Rage

Date played: June 29th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 9/10

Wow, the Gearheads don't fuck around!

Redstone tasked me with stealing a special Feltrite container from a gang called the Gearheads. These guys are really hardcore and required me to use a lot of special ammo and even a rocket. They are very heavily armored, even more than the Authority... All of them have heavy helmets, so even headshots aren't enough, unless I use special ammo like the shotguns pop rockets or the machine gun's anti-armor ammo. They have a couple of really tough units too. There's a dude with a minigun that takes forever to take down. There's even some flamethrower units that wreak havoc in small spaces...

Chilling outside of Subway Town with my new car

Once I cleared the area and made it back to town, I got a chance to win a new car, the Monarch. This beast is fast, powerful, has a new weapon and looks badass. Of course, this meant a few new races to complete and new upgrades to purchase. I must now enter a Gearhead base to steal their power supply.

Mario Tennis Open

Date played: June 29th

DK battles on his home court

Platform: 3DS
Session fun rating: 5/10

I had a few minutes to kill while waiting for a guest, so I booted up Mario Tennis Open and played a Streetpass match and the Banana Cup. The Streetpass match was easy to win, but I had a few solid exchanges in the Banana Cup as Donkey Kong. This all took place on a new court themed around the DK universe, which is filled with a bunch of bananas, barrels and a tiki theme. Bowser Junior is the one that gave me the biggest challenge, but I still managed to win without losing a set.

There's one thing that I just realized that really bugs me about this game. It seems that when going into a special shot circle, it's not necessary to hit the right shot type, I was able to get the special shot by using a simple shot. This removes the bulk of the challenge and kind of killed it for me. I have to test it again to see if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that's the way it works. That's really disappointing...

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Date played: June 28th
Platform: Wii
Session fun rating: 9/10

Having found Zelda through the Time Gate and knowing that we must find the Triforce, my daughter and I were eager to see what was next in Link's story. After speaking with the residents of Skyloft, we figured out that to find Levias and learn clues about the Triforce, we had to bring some pumpkin soup to a rainbow island... Yep.

We brought the soup and Levias appeared promptly. The creature immediately reminded me of the Wind Fish from Link's Awakening. Levias was possessed by an ugly monster that stuck it's limbs out through it... I had to fight it using my trusty steed, Loftwing. I flew around and attacked the monster's limbs with my bird's spin attack. After a few hits, I had to land on Levias to fight the monster directly. Using a tried and true technique from various Zelda games, I shot the monster's projectiles back at it by swinging my sword in the right direction.

Levias was possessed by an evil monster

After defeating the monster, Levias showed it's true nature as a benevolent wise old beast and explained that I had to find the 3 pieces of the Hero's Song, each guarded by a dragon. I headed to Eldin Volcano to find the first part of the song. When I got there, the volcano was in full eruption! I go knocked out during the fall to the ground and quickly captured by some goblins. The fuckers stole all my gear and left me helpless in a prison cell... I got some help from a mole guy to exit the cell, then started exploring the area to find my gear.

I had to stay stealthy and avoid detection from goblins as I found ways to get to the treasure chests that contained my equipment. It was a pretty cool segment, as it forced me to play differently, since I didn't have a sword or anything else. After lots of stealthy puzzle solving, I found the dragon deep inside the volcano and learned his part of the song.

Rage

Date played: June 28th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating:8/10

After a brief return to the Dead City where I fought some Authority soldiers and some mutants to gather some intel for Captain Marshall, the leader of the resistance. The mission itself was pretty standard stuff. I've started using the crossbow a bit more for precise headshots from mid range, but it's only useful when there aren't many enemies.

When I got back to Wellspring, Elizabeth and Captain Marshall were ready to take me to the Eastern Wasteland to fight the Authority on it's own turf. Using a really cool airship-like vehicle, we entered Subway Town, a relatively large settlement built in an old subway station. This town is fucking awesome! It has a lot of new residents to interact with, some new race events, new vendors and is run by a scary, tough man named Redstone.

Subway Town

The objective is to make friends in Subway Town to gain influence and make it easier to get close to the Authority, so I started working for Redstone and others in town. Before doing any real work though, I headed for the race track and completed all I could. The new tracks are more difficult than before, but as usual, my racing skills helped me breeze through these events and win a bunch of race tickets. There is clearly a third car available in the game, so I will have a lot of tickets to upgrade it properly.

My first real job was to explore a tunnel and collapse it to prevent mutants from entering the town. This was a big mission, but I mostly just fought regular mutants. My shotgun got a LOT of use in there, as the little fuckers just run at me all the time. There was a bigger fight towards the end that pitted me against two large kraken mutants and a bunch of smaller ones. I ended up using a new item that boosts my attack power temporarily to even the odds and kept using my shotgun.

I completed another job, this time for a weird dude that wanted me to go into an old distillery and fill two vials with a special type of alcohol. Once again, I fought mutants as I made my way through the moody distillery. There was a defensive part to the mission at the end where I had to protect the vials as they were being filled. I used some sentries to thin down the horde and kept my shotgun equipped. I can't wait to start fighting bandits again... Also, Rage is surprisingly long for a game of this type, I like it.

Rage

Date played: June 27th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 8/10

The Authority doesn't stand a chance against me!

I met Elizabeth, who is part of the resistance against the Authority. She tasked me with finding an important member of their group who is being held prisoner in a large base. I stormed the base and fought the Authority for the first time. These guys are well equipped and powerful. They have lots of armor and some electronic gear, including some strong handheld shields.

The Authority is pretty high tech

To beat them, I had to use a few new tools like EMP grenades and special shotgun ammo that tears adds an EMP effect to shots. My assault rifle isn't cutting it anymore against these guys, it's just too weak. I had to start using the Authority machine gun instead. That thing has high accuracy and a fast firing rate, plus it has a good scope. I fought my way through the place and rescued the resistance captain. I escorted him out to safety and went back to town.

