Rogue Legacy

Date played: October 30th
Platform: Vita
Session fun rating: 7/10

It turns out, I kind of like Rogue Legacy. The best part is that runs are relatively short, with death looming around every corner. I did a few runs, maybe 6 or 7, and had a really lucrative one near the end. I took this money and bought all the available gear as well as a few upgrades to health and other stuff. This made me strong enough to feel confident in attacking the first boss.

Gatekeeper Khidr is a very large eyeball that shoots out a giant stream of projectiles. I gave it all I had, jumping, dashing, spell-casting and most importantly, slashing at it. I killed it and it lit up one of the icons on the main door at the entrance to the castle. I got lots of cash with it too. Now I feel like I should grind money a little bit to upgrade a few stats, then head out to one of the other areas. What's great about Rogue Legacy is that it never really feels frustrating, even if death is common. It almost always feels like I made some progress, even if it's very minor. 

La Mulana EX

Date played: October 30th
Platform: Vita
Session fun rating: 3/10

I didn't know what to expect out of this small Vita game that I downloaded for free on PS+ a while back. It turns out, it's kind of a rogue like I think, but it's fucking brutal. The hero is a man with a whip, a laptop and a sense of adventure. After gearing up in town, he descends into a large set of ruins known as La Mulana. The game handles well enough. I killed some snakes, some large birds, some skeletons and some bats. The game seems to be about finding your way through the labyrinth of the ruins. However, when I died, I was booted back up to the title screen with the option of "New Game". Fuck that shit. I'm never playing this again.

Halo: Spartan Strike

Date played: October 29th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 7/10

Halo 5 came out this week and I haven't bought it yet, I felt the urge to get back into the Halo universe, so I played Spartan Strike, the sequel to Spartan Assault. I didn't have much time to play, but the first few missions are already better than the ones in the previous game. It starts in New Mombasa as the Covenant attacks. They are trying to capture an artifact or something, and my spartan's job is to stop them.

There are some good little changes here and there in the game. For example, there is now a little icon that helps aim at long distances. The best addition so far has been riding in a warthog! The controls for it are really smooth and it's very satisfying to shoot enemies with it. One of the things that really bugs me in these games is that the spartans can't fucking jump, while they can jump 8 feet in the air in the real Halo games...

Mario Kart 8

Date played: October 27th
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 8/10

After playing a level of Yoshi's Woolly World, my brother and I booted up Mario Kart 8 for a quick 150cc grand prix in the Mushroom Cup. He picked Link with his bike and glider, while I used Donkey Kong of course. He hasn't played 8 very often, but my bro still did really well, completing the championship in 4th place while I placed 1st.

Yoshi's Woolly World

Date played: October 27th
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 7/10

This level is amazing

My brother's PS4 came in, so he came over and we set it up. As it downloaded some updates and games, we played a level of Yoshi's Woolly World. The Windmill level felt like a good showcase for the game, so we played through it together. As usual, my bro is pretty good at playing games, so we breezed through the level rather easily. He loved the cute art style and the egg throwing mechanics. He also appreciated that the objects we built were the same color as the egg that created it.

Rogue Legacy

Date played: October 26th
Platform: Vita
Session fun rating: 7/10

I've been meaning to try this game for a while now. It's a rogue-like, a genre I've never really liked much, but I still gave this one a chance. For what it's worth, it's the most fun I've had with a rogue-like in a while. Rogue Legacy is a 2D dungeon crawling adventure where the objective is to gather as much gold as possible before dying. The money is then used to buy upgrades for the hero's descendant.

Each character has a bunch of random abilities, some of which are hilarious. For example, a near-sighted warrior will have a blurry view of nearby elements, while a warrior with ADHD will move faster than others. The act of diving into the dungeon to fight monsters with the sword, gathering as much money as possible, then using that money on upgrades for the next run after death is very satisfying. I'm not sure I'll play this again very much, but I'll definitely keep it installed in case I get the urge to play it again sometime.

Gunpoint

Date played: October 26th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 5/10

I had heard high praise for Gunpoint on various gaming sites and podcasts, so when I saw it on sale for 2.50$ on Steam, I figured it would be a good buy. However, I was very disappointed with the game... The premise is pretty cool, this being a 2D puzzle stealth game where the protagonist can launch himself in the air at insane speeds and heights, crashing through windows and all.

