Skylanders Giants

Drobot is the best!

Date played: September 29th
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 8/10

I went shopping for winter boots for my daughter this weekend. After a successful (but expensive) boot purchase, we stopped by the game store on the way back to the car in the shopping mall. I didn't really want to buy anything, GTA V is still keeping me busy, but my little girl spotted the bastard toys and of course, we ended up being a few. I tried to round out my set with characters who of elements I don't have yet. My daughter picked the "Magic" Spyro (yay!), my girlfriend got a water Slam Bam amd I got the mechanical Drobot. When we got home, we played through Chapter 3, a mission to save a prisoner hermit dude.

My daughter made sure we were using the right character. She's in charge of the toys. My girlfriend and I fought our way through the dangerous island to save the little guy in the mission. Spyro is great, he has a strong fireball. Slam Bam has a melee attack, but his best move is an ice block, similar to what frost mages do in World of Warcraft. It seals enemies in place as crowd control. When shit gets too crazy, he slows things down. Drobot is the most fun to play yet because he has a very fast laser beam attack with very long range and an attack that shoots metallic objects that bounce around the environment to damage enemies. I like him a lot.

Grand Theft Auto V

Date played: September 29th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 10/10

Hours and hours of activities and side quests! I must have played 3 hours or more and I didn't touch a single main story mission. I accidentally stumbled upon the last of the bail bonds for Maude. When I turned the dude in, she confessed that she wanted to live a normal life. While I have a hard time seeing her do that, I hope gets her white picket fence life one day. I then tackled that damn Coyote triathlon, the 30 minute epic race. I failed 18 minutes in because I hit a civilian hard enough to kill her, which forced me to retry. One the second try, Trevor was brilliant and won first place. He celebrated with a rampage, this time on a bunch of coffee drinking, scooter riding, condescending hipsters.

I then went on my first "friend date" with Trevor and Micheal. They first went for a drink at a bar, drove drunk to the movie theatre, and topped the night off with a couple of strippers at the titty bar. The movie we watched was actually pretty entertaining. It was about a British, office working robot who gets sick of it all and goes on a killing spree. It was kind of funny, so I watched it all the way through.

I then jumped back to Franklin. Seeing as his shooting skill was complete shit, I spent some time at the firing range. I got into it and managed a medal in every weapon class. I was surprised to score a 10% discount at Ammu-nation! Not only that, but I almost maxed out his shooting skill. Since he also sucks at flying planes, I decided to complete flight school with him. Flight school was really fun. It starts with simple things like takeoff and landing, then I learned how to fly low, knife the plane, loop and even made an emergency landing on a bridge. I then graduated to helicopters where I had a bit more trouble. I had flown many planes already with Trevor's smuggling missions, but it was my first time in a helicopter. Then I learned how to properly parachute, having to land on static and moving targets. Finally, I made an epic stunt run through the city. I even had Micheal do a couple of lessons to boost his skill too.

You want variety? You got it baby.

Franklin got back in his natural element with a motorcycle race. The first time I tried, I crashed to my death, but on my second attempt, I abused his special ability and got first place. I also met a crazy guy who wants spaceship parts, I assume these are collectibles scattered across the map, but I haven't seen one yet. Trevor then met a weird elderly British couple who obsesses over celebrities and their belongings. My favorite psycho agreed to help. The first object was a golden tooth from a member of Love Fist, the ageing rock band. Of course, that meant beating the shit out of the guy, stealing his tooth and evading the cops. The second object was a collar from some young pop star's dog. I had to chase the cute little fella, pet him a bit and ran away with the prize. I think next time I play, I should get back into real missions so I can put all these new skills to good use!

Mario and Luigi Dream Team

Date played: September 29th
Platform: 3DS
Session fun rating: 6/10

I finally fought Big Massif in his dream. It was actually a pretty tough fight, mostly because he dealt heavy damage and the window for counters was pretty short. For the first time in the game, I was forced to use more than one mushroom in a battle. I still won though, and of course, Big Massif has now agreed to help us explore Mount Pajamaja. Wakeport is pretty far, so I took the opportunity to explore a bit. I found a mini dream sequence which I completed quickly, bought some new gear from a vendor, found beans in areas I had previously cleared and found a new puzzle to complete. The mountain hike awaits!

Skylanders Giants

Date played: September 28th

The ice race is fucking awful

Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 7/10

My daughter wanted to play with the Skylanders toys so I booted the game up and played a bunch of heroic challenges, mini events that increase the characters stats. I have four unlocked, a race to defeat 8 spiders, a gecko retrieval mission, a shitty obstacle course on ice and a scavenger hunt for zombie heads. I played the Gecko one with all 6 of my toys as my daughter loved the song they sing when rescued. Them I fought the spiders with a few of them, did the obstacle race with 3 and the zombie head retrieval with 2 characters.

They give pretty substantial stat boosts and are all pretty short, so it's pretty cool. It's also helped me learn how to be more efficient with each of my Skylanders due to time limits on the challenges. 

Grand Theft Auto V

Date played: September 28th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 9/10

I didn't play for very long. I had planned on completing the last triathlon with Trevor who now has maxed out stamina... but I got distracted along the way, as I almost always do in this game. It started with a random event where a junkie girl asked for a ride out of the desert back to Vinewood, but Trevor being Trevor, I had him bring her to the altruist cult. I got a bit of a surprise when I got there though, I was led inside at gunpoint like a dog. Trevor is a badass though so he managed to score an SMG and slaughtered the entire camp. I was surprised to find about 100k in cash scattered around! Score!

Never insult a crazy Canuck...

I then completed a rampage near the military base. Two soldiers taunt Trevor for being Canadian. Bad move. Using a grenade launcher, I took out dozens of trucks and jeeps as well as two tanks. Yep, I had my first tank sighting! On the way back, I picked up a hysterical runaway bride. Her husband tried to run us off the road in a hummer but I lost him quickly and brought the crazy bitch back to her house. With the money I made from the cult raid, I bought stocks. I'm not quite sure how the market works but I will keep an eye on it.

