Rocket League

Date played: July 25th and 26th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 10/10

Yep, I am officially in love with Rocket League.

I've played dozens and dozens of matches throughout my weekend. The fact that matches are only 5 minutes also helps, as it's not a big time commitment... though time does fly by really quickly when playing this incredible game.

Yes, I'm about to score a goal.

I'm getting better and better with every match and have obtained the MVP medal in many many matches. Of course, there are times where I'm not as good, or times when the other team is much better. There's also times where my teammates aren't the brightest bulbs in the pack. Either way, I love every thing about Rocket League and I just want to go play it again right now.

Rocket League

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

WOW! Rocket League is amazing!

Rocket League is one of this month's free PS+ games. It's basically 3 vs 3 car soccer. I know that sounds ridiculous, and it is, but the mechanics are so fucking good that I ended up playing over 25 matches, most of them online against other players. The objective is to score more goals than the other team before the 5 minute clock expires.

That's me in the orange car, about to score a goal!

The controls are what really make the game work as well as it does. The camera is fixed on the ball, so that makes it easy to keep track of the play. There's a rocket boost, a jump, a double jump a forward flip, a backwards flip and a side flip. The action is fierce because there are no bounds to the play field, instead there are curved walls and a ceiling.

It's hard to describe, but I really loved playing this game against other real people. It feels like a real sport, except the physics are impossible in the real world. I ended up playing a sort of offensive defense mode, usually hanging back and anticipating the play, then charging in when the time is right, kind of like an offensive defenseman in hockey.

Journey

Date played: July 23rd
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 10/10

Journey is out on PS4, and since I own it on PS3, I got it for free!

I fell in love with this game the first time I played it, and it's just as good the second time around. I wanted my daughter to experience Journey with me, so we sat down and started the game together. One thing that's great about Journey is that there is no text or speech, which makes it easier for my daughter to grasp fully.

After the first few sections of the game, I met another player. That's the real magic that makes Journey so good. The rules of the interaction are simple. We are strangers. We don't see each other's names or PSN profiles and there is no voice chat. The only way to communicate is with character movement and a sort of "chirp".

Something very special happened with my partner. After a breathtaking sand surfing sequence, we jumped down from a big cliff. I spotted a piece of cloth on a high platform and floated to it. My partner didn't see it and when he tried to jump up to it, it was just too high. A long chirp refills the other player's jump meter, so I tried to boost him up there by filling up his meter as he jumped up, but it wasn't enough to get him to the platform.

I wish I could have completed the journey with my partner...

That's when I had one of the most unique experiences in my gaming life... I went up a nearby slope and got onto a rock. My partner looked over but didn't move, I felt like the person was confused. I called him over by chirping a few times. He came over and understood that I wanted him to jump from a higher platform, so that he keeps his momentum and has enough height to reach the cloth piece. In a stroke of genius, he chirped three times at regular intervals, exactly like someone would count "1,2,3". On the fourth beat, we both jumped at exactly the same time. I did a long chirp mid way through to boost him up there and he got his piece of cloth! We celebrated by quickly chirping together as we moved on to the next area.

Non-verbal communication is a very tricky thing, no matter what the environment is, be it in person, in a car, in a crowd, in music, in film or in theater... To have it work so well in a video game is an incredible feeling. Unfortunately, about midway through the game, I had to stop playing, it was my daughter's bedtime. I had a feeling of loss as I left my partner alone in the world... I hope he found someone else to complete his journey to the peak of the mountain.

Guacamelee: Super Turbo Championship Edition

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

I finished Guacamelee!

It was a bit shorter than I expected, but it was very enjoyable throughout. I went through dozens of corridors and platforming, each more challenging than the last. The game is also filled with a shit ton of battle rooms. Enemies have been getting more and more difficult. Some of them disappear after being hit a few times, then ambush me when they can. Others have special attacks that can't be dodged.

The next boss was the dude who "created" the skeleton warriors. Actually, he's a group of three mariachis and they've made a deal with the devil, Calaca. Calaca promised him that he would help him find the fourth member of his band if he made skeletons for the army. I fought him in an interesting battle, where I had to attack each of it's three members individually while avoiding amazing "musical" attacks.

My reward was the coolest move in the game, the amazing Goat Fly move. This allows the hero to launch himself horizontally from walls and basically lets him fly anywhere there is a lot of space. It's incredibly satisfying to use, looks fucking incredible and is even useful in combat. I made my way to the next boss using my new moves. The platforming was very difficult and really creative overall.

At the top of the big snowy mountain, I fought Jaguar Javier, a luchador hired by Calaca. His fight was cool but relatively easy. Finally, I was ready to take on Calaca himself in his giant castle. This was a very challenging castle that required that I use all of the skills I had learned throughout the game. There were a LOT of battles here, each more difficult than the last. Eventually, I made it to the top and finally confronted Calaca as he was about to sacrifice my damsel in distress.

Boom-Shack-Calaca!

The fight was pretty difficult overall, though after a few failed attempts, I learned the pattern well enough to win. He starts off in his normal skeleton form, where I had to dodge attacks then counterattack quickly. After that was over, he took his true form as the devil itself! His terrifying new form is gigantic, fast and very deadly. He has about 6 different attacks and has a new shield every few seconds, so I had to really learn his pattern to damage him. It was a long battle, but I took him down.

