Fallout 4

Date played: December 30th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 10/10

I finished Fallout 4!

There was only one story mission left for me, and that was to destroy the Institute for good, while rescuing as many synths as possible. Tinker Tom made a device that had to be placed on the mass fusion reactor which would then be detonated remotely and decimate the Institute with a large explosion.

Armed to the teeth, I teleported inside the Institute with my friends from the Railroad and proceeded to annihilate everyone and everything inside. I pulled out my best weapons, including the plasma gun, my trusty .44 revolver and my favorite weapon of them all, the gauss rifle. Hell, I even used a nuke grenade in there somewhere!

At one point after using Father's terminal to open a door, he spoke to me from his hospital bed... Obviously, he was very disappointed and sad, but I still think I did the right thing, so I told him to go to hell... We then planted the explosives and headed towards the exit. Along the way, the synth that is modeled after 10 year old Shaun showed up and pleaded for me to take him with us. He honestly believes I'm his mother because he's programmed that way. I took him along of course...

We teleported to the top of the mass fusion building and detonated the bomb. The resulting explosion was huge, satisfying, beautiful and sad at the same time.

The Institute goes up in flames!

Fallout 4 was incredible and easily one of the best games I've ever played. After completing the game, I was a bit scared to look at the amount of time I played, but I did, and I was shocked. I spent over 130 hours playing this game.

ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY FUCKING HOURS!

What a great game it was, I'm really happy to have played it.

Tearaway Unfolded

Date played: December 28th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 8/10

I received Tearaway Unfolded as a Christmas gift and tried it out with my daughter yesterday. This game is very unique, it's sort of a puzzle game where I control a character made of paper. The visual style really appeals to me, as it's made to look like a giant craft project. Everything in the game is made of paper and it looks like it could have been crafted by hand.

There's a lot of weird stuff going on with the controls in this game. For example, I can shine the PS4 controller's light bar into the game to turn objects from newspaper into colorful crafted items, The light can also be used to herd enemies to specific areas and activate objects. There are jumping pads that are activated by pressing the touch pad too.

Our heroine takes a pic with the squirrel king and our custom made crown

My daughter very much enjoyed a segment where we had to "cut out" a crown for the king of squirrels. This meant we had to draw on the touch pad to make shapes and decorate the crown. It then gets worn in game by the squirrel. Overall, I think Tearaway is very very cute, and the paper craft theme makes the game a lot more interesting than it would be otherwise.

Rocket League

Date played: December 27th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 9/10

We look awesome!

After we had our fill of Battlefront, my brother and I played a few rounds of Rocket League in 2 vs 2. We played pretty well after the first match, but we were matched up against very competent players all evening. This meant we won about as much as we lost. I think we looked really good doing it, we had some fun customizing our cars! 

Star Wars Battlefront

Date played: December 27th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 8/10

I flew an X-Wing on Jakku!

My youngest brother came over to play some video games last night, and we spent a bit of time playing Battlefront. We mostly played Supremacy mode and we took turns, swapping the controller after every death. We did pretty damn well for the most part, and we always had a positive K/D ratio. We agreed on a weapon to use and did our best! At one point, I managed to take out an X-Wing with a single Ion Torpedo! Watch it here!

Fallout 4

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

The Brotherhood of Steel is no more.

Father tasked me with killing Desdemona and destroy the Railroad, but I like those guys too much, so I warned them and protected them from an attack on their base from the Brotherhood. Then, I teamed up with Tinker Tom and Deacon to raid the police station and steal a Vertibird! We then used it to mount a direct attack against the Prydwen, the Brotherhood's flying base...

This was one of the coolest missions in the game, since I had to kill every last one of the soldiers in the Brotherhood, including all the familiar characters I worked for in that faction. Some of these guys were pretty fucking tough to kill, but I successfully took out everyone, including the elder. I picked up a couple of new weapons along the way, a laser gatling gun and the Railway. The Railway is amazing, it shoots railway spikes, uses steam to fire it's projectiles and makes an awesome steam train sound when reloading. It also packs a big punch...

The wreckage of the Prydwen burns gloriously

Once all the members of the Brotherhood were dead, I placed some explosive charges on the Prydwen and brought it to the ground in a fiery explosion. I am pretty sure I'm now up to the last mission and I'll do it for the Railroad...

Zoo Tycoon

Date played: December 25th
Platform: Xbox One
Session fun rating: 9/10

Santa Claus brought a gift for my daughter and I, Zoo Tycoon for Xbox One! I had loved the demo when I first got my Xbox and my daughter just loves animals and zoos, so it was a great gift. We played through the tutorials, then got to start building our own park.

There were tons of elephants in the tutorials

My daughter helped me make a ton of choices in the game, like the name of our park (Le Zoo des Animaux), the shops (Les Ballounes Rigolotes) and even each individual animal. By the end of our session, we had a popcorn shop, a burger shop, a couple of restrooms and statues, zoo keepers, janitors and more.

Our first animals were giraffes, then we got some lizards, peacocks, lemurs and even some Siberian tigers! There's a lot to do in this game, like managing the economy, the staff, the animals, the habitats, the customers and research. I'm really impressed with the polish and attention to detail in this game. It's also really cool for my daughter since she likes to give her opinion and ideas while I play. I can't wait to continue expanding our park and get some new, cute animals!

Fallout 4

Date played: December 24th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 10/10

After the battle of Bunker Hill, I went back to Father, who invited me to a meeting with the directorate of the Institute. To my surprise, he informed everyone that he was dying from an incurable disease, and put me in charge of the entire Institute! Not only do I think that's real stupid, but I'm going to take advantage of that when I take down the synth factory for good...

Father

He tasked me with finding a device at a Mass Fusion plant, which will alleviate some of the power problems of the Institute. Before going there, I completed another side mission where the robotics wing of the Institute rebelled against Father's decision. They locked themselves in their department, so I found a different route inside, convinced them to come out with my charisma skills, then had them executed for their subordination... I know it's kinda rough, but I figure it's a few less people to deal with when I finally assault the place.

