Overwatch

Date played: May 30th
Platform: PC

Overwatch is becoming a daily ritual at this point. I haven't touched Rocket League in a while, and nothing else really. Even with only about 12 maps, Overwatch has really addicting gameplay. Even when my team gets crushed like an ant, I still have a great fucking time!

Most of my time was spent with Reinhardt again, he really fits my style. He's an imposing figure on the field and he is feared by all but the bravest heroes. He defends his team and while there's no stats to show for it, I think he makes a huge difference in any match if he's used well. I think I'm doing a damn good job with him, as long as my teammates know to stay in a group.

In one of my matches, I got to fight another Reinhardt one on one a few times. It's kind of a weird battle, but it's fun. I was a better Reinhardt than him and won most of my direct battles with him. Interestingly, the hammer has very good range and can be used to hit through shields and barriers. So a good strategy against another Reinhardt is to use fire strike as often as possible, strafe a lot to avoid the fire strike and charge moves and swing the hammer a lot. It feels good to take one down, since this means the way is safer for my team.

I had a few good matches with Symmetra as well. Turret placement is very difficult, but when done correctly, it can disrupt a team's attack very well. Her teleporter is always a momentum changer and her weapon is stronger than you would expect. When we have another Reinhardt and a healer, I play as Symmetra.

It's always a good idea to have a Soldier 76 on your team

During one match, I played with Soldier 76 a bit more and was better than before. The trick with him is to just keep firing into the fray from mid range. His rifle is actually devastating, but I have to be careful of people rushing me. Bastion is also a bitch to deal with as Soldier 76. I had some nice matches with him and I am appreciating his impact a lot more. He's very deadly, even if he's slightly boring.

Overwatch

Date played: May 29th
Platform: PC

Well, I haven't played another video game in almost a week, so I think it's safe to say that Overwatch has it's claws in me and won't fucking let go! I played for hours yesterday, most of which were spent playing with my friend. I've been still focusing on Reinhardt and Symmetra, though I dabbled with Soldier 76 a few times. I like him, but it's pretty rare that we don't have a bunch of people to play offense, so I don't think I'll use him often.

I played with Roadhog a little bit too, but I didn't like him too much. I think I just don't like his weapon that much. I'm getting better and better everyday with both Reinhardt and Symmetra. With Reinhardt, I'm learning to use my fire strike ranged attack more often. It deals decent damage and travels far, it's just a little tricky to aim. It's proven to be amazing against turrets and Bastions in turret form.

With Symmetra, I'm becoming more aggressive. I'm baiting opponents into following me to my turret nest, then attacking them with my primary weapon. While it doesn't work all the time, it works often enough that I've taken out offensive characters on my own plenty of times. Heroes like Genji, Tracer, Soldier 76 and even Reaper have fallen to my beams of death. When the action is too hot for me, I stand back and throw my large orbs at range, hoping to get a few hits at choke points.

Finally, I had fun trying out Junkrat for the first time. This guy is a bit of a trickster... He's not strong enough to be on the front lines, almost any character can take it out a close range, but he's a menace from behind. His grenades can be launched a long distance and deal heavy damage. It's easy to pester the enemy from afar.

I destroy a couple of heroes as Junkrat

He's got a cool trap too, which will stop a hero from moving for a short time, perfect for eating a few grenades in the face. He also has a remote bomb that can be used offensively, but also can be used to propel Junkrat into the air to reach high ground. Finally, he's got one of the coolest ultimates in the game... He launches an explosive tire that can be driven deep behind enemy lines, useful for taking out healers and other squishy heroes. He's pretty awesome, I definitely want to play with him again.

It looks like I've got a character I like in every class now. Soldier 76 for offense, Junkrat for defense, Reinhardt for tank and Symmetra for support. I also enjoy Lucio when we really need a healer. I can't stop thinking about this game and I just want to get better and better.

Overwatch

Date played: May 28th
Platform: PC

The more I play Overwatch, the more I fall in love with it!

I tried out a few other characters yesterday, like D. Va and Soldier 76. D. Va is a young woman who rides a giant mechanized suit. She's a tank, but she actually goes down rather quickly without a healer. Her primary weapon is really cool... It's kind of like dual shotguns except that they fire continuously and never have to reload. However, they don't deal much damage unless the enemy is really close, so she's more like a way to pester the other team and grab attention.

