XCOM 2

Date played: February 28th
Platform: PC

I played two big missions yesterday. In the first, I had to investigate a crashed UFO. I loved this mission since it had many dangerous enemies, including a Sectopod, the giant bipedal robots. I'm starting to have a more regular team going now. Victoria Everglot is my main support, tasked with healing, though I still use Emma Allen every now and then. Samus Aran is my main grenadier with a focus on explosives. Princess Zelda is my main sniper. Link Inpark is my close quarters ranger of choice. Orion Belt is my hacking specialist and robot killer. Finally, Colonel Mustard is my psi operative.

Orion Belt, my technical specialist, lobs an EMP grenade at an Andromedon robotic suit

The more I train him, the more I love his skills. For example, I can now detonate explosives held by enemies which damages them, but also blows up their cover, creating attack opportunities for the rest of the team. He also has an awesome move that can grant a nearby ally an extra move. This is insanely powerful as it allows for very strategic use of my units. He also has a move that can inflict negative effects on enemies, and he's learning a direct damage psionic attack.

After we cleared the UFO, painfully, I took on another mission. This time, I had to hack a computer on a train. It wasn't too bad, except that I had to fight an Andromedon near the end. When I thought everything was clear, I was surprised to face an entirely new enemy, the Gatekeepter. This large spherical alien has a strong exterior shell and can reanimate dead enemies. I haven't seen what else it can do, since I focused fire on it and killed it quickly, but it has a lot of armor and health, so it's definitely very dangerous.

I have bought many upgrades, including some new sniper rifles, canons and even some new armor types. The coolest is the spider suit, which adds a grapple move to climb up buildings quickly. I give it to my snipers. I also have a new EXO suit, which is a heavy armor thing. I gave it to my grenadier, which adds a rocket attack and more armor. The aliens have made solid progress on the Avatar project, so I'll have to take down some of their facilities now.

Rocket League

Date played: February 28th
Platform: PS4

I visited my brother at his house last night and we ended up playing Rocket League for a few hours. His roommate joined us, so we had a solid 3 man team to do some 3v3. Let me tell you, we absolutely rocked!

Our team had great chemistry, and I was accurate with my shots. I spent a lot more time in the air than usual too, since my team was there to set up amazing air plays. I scored a few aerial goals and countless clears, centers and saves from the air. My brother had trouble scoring at first, but after a few warm up rounds, he was as hot as ever. His roommate was kind of the same way too.

To top it all off, we had a great visual style going for our team. We all had a sort of Tokyo street racing look. I had the flashiest colors, my brother had the darkest and his roommate was somewhere in between. I had a lot of fun playing this game, as usual.

Puzzle & Dragons Z + Super Mario Bros. Edition

Date played: February 28th and 29th
Platform: 3DS

My daughter has started playing Pokemon X on an old 2DS we had lying around. She's only 5 years old, so she needs lots of help, mostly to read what the characters are saying. As I was helping her with that, I felt like it would be a good time to play something on 3DS also, so I picked up Puzzle & Dragons Z + Super Mario Bros. Edition from the eShop.

The game is a real simple match 3 game. The trick is that, like Pokemon Shuffle, the pieces can be moved anywhere on the board. This might sound like it makes it easy, but honestly, I died multiple times. That's because the whole premise of the game is fight enemies my matching gems of the same color. I also have my own guys that attack and have their own stats, they can even level up.

I played the Mario portion of the game a little bit and it was fun, but it's also a bit confusing sometimes. Like, I'll attack a guy and I won't really know why I did amazing damage or why I barely hit him. I guess I just need to spend more time playing to learn how it really works. It's cool to see Mario characters in a game like this though. I used Mario and Luigi, along with some basic enemies like goombas and koopas. 

Far Cry Primal

Date played: February 27th
Platform: PS4

I bought Far Cry Primal!

I haven't played a Far Cry game since Far Cry Instincts back on the original Xbox. Far Cry 3 and 4 seemed like really good games, but I just never got around to playing them. However, when I first saw the trailer for Primal, I was hooked right away. I'm a man that loves the primitive humans of 10 000 BC who lived alongside mammoths, sabre-tooth tigers and other extinct animals, so Primal's theme struck a chord with me.

The game opens with Takkar, the hero, hunting mammoths with his small tribe. Right away, the incredible visuals impressed me. Faces are highly detailed, lighting effects are pretty and the world itself is very beautiful. It's a dangerous place though. I sneaked around in the bushes with my spear until the time was right to attack a peaceful mammoth. I threw spears at it and chased it down until it was dead. That's when a dangerous sabre-tooth tiger attacked us, trying to steal our prey's body. The tiger killed my entire crew and Takkar stranded, alone, with no food and no weapons.

It seems like gathering materials and crafting will play an important role in this game. I picked up some stones, branches and cattail and built a bow. I then hunted goats to gather meat and heal myself. In the land of Oros, there are three tribes.The Wenja seem to be the "nice" ones, another is full of cannibals and the last is a master of fire. I must find the remaining Wenja and join them.

After exploring a cave and following the tracks of the Wenja with my "hunter vision", I found out that most of them have been killed. I saved one of them from a sabre-tooth tiger attack, a woman named Sayla. We found a nice spot to build our home and I was finally let loose into the game's large open world.

Sayla, my first friend

There's a lot going on here. There's crafting, where I built a bow, a club, a spear and some carrying bags. There's a big skill tree, where I used the xp I earned to buy new abilities. There's a huge focus on hunting, at least so far, where each animal provides materials for building and crafting. Fire plays a big role too, as I can set entire fields on fire with my torch to scare away dangerous animals. The animals are all really cool too. There are goats, deer, bears, wolves, tigers, birds, jaguars, boars and tons of other cool stuff.

I went out and explored quite a bit, finding materials and other collectibles. I reached a campsite, which acts as a fast travel point and resting spot. I even fought some of the cannibals that live in Oros. I'm really excited to see more of this game, I just love the tone and theme so much.

Rocket League

Date played: February 27th
Platform: PC


Another day, another Rocket League post...

I score a very satisfying aerial goal here

Seriously, I'm running out of things to say about this amazing game. It's just so fucking good! I rode the Grog to glory yesterday, and I even picked up a few new antennas, including a cute pinata. Once again, I played rather well, though I was matched with some real tough opponents at times. I had a couple of really sick goals too.