Then I went to complete the Mass Fusion quest, which was a long battle against none other than the Brotherhood of Steel... So, those guys aren't my friends anymore. The soldiers in power armor were pretty damn tough, but I'm well equipped and my crit build doesn't disappoint, so I made it through all right. 

Fallout 4

Date played: December 24th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 9/10

Bunker Hill turned into a real war zone... I met up with the Institute Courser and we assaulted the caravan refuge. Now, I'm still a big fan of the Railroad. While I think that Desdemona is a real idiot, I still believe that her crew have the right philosophy. In Bunker Hill, it was an all out war between the Institute synths, the Railroad warriors and the Brotherhood of Steel soldiers. I betrayed my courser partner and shot him in the head in the heat of battle, then destroyed all of the synths in the area. I then let the Railroad and Brotherhood fight each other.

The battle of Bunker Hill

When I went back to meet Father, he was skeptical of my paltry explanation that we were ambushed, but I'm still safe for now. I feel like I will have to take down the Institute, I'm just not comfortable with the way they think.

I saw online that there were 2 other vaults that I hadn't found yet, so I looked up their locations and headed to one of them, Vault 95. It's been taken over by gunners, which meant I had to snuff out the lot of them. I found some clues about the vault that explained it's purpose. Basically, the population was entirely made up of junkies, addicts and alcoholics and the apparent purpose of the vault was to detoxify the people and help them get sober. The dark secret of the place is that after 5 years, one employee was tasked with opening up a secret door that contained a lifetime of drugs and alcohol, then observe the results. From what I gathered, it wasn't long before the residents were fighting over the drugs, overdosing and doing what junkies do, get high. I thought it was a really cool little story, even if it's quite grim...

Star Wars Battlefront

Date played: December 22nd
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 7/10

I saw The Force Awakens at the theatre on Monday and it was fucking awesome! This got me in the mood for some Star Wars video games, so I jumped into Battlefront and played three matches of Supremacy.

The first match was set on Sullust, where the terrain is littered with volcanic rock and lava streams. It took me a few minutes to get back into the game, since I haven't played it in a while, but it wasn't too long before I was blasting Storm Troopers and blowing up AT-ST's. Now that people have leveled up a lot, there's some new weapons on the battlefield that I have to be aware of, like a long range homing pistol and some badass sniper rifles.

My daughter watched me play since she is now a little Star Wars fan, having recently watched the prequel trilogy. When she spotted Palpatine and Darth Vader, she was in awe!  When Vader was defeated in the match, she told me he was "Gone to another planet, but he might come back"... It was adorable.

Jakku looks incredible!

The next two matches took place on Jakku. This new planet wasn't there when I played the last time, so that was cool. It's also prominently featured in the new movie, so it was great to see it in the game. I flew a Tie Fighter for a while, though I'm pretty much useless in those things. I tend to be better at taking over control points than anything else. I'm using a new, long range heavy blaster. It's a bit too inaccurate honestly, but it works well to create suppressing fire and keep enemies moving. I mean, I get kills with it, and I ended up in the top 5 on my team for both matches, so it works well enough, but I still feel I haven't really found my weapon in this game.

Fallout 4

Date played: December 20th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 9/10

Working for the Railroad is dangerous, but I still feel like they have the right approach to the whole synth problem. treat them as people, let them figure out their lives on their own. The Institute sees them as simple machines, but that seems.... wrong to me.

Bottom line is, I think I'm gonna have to work against my son, Father. I informed Desdemona, head of the Railroad, that I was planning on releasing 15 synths with the help of the informant inside the Institute. She insisted that we should try to free all of them at once, so I went back to the Institute and talked about it with the synth that will help with the plan. He agreed to rally fellow synths, as a sort of rebellion, to fight when the time came. I helped them gather some weapons and must now continue working with Father until the time is right.

A few new side missions opened up at the Railroad, including the last few Randolph station missions and a few courser hunts. When I decided to continue the main story, I was given a mission by Father that led me to an amazing location, a raider base built on the wreckage of a few dozen ships on the east coast. The leader is a synth who had it's memory wiped by the Railroad and who quickly became a raider lord, my job was to stop him and return him to the Institute for reprogramming. This mission reminded me of Rage in a lot of ways, mostly because of how the area is built.

This ship graveyard is one of the coolest locations in the game

Next, I was given a mission where I have to take over Bunker Hill for the Institute as a way of crippling the Railroad. I decided to give the Railroad some warning, so that they could save the synths that are hidden there. Things are starting to heat up, and I feel that I will soon have to choose a permanent ally. This also means I will likely make some new enemies too...

Hot Shots Golf World Invitational

Isabelle

Date played: December 20th
Platform: Vita
Session fun rating: 8/10

It turns out, Hot Shots Golf is a pretty awesome game, and it's perfect to play on a handheld system... Shit, I even played a hole or two during Fallout 4 loading screens! I completed the first tier of events, the Beginner tier, which was composed of five 9 hole rounds, one 18 hole round and a versus event against a playable character, Isabelle.

I did really well, but the courses have been all very simple and easy so far, with only a few tricky greens and obstacles. By winning the versus event, I unlocked Isabelle. I tried her out in the next tier of events which features a couple of new courses and is definitely more challenging. I didn't really like her much, she lacked power and spin and she has an annoying voice, so I tried out the other character I have, a young man. I like him a lot, he has good spin, though he also lacks power. What I really like about the game is how fast it is to play, and all the crazy shit that can be unlocked. 

Fallout 4

Date played: December 19th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 9/10

Fair warning, I will have giant SPOILERS in this post for the story of Fallout 4...

Now that you've been warned, you will learn that I entered the Institute and I found my son! It wasn't exactly what I expected though, since my child is now about 60 years old and is called "Father". He is the director of the Institute...

