Rocket League

Date played: April 29th
Platform: PC

My youngest brother came over for a couple of hours last night, and a lot of that time was spent playing hoops in Rocket League. We made a really good basketball team together. We had great synergy, completing each other's passes and keeping pressure on the opposing team. We won quite a bit, though we were pitted against against some great players more often than we would have liked.

I score a goal with the van as my brother retreats to defend our net

Hoops is wonderful to play with a friend, and it made me think of other ways to play Rocket League that could be cool. For example, I keep thinking of a double sized arena, with 6 players on each team or something. Maybe a football inspired game would be good too, with a net set up high in the air like field goals.

Far Cry Primal

Date played: April 28th
Platform: PS4

I finished Far Cry Primal!

First, I went to do the quest that Dah had given me to kill three Izila sisters, but it was really simple. So soon enough, I was infiltrating the Udam homeland. The road led me through a large cavern system, killing Udam soldiers along the way. When I got out, I went straight to the only bonfire in the area and captured it. I was ready to storm Ull's cave.

Ull's cave was rather large, featuring many twisting passages and a maze of rooms. I stayed in stealth as much as possible and made my way to Ull himself, deep inside the cave. The boss battle itself was pretty long, and pretty difficult, but it was a bit easier than the Batari fight for me. While Ull is very strong and has devastating melee attacks, he moves really slow. He called in reinforcements a lot, which were a bit of a problem, but I handled it by moving quickly around the cavernous arena.

My beasts died repeatedly though, since Ull is so strong, I peppered the bad guy with arrows and spears, throwing the occasional fire bomb and sting bomb. I used berserk bombs on the reinforcements, forcing Ull to fight them off. I also made large icicles fall on the villain to stun him and inflict heavy damage. I was running out of materials and weapons, but I took Ull out for good.

As he lay dying, he rushed to his nearby infant, saying that if he was going to die, he would bring his child with him, threatening to stab the baby in the head with a knife... That's when his older daughter, who looks to be about 8 or 9 years old, showed up. When Ull saw her, he showed that he's more than just a barbaric cannibal. He handed the baby to Takkar and pleaded with him to take care of his children. He then died as Takkar took the infant in his hands.

Takkar brought the two children back to the village to be raised as Wenja. Everyone cheered and danced, celebrating their newfound freedom from oppression! I also visited Dah, whose health was getting worse and worse. He asked Takkar to end his misery and kill him before he became too sick to function.

Ull, dying in front of his daughter

After the credits, there was a great little scene... Ull's daughter is shown facing a cave bear, and taming it! She then smiled at the camera before the image faded... It was a really cool little detail and my first thought was that it could be the setup for a potential sequel. That little girl has a lot of personality, even if she doesn't say a word. She is strong, brave, courageous and independent. I would love to see a game set 15 years after the events of Primal where the little girl is the hero.

Far Cry Primal surprised me. It was a lot better than I ever expected it to be and it captured my interest throughout. Sure, some of the side missions were a bit repetitive, but combat was a lot of fun and the available tools added lots of diversity.

Civilization Beyond Earth

Date played: April 28th
Platform: PC

Civilization is a dangerous game for me. When I start playing, I find it very difficult to stop. I have only played one full game of Beyond Earth when it first came out and haven't touched it since. Yesterday, I was in the mood for some slow ass, strategic, turn based gaming, so I booted it up.

I picked my starting bonuses and founded my first colony in a bay. It's been way too long since I played, and this is a very complex video game, so I stumbled around, trying to figure out what to do. I ended up creating a couple of explorers and soldiers, then started building infrastructure for my city. I soon had a worker who improved the land nearby as well.

The aliens kicked my ass

If there's one thing I fucking hate about Beyond Earth, it's Miasma. This is the green gas that damages any units that end a turn on the tile. This limits exploration and slows down expansion. I tried fighting a horde of aliens to the South-East of my capital with some basic soldiers, but I was clearly outgunned. Honestly, I feel like I didn't start the game well, and I just might start over, now that I've reacquainted myself with Beyond Earth.

Another thing that is very difficult about Beyond Earth is the insane tech tree. There are so many options here, it's crazy. I managed to set up a new outpost which should turn into a city soon enough, and I set up a trade route, but I still feel like I fucked up and that I should start over...

Far Cry Primal

Date played: April 27th
Platform: PS4

Batari is dead.

I rode a mammoth, smashed the gates that protected the Izila homeland and explored the area for a while. I had to save some Wenja, so that they could help me assault Batari's fortress. The three locations were almost like small outposts, so I approached them the same way. My black panther and owl have been very useful as usual. After clearing the three areas and saving some Wenja, I captured a bonfire then headed towards the fortress for the final assault.

When I got there, Takkar and the Wenja had to make a huge obelisk drop to create a bridge into the final area. After the bridge was in place, I assault the Izila.  In my opinion, this was easily the coolest moment in the game. Takkar put on the mask of Krati and a fucking cool song came on, with lyrics and everything. To top it all off, the mask of Krati scared the shit out of every enemy... They fled from Takkar as I heartlessly massacred every last one of them. It was very violent, but also tons of fun and so satisfying!

After this brief sequence, I reached Batari, who grabbed me, smashed the mask of Krati and retreated to a large altar to fight me. I couldn't reach her spot, so I fought her mainly with arrows and sting bombs. She attacked with fire arrows that hit me very hard, so I had to be careful and heal often. When her health reached certain intervals, she would call the Izila to her aid, and a horde of enemies would show up to hinder my progress.

I fought them, but it was difficult, since Batari was still on my ass. My tiger even died at one point, so I called in the Scar Bear to take over. Batari never managed to kill me though, and in the end, I got close to her and stabbed her in the throat as she spewed religious non sense. I then strangled her for a bit, held her in the fire as she burned alive. That bitch won't hurt the Wenja anymore.

Fuck you, Batari!

I went back to my village and was congratulated by my fellow Wenja. Dah had a new mission to give me, where I now have to kill some Izila "sisters". Roshani wanted to contribute to the tribe now that the Izila were no longer a threat, so Takkar put him in charge of agriculture. Finally, my hunter friend, Jayma, decided that she needed to go back to the wilderness and left the village for good.

Rocket League

Date played: April 27th
Platform: PC

I boost above the crowd to slam the ball into the net

Here's the recipe for a great evening of Rocket League.

Ingredients:
-1 domed arena
-1 giant ball
-2 nets
-6 rocket powered cars
-6 enthusiastic players
-1 good internet connection

1- Boot and warm up your PC or console.
2- Get comfortable. Bring water or an alcoholic beverage to fuel your session.
3- Connect a controller and launch the game.
4- Find a match. For a good experience, we recommend 3v3 standard mode.
5- Smile and play all night!