Rocket League

Date played: February 26th
Platform: PC

I had so much fun playing Rocket League last night!

My best goal of the night, a sick aerial shot from a tough angle

I picked a car that I don't use often, gave it a sexy, YMCA style leather hat and an annoying musical boost. I played really well. I didn't have the most goals, but I still had a huge impact on every match. I've been making plays from way back in my zone with giant clearing shots and great saves. Of course, I did have some great goals too, including one or two aerial shots.

The weirdest match of the night ended up being a 3 v 2 for the whole match, because of a weird bug. One of the players on my team was typing in the chat that he was stuck in spectator mode and could see the ball, but not the cars on the field. So basically, me and another guy played the whole match alone while the third was commenting on the action, even if he could only see the ball. At one point, he even asked which team he was on so that he could cheer for the right players! We did surprisingly well considering we were short one player. We lost 2-1, and it was really close...

Ori and the Blind Forest

Date played: February 25th
Platform: PC

Ori continued his quest to restore life to the forest. As I dove deeper into the lush environment, I fought various creatures, found a bunch of ability points, some health and energy upgrades and even a couple of new abilities.

I followed a long legged creature deeper and deeper into the forest in the hopes of getting a sort of "water ball" that he stole from the Ginso tree. It turns out, this creature is named Gumo, and it seems like an innocent creature trying to protect his little treasure. After tons of exploration, I found a huge upgrade, the double jump.

If there's one thing that's clear about Ori and the Blind Forest, it's that the game is challenging. Even the most mundane of enemies is very dangerous. There are fucking spikes of death everywhere. A missed jump is usually a death sentence. So the double jump opens up lots of new opportunities, but it also creates some much more difficult sequences.

Eventually, I caught up with Gumo when he got trapped. Ori then showed how nice and innocent he is by grabbing the water ball, then helping Gumo get up. Now that I had the ball, I headed back to the Ginso tree to heal it.

When I got inside, I was surprised to see that this thing is fucking gigantic! I literally climbed through dozens of rooms as I reached it's peak. Along the way, there were many difficult sections, but all of it felt fair, and with the addition of the double jump, it was also very fast.

That's why I was very surprised when I got my next ability... I don't know what it's called, and I find it hard to describe, but it's basically a move that lets me propel Ori by using enemy projectiles. What makes it work is that time stops for a moment when doing it, so that I can aim in the direction where I want to be launched. It also spits out the enemy projectile in the other direction, creating some very very cool sequences and puzzles. I can't really explain it well, but let's just say that it is incredibly fun to use and adds a whole new dimension to the game!

After going through a few rooms that taught me how to use the ability, I finally reached the heart of the tree. It was rotten and filled with thorns and branches. I cleared all that up and restored the tree's heart! My triumph was short lived though, as a powerful torrent of water started rising through the inside of the trunk. I had to get out of there, fast!

Kuro ambushes Ori at the peak of the Ginso tree

The climb up the last portion of the Ginso tree was easily the most difficult part of this game so far. I had to use every skill at my disposal to succeed. The focus was on using the launching ability, but there was a lot of regular platforming too, requiring fast and precise movement. It took me 19 attempts and 14 minutes to reach the top safely... I really enjoyed this sequence, it reminded me of the best moments of Rayman Legends and Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze.

When I got out, the tree was healed and I was ready to find the second one. However, the big menacing owl from before, Kuro, crept up on me and knocked me down the tree. When I landed, the waters of the forest had been cleaned up and the owl was nowhere to be seen...

Rocket League

Date played: February 25th
Platform: PS4 & PC

CAKE HAT!

Rocket League has become sort of an early evening routine for me recently. Last night, I played one quick match on PS4 for no particular reason, then played on PC for the rest of the night. Amazingly, I played against the same person in my PS4 match, then on my first PC match. I ended up playing with him for a while, a guy named Orange Drank.

I played pretty well for the most part. I had a few goals, made some awesome passes and a couple of good saves. I also unlocked the best hat ever, a little cake. I've been wearing it ever since.

XCOM 2

Date played: February 24th
Platform: PC

I made some good progress in my battle against the alien invaders. It started with a difficult mission where I had to capture or kill an enemy VIP. The turn timer was really tight on this mission, so I had to hustle. In fact, near the end of the mission, I simply didn't have enough turns left to reach the extraction point, so I had to restart from the beginning. I moved more aggressively this time and while it was still rough, I made it through. I think my favorite class is the grenadier. They have insane damage potential with their grenades and they shred enemy armor. They are a bit hard to use sometimes, since they only have so much grenade ammo, but on this mission, I killed 3 enemies in one shot and severely wounded another.

Grenadiers are awesome

The next mission was an alien retaliation who attacked one of my bases. I had to rescue civilians and fought with some dangerous Chryssalids. One of my rangers, Link Inpark, proved to be extremely powerful against these vicious enemies. Bladestorm is an awesome ability where the ranger will attack anything that comes into melee range with his sword. It's incredibly powerful against units like the Chryssalids.

Back on the Avenger, I've made some serious progress again. I've unlocked the ability to build and research plasma weapons, just like what the aliens use. I've managed to build a pistol and assault rifle with the technology, and am researching others. I've also completed my psi lab and upgraded my comms stations. In the psi lab, I trained both Colonel Mustard and Beetlejuice to be psi soldiers. It's a weird system, where I get to pick one of three abilities to train, seemingly at random.

The next mission had me destroy a communications terminal, so I took Colonel Mustard out on his first mission and he proved to be rather useful. One of his moves is like the Sectoid's, where I inflict a random psychological illness on my enemy. I got to mind control an Advent soldier, which helped me defeat a new enemy, the Sectopod.

Sectopods are giant, bipedal robots armed to the teeth. They are extremely dangerous because they have long range, lots of armor and they hit harder than anything else in the game. I had to be cautious, but I took it down, along with the communications terminal.

Rocket League

Date played: February 24th
Platform: PC

While it had been available on PS4 a little while ago, I never got to try the Snow Day special playlist. It was added to the PC playlist yesterday, so I decided to finally give it a go. Snow Day changes the ball into a puck that slides around the field! It's a surprising mode that is lots of fun, but also VERY different from the normal game.

Rocket Hockey?