After recovering from the shock of this big news, he offered me to join the Institute and help humanity grow and survive. They have some weird ideologies though, believing that synthetics are the future of the human race. Father also has an obsession with creating children synths, modeled after his own likeness. They even admit to kidnapping people, recreating them as synths and sending them out into the Commonwealth to spy and experiment, not giving a shit about the person who was kidnapped. They also don't believe that synths should be treated as people, though they clearly have their own free will, thoughts and emotions.

The Institute is almost paradise...

I am not sure I want to join them, in fact, I feel like the Railroad has the best philosophy in the game. They want to free the synths and treat them as people... The Institute itself is a wonder of modern engineering. The whole underground building is very high tech, clean, safe and filled with optimistic scientists. I spent a solid hour exploring the facility, speaking with the different departments.

I got a couple of pieces of new equipment at the shop too, including a new chest piece and a more powerful Gauss rifle. Once I explored everything, I went back to Father and got a few quests to help the Institute, so I'll do that stuff. I also met with a person that is friendly to the Railroad. We started a plot to free a group of 15 synths from the Institute, though I still need to gather some information from the Commonwealth to continue this.

It led me to a science laboratory where I killed some ghouls and solved a cool puzzle. I had to find some containers in the building, then bring them back to a machine. Using a nearby terminal, I was tasked with completing the experiment. I had to examine the containers and make sure they had the right contents, then I activated a machine. This created a strong, unique, power armor chest piece. I killed a courser at the same time to help further the cause of the Railroad. 

Rocket League

Date played: December 19th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 8/10

This was one of my best goals last night, a back flipped bicycle kick! 

Two of my brothers and one of my friends came over to hang out last night and we spent a lot of time playing some Rocket League as a 3 person team online. At first, we were all kind of rusty, so it was rough and we lost a few games in a row. We finally started doing a bit better later on, but we never really played as well as we're capable. There's some cute Christmas stuff to be won, like gift antennas and deer antlers, so we had fun messing around with those things. We had a few very good plays, including one where my brother made me a long pass from mid-field, which I then slammed into the goal with a bicycle kick while going in reverse!

Yoshi's Woolly World

Date played: December 19th
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 10/10

Yoshi's Woolly World just keeps getting better and better! Sure, it's still has amazingly cute as ever, but the gameplay mechanics are what is really keeping my interest. World 3 is full of surprises...

The first level I played had me grabbing onto some scarves and climbing around on them. Not only was it challenging, it was very cool to look at too, with great animation and attention to detail. The next one was a mid-world fortress filled with large bubbles that floated around the level and acted as both obstacles and bouncing platforms throughout. I had a rematch against the giant Mole boss at the end of the level.

This level was amazing!

3-5 was one of the best levels in the game yet. There were some little birds all over the place that followed Yoshi around as if they were eggs. The trick is that they left a trail of clouds in their wake when thrown that could be used as a platform. This led to some really fun sequences and some interesting puzzles. Finally, I played a maze level in a deep cave. There were tons of different paths available and lots of hidden things. I just love this game, a lot more than I expected.

Hot Shots Golf World Invitational

Date played: December 19th
Platform: Vita
Session fun rating: 7/10

Hot Shots Golf is a series that I've played a lot back on the PS1 days. It's a great little golf game with a cool art style, original courses and excellent, simple mechanics. I picked up World Invitational on Vita for 5$, a real good price. I played the first two challenge modes, the front and back 9's of the first course. There's not much to say, I mean, I played 18 holes of golf and had pretty good scores. My daughter actually liked watching this quite a bit, she likes the character and she helped me dress her up to her liking. I think this will be a great little game to kill time on the go.

Fallout 4

Date played: December 17th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 9/10

I've finally reached the Institute!

When I went back to see Virgil with the data from the Courser, he decoded it and gathered information on how to build the teleporter to the Institute. I had the choice of building it with the help of either the Minutemen, the Brotherhood of Steel or the Railroad. I like the Railroad the best so far, so I asked Tinker Tom to help me.

My teleporter to the Institute

I decided to build the teleporter in Sancturary. The thing requires 4 individual items to build, all of which required a good amount of materials. The items were a teleportation pad, a pylon, a satellite dish and a control console. They required quite a bit of space, so I decided to get fancy with it and spent most of my time in the game building a large fence for the teleporter, then decorating it and putting in some lights and power. It looks really cool... I stepped in and got teleported inside the Institute in a small, simple room. I can't wait to see what lies ahead!

Rocket League

Date played: December 17th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 9/10

Yes, I score on this one

I really wanted to play something quick and simple last night, so Rocket League got some love from me. Of the 7 or 8 matches I played, I won about 6 I think. I didn't score too much, but I made some real clutch plays and a few really great passes. I did score a few times of course, and it just felt great, as always. Rocket League just might be my favorite game of the year...

Muramasa Rebirth

Date played: December 16th
Platform: Vita
Session fun rating: 8/10

I had played a bit of this game back on the Wii a long time ago and I liked it, but I never really played a lot. Muramasa Rebirth was free on PS+ a while ago, so I tried it out last night as I watched the hockey game. The game is a 2D action game with ninjas. As is the case for most serious Japanese games, the story makes no sense. Something about stealing souls and getting big swords.

The sexy women of Muramasa

What's cool about Muramasa is the incredible art and the engaging, yet challenging combat system. I fought ninjas, demons and a giant boss that tried to crush me under his weight and spit blue fireballs at me. I liked what I played of this game, but it might get too hard, we'll see.

Dragon Fin Soup

Date played: December 16th
Platform: Vita
Session fun rating: 0/10

What the fuck kind of garbage game is this???

It looked interesting enough, since it describes itself as a turn based strategy game starring Little Red Riding Hood and a fantastical setting. However, it became clear within a few seconds into the game that this game was a stinking shit pile. It's ugly, controls badly, has an overly complicated interface and the way turns and combat work are junk. After 15 minutes of this crap, I deleted it off my Vita. What a waste of my time...

Fallout 4

Date played: December 15th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 10/10

I tracked down an Institute courser and destroyed it. Following the clues I received from Virgil, I went to the location he provided, turned on my radio and followed the courser signal until I reached a very large research building. When I got inside, there were some gunners fighting an unseen enemy, which turned out to be the courser himself. I fought my way through multiple floors of the building until I reached the courser at the top level.

