how iconic the Gears franchise is so its been on my bucket list for a long time. So I bought Gears 1, 2 and 3 with the sole intention of sitting down and playing all 3 and eventually playing the 4th iteration as well. If you’re like me and have never played a Gears of War game before its a third-person cover shooter with a strong emphasis on the cover. The reason why its a strong emphasis on the cover mechanic is because although Gears isn’t necessarily the first they popularized it. Almost every Third-Person shooter post Gears of War has a cover mechanic. This makes Gears of War one of the most influential games of all time. This is a game that I think has aged very well. I have really enjoyed the shooting which feels tight, the cover mechanics work very well, the active reload is great and I wish more shooters would use that. I don’t know why that didn’t become popular. The story its self is okay and I look forward to playing 2 and 3 just so I can get to know the characters a little better.

Why did you want to play this game? The one genre that I have never really gotten into is the JRPG genre. I had heard good things about this game from nearly every outlet that consume content from. What did you not like about it? There is nothing special about this game. Its a jack of all of trades but master of none. The game is too ambitious for its own good and it just doesn’t do anything overly well. The story is, eh, the graphics are good but for a triple-A game very average. The combat is okay and there is also another type of combat and it’s an RTS. That’s not fully fleshed out either. To me, it felt like a very average video game. I sunk about 20 hours into the game and I just didn’t have it in me to keep playing. Do you think you’ll try it again at some point? No, I’m okay. I know what the game is and it’s not for me.

What is the genre? Arcade Sports (specifically Tennis) Are there any similar games or is it a sequel? Mario Tennis Aces is the seventh installment and just the second Mario Tennis game that I have played. I originally played Mario Tennis 64 back in the day and I didn’t love it so I didn’t pick up any of the others. How is the gameplay? The strength of this game lies in the gameplay. On the surface, its a very basic game. Its tennis you just hit the ball back and forth and your goal is to hit the ball in a way that your opponent can’t return it. You’re given a lot of options for hitting the ball, if your opponent is close the net then you may want to lob shot it over their head. Maybe go for a lob shot if they’re far away from the net, you can spike it. You have a super shot that works a lot like a fighting game super where you build up a meter and then once its full you activate it, it gives you a very powerful super shot. Now, that’s grazing the options that a player has with the offense but there are also defensive options. The first option is the “Trick Shot,”this a shot that you use if you’re ever out of position. You just activate the trick shot, it takes some of your meter and then the character can get to the other side of the court and will return the shot. It may sound powerful and certainly is but it’s not as powerful as it sounds. I would guess that it works about 80% of the time. Even with that being said, it’s probably my favorite thing in the game. Waluigi is my main and there is something extremely special about watching Waliugi moonwalk and then hit the ball. The other defensive is a slow down time mechanic. If your opponent spikes the ball or super shots it, you have the option to slow down time so you can get to the ball and return. This costs a lot of meter but it is the best option for returning a super shot. How is the offline and online? There is online but I have never played it. I only played local multiplayer with friends. It was primarily 4 of us. A few times it was 1 vs 1 but for the most part, we played 2 vs 2 with the joy cons. As small as the joy cons are, it works well enough. I wouldn’t want to play a fighting game with a joy con but Mario Tennis doesn’t require the execution that a fighting game would so its okay. Is there any single player? Yes but I don’t own the game or even rented it. My friend Manny bought the game and would bring it over to my apartment. My only experience is playing the local multi-player watching my friend Manny try to beat a couple levels, single player. It did look a lot harder than you would expect. Would you recommend it? Yes, if you own a switch and are looking for a fun multi-player then I think this may be one of the best ones out there at the moment. I have a hard time figuring out which one is better, Mario Kart or this. I haven’t played Mario Kart on the switch but I did play a lot on Wii U which it’s the same game. I lean more towards Mario Kart but this is a close second.

I know this is an older game and I know initially this game had a rocky start but playing this game in 2018, I can happily say that its a good game. It’s an easy game to get into, you just sit and start grinding. I regularly talk about Podcasts game on this blog and this is one of the better ones. I do have a confession about this game, I barely paid attention to the story. I initially did, I always try to get into a video game story but the strength of this game is not its story so about halfway I stopped paying attention to it. It didn’t grab me so I just skipped through it. That’s my only criticism. The game feels good, it’s a fun loop, it’s a fun grind and it has a ton of replayability. It’s a game that you can sit down and play for 30 hours or 100+ hours. It has the versatility to allow the player to play until their hearts are content.