The biggest change here is that the puck doesn't lift up in the air very much, so plays are much more direct. For example, rushing head first into the puck when you know another player will hit it first is more useful than in the normal game, since the puck's movement is easier to predict than the ball. Wall play is also a lot faster, and less aerial. Many times, goals were scored by pushing the puck up the walls at high speed, letting it glide to the opposing team's zone. Since the puck moves faster than the ball, it led to many shot opportunities. Finally, when the puck does lift, it is very difficult to hit accurately, simply because of it's shape. I liked this mode a lot, though it's not nearly as good as the regular game.

I then played many more matches, but on regular 3 vs 3. I was allright, but I played against a lot of skilled players. Some of my losses were heart-wrenching, while the wins were adrenaline-pumping. In one particular match, I scored the only goal, and it was during overtime! That felt pretty good.

XCOM 2

Date played: February 23rd
Platform: PC

I played two missions last night. In the first, I was tasked with destroying an alien device. While the map was rather simple, the enemies were quite a challenge. There were 2 Archons, the floating, melee experts with high HP, 4 Cortex ladies that clone, a few Advent soldiers and a couple of Sectoids.

The soldiers and Sectoids weren't too much trouble, but the Archons and Cortex gave me some trouble. Thankfully, I hacked into a tower that allowed me to mind control an Archon for 2 turns. With him, I damaged a Cortex and the alien device, while also diverting fire from my soldiers. While this helped a lot, the cloning Cortex became a problem... While they didn't have much HP left, there was a few too many of them. It took a bit of luck and lots of careful planning to get it right and survive their attacks.

Victoria Everglot turned into a real badass after joining XCOM

Back on the Avenger, I started building an Advanced Warfare Center and expanded my comms system to make more contacts in the world. The AWC will allow my soldiers to heal faster and may grant them a random bonus ability when they level up. The faster healing is why I bought it, since I often have too many wounded soldiers to really use the team I want.

Finally, I took out another Avatar facility to bring the project's meter down one notch. This mission wasn't too hard, in fact, I was careful enough that I didn't take a single hit during the whole thing. I carefully plotted forward to defeat the robotic enemies, laser turrets and Archon. I then planted the explosives with a ranger and got the hell out of there before reinforcements arrived. It alleviated a bit of pressure from the Avatar Project. I'm now working on contacting more regions to complete more of the main missions. I'm also very close to completing the Psi lab, so I'll have the option of training soldiers into a new class soon.

Rocket League

Date played: February 23rd
Platform: PS4

I thought my brother was online because I was looking at the Playstation app and it showed him as available and playing Rocket League. So I booted up my PS4 and launched the game, waiting for him to join my party,  Then I realized that the app was wrong and was showing cached information... He wasn't online at all! I decided to play a few matches anyway, but I didn't play for very long.

I scored a nice goal with Sweet Tooth, the iconic car from Twisted Metal

I was actually pretty fucking bad overall. I wasn't as sharp as usual and while I had a few nice plays, I had way too many whiffed shots and bad plays. It didn't help that most of my teammates didn't play very well either, and some of them really enjoyed bumping into me... On the bright side, I had some lag issues at first, then I rebooted my modem and things were perfect from that point on, so that's good news.

Since I hadn't played on PS4 in a while, I chose it's exclusive car, Sweet Tooth. Honestly, I like that car a lot. It's sound is a bit annoying, but it looks so fucking cool!

Rocket League

Date played: February 22nd
Platform: PS4

I was really bored last night and I didn't know what to do. I was about to watch a movie when I saw that my youngest brother was playing Rocket League on PS4, so I asked him for an invite and we played together for about an hour. He was actually playing with his roommate, so we had a full team of 3.


We played really well overall. I mean, we still lost a game or two, but we still had great plays and few mistakes. Together, we have great chemistry. My brother is usually deep in the offensive zone, creating plays and slamming the ball into the net. His friend is more defensive, though he often supports the offense. Finally, as usual, I'm a very offensive player, but I play a long game, often from behind the mid-field line.

Dream team?

I had a great aerial goal when I rode up the wall and hit the ball from the side at high speed, directly into the net. You can see this play and others clicking here . My brother and I swapped the MVP title around all evening. We were dominating the field most of the time, so I had a really good time.

XCOM 2

Date played: February 21st
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 10/10

I've had a busy weekend, having time only for a few rounds of Rocket League here and there, so when I sat down to play XCOM 2 last night, I was really happy. I managed to play 3 missions, and honestly, I should have stopped after 2 of them because I lost precious sleep...

Anyway, the first mission was actually really easy compared to some of the other stuff I've had to do. I had to either kidnap or kill an enemy VIP. I stayed in concealment a lot longer than usual for this mission, since I couldn't find the enemies at first. When I did though, I had everyone on overwatch and in great position. When I finally pulled the trigger, it unleashed a hail of gunfire from all my guys and I killed most of the enemies in one shot. I only had a couple of stragglers to deal with after.

The next mission was definitely harder. This time, I had to just clear an area, but I took advantage of the presence of Codex enemies to skulljack one, one of my main mission objectives. I had a lot of lower ranked soldiers that I'm trying to level up, so I had to be doubly careful. As soon as I skulljacked the target, a new type of enemy appeared, the Avatar.

If I'm understanding this correctly, production of these bodies is the ultimate goal of the Avatar project. As combatants, they are extremely dangerous. They have high HP, can mind control my soldiers, can teleport, has a large bomb attack and packs a powerful punch with it's weapon... I was careful and patient, and I took it down. I was rewarded with 4 fewer notches on the Avatar Project's meter. Fuck yeah baby!

I spent some time contacting new regions, building a power core and tons of other little things. I've even got a new psionics lab being built where I'll be able to train some soldiers to use psionic abilities. That's when the unthinkable happened.... The Avenger, our flying fortress and base of operations, was shot down by an alien UFO!

The Avenger is shot down by a UFO

Thankfully, it wasn't destroyed, since the aliens wanted to capture it intact. However, it was pinned to the ground by the aliens who launched a relentless attack against us. This mission was unlike any other... I mean, these guys were fucking swarming me from every direction. They were trying to board the Avenger and I had to hold them off, while also damaging a device that was just out of range.

I swear, I must have killed more than 30 enemies during this mission. There were fucking reinforcements every turn., and not just little advent soldiers either! There were Berserkers, Sectoids, an Archon, armored robots and even a new type of enemy, Chryssalids. These horrific creatures attack with melee, move quickly and can poison my soldiers. I took them out without too many problems with grenades and long shots, but it was still very dangerous.