This will turn Rocket League into the equivalent of comfort food. It will help you reduce stress, improve your motor skills and develop your tactical thought process. You might even make friends along the way. Enjoy!

DiRT Rally

Date played: April 26th
Platform: PC

DiRT Rally is a murderous son of a bitch of a game. It wants the player to fail. And that's ok, but boy, it's fucking hard.

I started the next rally and bought myself a new car, this time, in the 1970's class. I went with the Opel Kadett, after testing out the cars in free mode. This is a RWD car, which means that the rear end of the car is a fucking wild untameable beast... The others in the class were similar, but even harder to handle. I had so much trouble, I even switched from manual transmission to automatic.

The Opel Kadett is a wild creature who refuses to be tamed

I played for about an hour, and only managed to complete 3 stages with decent times. When I say decent, I mean 3rd place... I have no hope in hell of getting in first place yet. The rally itself isn't even that hard! It's on gravel, it's pretty wide open and it's not full of treacherous cliffs or worse, snow and ice.

Every moment, I felt like I was riding a savage beast that refused to be tamed by a mere human. The monstrous roar of the engines, the bone rattling shake of the chassis, the furious spin of the wheels, everything conspires against my success. I always felt like my run was on the brink of collapse, like a cowboy at a rodeo who got unlucky and had to ride the fiercest of bulls. It was fun, it was scary and when I made it to the end of a stage intact, it felt very rewarding, even if I was 3rd place. I love DiRT Rally, but holy shit it's demanding.

Rocket League

Date played: April 26th
Platform: PC

I outplay everyone and score a breakaway goal

Well, I had a very normal, very average night of Rocket League. I was pretty solid overall, scoring a good amount of goals and gettings a few saves and assists. I ended up playing with a guy named Float Like A Butterfly for most of the evening. We had pretty good chemistry together and won quite a bit. He has an aggressive, but relatively safe style and would read the field well. I had a lot of fun playing with that guy...

Far Cry Primal

Date played: April 25th
Platform: PS4

The Snowblood Wolf is now mine. His pack is dead, Takkar has conquered nature! The wolf hunt was a bit different than the other hunts because I had to hunt two special wolves before fighting the third and final wolf.

The area where the wolves hunt is a swampy, often foggy place. It's also overrun with Izila and wolves, so it's quite dangerous. Once I followed the tracks of the first wolf, I set up some traps and attacked it with my owl, then chased it in a way that would lead him to my traps. I barely attacked it and it died from the traps. The second wolf was messier... I ended up just fighting it directly with my club and spears with my tiger to back me up.

The final wolf was also messy, but he went down rather quickly. I was then able to tame, completing my collection of beasts. The Snowblood Wolf looks fucking cool with it's white, blood tainted fur, but unfortunately, it's not really useful. Nothing beats my sabretooth...

The wolf hunt area is gorgeous!

I spent the rest of my time clearing this area. I captured a bonfire and an outpost, and completed a bunch of simple side missions. When I captured the outpost, I went super stealthy, sending in my owl for recon, dropping a bunch of berserk bombs and opening up a few leopard cages. This created enough carnage that that I didn't have to lift a finger to win. The enemies beat each other up, and the leopards cleaned up the rest... It was a cool moment.

For completing the side missions, I received my final 2 skill points! I will definitely get the platinum trophy for this game, the only two trophies I have left are to kill Batari and Ull, the enemy tribe leaders. It's really rare that I get platinum trophies for games... This will be my 3rd of all time, so that says a lot about how much I love this game.

Rocket League

Date played: April 25th
Platform: PC

Swish!

Rocket League has added a basketball mode, and it's fucking amazing! This is a 2v2 mode set on a smaller map with two large, suspended hoops at each end. The ball must enter the hoop from above to score, and the bottom of the net acts as a wall for the ball, but can be driven through by the cars. The hoop is high enough that aerial play is very useful, but low enough that a good bounce or ball lift from below can still score.

I score a goal from the tip off !

It works a lot better than I expected. It's also very difficult to score, since corner shots are all but impossible and full speed shots are not very useful. The faceoff is different also, In fact, it's not even a faceoff, it's a tip off, with the ball lifting high up in the air just like in basketball. This means that a good start requires aerials. I was actually pretty damn good at the faceoffs, scoring a few times and generally gaining an advantage.

The very best plays had one player shoot the ball at high speeds to make it bounce, then having the second player jump in the air and hit the ball in the air into the net. There are a bunch of cool little details to the mode too. The arena "feels" like a basketball court, the music is more hip-hop than EDM and the ball looks like a basketball.

But by far, the single best detail in this whole thing is the sound the cars make when they hit the court... When the cars hit the court at an angle, turn quickly, or when they land roughly, there's the sound of a sneaker on hardwood squeaking that plays! I just fucking love this little detail, it's amazing.

Ratchet & Clank

Date played: April 24th
Platform: PS4

With my daughter, I played through 2 planets of Ratchet & Clank. Nebula G34 isn't actually a planet, it's more of a space station in an asteroid field. The two heroes had three objectives. Find the top-secret Blarg research project., journey outside the airlock and search the Blarg Warship for weapons.

I started with the the secret Blarg research project, so I made my way through the facility, fighting a bunch of enemies. I'm really liking the Pixelizer, which acts as a shotgun. It's powerful, has decent range and it makes the enemies pixelated for a little while. I'm burning through ammo rather quickly though, there are a lot of enemies around... This is good though because it forces me to switch it up and use different weapons.

Soon enough, I reached a large room and a very big boss, a green creature that spits fire and tramples around the area. It took me some time, but I abused the Groovitron and the Proton Drum, with Mr. Zurkon constantly firing. It was a really fun fight because the boss had a lot of health, so I got a chance to use all my weapons and shoot like crazy!

I fight the Blargian Snagglebeast boss

Next, I went outside the airlock as Clank where I had to solve a few puzzles which led me to a pair of magnetic boots for Ratchet, allowing him to climb up some metallic ramps, defying gravity. I also searched the Blarg Warship which rewarded me with the Predator Launcher, a powerful homing rocket.

The duo got into their ship and headed for planet Gaspar. As usual, each new planet is a wonderful sight to behold. This rocky planet features many turrets for enemies to shoot me with, so I had to be careful in combat here. Grenades work well against them, or quickly flanking and using the Pixelizer. There were many difficult battles here, and I died a few times... At the end of the route, I found the grind boots, which allow Ratchet to grind on rails to traverse parts of the level that weren't available before.

Grinding rails is dumb, but so much fucking fun! It looks spectacular and it gives a great sense of speed, so I loved grinding around on Gaspar. This led me to a new area where I found the coolest gadget so far, a fucking jetpack! This thing requires fuel refills, so it's not like I can use it all the time, but it allows for unprecedented freedom of movement around the level.