I have finally done it. I have finally purchased a gaming PC and I can finally start playing PC games. This is a game that I have owned for a long time but I could never play it because my PC couldn’t handle the mid game. Now that I have finally sat down and play through an entire game, I feel underwhelmed. Civilization V is one of my top 5 favorite games of all time and Civ VI just feels lacking. I love the Art style and its still turn-based and part of the problem is I don’t know what I’m doing. I will continue to play it and hope eventually that the game will click with me. Civilization Revolution was the first Civ game that I played and it clicked with me instantly, Civ V was the first PC version and that was instant as well. This just feels off to me. I’ll keep at it and maybe expansions will help but for now, its not just not doing it for me.

Why? Why did I play this bad game for as many hours as I did? It’s a free-to-play Pokemon game which interesting Pokemon Sprites. All of the Pokemon are cubed shape which I am a fan of. Unfortunately, that’s the only thing that I am a fan of in regards to this game. The game is barely a game. You can have up to 3 Pokemon in your party and each Pokemon has 2 stats. Attack power and Hit Points. The higher the stats, the better the Pokemon. You collect Pokemon by cooking food which attracts them. It’s all so random, I played this game for probably almost 10 hours and I am ashamed of it. I am proud of myself for not spending any money but still. Why did I waste my time on this game?

I have been wanting to give an Assassin’s Creed game an actual opportunity. I rented Assassin’s Creed III and once I arrived in North America the game disk just stopped working. I rented Assassins Creed Origins and then I started to play it but I didn’t like the combat and when I finally opened the map, I just said I don’t have it in me to run around this world. I decided to rent the Ezio Collection and go back to beginnings (or close to it). For me personally, playing Assassin’s Creed II feels outdated. It feels bad. Its a bad remaster where they didn’t update the game it just felt bad. I didn’t like the way the movement felt and there is nothing satisfying about the combat. I’m not going to comment on the story because I didn’t get far enough into the game for the story to get its hooks in me. After about an hour, I decided that I couldn’t play the game anymore. I am going to give Odyssey a chance but its the last chance for Assassins Creed. If it doesn’t do anything for me. I might have to give up on the Assassin’s Creed franchise. Which is too bad because I love history and I would love have games where I can experience certain time periods but I just haven’t been hooked by any of the games thus far.

Looking back at this game retrospectively, I am forced to ask the question. Why did I play this game? The first Life is Strange is good but that’s because I liked Max as a character. Chloe on the other hand, I could not stand. So playing a game that’s entirely about her probably not a game for me. If you played the first Life is Strange, its all about Max and Chloe reuniting as friends. Chloe is going through a hard time because her father had passed away and Chloe closest friend Amber has also disappeared. So this game, Before the Storm is a prequel where you get to dive deeper into Chloe and Amber’s relationship. There were some interesting moments sprinkled into the game but as a whole, I just don’t like Chloe. I find her to be annoying, childish, selfish, unnecessarily mean to her mother, disrespectful to others and as soon as someone gives her a taste of her own medicine. Then the whole world is against her and woe is me. I recognize that the Life is Strange series is popular but man its not for me.

The game concept seemed very interesting to me. You play as a detective and you’re trying to solve the mystery of a stolen object but as I started to play the game I quickly realized what I don’t like about point and click adventure games. They’re boring. I like Telltale Games because the story structure flows well and moves along. This walk around, solve some “puzzles” and the way you collect evidence feels contrived. I didn’t get too far into the game, maybe eventually it gets interesting but for me after an hour. I had enough. No mas.

Last year I gave Yakuza 0 a chance and I’m very glad that I did. Normally I look at these weird Japanese titles and they just don’t seem up my alley. If something is weird and Japanese then it’s not for me or at least that’s what I thought. What I discovered last year is that I am a fan of Yakuza 0 so much so that it was my second favorite game of 2017. What I’ve discovered this year after playing Yakuza Kiwami is that I’m actually a fan of the franchise. This game is not as good as 0 but it’s impressed me and I am a fan. The game starts out where Zero leaves off. You’re Kiryu and you’re good friends with Nishiki. Nishiki ends up killing a higher up in the Yakuza which Kiryu takes the fall for and ends up in prison for 10 years. The whole early part of the game is leading up to prison and then spending time in prison where it’s a quick montage. After you get out of prison this is where the game truly begins. I don’t want to get too deep into the story because I don’t want to spoil anything but the game continues with the tradition of being a Japanese Soap opera which I am a fan of. The game’s combat feels an awful a lot like Yakuza 0’s combat which makes sense because Kiwami was built in Yakuza 0’s engine. Sadly the big difference between 0 and Kiwami is the fact that in Kiwami you do not get to play as Majima. Now from what I understand Sega did change Kiwami up from the original where they have sprinkled more Majima into the game but it’s not quite the same. Either way, it’s a great game that kept me entertained for a very time. The game also carries on the tradition of having a lot of fun mini-games that you can get engaged with. In 0 the Cabaret Club really pulled me in and in this one, it was actually the slot cars. I don’t know what it was but it was like a fun puzzle that I had to sit down and try to solve. You needed to make sure you weren’t too fast to fly off the track, too heavy to slow you down and all the while maintaining good acceleration. I fully plan on playing Yakuza 6 and Yakuza Kiwami 2 this year but I want to wait until Kiwami 2 comes out first. I’ll probably play Kiwami 2 when that comes out in August and then maybe finally sit down and play through 6 in November/December when things slow down for me. Plus by then the game will be much cheaper for me to buy.