While he wasn't too hard to kill, he had a stealth ability which prevented me from using VATS aiming, so I just shot a shitload of 10mm rounds near his location and killed it. I retrieved a chip from it's carcass and brought it back to the Railroad where Tinker Tom hacked into it and got some valuable info. I must now bring it back to Virgil, the Super Mutant scientist.

Tinker Tom analyzes the data from the Courser

I spent the rest of my time completing some side missions. I think I've done most of them now, unless I missed some city somewhere. I completed quite a few missions for the Minutemen and I think I have most of the settlements now. One of the missions for the Minutemen pitted me against the toughest Super Mutants I've seen yet. I had to pull out my bigger guns, some chems and I even had to hide for a few seconds, like the early game. In another mission, I had to kill a Mirelurk Queen, which I killed in 2 shots of my .44 revolver.

Finally, the last side mission I had available led me to an elementary school infested with ghouls. As I cleared out the monsters, I learned that the school has been used as a testing ground for a new type of food, a pink food paste. All staff and students had to eat the food paste as their only source of nutrition... There are hints that it caused "pinkness", irritation and other side effects, but it didn't really lead anywhere.

Xeodrifter

Date played: December 14th
Platform: Vita
Session fun rating: 8/10

I finished Xeodrifter!

Something weird happened though, it seems like my game didn't save properly the last time I played, so I had to replay a section and boss to regain the rocket boost ability. Then I explored another are to reach the next boss and got myself the solar flare ability, a very powerful charged shot that can destroy shields on the boss, and to destroy certain obstacles, revealing new paths.

The xeodrifter is a cool character

After another area and another boss, I found the last ability, the Phaze power, which allows the xeodrifter to pass through thin walls. When I beat the final boss, he pulled me into a sort of alternate dimension where my vision was blurred and I was attacked by giant tentacles... After a few minutes of treacherous navigation through that environment, I found the warp core I needed for my ship and completed the game.

I liked Xeodrifter quite a bit. It does a lot of things well, like it's colorful graphics and art style, controls that respond well and feel right, cool enemies and boss battles and fun exploration. I only wish it had more boss variety... I mean, I beat the same fucking creature about 8 times, with only slight variations in it's fighting style. Still, I enjoyed the game a lot and I'm glad I played it.

Fallout 4

Date played: December 13th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 10/10

I finally continued the main story and met with Dr. Amari at the Memory Den to extract Kellogg's memories from his implant and learn more about how to find the institute and Shaun. The sequence was interesting, revealing a lot of interesting details about Kellogg's life. It was also revealed that Shaun was in the care of Kellogg in Diamond City for the first few years of his life, until he was about 8 or 9 I think, but that's not super clear. He was then taken away by the Institute when Kellogg was assigned to new work.

The most important piece of information I got from this whole thing is a name. Virgil was an institute scientist who rebelled and ran away. He was reported to be hiding in the Dead Sea, a very dangerous radioactive wasteland in the furthest reaches of the map, south-east of Diamond City.

This meant I had to take a big long walk into a heavily irradiated area. I grabbed my hazmat suit and followed a road on the east side of the map. I ran into a few Super Mutants and Raiders, as well as a Deathclaw, then I reached the edge of the Dead Sea. I put on my hazmat suit and ventured into the scary place.

The Glowing Sea is a scary, lonely place

It was a really long walk... I stumbled onto a few enemies, like a pack of ghouls, a few Deathclaws and a couple of Radscorpions. Since I was wearing my hazmat suit, I had no protection from their attacks, so I had to make damn sure that I wasn't getting hit at all. Thankfully, my powerful pistols did the job very well. I reached a settlement, deep in the Glowing Sea, that was inhabited by followers of Atom. These nutjobs believe worship the atom and it's radiation, as if it were a God or a person. They somehow have radiation resistance too... After a brief conversation with one of them, I learned that Virgil was holed up in a nearby cave.

I found the cave and Virgil, a man turned Super Mutant. He is much smarter than any other mutant though, and was surprised to learn that I wanted to infiltrate the Institute and destroy them. I convinced him to help me, so he told me the only way to get in was to use a teleporter. To do that, I would have to hunt down a courser, high tech synths, and steal some of it's equipment. He gave me a location where I could do that and wished me luck.

Yoshi's Woolly World

Date played: December 13th
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 9/10

As is the usual routine, my 5 year old daughter and I played video games on Sunday morning! We started by going into some of the levels we had already completed to gather all the yarn balls and flowers. Some of these things are very well hidden... I was able to get most of them by searching every little bit of each level. Unfortunately, that wasn't quite enough in a few cases, and we had to resort to Youtube guides twice.

Once we had all of the flowers and yarn balls, we took on the final level of the second world, a boss castle. There were cool elements here, including some fiery zippers and yarn spitting fire dogs. The final boss was a giant version of one of these dogs. I dodged streams of fire and giant yarn balls and took him out.

Because I had all the flowers in the world, I unlocked a secret, very difficult level. This whole level was a giant puzzle separated into three areas. In the first, I had to throw a turtle shell then follow it as it sped through the level on a path above Yoshi. The second area was tougher, where I had to throw yarn balls at a jumping enemy to make him hit switches. It required really good timing and fast execution. Finally, the third area was pretty damn crazy, forcing me to make a mole follow me through the level to hit a switch. The problem is that the fucking rodent likes to stay exactly where Yoshi is, making it way too easy to kill it by accident. After a baker's dozen of attempts, I finally got it. It felt great!

Sooooooo fucking cute!

I played the first two levels of the third world, which is themed around sweets and other fun kid stuff. The first level had me jumping on adorable cookies and other delicious baked goods. The second was a challenging romp through a variety of knit items like stars, the Sun, the Moon and the Earth. There was even a very cute rocket ship! Yoshi's Woolly World has to be the cutest, most adorable video game ever made...