Back in Wellspring, the Authority is making their presence felt. Mysteriously, the mayor isn't in his office as usual... In addition, the Authority has launched propaganda drones. It's getting more and more dangerous for me in that town.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Date played: June 27th
Platform: Wii
Session fun rating: 9/10

My daughter cried because of this game today.

Link headed back to the Sealed Grounds to activate the Time Gate with his sword, now infused with the three sacred flames. Groose is still chilling with the old lady there and he's now built a weapon against the Imprisoned. Sure enough, as soon as I reached the gate, the Imprisoned woke up and I had to fight him a second time. He's got 2 new limbs, a pair of arms and hands, so he can now climb faster towards the Time Gate. Thankfully, Groose's weapon is ready.

Zelda is goddess Hylia!

He built a large railroad track around the Sealed Grounds, put a catapult on it and armed it with giant flower bombs. Every few minutes, I could use the catapult to stun and slow down the Imprisoned. It was a pretty tough battle... I messed up at one point and I couldn't stop the beast in time. I failed and had to restart, but the second time I had it down perfectly.

After the battle, Link activated the Time Gate and went back into the past to find Zelda. This was one of the coolest story moments in the game. There was a lengthy conversation between Link and Zelda. Basically, it is revealed that Zelda is actually the mortal incarnation of the goddess, Hylia.

Keep in mind, I'm playing in English, but my daughter only speaks French. This means that every time we play, I translate the text into French for her. When Zelda explained that she had to stay in the past to help contain the demon lord, named Demise, my daughter just broke down into tears and sank her head into my chest, sad that we couldn't save Zelda... Thankfully, that wasn't the whole story. Zelda explains that Link must gather the Triforce to defeat Demise and release Zelda from her prison. Finally, she transformed my sword into it's epic final form! It was a really good scene...

I went back through the gate and left Zelda to be guarded by Impa. After speaking to citizens of Skyloft, it seems that the best way to find the Triforce is to speak with Levias, a mystical creature that lives in the big storm cloud near town. I also picked up a little side quest to find a new crystal ball for the town's fortune teller. It seems like I'm nearing the end of the game, but I don't know how much work it will be to gather the Triforce.

Rage

Date played: June 26th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 8/10

I found a weird Feltrite sample at a bandit camp, just as the mayor of Wellspring predicted, and I took this sample to be analyzed by a scientist named Kvasir. This guy is clearly a genius who surrounds himself with very high tech gear. He needed time to analyze the sample, so he suggested I enter the Dead City to find an upgrade to my defibrillator in the hospital.

The Dead City is a mutant infested, wretched place. It used to be a metropolis, but is now a giant ruin. Honestly, I much prefer fighting bandits to fighting mutants in this game. The main problem is that the mutants generally just rush me, so it ends up being a lot of shotgun combat. There are a few exceptions, like some tougher mutants that spit acid or very large mutants with grenade launchers. I used all sorts of equipment to even the odds, including sentry guns, spider bots and special ammo.

This giant mutant isn't having a good day...

Eventually, I found the hospital, but the way was blocked by a gigantic mutant who decided that throwing huge rocks at me was a wise decision. Thankfully, I picked up a new weapon in the area, a rocket launcher! This thing packs a real punch, but after a few well aimed rockets and some careful dodging, I took him out and found the new defibrillator. I went back to Kvasir and got some valuable info on the sample.

Back in Wellspring, I was tasked with clearing out some bandits from the town's sewers. I got to use some electrified crossbow bolts and fought my way through dozens of bandits. They had been poisoning our water supply with a special type of toxic substance that can be used for mind control. Kvasir explained that the Authority, which I haven't seen yet, are opposed by a group that call themselves the Resistance. He reckons that the Resistance could use this new mind control substance to better fight the Authority.

Forza Horizon 2: Storm Island

Date played: June 26th
Platform: Xbox One
Session fun rating: 9/10

The Impreza and it's eternal rival, the Lancer

I didn't play very much, but I managed to play two events on Storm Island. My trusty Subaru Impreza WRX STI was upgraded with new, off road parts. The all wheel drive rally car was absolutely perfect for the events that featured intense jumps and very twisty roads on gravel, tarmac, grass, dirt and even a big rainstorm. The tracks on Storm Island are very different and I wouldn't see myself driving a Ferrari anywhere on the treacherous piece of land.

Rage

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

I played some more Rage and completed a major mission deep inside a bandit base. I also completed a couple of smaller missions, a race and spent some time shopping for new recipes and bullets, but most of my time was spent killing bandits.

The sheriff of Wellspring wanted me to clear the road that leads North. A group of bandits has taken to using RC cars equipped with bombs to make travel difficult for the residents. My job was to get inside their base and destroy 3 RC car caches. This turned into a pretty lengthy dungeon filled with dangerous criminals. These guys were a lot tougher to fight than anything I've seen previously in the game. They have more armor, use RC car bombs and even had a couple of very tough big guys.

I parked my awesome car in front of the bandit base

I've started using the assault rifle and sniper rifle a lot more. At first, I felt like using the sniper was a waste of time unless I was really far away, but with these tougher opponents, it's powerful rounds have been useful more often. I've stopped using the pistol, it's just too weak unless I use special ammo. Inside the base, I had to use RC cars of my own to blow up the caches and open up new paths through the dungeon. I made it through and made the way North safer than ever for the residents of Wellspring.

Rage

Date played: June 24th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 8/10

Rage feels a little bit like a very light RPG, but with real FPS shooting mechanics. The town of Wellspring has a wealth of fun quests and missions and offers a surprising amount of variety and choice. I completed many side quests, some of which had me go back to the first two "dungeons", There were also some mini sniping missions where I had to protect some people from mutants and bandits from a stationary position. There's also a weird little card game that is kinda fun, but a bit too simple for my taste.