I spent the rest of my time hunting for brains in the level... There is a scientist that asked me to bring him some who rewarded my collecting efforts me with information for my next level and some bolts. To find the brains, I had to explore every nook and cranny of the level, and fight some dangerous creatures called Telepathopus. These things are like giant floating jellyfish that shoot balls of lighting at Ratchet... They are pretty tough to fight, and I used my Predator Launcher liberally to take them out.

I also used a new weapon that I bought on Gaspar, the Plasma Striker. This thing is essentially a sniper rifle, so I used it often to soften up enemies from a distance before going in for the kill. I managed to find 78 of 80 brains in the level, but I just couldn't find the last two. I know there's an item later that will show them on the map, so I'll have to move on and wait for this item to complete this planet.

Life Is Strange

Date played: April 24th
Platform: PS4

I played through a good portion of Episode 2. It starts off with Max waking up in the morning and going to take a shower. On the way to the dorm's shower room, lots of stuff happened. I found out that a viral video of Kate, the conservative Christian girl, was going around. Apparently, she went to a party with the Vortex Club and now there's a video of her making out with tons of people.

This seemed very much out of character for Kate, so I went to speak with her and it turns out, she only had one drink and some water. She doesn't remember much except that she felt sick at one point. That's when Nathan Prescott offered her some help. I think that Kate was drugged without her knowledge, and possible raped... I offered Kate to help her find evidence of this before calling the police, since the Prescott's are such powerful people. Kate also seems to be extremely depressed. She's not in her usual good mood, she stopped practicing violin and is keeping to herself a lot. I'm worried that she might be contemplating suicide...

Max had agreed to meet Chloe for breakfast at the Whales Diner. This is where Chloe's mother Joyce works. My friend was late, so I chatted with her a bit, spent some time talking to the people in the diner and put some music on at the jukebox. When Chloe arrived, we ate together, then we played with Max's time powers for a bit... For example, I predicted the next 30 seconds of events for her, and I guessed what was in her pockets.

Excited at the prospect of fucking around with time, Chloe and Max head out to the junkyard to experiment. It turns out, Chloe had stolen a revolver from David, her stepdad, so she proposed that we play with the gun, using time powers to hit 6 bottles with 6 bullets. I explored the junk yard to find some bottles, and I found out that Chloe and Rachel had hung out in this place often.

Once I had the bottles, Chloe shot, then I rewinded time to tell her how to adjust her aim based on her future shot. We even did a few trick shots, like hitting a car's tires to make it fall on the bottles. Just as Max was about to try the gun. we were interrupted by a man, Frank, who heard the gunshots and came over to see what was going on. It turns out, this dude is a drug dealer, and Chloe owes him a ton of cash...

He threatened us, asking Chloe for his money. Max aimed the gun at him, but when he came closer, I chose not to shoot. I just feel like it wouldn't fit Max's character. Frank stole the gun from my hands and left. Max passed out just after this, her nose bleeding, and had another short vision of the giant storm. I have a feeling that using the time powers has a physical cost for Max...

The two girls walked together for a bit and sat down on the train tracks for a while. As always, this is a bad idea. Chloe gets her foot stuck in the rails and of course, a fucking train is coming... I scrambled around the area to find a way to move the rail. After opening a door with a crowbar, getting a pair of pliers and cutting a wire in a fuse box, I was able to free Chloe. I had to rewind time often to prevent my friend's death... With these stressful events behind her, Max returns to school for class.

I have a bad feeling about this whole game. Like, I feel like shit will go wrong no matter what. For example, I've saved Chloe's life twice now, and it sure feels like Death hovers above her head. I'm not sure she is meant to live... Also, Kate's mental state is really worrying...

Ratchet & Clank

Date played: April 23rd
Platform: PS4

My brother was interested in seeing the new Ratchet & Clank game, so we played through a planet together, Rilgar. First, I had to escape some sewers, so I fought my way through hordes of slimy enemies. The flamethrower and the pulsating bombs were my main weapons, though of course, Mr. Zurkon was always around.

A few of the segments had me transferring water from one section to the next while fighting. Then, a long sequence forced me to run as fast as I could to escape the rising water in the sewers, including a good amount of underwater swimming.

I bought a couple of new weapons too. I got the infamous Groovitron, which makes enemies dance for a while, rendering them useless temporarily. It even worked against some large tanks! It's fucking hilarious to use and I just want to use it all the time because of how the enemies dance. I also got a sort of shotgun, the pixelizer, though I didn't get a chance to try that one yet.

Ratchet won the hoverboard race on Rilgar!

After I escaped the sewers, I entered the hoverboard race. I've heard people complain on the internet that this mission is too hard, but honestly, I won the three cups without much effort on my first attempt. The controls are good, there's tons of speed and the boosting system is fun to use. I'm headed to another planet now, and I can't wait to see what it looks like!

Rocket League

Date played: April 23rd
Platform: PC

My youngest brother came over and we ended up playing a lot of 3v3 Rocket League. We made a very good team, as usual, but we were paired up against some strong players, so every game was a big battle. We had a couple of blowout games, including a sexy 7-0 victory, but for the most part, we had to fight for every inch.

My brother and I wore tiaras and matching white stripes

We also played a bit of ranked mode, and I'm pretty high rank, so that was even more difficult, but also really fun. Finally, we played a little bit of hockey mode. I was a lot better at it than the last time I tried, scoring good goals from a distance and using the lower friction of the puck to my advantage. Next week, there will be an update that adds a basketball mode, so that should be really interesting!

Life Is Strange

Date played: April 23rd
Platform: PS4

I completed the first episode of Life Is Strange. Max found the tools she needed in the garage, but also discovered that Chloe's stepdad had installed security cameras inside the house, even in the rooms... Her camera now fixed, the two girls chatted a bit when suddenly, David Madsen, the stepdad and security guard, came barging into the room to bitch at Chloe about her loud music.

This scene was pretty rough... He also found a joint in the room, which Chloe blamed on me. At first, I told David that it wasn't mine and David slapped Chloe in the face! Chloe looked like she was really let down by me, so I rewinded time and decided to take the blame. The two girls fled through the window after he left and headed to the lighthouse for some quiet time together.

Max and Chloe at the lighthouse

The lighthouse was the same as in my dreams, except there was no giant storm this time. Chloe and Max had a heartfelt conversation about their lives, but also the events in the bathroom with Nathan. It turns out, Chloe owes lots of money for drugs or something, so that's what the fighting was about. She was also close friends with Rachel, the girl who went missing.

Finally, Max had another vision, again, at the lighthouse. Using a newspaper, she figured out that this was a vision of the future. In a few days, the town would be engulfed in a giant storm that would threaten everyone's lives... I can't wait to see where this story goes next.