Halo 5: Guardians

Date played: December 13th
Platform: Xbox One
Session fun rating: 5/10

Well, I finished Halo 5 and it was kind of a shit ending.

The final level was rather simple, with Locke and his team trying to save Master Chief and stop Cortana. Unfortunately, all I got to do was fight some relatively powerful enemies in a large arena, then the game sort of just ends. There's really not much to say. I mean, they stop Cortana and save the Chief, but Cortana gets away and is still a huge threat to the universe.

Locke and Master Chief meet with Dr. Halsey

The best part is when Locke and Master Chief go back to Sanghelios to meet the arbiter and Dr. Halsey, but then the credits roll. It was a very disappointing ending and there was only a single battle to deal with, so I guess I'll have to wait for Halo 6 to see the rest of it.

Fallout 4

Date played: December 12th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 8/10

Well, the small town of Covenant really was just a front for a bunch of synth haters who have their headquarters in a sewer. I found their leader and she had determined that the teenage daughter of the murdered caravan was a synth. The SAFE test, the test that I was administered when entering Covenant, was built to identify synths based on their responses. So of course, I wanted to save the teenager, but that forced me to kill every single person inside the sewers. When I went back to Covenant, I had to kill everyone there too...

Next, I investigated a lead I had that led me to the Museum of Witchcraft on the east side of the map. The place wasn't much of a museum, but inside, I found a scary and powerful Albino Deathclaw. This was by far the strongest Deathclaw I fought yet, but it was nothing that a few criticals from my trusty .44 revolver. I found some Deathclaw eggs on the ground that had been stolen by gunners, so that's likely what attracted the mommy... I brought the eggs to Diamond City and sold them.

I might move here...

Finally, I completed a Minutemen quest where I had to clear out a lighthouse on the east coast. For the first time, I fought some Children of the Atom, the group of crazies that worships radiation. They fight with gamma ray guns which don't cause damage, but instead inflict large amounts of radiation until death. I was glad to be carrying my hazmat suit... I put it on, killed the fanatics and added the lighthouse to my list of settlements.

For the first time, I'm considering moving most of my settlement... While I love Sanctuary, I loved the quiet seaside and lighthouse of the new spot. I might move my main things here, like my tools, my shops and power armor here. It's a lot of work for no real benefit, but I just like the look of this place a whole lot. 

Indivisible prototype

Date played: December 12th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 9/10

Lab Zero Games is a very small team who made the Skullgirls fighting game, which I loved when I played it a while back. The company decided to make a new game, a 2D RPG influenced by Metroid and Valkyrie Profile, but it won't be out until 2018... They put out a free prototype to garner interest and funding, so I downloaded it and gave it a shot.

The first thing that stood out is the incredible animation, just like Skullgirls. The heroine moves very fluidly and has a real sense of weight and movement. It's just gorgeous. I played through the prototype with my daughter and she loved everything about the game too. Combat is super interesting, with a traditional turn based system inspired by Final Fantasy's "Active Time Battle", but throws in some action reminiscent of Valkyrie Profile or Paper Mario.

I got to use four characters at once, each of them with great special moves and unique attacks. The heroine uses punches and later on, axes to attack. Then there's an archer and a dude that whips his turban around to attack. Finally, my daughter's favorite is a lady spellcaster who wears a tiger skin and casts fire and healing spells.

This boss fight was very intense and challenging

Combat really clicked with me. There are three types of basic attacks for all characters, as well as a special attack and a block. Enemies hit pretty damn hard, so it's important to keep enemies stunned as often as possible and to heal quickly. I fought countless monsters, including a giant boss that had so much health, I had to whittle away at it while keeping my crew healed up over a solid 10 minutes of fighting.

Outside of battle, there's some light exploration, with some areas walled off until an ability is gained. For example, when I got the axe, I gained the ability to chop down vines and climb walls. I'm really interested in playing more of this game, but unfortunately, I won't be able to do that for a good long time. 

Fallout 4

Date played: December 11th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 10/10

The Railroad had sent me to investigate a safe house at University Point, far south of Boston. The derelict town used to be a normal little place before the war. Synths have taken over the place and have been patrolling, my job was to destroy them all. Armed with my laser pistol, I shot everything in sight and cleared the location for the Railroad to use.

Next, I went back to see the Brotherhood of Steel to start doing some real work for them. I jumped into a Vertibird and headed for Fort Strong, a nearby military base that has been taken over by Super Mutants. In a very cool scene, we circled the area in the Vertibird as I shot Super Mutants with the vehicles powerful minigun. There was even a hulking berserker to kill! Once the landing area was cleared, I headed inside the Fort Strong building to secure some nuclear warheads for the Brotherhood. I killed a bunch of Super Mutants with my trusty Deliverer pistol and reported back to the leader of the Brotherhood. He rewarded me with some smoke grenades that can be used to call a Vertibird to any location for easy transport!

I fuck up some Super Mutants with the Vertibird's minigun!

I went back to Sanctuary to dump my junk, sell my excess gear and rest. I decided to tinker with my power armor a bit, since I had picked up a couple of new pieces of it. I now have 9 complete power armor sets, most of which I will never use. But they sure look really fucking cool, parked in my garage. I decided to take a walk to a location on my map that I had never visited, but probably should have since it was so close to the starting areas.

That's when I stumbled onto Covenant, a very small settlement that is armed to the teeth. As soon as I approached the town's gates, things got really weird, really fast. The doorman wouldn't let me inside until I passed a psychological exam of about 5 or 6 questions. For example, one of the questions was "You have just discovered that a mutated arm has grown on your stomach, what do you do?". All the questions and answers were pretty funny, but also on the creepy side.

Inside the gates, things didn't get much better. Everyone seems too fucking nice... After poking around a bit, I met with Honest Dan, a mercenary who was hired to find out what happened to a caravan who was killed just outside of Covenant. After picking a few locks and hacking a few computers, I found enough clues to understand that Covenant is a front for a bigger organisation. I still don't have any real details, but I had enough clues to grab Honest Dan and head out to a nearby sewer to investigate further. I wonder what I'll discover...