I picked up some main missions from the sheriff and the mayor in Wellspring. I haven't touched they mayor's mission yet, but the Sheriff had me do some interesting stuff. I first had to win a new, more powerful car. To do this, I had to enter a sponsored race and win it, but to do that, I had to get a sponsor! That's where Monster Bash comes in.

Monster Bash

Monster Bash is a weird event hosted by a maniacal old man. I had to fight a series of mutants and survive in his little, fucked up arena. He then takes this footage and turns it into a TV show of some kind... The normal mutants are no match for the shotgun, but at the end, there was a battle against a very large mutant with lots of health. I used a few new engineering items to survive, like a sentry turret and a spider robot thing.

Having won the sponsorship, I headed back into town and entered the race. My prize was an awesome new car, the Caprino. I then spent a lot of time completing new race events with it to gain some upgrades. I love the Caprino, it can have both a machine gun and rockets equipped at the same time, it looks incredible and handles very well.

Rage

Date played: June 23rd
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 8/10

Rage has been sitting in my Steam library for a good while. I picked it up during a sale a while back, but never got around to playing it until now. Rage is a first person shooter from id Software, the team behind Doom and Quake. It's set in a post apocalyptic world, 100 years after a large meteorite destroyed much of the Earth.

The hero awakens from a cryogenic chamber aboard a ship of some sort. He exits the craft and finds himself in a rocky wasteland, the ruins of civilization looming overhead. A crazy man jumps on him and attempts to bite him when a mysterious stranger shoots the enemy and invites him aboard his awesome dune buggy.

My savior is a man named Dan Hagar and he runs a small settlement nearby. The world of Rage is really fucking cool. For a game made in 2011, it looks surprisingly great and it really sells the whole post apocalyptic feel. The cars and other vehicles are awesome too, looking a bit like Mad Max.

Hagar took me back to his settlement, explaining a few things about the world along the way. There are bandits that seems to be very powerful. There are mutants that crawl through the sewers and other areas. Finally, there are other settlements that seem to be peaceful. Everyone is fighting for survival, but also for profit.

The town of Wellspring

The game is setup in a really cool way where the townspeople will give me missions that take place in different areas of the map, which is pretty open. This isn't a linear shooter like Call of Duty, but it's also not really an open world like Fallout. It's kind of in between. I fought some bandits, activated a radio tower, found the remains of a villager, found some medical supplies and stole auto parts from bandits. All of these missions took place in "dungeons", closed off areas that are accessed from the main map.

The guns are all pretty standard stuff. So far, I have a pistol, a shotgun a sniper and an assault rifle. I also picked up a few cool items like a deadly boomerang, some grenades, some lock picks and some healing items. There's an economy in the game that controls ammo and weapon supply, so it's important not to waste too much ammo, though the game seems fairly generous about it in general.

With the auto parts I stole, I was able to get my very own buggy and made my way to the next town, a sprawling place filled with neons, gambling and even dune buggy races. I jumped into the racing right away and spent a lot of time with the different events. With my racing wins, I had enough currency to upgrade my wheels to spiked performance tires, added a V6 engine, upgraded the suspension and boost. The events were pretty easy overall, but it was lots of fun. There are miniguns and rockets on the cars too, so there are tons of explosions and a lot of action during the races.

I really liked what I played of Rage so far. It's an FPS game that looks great, controls well and has a really interesting world, so I'm looking forward to playing more of it.

Forza Horizon 2

Date played: June 22nd
Platform: Xbox One
Session fun rating: 9/10

For all intents and purposes, I've finished Forza Horizon 2!

There are still dozens and dozens of events left, but I've completed the Horizon Finale and all the bucket list challenges, so all the remaining events are just more of the same in different car types. I picked the wonderful Lamborghini Miura once again and entered the Finale.

I ride into the sunset at the end of the Horizon Finale

The event was a regular checkpoint race, but it was fucking huge! Normally, the races are about 3-4 minutes, but the Finale was an intense 25 minute race. I don't use the rewind feature of the game to get more credits, so I had to be very careful not to make any major mistakes. I made it to the end and won the big trophy in a cool little cut scene.

I completed another championship after that using a big, yet sporty Mercedes. I also ended up buying the Storm Island expansion pack as it was on sale. I tried it out quickly and it looks really interesting so far. It features a whole new map, some new vehicles and parts and a new set of events. Storm Island itself is a rugged, dangerous place and as it's name implies, is prone to hosting large storms. I completed an event in a heavily modified Ford Ranger. There were even some artificial obstacles on the track to makes things even harder! I loved it and can't wait to explore more of Storm Island.

Forza Horizon 2

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

All 45 bucket list challenges in Forza Horizon 2 are now completed!

Before taking on the Horizon Finale, I thought it would be fitting if I completed the game's bucket list first. Along the way to one of the events, I found the final barn and it's gorgeous car, a 1970 Lamborghini Miura. This beast is absolutely beautiful, but also very fast and incredible to drive in general. I painted it bright purple and set off to the bucket list events.

The 1970 Lamborghini Miura in all it's glory

Most of the events only took me 2-3 attempts. I drifted an old BMW in the rain for points, which was easy once I got a feel for the car. Then I rode a Rally Fighter across the countryside through crazy shortcuts, which was pretty easy. Another one had me speed through Nice to hit a speed zone, which again, was rather easy. Most of my time was spent taming a wild Pagani Huayra.

This challenge was to hit the astounding speed of 322 km/h. To be really clear, that's really fucking fast. To top it all off, there's a nice big curve right in the middle of the route. It took considerable effort, patience, perseverance and skill, but after dozens of attempts, I hit 322 km/h, just BARELY! You can see my effort below or on Youtube.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Date played: June 21st
Platform: Wii
Session fun rating: 9/10

I completed the Fire Sanctuary dungeon and found the last sacred flame. The last few parts of the dungeon were pretty simple, I just had to fight a few archers, lizards and jump across some lava pits. Eventually, I made my way to the boss room and fought once more against Ghirahim. It took me a little while to remember how to hit him, but once I figured out that I had to aim at the top of his hand, things went pretty smoothly from there. I defeated him, but of course he fled away. I picked up my piece of heart and upgraded my sword with the power to defeat demons.

