Fallout 4

Date played: November 29th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 10/10

Fallout 4 is such a huge game... I love every little bit of it.

I played a lot again last night, starting with Marowski's chem lab. It turns out, it was a secret door on top of the fish packing place. It was pretty boring up there though, I only found a few guys in hazmat suits and some chems.

I decided to continue south to meet with the Minutemen who had been standing by to retake the Castle, also known as Fort Independence. The place is a real fortress, though it's walls have seen better days. It was completely infested with mirelurks, so we proceeded to kill them all. That's when a gigantic mirelurk queen showed up and attacked us! She wasn't easy, but I killed her with my hunting rifle and some grenades. Fort Independence is now one of my settlements. I kind of regret building in Sanctuary, since this place is so fucking cool, but I guess I could move my stuff one day. It's not that complicated, but quite time consuming.

The Minutemen have a nice big radio tower and they started broadcasting quest locations. The first led me to a small settlement that was run by robots. Supervisor White, a robot with an adorable British accent, asked my help in repairing a nearby water treatment plant. The place was flooded, and guarded by Super Mutants. Mirelurks ran amok inside. I had to work my way deeper into the plant by activating water pumps that drained out the area and gave me access to new sectors. In the end, I was able to turn the treatment plant back, providing clean water to the settlement.

I describe the events of the kidnapping to Valentine

I went back to Diamond City and met with Valentine again to continue the investigation. After describing the kidnapper, Valentine was convinced that the man responsible was named Kellogg, a high ranking soldier in the Institute. We broke into his old house in Diamond City and gathered some clues, including some special cigars. Dogmeat, my loyal companion, sniffed at them and followed their scent through the wasteland. After a long trek together, we reached a small fort that served as Kellogg's headquarters. Inside, I fought an real army of synths, some of them very powerful.

My laser pistol was my main weapon here, as it deals good damage against these metal creatures. I picked up a few armor upgrades along the way too, including some synth armor. Finally, after a series of battles and puzzles, I reached Kellogg and confronted him in person. It seems that Shawn is "a bit older" now, though it's not really clear how old. Kellogg wouldn't give me any info on the Institute though, so I fought him and killed him, along with his synthetic henchmen.

He dropped an absolutely amazing .44 pistol, Kellogg's Pistol. Combined with my gunslinger and luck perks, I'm starting to become a real crit machine. I'm now also able to bank crits for awesome burst damage potential...

Rocket League

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

Me and my brother join forces on the faceoff

I played a few games of 2 vs 2 online with my youngest brother and as usual, we won a lot. In fact, of the 6 or 7 matches we played, we lost only one game... We make a great team. I end up either being the guy who picks up the big passes or the abandoned balls, or sometimes, I'm the one slinging the ball from one end of the field to the other. I even managed a sweet aerial goal from the middle of the field! I always enjoy Rocket League, but it's even better when playing with my bros.

Fallout 4

Date played: November 28th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 9/10

I didn't really do much that was special in Fallout 4 yesterday, but I didn't have much time to play either. I started by scavenging and fighting inside an engineering lab of sorts where a man had been building a robot that brews and serves beer. I fought some raiders here, as well as a few mole rats, before I found the special robot. I activated it and escorted it to Hotel Rexhall in Goodneighbour. I sold the robot to the hotel and it now tends bar...

This fish packing plant is infested with ghouls

My settlement in Sanctuary is starting to be packed with people, so I decided to build a secondary settlement for my followers to stay, like Strong, Cait and Piper. I chose Starlight Drive-in since it's not too far and has lots of wide open space. I put a shack, a water purifier, some turrets and some sleeping bags and moved all my fighters here.

I'm not trying to find a way inside Marowski's chem lab, a follow up to the drug trading mission I started in Diamond City. Inside a fish packing plant, I fought ghouls, some of them really strong, to find the entrance, but I didn't find it yet. 

Rocket League Championship!

Date played: November 27th
Platform: PS4 / PC
Session fun rating: 10/10

WOW!

I hosted an amazing Rocket League championship at my house, taking full advantage of my gaming room. 11 people, 2 PS4's, 2 TV's, 6 controllers and hours of fun! We played Rocket League all night, doing 2 vs 2 mostly, each TV welcoming 2 players. I know there's 4 player split-screen, but having twice the screen size makes it so much easier to play.

We warmed up with a few matches, all of them really intense, then went into a 4 team round robin where each team got to play against every other team once. We gave 2 points for a win, 1 point for an overtime loss and no points for a loss. The top two teams would then duke it out in an epic finale. 3 of my brothers were here, so we split up the teams so that each would have one Allen brother and one friend. I was paired up with my friend Dre, who has a great playstyle that meshes well with mine.

This is the life baby. This is the life.

We lost our first match, but won the other two. We ended up with a three-way tie, so we made another round robin with each of the three remaining teams. We lost another match here, but we still got into the final match and won the tournament! In one of the matches, we were very close to elimination when we managed to score a tying goal with 8 seconds left on the clock! It was very exciting, and one of my brothers even decided to announce the match. You can watch part of it here!

In the semi-finals, our team had an incredible match where we won 8-0, completely dominating the other team. It was unusual because every other match was extremely close, with most games ending with only 1 or 2 goals difference. I gave out little prizes at the end, trophies and crowns for the first and second place teams.

We even took a little break to play a few rounds of Nidhogg, which proved very exciting as well. This was easily one of the most fun nights I've had in recent memory and I really hope to do it again sometime in the future. Nothing beats the excitement of playing video games with friends and family, in person. 

Rocket League

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

Tonight, I'm hosting a Rocket League party at my house, so I bought the other DLC car pack that features some sports cars. Of course, I had to try it at least, so I booted up Rocket League, went into the garage and made a badass looking car using the Takumi body.

The Takumi is a slick looking car, but it looks even better when I'm scoring with it!