Lastly, I went back to Micheal who visited his greedy psychologist again. It's clear that Micheal is feeling good about Trevor coming back in his life as it enables his addiction for crime. I stole the doc's Porsche again too.

Call of Duty Black Ops 2

Date played: September 28th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating:8/10

The assault shield is my Achilles heel.

I started off very strong, but struggled in later matches. I had a lot of success as a sniper killer. The MK48 has decent accuracy at long range, as long as I don't hold the trigger down. I think I've surprised more than one sniper who thinks I won't see their head peek out when I sit about 5 feet from my 55 inch tv. The most interesting match was on Studio, the remake of Firing Range. I fought some players who were really fond of using equipment and shields. One guy in particular sat behind a shield in a dead end of the map. He was a good shot and kept me and others at bay for a long time. That is one of the only weaknesses of my class, I don't have grenades or anything to flush people out. I did use my hacking tool a lot though, hacking anti-projectile devices, claymores and bouncing betties.

Grand Theft Auto V

Date played: September 26th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 10/10

I fucking love Trevor. He's rude, vulgar, violent, reckless and plain crazy! I started with a few smuggling missions, one of which required me to fly below police radar to make weapon drops with the plane. Then, one of his subordinates found Micheal in Los Santos, so they decide to visit the big city. Before leaving though, Trevor insists on taking out The Lost for good. He visits their trailer park and uses stealth to take out a couple of guys and place C4 explosives on five or six caravans, resulting in explosions and mass murder.

We then drove to Los Santos. The long drive was a great place for Trevor to reveal a bit more about himself in a conversation with Wade, his minion. It turns out Trevor is Canadian, played a bit of Hockey and got kicked out of flying school because of a psychological evaluation. He also explains how he met Micheal and started doing bank robberies. Finally, they reach the apartment, a new safe house. Seeing how this was a new city, I figured it was a good time to give Trevor's clothes a makeover. I bought him a nice orange tank top and some cleaner pants. I then brought some poor drunk schmuck to the cult and gave a nice business man a motorcycle ride to the airport.

I am now able to change characters again, so I jumped to Franklin and refreshed his wardrobe too. I got him some nice new tattoos, a green hoodie, a new hat, some sneakers and new cargo shorts. I found and Infernus on the road, so I jumped in and completed another race event. I then repaired, painted and upgraded the lights on the Infernus and saved it to my garage.

When I switched to Micheal, it automatically started the next mission. It begins

Fame or Shame!

with our man finding his son's giant weed stash in the fridge. In the middle of an argument with his wife and son, Trevor shows up to everyone's surprise. After a few harsh words, Trevor asked about Micheal's daughter, who turned out to be auditioning on Lazlow's shitty reality show, Fame or Shame. Trevor, having a soft spot for the girl, coaxes Micheal into getting her out of that gig.

This is a scene where it's clear that Micheal has become...well, a pussy. Trevor doesn't hesitate to bring a chair to a security guard's head and scaring off Lazlow who then runs away in a Prius. Yep, a fucking Prius. We give chase with the show's semi truck, drop the trailer and wait until the our target runs out of battery juice. Once captured, Trevor makes Lazlow dance in his underwear as he records everything, then posts it on the internet. While the gameplay in the mission was very average, the dialogue and character interactions were some of the best in the game so far.

Mario and Luigi Dream Team

This was the best way to beat the last mini-boss

Date played: September 26th
Platform: 3DS
Session fun rating: 7/10

I opened the way to the two final mini-bosses in Big Massif's dream. To do so, Luigi had to assist Mario with a new dream move, a slow-mo and fast forward mode. In fast mode, Mario can move faster (duh) and can bypass conveyor belts that are too fast for normal speeds. In slow mode, he can jump higher and farther. This made for a few interesting scenarios in the dungeon where I had to reach a specific spot before a timer ran out.

I then challenged the third little brown dude. This time, I had to win by only using counter attacks. It took me a few tries to get the timing down, but once I got a grip on it, it was easy. The fourth mini-boss was a lot trickier. I had to beat him and his minions within three turns. At first, I tried the hammer, but that wasn't strong enough to kill the boss. Then I tried with jumps, but then I always had minions left. Finally, I resorted to using the Luiginary ball attack. It was strong enough to kill everything as long as I was getting excellent hits. Big Massif is next!

Shadow of the Colossus HD

Date played: September 25th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 10/10

My daughter and I were hanging out in the basement when she asked if I could play a game. I thought about all the games I had, trying to find something with a simple story and interesting stuff to look at and I stopped on Shadow of the Colossus HD, which I bought for 5$ during a PSN sale. It did not disappoint. I played this game when it came out on PS2 and loved it, so I knew what to expect.

The graphics overhaul is definitely impressive. The game looks great, but more importantly, the awful frame rate from the original is now buttery smooth. Since there is no talking in this game, my daughter can easily follow what's going on. She liked the horse and the girl Wander is trying to save. I fought the first two colossi, both being very simple battles. The first is really a tutorial in many ways. I just had to climb on it's heel and stab it once so I could climb higher and stab it in the head. The second had me shoot it's feet with the bow to make it slump, then climb to it's head, take off half it's damage and finish him off with some butt stabbing action.

My daughter's reactions were interesting. She was cheering me on, claiming that it looked difficult for Wander to hang on. However, when the creatures died, she became a bit sad and tried changing the subject. I think it's because the creatures don't seem aggressive and because of the sad music. 

Call of Duty Black Ops 2

I stole a shotgun!

Date played: September 25th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 8/10

I only had time to play two matches, but they were pretty interesting. The first was on Standoff, the little European border town map. I did pretty well but the other team was strong too. I stuck to the MK48 as usual and was able to pick off enemies at long range. They were mostly using assault rifles and shotguns, so I just kept my distance. The second match was on Nuketown where I used the shotgun a lot. My shotgun class has two hacking devices and the other team was fond of bouncing betties and shock charges so I surprised them often by turning those things against them. I also stole an upgraded shotgun from a guy where I managed to get five kills, earning me a new emblem icon. 