Fallout 4

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

I did a mission for the Brotherhood of Steel where I had to escort a field scribe from the Boston Airport all the way to a military checkpoint far south of the city. It was a pretty long walk where I had to fight quite a few raiders, Super Mutants and wild animals, but we made it safely.

The Brotherhood ship, Prydwen, hovers over the Boston airport

I stumbled upon a deserted town called Jamaica Plains, where I had a mission for the Minutemen. There was a cool little story to find here as the town's leaders decided to build a small exhibit in a basement that would be some sort of museum. The computer terminals had cool little bits of this story where the janitor complains that there is no money for maintenance due to the exhibit. It was kinda weird and fun.

The rest of my time was spent completing side missions for the Railroad where I found another pre-war cache and installed about 5 or 6 weather vanes for Tinker Tom. The weather vane missions were fun because I often had to figure out a way to reach the roof of certain buildings, and it wasn't always obvious. In one case, I even had to battle a glowing Deathclaw, a very powerful enemy. Thankfully, my luck/critical build works very well. I shot the fucker in the belly with my .44, doped up on chems, and destroyed the monster.

For my efforts, I was rewarded with clothing that is armored and can be worn underneath normal armor, boosting my protection quite a bit. I'm now level 50 and I have been spending most of my perk points on skills that increase my critical chance and damage. 

Yoshi's Woolly World

Date played: December 9th
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 8/10

Due to a school strike at my daughter's school, I spent the day home with her yesterday. After hours of drawing and other pre-school activities, we spent a bit of time playing Yoshi's Woolly World to relax. My daughter didn't want to play this time, but she still loves to watch and help me find the well-hidden collectibles.

I played through most of the second world. It started with a mid-world boss level, a Koopa fortress. I had to gather 4 keys from different parts of the fortress, which was littered with the familiar Koopa turtles. It was nice to be able to knock shells around to attack other enemies. Finally, I faced off against the boss, a giant, kind of obese Koopa who liked to stomp on Yoshi and spun it's shell to attack.

A giant Koopa boss!

The next level introduced Poochy, the cutest dog in video games.  The level was filled with Shy-Guys on stilts and spikes on the floor. Much of it required that Yoshi ride Poochy to safety. Next, I braved a level where lava reigned supreme. This one featured tons of treacherous jumps and giant lava creatured called Blarggs. I died quite a bit here, but I made it through safely. Finally, I explored a dangerous pyramid where I got to breathe fire and navigate dangerous underground tunnels.
Before turning off the game, I spent some time going back to previous levels of this world to find all the hidden flowers and yarn balls.

Final Fantasy VI

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

Every once in a while, I get the urge to play FFVI. As I've mentioned before, I've never completed this game. It was the kind of game that I would rent at the video store every few weeks when I was a kid, but had to start over every time because the save file had been erased. I intend to complete the game one day, but I only play it every once in a while.

With Sabin and Celes, I continued following the mysterious thief that looked a lot like Edgar, the King of Figaro and brother of Sabin. We followed him through some caves and eventually, we entered Figaro castle through a secret entrance underground. We fought a bunch of monsters here, then reached the treasure room where the group of thieves was trying to retrieve some loot. While the thieves were stealing stuff, it was finally revealed that the man was indeed Edgar when he asked for our help to fight a boss before the treasure room!

On the left, Edgar, on the right, Sabin

The boss was just a big mess of tentacles, with 4 individual targets. I got through pretty easily, with Celes healing and casting a few spells, Sabin hitting hard and Edgar using tools to deal heavy damage. After the battle, we got back inside Figaro Castle proper where Edgar and Sabin had a heartfelt conversation about the state of the world, then the team headed out to find more of their friends.

Kung Fu Rabbit

Date played: December 8th
Platform: Vita
Session fun rating: 6/10

Get that carrot!

Kung Fu Rabbit is a nice little game. It's a platformer that is built like a mobile game (maybe it is a mobile game?) with a series of short levels. The rabbit must gather 3 carrots per level and there is also a secret carrot to find. The 2D action feels great, something that is critical for a game like this. The rabbit can wall jump, slide down walls and jump pretty high. The rest is just pure platforming. There are a few enemies that appear, and can only be dispatched by attacking them from the back. I played through about 15 or 20 levels, then I got to a level that was really hard. I tried it about 10 times and lost interest. I will keep this game installed, but I'm not really sure I'll play it again. 

Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken

Rocketbirds is a bad game

Date played: December 8th
Platform: Vita
Session fun rating: 1/10

I always try to give every game the benefit of the doubt. I give them a fair chance, even if they don't seem interesting. RocketBirds is a bad fucking game though. It's basically a 2D run n' gun type of game, sort of like Contra, mixed with some very light puzzle solving, like dragging boxes and using key cards.

The game looks good enough, with bright art and cool animations, but the framerate isn't the best. The problem with the game is that it just feels like shit. The controls just don't feel right. And combat is bad too, where the only possible action is to crouch and shoot. Now, maybe the game opens up later, but it really didn't grab me at all, so I quit the game and deleted it right away.

Fallout 4

Date played: December 7th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 10/10

Dunwich Borers is one hell of a big mine... I fought a bunch of raider inside the mine as I went deeper and deeper. There were terminals scattered about that told an interesting story about competitiveness between section managers, cost cutting measures and even a company family picnic. As I got deeper into the mine, I found and fought some feral ghouls.

At the very end of the mine, I had some weird, 2-3 second long flashbacks that showed the workers before they became ghouls... All the project managers were ghouls, so I killed them and dove into a very deep pool in the middle of the room. I ate some mirelurk cakes to gain temporary underwater breathing, put on my Hazmat suit to resist the radiation, turned on my headlamp and dove down the hole. At the bottom, I found an altar along with a very cool, unique knife that seems very powerful. It's too bad I don't have a melee character, it seems like a really cool weapon to use.