The coolest part of this mission is that I was provided with additional troops to hold off the aliens as the battle went on. At one point, I must have had 9 soldiers on the field, as opposed to the usual 6. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to save Jane Kelly, my most experienced ranger. She died a hero, protecting her fellow soldiers, the Avenger, XCOM and humanity as a whole RIP Jane Kelly.

Normally, I would have reloaded the save game and tried again, but I honestly think I had no other choice in this one. Someone was gonna die, and I'm lucky I lost only one. After the battle, many on my crew earned promotions. I also upgraded their armor to use stronger materials, granting more defense. I even bought a couple of nice skills from the combat academy.

Rocket League

Date played: February 21st
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 10/10

I love Rocket League...

Every time I play, I try to use a different car now, just for the hell of it. Last night, I rode in Ripper along with some bright paint. I got into a lobby that was very competitive. I mean, almost every match I played was very tight, very close. I played with competent players all around, which meant tight battles for the ball, last second saves, and few goals.

In one of those matches, I think I may have made my best save ever. It's hard to describe in words obviously, but I basically raced the ball as it barreled towards our net then gave it a solid hit to deflect it. What made it such a great save is the fucking incredible speed I had when I did it...

One of my best saves ever

Throughout the night, I had a few MVP's and generally played pretty well, though I wasn't spectacular for the most part. I had good, solid play from the mid-field line. When playing with good players, I often end up being the last line of defense. Permanent goaltenders are useful with bad players, but with good ones, you need more support on offense. I still stay in the same position, but there's usually not a goalie to back me up anymore.

Rocket League

Date played: February 20th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 9/10

I finally got some lag free Rocket League! I didn't stream it to Twitch, so while I still want to do more testing, I really hope it's not the stream that killed my ping... I had a great time playing some competitive and casual 3 vs 3 against random people.

I punch through the crowd and score a goal!

For the most part, I was pretty damn good. I made a few bad mistakes though, like centering the ball for the other team, but overall, I helped my teams win consistently. I only lost 1 or 2 matches, winning about 10 of them. I got lots of MVP's, a few good goals and made many great passing plays. One of my favorite goals had me slam the ball at full speed right in the middle of a giant melee in front of the goal. I just came in with such speed and momentum that the ball bounced through everyone and made it into the net. 

Rocket League

Date played: February 19th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 9/10

I played some Rocket League with two of my brothers last night. Honestly, I've had some pretty heavy lag issues recently and I'm not sure if it's related to streaming to Twitch, my internet connection of even perhaps some weird interference due to using wireless controllers or something, but it's been really difficult to have a good time when lag becomes so heavy.

We still had a lot of fun and played a long time, sometimes lag free. One of my bros is a real goalie and spent most of his time in the net, while supporting the attack when it made sense. My other brother is more offensive, so we worked together a lot of move the ball around and set up offensive plays.

I had a few really nice goals, but I didn't really play that well last night. I missed a lot of balls and had a harder time lining up shots than usual. The coolest part of the night is when we built our cars to have the exact same color scheme, tires and nitrous trail. We put skulls everywhere! It was funny...

Ori and the Blind Forest

Date played: February 17th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 10/10

Ori and the Blind Forest has been on my radar for a long time, ever since it was announced really. It's a Metroidvania 2D action game starring a furry little white creature named Ori. From what I played, I think he got lost at some point, and was separated from his family. A large cuddly creature named Naru finds Ori in the forest and they quickly become great friends. Actually, it's more like a parent-child relationship, with Naru taking care of Ori. They gather food together, build little bridges and structures and seem to just be very happy together, as a new family.

At one point, there's something that happens, something unclear, and food becomes scarce. In a beautiful montage sequence, we see how they become hungrier and hungrier until one day, the Naru dies quietly. When Ori finds the dead body, it was a very sad and touching event... Ori is left with nothing, so the creature decides to go explore the world, in the hopes of finding food and a reason to live. Or at least, that's what I got out of it.

Ori and Naru gather food

Unfortunately, without food, Ori is doomed. The creature collapses from exhaustion... Now this is where it got a bit confusing, but basically, the forest's spirit tree uses "magic" and the last of it's strength to revive Ori.

So that's pretty much how the game begins. After that, there wasn't much story, but there was a lot of cool stuff to play. I need to talk about how fucking beautiful everything is... The art is hand drawn and it really shows in the quality of the imagery. This game looks absolutely stunning. Plus, the music is spectacular, fitting the mood perfectly and giving the whole experience some atmosphere.

If you take away the presentation elements, what remains is a pure Metroidvania game that handles like a dream. It's got a nice big map, tons of hidden items, an talent tree, areas gated by abilities and monsters. It's almost like a whimsical version of Axiom Verge in a lot of ways. I played a bit more than an hour and have already found 3 new abilities. I can attack enemies with a short range fire projectile, I can charge it up to destroy larger objects or deal more damage and I can wall jump.

Another key element is the save system. Ori has a special energy meter that is depleted when he uses the charge up attack, but it's also a way to create a custom save point. That's a mechanic that I haven't seen very often in video games and it works very well here. Platforming is also pretty challenging already.

I've dodged fireballs, jumped on narrow platforms over poisonous water, fought evil animals like spiders and frogs, and discovered new areas. I must "restore" the spirit of the forest by finding my way to three different areas, though I don't know what I'll need to do when I get there yet. There's also a big evil owl that seems to be the source of the decay in the forest, though the mystery is still thick...

Rocket League

Death from above - I score a sweet aerial goal

Date played: February 17th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 9/10

Rocket League makes me feel good.

This week has been pretty rough for me, lots of stress, I'm trying to quit smoking and work is crazy, so I needed some stress relief. While it may not look like a relaxing game, Rocket League is actually really relaxing for me. It's just plain old fun to play. Win or lose, I have fun! Plus, I've been steaming everything on Twitch, so there's an archive of my matches.

I played pretty well last night, getting lots of MVP's, scoring a few goals, setting up good plays and making a couple of great saves. My best goal came from a beautiful pass from a teammate, which lobbed the ball high in the air from the sideboards. I jumped up from midfield, boosted up, leveled the car off in mid air, then dropped my nose to hit the ball over the goalie from above! It was glorious...

XCOM 2

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

I completed 3 missions last night, one of which had me destroy an alien Avatar project facility!