She's very mobile too, since she can use jets to boost around for a while, including into the air. Her ultimate is kind of crazy. She can eject from her mech and have it detonate behind enemy lines, killing anyone that stands too close. It's a bit tricky to use, and I didn't manage a kill with it yet, but I know it has a lot of potential. When she's out of the mech, she can still defend herself a little bit with a pistol, but she is meant to retreat and wait for a new mech to become available. I want to try her again and see if she clicks with me.

Soldier 76 is very straight forward hero armed with an assault rifle, a sprint, some rockets and a healing pack. He's kind of boring, but his rifle packs a bunch and has really good range. Whenever I see we have a soldier on our team, I'm happy... I did ok with him, but I only played a round or two, so I still have a lot to learn about how to use him, but he seems like the kind of character I would use when we already have a tank and a support.

Speaking of tanks, I'm still fucking rocking it with Reinhardt. He fits my play style quite well. I'm patient, I have good awareness of my surroundings and I usually know when to retreat and when to push forward. It's tough sometimes because a lot of players like to just go off to the sides and flank, but you only need one or two people doing that. The rest should be focused on pushing the front line forward. I love Reinhardt, he's useful in every match. I actually fought another one a few times in one match. It was super weird... We would charge each other, stunning each other... Sometimes, we would just have a hammer fight too, which was fun but really stupid.

Finally, I played a lot as Symmetra. She is quickly becoming my second favorite character in the game. In fact, I had two "Play of the Game" awards with her yesterday. Her teleporter is highly valuable on most maps, so my priority is always to get my ultimate charged up to set up the device. I'm also becoming more crafty with the positioning of the turrets. When placed in a good spot, it can melt someone to death in seconds. I have to be careful of heroes that have explosives though, like Junkrat and Pharah.

Play of the Game!

I'm also becoming more comfortable with her weapon, both with the primary fire and the secondary fire. The primary fire works great in close range, it's surprisingly powerful. Symmetra is small physically compared to some other heroes, so she can sometimes sneak around in the middle of the fight, dealing her own brand of death. Shit, I've even taken down Reapers that I've caught while reloading, so Symmetra is scarier than she appears.

The two "Play of the Game" awards were both in a similar context. Since I can't exactly go deep into enemy territory with Symmetra, I often stay back with my turrets and find a spot where I have a decent line of sight to a choke point. I then fire my charged up secondary fire, a large, slow orb, towards the choke point. This turns Symmetra into sort of a turret that annoys the enemy team. The orb deals very heavy damage and can pass through Reinhardt and Winston shields, so it disrupts the enemy a lot. When I got a bit lucky, I have a few double kills with it at range while my turrets guarded the objective. Both of my awards were when I was setup like that. I love Symmetra so much...

Overwatch

Date played: Msy 27th
Platform: PC

I'm really hooked on Overwatch...

I played a whole lot of it yesterday, mainly as Reinhardt, but also as Lucio and Symmetra. I also tried McCree and had a brief few moments with Zenyatta. Zenyatta is really difficult to play with, but he's powerful. The problem with him is really his low health. His discord orb is amazingly useful though, so with a good team, he's still very useful.

McCree is hard for me to use also, but for different reasons. The problem with the gun slinging cowboy is that he requires amazing aim to be successful. I'm playing with a controller, while most are playing with a mouse and keyboard. This means I am at a bit of a disadvantage. However, I think I need to mess with my aiming sensitivity controls a little bit, I think it's a bit too slow right now.

I did well as both Symmetra and Lucio. I'm getting better at turret positioning with Symmetra and managed a good amount of eliminations with her. Her teleporter is very powerful too. Lucio is becoming my favorite healer. He's versatile, fast, and his healing ability is pretty damn strong. He can also contribute to damage while he's healing, so that's cool.

I played with my friend for a little bit. I was Reinhardt and he was Mercy, so we had a pretty good setup going in. We were matched against some really good teams though... A group with a Winston, Bastion, Zarya, a Mercy and a couple of offensive attackers made our lives very difficult. My friend got really frustrated at all our losses, so he stopped playing!