Ghirahim doesn't stand a chance against Link

Back in Skyloft, I hunted for a few gratitude crystals, bought all the items from the flying shop and upgraded my slingshot ammo pouch. I also completed a side quest for the pumpkin chick. I went to find her a mole man helper for her pumpkin patch.

Finally, I spent a good amount of time trying to beat a new mini-game. The archery challenge required me to shoot down thrown pumpkins to reach a target score of 600 points. With every successful hit, the score for each pumpkin hit increases, but falls back down to 10 points if I miss a shot. This means that I had to practice quite a bit before getting a great run and hitting the target score. I must now head back to the Sacred Grounds to open the time gate. 

Frozen Synapse Prime

Date played: June 21st
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 6/10

I was in my living room, getting bored. I fired up the PS3 that is normally just a Netflix machine and booted up Frozen Synapse, a turn based strategy game I got for free with PS Plus a while ago. The game is very complex and methodical, making for some very slow gameplay. However, it's also pretty damn satisfying when it works as intended.

My team of blue dudes must eliminate the team of red dudes in a large arena, littered with walls, windows and other obstacles. The game takes into account line of sight, range, weapon type, speed and tracks head position independently of body position. Every little detail is controlled by the player, which can turn a simple movement from one room to another into a complex series of actions. I mean, there's a lot going on here. For example, I can set a timer to determine when a unit moves. I can have him track or ignore a specific enemy. I can have him aim in a specific direction while moving, or not. I can have him crouch to move across certain areas. It's all pretty crazy.

It's a bit difficult to play though because of all the controls required to get things done. It's also very ugly looking, featuring only white areas and very basic, boring graphics. The music kind of sucks too. On top of it all, it's sometimes really hard to determine if an enemy unit is in range or not, and also which unit will shoot first. It's a pretty cool game, but it's a bit too slow, a bit too ugly and a bit too random to keep my interest.

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

Date played: June 19th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 7/10

I finished Fall of Cybertron!

As Megatron, I assaulted an Autobot facility. Megatron is really fun to play as, he gets a huge cannon as his main weapon, his special hover ability is powerful and his tank form is very destructive. The next level had me play as the treacherous bastard, Starscream. He wanted to sneak into Shockwave's factory to steal Megatron's minions and build an army for himself.

Starscream transforms into a very cool jet plane that soars through the skies at high speeds. I really loved this level because it featured a ton of flying around. I destroyed some generators to stop the factory's shields from working, then flew into the base to reach the center. Starscream found Grimlock, captured by Shockwave. Grimlock is a large, stupid, yet powerful Autobot. Unfortunately for Starscream, Grimlock managed to escape his bonds and knocked out Starscream.

I took control of Grimlock. The thing that really sucked about his level is that it's entirely melee focused. While Fall of Cybertron is a fantastic shooter, it's also a pretty shitty brawler. Armed with his sword and shield, Grimlock braves the depths of the factory, fighting against regular Decepticons, but also swarms and swarms of Insecticons. Grimlock is part of the Dinobots, he can transform into a giant, mechanical, fire-breathing Tyrannosaurus Rex. Along the way, I found and rescued the other Dinobots. There's Swoop the pteranodon, Slag the triceratops and Snarl the stegosaurus.

Grimlock devours Shockwave

There were a few mini boss fights against some Insecticons along the way that were pretty cool. Eventually, Grimlock dismembered Shockwave, then sacrificed himself to save the Autobot Ark in a dramatic scene. The final mission was fucking amazing... The Autobot Ark launches, thanks to the sacrifices of Grimlock, but also of Metroplex, the building sized robot. The Decepticons chase after it and attempt to stop them.

The mission features a large variety of Transformers, both Autobot and Decepticon. I got to play as Soundwave (and his pets!), Jetfire, Jazz and a few others. The level took place on the two opposing starships. Finally, it came down to Optimus vs Megatron. In a cool twist, the game lets you choose which of the leaders to play as for the battle, so I picked Megatron because he's such a badass. The two robots fought each other in melee combat but were interrupted by the wormhole in space that pulled them all in. Both Transformer factions were sucked into the wormhole, presumably towards Earth.

Fall of Cybertron is a good game and I'm glad I played it. Granted, it's not very complicated and it's quite stupid, but it's a shit load of fun to have giant robots battle against each other.

BOXBOY!

Date played: June 19th
Platform: 3DS
Session fun rating: 8/10

BOXBOY! is a black and white 2D puzzle game made by HAL Laboratories, the team behind the Kirby games. Qbby, the hero, is a little cube that can spawn other cubes on either side or on top of him. Each level has a door to reach, so I must use the cubes I create to navigate across to the door. There's also some crowns to collect in the levels.

It's real hard to explain in text, but the little cubes are really versatile. I built bridges, activated switches, built some shields, protected myself from lasers, built ledges to grab onto, snaked across gaps, manipulated conveyor belts and all other sorts of clever mechanisms. The game is simple, but really satisfying. The levels are very short too, so it's easy to get a sense of progress, even if I don't play for very long.

I made it through the first 7 worlds, all of which had 6 levels each. There's a cool little narrative between levels where the cube dude met a cube dudette and a rectangle friend.

Forza Horizon 2

Date played: June 18th
Platform: Xbox One
Session fun rating: 7/10

I didn't have much time to play video games this last week, but I did manage to play two quick races in my 1970 Corvette this morning, completing a championship. I raced in the dirt and in the rain with one of my favorite cars of all time and won quite easily. This was the last event I needed to open up the Horizon Finale! I am really curious to see what that's all about.