In the first mission, I had to attack an Advent train and hack a computer. There was a turn timer, so I had to fucking hustle. I've started using a new type of grenade that has been rather useful for attacking clusters or enemies. The acid grenade shreds armor and deals acid damage, which continues to hurt enemies over time. It also creates a pool of acid on the ground, burning anything that walks through it. I've also started using a new sharpshooter, Princess Zelda, and I've been ranking up Victoria Everglot as a specialist focused on healing.

Princess Zelda takes the shot

The Avatar project's progress has been steadily climbing and I was at a point where I had no choice but to take it down a few notches, so I finally attacked one of the Avatar facilities. This was a very difficult mission... Thankfully, it didn't have a turn timer, so I could really take my time and set up and ensure everyone on the team is ready, and safe.

I actually had a lot of wounded soldiers coming into this fight, so I had to use some of my lower ranked grunts. There were some new enemies to fight here such as automated turrets that have lots of armor and long range. The most dangerous was a beautiful floating alien with a deadly melee attack and a lot of HP. I had to really take my time and be careful, but I made it through alive. This reduced the Avatar project's progress by 3 notches, a significant amount, but not enough to alleviate all the pressure. I need to take down another as soon as possible.

Back on the Avenger, I've made good progress with the story and upgrading my gear and capabilities. I've built a comms center to increase the number of contacts I can have with resistance bases around the world. I've upgraded my grenades to deal a lot more damage. I bought a cool skill for Rangers that grants 3 bonus damage when flanking an enemy. I upgraded my shotguns and Gremlin drones. I even discovered a ton of clues to the alien's big plans by torturing a Codex inside the shadow chamber facility.

It turns out, the alien "true form" are called Elders and they are dying due to a degenerative disease. Whenever they encountered a new species in their travels, they started abducting them to harvest their DNA and try to find a cure. It seems that when they encountered humans, they found something critical to their survival, and so, have been harvesting human bodies since the beginning of the invasion. It's all quite fascinating, and it opened up a series of new missions, but I have to make contact with these regions before I can really continue.

After all these revelations, I completed another mission, this time sending me to save some citizens from one of my resistance bases. I encountered yet another new enemy type here, a Berserker. These huge aliens are genetically modified Mutons that are built for one thing only. Pure bloodlust. They are big, they have lots of HP, but honestly, they weren't much trouble. I just picked them off from a distance before they could touch any of my guys.

One of the things I like most about this game is that my soldiers get wounded, forcing me to have a deep roster, where everyone is useful. I have almost 3 full teams honestly, though of course I have some favorites. I've also discovered that I'll be able to train my soldiers to use psionic abilities, but the facility to do this is too expensive for me right now. I've got a couple of guys waiting to be trained there, including Colonel Mustard...

XCOM 2

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

Man, this game is fucking hardcore.

The pressure is always on. Soldiers are wounded, aliens are building their Avatar project, there's never enough money, there's always something that NEEDS to be upgraded. XCOM 2 does not take it's foot off the pedal. This makes it a very stressful game, but also a very rewarding game.

I played a variety of missions, each more critically important than the last. I decided to tackle the blacksite base, a mission that is important to the story. It was a tough one though... I had to steal a mysterious vial from the facility, then escape the area. The problem is that I was faced with a series of dangerous enemies.

Sectoids are becoming less of a problem as I am dealing more damage and I'm used to their antics. I still take them out first though, since they have some tricks that are quite difficult to deal with. Advent soldiers are just fodder enemies, though the stun lancers are still dangerous. Mutons, however, are big fucking bitches. The main problem is that they have a lot of health, plus they have some armor. Armor will decrease damage taken, unless it's shredded by a grenadier or grenades. On this level, I even fought a Codex, the mysterious, cloning females. They are quite dangerous, but can be handled if I'm careful. I still have to be wary around Vipers and I make them a priority. Finally, there are now some robotic soldiers that are very deadly and heavily armored.

Samus Aran, my favorite grenadier, attacks a Muton at point blank

I stole the vial and escaped, though it took me a few attempts... I completed a few more missions, though none were are intense as this one. I made some pretty big investments in my Avenger. I built a new comms station to expand my territory. I hired engineers and scientists. I researched a bunch of new weapons and tools. The biggest upgrade granted me my 6th and final spot for a soldier in my squad. I also upgraded my rifles, snipers, pistols and machine guns.

I've got my sights on an alien facility that is a key part of the Avatar project, but it's kind of tricky getting there on time and being well equipped at the same time...

Yoshi's Woolly World

Date played: February 14th
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 9/10

Another Sunday morning means another video gaming session with my 5 year old daughter! We completed 3 levels and got all the flowers and yarn balls in the world. The first level I played, A Little Light Snowfall, featured the cutest little Shy Guys. They wore parkas and threw snowballs at Yoshi... Throughout the area, there were spots where chunks of snow were hanging up on platforms, then would fall down to the ground when hit by something or stepped on. This created some pretty tense moments and lots of fluffy cuteness,

Shy Guys are cute. Shy Guys in parkas throwing snowballs? SOOOOOO CUTE!

The next level, Up Shuttlethread Pass, was a real maze. In fact, I don't think there were any real enemies here, or very few of them anyway. As in one of the earlier levels, it had little doors that flipped the level, where I played on the "back" of the world. This one was quite difficult, simply because there were a LOT of different paths and a lot of secrets to find. They key element is the titular shuttlethread. This is basically a little train of thread that moves through the level and is used as a platform.

Finally, I took on the dangerous summits of Snowy Mountain Lift Tour. As the title implies, there are snow lifts to ride in this one. Littered with Bullet Bills and bouncy penguins, this one was a test of speed and jumping skill. I love every moment of this game, it's so much better than I ever expected.

XCOM 2

Date played: February 12th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 9/10

After the little Twitch experiment, I showed XCOM 2 to my brother, playing through one full mission with him. The objective was to disable a device before the turn timer expires in a map set on the streets of a Russian city. I brought my most experienced sharpshooter, my melee focused ranger, two grenadiers and a rookie. This turned out to be an amazing team, though I got lucky a couple of times.

My crew for the mission

I'm REALLY liking the sword attack of my ranger... It's very powerful and highly accurate. When I only had one enemy left, an Advent officer, I used the skulljack device on it. This was a mission I had for a while, but it's very difficult to pull off because of everything that goes on in a battle. I succeeded here, but to my surprise, it summoned a new enemy, a Codex.