Later, my brother came over to visit and we ended up playing together, taking turns with the controller between each round. He played with Tracer, Pharah and Soldier 76, all characters that I haven't tried yet in a real match. Soldier 76 seems like he's very powerful, if a bit boring to play... I definitely need to try him a bit. My brother loved Overwatch, unsurprisingly.

I had a few really solid matches with Reinhardt, he's clearly my best hero. If my team is smart, they bunch up behind me as I push the front line forward. I'm also making a lot of progress with using my abilities correctly, shooting out fire strikes more often and charging in at the right time to take out a Bastion turret or a healer. I fucking love Reinhardt...

Overwatch

Date played: May 26th
Platform: PC

I tried out a couple of new characters last night. In a couple of matches, we already had a tank and a healer, so I picked Reaper to see if I liked him. He's an offensive hero armed with two powerful shotguns, a teleport, a temporary invulnerability and a big damage dealing ultimate. He definitely feels more like a regular "shooter" guy, getting in close to rip apart people with the shotguns.

I liked him, but his usefulness is limited. He hits like a fucking truck up close, but he also goes down rather quickly. At one point, I used him to take out a Reinhardt's shield who was guarding the objective. It worked pretty well. I got taken out by a Tracer a few times though.

The other character I tried was a lot more fun for me. Symmetra is a support character that can give shields to teammates, build little stationary turrets and can build a teleporter. She also has a beam gun that is devastating at close range and can be charged up to send a slow moving orb from long range.

Symmetra is difficult to use, but very powerful

She is very satisfying to use and I feel like she's very helpful for the team, even more than Zenyatta. The turrets aren't amazing, but when placed correctly, they definitely disrupt the enemy team. Her weapon auto-aims at close range, so I've taken out multiple Tracers, Genji's, Lucio's and even Mei's.

The single best use of Symmetra is the teleporter though. I feel like I've totally changed the tide of the battle by placing a teleporter in a smart spot, helping my team's damage dealers get into the fight quickly. I often defended the teleporter room with turrets and my gun, while applying shields to my friends who came out of the portal. I definitely love playing as Symmetra, though I think I still have a lot to learn with her.

I also played a few rounds as Reinhardt and Lucio and I think I did well with them overall. I had a great moment with Reinhardt where I stopped an entire team from moving the payload for a long period by using my ultimate to stun them, slamming into a Reaper with the charge move, then swinging my giant hammer like a madman in the middle of the enemy pack.

Overwatch

Date played: May 25th
Platform: PC

Well, it's official, I'm in love with Overwatch.

I ended up playing with my friend yesterday and it was a lot of fun. I rocked Reinhardt while he picked Mercy, a healer, and later Pharah, a rocket launching valkyrie. We did rather well together. I'm starting get a better feel for using Reinhardt a bit more aggressively by spamming the fire strike ranged attack more often. I'm also getting better at aiming the rocket boost and I swing the hammer more than before.

Our best play was on a payload map on defense. The enemy team was getting really close to victory, with more than 5 minutes remaining to the match. The payload was in a hallway with few side paths, so I stood my ground with the big tank and protected my team as they shot through my shield to decimate enemy forces. I evaded Hanzo's ultimate ability, a giant flying dragon that kills everything in it's path, then rushed in and slammed my hammer in his face until he died, then I rushed a Widowmaker, disrupting her attacks, then killed a Soldier 76 who got too close. Meanwhile, my buddy was flying around shooting rockets at their healers. We won, and I feel that we wouldn't have stood a chance without me. It was fucking glorious.

Me and my buddy win a game. He's Mercy, the lady in white, and I'm Reinhardt, the large metal knight.

Later, I played with Zenyatta again, though I'm finding it hard to keep people healed up without another healer on the team. His attack orbs hit hard though, and his discord orb is absolutely amazing at destroying enemy tanks. In a match where I felt we needed a bit more healing, I switched to Lucio, a Brazilian dude on rollerblades who heals and boosts the team's speed with a boombox. Yes, it's crazy.

He's a lot of fun to play. His gun is also pretty useful because it has good range a satisfying three round burst firing rate. He can also throw up a big shield for a few seconds with his ultimate and can boost his healing temporarily when shit hits the fan hard. He's very vulnerable to offensive characters though. Reaper, Roadhog and Widowmaker have taken me down often when playing as Lucio. Now all I want to do is go back home and keep playing.