Unfortunately, Guacamelee doesn't end very well. While Calaca was defeated, he had enough time to perform his ritual that merged the world of the living and the world of the dead. This also means that my girlfriend is dead... Guacamelee was a very good game that handles extremely well and has a great sense of humor. I loved it!

Guacamelee: Super Turbo Championship Edition

Date played: July 20th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 8/10

Guacamelee is a really solid game. While the exploration elements are similar to games like Metroid, it's tight as nails platforming and combat makes it feel a bit different. The platforming can be very challenging, but always remains fun.

Combat is really fun in Guacamelee!

I played through a large sector as I chased down the evil cowboy dude with a flaming head. Along the way, I picked up a new dash attack that is useful in combat, can help me jump further and smashes blue walls. After dozens of challenging rooms, I made it to the boss battle against the flaming cowboy. He wasn't very difficult, but I had to remain careful throughout the fight. After I killed him, I scored a new upgrade, the incredible Goat Climb, which lets me run up walls at will. It's amazing... After a brief visit to town, I made my way to the next area to save my damsel in distress, a snowy mountain range.

Rayman Legends

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

Rayman Legends is truly an incredible game. It's very difficult at times, but it never feels unfair. The level design is the real reason this game works as well as it does. Sure, the hand drawn animation is incredible and the music is charming as hell, but it's the tightness of the level design that holds everything together. Some of the better levels are those with time limits, turning the game into a race against time. These levels are very short, usually less than 40 seconds to get through, but they require intense precision, memorization and skill. Plus, my daughter loves watching me play Rayman, mainly because she likes when I use the female characters... In fact, I don't think I've played as Rayman once.

Rayman Legends is fucking brilliant

I played through the remainder of the water world. Swimming is actually great in this game, which is surprising since every fucking water level in every other game is generally shit. There was a really cool boss, a giant mechanical dragon that shoots lasers. Some levels featured some strange enemies that clump together on the floor and try to eat my character, moving as a swarm, almost like a wave. In a spectacular show of light, I can neutralize them by shoving explosive fireworks in their faces, but sometimes I just had to run. There was another music level too, based on the song Woo Hoo, made popular by Kill Bill.

The next world is a very nice change of pace since I had played a lot of water based levels... It has kind of an ancient Greece theme with lots of statues and stony hills. I didn't play many levels in it, but so far, it's been just as brilliant as the rest of this game. 

Nidhogg

The fencers and the Nidhogg

Date played: July 18th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 9/10

My brother came over, the only one of the 4 that had never played Nidhogg, so we played it for about 30 minutes. Obviously, at first, I was much better than him, since he was learning how to play. However, after a bit of practice, we had some really intense battles. He was really good at stopping dive kicks and had a knack for respawning quickly when he knew he couldn't catch up to me... I won most of the matches, but he skillfully won a few of his own.

Battlefield Hardline

Date played: June 18th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 6/10

This is a great map

I really felt like playing a multiplayer game last night, but only had time for a single Conquest match in Battlefield Hardline. It's been quite a long time since I've played this, but I still played relatively well. The map was really cool, featuring a lot of big battles and good choke points. As usual, I had a good amount of kills, but most of my points came from support tasks like reviving teammates and capturing control points.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D

Date played: July 17th
Platform: 3DS
Session fun rating: 9/10

I finally got back into Majora's Mask 3D and completed the first dungeon. After the troubling events of the first 3 day cycle, I rewound time to the beginning, armed with my musical instrument and Deku mask. I spoke to the mask guy and he showed me a song how to turn back into a human from the Deku form.

This allowed me to exit the town and head to the first dungeon. To get there, I had to enter the swamp and find a way to ride a boat through it's poisonous waters. The witch who handles the boat is missing... I followed a monkey through some Lost Woods and found the witch, but she couldn't walk much because of an injury. I went back to the swamp and talked to the potion witch who gave me my first bottle and a healing potion to heal her sister. Once the witch was healed, I was able to catch a ride on her boat to the Deku Palace.

The Deku Palace is home of the Deku King and Princess. The King believes that a monkey has kidnapped the Princess, so he imprisons him and prepares to cook him in a giant cauldron. I sneaked through the Deku Palace by hovering over guards and flying from platform to platform until I reached the monkey's cage. He explained that he wasn't responsible for the missing Princess and taught me a new song that will open the way to the dungeon. I headed to the dungeon, fighting a few enemies along the way.

Odolwa is a fun boss fight

Majora's Mask has some really fucked up mechanics... At this point, I'm not quite sure what will happen if the 3 day timer runs out. I took precautions and following the scarecrow's instructions, I learned how to slow down time, how to fast forward in time and how to return to the beginning of the cycle. I saved my game, dropped my rupees in the bank (and got a new wallet!), restarted the cycle and slowed down time just before entering the dungeon.

The dungeon itself was pretty awesome and felt right like a real Zelda dungeon. I used my Deku form to hover around and hop on water. Sometimes, I would switch back to human form to fight, jump over large gaps or use the Deku sticks to light stuff on fire. Eventually, I found the bow and arrows, which I used to fight, to activate switches and to light torches on fire from a distance. There's a sort of side quest too where I had to find 15 fairies in the dungeon, which I believe will let me talk to a Great Fairy in the forest, but I was only able to find 14...