My problem is that the game quickly becomes focused on puzzles that aren't really about stealth, but more about rewiring switches and other objects to progress. It became slow and tedious to play... I lost interest.

Transistor

Date played: October 26th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 8/10

I finished Transistor!

The final, sad scene...

I was at the very end of the game the last time I played, all that was left was the final battle against the last of the bad guys. The final enemy also had a Transistor sword and it seems there's only room for one in the world. The final battle was the first time an enemy had access to stopping time and planning moves, but I was equipped well enough that I was able to take him out rather quickly. The world was saved and we returned to the city. As the Transistor whispers "I love you Red", she takes a bold decision and impales herself with the sword... It's a bittersweet ending. I loved the systems in Transistor, I just wish the story made more sense. 

Multiplayer ADD night!

Date played: October 25th
Platform: PS4 and Xbox One
Session fun rating: 10/10

My youngest brother and his friend came over for the evening. My bro has been itching to get a next generation console for a while now. He's been playing on PS3 for a long time, but now that Fallout 4 is coming out, he just can't resist anymore. Unfortunately, he's got no money, so I invited him over to work out a deal of some kind. I ended up ordering him a PS4 bundle that includes Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection and Destiny: The Taken King.  He'll repay me when he can...

To celebrate, we sampled a bunch of games on both PS4 and Xbox One. We started by putting my new, Halo themed controller to good use with some Killer Instinct. I've never played this game and it's been a LONG time since I played the old KI games. The free version comes with only one character that rotates every few weeks. This time, it was Riptor, a velociraptor with some cybernetic enhancements. The game looks absolutely stunning and is smooth as hell. It's a combo heavy type of game though and it's very fast, so it took us a while to get used to it. We played a few rounds and moved on to another game.

Riptor is badass!

Up next was #IDARB. Now this is a fucked up little game. It's basically 2D handball with tons of platforms and an "attack" function. It's pretty fast, has a funny, yet exciting announcer and plays really well. After a few rounds of that, we jumped to the PS4. They wanted to see a few games they didn't know, so I ended up playing a few levels of OlliOlli 2, The Binding of Isaac, Transistor and Super Meat Boy. 

Rocket League

Date played: October 25th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 10/10

Great Scott! The Delorean scores!

My brother and his friend came over and one point in the evening, we found ourselves playing Rocket League. On impulse, I decided to buy the Back to the Future DLC! The Delorean looks absolutely incredible, especially when it boosts and leaves trails of fire in it's wake. We did pretty damn well as a team. We lost a few matches, but when we did, it was usually just because the other team was that much better. Rocket League is always awesome...

Starships

Date played: October 25th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 8/10

I finished my first game of Starships!

The overview map is pretty cool

I'm actually not really sure how I won, I think it might have been a population win. I took my crew of ships, upgraded my planets a bit, developped some new science, boosted my fighter ship capabilities and took over many enemy planets. There were a few battles that were a bit tougher, but I think I need to increase the difficulty next time I play. Honestly, I'm kind of disappointed with the game, it's a bit too simple, and would have been more interesting if I had more fleets instead of just one. It does make me feel like playing Beyond Earth though...

Transistor

Date played: October 25th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 9/10

I played through a large portion of Transistor and I think I'm very close to the end. While the story is even less comprehensible than ever before, the game's awesome gameplay has kept me interested throughout. I beat a large boss known as the Spine, a worm-like creature that almost took me out, but I won with my last function available.

There's not much to say that I haven't said before. The game looks great, sounds even better and plays like nothing else I've ever played. I got a few new functions, including Cull(), which is a very powerful attack. I combined it with a function that adds range and increases backstab damage, it's been extremely useful throughout. I'm very near the end of the game...

Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time

Cyrille Le Paradox

Date played: October 25th
Platform: Vita
Session fun rating: 7/10

I finished Sly Cooper 4!

I was very close to the end... There was a final scene with all the ancestors, navigating a few challenge rooms to find their canes, but it was short and very easy. Sly jumped onto Le Paradox's dirigible and fought him as the ship moved through time. The fight itself was very disappointing since it was just a series of quick time events... I timed my button presses to the on screen prompts and it wasn't long before the stinky skunk was defeated. Le Paradox fell off the ship into the water and was captured, but Sly was caught in the time lapse and wasn't seen after...