I played three matches and won the first two. In the first match, I was pretty damn good, scoring 4 goals and dominating the field. I was still pretty good in the second match, scoring a few goals and setting up good plays. The third match was rough as fuck though. I was matched up against some highly skilled players and we lost 4-2. I really like the way the Takumi car and the new items that came with the pack. I can't wait to play with my family and friends tonight!

Fallout 4

Date played: November 26th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 9/10

I didn't play much in the last few days, life being what it is. I started by visiting Hancock to apologize for raiding his storage building. He decided that he wanted to see the world instead of lead his city, so he joined my crew. I still use the dog as my companion, so I sent Hancock to my settlement.

Then I decided to play one of the main story missions last night. According to the citizens of the Commonwealth, the best way to find a missing person is to hire a detective and the best one in town is supposed to be Valentine. However, when I got to his office in Diamond City, his secretary informed me that he had been kidnapped, so I had to go rescue him.

Detective Valentine

This led me to Vault 114, a weird vault built right in the middle of the city, the facilities re-purposed from a subway station. The place is now occupied by the Triggermen, old school gangsters with tommy guns, suits and stylish hats. I fought my way through the grunts and found interesting information about the purpose of the vault. Vault 114 was meant for the aristocrats, the decision-makers, the rich people. The trick is that the overseer was to be a person that resents authority. According to some of the audio tapes I found, they picked a conspiracy theorist with a terrifying lack of intelligence...

Anyway, I eventually found Valentine and freed him by killing his captors. I was surprised to see that Valentine is not exactly human, he looks like he's some sort of cyborg, or robot, though I didn't get more information from him. As we exited the vault, we were confronted by the leader of the Triggermen and his crew, but I convinced them to let us go... Valentine agreed to help me find my son, so I must meet him in Diamond City.

Fallout 4

Date played: November 23rd
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 9/10

The Silver Shroud continues fighting crime! It seems that I garnered the attention of a gang due to my recent actions. So I hunted down two of their leaders, confronted them as the Shroud and killed them, leaving my calling card behind at each scene. I even confronted my first random Deathclaw. It took a few chems, some healing items and lots of bullets, but I took it down with my pistols! It was during one of these assassinations that I found a special hunting rifle that adds plasma damage to each shot... I quickly went back to base to slap some upgrades on it. It didn't disappoint... along with more skill points into rifles, I'm finding my long range combat options to be better and better all the time.

I tested out my new gear by clearing out Faneuil Hall for a Brotherhood of Steel quest. The famous building has been infested by Super Mutants. Again, there's some great text to read in the terminals, detailing the arguments between the historical preservationists, the merchants of the hall and the building managers. I got killed a few times here because the mutants loved to throw a slew of grenades at me, but I made it through after a few attempts.

Then I met Bobbi No-Nose in Goodneighbour, a sly ghoul that wanted to hire me to be part of her digging team. She clearly had something to hide, but I had heard she pays well, so I agreed to help her. The first step of the quest was to help Mel, a robotics engineer, escape from Diamond City jail. Thankfully, I already had picked up the key to the cells when I was exploring earlier in the game, so I just opened the door and freed him.

Bobbi No-Nose

Back in Goodneighbour, we started digging under the city using a custom made robot built by Mel. The objective was to break into a strongroom built under Diamond City to steal supplies and weapons. As we dug through, I had to fight some high level mirelurks, some of them pretty tough to beat, though my trusty 10MM pistol can fuck shit up real quick.

Unfortunately, Bobbi No-Nose is a two face lying bitch. She led us to Hancock's supply depot instead where we were confronted by Hancock's security crew. I put on my charisma gear and convinced Bobbi to leave without fighting and was rewarded with a high end minigun!

Fallout 4

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

Holy fuck, I played a LOT of Fallout 4 yesterday...

Honestly, I played too much to even talk about everything I did, but a few things did stand out. For example, I found the town of Goodneighbour. That place is even cooler than Diamond City, though it's smaller and less structured. It's basically a town of misfits, drug addicts and other people on the fringe of society. The town is run by a ghoul named Hancock, after the famous American.

There are tons of opportunities for work here. For example, I cleared out the Boston Library of attacking Super Mutants. In another mission, I entered the Combat Zone, a melee battle arena run by Raiders. I even got a new follower out of it, a rough young lady. I climbed a very tall tower, filled with deadly Super Mutants and managed to recruit an open minded Super Mutant to my ranks. I investigated a feral ghoul filled comic book shop. I used a weird memory den device hosted by a sultry woman and relived the moments where my husband was shot and my baby was taken inside the vault. I cleared out a chemical weapon research facility, filled with psychotic Raiders.

All of that was a ton of fun, and I picked up some nice upgrades along the way. For example, my hunting rifle is now fitted with a .50 caliber receiver, resulting in a lot more damage and a thunderous roar every time it fires. I upgraded my rifle skills, so that I have a good long range option in addition to my pistol expertise.

In all this time, nothing beat the amazing Silver Shroud quest line. A ghoul living in Goodneighbour asked me to retrieve a costume and some props for an old radio and TV show called the Silver Shroud. This cheesy hero protected the city with his machine gun, a slick trench-coat, a badass hat and hideous, cliche dialogue.

This led me to a television studio infested with feral ghouls. I fought my way through, but the real fun here was reading the terminals as they told the story of how the show came to life, then lost it's soul to focus groups, actor's whims and script arguments... It was well written and entertaining to read. I picked up the costume and props, then headed back to town to give the ghoul his stuff.

The Silver Shroud gets the girl...

He had more plans for me though, and convinced me to "be" the Silver Shroud in Goodneighbour. I listened to radio signals to get my assignments, put on the Hollywood gear and doled out justice. I even used the amazing dialogue options that let me say things "as the Shroud". My character used a little accent and stayed in character at all times. Shit, I even flirted with the beautiful singer at The Third Rail, the local bar. Enough that I brought her back to my room at the hotel for the night...