The boss was pretty cool. A giant warrior armed with swords stampedes around an arena as Link avoids his attacks and stuns him by dropping Deku seeds from above in hover form. I got my piece of heart and saved the Princess. Somehow, I ended up in the sky with a giant, super creepy creature that taught me a new song, but I'm not sure what it's for yet. The King was very happy to see his little Princess. His butler wanted to reward me, but I had to chase him through a big maze to get my prize, a new pig mask that lets me sniff things better...

Majora's Mask is really fucking weird.

Halo: Spartan Assault

Date played: July 16th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 5/10

Well, I've finished Halo: Spartan Assault.

It wasn't a great game, that's for sure. While it was really cool to play with Halo weapons in a dual stick shooter, the levels were all really short and there wasn't that much that was really interesting. There were a few missions that were better than others, like when I rode a giant tank to destroy 4 massive Covenant turrets, or when I fought a boss that had big shields. However, I'm pretty disappointed with this game.

Driving a tank was one of the best parts of the game

In fact, I bet it would have been better if it had focused on the vehicles, something like Renegade Ops. I also own the sequel to this, Halo: Spartan Strike, so I hope it's better, but I have my doubts...

The Wolf Among Us

Date played: July 15th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 8/10

I've finished The Wolf Among Us!

The last episode was pretty awesome, but the ending left me more confused than anything. The episode starts with Bigby meeting the Crooked Man and his thugs in his lair. After a bit of conversation, it's revealed that the girls had been murdered by Georgie, the strip club owner. However, it's also heavily implied that it was the Crooked Man himself who forced him to do it... As the tension escalated, a fight broke out. The Crooked Man and Bloody Mary got away while I fought the Jersey Devil, the Tweedles and Georgie.

Everyone started running away after a bit of fighting, so I chased after two cars in werewolf form. This was a big chase sequence filled with action and quick time events. Eventually, I caught up to Georgie and the club's manager, Vivian. Georgie was badly injured from the fight and bleeding to death in the club.

The mystery of the ribbons on the women's necks was revealed as I had a heated discussion with both of them. Basically, Vivian was the original wearer of the ribbon and she enslaved the other girls to guarantee discretion for their customers. The only way to break the spell is for her to remove her ribbon, which will kill her. Feeling guilty, She kills herself by removing her ribbon. Her head immediately gets severed from her body, leaving a bloody mess... Georgie asks for mercy from Bigby. I decided to help him by ending his life.

Big Bad Wolf

I then went after the Crooked Man by following clues I had found, which led me to a metallurgy. I was confronted by Bloody Mary one last time. She took on her true form as a bloody woman with mirror shards puncturing her body. She also created dozens of copies of herself, leaving Bigby with no choice but to respond with his true form, an 8 foot tall wolf! In an epic scene, I killed all the copies of Bloody Mary and found the Crooked Man in his office.

After a brief conversation with him, I cuffed him and brought him back to the Business Office to be sentenced by the community. This was one of the best scenes in the game, offering lots of dialogue choices and lots of different outcomes. After a heated conversation between the "good" characters in the game, I decided that imprisonment was the best option for the Crooked Man. Auntie Greenleaf turned him into a crow and put him in a cage to be sent to the farm, along with Toad and his son because they couldn't afford glamours.

A final scene sheds a lot of doubt on the whole story, as the Little Mermaid admits that she lied a few times as part of her testimony at the trial. There was a lot of shit that didn't make sense with what she said. She was gone before I had a chance to ask her more questions, but I think she is Faith, glamoured as the Little Mermaid. It's all weird and fucked up, but I really loved everything about this game. The best part of it all is the amazing film noir tone that permeates every scene. I really hope they make a second season of The Wolf Among Us!

The Wolf Among Us

Date played: July 14th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 9/10

I completed episode 4 of The Wolf Among Us, and the mystery is getting clearer and clearer with every conversation. Bigby continues his investigation. He begins by having a conversation with Beauty and Beast and discovers two locations that could yield information on the Crooked Man and his operation; a pawn shop and a butcher shop.

The Pawn Shop seemed like the better option to me, so I went there first. The place is run by the Jersey Devil, portrayed as a sleazy gangster. I found that the Woodsman's axe had been used by Bloody Mary and that it had gone through the pawn shop. When the Jersey Devil showed up though, I ended up having a brawl with him. His true form is terrifying, he turns into a bony creature with lots of physical strength and some antlers... I got a bit of info from him, but nothing very useful.

I then visited the butcher shop and found a secret room where Ichabod had been held prisoner and where Bloody Mary and the Tweedles operated. The bad guys were tipped off by the butcher though, so when I entered the hideout, it was deserted. I still found a lot of good clues, including the last piece of the mirror.

The Crooked Man

Back in the business office, we fixed the mirror and found a way to reach the Crooked Man's lair. The door to his hideout actually moves periodically thanks to a powerful spell, but Bigby made it to the door in time and entered the lair. Tiny Tim welcomed him and showed him the way to the Crooked Man's office. When I entered, I was greeted by the Tweedles, Georgie and his manager and the Crooked Man himself. I lit a cigarette and the episode ended! I can't wait to see what happens next!