Grand Theft Auto V

Date played: September 24th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 9/10

Trevor did some more redneck stuff. I was intrigued by Mount Chiliad, the epic mountain that dominates the rural area of San Andreas, so I took the cable car to the top. To my surprise, I was rewarded with a parachute and the third bail bond target. When I got close to him, he jumped off the mountain and parachuted down, so I followed him to the bottom and tackled him and brought him back to Maude.

This song played at an oddly appropriate time

I then went hunting with Cletus. We hunted male elks using a sniper rifle and an elk caller. We had to stay silent and make sure Trevor's scent wasn't reaching the elks by keeping an eye on a wind meter. The caller itself is made from a diaphragm previously owned by Cletus's late grandmother... Yuck. After the tutorial, I had to hunt alone and send pictures of my kills to Cletus using the iFruit's camera. This opened up hunting missions. I tried one but it was really boring so I don't think I will do that again. On the way there, I saw another armored cash van which I assaulted. I then ran away from the cops in an El Camino with Britney Spears's "Gimme More" blaring on the radio. While that may sound stupid, and it is, it was also pretty fucking amazing.

Finally, after all this hunting and stealing, I had enough cash to buy the plane hangar. When I did, it opened up smuggling missions, some with a buggy and some with a Cessna looking plane. I did a few of these and they were lots of fun. In the buggy, I had to pick up firearms being air dropped while avoiding major roads. I also had to beat a Salvadorian truck to the delivery. In the plane, I had to drop off two packages in specific areas. The plane handles well and is fun to pilot. I had no problems landing it either. With all that money, I stopped at an Ammu-Nation and upgraded most of my guns. Then I invested a few thousand in stocks...we'll see where that goes.

Call of Duty Black Ops 2

Even Kim Jong Un was impressed!

Date played: September 23rd
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 10/10

It started innocently enough. I played a sub-par match against a good team and had a decent second match. By the third match, I was warmed up and ready to go and I fucking delivered. On Studio, a remake of Firing Range, I scored a beastly 19-2 in Team Deathmatch using my trusty MK48. I don't know how I did it though. I moved quickly, had better than usual aim and probably played against idiots but either way, it felt nice. I had a chance to deploy a sentry gun and two EMP's from care packages. I stuck to the outside of the map for the most part, picking off stragglers and stupid SMG runners.

Grand Theft Auto V

Date played: September 23rd
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 8/10

A meth lab explodes well

I played a single mission with Trevor, but it was a good one. Cheng, the Chinese investor, revealed that he was taking his business elsewhere. Trevor, being the crazy motherfucker that he is, doesn't take the news very well. He "convinces" the translator to reveal the new supplier, the O'Neil brothers. Sure enough, our favorite psycho heads to the O'Neil farm to fuck them up and destroy their lab. Now, when you hear brothers, you think 2, 3 or 4 guys right? Not the O'Neils! There must have been 20 of them!

I approached the farm, took out 6 or 7 of them with the sniper rifle, then rushed in with a shotgun and Trevor's awesome special ability. Once they were all dead, I ran around the place for 10 minutes before finding a dark staircase to the basement where I shot the last guy, grabbed a jerry can and poured gasoline all over the house. The explosion was glorious.

I then played a quick game of darts at the local pub (it was as boring as you might expect) and got a call from Cletus to go hunting north of Mount Chiliad. 

Mario and Luigi: Dream Team

Date played: September 23rd
Platform: 3DS
Session fun rating: 7/10

I only played Dream Team for a few minutes, but it was enough to fight two mini-bosses inside Big Massif's dream. The first was a depressed looking little dude with long arms. There was a special condition to the battle though, I could only deal damage with "Excellent" hits. Thankfully, that's pretty easy. I just wailed on him using the hammer, avoiding his running attacks. It didn't take long for him to go down. The second was even easier. He's a fat sleeping brown dude who heals constantly. All I had to do was keep dishing out damage and not linger on the selection screen. I have two more mini-bosses to beat in this dungeon and I should be able to find the tour guide. 

Grand Theft Auto V

Date played: September 22nd
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 8/10

Trevor is now in business with Maude, a bail jumper bounty hunter. She sends Trevor emails that include the target's name, photo and a picture of their location. The problem is that it's really hard to find these spots since the picture is really small and unclear. I ended up checking Youtube to find the first two bail jumpers. What's great about these missions is that you get a lot more money if you bring them in alive.

While driving around, Trevor had the opportunity to pick up a drunk couple that wanted to get a ride to their hotel. However, as odd as that may seem, he has the option of delivering them to a cult in the mountains for a good sum of money. Soon after that, Trevor met Cletus, a funny hick who likes huntin'. We went out together for some entertaining shooting. We shot satellite dishes, tires on moving cars and packs of coyotes. Cletus, impressed with Trevor's shooting ability, implied that he would invite him to shoot Elk later, the hipsters can't get enough of the free-range, organic local meat.

The ATV's have been useful when travelling through the rural areas

I then played a main story mission. Trevor had a meeting with a very high Chinese gangster and his humble translator. Trevor would supply meth to the Chinese men in exchange for large sums of money. They visit Trevor's lab, which is really just a convenience store. After hiding the two guests, we had a shootout with a rival gang (I think they might be Mexican) who decided to raid our lab. Trevor's special ability came in handy as it makes him deal more damage and receive less. Last but not least, I completed Trevor's first Rampage mission, a tasteless annihilation of all rednecks in the vicinity. It was a dumb, pointless mission.

Grand Theft Auto V

Date played: September 21st
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 10/10

I played a shit ton of GTA V... It all started with a typical mission, a drug deal gone wrong. Franklin heads to an abandoned building to trade some drugs with another gang, some purple wearing gangsters (The Saints?). Shit goes wrong, people get shot, cops show up. You know the drill.