Brother #5: Back In Town Edition

Date played: June 16th
Platform: Xbox One and PS4
Session fun rating: 9/10

My youngest brother recently moved back to the city, having spent 3 years living far away... We spent the evening together, catching up and chatting. We also played a few video games of course... We started the evening with a few races in Forza Horizon 2. I let my brother pick the car and we ended up playing a road trip and a few events in a 1970 Corvette. We even spent a bit of time in photo mode.

I'm really proud of this pic...

We also messed around in Sunset Overdrive since it seemed like the kind of game my brother would like (he loved it!). We only did a bit of free roaming, but it was still lots of fun. We played the first few puzzles in Oddworld: New 'N' Tasty. Finally, we had a lot of fun playing Towerfall since he had never tried it! However, I quickly realized that I have become a little bit too good at that game to play against a new player... I'm glad my brother is back in town and I'm sure we'll have many more gaming nights in the future.

Lego Jurassic World

Date played: June 13th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 9/10

Anyone who knows me knows that I absolutely love dinosaurs. I've been fascinated by them since I was a young child. Then, Jurassic Park came out and dinosaurs became cool overnight. The movie was awesome... I'm sure I've seen that movie at least 30 times in my life, so I know it quite well. The sequel was all right, but nothing to write home about, then the third movie was mostly lame. When I heard about Jurassic World, I got worried. When I saw the first trailer, I was cautiously optimistic... Thankfully, the movie was fucking awesome!

Lego Jurassic World is a typical Lego game, but it features one of my all time favorite movie series... It includes all 4 movies, so I played some of it with my girlfriend as my daughter watched us. The game is incredibly faithful to the movies. So far, we played through a good portion of the first film, up to the part where Dr. Grant, Timmy and Lex climb the electric fence.

One of the most iconic movie moments of all time

The levels included the raptor transfer in the beginning, the Jeep ride to the park, the tour of the visitor center, the trek to the Triceratops, the confrontation with the T-Rex, Timmy's rescue in the tree, the Jeep and T-Rex chase, the raptor hunt in the electrical room and the Gallimimus herd.

Each character has a special ability of course, such as Lex throwing baseballs, Dr Saddler analyzing dinosaur feces and Dr Grant digging up fossils. There are also two segments where I played as a Triceratops! This powerful beast can break large things. I'm really impressed by the game so far, but it's probably just because I love Jurassic Park!

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Date played: June 13th
Platform: Wii
Session fun rating: 8/10

Armed with my new fire-resistant earrings, I explored deeper towards Eldin Volcano. Obviously, there's a lot of fire and lava throughout, including some doorways that are blocked by flames spouting from the ground. I had to fill a bottle with water to pour it in the mouth of some frog statues to progress forward. Then, a much larger frog statue stood between Link and the next dungeon, so I had to find something much bigger to carry much more water.

Don't sweat it Link!

Following Fi's advice, I went back to see the Water Dragon at Lake Floria. The dragon lent me it's water basin, which my friendly little flying robot picked up. I headed back to the volcano and had to escort the robot up the mountain. The area was littered with new, more powerful enemies and I couldn't let any of them get close to the robot. I used my bow a lot to make very long range shots.

Once we made it back to the top of the volcano, the robot dropped the water on the large frog statue and opened the path to the next dungeon, the Fire Sanctuary. I played a large portion of it, though I still have a good chunk of it to complete. This place is filled with dangerous lava pits...

Eventually, after many puzzles and tricky platforms, I found some of the burrowing mole people looking for treasure. I rescued one of them from the flames and was rewarded with upgraded digging mitts, which now allow Link to burrow underground in certain spots. This turns the game's view into a cool, top-down perspective as Link crawls through the tunnels, discovering new paths, turning on switches and collecting rupees.

Civilization Revolution 2

Date played: June 11th
Platform: iOS
Session fun rating: 4/10

My girlfriend showed an interest in playing Civilization, plus, she loves her iPad, so I figured Civ Rev 2 would be a good place to start for her. The PC versions of Civ are pretty intimidating, but Civ Rev is a lot simpler. I had played the first game a little bit on Xbox 360 way back then, but I never really liked it as much as the real version.

Civ Rev 2 is very similar. It's like, a children's version of Civilization. I played a full game as Cesar and the Romans. I picked the third difficulty level, thinking it would give me a bit of a challenge. However, outside of an early war with the Mongols, which I destroyed in a narrow victory, I faced no real opposition as I cruised to a cultural victory easily.

One of the things I don't like about the game is that there are no workers to improve the tiles around cities. This means that it's hard to improve a city to meet my objectives. Thankfully, it wasn't an issue as I just built up culture like crazy and built dozens of wonders in my capital city, wonderful Rome. I might try the highest difficulty to see if it's more interesting, but so far, I just feel like it's a poor excuse for a Civilization game. 

Forza Horizon 2

Date played: June 10th
Platform: Xbox One
Session fun rating: 8/10

I completed the final showcase event where I raced a Jaguar against a giant cargo plane in the middle of a huge storm. The event required that I take cut some of the corners a lot, but I was able to catch up with the plane in the final stretch of the race that took place at the airstrip.

This showcase event was awesome!

After the showcase, I made another barn find and decided to use the new car for my next road trip and championship. The car in question is a beautiful, but wild Maserati Tipo 61 Birdcage. This classic racer just loves to drift around and is quite hard to control, but it has a lot of power. I completed all 4 events and am now only 1 championship win away from the finale.

I also completed a bucket list challenge where I had to hit a speed trap in an Alpha Romeo 4C. After driving the wild Maserati, this modern car felt so fucking good... I easily hit the target after a few attempts. I also tried a speed trap in a Pagani Huayra, but it seems like this will be another event that will take dozens of attempts and tons of practice, so I will leave it for another day. 