Yoshi's Woolly World

Date played: November 22nd
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 9/10

I had an urge to play a platformer, so I booted up Yoshi's Woolly World and played through a few levels, including the first world's boss and it's special stage. The first level I played was pretty tame, with nothing too crazy going on, until I entered a rainbow door and was transformed into a gargantuan, screen-filling Yoshi! He can just smash his way through everything as if it were butter. It was a very satisfying little sequence.

Giant Yoshi is fun to use!

The boss level featured a lot of swinging yarn balls that had to be used as platforms. There were some tricky jumps in this one, and the difficulty is definitely rising pretty quickly. This level featured the return of the little bouncy dudes with no arms, from the original Yoshi's Island. Those little fuckers are a bitch to deal with, but are also useful as a tool, since they can be jumped on to get to higher ground. My daughter calls them twins because they usually come in pairs... The boss was a giant version of these dudes. I simply had to avoid his attacks, hit him with eggs then gradually disrobe him by pulling at the fabric of his pants. Hilariously, once defeated, his face became crimson-red from shame, and he ran off.

I had managed to get all the flowers from all levels, so that unlocked the secret level. This thing was actually really difficult... I had to jump and flutter between rising and falling waterfalls through most of the level. I managed to clear it and get all the collectibles, but it wasn't easy. I played one level from the next world, a desert. I got to ride undulating sand dunes, transformed into a cool motorcycle and enjoyed the new visual style of the second world.

Fallout 4

Date played: November 21st
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 10/10

Most of my time was spent following a Brotherhood of Steel quest line. I followed various distress signals by tuning in to them on my Pip-Boy's radio, then checking the signal strength to hone in on the distress beacon. This led me to various dangerous areas. In the earlier parts of the quest, I fought ghouls and a few raiders, but it wasn't long before I was fighting Super Mutants.

Super Mutants can be very difficult, depending on their equipment and level. More than once, I had to fall back to heal and use line of sight to my advantage to survive. I've also taken to using chems when fighting difficult enemies. I got addicted more than once to Buffout, Jet and other useful battle drugs. Jet works really well with my little .38 pistol since it lets me just fill the enemy with bullets at high speed. After finding all the dead bodies of the Brotherhood soldiers, I found a holotape that gave me the coordinates for a small bunker at the Northern end of the map. I found an old Brotherhood soldier there who had been living on scraps for years. Using my charisma, I convinced him to rejoin the Brotherhood, then reported back to Paladin Danse.

I decapitate a Super Mutant from above

As part of the Minutemen quest line, I went to assist some farmers. Their son had left to join a nearby raider gang, the Foundry. He brought a family heirloom, a sword, with him as a tribute to the raiders My job was to bring the sword back. I fought dozens of raiders inside their foundry until I reached Slag, the leader of the group, and the farmer's son. I convinced the kid to go back to his family and fought Slag, who was equipped with Power Armor. I killed him, got the sword and brought the kid back to his family.

Back in my settlement, I was starting to have a lot of power armor laying around, so I decided to build myself a new building dedicated to managing my power armor. I built a large metal building and placed my 7 power armor frames around the room. I put most of my pieces on the frames. Then I decorated with a bar, some stools, a radio and a jukebox, as well as a small bed and some good lighting. 

Star Wars Battlefront

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

One of my brothers came over because he needed some help for a presentation next week. After we did that, watched a movie and ate delicious delivery chicken, we gave Star Wars Battlefront a whirl. I had pre-ordered the game, since it looked fucking awesome, and I recently spent a lot of time playing the beta so I knew I was going to enjoy myself, but it was even better than I expected.

We started by playing the tutorial. I let my bro do it since he never played before, then we plugged in a second controller and played the four training missions. We flew X-Wings in a canyon to fight TIE fighters, raced through the forest moon of Endor on speeder bikes, piloted AT-ST's for the Empire and finally, we destroyed our enemies while playing as Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine.

Now, I know I've said this in previous posts, but Battlefront is one of the best looking video games I've ever played, no question. It looks absolutely stunning and runs at a very smooth frame rate. It is a modern technical marvel! It also sounds wonderful, with all the familiar Star Wars sounds well represented.

After the training missions, we tried out the game's survival mode. There are 4 planets in the game, Tattoine, Sullust, the forest moon of Endor and Hoth, each with it's version of the survival mode. We faced 15 waves of increasingly difficult enemies on Sullust. It wasn't easy... we fought dozens of Stormtroopers, some were even equipped with jetpacks, stealth tech, shields and grenades. We also faced a few AT-ST's and TIE fighters. We survived, barely, but we survived. It was lots of fun playing with my brother in co-op.

Darth Vader

When my brother left, I tried out two multiplayer modes, Blast and Supremacy. Supremacy is a very cool 20 vs 20 mode. There are vehicles, heroes like Luke and Vader and lots and lots of action. The objective is to capture 5 control points sequentially, similar to some modes that were in older Call of Duty and Battlefield games.

In my first game, I absolutely destroyed everything in my path, completing the match in second place on my team with 38 kills and 17 deaths. I even got a chance to play as Darth Vader. I flanked the opposing team with him and caught about 5 Rebels by surprise. I then killed a few more by attacking head on. I was really fun to play this mode, I'll definitely come back to it.

Blast wasn't as much fun. It's just basic team deathmatch, but I found that the spawns were kind of weird and it was often difficult to figure out where the action was. The fight was on the forest moon of Endor, so the massive foliage also made it harder to get my bearings and learn the map. I'm sure I'll do better once I learn the map, but I struggled to get kills here. 

Fallout 4

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

Well, I built a mini shopping mall in my settlement... I'm spending way too much time building shit in this game, considering the benefits are minimal. But it's FUN! I built a medium sized wooden structure with lots of room inside. I picked up the medic perk at my last level up, which let me build a high end clinic in my settlement. I added a trader and a weapons merchant as well. On the second level, I built a little bridge that leads to the roof of another building, and I built a little shack on top of it. Inside, I have a chair, ottoman, sleeping bag, table, radio and a great view facing South. It's completely useless, but I think it looks fucking cool!