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Date played: July 14th
Platform: Wii
Session fun rating: 8/10

The kids in Ordon village got themselves in trouble... They went to explore the forest, and one of them got lost while chasing a monkey. Link grabbed a lantern from the nearby shop owner and went into some tunnels to reach the forest and find the kid. The lantern works with a fuel gauge that must be refilled at shops, but it seems to last a long time if I'm careful with it. I fought my first real enemies in the small forest area. There were some carnivorous plants and some goblins. I like the goblin design in this game a lot... Eventually, I found the kid and the monkey, they had been imprisoned by something, though it wasn't clear what.

Link in his wolf form and Midna

After freeing them, as I was heading back to the village, some weird magic shit happened. A large black creature appeared, magic walls blocked my path and for some reason, I turned into a wolf! The creature knocked me out and I woke up, in wolf form, in a prison cell. That's where I met Midna, a diminutive, magical girl, or maybe a woman, it's hard to say. She teases Link a lot, but also helps him by giving tips and tricks. I found a way out of the cell by digging and started exploring some mysterious canals with Midna.

As a wolf, Link can still attack and now has a dash, but he can't use any items. I solved some simple puzzles in the canals, fighting with small black creatures along the way. Link also has a special "spirit" sense that can be activated which lets him see the spirits of some soldiers. After a bit of platforming, we reached a room at the top of a tower where we met the titular Twilight Princess, soon revealed to be Princess Zelda herself.

I'm not 100% confident that I understood everything, but basically, the world has fallen into a "twilight" state due to mysterious forces invading Hyrule. With Midna's help, I must restore the world to it's former state.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Date played: July 13th
Platform: Wii
Session fun rating: 7/10

Having recently completed Skyward Sword, my daughter was really eager to play another Zelda game. Since I've never completed Twilight Princess, I figured it would be a good one to play. We didn't have a lot of time to play, but we still managed to do a few things in the first town.

Twilight Princess opens with Link in his village. He does chores for the villagers and it's basically a big tutorial so far. My daughter instantly fell in love with Link's horse, which we named after her. She just loved it right away. I used the horse to herd a group of goats to the barn, which was absolutely hilarious to my daughter.

Herding goats is fun!

I got a fishing rod from the kids in town, so I used it to get a small fish from the river. A cat picked up the fish and ran to the shop. The shop owner was really happy about that and gave me a bottle as a reward. I also had enough rupees to buy the slingshot! A mother had lost her cradle in the river. Interestingly, Link can use blades of grass to summon a hawk that can be aimed at items to pick them up or knock them down. For example, the cradle had been stolen by a monkey, so I used the hawk to take it back. I also completed a combat tutorial with the kids.

Coming from Skyward Sword, the game's graphics are definitely rough, textures in particular. The art style is nice though. Also, the motion control stuff is really shitty compared to the other Wii game... It handles nicely enough otherwise. Since it's an option, I'm thinking I could simply turn off the motion controls. I'm excited to play another Zelda game!

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Date played: July 12th
Platform: Wii
Session fun rating: 9/10

I finished The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword!

Two pieces of the Triforce were remaining in Sky Keep. After lots of fiddling around with room positioning, I made my way to the right areas. One of the rooms was a really simply battle gauntlet, but the other had some pretty interesting things going on that required good use of the bow and arrows, as well as a timeshift crystal ball. I made the Triforce whole and Link used his wish to seal Demise forever. In a really cool scene, a large portion of Skyloft went down to the surface to seal the hole next to the Sealed Temple.

Zelda awoke from her ancient slumber and hugged Link! But victory was short lived as Ghirahim appeared and kidnapped her... He jumped through the time portal with her and started summoning the Demon Lord by using Zelda's spirit or something. This led to a final battle between him and Link. I had to knock him off a platform three or four times before I defeated him, but the spell to summon the Demon Lord had already succeeded...

The Demon Lord, also known as Demise... Also, it's Ganon.

The Demon Lord appeared and destroyed Ghirahim to steal his power... It turns out, the Demon Lord, also known as Demise, is really just the earliest known incarnation of Ganon! In this game, he takes the form of a powerful warrior wielding a great sword. His hair is on fire and he admires Link's courage. He seems to really appreciate Link, even if he is the enemy. He challenges him to battle.

The first two times I fought him, I died. On my third try, I went back to Skyloft and equipped some extra heart medals and filled up my potions. I fought him in an intense sword battle, blocking, evading and striking when I could. Also, I figured out that I could get absorb lightning from the sky by doing a skyward strike, so that helped a lot. I got him down and killed him. The world returned to normal and Zelda decided to stay on the surface with Link. Skyward Sword was a lot better than I expected, though I wish it had more "real" Zelda dungeons.

The Wolf Among Us

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

The Wolf Among Us just keeps getting better and better as Bigby continues his investigation of the two murdered prostitutes. I've made my way through to the end of Chapter 3 and have made many shocking discoveries.

After talking to some folks at the Business Office and the Trip Trap bar, Bigby felt that he should visit a local strip bar where both Lily and Faith are working. The place is run by a scumbag named Georgie. A naked woman dances on the stage as Bigby confronts the owner to get information on the girls. I smashed up parts of his bar to get him to talk and eventually ended up chatting with one of the strippers, who turned out to be none other than the Little Mermaid herself.