DiRT Rally

Date played: April 22nd
Platform: PC

I played a full, 4 stage rally with the Mini in Monaco. This rally has 4 stages, and most of them were on tarmac, so it was quite different from what I've played before. I'm really starting to trust the Mini, which is scary because I know I'm gonna have to learn how to drive a RWD car soon for the 1970's series...

I did very good times on the tarmac stages, getting first place in the first three stages. Monaco has a ton of tight corners, crazy hairpins and lots of dangerous spots, but it was nothing compared to the last stage. That's where half the stage is tarmac, with patches of ice, while the second half is all on ice. Ice is a real fucking bitch to drive on and it took me many attempts to simply keep the car on the road, let alone get a good time. I made it eventually, and won the rally.

Rallycross is really intense

After this, I was promoted to the Clubman level and I'll get to try out a different car in my next rally. I decided to try something different before that though, so I played a Rallycross event. Rallycross is very different than rally, since there are multiple cars on the tracks and they feature very short circuits. There are 4 qualifying heats, a semi-final and a final. I was happy with getting second or third place during the qualifying and the semi-final, but on the final, I absolutely wanted to win.

This became a gruelling battle where every inch and every millisecond counts. I fought hard, I drove fast and after many attempts, I got the first place finish, jumped up in the air and screamed out a satisfying "FUCK YEAH!". It felt great to succeed, since this game is so damn hard.

Far Cry Primal

Date played: April 21st
Platform: PS4

I'm getting real close to the end here... When I look at my map, all I have left are the final missions to kill Ull and Batari and the wolf hunt. I'm only missing a few trophies too, so I'm definitely going for the platinum trophy here.

I played a few missions for both Dah, the Udam warrior who has joined the Wenja village, and Roshani, the converted Izila. The Wenja weren't happy at all that I brought Dah back to the village, so they tied him up and took him to a waterfall to drown him...

Takkar didn't agree, so I went to save Dah from my own tribespeople. He was placed on a rock in a way that he would eventually drown as the water level rose from the waterfall. The only way I could save him was to plug some holes in the rock to stop water from pouring out of them. I had to be pretty quick, but I swam around and plugged the holes, then carried Dah to safety. This was a really good scene because Takkar showed real leadership and made a good speech for the Wenja, protecting Dah in the process.

Batari

Dah is a fucked up dude though. He complained of a fire in his head, asking Takkar to dig a small hole in his skull to let the fire out... After the gruesome scene, he asked me to find some bone dust to help him dull the "fire". I went North to a Udam village, killed everyone and searched the place for bone dust. When I brought it back to Dah, he was very grateful. I upgraded his hut and got a bunch of new skills too.

I spent some time in the Southern portion of the map, clearing out all the remaining side missions that were visible. I'm getting real close to having all the skills, I'm only missing two now, and the side missions sometimes award a skill point. There was nothing too special here, I hunted some badgers, burned a camp and saved some Wenja.

Then I played a mission for Roshani where I had to interrupt a sacrificial ritual. A princess was scheduled to kill a Wenja as a sacrifice to the sun, so I ran in there, killed everyone using many takedowns and interrupted the princess.

Finally, I completed an important story mission for Tensay the shaman. My job was to steal the mask of Krati from the Izila. It was placed on a shrine inside a large Izila settlement hidden in the mountains. I slowly cleared out the area, killing dozens, until I reached the mask. When I did, Batari, the Izila leader, showed up and attempted to kill me. Takkar doesn't go down easy though, he stabbed her in the neck with an arrow and ran away from the camp. Next time I play, I will hunt the legendary wolf...

Rocket League

Date played: April 21st
Platform: PC

My flashy green car with a precise aerial goal!

Before jumping into the world of Oros as Takkar in Far Cry Primal, I played a few rounds of Rocket League. Again, I was pretty fucking hot. I played with some good players and we had smooth games. The ball was moving quickly, there wasn't too many collisions and there was a real rhythm and flow to the play. I scored quite a bit, including a couple of sick aerial goals and a long range pool shot. I had a real blast playing Rocket League last night!

Rocket League

Date played: April 20th
Platform: PC

I didn't have much time to play, but I still managed to get a few solid games in last night. I was actually pretty fucking hot, and was dominating the field in many of my matches. I was faster and more accurate than most of the other players... I had a couple of really cool plays.

I score a beauty with this reverse shot

The funniest is when I knocked an opposing player into the ball, who then hit the ball into their net, or as the game calls it, a pool shot! I also had a very good reverse goal. I'm practicing my reverse technique a bit, since it can be really useful, but it's hard to be accurate. It's starting to pay off every once in a while.

Far Cry Primal

Date played: April 19th
Platform: PS4

I continued to explore the North West area where I fought and killed the Bloodtusk Mammoth. I only had a few side missions left, and some collectibles, but the area is difficult to navigate because of large cliffs and glaciers, so it took me a good amount of time to complete. There was nothing of note in particular, with the side missions being the usual. I burned down an Udam camp, I hunted some woolly rhinos and I escorted some Wenja to safety.

Next, I completed more side missions near the Udam's main base, clearing out all the side missions I had left in the area. I killed some Udam leaders, saved some Wenja and climbed a huge cliff by jumping on logs to traverse deep crevasses. This was a very cool area, with lots of great views, violent takedown opportunities and a great atmosphere.

I've basically cleared all of the North area at this point, except for the fort and the main mission to kill Ull. I decided it was a good time to attack the Udam fort, led by a man named Dah. The fort was well defended... It had only a few entry points, lots of strong enemies and not much room to navigate. I stayed far away, sent in my owl and bombed the shit out of the Udam with fire bombs and bees.

Takkar had a friendly conversation with Dah

When Dah was the last man standing, I attacked him but I stayed at a distance because he was surrounded by poisonous gas. I hit him with a few spears, sent in my tiger, threw some bees at him and set up a few traps. When I defeated him, I brought him back to the Wenja village to force him to teach us how to make poison bombs. It was a lot of fun, and I'm definitely getting closer and closer to the end. I even hit the XP cap, so to get the last few remaining skills, I must complete side missions that award skill points.

Life Is Strange

Date played: April 19th
Platform: PS4

After the quiet introduction in the photography classroom, things took a very violent, disturbing turn. Max went to the bathroom to freshen up, when suddenly, Nathan, a student in the school's elite, came in and started talking to himself, giving himself a sort of pep talk. Then a blue haired girl came in and started threatening him, though it wasn't super clear why. With a bit of a crazy look in his eyes, Nathan took a gun out and shot the girl!