My shopping mall and rooftop shack

I did play the actual game a bit. I completed two small quests for the Brotherhood of Steel, one of which had me clear out a tunnel filled with ghouls. I encountered a new type of ghoul, a Glowing One who are much tougher than normal ghouls. I also cleared out a building where Super Mutants and Raiders were fighting. I picked up a new combat shotgun and improved my weapons and armor a little bit as well. Next time I play, I will focus on completing missions and avoid messing with my settlement...

Fallout 4

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

There are so many quests! I continued exploring Diamond City, built inside an old baseball stadium. I managed to talk to everyone there and found a whole slew of quests. The city is really interesting, with tons of little details.

One of the more interesting quest lines is about a man whose alcoholic wife who is fucking the bartender. The husband asked me to intimidate the bartender in exchange for money. I then persuaded the bartender to leave the wife alone, but I needed more than his word... Somehow, this led me to interrupting a drug deal in a nearby street. I killed the drug dealing gang of ghouls and obtained the location of their chemistry lab. The bartender killed a prominent resident of Diamond City in the process, and decided to leave town. When I got back to the city, the father of the murdered resident confronted me, but I managed to put the blame on someone else, who I now have to kill.

Fallout 4 is full of these little quests that grow and grow with every step. Another involved another bartender who is friends with the announcer of Diamond City Radio, Travis. The kid has some confidence issues, so his bartender friend wants to stage a fight that Travis would win to bolster his self-esteem. I helped stage the fight, but shit went wrong rather quickly and one of the hired attackers was killed. This led to the kidnapping of the bartender, so me and Travis raided a nearby brewery to save the guy.

My .44 pistol is awesome

The game has quality writing, so it goes a long way to make the events more interesting. I did a few more minor quests. I collected some baseball memoribilia in a mirelurk infested swamp, I gathered a bloatfly gland, cleared out a shop filled with raiders and found an irradiated plant. I also upgraded my equipment quite a bit, mostly my armor, but also a few guns. I now have a missile launcher and a very cool .44 pistol that deals very heavy damage. The .44 is slow and ammo for it is scarce, but it's been great against powerful enemies. Finally, I spent more time at my settlement, this time, to equip my settlers with decent equipment. 

Fallout 4

Date played: November 16th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 10/10

I reached Diamond City, the jewel of the Commonwealth!

In the whole time I played, maybe 2 hours or so, I didn't fight a single enemy. I met some interesting characters and explored the first few sections of the city. I met Piper, a woman who fills the role of "reporter" in the wasteland. I also met the town's mayor.

There's definitely some weird shit going on. I learned about the Institute and it's synthetics, or "Synths", as the residents call them. Basically, it's similar to themes seen in Blade Runner and the Alien movies, where robots become indistinguishable from humans. Apparently, there have been people that have gone missing very often, and the Diamond City authorities refuse to investigate further. The assumption is that the Institute is replacing humans with Synths. There's also suspicion that the Mayor is cooperating with the Institute.

Diamond City

I gave Piper and interview, and then she agreed to join me. I sent her back to my settlement and put her to work. I talked to the citizens in town, though I haven't been everywhere yet, since this is easily the biggest city yet, and I doubt there will be a bigger one later in the game. Now, I know I've said this before, but Fallout 4 is fucking enormous. There is just soooooo much to do, it's really fucking awesome. I picked up a ton of new quests in the town and I can't wait to complete them, though I want to continue exploring the city first.

At level 19, my skills and perks have been progressing pretty well. I picked up the Local Leader level 2 perk, which lets me build shops in my settlement. So I built a big shack that I want to use as my shop hub. This took quite a while, as I even decorated with fun stuff like a Nuka-Cola machine, a Jukebox, some ceiling fans, lighting and other stuff. I powered the place, set up a simple trader shop and assigned a settler to it. I'm having a bit of trouble fitting the shops inside the building I built, so I might have to start over, but thankfully, wood and steel are plentiful, so it wouldn't be a big problem.

Gridblock

Date played: November 16th
Platform: Android
Session fun rating: 7/10

I saw a lot of chatter about this game on Twitter, so I decided to give is a shot while I was watching hockey. Gridblock is a puzzles game. The objective is place blocks of various shapes, similar to Tetrominos. Once a line is made, either horizontally or vertically, that line is cleared. Scores are based on how many lines were cleared.

It's a very simple concept, and like all great puzzle games, it's very difficult to master. There's a lot of ways to approach any situation, especially since blocks are given in sets of 3, allowing for many different approaches. I liked what I played and I'm sure I'll play it again whenever I have a few minutes to kill.

Fallout 4

Date played: November 15th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 9/10

My gunslinger continues to roam the wasteland. I completed a lot of small quests for the Brotherhood of Steel. These missions are all fairly short and simple, but they reward me with good EXP and some cash. It also helps me have some structure and direction during my travels. I fought ghouls, raiders and even a few Supermutants while clearing the designated areas.

I also spent some time clearing out a few settlement locations, though I never intend to use them as more than a fast travel point. Back home in Sanctuary, I made some minor changes to my house and settlement. I planted more crops, installed a few more defenses, decorated a bit more, upgraded my power armor and organized my inventory a bit.

I hunt bloatflies with my shotgun

My travels continue taking me closer and closer to Diamond City, the biggest city in the Commonwealth. I guess it's Boston... On my way there, I entered a random building and was ambushed by a real horde of Supermutants. Those dudes don't fuck around... I can' definitely kill them, but in this case, there was one of them that was armed with a mini-nuke. Making that shit go off inside a building is real bad news, so I died multiple times trying to clear out the place. I gave up, and will have to come back with a better plan some other time.

I found a shack near the river where a man had set up his home. By collecting clues in his house, I gathered that he and his cow had been attacked repeatedly by bloatflies and other dangerous, mutated insects. Reading his diary, I discovered that the man had lost his silver locket in the lake, a memento of his late wife. He dived into the lake to retrieve it, but drowned... I dived into the lake, found his corpse and looted his safe key. I then emptied his house of all it's valuable possessions...