As with many of the other key characters in the game, she utters the words "My lips are sealed." when she is questioned about the murders. However, I was still able to gather that Lily had met with a "customer" at a nearby hotel. When I got to the hotel, I was surprised to see Beauty manning the front desk. The place was a complete fucking shit hole, clearly meant for whores, criminals and junkies. She helped me find my way to the room Lily had stayed in, but just as we were about to enter the room, Beast showed up, thinking that Bigby and Beast were fuck friends. This quickly led to a fist fight between the two males. During the struggle, they broke down the door to the room used by Lily and found a a blood soaked bed...

Bigby investigates the room and finds out that the murderer had a fetish for Snow White, having the hooker use a Snow Glamour. He also made her eat a bite out of an apple, wear a Snow White outfit and lay down in a bed of flowers. Then, there was a photo of the victim with Ichabod Crane's hand up her skirt!

Bigby wanted to tell Snow about his discovery, so he went to meet her at Lily's funeral under the Manhattan Bridge. During the ceremony, the Tweedle brothers showed up and forcefully requested that Bigby leave Ichabod out of it. This led to a confrontation where three fables were injured by shotgun wounds.

We chased after Ichabod, who broke the magic mirror and was a prime suspect in the murder investigation. This led Bigby to the Tweedle's office to find clues. These two idiots hired a little man called Fly Catcher as a janitor. After some sweet talking, Fly let me examine their office and even led me to a secret door. That's where I discovered that the Tweedle brothers were acting as mules for illegal goods and sorcery. It's also how I found out about Auntie Greenleaf, the witch who was making some illegal glamours for the fables.

I gave her a brief visit with Auntie Greenleaf to find Ichabod. He wasn't there, but I chose to let her continue her illegal glamour business, even though Snow was very much opposed to that. Following a set of clues, we went back to the strip club and found Ichabod harassing a girl for information. After slapping him in the face, it became clear that while Ichabod had some really weird sex fetishes involving his secretary, he wasn't the killer. We still arrested him for all the corruption and weird shit, but he's not the murderer.

Tweedledee, Tweedledum and Bloody Mary

As we exited the club, Ichabod in custody, we were ambushed by the Tweedle brothers. Unfortunately, they weren't alone. Bloody Mary was with them, armed with a revolver. They wanted us to turn over Ichabod for their boss, the Crooked Man. Bigby got real angry and turned into his true form, literally a big bad wolf. He assaulted the brothers, but I chose to let them live. Bloody Mary put a silver bullet in her gun and shot Bigby, the silver ammo putting him down firmly. She then broke his arm and took Ichabod...

Atari 7800 Special Edition!

Date played: July 7th
Platform: Atari 7800
Session fun rating: 8/10

A new console joins my collection today, an Atari 7800. This thing came out around the same time as the NES, so of course, it was doomed to fail. It does have a few cool original games, but not many. However, it does play 2600 cartridges, so for a collector like me, this is like two consoles in one.

Unfortunately, I had a big problem with my delivery. A few big problems really... First, the console itself was damaged during shipping. There's a huge hole in the front bottom left of the unit. Second, one of the two controllers that came with it is completely smashed to pieces. Finally, the paddle controllers I had ordered separately are extremely sensitive and hard to use.

The Atari 7800 sits at the bottom left near the Pac-Man ghost

Thankfully, it seems I might be getting a refund as the package was insured. Also, the console does work, even if I have just one real controller. I first tried Circus Atari, but it's a paddle game. I managed to get a few successful hits, but the paddles are just too awful to have fun with it.

I had more fun playing the classic Activision game, Keystone Kapers. This game is legitimately fun, even by today's standards. It's a 2D action game set inside a building with 4 levels. You play as a little policeman with a baton who must chase down burglars. 

The Wolf Among Us

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

The Wolf Among Us has a very interesting story and some amazing characters, I'm absolutely hooked now! Bigby Wolf continues his investigation of Faith's, better known as Donkeyskin, violent death. I had gathered info at the business office and now had the choice of answering Toad's distress call or going to meet with Prince Lawrence, Faith's husband. I chose to go see Toad as he seemed to need urgent help.

When I got there, I saw a glimpse of a man inside the Huntsman's apartment but he was gone before I could see who it was. There was a big scene inside Toad's house. The amphibian was clearly hiding something, but after looking around and slapping him a few times (in front of his son...) he started talking. A man had come inside his house looking for something, but didn't find it. We found a letter addressed to Prince Lawrence from Faith hidden inside his chimney.

Prince Lawrence dies

Bigby and Snow then visited Prince Lawrence's apartment. He had been shot and was lying unconscious on the floor. He was awake long enough to whisper "Faith" before he succumbed to his wounds. We inspected the room and found a few clues, but when I opened the closet, a large man jumped out and ran. I chased him down and eventually caught him in an alley. The man was Tweedledee and I figured out that he had been hired by a mysterious "boss". His brother Tweedledum showed up behind me and knocked me out.

Later, Bigby followed a lead from a matchbook found in the Huntsman's apartment. In the bar, I had a heated conversation with the barmaid, Holly, and a mysterious man named Gren. I was trying to get info on the Huntsman, but they didn't say shit. The Huntsman himself came out of the bathroom. He freaked out rather quickly, but he certainly didn't seem to be guilty of murdering Faith. Gren didn't like that at all, so he showed his true nature, the troll Grendel. Holly is a troll too... There was a big fight sequence here where Bigby had to use a bit of his animal side to win. Tweedledee showed up at the end of the fight and forced me to choose between chasing him or the Huntsman...