Codex are weird digital ladies with lots of HP. When hit, they clone themselves. Unfortunately, this means more enemies to fight... Fortunately, they also lose half their HP when they clone, so it makes them easier to destroy. This was a very satisfying battle. I was careful, but still moved quickly. Some of my troops were injured, but no one died, and I got a few promotions along the way. Having a 5th soldier definitely helped a whole lot...

Rocket League

Date played: February 12th and 13th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 8/10

Well, I've entered the world of Twitch live streaming... I set up a little webcam, configured Nvidia's Shadowplay software and played some 2 player Rocket League with the oldest of my little brothers live on Twitch. I liked my experience, though much of our evening was plagued with lag. Honestly, I'm pretty sure the lag was from the Rocket League servers, though I'm not entirely sure and I'd like to test more before I jump to any conclusions. I definitely liked streaming, and had a few different people join the stream.

Check out my channel on Twitch!

Yeah, we're fucking cool

Since my focus was on getting the stream going and testing out audio and stuff, I wasn't really focused on the game itself. Plus, with the awful lag, we only had a few really playable matches. I had a couple of nice moves and good plays, but mostly, I was horrible. We tried out the Rocket Labs playlist a little too, so that was cool.

Rocket League

Date played: February 11th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 9/10

There was a patch for Rocket League yesterday and it brought along a ton of interesting changes. The biggest change is to how the ranking system works. Basically, ranked mode has been replaced with "Competitive" mode. Apparently, this will balance out the rankings and put players in matches with opponents that are closer to their skill level. It also promises that rank will increase or decrease only when a player is showing a clear upward or downward trend, as opposed to changing with every win or loss.

I played quite a few games of competitive 3 vs 3 and overall, I think I did pretty well, though I was getting a bit tired towards the end and wasn't playing as well. I got a few MVP awards, scored goals regularly and made good plays. After all that, I ended up in the 6th ranking class of 12, so I think that's pretty damn good. The patch also added a few visual items, including some awesome DeadMau5 decorations and a bunch of other little things.

Utopia Retro, one of the Rocket Labs maps (I'm the pink one!)

Finally, the coolest thing about the patch is the addition of the Rocket Labs playlist. According to the description in game, this is a place where Psyonix can try new types of maps and see what works and what doesn't. I played this mode for a while and tried out the three maps that are available.

The first I played is Double Goal and honestly, while the idea is interesting, in practice, it was my least favorite of the three. Basically, each team's goal has two "holes" to score in, and there's a large pillar in the middle of the net to stop direct goals from going in. This ends up creating many situations where goals are scored by bouncing the ball off the wall. It's pretty damn cool, but it doesn't flow very well overall, and the goal line is kind of hard to see because of the curves in the goal's structure.

The second I played is a lot cooler, Utopia Retro. This thing is fucking insane... The map is shaped like a doughnut, forcing players to move the ball around the circle to reach the opposing goal. A key part of this one is that players can actually drive through the goals to reach the other side, which will turn a goaltender into an offensive player very quickly. This map is real hectic and it's super hard to get the angles right, but it's fun and creates some new strategies.

Finally, the most playable of the three maps is Underpass. This is a more traditional map, but it has "stairs" on each side of the arena, creating insane opportunities for aerial action and trick shots. I loved playing this one the most, since it's close to the traditional game, but it's still different enough to feel different.

According to this article by the Wall Street Journal, Rocket League made over $50 million on a budget of $2 million. I say, they deserve every penny.

SteamWorld Heist

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

I finished SteamWorld Heist!

It turns out I was real close to the end, with only a few normal levels left before the final boss battle. Piper, Beatrix and Sally reached the maximum level, 10, while Ivan reached level 9. I bought some new gear, including a completely savage minigun for Beatrix that shreds enemies apart, and a sniper pistol that can shoot twice in one turn for piper.

My final team from left to right: Ivan, Piper, Sally and Beatrix

The final boss battle was cool, but a little bit on the easy side. The Vectron leader is a small robot who pilots a large, spherical laser gun. Every turn, it would rotate to aim at one of my soldiers, then would fire on the next turn. This made the battle relatively easy, since all I had to do was take care of the minions and move out of the way of the laser. I also had to aim at a specific half of the sphere and take out some shields occasionally, but in all honesty, it was pretty easy compared to some of the other battles in the game.

In the end, the Cowbots saved the galaxy! I really enjoyed SteamWorld Heist. It took some of the best elements of XCOM and made them simpler, funnier and transformed the whole thing into 2D. I kind of wish there had been another world, or a few extra bonus levels, but I'm still really happy with the game. There's a New Game + option where every character is unlocked at the start, so I played the first few missions with some of the units I never tried and had a good time, but I doubt that I'll go back to it.

XCOM 2

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

Vicious. Savage. Ferocious. Heartless. Barbarous. Diabolical. Cruel.

These are the words that come to mind when I think of XCOM 2's enemies. I completed two missions, all while upgrading my Avenger, doing research and building new rooms. The first mission had me fight some enemies to recover some crucial supplies from a truck convoy. This is where the Viper enemy was introduced to me...

According the autopsy my science team performed on a Viper corpse, this is the pure form of the alien invaders. The scary, snake-like creatures have a special attack where they grab one of my soldiers and hold it in a sort of choke hold, slowly draining their health. It's dangerous, but manageable since any hit on the Viper will free the wounded soldier.

Fuck Vipers man.

Honestly, I had a lot of trouble with this mission. At the end of it, I had one unconscious soldier, which I carried on my back to safety, and 3 heavily wounded soldiers. It was really close... I've resorted to save scumming a bit... For the uninitiated, save scumming is saving the game often, then reloading a previous save when shit hits the fan. I usually don't do this in video games, but XCOM 2 is so fucking evil that I do it to reduce frustration. Even with save scumming, it's brutal, so I don't feel bad at all.

Before playing, I actually spent some time making some cool looking characters in the editor. These new units will show up randomly as recruits and in other spots in the game. I made 6 women and 6 men and I had fun with it. My friend had suggested some names, so I made those, then I made them look as close as I could to the real thing, though in some cases, it was very different considering the limited toolkit I had available. So I've got Rainbow Dash, Lucy Inthesky, Victoria Everglot, Samus Aran, Princess Zelda, G.I. Jane, Steve Jobs, Beetle Juice, Nacho Libre, Orion Belt, Link Inpark and Colonel Mustard.