Overwatch

Date played: May 24th
Platform: PC

The internet has spoken. Overwatch is THE hot game right now. I wasn't very interested in it when I saw some of the early footage and stuff, but after hearing about it first hand from a friend and seeing the insane amount of positive chatter about the game, I caved and bought it.

I haven't this much fun with a multiplayer shooter in a very long time. What makes Overwatch so much fun is the cast of 21 unique characters, each categorized as one of 4 classes. Offense class is all about dealing damage and killing other players. Tanks soak up damage and protect their teams. Support heals and provides other bonuses to the team. Defense protects the objective. It all works really well together.

After a brief tutorial, I went to a practice range and tried out every hero to get a feel for each of them. Everyone has a few different abilities, some of which are on cooldowns, others are tied to a main weapon, and there are a couple of oddball skills that work differently.

Reinhardt is my favorite hero

The objective of the game is different on every map, but there is basically a capture point mode, a king of the hill mode and a payload mode. All of them require lots of teamwork to succeed. This isn't a game about killing other players, it's a game about winning the objective.

I dabbled with a few characters early on, like Torbjorn, a dwarf that can build turrets and has a powerful pistol. Mcree is a gunslinger, armed with a pistol and lots of evasion skills. Mercy is a full on healer, similar to the medic in Team Fortress 2. I also tried out Bastion, a robot that can transform into a stationary turret at will.

While I liked all of these characters, I really found my groove when I played with Zenyatta and Reinhardt. Zenyatta is a hovering robot yogi that shoots out metal spheres as his projectile. He can also set up a healing orb on a friendly target, and a discord orb on enemies that makes them take more damage from all attacks. I loved playing as him. He's useful, can still fight pretty well with his spheres and is really unique. However, he has very low health, which makes him vulnerable to snipers and other high damage heroes.

Reinhardt is easily my favorite to play so far. He's a giant armored man who wields a nasty hammer and has a very strong shield ability. He also has a dash and a simple ranged attack, but those are on cooldowns, so they aren't available all the time.

I spent most of my evening shielding my teammates from enemy fire as we captured an objective or pushed forward to a new area. I also enjoyed smashing people with the hammer when they got too close, or slamming an enemy tank into a wall to protect my team. I still have a lot to learn, but I'm already in love with this game!

Super Mario 3D World

Date played: May 23rd
Platform: Wii U

As me and my family took a break from the beautiful hot weather, we went to hide in the basement to cool off. We ended up playing a few levels of Super Mario 3D World in 2 player mode. We're in the "Bowser" world, which I think is the final world, at least, officially.

Plessie's Dune Downhill is a short, fun level where we rode the cute dinosaur down a dune slide, grabbing green stars along the way. The level was quite easy, so it was a nice way to get back into the game since it's been a while since we played.

Cookie Cogworks was a more traditional, more challenging level. As the title of the level implies, we rode on top of cogworks made of cookies, all of which looked fucking delicions by the way. There were many challenging platforming sections here, There were also a few spots where the boomerang suit was very useful, fighting piranha plants and other enemies that clogged up the cogs. I was playing as Peach, so that helped too since I could hover for a moment when the jumps were difficult.

The Bowser Express is a very difficult auto-scrolling level as we assaulted a giant Bowser themed train. While the layout of the level wasn't too difficult, the scrolling was pretty damn fast, so that made it a more difficult level than most.

Footlight Lane has a pretty creative setup, where pathways light up as we walked on them. When combined with flying enemies, it made for some pretty cool challenges. The homing Bullet Bills were really fun to avoid.

Deepwater Dungeon was another creative level, where blocks of water move in every direction on a 2D plane, acting as makeshift platforms of sorts. It created some interesting scenarios, but it doesn't seem like it was really made for 2 players. Sometimes we would block the other person and force them to die because there wasn't enough room inside the water block.

A Beam In The Dark is a ghost house where we were armed with a powerful lamp power-up, which made it possible to kill ghosts by flashing light at them for long enough. Most of the level is spent on moving platforms that are ambushed by dozens of ghosts, so keeping that light for as long as possible was the key to success.