After this whole quest, I decided I should continue the Brotherhood of Steel missions. For a while now, I've been seeing Brotherhood vertibirds flying over the skies of the Commonwealth, shooting at Super Mutants and raiders. I also saw their enormous flying base from afar, the Prydwen, so I was curious to know what they are up to. I met with Paladin Danse who informed me that we had been summoned on the giant ship to meet with some Brotherhood leaders.

I was officially made a Knight of the Brotherhood and given a few missions from people aboard the ship. I met everyone and just like the Railroad, there are some awesome people that are part of the Brotherhood. The most interesting of them is a lady who lost both her legs during a mission. She wears power armor at all times, which effectively gives her legs, though they are a bit slower than real legs.

I've got a bunch of missions to do for the Brotherhood, but something had been nagging at me for a while. I never completed the Silver Shroud quest line... so I decided to get that one done. I put on my Silver Shroud armor and hat, some sunglasses and headed south of Diamond City to a nearby hospital. This was a completely new area for me, so I loved discovering new things along the way. At the hospital, I killed a lot of raiders then reached the room where a raider boss was waiting, threatening to kill my friend who sent me on the Silver Shroud series of missions.

The Silver Shroud quest line is glorious

This turned out to be one of my favorite scenes in the game yet! As usual, I kept up the Silver Shroud's persona by "speaking as the Shroud". The raider boss was surrounded by 3 of his thugs while he held my friend at gunpoint. It turns out, the boss didn't believe a second that I was more than just a normal person, but his thugs were terrified of the Shroud and ran off! This gave me the opportunity to shoot the raider boss in the head before he could hurt my little ghoul buddy. Scared, he gave up on the Silver Shroud and went back home... I think this was one of the coolest stories in the game, particularly because it gave some really fun dialogue options. I still have to get back to Good Neighbour to complete the mission.

Fallout 4

Date played: December 6th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 8/10

Well, I completed the Cabot House quest line. It turns out, letting the father out of his cell was a bad idea, since he attacked Cabot House anyway and I had to kill him. He was a tough motherfucker, but my trusty .44 revolver and a few crits took him out quickly. I didn't get much as a reward, only caps, but Jack Cabot promised to have something for me in a week...

The rest of the night is a big fucking blur of mindless side quests for the Railroad. For example, I've been setting up weather vanes for Tinker Tom, who is gathering data for his experiments and gadgets. This meant revisiting a lot of the places I've already visited, like the Corvega Factory and three or four others. I also did some missions for P.A.M., the high tech robot that works for the Railroad. She gives me RFID chips which open up secret pre-war caches inside buildings. I did three or four of these also.

My .44 revolver is fucking awesome

Dr. Carrington, the Railroad's medical specialist, also had a few quests for me. I investigated the status of one of the safehouses, but found the place to have been sacked by Super Mutants. In another mission, I was tasked with contacting one of the Railroad's agents, but all I found was his corpse in the midst of a raider base. I'm now level 47 or so and have learned a lot of the luck skills. I'm a real crit machine, so much that I killed a Deathclaw in one shot of my .44 revolver. I've also got the top level of the gunslinger perk, which boosts by pistol damage like crazy.

I felt strong enough that I could take on one of the missions that had scared me off earlier, an assault on a raider base inside a large open pit mine. I cleared the outside area and honestly, I had to be real careful. These raiders are sporting some powerful weapons and some tough armor, but I made it through to the entrance of the subterranean mine.

Fallout 4

Date played: December 5th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 9/10

Vault 81 had one more little quest to complete, where I gave a speech to schoolchildren about the dangers of the Commonwealth. After this was done, I stopped by the vendor inside the vault and saw that she had a pair of excellent arm protection items, but they were 11000 caps each, while I only had about 8000. I spent much of the following hour cleaning up my inventory at Sanctuary to scrape together the most valuable useless items I had. I put on my charisma gear, I took some drugs to make my bartering skill better and went back to the vendor. I came out of it with the two items and 4000 caps left over!

Equipped with my new gear, I investigated a lead that led me to Cabot house. I met with Jack Cabot, a scientist who lives in the house with his mother and sister. He hired me to do odd jobs for him. He runs some experiments out of the Parsons Asylum, a mental hospital. Some raiders have been messing with the place, so I helped by killing all the raiders. The next mission sent me to find his missing sister. This was one of the cooler little side missions in the game so far. The sister was charmed by a small-time cult leader, then kept locked in a room, presumably as a sex slave. Instead of going in guns blazing, I donned my charisma gear and convinced the cult leader to release her.

That's when shit became really interesting. Back at Cabot house, it quickly became clear that there's some weird fucking shit going on. It started when more raiders attacked the asylum, and Jack Cabot became desperate to stop them from reaching the basement. He warned me that some very dangerous things were hidden in the basement, so for the first time in the game, I donned my power armor and prepared for a tough battle.

I love my power armor, but I never really need it...

There were some very strong raiders there, but nothing I couldn't have handled without the armor. The real kicker was the basement though. It turns out, Jack Cabot and his family are all more than 400 years old, thanks to a special serum created by Jack. His father was "possessed" by a weird artifact that sits on his head like a helmet, so he must be contained in a special cell. The artifact grants him incredible strength and some telekinesis abilities, and some form of immortality of course.

However, once I was in the basement, I had the choice of either killing the father or freeing him. Maybe it's my overwhelming curiosity that pushed me to do it, but I released him. I hope I haven't done something horribly wrong... 

Fallout 4

Date played: December 4th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 9/10

My youngest brother is a huge Fallout and Skyrim fan. He even bought a PS4 just for Fallout 4! So while we were hanging out together, we ended up booting up the game for a bit. After showing him my character, my guns, my perks and my settlement, he asked me if I had seen something crash from the sky around level 20 or so. I remember hearing a loud crash and seeing a bit of smoke, but it was too dark, too foggy and too far for me to find out what happened the first time.