So I have Xbox game pass which in case you don’t know what that is, its a service that costs $10 a month and you have access to 50+ games? I don’t actually know the amount but some games are taken out of the service and new games are added in. One day I saw that Kingdom New Lands was added so I downloaded it. It took awhile but eventually, I sat down and started to play it. I have a confession about this game. It makes me feel stupid. I did not understand what I am supposed to be doing. It’s a side-scroller and I would run back and forth. I would hire people but I don’t really know what I was hiring them to do. I would give money to trees and then next thing I knew the trees were gone but I don’t know why I wanted to do to do that. I spent a couple hours running back and forth doing things but the game never gave me any direction of what my goal was. I didn’t get frustrated by the lack of direction but I did lose interest. It didn’t make sense, I could have looked up online but after a couple of hours. I just didn’t care so I uninstalled the game and have no interest in going back to it.

I am one of the few individuals who owned a Wii U and I’m one of the few individuals who have an affinity for the Donkey Kong Country series but for some reason I never played Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze on the Wii U. When the Switch version was announced and that there was a new mode called Funky Mode, I decided that I would just wait for the Switch version. Jump forward a few months and here we are, I have finally played DKC Tropical Freeze. The game is shockingly difficult, I know people look back at the original trilogy and say those games were equally punishing but this feels like another level. The sad part is, I played the games Funky mode which is basically easy mode and I still struggled with it. Especially during some of the bosses where I just banged my head against the wall over and over again. I probably spent 3 or 4 hours just trying to beat the final boss. My one major complaint with the game is I didn’t love the control scheme, I had a hard time holding down a button to cling to vines. I prefer the old method where you just jump towards a vine and you automatically cling to it. Holding the right shoulder button when I was swinging on vines just felt bad. I had to eventually change the control scheme where the “Y” button was the interact button. I have a habit of always holding down the “Y” button anyway because that’s traditionally the run button. It **** because then the run button was the right shoulder button so I never ran but it was an overall better experience after I switched the control scheme. All in all, Tropical Freeze is a solid platformer with great music.

This is a game that I have had to sit down and think about for a little bit because it blew me away. This is something that I have been meaning to sit down and write for almost a month now. For Kratos, it was a herculean task to talk to his son and for me it’s writing about this damn game. It has such an interesting start and its something that you don’t quite pick up on the first time you play the game. Right off the bat, there is this tension between Kratos and his son Atreus. It’s an awkward tension where both parties are clearly upset about something. It reminds me of when you meet up with family and you can instantly tell something happened. The kid is quiet and doesn’t want to say anything, the parents are on edge but want to pretend like everything is fine. There is tension in the air and all it does is put you in this awkward position. That is how I would describe the start of this game. With the way this game starts, that’s what makes the games narrative so interesting. As you progress through the game, there are a lot of moving parts but it all synchronizes so perfectly. You get bits and pieces of Kratos, his former life and how he is trying to escape his past but you’re never able to completely wipe that away. You also have the relationship of Atreus and Kratos and watching that evolve and my favorite part of this game. The Norse Mythology lore and how Santa Monica (The Developers) have intertwined a Greek God into the Norse Mythology. As great as the narrative the forefront of this game is the gameplay itself. You start out with an axe called the Leviathan axe and its perfect. Its so perfect, I love using the axe. There is a weight to the combat, it feels good to hit people with the axe but it goes further than that, you can also throw the axe. Then after you throw the axe, you the hit triangle button on the PlayStation controller and its right back. As much fun as it was to throw the axe, I would on occasion exploit it a little bit in the boss battles. If I was struggling in a fight, I would just keep my distance and then just throw the axe and then recall it. Just do that over and over again until the boss was down. It doesn’t work on all of the bosses but it does work for one specific boss type. The other main combat mechanic is your son, Atreus. He has a bow and arrow and he will use it in combat and he is very useful. He gets a couple different types of arrows and one of them and one them staggers the enemies which is very useful. Its also interesting to watch Atreus in the combat arena, as the game progressed he clearly improved and became much more confident in himself. I am not going to sit here and say its a perfect game because it isn’t but sitting here thinking about the game. I don’t have any major gripes with the game. I guess there could be more enemy variation but I really enjoyed my time with the game. I think the length is perfect, the combat is fun and the story is engaging. That’s all I want out of a video game.