That's when the game's main mechanic was revealed. Max can reverse time at will, but can only go back a few minutes. She can also carry objects and information back in time. So I reversed time back to the classroom and tried to get out of there quickly to reach the bathroom. This led to some interesting conversations where I used information gained to reply to people and tell them what they wanted to hear. It's a very cool mechanic and it's interesting to see how things change based on my dialogue choices.

I eventually reached the bathroom event and pulled the fire alarm before the girl was shot. After they left, I was intercepted by both the school's security guard and the principal. The guard seems like a real asshole with a superiority complex, while the principal wants to protect Nathan because his family funds the school a lot. At first, I told the principal about the gun, but when it was clear he wouldn't be helpful, I reversed time and chose not to tell him about the bathroom event.

There was a long segment where I explored the school's main outdoor area and the dorm. I had many conversations with students and such. There's a girl, Rachel Amber who has gone missing for months. There was an amazing little segment where the rich bitches wouldn't let Max through to the dorm, so I used my time powers to sprinkle them with water, then cover them in paint so that they would move. I also resolved a fight between two girls by stealing an email from Victoria, the rich bitch who I recently covered in paint.

Many of the stories and characters are very interesting and fun to interact with. There's a lot of high school drama of course, but the characters are mostly believable, but a little bit exaggerated. This whole time, I had to get a flash drive back to my friend Warren, so after all this, went to meet him in the parking lot.

Unfortunately, Nathan interrupted us and threatened Max with the gun, because she had interrupted him in the bathroom. Out of nowhere, the girl with blue hair showed up in a pickup truck and told me to get in to get away from Nathan. Warren got a beating from Nathan in the process, so that was horrible...

Max and Chloe after they escaped the parking lot incident

It turns out, the girl with blue hair is actually Chloe, Max's estranged best friend. They caught up a bit, but it's rough. Chloe's dad died a while ago, and her mom got a new boyfriend. Chloe has become a bit of a loser, smoking lots of weed, having a trashy room, a bad attitude and a very negative outlook on life in general, but she still seems to be a good person deep down. The two friends went back to Chloe's house together and chatted a bit. During the confrontation in the parking lot, Max broke her instant camera, so she wants to find tools to fix it.

That's where I stopped playing, but I'm excited to see more of this game. The story is really the best part, but the time manipulation stuff makes it more interesting as a video game. I think I'm really close to the end of Episode 1, and there are 5 episodes.

Rocket League

Date played: April 18th
Platform: PC

I didn't spend much time playing video games last night, but I still managed a few Rocket League matches, and it felt great! I was pretty average, not scoring tons of goals and missing the ball quite a bit, but still making decent plays.

My friend Razzor flies over me to deflect the ball

At one point, I got a message from one of my Steam friends, Razzor, who wanted to play a couple of matches with me, so we paired up and did some 2v2 together. We actually played pretty well, but we got matched against some highly skilled players. One guy in particular was absolutely amazing at aerial shots, and from anywhere on the fucking field. He was a really tough player to compete with. We still did well, but we didn't win much.

Far Cry Primal

Date played: April 18th
Platform: PS4

I met Karoosh, my faithful warrior friend, in the Northern part of the map to help him get revenge against Mog, the Udam who killed the warrior's brother. Basically, this was just a big killing mission, where I slayed dozens of Udam with Karoosh.

Next, I went to the North West and tackled the Bloodtusk Mammoth hunt, one of the legendary beasts. The area is really cool, it's filled with deep valleys and big rock formations and mountains. The Mammoth left a trail of death in it's wake, so it was easy to follow it's tracks and find it. I set it on fire, sent my tiger and peppered the giant mammal with arrows. I managed to avoid taking heavy damage by using a large rock as cover.

Takkar hunts the Bloodtusk Mammoth

Sure enough, the mammoth ran away after I damaged it enough, so I chased after it and killed it off with arrows and spears. In an emotional scene, Takkar ends the beast by stabbing it in the neck or head as the mammoth grunted with pain. That mammoth didn't mean any harm, it was just scared, but it had to be stopped...

After killing the mammoth, I spent a good amount of time exploring this new area, gathering collectibles, replenishing my material stash and discovering new locations. I also took out a bonfire and an outpost. The outpost was a lot of fun, since I decided to try a new strategy that was suggested by one of my Twitch followers. In order to get the stealth XP bonus, the person suggested that I stay far back, then use my owl to bomb the place with bees and fire bombs.

Turns out, that shit worked really well, especially since this outpost was surrounded by awesome high points, making it easy to manage my owl's bombing runs. I killed them all, I got the stealth bonus and I had fun doing it!

DiRT Rally

Date played: April 17th
Platform: PC

Still riding my 1970's Mini Cooper, I completed two rallies, each with 4 stages. I am starting to feel better behind the wheel of the Mini, and I can push the car a bit harder without being reckless, so that's a good sign. I actually managed to come in 2nd place for the rally, including one stage where I was 1st! I felt really good about my performance, I've been steadily improving.

It seemed like the second rally knew all of this, and decided to fuck with me by giving me a snowy track... As can be expected, snow is slippery, and grip isn't as good as on gravel. But that's not even the dangerous part!  The trickiest part of racing in snow are the snow banks on the side of the road. The physics in the game are very well made, so much that getting a wheel off the road into the snow is almost guaranteed to spin out the car, as would happen in a real car...

Snow banks are deadly

This meant I had to drive fast as usual, but with even less of a margin for error than in other tracks. I ended up doing really well here, but it wasn't easy. I actually placed first for the whole rally which made me really happy and proud. In some corners, I did hit the snow banks, but managed to recover, albeit sloppily.  I'm scared of driving a faster car...

Ratchet & Clank

Date played: April 16th
Platform: PS4

I played Ratchet & Clank with my daughter yesterday morning. She doesn't know the series, but I thought she would enjoy it. It's got beautiful, colorful environments, cartoon characters and funny enemies. It turns out I made a good call, she loved everything about Ratchet & Clank!

Still on the planet where the Space Rangers are stationed, Ratchet must stop a dangerous train from carrying it's giant bomb to the Space Rangers headquarters. I picked up a new gadget for Clank along the way, which allows the team to jump a little bit higher and also float down from heights. I found the train and jumped on, doing many acrobatic jumps to reach the large bomb. I detached the wagon and saved the day!

My new ship!

For their efforts, Ratchet and Clank were rewarded with an official Space Ranger outfit and ship. We deflowered the new ship by flying to a swampy planet, where we had to save a hoverboard superstar. I purchased a new weapon, my favorite of the entire series, Mr Zurkon. Mr Zurkon is a deployed weapon that automatically attacks enemies for a while. It's great because he's pretty accurate, hits hard enough and stays for a while, making him a great support weapon.

On the swampy planet, I found the hoverboarder, but he wanted me to find his publicist too. I had to fight some new enemies like sand sharks, little animals that burrow in sand. There were also some larger enemies that use flamethrowers and guns. I found a new gadget too, a hydro-displacer, which can be used to carry large amounts of water from room to room. It was used in a few puzzles, but it doesn't seem super interesting so far.