The only one I've seen so far is Samus Aran, so I recruited her and sent her on her first mission. This time, I had to knock out a VIP and carry him to an extraction point. Unfortunately, there was a turn timer here, so the pressure was on. On my team, I had a sniper, a specialist with powerful healing, a grenadier and a rookie. It must have taken me over an hour to complete this mission. I had to reload multiple times to find a strategy that worked, and even then, I just scraped by at the last turn, rushing past a couple of aliens to reach the evacuation helicopter. Samus did a great job since she's the one who carried the VIP to safety and she got promoted to grenadier.

Back on the Avenger, I've made a significant upgrade to my combat capabilities by building a training center and purchasing the ability to send out 5 units out to battle instead of 4. This is a HUGE upgrade and I'm sure it will help me succeed.

Rocket League

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

I didn't have much time to play last night. I really wanted to get deeper into XCOM 2, but time was not my friend, so I comforted myself in the sweet embrace of Rocket League. I played rather well again last night, getting a few MVP's a solid amount of goals and generally high scores.

I'm gonna score a goal here!

I decided to get back to my roots and used the car that got me through my early days in the game, Backfire. I decorated it with my old favorite decal, a beautiful lightning bolt. So in the end, I played well, lost only a couple of matches and got to ride in my classic ride.

XCOM 2

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

I really wish I had more time to play video games yesterday, but it was a busy day, so I only managed to complete one mission in XCOM. This was the first time where I had to choose between two missions. There's not enough time to complete both missions, so I had to pick wisely. The one I picked had me destroy a sort of communication antennae to prevent a UFO from chasing the Avenger.

I love my sniper units

I had some wounded soldiers that were still recovering, so I had to head out with two rookies. I'm happy to report that they survived the encounter and have been promoted! I actually had two snipers on the team for the mission, which doesn't give me a lot of mobility, but it gave me lots of firepower. I carefully advanced towards the objective, killing Sectoids and Advent soldiers as fast as I could. one my female soldiers panicked and almost ruined the mission with her erratic behavior, but thankfully, I got lucky.

Luck does play a big part in this game. For example, my most experienced sniper HAD to successfully hit a Sectoid on a clutch shot or it would spell the end of my team. With a 59% chance of hit, it was a big risk to take, but thankfully, mercifully, he made the shot and killed the most dangerous enemy on the map.

XCOM 2 also seems to have a split personality. Most of the missions have a turn timer, which means you have to hurry, but also, enemies are so fucking dangerous that it's almost impossible to move quickly. This turns most battles into a tight balance between getting the objective done quickly and moving safely. I can't wait to play some more and continue my battle against the alien invaders.

Skylanders Swap Force

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

It's been a while since we played this one, but as usual, Sunday morning is daddy/daughter video game time. We flew towards Kaos' fortress to save our friend. To get there, we had to destroy some sheepshooters, which are giant sheep canons...

I used Hex, the grim Skylander, throughout the entire level. She's got some awesome skills, but she can be sometimes hard to use because she's quite slow and doesn't have that much health. For example, she can put up a wall of spiked skulls that act as a shield. She also has a rapid fire ranged attack, but it doesn't deal much damage. Her most powerful attack is a bit like artillery. It takes a long time to charge up, but it hits like a fucking truck.

This boss was pretty tough to beat!

When we reached the end of the level, we were confronted by Kaos' mother, a powerful portal master. I had to battle a series of increasingly difficult enemies, then a boss that had lots of hit points. At some points in the battle, the mother hid inside MY portal! To find her, we had to take off the toy from the portal, which my daughter found absolutely hilarious. That's when Skylanders is at it's best, when it makes the plastic toys relevant to the gameplay. We captured the mother and trapped her inside a large mirror. Kaos is the only one left now, so I'm pretty sure we're headed towards the final level of the game. 

XCOM 2

Date played: February 6th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 10/10

Back in 2012, XCOM: Enemy Unknown was my favorite game of the year. Last year, when I heard that there was a sequel in the works, I couldn't have been more excited! Finally, XCOM 2 is out and it's one of the rare games that I had to buy on it's release day. After the events of the first game, humanity has been enslaved by it's alien invaders. There's a new political power called Advent that acts as a link between the humans and the aliens. It's also quite clear that some humans have been "transformed" into aliens. They look almost human, except for their deformed, horrific faces.

It's finally here!

The resistance, XCOM, is trying to take out Advent. Their only real tool is the Avenger, a large airship that lets the team travel around the world. It wasn't long before I had a small team of 4 soldiers and I was heading into the field to destroy alien scum.

XCOM 2 is fucking ruthless. Aliens are very dangerous, always deadly and smarter than you would expect... They flank, position themselves well and use every ability to make the player's life a fucking nightmare. Of the 4 or 5 battles I've fought, I've lost 4 soldiers already... The worst part is, once a unit is dead, they just don't come back.

I spent some time customizing my characters with my daughter's help. Of course, this means I now have a completely pink lady and some brightly colored armor for my squad. As in the first game, there is also a large base to customize and maintain. If one thing is true about XCOM, it's that there's never enough money, never enough time and never enough people... I completed a few research projects, including some gooey alien autopsies, and gained a few new abilities. I just can't wait to get back into the game and bask in it's cruel, dangerous world.

SteamWorld Heist

Piper is now level 9

Date played: February 6th
Platform: 3DS
Session fun rating: 8/10

The third area is filled with dangerous Vectron enemies, the new type of robot I unleashed when I defeated the Red Queen. These guys are very dangerous, mainly because they can teleport anywhere in the map and are often shielded by floating orbs that float around. I played about 4 levels, none of which were too hard.

Piper is now level 9, and most of the rest of my squad is 7 or 8. I'm pretty sure level 10 is the maximum, so I must be nearing the end of the game. I replaced all my weapons and some of my gear, though I can't seem to get a better weapon than the minigun I gave Beatrix.

Rocket League

Date played: February 5th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 8/10

My youngest brother and two of his friends came over to chill last night and we ended up playing lots of Rocket League. We made a team of 3 then headed online for some challenge. We played ok, but honestly, I think we were all a little tired, and maybe slightly drunk, because we didn't win very often.