Far Cry 5 is an interesting game, its fun and the gameplay is fantastic but the story is disappointing. The game has an amazing start, where your character is a Police Officer in the state of Montana. So the game is based in the United States and that instantly made it interesting for me personally. I live in the United States so in my mind there would be some relatability. The whole premise is, there is a sadistic cult that has taken control of a county in the state of Montana. The Cult leader name is Joseph Seed and he believes he speaks to god and is doing gods work. It’s a very boilerplate cultist premise. The thing is, even though it is very generic the way they start the game, it’s very powerful. You’re in a helicopter with a few other police officers, you’re going there to detain Joseph Seed but once you get there and handcuff Joseph his followers don’t like it. As you’re flying away in the helicopter his followers start jumping on the helicopter and one gets caught in the propeller with brings the helicopter down. Narratively this is the most powerful moment in the entire game. Seeing these cult members kill themselves for Joseph Seed sets a tone that the rest of the game just doesn’t live up to. The gameplay is what kept me going with this game. The weird thing about this game is, the gameplay reminded me less of Far Cry 4 and more of Ghost Recon: Wildlands. The game was split into the three regions and each region has a person at the top. If you take out all three of those people then you can get to Joseph who’s at the very top of it all. Narratively this is what creates some of the issues. One staple of Far Cry (especially 3 and 4) is the game has very charismatic and almost likable villains. This game tries to take it another step where it has 4 villains rather than the 1 iconic one. So what ends up happening is everything gets spread too thin and not a single one gets enough screen time for you to care. Now the regions aren’t all bad, narratively it falls short but having the regions allows the gameplay to feel much more organic. Each region has “Region Points Bar” and you want to fill that bar so you can take on the region leader. As you can see by this picture the Faith Region is 13,000, there is also John’s region which is also 13,000 and Jacob’s which is only 10,000. It sounds like a lot but it doesn’t take as long you would think. I would guess that the whole game took me 20-25 hours so I would guess that each region took me 6 hours. Getting back to what I was talking about with the natural flow of the game with these regions, you can do whatever you want to fill that bar. There are “story missions” but not in the traditional sense. These just give more region points but you do not have to complete all of them. The way I played the game was simple, I would walk into an area. I would explore, run into a group of cult members. You kill them and there is a specific enemy type that if you kill then you get 50 region points. Keep exploring and now you’ve run into a cult shrine and if you blow that up you get 100 or 200 (I don’t remember the exact amount). The cult takes people hostage if you rescue people that 50 or 75 (depending on how many you save). Then you keep exploring and eventually, you’ll run into “story” missions which will give 600 or 900. Then there are side missions and then there are camps that you have to eliminate everyone in which is just like old Far Cry. Everything you do builds up that meter and it doesn’t feel like the standard Ubisoft open world game where you’re opening up the map and checking things off. Everything feels much more organic and free-flowing. I don’t want to focus on all positives as I do have one more complaint about the game and that’s the games scaling. The game is very open, almost immediately so you’re just thrown into the world and can go and do whatever you want. What I found was, early on it was very difficult. I didn’t have anything unlocked and I was dying quite a bit. As I progressed through the game, the enemies didn’t change at all so the game got easier and by the end of the game, I was playing it like Doom. I had a shotgun and I was going through corridors and blasting through enemies, now don’t get me wrong. It was awesome but it does show an inherent laziness by the developers. Instead of making it so enemies scale with you, they’re just created once and they’re all the same throughout the game. At the end of the day, I did end up enjoying this game. Sure it had a great 10 minutes and then the next 2-3 hours, I did not have a good time. But as I unlocked perks and the gear, the game only got better and by the end I was having a fun time. It’s hard to recommend this game but if you’re like me and enjoy Far Cry then pick it up. If you don’t like Ubisoft Open-World games then avoid.