I then switched over to Michael, who gets angry at his lazy, video-game playing son. He smashes the teen's television in an effort to make him more productive. Oddly enough, this situation turned into an awkward father-son bike ride. On the way, Michael's son mentions that his sister is on a nearby yacht with some porn stars and porn producers. Michael swims to the yacht, knocks a dude off of it and runs away with his daughter on a jet ski. Of course, this ends up being another chase, but this time, through the shallow canals of Los Santos.

After the mission, I stopped and did a few side jobs as Franklin. I towed some cars for Tonya and her good for nothing boyfriend and completed all available races. As Michael, I completed a triathlon, an epic race that includes swimming, cycling and running. I finally headed to the next mission. Lester is one of Michael's old crime buddies. He is willing to help organize the heist that will pay off the owners of the land-slid villa, but only if Michael is willing to infiltrate a local cell phone company and sabotage it's latest prototype. After a brief shopping spree (to fit in), he infiltrates the place, pretends to fix a computer by closing pop up windows and running an anti-virus, then replaces the prototype. The instructions from Lester specified that I should call the cell phone when the CEO is presenting it to the public on television. When I did, the CEO's head was blown off. Tragic.

Finally, we were ready for the heist, I just had to scope out the place, get a few supplies and pick my crew. We decided to rob a jewellery store and chose a quiet approach, to avoid police. I stole an exterminator truck and some dangerous gas. Then I picked a driver, hacker and gunman from the available henchmen. We then dropped the gas in the store, knocking out everyone, rolled in with gas masks, stole a bunch of jewels before the alarm went off and escaped on motorcycles. My gunman went down, losing a quarter of the take with him, but everyone else made it out alive and richer. We paid off the dudes and had enough money leftover for a bit of spending money. This was easily the coolest mission yet.

Trevor is a complete psycho

The game then cuts to Trevor for the first time. He hears of Michael through the television and swears to catch him. Trevor is one crazy motherfucker I'll tell you what. He scares anyone that meets him, he orders his minions around as Bowser would and is a complete pervert. He's also a redneck who lives in a trailer park. While one of his henchmen is looking for Michael in Los Santos, he decides to take over the entire drug trade business in the rural areas of San Andreas. He starts by going on a mission to eliminate The Lost, the bikers from the GTA IV episodes. Right after that, buys a sniper rifle with silencer and goes to town on the bikers at a nearby airfield. This was a crazy mission, I sniped a bunch of dudes, then we stole two planes and ran the fuck away. As a result, properties are now available for purchase.

I stopped doing missions here and did about 8 off road races, most with ATV's and dirt bikes and a couple with trucks and buggies. I also did two triathlons. The first wasn't a big deal, but the second is an epic stroll around almost the entire map. I swam, cycled and ran for about 30 minutes straight...only to lose in the last stretch. On the bright side, I greatly improved Trevor's stamina...

Grand Theft Auto V

Date played: September 18th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 9/10

I started my night with some races with Franklin. I quickly realized that these events were pointless, as the only reward is a bit of cash. Franklin's special ability came in handy again though as it can let him pull off miracles when driving. I then played an interesting side quest where Franklin is accosted by a motorcycle riding paparazzi. He spotted a famous movie star of some kind and begs our hero to help him get a "muff shot" while she is sitting in her limo. I drove next to the star's window long enough for my friend to get the perfect crotch shot when we spotted a competing photographer. Naturally, we killed him.

Amanda is a shitty wife so far

I then jumped over to Micheal and did a funky side quest. He meets a man who is trying to legalize weed. During the conversation, he offers some reefer, which Micheal reluctantly accepts. The mission was a battle against aliens in an amazing rendition of a bad trip, complete with unlimited ammo minigun and funky colors. I also played a full on, 3 set tennis match. It was actually pretty well made, though it didn't take long for me to figure out how to beat the AI.

I then played one of Micheal's main story missions. He walks into the house, only to find his wife fucking the tennis instructor. Angry, Micheal threatens the man who then runs away by jumping through the window. By chance, Franklin shows up at the same time. With the wife half naked, screaming that "It's not what it looks like!" (bullshit), Micheal and Franklin head outside to chase the man. I lost him on the chase, but I tracked him down to a house built on the side of a cliff. After a brief exchange of insults, we tied a truck to the struts holding the house up and stepped on the gas until the whole fucking place was knocked down. It turned out, that wasn't even the guy's house and the lady who owns it sent a bunch of mobsters after us, which we shot up while driving away. It was cool because I could switch between the two characters during the chase to either focus on shooting or driving. As a fitting finale to Micheal's crazy day, I visited his shrink. Micheal reveals that he loves the chaos, the violence, the action of a crime life, only to be met by complete apathy from his awful doctor. I stole the doc's Comet on my way out. Felt good.

Grand Theft Auto V

Date played: September 17th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 10/10

IT'S HERE! GTA V IS HERE!

This is the game I've been the most excited about in a long time and now, it's on my PS3's hard drive. I've played almost all GTA games (I skipped Vice City Stories) and have always enjoyed them. I recently played The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, both of which I found really enjoyable, so I had some pretty high expectations for V. For me, this is the swan song of the generation. I have a PS4 pre-ordered and am jumping ship as soon as it comes out, so GTA V is likely the last game I will buy on day 1 for the aging PS3.

Thankfully, it doesn't disappoint.

GTA V is amazing in every way. It starts with a bank robbery, a few years before the events of the game. This section acts as a tutorial for the controls. During the mission, it was easy to notice how everything feels a bit better than it did in GTA IV. The animation, the aiming, the movement and the driving have all been significantly improved. The graphics are also very impressive, some of the best on the platform. However, the new character switching mechanic is by far the most interesting change. During the mission, I was able to switch between Micheal and Trevor at will. The mission ends in a shootout where everyone is badly injured and they are caught by the cops.