I chose to follow Tweedledee since the Huntsman seemed to be just a big stupid drunk. I caught him and started bringing him to the business office, but when I reached the Woodlands, dozens of police were there. I went in to see what happened, leaving Tweedledee handcuffed to a lamp post. To my horror, I saw Snow White's severed head lying in the stairs to the building, ending episode 1 of the game.

Episode 2 opens with Bigby being interrogated by the police, when Ichabod shows up and casts a memory loss spell on the entire station. "Expensive, but worth it." he says... Back at the business office, Bigby, Ichabod and Bluebeard interrogate Tweedledee. We got a bit of info, but nothing really useful. That's when it's revealed that Snow White is alive and well... The severed head belonged to another person who used a Glamour spell to look like Snow. I can't wait to see what's next...

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Sky Keep

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

I started exploring Sky Keep, presumably the last dungeon, to find the three pieces of the Triforce. The dungeon is real tricky as it features rooms that can be moved by Link when using a control panel. Each room is represented by a square and can be moved around to an empty space on the board. There isn't much room to move these, so things get complicated real fast.

I made my way through a couple of rooms, one of them featuring lots of lasso and sky beetle use, while the other had a focus on a time crystal ball. After clearing these two rooms, I found the room with the red piece of Triforce. The place was filled with lava and had a bunch of little puzzles requiring me to change the direction of the lava flow while riding on slabs of volcanic rock. I got the first piece and must now figure out a way to reach the other two pieces.

Nidhogg

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

Nidhogg is INCREDIBLE!

With two of my brothers, I played a whole bunch of Nidhogg. At first glance, it looks like a 2D, one on one fencing game, but really, it's a giant foot race! The characters can run, jump, roll, throw their swords, punch, rip hearts out of each other and of course, fence. There are three positions for the sword, low, medium and high. One player must run to the left of the screen and the other to the right. Whoever got the last kill gets to move forward.

The game is blindingly fast and requires strategy, speed and technical skill. Thankfully, all three of us were really close in skill, so battles were fucking intense! Some of them were short sprints lasting less than 30 seconds, others were epic struggles lasting more than 10 minutes. There are 4 maps. The best is clearly the Castle. It features fast platforming, a few doors that limit movement and sword throws and a really good song. Clouds is fun too, featuring platforms that disappear when touched. Wilds has a really cool gimmick where some tall grass hides the player's movement. Finally, there's Mines which has some conveyor belts that add pressure to the combat.

It was amazing that each of us ended up with a bit of a specialty. My youngest brother was a master of close quarters, sword-less combat, ripping out hearts left and right, leaving a bloody mess behind. My third brother became quite a marksman by throwing swords at great distances with impeccable aim. Finally, I became pretty damn good at fencing and being patient, forcing my opponent to make the first move. All in all, Nidhogg is one of the most fun I've had with a video game in recent years. It's right up there with Towerfall for competitive couch multiplayer. I can't wait to play it again!

Towerfall

I am the Turncloak Soldier

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

Three of my brothers came over to play some Towerfall and it was fucking awesome! As usual, I played as the Turncloak Soldier and my 2nd oldest brother played as The Last of the Order. My 4th brother had never played the game, but picked the Ancient Exile. Finally, my 5th brother has played a few times and used Vigilante Thief.

At first, the Ancient Exile had a lot of trouble grasping the basic concepts of the game, but after an hour of pure fun, he was dodging, grabbing arrows mid-flight, stomping and shooting like a motherfucking boss! We had a ton of close battles, epic slaughters, slick comebacks and some incredibly fast action. Towerfall is a modern classic in every sense of the term.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

The Three Dragons

Date played: July 5th
Platform: Wii
Session fun rating: 8/10

Lanayru desert held the final piece of the Hero's Song and the Thunder Dragon. There was a cool little segment here where I had to follow a cart carrying a time crystal through a myriad of obstacles. It was actually really well designed, being well designed and challenging. It also made me use most of the items I gathered throughout the game, so that was cool. When the crystal reached the end of the track near a huge set of bones, the past version of the Thunder Dragon appeared.

This guy wanted to share the song with me, but he's been very sick for a long time and wasn't in any condition to sing... He needs a fruit from the Tree of Life to cure himself, but the tree just won't grow well in the desert. I grabbed the seedling and went back to the Sealed Grounds, where I had found a prime spot for a tree to be planted earlier. I went through the time gate, planted the tree, came out and picked up the big fruit. I brought it back to the Thunder Dragon who gladly sang his song for me. I headed back to Levias and completed the song.

Back in Skyloft, a final trial in the Sacred Realm was waiting for me. It was a fun one because I know the town so well from running around in it a lot. I quickly gathered all the pieces scattered about and got out of there. I was able to open the path to the Triforce, which is hidden below the Goddess temple in town, but I haven't started it yet. I can smell the end of the game coming up real soon...

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Date played: July 4th
Platform: Wii
Session fun rating: 8/10

I completed the side quest with the gratitude crystals and turned the monster person into a real person. There were two final quests to do to get all the crystals. In the first, I had to go to the new Bug Island out in the storm in the sky. Beedle, the flying shop's owner, lost his precious bug, so I went to Bug Island and confronted it's owner. After playing the bug catching mini-game, he admitted to stealing the bug and gave it back. The other quest had me find a unique plant for an instructor at the school. I went to Faron woods and found a little plant dude and brought him back. Gratitude crystals in hand, I visited the monster person, got a huge wallet as a reward and gave him his human form.