Forza Horizon 2

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

There's just something I love about perfecting my skills in a racing game. For years, it's been the genre that has kept me interested the most. It's the genre where I am always a strong competitor. It's a genre that has motivated my hardware purchases over the years. It started in my early years, playing Super Mario Kart with my brother, fighting to shave a hundredth of a second on time trials. The Wipeout series forced me to learn advanced techniques to win. Project Gotham Racing 3 was my main reason for purchasing an Xbox 360 at launch. I got my first credit card to purchase a PS2 with Gran Turismo 3. I fought tooth and nail in online Blur races. I battled the elements in the Dirt series. I honed my high speed skills in Driveclub.

Bottom line?

I. LOVE. RACING. GAMES.

I really do.

Racing at 300 km/h in the rain is a piece of cake compared to the bucket list...

Yesterday, I had an amazing moment while playing Forza Horizon 2. I took on the most difficult bucket list challenge yet, a speed zone in a Nissan 370z. There was no real trick to success, it simply required perfect cornering and balls of steel. One run of the challenge takes less than a minute, yet I spent more than a hour trying again and again to hit the target 161 km/h. Needless to say, I was really satisfied when I hit it... so much that I jumped up from my couch, pumped my fist in the air and yelled "Yeah motherfucker, YEAH!" very loudly... You can watch me succeed on Youtube.

I was weary from my efforts, so I took it easy by completing the track toys championship in my Ultima GTR. The races felt so easy after the craziness of the last event... 

Super Exploding Zoo

Date played: June 9th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 6/10

Super Exploding Zoo is a puzzle game I received for free as part of PS+. The objective is to protect an egg from giant black monsters. You control a crew of animals that all move together. I must gather enough animals in the level to blow up all the enemies.

I made penguins explode

At first, I only had penguins, who can blow up walls, deal 1 damage to enemies and basically act as walking grenades. Then the game adds crocodiles, which deal 2 damage and can build bridges. The next animal was the monkey, which can climb vines and push levers. The levels were starting to get pretty complex, and I was having a good time... then the game crashed. I might come back to it once in a while, but it didn't quite hook me. 

Rayman Legends

Date played: June 8th
Platform: Xbox One
Session fun rating: 7/10

My daughter seems to really like Rayman... When we had a few minutes, we played a few levels together. She loves to point out the little blue guys I can save and enjoys the cute "Ouuuu" sound that plays when a secret is found...

The green light is deadly!

I played two main levels and a few timed levels, now in the 4th world. The water-themed world featured one level in the dark depths of the water. Thankfully, the swimming controls are great, so it's less frustrating than it could be. I had to avoid the light emitted from enemy sentries. If I got caught, it would shoot me and kill me rather quickly. These things made a return in the next level, but this time I was outside of water in a dark underwater base. It was pretty cool. 

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

Date played: June 7th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 9/10

Wow! Lots of stuff happened with as I played through a large portion of the game. I must have played 6 or 7 levels. It started with a mission where I controlled Cliffjumper, a fast Autobot with a stealth ability. His level was actually really cool, as I had to sneak around a Decepticon base, following in Grimlock's footsteps. He was faced with some really strong enemies, so stealth was critical. It was also fairly forgiving, so even with a few mistakes, I was able to drive away and hide. The final section of the map had me escorting a large bomb and defending it from many enemies. This was quite challenging because Cliffjumper goes down pretty easily, but after a few attempts, I got through it.

The next mission featured Jazz, Cliffjumper's buddy. He continued exploring the base and found a large energon supply being harvested by the Decepticons. Jazz's special ability is to grapple ledges. The level featured many sections where I could snipe enemies and quickly navigate between different vertical ledges to gain an advantage in combat. It ended with Jazz and Cliffjumper fighting against a swarm of Insecticons, robotic insects.

Then I got to control some Decepticons, Combaticons to be precise! The first one was Vortex, who can transform into an attack helicopter. This guy is really fucking awesome, he can fly in all directions quickly, has a very strong melee special attack and can throw very powerful grenades in helicopter form. His level was filled with amazing sequences and was one of the best in the game so far. I even had to destroy a giant bridge by shooting at dozens of Autobots.

I took control of another Combaticon, Swindle. This guy transforms into a powerful assault tank and has a grapple like Jazz. I destroyed a huge energon transport with him as I dodged Autobot fire. Then, as the transport lifted off to avoid danger, he jumped on and tried to slow it down. As I managed to take out the anti-air weapons on the transport, the rest of the Combaticons joined me and we combined to transform into the giant, Bruticus. I used the melee combatant to burst through the transport defenses and take it down for good.

Megatron dethrones Starscream

Starscream has taken control of the Decepticons, but Soundwave had a plan to bring Megatron back into power. After a cool sequence where I got to summon Soundwave's pets, Megatron was rebuilt and was ready to dethrone Starscream! I fought dozens of enemies as Megatron, taking out tons of Decepticons loyal to Starscream... The battle was quite difficult, but thankfully, I could use Megatron's high powered tank form and useful hover ability to survive. Then, Starscream was sent running like the little venomous bitch that he is.

I really like this game a lot... it's simple, but is just so much fun to play, I can't put it down.

Bros: Wasting Time Edition

Date played: June 7th
Platform: PS4 and Xbox One
Session fun rating: 10/10

One of my brothers came over this afternoon and we ended up having a bit of time to waste, so naturally, we played some video games. We ended up playing a bit of Forza Horizon 2, Futuridium EP and Skulls of the Shogun.

Futuridium EP has lots of style, but I'm not sure I like playing it...

In Forza Horizon 2, we just roamed around a bit, then tackled a bucket list challenge. The speed zone event featured a Nissan 370Z and required some high speeds after a difficult curve. We tried 4 or 5 times, passing the controller, but never hit the target speed.