Then the game starts with Franklin, a young gangster who still lives with his mom. He is trying to step his criminal game up and stop working for dumb criminals. Him and his buddy start with a couple of missions involving a car dealership. They must repossess two very pretty sports cars, which they then use to race back to the dealer, because of course they would. Soon enough, they are chased by a few cops. Two new features played a role in this mission. First, the cops are a lot less frustrating to evade now because instead of having a huge circle on the minimap that the player must escape, you can now hide from cops in alleys and other secluded areas. The cops have a vision cone that can be seen on the minimap. That's a HUGE change for the series and I think it will be great, though I'll have to see how it behaves with more cops chasing. The other feature is that Franklin has a special ability that gives him amazing driving skills for a short period. This came in handy when avoiding traffic and taking sharp turns.

Another mission had me repossess a bike, though I had to fight through a horde of bad guys to get it. I even got to shoot a gas trail left by a damaged car to blow it up. Between missions, I explored a little bit of Franklin's neighborhood, got a haircut (an afro with a full beard), changed my clothes, browsed the internet, watched some TV and replied to some emails and text messages. I also picked up a hooker and spent 100$ in a strip club. GTA will be GTA I guess.

The next mission had Franklin repossess another car, but it turned out that the offender in question is no other than Micheal, the ex-bank robber with money, a bad therapist and spoiled kids. After stealthily infiltrating the house, I stole the car, only to have Micheal pop out from the back seat and point a gun at Franklin's head. In the end, we smashed through the car dealership's window and beat up Simeon, the owner. That's how Micheal and Franklin got met, which led to the next mission.

Franklin is asked by Micheal to help him recover his stolen yacht, which Micheal's son tried to sell to gangsters before getting ripped off. This was easily the coolest mission yet. As Micheal, I had to drive close enough to the yacht for Franklin to jump onto it for him to beat up the thugs and rescue the kid. I drove behind and shot a couple of dudes from the car to help Franklin.

I also did a good number of side missions, known as Strangers and Freaks missions. These are full fledged missions, though they don't seem to be involved in the main story. I helped a lady tow a car to the impound and completed a checkpoint race. I also found a few random events, reminiscent of Red Dead Redemption's random events. One of these rewarded me with a guy who can be recruited for heists... interesting.

Bottom line, this game is fucking huge, plays amazingly well and has interesting characters and story so far. I just wanna go home and play more of it right now. 

Call of Duty Black Ops 2

Date played: September 16th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 6/10

I was completely average today. I even had a few games where I dropped below 1.0 K/D ratio. I think I know the reason though. The whole time, I was thinking of the imminent release of GTA V. I haven't been this excited for a game release since Fire Emblem came out on 3DS. I also played a quick match of Gun Game where I placed third. I got stuck on some of the assault rifles since I never touch these things. It's interesting that there is a full time radar going on here, it makes the action a lot faster than a normal match.

Mario and Luigi: Dream Team

Date played: September 15th
Platform: 3DS
Session fun rating: 7/10

Sleepy tour guide

I found the tour guide! I explored more of Wakeport, this time in a more dangerous area filled with rock carrying fighter crabs. There were a lot of simple, basic battles along the way, as well as a few attack blocks. I scored a new attack, though I forgot what it is already.

As we reached the sleeping tour guide, it became evident that we had to enter HIS dream to wake him up so that he could take us to Mount Pajamaja. In his head, there are four dudes that want to play a game of hide and seek. I went through a few portions of the dream, fighting packs of dudes equipped with spears, but I haven't found any of the targets yet. 

Call of Duty Black Ops 2

I was a beast on Nuketown

Date played: September 14th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 10/10

After my brief stint of Black Ops 2 multiplayer on PC, I went back to PS3. Having played without auto-aim for a few hours, I came roaring back into the PS3 version, decimating everyone in sight. I was top of my team almost every game and reached nice scores like 17-3 and 16-4. Nuketown was a feast of kills for me as people like to run around like idiots on that map. I also had some fun with the long-range shotgun I've been messing around with. I combined it with the crossbow to have some longer range options. It's kind of fun to play like that, but I am still way better with an LMG at mid range.

Dead Space 3

Date played: September 13th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 8/10

I haven't touched this game in seven months, but today I felt like booting it up again. I played through chapters 5 and 6, including a lengthy side quest. I spent a lot of time just shooting creatures of course, as Isaac is trying to find a way for him and his travel buddies to get down to the planet from the makeshift spaceship graveyard they are stranded in. I activated a sort of train transport on the large ship I was exploring, which eventually led me to a damaged shuttle.

Along the way, I fought some invincible enemies again. While I could slow them down with stasis and limb mutilation, they are still a pain in the ass. In fact, it was the worst part of my time with the game today. In all three games, these types of enemies have been present while it was kind of novel in the first game, it's simply become annoying at this point.

Fuck you Mr Edwards, fuck you.

Before reaching the shuttle, I made a little stop along the way to investigate a nearby comm tower in the hopes of finding supplies. This side quest was very cool as I gathered clues about the downfall of the staff who used to work there, before they were eaten and stuff. One man, Edwards, survived long enough to set up an extensive network of booby traps in the facility. His voice can be heard taunting Isaac the whole time. After destroying dozens of creatures and traps, I found his control room. Of course, he was dead. The voice on the radio was only a recording... Having played Bioshock Infinite recently, I fully expected to find Edwards in the room, as in that game, the voice is always seen in the end. I made out of there with tons of loot, upgraded equipment and a hope that the shuttle can be repaired.

Call of Duty Black Ops 2

Date played: September 13th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 8/10

Steam has a free Black Ops 2 multiplayer weekend, so I figured I would give my rig a chance to show what it can do with a game I know and love. It turns out, my gaming laptop clearly outperforms the PS3. The resolution is better, the textures are cleaner, the effects are prettier and it's still a great game. However, in my dozen matches on PC, I noticed a major difference.

Auto-aim.