When I found the publicist, I had to defend him from a major attack. As a reward, I received my own hoverboard and can now enter some races with it on a different planet. I love this game a lot...

Super Mario World

Date played: April 16th
Platform: 3DS

I played through all the levels in the 5th world, the Forest of Illusion, and a few levels in the 6th, Chocolate Island during my daughter's dance class. The levels have been getting harder and harder of course, though I haven't had many issues completing them yet.

The Forest of Illusion is filled with secret exits and alternate paths. When I was a kid, I had trouble simply finding my way out of that place. Today, it's easy of course, I've played it so many times, but honestly, finding the right path isn't easy.

Chocolate Island is one of my favorite worlds in the game. The level design is interesting, most of the levels are challenging, and best of all, there are tons of dinosaur enemies, and I love dinosaurs! I made it about halfway through Chocolate Island, so I'm getting close to the end real quick.

Far Cry Primal

Date played: April 14th
Platform: PS4

The Izila must pay for their cruelty to the Wenja!

I took out the large Izila fort on the Southern end of the map. I really fucked up though, I got spotted early on and had to fight dozens of Izila warriors who attacked me from all sides. Plus, many of the enemies were heavies, including a boss character. This guy was very strong, had lots of health and hit hard as fuck. I sent my tiger to fight him while I hammered away at his health with arrows, spears and club hits.

The Izila fort's boss goes down

After taking all of his health, I convinced him to help the Wenja... I brought him back to our village, put him in a cage and tried to get information out of him. I learned how to build a fire bomb, which can be used to put things on fire from a distance. He also gave me info on a way to steal seeds from the Izila so that the Wenja can start farming. I had to find the seeds before the Izila did, so that was a fun new type of mission.

Takkar was now convinced that our new Izila resident could be trusted, so we built him a hut in the village. I upgraded it twice and was able to learn a bunch of new skills related to fire. I now have better resistance against fire damage, I can put my weapons on fire without using animal fat and best of all, once a weapon is set on fire, any subsequent weapons I equip will also be set on fire. What this means is that I can shoot a series of fiery arrows for free, and quickly, resulting in a rain of death and fire on my enemies!

I chose to revisit Urki next, the funny guy with crazy ideas. This time, he wanted to protect himself against bears, so he thought that he should change his odor, thinking it would protect him... I had to gather rhino dung and beehives, then send my brown bear after to attack my naive friend. Results were bad, as expected.

Finally, I spent a few minutes exploring some large hills to the South, getting a few collectibles, finding new areas and getting new spawn points. I also captured a large outpost, increasing my presence in that part of the map.

Life Is Strange

Date played: April 14th
Platform: PS4

After a lot of positive comments about this game on the Giant Bombcast, I kept an eye on it, waiting for a sale. When it came on sale a few weeks ago, I snatched it up, but didn't play it until now. Actually, I barely played it, I only went through the intro and the first room, but I like what I've played so far.

This is the story of Max, a young teenage girl who has recently started studying in a high end photography school. This is an adventure game that feels a lot like the Telltale Walking Dead games, or Tales From The Borderlands.

Max is a normal teenage girl who attends photography school

The intro had Max walk through an ominous forest, trying to reach a lighthouse while in the middle of a gigantic storm. She then woke up in her classroom, apparently daydreaming. I got to read through Max's notebook and learned that she moved away from her family to attend school, though her sister lives in the same city. She is a very reserved girl, but seems relatively balanced emotionally.

I met a few of her classmates too. There's a group of very rich kids, a catholic girl and a dude that she likes in her science class. The photography class professor seems like he will be a central character too. I'm really interested in this game, the characters seem interesting, and I know there's some crazy stuff that will happen, so I can't wait to play more of it.

Rocket League

Date played: April 14th
Platform: PC

Sometimes, I just have to let off some steam, and Rocket League is always a great way to do that. I played a few matches of 3v3 with some random people and I was pretty good. I actually didn't score too much, but I had lots of assists, setting up plays from deep in my own zone.

Rocket League is like comfort food, but in gaming form

For most of the time, I played with another person who was at about the same skill level as me, while we were both a bit better than everyone else on the field. At first, we were on the same team, and that meant that we won everything easily. However, we were soon put on opposite teams, so that was really exciting. We ended up being rivals, but all in good fun. I would block his shots, or cut his angle of attack, or even blow him up, knowing that he was the most dangerous person on the field. It was a real pleasure playing with this guy.

Ratchet & Clank

Date played: April 13th
Platform: PS4

I've been waiting for this game for a long time... Ratchet & Clank has always been one of my favorite series, though I've played the PS3 games more than the PS2 ones. This game is actually a full re-imagining of the first game, which I've only played a few times, and not for very long.

Ratchet, everyone's favorite Lombax, wants to become a Space Ranger and fight for justice, but Captain Quark doesn't think he has what it takes. Meanwhile, in a factory far far away, a little defective robot escapes the production lines, steals a ship and crash lands on Ratchet's home planet. The robot is found by Ratchet, who names him Clank, and they become buddies.

The game looks absolutely gorgeous on PS4, it's really stunning! There are ships flying around, animals lurking, elaborately designed buildings and wacky enemies all over the place. As our little team flew towards the planet where the Space Rangers are stationed, they get shot down by some enemies and crash land on a planet.

So pretty!

They must find someone to repair their ship and save the inhabitants from the bad guys. A good reason to blow shit up right? Ratchet is equipped with his trusty wrench and some fusion grenades. I also bought a pistol, a flame thrower and a weapon that throws a pulsating mine and deals heavy damage. I found a plumber that helped me repair the ship, killed all the enemies and made my way to the next planet.

When we reached our destination, the home of the Space Rangers, we were surprised that some enemy ships were attacking the large city. I got to fight them from my own ship in a great little flight sequence. After winning the battle, Captain Quark himself had no choice but to admit us into the Space Rangers...

The controls are spot on, the music is great and the graphics looks so fucking good... I'm really happy I bought Ratchet & Clank, I'm sure my daughter will appreciate it too.

DiRT Rally

Date played: April 13th
Platform: PC

Holy. Shit.

DiRT Rally is fucking intense man. I played one, 4 stage event set in a forest in England somewhere. I took my trusty Mini to the limit on the gravel roads and managed to place 2nd in the event overall. It took quite an effort though...

I tear it up in the old Mini Cooper

The game is simply terrifying. It feels more tense than most of the horror games I've played... Every single corner is scary. Every bump in the road is a menace. Every tree is a killer in disguise. It was a real challenge to simply stay on the road, let alone set a good time.