Murray, Bentley and Carmelita were very worried and tried their best to find him, but they weren't successful. Sly is lost in time, but at least all the bad guys were captured... I liked Sly Cooper 4. It wasn't amazing, but it feels good to play an old school platformer like this, and the Vita was a good platform to play it on.

Yoshi's Woolly World

Date played: October 24th
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 8/10

My daughter wanted to play Yoshi again, so we grabbed our controllers and booted up the game. I decided that it might be a good idea to start a new game with her, this time using the "mellow" mode in the game. This mode allows Yoshi to fly horizontally as long as the jump button is pressed. She actually did very well with this mode, it made it a LOT easier to reach platforms, without requiring precision with the analog stick. After 2 levels though, she got mad that I picked up a gem that she wanted to pick up... She didn't want to play anymore.

Giant mole battle!

My girlfriend picked up the controller, and we went back to our game, without mellow mode. We completed 3 levels. In one, we had to roll a giant rock through the level. The next was the first castle. This was definitely harder than what we have seen in the game so far. There were giant rolls of wool that acted as platforms, but also rolled when we jumped on them. At the end of the level, we fought a giant mole which had to be hit on the head, then ground stomped three times. I love everything about this game, but it seems to be made for a single player really... We often got in the way of each other and accidentally bumped each other off platforms pretty often.

Forza Motorsport 6

Date played: October 24th
Platform: Xbox One
Session fun rating: 9/10

I completed the series I had started last time, the final race set on Spa in the rain. The rest of my time was spent in the showcase events. I started with the final event in the showdown category where I drove the BAC Mono against a KTM X-bow and a Caterham 7. Then I completed a factory spec race in a modern Formula 1 car. The F1 car is fun and fast, but it's really not cool that it has 8 gears. Downshifting 7 times after a long straight is not easy...

The Ford GT40 roars past the Dunlop loop on Circuit de la Sarthe

Next up was a race in the rain with V8 supercars. It was a big adjustment for me, since I had been driving nimble race for a while. Getting into the lumbering V8 had me smashing into walls for the first few turns. I had the pleasure of driving the incredible 1970's Ford GT40 MKII around Circuit de la Sarthe. This awesome car is hard to handle, but it's fun and of course, it's very fast.

Finally, I drove some endurance prototypes, the spaceship looking cars that are built to run for 24 hours straight. I was in a Peugeot, and to my horror, the cockpit view was almost impossible to use. I barely had 20% of the screen that showed the track. For the first time in the game, I had to get out of cockpit view and use the bumper cam. The endurance cars are very fun to drive. They aren't quite as nimble as the F1 cars, but they are almost as fast.

Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time

Hot.

Date played: October 24th
Platform: Vita
Session fun rating: 8/10

Once again, as I watched hockey, I played some Sly Cooper. I've completed the 40 Thieves chapter and defeated Miss Decibel. We rescued the two remaining thieves and assaulted Miss Decibel's hideout. There was a lot of fun platforming, much of it requiring that I use the thief costume's ability to slow down time. For example, I had to jump on a series of floating obstacles, but without slow motion, they would flow too quickly. Murray and Sly teamed up to explore a large cavern filled with shipwrecks. Murray even got into a cannon battle where I had to shoot down cannon towers and their projectiles.

After all this, Salim and Bentley went straight into Miss Decibel's lair and planted some transmitters. Miss Decibel is a music snob, a lover of classical and opera. So when Bentley made the transmitters play some rock and roll, she went into a blind rage, allowing Salim to plant a listening device on her desk.

With this new information, the team found Le Paradox's blimp, hidden deep below ground. To get into the lair, Carmelita donned a sexy belly dancing outfit and danced for the guards, giving the rest of the team enough time to open a nearby door. There was a rhythm based mini game to make her dance, hell, I even had to shake the Vita to shake her ass...