Fallout 4

Date played: November 14th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 9/10

I didn't have much time to play yesterday, but I still managed to do a few things. When I loaded my game, I was still in the robot town, so I continued speaking to the robots there. I found the base's director and, using my natural charisma, aided by some sweet charisma gear, I convinced him that I had the authority to reactivate the town's systems. This turned the robots friendly and created a few shops and such.

My hero in her charisma gear; a wig, a dress and some fashionable glasses!

Now that I have the Gun Nut perk, I went back to base and played around with weapon upgrades. I also renamed my good weapons to make it easier to sort my inventory when it's filled with stuff after a long voyage in the wasteland.

That's when I decided I should join the Brotherhood of Steel to get some easy missions. I was surprised to see that they had multiple missions to offer me, so I tackled a few of them. The ones I picked asked me to clear out a few areas of feral ghouls, a subway station and a super market. Both were very easy, I just used my upgraded pipe pistol to do most of the work. I can't wait to get back into the game and play some more.

Xeodrifter

Date played: November 14th
Platform: Vita
Session fun rating: 7/10

As I patiently waited for my daughter's dance class to be done by playing some Xeodrifter. I found the second bosses of the first two planets. I got a few gun upgrades, some health upgrades and two new abilities. I can now run, which lets me speed over dangerous pools of lava. I can also turn into a rocket to go up very tall corridors.

The run ability is really cool

The bosses use the same design once again, albeit with different colors. Their new abilities were deadly, but I dispatched them after a few tries. This game is pretty damn hard sometimes, and quite unforgiving, but I still like it a lot.

Fallout 4

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

The real reason my brother came over was to play Fallout 4 with me. Armed with two televisions and two PS4's, we headed out into the wasteland together. The game doesn't have multiplayer of course, but we just picked a spot on the map that both of us hadn't explored, then headed there at the same time.

Yes, this happened.

This went on for a long time, as we jumped from place to place. We found various interesting locations, including a canal that was infested with Bloodbugs, giant mosquitoes. They were actually pretty tough to kill, though we made it through ok. We found a supermutant base too, but we were clearly too weak to get anything done there. The best part is when we found an old town filled with house robots. Each building had it's set of robots and while they looked to be friendly at first, it wasn't long before we were attacked by them. For example, in the town's restaurant, I was seated by the robot, who then asked how I would like to be served. "Chopped, diced or shredded?". It wasn't until the robot was shooting at me that I understood he meant to chop, dice or shred me...

Online coop Fallout would be absolutely incredible, but I don't think this will ever happen... I had a really good time with my brother. We upgraded our gear multiple times, found a few fusion cores to power our power armor and discovered interesting locations.

Rocket League

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

My youngest brother came over to hang out, but he brought his PS4. I took my living room television and brought it down to my basement where I have my gaming room. Yes, we had two TV's and 2 PS4's in the same room. Of course, it was fitting that we would play a bit of Rocket League.

My brother in green, myself in pink

Now, I know this is going to sound pretentious and proud, but we FUCKING DESTROYED EVERYTHING IN OUR PATHS! I swear, I haven't been this successful at Rocket League before. Being in the same room and having each a large television, it was a lot easier to coordinate and set up plays. Communication is key. I swear, we were completely unbeatable. Plus, we looked badass doing it.

Fallout 4

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

The Commonwealth wasteland is a very dangerous place...

I continued the quest where I had to clear the car factory of raiders. It was easily the biggest mission yet. The building is large, had multiple levels and tons of nooks and crannies to explore. I didn't have too much trouble killing the raiders and their leader, my pistols served me well.

After the mission, I picked up a random radio signal with a message saying there was a group of people that needed help fighting some ghouls at the Lexington police station. When I got there, I fought some ghouls and met the group, members of the Brotherhood of Steel. The leader, a man named Danse, He asked me to help him investigate a nearby building, a high tech rocket business called Arcjet Systems. It turns out, the place was filled with synthetics, humanoids that resemble robots and use laser pistols and rifles. They were clearly too strong for me, but Danse has a set of power armor and some powerful weapons, so he did most of the killing as I assisted him.

Arcjet Systems 

Once we cleared the area, he rewarded me with a nice weapon and offered me to join the Brotherhood. I told him I would think about it, since it seems that joining might prevent me from completing missions from other factions, but I'm not really sure yet. I explored and cleared a nearby brewery, since it looked like fun, then I headed back to Sanctuary to clear out my inventory and rest.

I decided that now that I have a nice house, it would be appropriate if I decorated it a bit, even if it's pretty much useless. I've got an alarm clock, a magazine rack, a bobblehead stand, a watch and a desk fan. In my little lobby, I put an antique globe, another watch and a telephone. On my balcony, I put a lantern, a cigar box and a lighter on a table. In the kitchen, I've added a few food boxes. In the workshop, I put an extinguisher, some duct tape, an oil can and some anti-freeze. I also added some cute toys on a shelf to decorate. I know this stuff is all dumb, but it makes my house look like it "fits" in the wasteland.

I did make some real changes to my settlement though, by adding a radio beacon that can attract new settlers, so I hope my little town grows soon!

Fallout 4

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

I built myself a really cool house!

As soon as I started the game, I spent almost 2 hours building my house and putting stuff in it's place. I think I've got a pretty good layout too... On the main floor, I've got a large area dedicated to all the gameplay stuff, like the workbenches to modify armor and weapons, the power armor rack, the cooking station and the chemistry station. I have a little lobby/sitting room. I have a rough kitchen area, with just a table, chairs and a few storage cabinets. Upstairs, I made a big balcony overlooking my settlement, complete with tables and a radio. Then I made a little bathroom, which is completely useless, but makes the place feel more welcoming. Then I have a large bedroom with a simple bed, some cabinets and a couch.

I created a generator and a wind mill to have a source of power, both of which are mainly used for lighting my house. It looks really cool and I'm sure it will serve me well as a hub throughout the game.

I'm really proud of my house...