We then had a little interlude for a green star challenge level, this one had 10 stars to grab. It was funny because my girlfriend was clearly not up to the task for these challenges, so she usually hung back while I did all the heavy lifting. My daughter found this gloriously hilarious, pointing out the fact that her mother wasn't moving at all in some sections!

Grumblump Inferno was my favorite level of the afternoon, featuring a floor made of lava! There were a few giant blocks that rotated on themselves, kind of  "walking" through the lava. We had to stay on top of them as they rotated to traverse the fiery doom that awaited us below. Since the blocks are square, it made it tricky to get a good rhythm and we died many times here. After some practice though, it became much more manageable.

Finally, we played two boss levels, remixed from earlier battles. Motley Bossblob is a little jester who balloons up to gigantic sizes with the help of metallic, liquid blobs. We had to hit him when he disassembled from his blobs while killing the little minions in the process. The other boss, Hissocrat, is a giant pink snake that spawns multiple smaller snake heads. We had to climb on the smaller snake heads to hit the boss.

Giant cat Boswer!

We're now at the final battle against Bowser, how has turned himself in a cat and has used a cherry to duplicate himself. We tried the level a few times, but died and ran out of time to play, but it's a fun level so far.

Rocket League

Date played: May 23rd
Platform: PS4

I went to visit my brother last night and we ended up playing a few rounds of Rocket League 3V3 together. We didn't play all that long, but we played pretty damn well. We still had trouble winning, but we were on point, making good passes, clean goals and good plays together. I love playing with my bro, he just "gets it" at Rocket League. He misses more often than me, but when he hits, it's in the right spot for sure.

DiRT Rally

I feel like I'm that dude and the car is the monster

Date played: May 23rd
Platform: PC

Well, this game is fucking brutal and vicious, there's no longer a doubt in my mind. While I didn't play for very long, maybe 30 minutes, I only managed to complete a single stage of a rally. the track was absolutely treacherous, featuring a number of cliffs that led to deep forests and very narrow, uneven roads. I struggled and struggled to get to the end without crashing, but after a while, I made it through with a semi-decent time, placing 3rd place. I love this game, it's a real challenge and I need all my concentration to just handle the car.

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

Date played: May 20th
Platform: PS4

My brother wanted to check out Uncharted 4, so I played a short while to show him the game. Nate and Sully are trying to escape the market as a bunch of goons were sent by Rafe to attack them. In the market, I shot my way through, avoiding large APC vehicles with turrets. There was a lot of action here, lots of climbing to avoid the enemies and even a bit of rope swinging in the heat of the action!

We soon jumped into a Jeep to escape the city, and that's when an absolutely mind-blowing chase sequence began. It was really something special, as the duo of adventurers drove like maniacs through the city, avoiding fire from APC's, enemy Jeeps and even motorcycles. It's really hard to describe how fucking exciting that whole sequence was, I think it may be my favorite level in the game yet!

Mud skiing?

Sam is trying to escape by riding a motorcycle, so we are trying to catch up with him, killing everything in our path along the way. I can climb on vehicles and hijack them. I can shoot from the back of trucks also, with enemy vehicles blowing up spectacularly in the process. The best part is when I would hook onto a vehicle with my grappling hook, then slide behind them like a madman, being dragged around like a rag doll. I could even shoot while doing that, it's fucking insane. I died a few times in a later segment of the chase that had more enemies, so we stopped playing there. This mission was so awesome that I think I might just restart the chapter next time I play so I can enjoy it again.

Rocket League

Date played: May 20th
Platform: PC

My youngest brother came over to hang out last night and we ended up playing a bit of Rocket League. We decided to go with matching cars, a pair of Mercs with a rose and some cute old school hats. We later changed cars, but it was cool to have two identical vehicles on the field.

Yeah, we're sexy.

We played relatively well, but fuck, we just couldn't win. We had many overtime losses and many tight matches, but I don't think we won once... It was a bit frustrating, but we still had a ton of fun together. We started in 2V2, but later went to 3V3.

Table Top Racing: World Tour

Date played: May 20th
Platform: PS4

I killed a few minutes before dinner by playing a few events in Table Top Racing. It's mindless, it's fun and it's easy to play for a short period of time. I completed the second tier of events with the fake Porsche, which opened up the last tier of events in the game, along with it's fastest cars. I had enough money to fully upgrade my fake Zonda car, and I also bought all the lower tier cars.