But that's what I love about games like this. They push me forward, forcing me to be better and better at each attempt. I loved every moment of my time with the game, I just hope I'll be able to handle the faster cars...

Assassin's Creed Syndicate

Date played: April 12th
Platform: PS4

I finished Assassin's Creed Syndicate!

The last sequence in the game was very well made and was a good culmination of the story. Evie needed a map of Buckingham Palace, but to get it, she had to help the Marahajah. The man had trouble getting in contact with 3 men he does business with, so he asked Evie to steal a royal carriage to pose as their transportation. He would then discuss business with them in the carriage, surprising them with his presence. After I did that, Jacob had to steal a guard's uniform so that Abberdine could wear it, then carry their weapons inside the palace.

The twins were finally ready to attend the Queen's ball, confront Starrick and protect the Shroud. In a really great sequence, Evie gets all dressed up and dances with Starrick, right in the middle of the courtyard, in full view of everyone. Their conversation was wonderfully written, tying in the events of the game into a final, civilized exchange. The great music made the scene even better...

As they danced, Jacob retrieved his weapons then took out Starrick's crew, hidden among the real guards. He then signaled Evie from the rooftops. She attacked her dance mate, but he ran away very quickly. Evie, stuck in her ball gown, couldn't really run, so Jacob came down, gave her clothes and weapons and chased after Starrick. Eventually, this led to the final boss fight as both Jacob and Evie fought the bad guy while he was actually wearing the Shroud.

It turns out, the Shroud is a sort of vest that grants physical protection and regeneration of the body. This made the attacks of the twins rather useless against Starrick. To attack him, there was a shitty mechanic that got in the way of the fun... I had to avoid giant "lasers" generated by the Shroud. While the idea is cool, it was just badly executed. It was hard to figure out where the lasers were going and it just felt kind of unfair. Thankfully, they didn't cause much damage, so I still made it easily, but it wasn't much fun.

Just as the twins were starting to be overwhelmed, Henry Green, Evie's unofficial boyfriend, showed up to save the day. He stunned Starrick long enough for the Frye twins to recover and regroup. They then worked together to remove the Shroud from the opponent's shoulders and killed him. They decided to leave the Shroud there and leave. Evie also decided that it was time to embrace her love for Henry and forget her disagreements with her brother. It was a touching scene, I liked it a lot.

Queen Victoria herself knighted the three heroes and thanked them for their service. She even had 4 extra missions for me that helped to stop the Templars from gaining a foothold in London after Starrick's death.

Overall, I liked Assassin's Creed Syndicate, but it wasn't as fun as Black Flag. The gameplay improvements were great though, as was the setting. I also loved the main characters and the music.

Far Cry Primal

Date played: April 11th
Platform: PS4

I'm making my way down to the Izila fort, on the Southern end of the map. Most of my time was spent completing side quests, like tribal clashes finding lost Wenja. I also captured a couple of outposts and a bonfire, collecting collectibles along the way.

I earned a few trophies along the way, like killing 100 enemies with the spear. My proudest moment is when I received the trophy for killing an enemy with a spear from 50 feet or more. I used the owl to mark an enemy, so that the distance was shown on my screen. Then I got to high ground, aimed slightly higher than my target and hoped for the best. It worked!!!

My 50 foot spear throw!

I'm a bit more aggressive in combat too now, using my take downs, shards, sting bombs and spears more liberally. It's costing me more ressources, but it's worth it I think. I'm also using high ground more often, jumping down on enemies to stab them from above. It's quite satisfying. I'm ready for the fort now, I can't wait to battle these fuckers.

Assassin's Creed Syndicate

Date played: April 11th
Platform: PS4


I am so close to the end now... I completed the last mission in Sequence VII and played through the entirety of Sequence VIII. All I have left now are the final moments of the game. In the last mission of Sequence VII, Jacob had to assassinate a high ranking officer who was in a large government building. It was one of the simpler assassinations in the game, where I just had to infiltrate the building and kill the guy. I found someone who gave me the password to the man's room, so that helped.

Sequence VIII was a lot more interesting. It introduced a man named Maxwell Roth, Starrick's only remaining henchman and leader of the Blighters. He's actually quite fed up with Starrick, so he unexpectedly teams up with Jacob. The missions were all about disrupting Starrick's operations. Together, Roth and Jacob blew up caches of explosives and kidnapped important people in the organization.

Maxwell Roth sets his theater on fire

However, the odd team's efforts ground to a halt when Roth wanted to blow up one of Starrick's manufacturing plants while children were working inside. Jacob refused to participate, so they broke off their arrangement. Roth still blew up the plant, so Jacob ran into the inferno to save the children.

As expected, the assassination mission was to kill Roth, who invited Jacob to his theater for a final show. This was one of the best assassinations. I got to wear a mask and go into the theater anonymously, killing enemies when I could. I even got a barmaid to poison some of the bad guys! Eventually, Roth came out in front of the crowd and introduced the play, only to set the whole theater on fire... Rushing through the blaze, Jacob killed Roth with his blades, then escaped the sea of flames that engulfed the beautiful theater.

The team now has enough clues to locate the infamous Shroud, the item we've been looking for the entire game. It is apparently hidden underneath Buckinham Palace itself. Jacob and Evie must find themselves an invitation to a royal party to infiltrate the palace, then find the Shroud. I'm certain that Starrick will be there and that I'll have to kill him...

Assassin's Creed Syndicate

Date played: April 10th
Platform: PS4

I completed many different missions last night, including the last one with Darwin. The scientist, now in his old age, has been kidnapped and Evie must save him. I found him unconscious in a house, surrounded by thugs. I killed all the thugs, grabbed his limp body and put him in a carriage. After I led him to safety and he woke up, he told me he was moving out of England for good. He wants to learn new things.

I then followed a mysterious icon on the East side of the Thames. Amazingly, this was one of the few moments in the game where the overarching, present-time story is acknowledged. In a completely crazy twist, I was taken to the future, 1916 to be exact. I'm given control of Lydia Frye, who has to be the daughter or grand-daughter of one of the twins... In the sky, a giant, mysterious cyber-woman appeared and spoke directly to the person controlling the avatar, presumably one of the modern day assassins...

It was all fucking insane, and frankly, it didn't make much sense. All I really understood is that the giant woman was Juno, the crazy entity that was released by Desmond in one of the previous games. It's all really unclear... What was super clear is that I was going to play a few missions in London as it's being invaded by the Nazis! Shit, the guy who gave me missions was none other than Winston Churchill himself!

The missions were all rather simple, having me assassinate some spies, or stealing information from them. One of the best moments had me in control of an anti-aircraft gun as I shot down German biplanes in the skies of London! The visuals were really impressive here, with giant spotlights peppering the skies, blimps burning in the distance and enemy tanks parked in the streets. After 6 or 7 missions, the little side story was over. It was a really cool segment, and I wasn't expecting it at all.