On PS3 and 360, there is a serious amount of auto-aim going on. While it definitely doesn't aim for the player, it's strong enough that it helps track your target. On PC, I was playing with the controller as well, but auto-aim is not available at all. I stood my ground against keyboard and mouse users for sure, in fact, I still managed to get the top score in one of my matches, but it's very difficult to change my muscle memory (we're talking 5+ years of console COD here) so that I was aiming without the tracking assistance effectively. I'm sure with a few more hours under my belt, I would get used to it but as it stands, I prefer playing on the console.

Battlefield 3

Date played: September 13th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 3/10

I tried a bit of Battlefield 3 online multiplayer but I wasn't really into it. I didn't feel like learning the game, the maps, the guns, the perks, etc. I only played one Rush match, got a couple of kills and got bored.

Magic 2014

Date played: September 12th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 8/10

That guy never stood a chance

I played through the second campaign chapter, one battle of the third and two planeswalker duels. While I pretty much stuck to the creature heavy green deck so far, I found myself switching it up a lot more today. For example, for me to beat the dual against the black zombie deck, I used Chandra's red deck which had more options for direct damage, snubbing the zombie deck's power. When I played against a very powerful but very slow green deck, I used the fast and nimble white deck. I even managed to beat Garruck's green deck without him ever even summoning a creature!

Some of the encounters I played were pretty cool, including an equipment focused opponent. I used Chandra's deck which has a few artifact destroying cards. I also fought a deck that would destroy my lands, dealing progressively more damage every time. Small creatures won that battle for me. 

The Walking Dead: 400 Days

Date played: September 10th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 9/10

I fell in love with The Walking Dead game when it came out last year. It hooked me with it's innovative storytelling, captivating characters and episodic format. Almost a year later, I played the 400 Days DLC and again, I fell in love.

The game features five protagonists, each with their own mini story. It was a really short game, I finished it in about 2 hours I think which was just enough to get me hungry for season two. I started with Wyatt's story, a dude stuck in a car with his friend. They are being chased by a mysterious man in a truck for an unknown reason. They eventually lose him only to hit a zombie with the car. Now, at that point in the story, the characters seem to be unaware of the zombie outbreak so naturally, they stop the car to check if the guy is ok. Wyatt and his friend played a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors to choose who would stay in the car and who would check out the body. I won the game, so Wyatt stayed, while his friend marched to his predictable death. The mysterious man showed up again and attacked Wyatt, who then hit him hard enough to get the car going and abandon his friend. Grim...

400 Days has an excellent cast of unique characters

I then played Russell's story. A young student who decided to walk the road on his own. He soon meets Nate, who turned out to be the mysterious man in the truck of Wyatt's story. Nate is fucking creepy, sex-obsessed and insane, but he offers Russell a ride. They reach the gas station (this location is featured in all five stories) where they get ambushed by a person hiding in a nearby diner. They sneak around the area to flank the shooter only to discover an old couple trying to survive. Nate ruthlessly decides to kill them to get their supplies while Russell leaves on his own again.

Shel and Becca were the third chapter for me. They are two sisters who live as part of a cancer survivor group that is holed up in the same diner. They find an Asian man who doesn't speak English. The group can't decide if it's better to kill the man or let him go and hope he doesn't come back with friends to steal food and supplies. Shel was the swing vote and I decided to spare him. Days later, as fucking expected, the diner is attacked by the man and his friends. One member of Shel's group is killed as a result, but they survive. Later, a member of the group is found stealing supplies and trying to make a run for it. Due to her bad decision about the Asian man, Shel is asked to kill the traitor, which I chose to do. I could have run away with Becca, but it didn't feel right...

The fourth story was about Vince, a man who is being transported in a prison bus two days after the outbreak. He is chained to two other men in the bus, where they talk about their crimes to pass the time. Two other inmates start fighting and the guard accidentally shoots one of them in the head. Vince and his two peers grab the shotgun and try to free themselves. At the same time, the have their first walker sighting, causing them to panic. I had to decide to shoot one of the two guys Vince was tied to in order to get free and flee.

The last story is about Bonnie, a recovering junkie who is travelling with a man and his wife. Bonnie and the man obviously have a romantic relationship going on, which causes a lot of tension with the wife, understandably. The story begins as the wife brings in a stolen bag of unknown valuables, which of course leads to a huge chase scene as the group tries to escape the owners of the bag. In the confusion, Bonnie hits the wife in the head with a piece of rebar, killing her. When the husband finds out, he is devastated but I still managed to get him to come along.

At the very end, all the characters are together. They presumably met sometime after the events of the mini stories. They are greeted by a woman who claims to be recruiting survivors to join her community, promising food, shelter and safety. After a short discussion, Wyatt, Vince and Bonnie agreed to join the woman while Shel, Russell and Becca chose to stay behind. It will be very interesting to see how all this plays out in Season 2!

Mario and Luigi: Dream Team

Date played: September 8th
Platform: 3DS
Session fun rating: 10/10

Whew, this game certainly changed gears at the end of the desert! I made my way through a gigantic dream sequence to finalize the desert dungeon. Dreamy Luigi (giggle) learned a few new tricks along the way. The tower Luigi can now squish to squeeze through tight areas and can jump really high after said squishing. It helps navigate more complex levels. He can also use the tower in battle now, which I only tried once and didn't quite get the hang of. I'm sure after a few tries, I will nail it though.

After all this non-sense, the brothers fought a GIANT ROBOT OF DEATH! The combat system gets completely flipped on it's head for 10 minutes as Luigi gets pumped up and becomes absolutely gigantic, an ability triggered by hitting his hat a bunch of times as he's sleeping. Yeah, it's absurd, but it's fun! I then battled the giant robot of death by holding the 3DS on it's side, like Brain Age, and using the stylus to perform motion based jumps, hammer hits and counter attacks. This is easily where the game looked it's best graphically and it was really refreshing.

I LOVED this sequence!