One of our few great plays of the night, I score a beautiful aerial goal

My brother's friend is a great goalie, so that helped keep us in the game more often than not, but it wasn't enough, we just weren't hot like we normally are. We still had a couple of good games and more than a few awesome plays. I actually had one of my highest aerial goals yet, I was almost at the ceiling when I shot the ball... I've recently starting using the kicks and flips during aerial shots. It's actually pretty tricky to pull off and I'm gonna need more practice, but it helps stabilize the car when flying high.

Rocket League

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

Assholes suck donkey balls.

Last night, I played a few rounds of Rocket League. I played with a dude called Needlz and this motherfucker has no skill. Usually, that's not really a problem, but the problem with this guy is that he would only go for demolitions. Don't get me wrong, demolitions are a useful tool in certain situations, I've done it myself many times. However, this guy was doing it just for the fun of it, he didn't care if he won or not.

What this meant is that the game was just messy. It was hard for either team to get some real plays going, since he would be in the way all the time. I still won most of my matches against him and his team, but it wasn't as fun...

I score the lone goal of a 10 minute game

There was one game that went on for over 10 minutes... After the 5 minutes of regulation, it was still 0-0, so we went to overtime. It took another 5 minutes before I scored the winning goal. It was fucking glorious... I managed to outflank the other team who had just made a huge attack, then I rushed the ball as fast as I could and slammed her into the net. It was very satisfying... 

SteamWorld Heist

Date played: February 4th
Platform: 3DS
Session fun rating: 9/10

As I watched my Ottawa Senators slide into another humiliating defeat, I played a couple of levels of SteamWorld Heist, completing the second world. The first level I played was nothing special, just a normal little romp through another enemy ship from the Queen's army.

The next level however, was a huge battle against the Red Queen herself! This was easily the biggest, longest battle I've had in the game so far... The Queen has lots of HP, a teleport ability and a pair of powerful pistols. While she wasn't too hard on her own, she called in some reinforcements, including two of the previous bosses...

The Red Queen

I fought tooth and nail for a long time with this one. Sally bit the dust later in the mission, but I managed to take down the Red Queen anyway, though I didn't get all the stars for the level. Beatrix is now using a very nice minigun that deals very good damage and has long range, but she can't use it after moving, so I have to position her well to take advantage of this amazing weapon.

Once we beat the Red Queen, we found the technological artifact that had been stolen by Chop Sue. It turns out, it's a robot that comes from a group of robots that want to destroy all others... Bad news! So the next world has our team chasing after this little evil guy, so I can't wait to see what kind of enemies I'll fight.

Rocket League

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

When I bought the PC version of Rocket League, I thought it was because it would be prettier. I mean, don't get me wrong, it is prettier, but it turns out that there's another little feature that makes a huge difference.

The keyboard.

I never even thought about it before, but I realize that I'm chatting with other players a lot more on the PC version because of the keyboard. Voice chat is kind of inconvenient to be honest, so almost no one uses it, but there's lots of text chatter between goals and after matches. Last night, I made a couple of new friends...

El Che Meow has the top hat, mrgan.cav has the halo and I'm the yellow one

It all started on the Wasteland map. I was paired with a couple of guys named El Che Meow and mrgan.cav. As mrgan.cav would put it, we were a real dream team! While none of us was absolutely amazing, together, we made a very powerful team. Meow was more of a goalie, though he supported the attack when needed. mrgan.cav was a rusher/brawler, getting in close to the action and working close to the goal, while I was more of a long range attacker, pushing the ball in deep and making long goals.

I had an amazing time with these guys. We only lost one match, and it was a real close one. I hope I get to play with them again, we are friends on Steam now, so that should make it easier.

Yoshi's Woolly World

Date played: February 2nd
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 8/10

I had to stay home with my daughter today because she was sick, so we spent a bit of time playing Yoshi together. We played 3 levels in the 5th world. Everything is snow and ice themed! Frozen Solid and Chilled featured lots of ice blocks, some water spitting fish, a watermelon that lets Yoshi spit out ice breath and freeze enemies, and even a giant whale.

The next level, Flying Carpet Cruise, was really fun. Yoshi rode a flying carpet, which would rise when he jumps and dive when he ducked. I could also control if it went right or left by stepping on the appropriate half of this unusual transportation device. Some of it was pretty difficult, requiring some precise jumping and fast egg throwing. My daughter was enthralled with the smaller, yellow carpets that I stole from Shy Guys.

Flying Carpet Cruise

Finally, we took on the mid-world castle, Big Montgomery's Ice Fort. This place was challenging, but it didn't take too much effort to reach the boss. Along the way, there were some interesting sections where I fought resilient little penguins. The boss was tough too... It marked the return of the giant mole dude, Montgomery. He had some clever snowball attacks, little mole helpers and would even attack from under the floor. 

SteamWorld Heist

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

XCOM 2 is just a few days away and I couldn't be more excited! To curb my turn based strategy needs in the meantime, I have turned to SteamWorld Heist. The game keeps being very satisfying because of it's amazing combat system. My team has now changed to be primarily Piper and her long range sniper shots, Sally with her fast movement and extra shots, and Beatrix, a heavy who can shot twice when she begins a turn without moving.

Sally, Beatrix and Piper

I made my way through a large portion of the second world and I think I'm getting real close to the end of that one. I've upgraded most of my guns and leveled up my main team, but every fight is still a challenge. I beat a mini-boss kinda guy who had strong melee, mostly by moving around quickly and taking full advantage of all my skills. I really like this little game, and it's been a great hockey watching companion.

Assassin's Creed Syndicate

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

I think I might be doing too many side missions and collectible hunting... Most of my time with the game last night was spent capturing the City of London borough. This is easily the biggest borough yet as it must have had twice the amount of activities as previous areas. In fact, I still have a few spots left to clear to capture the whole place.

Along the way, I unlocked two new types of side missions, carriage races and a barehanded fight club. The carriage races are kind of shitty, mainly because these things aren't race cars, they're fucking carts pulled by horses... I completed 3 of those, including one that was set against a train, but I got bored of them quickly. The fight club was a lot more fun though, since combat in Assassin's Creed is always a ton of fun.

The City of London is a beautiful, large borough

I also completed one simple side mission given by one of the people on our train hideout. He had stolen a Gatling gun from the Blighters. That's right, a motherfucking Gatling gun! The mission had me use the big, stationary weapon while riding a train, shooting at enemies and even other trains. It was a pretty cool mission, and it was something I wasn't expecting from this game.