London, under siege during World War I

After my adventures in 1916, I went back to Jacob and Evie and continued the main story. Jacob is following some clues after the bank robbery, though I'm not quite sure what he's looking for anymore. I know I had to kidnap a cop during a funeral, I had to chase a sniper through the rooftops and I had to spy on a conversation while hiding from guards.

This led Jacob to pretend that he was the new bodyguard for a elderly couple of great influence. I hijacked their carriage, then had to defend it from attacking thugs. After I drove them home, the lady was so impressed with Jacob that she agreed to give him information on the people I was looking for. However, she wanted something in exchange, an escort into the most dangerous of town.

I swear, this mission was one of the funniest in the game, easily. I first had to distract journalists who were staking out the lady's house. Then, I drove her to the district. She decided to bring her little dog in her purse.... I escorted her through the area. I stopped once in a while to go ahead of her and kill any dangerous thugs before our little tour went in their direction. We then stopped for a drink at the local bar, when a dangerous looking man grabbed her purse and her little bastard dog with it!

I chased the man through the neighborhood, leaving the lady behind in the bar. I caught up with the thief, grabbed the dog and raced back to the bar to make sure my escort was safe. To my surprise, she was having a deep discussion with 3 though looking men about their love for their fathers and stuff... It was genuinely hilarious and really well made. I brought her back home and got some important info in exchange for my efforts.

Far Cry Primal

Date played: April 9th
Platform: PS4

The Great Scar Bear is mine!

I started with a small side mission to save a lost Wenja, but it led me straight to the start of the Great Scar Bear hunt, so I decided to do it. The bear was easier to track down than the Bloodfang Sabretooth, mostly because the area was a bit smaller and had easier terrain. Once I found the bear, it was busy killing Izila, so I let him fight with them, sent in my tiger and peppered him with arrows for a while.

The Great Scar Bear's habitat

When most of the Izila had been killed, I went in and fought the beast with my club, setting it on fire in the process. After this, I followed it into it's den and took out his remaining health with my club as my tiger backed me up. I have now tamed the Great Scar Bear, and honestly, it seems like it can be extremely useful. It's just as strong as the tiger, but it also draws enemy attacks to itself. It seems that it could be useful when attacking outposts.

The bear hunt was in a closed off area to the far East of the map. After taming the animal, I decided to clear this area. I've captured a few outposts and bonfires. I completed a couple of tribal clash missions and I gathered some collectibles. The only thing I'm not really doing anymore are the caves. They only contain collectibles and most of them have been kind of frustrating, so I don't think I'll do them unless I have to.

Assassin's Creed Syndicate

Evie blows up a carriage

Date played: April 9th
Platform: PS4

I've solved every "Dreadful Crime" in London! Most of my time with Assassin's Creed Syndicate was spent solving crimes with the novelette writer and his child apprentice. I must have played about 5 of these.

In one of them, a "medium" predicts his own death, then while giving a seance to a group, a flash of smoke appears and the man is stabbed in the chest, dying in his chair. In this case, it seemed like everyone had a motive for killing him so it was difficult to find the real killer. In another, a man was thrown off a train and died on impact. I had to ride the train, speaking to everyone on board, to unmask the murderer.

The most interesting one was about the most hated man in London. Now, this guy was shot, poisoned, stabbed and crushed by a crate, all in the span of 17 minutes. I had to figure out which of these things killed him and who the killer was. As I found clues, the time appeared near each location and clue. I had to use information from documents, people, footprints and objects to put it all together and find the real killer. It was very well made and was one of my favorite things in the game.

Eventually, after solving a bunch of crimes, I reached the final crime, where a guard was apparently killed in Buckingham Palace. Shit, I even spoke to Queen Victoria herself! I thought I had uncovered a plot to bomb the palace, and maybe even kill the Queen, but that was all bullshit. In reality, the whole quest chain was a way for the writer to get into the palace and steal one of the Queen's most treasured possessions, a jeweled scepter!

The guard was the novelist, who had used a spider venom (from earlier in the quest line) to appear dead and steal the scepter while I was busy with the fake bomb business... That's when I played one of the strangest sequences in the game. I was taken out of the world and into a weird environment where I lived through the memories of every crime scene. This put all the facts together, showing that the novelist had a nefarious plan all along. I then had to figure out how and why he did all these things. It was a clever way to present things.

Finally, Jacob and Evie teamed up to track him down and kill him. After all was solved, the kid who was with the novelist was confused, and didn't quite know what to do. Jacob suggested that he should try to write, like his mentor. It was then revealed that this kid, Artie, was none other than the famous writer, Arthur Conan Doyle!

I also played a mission for Charles Darwin where he thought a new type of flower had been discovered. This flower is reported to cause hallucinations when it is smelled. Soon enough, Evie found out that this was all fake, the hallucinations were being caused by a gas inside the flower pots. I hijacked a carriage that held the gas and drove it to a safe spot to destroy it. Along the way, I could use the gas to destroy enemy carriages that followed me, it was pretty cool.

Variety Night Special: Worms, Rally Cars and Rocket Soccer

An evening of worms and cars

Date played: April 8th
Platform: Xbox One & PC

My youngest brother came over last night and we played some video games together all evening. I bought Dirt Rally on PC yesterday, the new game from Codemasters that is all about serious rally driving, so we checked it out a little bit. It's not a multiplayer game, so we didn't play it super long, but it was long enough to know that the game is going to be very fun, but also very difficult. We exchanged the controller during a 4 stage rally,

We only had enough money to buy one of the older cars, from the 70's, so we went with the old Mini Cooper. Even with this under powered, front wheel drive car, we struggled to complete a race without crashing and damaging the vehicle. Damage is permanent and carries over from stage to stage, and repairs cost many seconds. At our best, we placed 3rd I think, and we were both really happy with that result. We also tried one Rally Cross event, where 4 cars battle in a small circuit. That was really cool because there is a "joker lap" where each car has to take a longer route at least once per race.

After this, another of my brothers sent me a text asking to play something with him on Xbox. We were pretty limited in the games we could play together since I don't own many games on that platform, but we settled on Worms Battlegrounds. Worms is a tactical, 2D, turn based game where little worms shoot each other with insane weaponry. Since I had never played it before, it took a while for us to get used to the controls and we lost to my bro repeatedly. It was still kinda fun, since it was against family, but the game itself wasn't great.

Finally, we ended the night with some good old Rocket League. I honestly believe that this game is a modern classic, and that it will always be lots of fun. My bro and I make a great team, so we won most of our matches. When we lost, it wasn't because of mistakes on our part, it was really because the other team was just better, so that felt good.