My bro led me to a spot where I found a small alien ship that had crash landed! Traces of green blood led me to a small cave where I had to kill the alien, a typical "martian" style creature. On him was an amazing weapon, the Alien Blaster. Unfortunately, while it's very powerful, it also only uses special ammo that I found on the alien. I only have about 400 rounds, so I'm not sure I'll get to use this thing a lot. There's a science upgrade that allows it to use normal fusion cells, but it requires 4 points into the science perk, so maybe I'll look into it later.

Then I finally decided to visit Vault 81, a vault I had seen in my travels, but never entered. The place is still thriving, with a small population of people that are all very normal, except that they don't want to exit the safety of the vault. There's a good shop here, but I don't have enough caps to buy anything worthwhile yet. After finding a cat that had escaped the vault, it was revealed that one of the children is gravely ill.

Vault 81

After a bit of investigating, I discovered that there was a whole other, secret vault, hidden below! That part was completely destroyed and infested with powerful mole rats and a few robots. I cleared the area and found Curie, a robot that manages the vault's experiments. Basically, the people who lived in the secret vault were experimenting with different diseases and serums. The people in the normal vault were to be used as test subjects... Curie gave me the last remaining vaccine for the disease and I gave it to the doctors to heal the kid. Curie is now one of my followers, so I sent her to Starlight Drive-In.

Rocket League

Date played: December 4th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 10/10

My youngest brother and a friend came over to play games for the evening. We started with some 2 on 2 online, me and my brother together. As usual, we were real monsters on the field, winning all 6 games we played. There were one or two games that were close, but overall, we simply destroyed the opposition.

On the left, my friend scores her first Rocket League goal!

After that though, my friend, who has never played Rocket League, but has seen many matches, decided to try playing for the first time! We started with a bot match to help her get used to the controls, then we jumped online for some 3 vs 3. Now, we didn't win much, but we made a pretty good team. I think that with a bit more practice, my friend could become a very valuable addition to the team. She has a very distinct style that I'm gonna call "disturber of the peace". She knocks people around, particularly the opposing goalie. She distracted other players enough for me and my bro to set up great plays and score goals.

She has a real hard time with playing the ball, so the best moment of the night is when she scored her first and only goal, a beautiful straight shot from the middle of the field! I'm really glad that she tried the game with us, it was a lot of fun to have a new player!

Rocket League

Ripper is a cool car

Date played: December 2nd
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 9/10

Even though I played a bit of Yoshi's Woolly World last night, my attention was really on the gaming sensation of 2015, Rocket League. I rode with the other DLC car I bought yesterday and kicked some fucking ass!

I was pretty damn good last night, scoring a few exceptional goals and defending my zone well. I think I play as a center, holding the center line and roaming on the outskirts of the action until I see an opening. I had better look with matchmaking last night, getting paired up with competent players, and pitted against similarly skilled opponents. I had a great time, won most of my matches and got the MVP more often than not. I'm loving this new car, it has a badass look to it and it handles better than I initially thought. 

Yoshi's Woolly World

Date played: December 2nd
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 9/10

My daughter was busy sharpening her pencils (!) and she asked me to play Yoshi's Woolly World at the same time so she would have something to look at while she was completing her task. So I played two levels of the cutest game on the market.

The first, 2-2, had a cool mechanic where I could enter doors to flip the decor and navigate the "far side" of the level. This led to some interesting little mazes and fun scenarios. The enemies here were all mice, so that was cute. I even got to transform into a little mole and dug through sand and rock in a short bonus segment.

Chain Chomps can be turned into giant yarn balls

The next level, 2-3, introduced Yoshi to Chain Chomps. In this game though, the Chain Chomps are mere metal frames that jump around and chase Yoshi. When hit with a yarn ball, they turn into a ball that can be pushed around to break obstacles and can act as a platform. Once again, Woolly World shows it's creative use of mechanics and builds a fun level around it. 

Fallout 4

Date played: December 1st
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 10/10

The Railroad has had some very interesting missions so far... I met Deacon near the old highway and he told me we had to enter one of their old safe houses that was taken over by Gen 1 and Gen 2 synthetics. Our job was to retrieve a prototype for the Railroad's head scientist. Along the way, I stumbled onto a Berserker, a hulking Super Mutant that would feel at home in Lord of the Rings! I popped some pills, grabbed my hunting rifle and peppered it with shots from a distance, including many critical shots. He went down before having a chance to reach me, but it was pretty scary...

The old safe house is a large office built underground. I killed dozens of synths here and found the prototype with Deacon's help. When we got back to the base, they welcomed me with open arms and made me an official member of the Railroad. They have a really cool base in the basement of the old church, complete with all the normal equipment and a slew of interesting characters. Deacon joined me as a companion in the process, so I sent him to my follower settlement at Starlight Drive-In.

I obliterate a Gen 1 synth with my laser pistol

The next mission sent me to meet a guy in Bunker Hill, a town that acts as a hub for the caravans of the wasteland. The town is pretty small, but it has a few missions available and some interesting characters. I met the contact from the Railroad here, and he sent me on a mission to help some synths escape the clutches of the Institute. I met a man who manages a small safe house for synths and helped him escort one of the advanced robots, H2-22, to safety.

3D Sonic The Hedgehog

Date played: December 1st
Platform: 3DS
Session fun rating: 8/10

Sega has been an amazing job with their 3DS retro releases, adding 3D effects and lots of fun little options, like saving anywhere or playing the Japanese version of the game. I bought the 3D versions of Sonic 1 and 2 and played a bit of the first game.

You know, people say that the original Sonic games don't hold up anymore, but I still like them a lot. Sure, they are nowhere as awesome as old Mario games, but they are still enjoyable, challenging platformers. I played through the Green Hill Zone and most of the Marble Zone. Green Hill is fucking iconic, that's for sure. It has lots of speedy areas, rolling hills and crumbling cliffs. Marble Zone is full of moving platforms, lava waterfalls and spikes. I'm enjoying this a lot more because of the handy quick save feature, which reduces frustration a lot and makes lives unimportant... Plus, the 3D effect looks real nice, so that's cool.