Futuridium EP is a weird little shooter on PS4 where a spaceship must hit some targets on a large platform. Once all the targets are hit, a final target appears to complete the level. It has a very cool visual style and some awesome music, but I'm not sure I like how it controls and aims.

Finally, we played a 1 on 1 match in Skulls of the Shogun, a turn based strategy game featuring skeletal samurais and a tight time limit every turn. Each team has a few melee units, an archer, a knight and a general. We had absolutely no idea how to play, so it was pretty cool to learn on the fly and see who could win. I was doing rather well, thanks to efficient use of my archer, but I lost when my brother took advantage of my position on the field to throw my general into an abyss, killing him instantly. I really liked what I played of Skulls of the Shogun, I definitely want to play more of it.

Rayman Legends

Date played: June 6th and 7th
Platform: Xbox One
Session fun rating: 9/10

I played through the third world of Rayman Legends, featuring a Mexican theme, some luchadors, lots of delicious food items, giant worms that eat parts of the levels, mariachis and even a latino version of Eye of the Tiger. As usual, the level design in this game is absolutely top notch. Everything serves a purpose and feels good.

This fight was as awesome as it looks

After a series of challenging levels, I battled with a giant luchador. I had to dodge it's attacks then strike at his head when I had the opportunity. The whole arena changed throughout the battle, sometimes featuring lava, other times, wind and fireballs. It was an awesome level!

I played a few challenge levels too, where the objective is to outperform other players on the internet. A few other levels asked that I speed through dangerous paths. Overall, I really love Rayman Legends... 

Forza Horizon 2

Date played: June 6th
Platform: Xbox One
Session fun rating: 8/10

I completed the modern muscle championship rather easily, running my Mustang GT to the limit. Most of my time was spent struggling with the golf course skill challenge in the Chevrolet SS. It required that I get 150 000 points in 3 minutes. As far as I can tell, the only real way to do this is to keep a continuous skill combo throughout the whole 3 minutes. That's really fucking hard.

The Ford Mustang GT is a beast

Thankfully, the event takes place in the rain, which means that drifts are pretty easy to initiate and chain. I ended up using a combination of constant, small drifts, and riding really close to other cars on the road. It took many, many failed attempts, but eventually, I kept my combo going for a full 3 minutes and met the target. I completed another similar event in a Mustang at the docks, but the abundance of jumps in that area made it infinitely easier to complete.

I went on my next road trip and ended up picking the Track Toys championship. This event features small, weird cars like the Ariel Atom and the KTM X-Bow. I decided to use the Ultima GTR, a super-light, high power sports car. The tiny little machine is an absolute blast to drive. I completed two events, winning them with ease. 

Forza Horizon 2

Date played: June 5th
Platform: Xbox One
Session fun rating: 9/10

I dominated a Subaru Legacy RS into submission on a dirt road to pass a speed zone bucket list challenge. During my first few attempts, I failed miserably because I was very distracted, but as soon as I got "in the zone", it only took me 2 attempts. This event was very difficult, it required a good route and extremely smooth steering.

I relaxed with an easier event, joining a modern muscle championship, using a very nice 2015 Ford Mustand GT. I completed two of the races, then tried out another bucket list challenge. I took control of a 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa for a time trial through Nice. Classical music blaring, I drove the incredible machine to the limit and beat the challenge. You can watch my run on Youtube.

I love the dashboard in the 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa

Finally, I attempted to complete a skill point challenge in a Chevrolet SS on the golf course. The target score is very high though and after about 10 attempts, I decided to leave this one for another day. I might have to look up some videos on how to do it...

Mario Tennis Open

Date played: June 5th
Platform: 3DS
Session fun rating: 6/10

So... my daughter was watching Cinderalla in the living room and I was bored out of my fucking mind. I mean, don't get me wrong, Cinderella is entertaining and all, but I must have seen this thing 20+ times, so I turned to my trusty 3DS to save me.

I battle my buddy in a Streepass battle

I played the Streetpass stuff for Mario Tennis Open. This meant 3 matches against some Mii's and 3 ring toss minigames. I won two of the matches and lost one of them. The ring toss game is pretty cool, but it gets a bit repetitious. The objective is to volley the ball through some rings that expand in size with time. The smaller the ring, the higher the score. I bought myself a new racket with the coins I won.

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

Date played: June 4th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 8/10

You know what's cool? Giant robots. You know what else is cool? Giant robots shooting each other with huge guns.

High Moon Studios has crafted another good Transformers game. I had played the demo for this game a long time ago and always had the intention of playing through it, though I never took the time to try it out until now. This is a simple third person shooter with lots of action. What makes it work is that the controls are very responsive and feel great. It makes shooting dozens of Decepticons a real breeze and a true pleasure.

I played through the first three levels of the game. The first is a tutorial level that I had already played in the demo, featuring the iconic Bumblebee. Basically, the plot is that planet Cybertron is dying and isn't able to provide enough Energon to power the planet and sustain the robots. Optimus Prime and his Autobots want to escape the planet using a large spaceship while Megatron and his Decepticons want to stop them.

I shot my way through hordes of enemy robots as Optimus Prime. Everything he did was to activate the spaceship, but honestly, the real fun is in the shooting here. The weapons are really cool and fun to use and all of them have a slew of cool upgrades to purchase. I've been favoring a rapid fire assault rifle and a rocket launcher that can lock on to enemies, though I've used and enjoyed other weapons too, like a powerful shotgun, a long range burst rifle and a sort of grenade launcher. There's also the vehicle form that can be used, but honestly, it doesn't feel as good and is only really useful in areas designed for vehicles.

Autobots, roll out!

In the third level, Optimus somehow stumbled onto a giant Autobot called Megaplex. When I say giant, I mean fucking gargantuan. As you can see in the screenshot, he is absolutely gigantic. He helped us reach the objective by destroying enemies and obstacles. I could even get him to shoot giant lasers and rockets at specific areas using a special targeting system. So far, I really dig this game. It's a simple game just lets me shoot a bunch of shit and I love it for that.