After all that, the bros woke up and are heading to Mount Pajamaja, the location of the next...thing I need. To get there though, we had to sign up for a tour. The tour office is located far west of the desert so we travelled for a bit, finding hidden beans, shopping for new gear and beating up monsters along the way. We finally reached Wakeport, a tourist area filled with hotels, ancient ruin attractions, shops and the infamous tour office. I explored the city and found tons of interesting stuff, including a very cute fetch quest that had me talk to various characters, exchanging items until I had a special ring for a dude to propose to his girlfriend (she said yes!), who rewarded me with tons of items and a bean. I also found a jigsaw puzzle minigame that awards money. It's a nice little distraction that uses the touch screen. I'll be able to find more puzzles in the world by hitting secret "photo" blocks.

I finally made my way to the tour office, registered for the Mount Pajamaja tour, only to find out that the tour guide is missing! I'm now investigating his absence, we'll see where that takes us!

Pikmin 3

Date played: September 7th
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 6/10

I love these little guys!

I played through a single day in Pikmin 3. It was enough for me to free the little pink winged pikmin race. They are very weak physically, they just can't get into a fight and expect to live. However, they can carry things over water and other obstacles. They can also uproot certain plants to reveal fruit and other useful items. I had enough time to have the little guys lift a branch that was stuck in the river, releasing some lily pads for us to travel on. We also received a signal from another spaceman. My dudes think it's Olimar but it was obvious that it was just one of his buddies. We must now find his signal to see if he has the space ship part we need.

Nano Assault Neo

Nano Assaul Neo looks fantastic

Date played: September 7th
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 8/10

One of my brothers came over to hang out. After watching a movie (Moonrise Kingdom, it was amazing), we played some two player Nano Assault Neo. The first time we played, I was a bit on the dumb side. I was looking at the TV screen the whole time and though I had to stay close to my brother since it wasn't a split screen. After we had a Game Over, I realized that I could have looked at the Gamepad to play and he could use the TV. Once we figured that out, we shot our way through the first four levels. The last of the four was a boss battle, though with two fully armed players, he was a piece of cake. We also played a bonus level, the most visually impressive portion of the game. There is also a cool but useless feature in multiplayer where the TV player can see the Gamepad player's face through the camera. It's a cool idea but it blocks too much of the screen. In a game like this, that means the difference between life and death. We turned it off quickly.

LittleBigPlanet PSVita

I love the touch gun

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

Wow, this game keeps surprising me! It's more fun than I expected, it's prettier than I expected, it uses the Vita features better than anything else I've played on it and it's just a joy to play. I played through the second world, populated by gears, old machines and a mysterious pink slime that kills Sackboy on contact. At first, I had to completely avoid the sticky pink stuff, but soon enough, I was given a weapon that can destroy it. Interestingly, the projectile is controlled with the touch screen. That means I had to guide it through dangerous areas to build bridges and other things. At the end of the world, there was a special level where Sackboy rides a sort of firefly. Again, Vita trickery comes into play here as the creature is controlled with the back touch pad. The touch pad isn't the most intuitive feature to use, it's been botched in many games, however, it worked really well here. I think part of that is how they designed the level so that it's not too frustrating to navigate.

The next world has a retro tech vibe, featuring decor filled with VHS tapes, record players and other old school devices. The newest addition to Sackboy's asenal is the grapple, my favorite part of LBP2. It works well here and adds some interesting mechanics to the levels. The difficulty is ramping up too, there are more opportunities for death all around. I fucking love this game.

Earthbound

Date played: September 6th
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 8/10

Threed is a creepy fucking place. I's a village infested with zombies which makes the villagers suspicious of anyone knocking at their door. I explored the whole town and fought a few enemies in the cemetery. Paula is still useless as fuck as she is not very high level yet. She seems to have a few nice spells, but so far the enemies have been too strong for them to be any use. I have her using items and stuff but she mainly hits for 1 hp. We went to the hotel for a quick nap when we saw a sort of hooker outside. She walked in, we followed her, then got ambushed by zombies, only to wake up in a jail cell of sorts.

Threed is creepy

Cue Jeff's introduction. Paula send Jeff a telepathic message, asking for help. I then took control of Jeff, a nerdy guy who lives in the city of Winters. He starts at level 1 and doesn't even have a weapon yet. I'm excited to play his adventure!

Call of Duty Black Ops 2

Getting hyped for Ghosts

Date played: September 6th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 9/10

I had a great time playing Black Ops 2 again. People bitch and moan about COD being all that is wrong with gaming, but I disagree. The game's mechanics are just really good, which is what keeps me coming back. This is also what makes me want to play Ghosts on PS4, even though I'm sure it won't really show off the machine's power. I played a bunch of Team Deathmatches and I did very well. My best match had me at something like 17-4.

Magic 2014

Opening a booster pack is fun!

Date played: September 4th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 7/10

I tried a few of the other modes in the game. First, I attempted a duel against one of the main characters, the lady with the black deck. I got trounced though, I think I will need a better deck to win. Then I tried the sealed deck campaign. This mode lets you open and collect booster packs to create your own deck from random cards. It's a really cool idea and it even has it's own mini-campaign mode. I played through the first two encounters with a mainly white deck, supplemented by a few blue cards. It works well since I have a lot of interrupts with the blue cards and tons of small to medium sized creatures from the white cards.

Last but not least, I fought an online opponent only to be completely destroyed. He was using a black and red deck I think. I scored a bit of damage on the other guy but he kept banishing my creatures and dealing direct damage to my character with instant spells. It was rough.

Grid 2

Date played: September 2nd
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 8/10

I played through some events in career mode. My trusty Nissan helped me win my first WSR championship easily. The next season of racing had a new event type, a sort of eliminator mode. Basically, the winner is whoever can do the most mileage within a set period of time on a dynamic track, which handicaps the player with the removal of the mini-map. I also unlocked a beast of a car, an old Camaro SS. It handles well, has tons of power and is fun to drive.

The season 2 WSR event is next!