The second part of the Hero's Song was pretty fun to acquire. I went back to Faron Woods, but before I could get anything done, I had to fight the Emprisoned once more. The monster has now gained the ability to fly, so I had to Groose's catapult to bring it to it's knees and damage it. Once it was sealed for the third time, I went back to the forest and discovered that it was completely flooded by the water dragon. It decided that was the best way to literally flush out the monsters...

Link and Fi chill in the flooded forest

The entire map is filled with water and Link is forced to swim everywhere. Once I talked to the water dragon, it gave me a test to see if I was worthy of it's portion of the Hero's Song. My job was to gather little music notes in the water. Most of them were in groups and had to be gathered quickly. I also had to deal with my air meter by grabbing air bubbles. A few of the tadpoles were pretty difficult to catch, but I didn't have too much trouble. I now only have one piece of the song to find and it waits for me in the Lanayru Desert!

Halo: Spartan Assault

Date played: July 3rd
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 7/10

Spartan Assault is another game I've bought for very cheap during the Steam sale. It's a dual stick shooter set in the Halo universe starring two unknown spartans. It's a very simple, small game with short missions. It's pretty cool to play a game like this with Halo weapons, enemies and vehicles.

Turrets are very powerful in this game

Just like in the "big boy" Halo games, the spartans can hold two weapons, various grenades and can use armor abilities. There's no reloading, so it makes it easy to just keep fighting under heavy pressure. My favorite weapon is easily the assault rifle, but the Covenant rifle, the SMG's, the needler and the shotgun are all fun to use too. Missions are pretty varied including some defensive scenarios, some assault scenarios, escort missions and even a few vehicle missions with tanks or wraiths. I played about half the game in less than 2 hours, so this will be over rather quickly, but the price was right.

The Wolf Among Us

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

I was in the mood for a good story, so I fired up The Wolf Among Us by Telltale Games. Of course, I absolutely loved The Walking Dead's 2 seasons, so I'm not too surprised that I had a great time with the first hour of The Wolf Among Us.

In New York City, fable characters of old live in the midst of regular humans, or as the game calls them, mundies. The fables must purchase a spell called "Glamour" to hide their true nature. Characters that can't afford it are sent upstate New York to a farm. The game stars Bigby Wolf, who is really just the Big Bad Wolf from Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs. He is the sheriff and must protect the fables from each other.

Bigby Wolf patrols the streets of New York City

There's a really cool noir vibe in this game that contrasts nicely with these fantasy characters. The game opens with Bigby getting out of a cab in a neon flooded street and lighting a cigarette. He received a call from Frog, who reported a disturbance in his building. After a brief conversation with him, Bigby investigates the disturbance and finds The Woodsman, drunk, beating up a hooker in his room. There was a great fight sequence, typical of Telltale's games quick time event style. Eventually, Bigby and The Huntsman fall out of the window down into the street. The prostitute saves Bigby from The Huntsman by striking an ax straight into his skull. Fables are really hard to kill though, so he gets away.

The mystery thickens as the girl explains that she can't divulge the reason why The Huntsman was beating her... She leaves, but promises to come visit the wolf at his apartment in the Woodlands building.

Back at his apartment, Bigby crosses paths with Beauty and Beast. There's something weird going on, but it's not clear at all yet. He also had a great scene with one of the three little pigs who visits him from the farm illegally. Bigby passes out on the couch and is woken up by Snow White who urges him to follow her. Tragically, the prostitute's bloody severed head lies on the stairs in front of the building. After the initial shock and a brief investigation of the scene, they headed back to the business office to meet the mayor, Ichabod Crane.

The old fucker was pissed off about the murder but was confident in Bigby's and Snow's ability and trusts them to find the killer. The business office is filled with legendary paraphernalia, including the magic mirror from Snow White. After talking to the mirror and reading some old fables, we discovered that the murder victim is a woman known as Donkeyskin. I am really excited to see where this story goes!

Guacamelee: Super Turbo Championship Edition

Date played: July 1st
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 9/10

Guacamelee is a really weird game. I mean, the structure is very familiar, it's a 2D Metroidvania. What sets it apart is the Mexican setting, awesome melee combat, bright visuals and top notch humor. It's also very fast and progress comes quickly. I gained a bunch of new abilities along the way.

My luchador now has a wall jump and double jump, which makes things a lot more interesting. I have a horizontal, upwards and downwards special attack. I have a new Intenso meter that grants the hero a giant power boost when activated. There's also the insanely funny Pollo Power that turns him into a chicken. Yep. The only real advantage of the chicken is to go through small passages. I've also upgraded many of my moves to deal more damage. Finally, the coolest power allows me to switch between the world of the dead and the world of the living on the fly, instead of having to hit the special spots.

This boss was amazing!

This allows the game to add some really intense, fucking cool platforming challenges. In some segments, I literally had to double jump into a wall, then wall jump into emptiness, then swap worlds a tenth of the second later to land into another wall jump, then on and on through spikes, narrow passages and enemies. It was actually very satisfying on a technical level, something that is pretty rare in this genre.

I made solid progress, though the story isn't really important here. I fought a few bosses, talked to many villagers, learned more about the characters, both good and bad and explored a forest and a desert. Guacamelee is pretty damn cool.