Then I finally played the actual game for a while. Following some hints from the people in my settlement, I went East to act as a Minuteman, a problem solver on call. After carefully avoiding a large bear that stood in the road, I stumbled upon a man tending to a large water reservoir. I helped him by jumping into the irradiated water and turning off some valves. Then, I found the couple that needed the Minutemen who tasked me with attacking a large group of Raiders, far South of my location. I decided to explore a bit more before doing that.

During my travels, still near the starting area, I stumbled upon a diner where two drug dealers were threatening a woman and her teen son. Apparently, the drug dealer got the kid addicted to Jet, a drug. Then the kid got in debt with him. Now it was time to collect. I tried reasoning with them, then reasoning with the mother, but I wasn't successful. In fact, the lady got pissed that I got involved, pulled a gun on me and tried to kill me... I had to kill her and her son. The drug dealer set up shop in the diner, thanked me for my help and gave me some money...

I also found a small farm. The owner asked me to find a locket that had been stolen by raiders who were holed up inside a large satellite facility. I explored the place, shot the raiders and got the locket. I've been leveling up steadily and have been focusing on charisma, lock picking and pistols.

I decided to tackle the Minuteman quest next. I made my way south and found the place, but it was heavily guarded. I carefully cleared out the enemies from the perimeter of the building, a factory of sorts. I had to use a rifle for a few of the kills, they were simply too far for my pistol. I'm thinking rifles would make a good weapon to focus on along with pistols, but I'm not sure yet.

I seriously can't wait to get back into the game... It's been messing with my sleep schedule pretty heavily too. I absolutely love Fallout 4.

Fallout 4

Date played: November 10th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 10/10

This is it, Fallout 4 is out!

I haven't been this excited for a game in a very long time... in fact, the last time was probably Skyrim, Bethesda's last game, back in 2011. I still think Skyrim is one of the best video games ever made, right up there with Super Mario World and Grand Theft Auto V. I also loved Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas, so I was very pumped to play Fallout 4.

The game begins in 2077 somewhere in Massachusetts, prior to the war. I spent the first 30 minutes making my character. I chose to play as a woman because the voice actress seemed better. I walked around my fancy high tech house, spoke with my husband, my robot butler and comforted my crying infant. We were interrupted by an urgent news report. The war had started and nuclear bombs were dropping all over the East Coast. The family runs to the nearby Vault 111, which is advertised as a shelter against nuclear war and enters it just as a spectacular nuclear explosion occurs nearby.

As any Fallout fan knows though, the vaults are nothing more than a facade for social experiments. Vault 111 was designed to cryogenically freeze it's occupants and study their condition. By telling us that the pods were used for "decontamination", the Vault's staff tricked us into getting inside the cryo pods and froze us, my husband and child in a pod together. In a disturbing scene, I wake up to see a scientist and a thug open my family's pod, steal my baby and shoot my husband... The screen fades out and I wake up again and my pod is open. I explored the vault a bit, fought some roaches with a baton and later, a pistol, then left the vault.

Fallout 4, like all Bethesda games, is fucking gigantic! There is soooo much to do, it's quite overwhelming and exciting at the same time. I went back to my house and found Codsworth, my house robot, was still functional. I discovered it is 200 years in the future and headed to Concord, the nearest city to find clues about my family.

There are lots of little things that are different from the last Fallout game. There is now a sprint function and some of the leveling systems have changed a bit. V.A.T.S., the system that allows aiming for specific body parts, no longer stops time completely, it slows it down instead. This changes combat quite a bit, but it still feels great.

I found some folks fighting raiders from inside a museum, so I decided to help them. After killing a dozen raiders, I met the group of 5 people and agreed to work with them while looking for my family. They asked my help to kill the raiders outside the museum too, but gave me access to power armor and a minigun for the task. The power armor is different than in the previous games, it's now more like a vehicle that has a fuel gauge. It's very powerful, but can only be used for a limited time. I killed a bunch of raiders with it and even one of the gigantic Deathclaw beasts.

My power armor

The group decided to settle in my old neighborhood. That's when I was introduced to the settlement building mechanic. So basically, I can build a whole neighborhood from scratch. I gathered materials from the shit lying around the area. This probably took me a bit more than an hour... I even destroyed picket fences and tires to gain materials.

Then I started to build. There's a surprising amount of flexibility in this process. Settlers need beds, water, food and the settlement itself needs defenses. There are also objects that require power. And when I say they need food, it means I have to plant the damn things and assign a worker to tend to them. It's a big system and it seems like a ton of fun!

I started building myself a sort of headquarters building. So far, I have a large metal structure with multiple rooms, a generator outside, a couple of doors, a chair and a painting. I will continue building the main structure so that I have enough room for all my workbenches and containers, then I'll decorate. It's really fun to do this stuff...

Rocket League

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

Rocket League was whispering my name last night, waiting for me to pick up a controller, press start and kick some ass. I did rather well overall, getting the MVP a few times. I'm definitely getting back to my top game, though I'm sure this won't last once Fallout 4 comes out...

I love the way my car looks...

I'm back to my usual style of roaming the middle of the field, waiting for opportunities. I end up playing a lot like an offensive defenseman in hockey, where I hold the line, but push the offense forward, jumping in for a shot on goal when there's room. I've also colored my car with some bright pink highlights and pink boost cloud. I like it, it stands out on the field...

Skylanders Swap Force

Date played: November 8th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 7/10

With my daughter, I played through one mission of Swap Force and we saved the last of the 4 elementals. The level was set in a whimsy forest where tree-bark skinned firefighters were struggling to hold off an attack by Kaos himself, who set most of the island on fire. All the enemies were fire-based and many areas required that I carry water balloons to extinguish fires. There was even a few sequences where I used a giant water canon in first person view to fight fires in the town and on friendly ships.

A firefighter's airship

At the end of the level, I got to fight Kaos directly as he rode his airship and attacked mine. I fought him with the water canon, captured him and saved the elemental! Unfortunately, back in Woodburrow, Kaos' mother made an appearance and kidnapped one of my friends, leaving her son to rot with us. I think the next level is the final one, but I'm not sure yet. 