Magic 2014

Date played: September 3rd
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 8/10

I was watching a quick look of Hearthstone on Giant Bomb and seeing a trading card game in action reminded me that I had a good time playing Magic in the past. It's also a game that is easy to play with a controller and is very relaxing. I played a portion of the tutorial, though I know how to play Magic pretty well, then cleared the first area of the campaign. There are a ton of modes in here, but the campaign seemed like the easiest way to unlock some cards pretty quickly.

Magic is fun!

The first section had me go through three set battles. These scenarios are interesting because the opponent ALWAYS gets and plays the same cards, they don't get a real draw. I had to replay a two of the three many times to get it just right. One was a deck full of small white creatures that give each other bonuses while the other was a zombie deck. The zombies were particularly difficult to beat for me because they quickly expand into a impossible army of 2/2 creatures. The trick was taking him out early. I've been using the supplied green deck, a slow but very powerful set of cards. I had to rely on low mana creatures then big buffs to make it through. I want to play online too but I have a feeling I will get decimated...

Call of Duty Black Ops 2

The 870 is fun to use

Date played: September 3rd
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 10/10

Man, I was on fire today! I played quite a bit, I don't know, I felt the need to compete with people for some reason. I did very well with the always reliable MK48. In one match, I was being frustrated by some snipers so I picked one of their weapons off the ground for some quick counter-sniping. The rifle itself was the Barrett 50 cal. I am definitely not a sniper type of player, but I got a good spot and destroyed enemy snipers for a few minutes, including a highlight reel worthy headshot from very far away. I also tried out a new shotgun in Nuketown, the Remington 870. It's a slow firing, but long range shotgun. I had the most success in open areas with lots of cover, like around the bus on Nuketown.

Mario and Luigi: Dream Team

Hi-ho, hi-ho, 'tis off to work we go!

Date played: September 2nd
Platform: 3DS
Session fun rating: 9/10

I played through the desert area which was pretty damn big. This was easily the longest and deepest section of the game so far. I was faced with another impossible to climb sand waterfall. To release the platforms that would let me climb, I had to find and rescue 4 pillow people, all of them hidden across the area.

The famous plumbers had to use a new device, a large drilling cart on rails, to recover the little pillows. On each side of the device were two drills that could be activated by Mario and Luigi respectively. The whole area is littered with railed paths for the cart to move through. I had to destroy rocks along the rails, turn over some switches to change the path of the cart and even had to hit a giant mole in the head with it, but more on that later. I fought tons of enemies, found some beans and rescued 5 pillow dudes from nightmares. Luigi also gained a new Luiginary move, this time, he can transform into a weird drilling post. Mario can then jump on and fling himself in different directions based on his momentum. It makes for some pretty cool 2D sections.

Last but not least, we fought a boss, a giant mole with a drill for a head. Some of it's moves were pretty tricky to avoid but we got through it with the help of a couple of mushrooms and some fireballs.

Call of Duty Black Ops 2

I like the Dragonfire drone!

Date played: September 2nd
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 8/10

I played through a few rounds of Team Deathmatch and did pretty damn well. I had an interesting match where I managed to score both an escort drone and a Dragonfire from supply crates. The escort drone performed a lot better than I thought it would. I scored about 5 kills from it. The Dragonfire was also productive, I managed to kill 7 people in one run with the little machine. I was eventually shot down.

Earthbound

Date played: August 31st and September 1st
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 10/10

I played a ton of Earthbound! The memories are flooding back to me as I play through the early portions of the game. I defeated the giant ant that was terrorizing Onett, which got the attention of the police. The pigs brought me in for questioning because I ignored a "no trespassing" sign... for fuck's sake. Then I fought the testosterone fuelled police officers. My victory opened up the road to Twoson.

Twoson is a quiet town. There's not much going on except for a preschool and the Runaway Five show. It all started with local residents asking for my help in finding Paula, the blonde girl who volunteers at the preschool. It seems she was kidnapped by a local cult, the Happy-Happy people. This led to a large battle area, filled with UFO's and robots. It's quite clear that this game asks for a little bit of grinding. Not much mind you, the level ups are strong enough that there is an immediate improvement in combat. I grinded a bit here because there were some enemies that would drain my magic points. Because I wasn't able to kill them in one shot, I ended up with no magic points and wouldn't be able to heal enough to survive. I was also slowed down by mushroom enemies that would leave a spore on Ness's head. That would screw up the controls like crazy until I found a healer.

After all that, I finally made it to Happy-Happy village. I quickly discovered that the local residents were under the cult leader's curse. That's where I cleared another dungeon (and grinded some more). I fought bears, ants and moles until fighting an enraged giant mole. I then infiltrated the cult's church, fought some delusional folks and knocked out their leader, which gave me the key to the hut where Paula was held.

Paula joins the crew!

Back in town, now with Paul in tow, we met the Runaway Five. This blues band owes so much money to the owner that they are pretty much stuck working for him for life. Since I rescued Paula, I also removed the blame from a local business man who paid us back with a wad of bills, which was used to pay off the band's debt. Why would we do that? Well, ghosts of course!

See, there are these ghosts that are haunting the tunnel to the next town, Threed. Regular buses can't get through, but the Runaway Five's blues pumping tour bus is so loud that it scared the ghosts away. Yep. Earthbound is fucking awesome. We are now in Threed, let's see what happens!

Civilization V

Date played: August 31st and September 1st
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 8/10

Scientific victory!

Salarian victory! I continued my scientific dominance with the Salarians. The Asari backed off, the Volus kept trying to drag me into war and I had a very important aluminium trading business with the Alliance. In fact, it's this trading business with Hackett that allowed the great Salarian empire to build all the components required to launch a new space colony.

It's almost like I played Mass Effect 4. At the end of Mass Effect 3, the Normandy has crashed onto a lush tropical planet. With the Mass Effect drives destroyed, the crew is stranded. I like to pretend that this game of Civ was a race to the rediscovery of space travel. I won bitches.