The battle against Miss Decibel was pretty cool. I had to use slow motion a lot to avoid her attacks. Eventually, I cornered her and was able to defeat her. She tried to escape with Le Paradox, but he turned her down. He said he couldn't afford the extra weight because of his new passenger... The fucker captured Carmelita in her half naked outfit, tied her up and went back to the present time. With his plan fully deployed, he was now the ruler of the world, headquartered in Paris. This is definitely the end of the game, but I still have to save Carmelita and take out Le Paradox.

Yoshi's Woolly World

Date played: October 22nd
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 10/10

I've been waiting for this game for a long time. The original Yoshi's Island on SNES was the first video game I bought with my own money, along with my SNES, at the tender age of 12. I had saved money for over a year to get one and I wasn't disappointed. Yoshi's Island is one of the best games on the system. Unfortunately, Yoshi never really had another great game, until now.

Yoshi's Woolly World is an adorable video game, featuring a fantastic art style. Everything in the world is made of wool and other crafting objects. Kamek turns most of the Yoshis into balls of yarn and it's up to green and red Yoshi to save their friends.

I played the first two levels with my girlfriend in co-op mode. While playing a 2D platformer with another player is never really ideal, it still worked well enough for us to have a good time. Each level has a ton of collectibles to find, including flowers, balls of yarn, gems and stamps. The cute-as-fuck levels are filled with secrets to find. The game uses the wool theme well too, where Yoshi can unravel pieces of the decor to reveal new paths and items. Players can eat each other and turn the other into an egg to throw him in spots that are hard to reach.

The best part of my evening was spent playing with my 5 year old daughter though. She still doesn't play a lot of video games, though she clearly understands them quite well. She tentatively moved Yoshi in different directions, learned to jump, hover, ground pound, eat enemies and throw eggs. She obviously has trouble with precision jumps and all, but she had a good time. Her favorite part was grabbing eggs from egg dispensers! I can't wait to play this game again...

Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time

Date played: October 22nd
Platform: Vita
Session fun rating: 9/10

Another hockey game means a bit more Sly Cooper. While the Sens lost in shootouts, Sly and his gang were more successful. After investigating the area a bit, we saved Sly's ancestor, Salim Al Kupar. He's really cool. He has a flying carpet that can be used for gliding, a giant sword that does more damage than even Murray can, and a fast climbing ability. He can also slow down time, which is very powerful. I gathered all the bottles in the Arabian world which rewarded me with an item that reduces damage taken.

Le Paradox, the mastermind behind all of this time travel villainy, has a new general, an elephant named Ms. Decibel. She was an aspiring singer when she was a child, but even though her singing voice sucked, she discovered that she could mind control people with it. She used this amazing skill to become a criminal mastermind. She hypnotized Salim's thieves, so Sly and the crew must now save them.

Hilariously, Sly impersonates delivery men sporting a horrible Italian accent and a bad disguise. It works though, and Ms. Decibel gives him information on where the thieves are being kept captive. As Salim, I played through an awesome level where I had to use his fast climbing skill and slow motion to progress through a series of dangerous platforming challenges.

BOXBOY!

I wear the superhero cape!

Date played: October 22nd
Platform: 3DS
Session fun rating: 7/10

At work, I've been assigned to a new project. Being a new thing and all, the tool I use crashes all the time, leaving me with nothing to do for extended periods of time during the day. To kill time, I picked up my 3DS and played through a world in BOXBOY!. World 8 was all about using cranes to carry the boy and his blocks through obstacles. It had some pretty clever puzzles throughout, I even had to use a hint in one of the levels. 

Forza Motorsport 6

Breathtaking

Date played: October 21st
Platform: Xbox One
Session fun rating: 9/10

I continued the series with the 70's F1 cars in my little Lotus. I've boosted the difficulty back up to Pro, the second to last most difficult mode since I had been winning a little too easily in the last few races. I'm still winning a lot since this car is very forgiving. I still have one race to complete before the series is over. I had fun racing on classic tracks like Monza and Lime Rock. Circuit de la Sarthe features some very long straights and some fast chicanes, so it was exciting to drive an F1 car on it.

Races are pretty lengthy now, with most events lasting between 10 and 15 minutes, so I have a lot more time to catch up to the first few cars and secure a position at the top of the grid. I love every second behind the wheel in Forza 6, I think it's the best simulation racing game available right now.