Sibling's Birthday Party Special!

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

My youngest brother hosted a birthday party to celebrate his 24th trip around the sun and it included a lot of gaming! I started with a few rounds of Halo 2 in split-screen with 2 other players. I was average at best, getting a few kills, but mostly dying. We played with SWAT rules, which means no shields, battle rifles and pistols.

Most of the night was spent playing Rocket League though. My bro has a very small TV, so split-screen was a bit painful, but we huddled around the TV and played some 2 vs 2 local and some 3 vs 3 online. I was on top of my game for sure, scoring lots of goals, but also being a very strong setup guy. I would often be the reason why my team mates had an opening to score. There was only one match where we were absolutely outclassed by another player. That guy was just so fucking good... It was lots of fun to play Rocket League with some new people.

Halo 5: Guardians

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

I played a LOT of the Halo 5 campaign and only have the final mission to complete the game. There was a lot of variety in combat and objectives in the missions I played. Locke and his team fought the Covenant on Sanghelios to help the Arbiter and get him to help us. I used the bipedal mech vehicle to kill elites, grunts, jackals and hunters on the Elite home planet.

The Arbiter joined our team and helped us assault one of the central Covenant planets. The planet is bleak and cold, but also very cool looking, filled with towers and giant spaceships battling. Our team had to disable some anti-aircraft canons and find a way to jump into the wormhole created by the Guardian that was being activated there.

The Guardians

We made it to the planet where all the action takes place, trying to find Master Chief and stop Cortana. We reached Master Chief after a brief stint in a Scorpion tank. Long story short, the teams got separated again. Each team had a chance to fight the Warden Eternal again though. That fucker even had copies of himself in the fights, so I had to fight two of them at once, then three of them at once! It was kind of crazy, but I just went all out with all of the best weapons I could find. Both fights took a few tries, but I made it through.

The story is really in it's conclusion now. Cortana is clearly a bad guy now. She wants to use the Guardians to control the galaxy and help AI's rise to power... or at least, I think that's what she is doing. Warden Eternal is nothing more than her personal bodyguard too, so that sucks. When Master Chief confronted her in person, she tried to convince him to see that her plan was for the greater good. When Chief disagreed, she locked his armor in place and continued her plans.

Locke must now save Master Chief and his team, as well as stop Cortana before she takes over the entire galaxy!

Rocket League

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

Well, I bought more cosmetic upgrades from the PSN store for Rocket League. The pack I bought comes with 2 cool looking cars and new accessories to change the way my car looks. It's all pretty much useless, but it looks cool as fuck!

The Scarab is my favorite of the new cars

The first few matches, I was doing pretty badly, but it didn't take too long for my performance to improve dramatically. Before long, I was setting up great plays, I was making spectacular saves and I was scoring a few goals. I'm still not scoring as much as when I was at my best, but I still managed a few nice ones. 

Xeodrifter

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

I decided to give this game another shot, since I love a lot of things about it. It turns out, the last time I played, I had been trying to make progress on the wrong planet, hence my frustration. I explored another planet, fought some monsters and navigated it's maze-like layout. Along the way, I found 2 health upgrades and a couple of gun upgrades.

The second boss

The gun upgrades are super weird. Basically, I can take these points and allocate them to different abilities for the gun. There are three presets available, so that I can swap on the fly. Some of the upgrades allow for faster firing, spread shots, zig-zagging shots and more importantly, damage dealt. I found the second boss at the end of a path. I was disappointed to see that it was the same boss as before but with a new ability. It made it more difficult, but I didn't have too much trouble.

My reward was the awesome plane-shifting ability, which lets me jump into the background of the map to find new paths and secrets. It's a very cool mechanic. 

Halo 5: Guardians

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

I'm loving the Halo 5 campaign! Locke and his team, Buck, Tanaka and Vale, headed to planet Meridian to intercept Master Chief and his team. Meridian was glassed by the Covenant during the war, and is now being terraformed by a private corporation. Upon landing, we were met by the governor of the place, an AI who was pretty hostile. While the governor wouldn't share info on the Master Chief, he still wanted help fending off a Promethean attack.

I hopped into a Warthog and proceeded to clear the area of hostiles. Then, we jumped into a Scorpion tank and defended a gate for a while. The team had investigated in town and knew that the Master Chief and his team were beyond that gate. Inside the gate, we entered a large mine of some sort. It's unclear why the Prometheans attacked the colony, but it seemed to be linked to this mine. Inside, we found a large object, or maybe it's a living thing, called a Guardian, hence the title of the game.

Locke's team caught up with Master Chief's team and they confronted each other, but Master Chief overpowered Locke and got away by jumping into a wormhole that had been created by the Guardian. Meanwhile, Locke's team ran away and had to climb through the destroyed structure of a space elevator on Meridian. The whole time, the Guardian was sending troops to kill us too...

At the top of the tower, I got into my first boss fight against a large Promethean named Warden Eternal. This fucker wields a giant sword, moves quickly and kills in one hit. He also spawns a bunch of strong enemies and spits out giant projectiles of death. It took me a few tries, but I took him out. He still managed to flee though...

Master Chief, Kelly, Fred and Linda meet the Warden Eternal

Master Chief and his team were teleported with the Guardian to a foreign planet. While exploring the lush jungles of the planet, they found some Covenant forces that were sucked in with the Guardian. They also discovered that the planet was one of the Promethean home worlds and that there was more than one Guardian here... Along the way, they found some terminals that hinted that Cortana was close by. When they got close to the goal, they too were confronted by Warden Eternal.

This fight was a lot tougher, but mostly because of an unlucky checkpoint... Basically, the game created a checkpoint while 2 of my teammates were killed, and the other was down, but not out. It took me at least 10 tries before I could revive the person without dying. Then it still took considerable effort, and a few more tries, to survive and deal real damage to the Warden Eternal... Just as the team was about to reach Cortana, the mission ends and I found myself in control of Locke and his team.