Rayman Legends

Date played: June 3rd
Platform: Xbox One
Session fun rating: 9/10

I loved playing Rayman Origins back in 2013, and I also loved playing the demo for Rayman Legends, but I never got around to buying it. It became free on Xbox Live Gold a while back and I finally got around to playing it a bit.

There isn't that much to say really... Rayman Legends is a very pretty 2D platformer that gets pretty difficult rather quickly. I played through the first two worlds, which is about 15 levels or so. The best thing about Rayman Legends, like in Origins, is the level design. Every single part of a level serves a purpose, whether it's to collect Lums (coins), rescue little wizard dudes or find a secret door, everything fits perfectly.

The game's first boss battle

At the end of the first world, I battled against a large dragon who spit out fire. I used a new item that lets me punch enemies at range. It's only available in a few levels, but it's pretty cool. The finale of the world was absolutely amazing, though I had already played it in the demo. The incredible Castle Rock level had me going through an enemy fortress to the beat of the music. Not just any music either, motherfucking Black Betty!

The second world featured a lot of aerial combat and platforming. Using the wind, I floated through dangerous environments and reached another boss. Keeping to the world's theme, I fought a giant, armored toad with a bubble shield and rockets. Yep. Rayman Legends is bonkers, and I love it.

Forza Horizon 2

Date played: June 3rd
Platform: Xbox One
Session fun rating: 7/10

I rode the beautiful Jaguar 1956 D-Type into the cult classics championship. The car actually handles like a dream and is a lot of fun to drive in general. I had no trouble at all placing first in all races with it. I enjoyed driving it a lot... I completed one bucket list event, drifting a BMW around some country roads. The third and final tier of bucket list challenges is absolutely insane, many of the events requiring near perfection to complete.

Truck versus plane

A new showcase event was next, featuring a race between a modern, powerful truck against a small propeller plane. It looked cool the whole time of course, but was also more challenging than the previous showcase events. I had to cut some of the corners very sharply to catch up with the quick little plane. I failed the first time, but on my second attempt, I took some serious risks with my shortcuts, and it paid off.

Forza Horizon 2

Date played: June 1st
Platform: Xbox One
Session fun rating: 7/10

Some of the bucket list challenges in Forza Horizon 2 are a real bitch! The insane hairpin section in Sisteron that gave me trouble in the Lotus resurfaced in another challenge, this time in a BMW M4, and it was just as insanely difficult as the first time I did it. I persevered and made it through the speed zone within the target time though...

Another challenge had me drive a Jaguar F-Type R on some gravel to the airstrip. The very tight time limit forced me to take some very risky shortcuts, including a giant jump over a bridge. After a few attempts, I knew I just wasn't taking the right route, but couldn't figure out an easier way. I resorted to a Youtube guide to find a good route. Once I had that, it didn't take too long for me to succeed. After the event, I went to hunt a new barn find and restored a beautiful classic Jaguar.

The Local Motors Rally Fighter looks cool, but handles like a bitch

Finally, I completed the extreme offroad championship, but I had a really hard time on some of the tracks. I think the Local Motors vehicle I was using might have been part of the problem as it's back end would often lift straight up in the air after some of the nastier jumps. The large vehicle also has a shitty turning radius and takes forever to brake... After a few restarts, I won the event.

Forza Horizon 2

Date played: May 31st
Platform: Xbox One
Session fun rating: 9/10

The 2012 Jaguar XKR-S is a lumbering giant with a huge engine that weighs more than a giraffe with a luxurious interior. The GT class championship I completed with it felt very different from the other events, simply because all of the cars in it are so heavy. Drifting around corners was almost necessary because of it. I had lots of fun driving the luxury car around the city of Nice...

The Jaguar XKR-S in all it's glory

I managed to complete the second set of bucket list challenges, many of which were quite difficult. One of the toughest was a crazy speed zone event in a 2012 Lotus Exige S. The nimble little car had to keep an average of 105 km/h on a section of the road that had two hairpin turns. It took me quite a few tries before I beat the target, as the turns are really tight, but eventually I got it by cutting into the grass more than I am used to. I started working on the final set of bucket list challenges, and already, I can see that these will be a challenge. It started with a very cool time trial run to the coast of the Mediterranean sea in a stunning 1961 Maserati Tipo 61 Birdcage. This car handles like shit, but it looks wonderful and sounds delightful...

For the next road trip, I picked the extreme offroad car class and bought a weird car, a 2014 Local Motors Rally Fighter. I've never seen this thing in my life, but it looks like a juiced up rally truck. I played one event in the series which was filled with insane jumps and very bumpy sections of track. 

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

The Skyward Strike

Date played: May 31st
Platform: Wii
Session fun rating: 8/10

Sunday morning was a cold one, a perfect morning to stay inside, sip coffee and play video games with my daughter! Together, we continued Link's quest to save Zelda in Skyward Sword. I ended up doing many little side things, like completing the quest line where Fledge did some workouts with the help of my stamina potions and finding the potion shop owner's baby rattle to help his baby go to sleep. I also hunted for gratitude crystals again during the night and got enough to score a bigger wallet! I also hunted down three Goddess Cubes and activated them with the Skyward Strike in the Forest that weren't accessible before, thanks to my new clawshot.

Then I moved on with the story and learned another song to uncover the third trial, this time at the Eldin Volcano. Once again, I entered the Sacred Realm and hunted for parts of the spirit flower. This one was a bit more frustrating because of the fucking rock slide at Eldin. The controls are iffy enough that I missed one of the crystals that lay on the slide more than once. Eventually, I got myself a good path and got all of the crystals, which netted me the Fireshield Earrings, which allow Link to survive in very hot areas.