Never Alone

Date played: July 1st
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 8/10

I started and finished Never Alone.

The game is a beautiful 2D platformer starring a young Inuit girl. I found it fitting that I played this game on Canada Day. The girl, Nuna, sees her small village destroyed by a powerful, constant blizzard. Her family and friends have all disappeared. Armed with only her warm parka, she heads out into the snow to find the source of the blizzard and find answers. Things start off pretty rough for her. A hungry polar bear chases her through the snow when suddenly, a white fox appears and distracts the bear, saving Nuna from being devoured.

The bulk of the game had me switching between the fox and the girl to navigate the treacherous Arctic. The girl can push objects and later, use a Bola. This is a traditional Inuit weapon that can be thrown. There is no combat in the game, but I sometimes had to break ice or wooden logs with it. The fox can wall jump and fit in small passages. In addition, he can also make spirits appear that can be used as platforms for Nuna.

Nuna and her friend, an arctic fox

I braved harsh winds, jumped on icebergs and floating ice, found some little cave people, got swallowed by a whale, escaped from evil spirits that were spawned from aurora borealis and even climbed inside an enormous ice giant. There's definitely a lot of cool stuff in this game, but sometimes the controls were a bit wonky. There were times where I fell in a pit, a spike or icy water because the controls weren't responding well. There were times where Nuna or the Fox got stuck in walls. It's a shame because the game has a really cool visual style and some lovable characters.

An evil man chases the duo a few times throughout the game. Near the end, he manages to capture the fox and cruelly, snaps his neck and kills him. It was a very sad moment... The game has a lot of spiritual elements, so I wasn't too surprised when the fox's spirit appeared. He takes the image of a little boy in a fox suit and can fly. He can also move spirits in the world to make platforms for Nuna. In the end, we found the source of the blizzard together, the giant ice man. We took away it's axe and destroyed it, rendering him harmless. When the blizzard stopped, the fox left Nuna in an emotionally charged scene.

I'm glad I played Never Alone. It wasn't amazing, but it was good and it was short enough that it kept my attention until the end.

Lego Jurassic World

Date played: July 1st
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 7/10

I played a bit of Lego Jurassic World with my girlfriend and daughter on this rainy morning. We ended up completing the first movie's main levels and started the second movie. The scene in the kitchen with the raptors was absolutely amazing, as we used various kitchen tools to distract the raptors and capture one in the freezer. Then we met up with Dr. Saddler and Dr. Grant in the security room. Tim and Lex did a bunch of stuff to reactivate the security system. Finally, we got to control the T-Rex in the battle against the raptors in the final scene of the movie.

When dinosaurs ruled the Earth

We started the second movie which started with Dr. Malcolm and the crew as they helped assemble the vehicles to be used in the expedition to the second island. Then we got to the island and played the iconic Stegosaurus scene. We avoided the big dinosaur's tail attacks and ducked inside wooden logs.

My daughter actually played for a little bit today when my girlfriend got a phone call. She wasn't very confident, but she was actually pretty damn good. She moved her character around, built a few items and helped fight small dinos. She was so cute while she played, I hope she plays video games with me again in the future. 

Rage

Date played: June 30th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 8/10

I finished Rage!

The Gearheads power plant was my first visit. I had to clear out the place and reroute power back to Subway Town. The Gearheads are definitely the hardest enemies to fight in the game, mainly because of their crazy armor and powerful weapons. I even got to fight a boss here, a ruthless motherfucker donning a big red armor.

Captain Marshall found information on a new ark that appeared nearby, in Jackal territory. The Jackals are the best enemies in the game. They don't have too much armor, but they use a combination of rushers, archers, machine gunners, snipers and explosives to try to take me down. They're also really cool in general because of they way they look, speak and act. Plus, they live in an absolutely amazing environment with lots of vertical action, including rope bridges, a gigantic ship wreck and a settlement shaped like a vertical cylinder. I kicked all their asses and found some data that will allow the Resistance to activate all the arks in the world at the same time, providing a hope for humanity to get back on it's feet.

Home of the Jackals

The Authority started sniffing around Subway Town. Redstone is missing, parts of the town are blocked off and clearly, Subway Town's days are counted. Before heading into the last section of the game, I completed all the side quests I had left. I revisited the blue line subway, the distillery and the Gearhead vault for a few brief battles.

It was time to take out the Authority. I started by blowing up some stuff on their big bridge to knock out their city's perimeter defenses, then I assaulted their city directly. The game turned into a sci-fi shooter for the last mission. A new weapon helped me decimate the Authority forces, a pulse cannon. This thing is an absolute monster in battle. It's basically a chaingun that shoots powerful pulse ammo. It also has a special ammo type, the BFG rounds. Yes, that's an direct reference to Doom and it's own BFG. For those that don't know, that stands for Big Fucking Gun.

I fought a bunch of Authority goons in their high tech fortress. Surprisingly, I also fought mutants that were equipped with armor and weapons by the Authority. Unfortunately, that's pretty much all that happened. No final boss fight, no spectacular display of explosions or scenery, just a good fight in brightly lit corridors. I reached a big terminal, held off the enemies there and succeeded in raising all the arks in the world. Then the game ends abruptly.

Rage is a good game. I enjoyed my time with it, mainly for the very cool aesthetics, badass vehicles, fun combat and the unique structure of the missions.