The next mission takes place on Sanghelios, home planet of the Elites. Locke is going to meet the Arbiter and get his help. The Arbiter, star of Halo 2, is now the leader of the Sword of Sanghelios, a new political power determined to destroy the remains of the Covenant. I can't wait to see where the story goes!

Halo 5: Guardians

Date played: November 2nd
Platform: Xbox One
Session fun rating: 10/10

After installing for what seemed like an eternity, I finally got to play Halo 5! I played the first two missions of the campaign, then spent most of my time in Arena, sprinkled with a few Warzone matches.

The campaign begins with Locke and his team of 3 spartans. As usual for this series, the story is not very well communicated, but that's ok, since the fun comes from shooting aliens. As Locke, we were tasked with rescuing Dr. Halsey, the woman who created the spartans, from the Covenant and the Forerunners.

The second mission featured Master Chief and his team of spartans. They assault a USNC ship, the Argent Moon, that was captured by the Covenant , deep in outer space somewhere. All the familiar enemies are back, including the hilarious, yet deadly grunts, the elites, the jackals, the hunters and even the brutes. Of course, Forerunners are around too and they have a few new units in their ranks. Towards the end of the level, Master Chief receives a message from Cortana, who is supposed to be dead. She tells him to save her, that she is captive on a distant planet. The team communicates this info with the UNSC, but are told to stand down. Master Chief and his friends decide to ignore the command and head out to save Cortana...

There's a lot to love in Halo 5 so far. Mechanically, many small changes make a big impact. There is now a dash move that can be used in emergencies. There's a short hover ability when aiming down sights. Oh yeah, it's possible to aim down the sights too now! It doesn't really change how the game plays, but it helps with longer range shots. Melee is stronger than before, and there's even a powerful shoulder charge move and a dive bomb move.

These changes make sense in the campaign, but they really shine in the Arena multiplayer modes. Arena is good old multiplayer Halo! People shoot at each other until one of them dies. Simple as that. I played a lot of Team Slayer, maybe 8 or 9 matches. At first, I really struggled, as expected. However, I was soon doing rather well. I wasn't at the top of the scoreboard, but I kept a positive kill/death ratio. A really cool addition to the game is that the power weapons, like rocket launchers and fuel rod guns, now spawn on a timer and in a specific spot. It's even announced to all players, making for some pretty cool battles at the weapon spawn points. So far, the maps have been lots of fun too.

Warzone is a whole different beast and honestly, I'm not really sure I like it yet... Warzone pits two large teams against each other in huge maps. There are capture points, similar to something like Battlefield. The twist is that there are AI enemies also. Both teams compete to kill the AI characters to score lots of points. There are vehicles here too, but they must be summoned with "REQ cards", a consumable. This kind sucks. Maybe in Arena capture the flag, I'll be able to drive a Warthog without using cards... 

Xeodrifter

Date played: November 2nd
Platform: Vita
Session fun rating: 6/10

Xeodrifter is another game I got for free with PS+. It's a cute little metroidvania game where an astronaut's ship gets damaged and he finds himself in a solar system with 4 planets. Each planet hides it's share of monsters and secrets, but more importantly, they also hide components that can repair the ship.

All 4 planets are available at the start of the game, but due to the hero's limited abilities, there's only one that can be really explored. Armed with a small pistol, the adventurer explores the green planet, fights a few monsters and eventually reaches a boss room. The boss is a large insect-like creature that spits out projectiles and attacks with jumps and dashes. It took me 4 or 5 deaths before I understood all the attacks, but I was then able to defeat the boss. I scored a new submarine ability that lets me explore underwater.

I love how Xeodrifter looks, it has an amazing art style. However, I'm kind of lost in it now, I'm not sure where to go anymore and I feel like maybe I'm missing something. 

Rocket League

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

88 miles per hour!

For my birthday, my girlfriend and daughter bought me Halo 5! Unfortunately, it's got a pretty damn big patch, so while it was installing, I booted up Rocket League for a few matches. This is definitely the kind of game where rust shows quickly. I had some trouble getting back into it at first, but it wasn't too long before I was feeling more comfortable. Clearly, I wasn't as good as when I played this everyday, but I still managed a few nice plays, though I didn't score that much. I've been rocking the Back to the Future car, it looks amazing!

Super Mario Land

Date played: October 31st
Platform: 3DS
Session fun rating: 8/10

I bought, started, played and finished Super Mario Land!

This is one of the few mainline Mario games that I've never played before, so I bought it on the 3DS virtual console. It's a Gameboy game from 1989 and boy, it is a weird fucking game! The first thing I noticed was the weird graphics style. I mean, it looks like Mario, but because of the Gameboy's limitations, everything is slightly deformed.  Koopas look anorexic, stars and mushrooms lose all their personality and blocks look 10 times smaller than in the other games.

It's very short, having only 4 worlds of 3 levels each, but there's a lot of original stuff in there. The music is really good too, since it's completely original and doesn't lean on the well known themes of the series. There are boss fights also, none of which feature Bowser or other regular enemies. There are even a few levels that are played as 2 side-scrolling shooters, similar to Defender or something. It was a nice change of pace. I liked what I played, but I just wish it had been a bit longer.

Halo: Spartan Strike

Date played: October 31st
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 7/10

I played through the end of the first set of missions and through the entire second set of missions. The second set was set in a jungle on one of the Halo rings. I quickly discovered that the Forerunners were there and had to fight them. The same units from Halo 4 confronted my spartan, including the small attack dogs, some turrets, aerial drones and the large knight units. They are a bit different to fight since they are weaker to different types of weapons compared to the Covenant.

The Kestrel is awesome!

I also got to ride some new vehicles including the nimble Ghosts, the powerful Wraith tanks and a brand new vehicle named the Kestrel. It's a kind of small hovering craft with powerful explosive weapons. It was lots of fun to drive and I hope to see it in a proper Halo game someday.