The little fake Porsche is my favorite car

This allowed me to complete a few special events that require specific cars. The truck is kind of fun to drive, even though it doesn't turn that well. I also tried the muscle car, and I fucking hate that thing. While it's fast, it's impossible to go around a tight corner without hitting the wall. Table Top Racing is simple, dumb fun, I just wish there were more tracks.

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

Date played: May 19th
Platform: PS4

Nate, Sam and Sully continued their journey through the wilds of Madagascar to find the treasure. I drove the Jeep around until we reached a drawbridge that blocked the way. As I was activating the mechanism for opening it up, a huge group of soldiers showed up in armored trucks. This was the biggest combat encounter in the game yet as there were at least 20 enemies. On my first attempt, I was seen early and got blown up real fast. On my second attempt, I used stealth to my advantage, moving in the shadows and choking guys to death without being seen. I was seen at the very end when only 3 or 4 enemies remained, so I was able to shoot them without much trouble.

After opening the drawbridge, we continued our search and found a few ancient towers. There was an amazing scene where the Jeep was suspended on the side of a cliff, held only by it's winch cable. It was really spectacular and very exciting. After a bit of climbing, a bit of exploring and a couple of controlled explosives blasts, we found a room with a huge map inside one of the towers. Using the coin we found earlier as a guide, we determined that the treasure had to be in one of two towers. We were ambushed by some soldiers here again, so evidently Rafe and Nadine had already been here. There were some tougher enemies here, including some armored men and a dude with a grenade launcher.

The group split up to search each of the two towers. Sam went alone to one of them while Nate and Sully joined forces to explore the other. The tower I went to was smack in the middle of a large town and it's bustling market. This was a fun scene as the duo walked through the market. Nate even bought an apple, only to have it stolen by a lemur...

When we reached the tower, a giant clock tower actually, we found a way in and found yet another puzzle to solve. This was one of the best in the game so far. I had to find a way up through the clock tower's complex mechanism and ring some bells in a specific order. The giant, moving gears made for some really cool obstacles and platforms. Eventually, I rang all the bells, but I still had to ring the giant bell at the top of the tower. This being a really old tower, the bell fell down the tower with Nate hanging on to it for dear life. There's no other video game that has such cool moments, it's something special that's for sure!

Uncharted 4 is visually stunning

The falling bell revealed a hidden staircase that led to a basement, so Sully and Nate went down to find the treasure. Instead, we found an elaborate puzzle where we had to line up little symbols on a mechanism. While the first was simple enough, it became more complicated. Nathan texted Sam, telling him all about his discovery and asking for help on the puzzle. Eventually, we found yet another map in the amazing treasure trail left by Avery and his fellow pirates.

As we were leaving though, we received a call from none other than Rafe himself. He hacked our cellphones and received pictures of the map that Nate had sent Sam. He also tracked us using our phone's GPS and sent heavily armored goons our way. Sam was also being attacked at the same time. I stopped playing there, but I must escape the market and fight the enemies to reach Sam and help him. I fucking LOVE Uncharted 4, it's one of the best video games I've ever played!

Rocket League

I make a beautiful save!

Date played: May 19th
Platform: PC

I played a few Rocket League matches last night. At first, I struggled a bit, missing shots and losing a few games. It wasn't too long before I had a better performance though. I wasn't as hot as the last few nights, but I still held my own. One of my best plays was a great push to the goal, then a backwards pass that flew over the defenders. My teammate then slammed the ball into the net thanks to my great pass. I also had a really good save, way high in the air.

Life Is Strange

Date played: May 18th
Platform: PS4

Before I begin, you should know that there will be MAJOR SPOILERS in this post, so if you intend to play the game, definitely don't read this.

I picked up where I left off, with Max and Chloe investigating the barn. After rummaging around for a while, they eventually found a door to an underground room that was super clean and new, in clear contrast with the barn above it. Inside, they discovered a photography studio with high end equipment and a very drab, lifeless decor.

It wasn't long before we found evidence of Rachel and Kate being drugged, then tied up and used as "models". The photos were very disturbing, so much that I had a bit of physical discomfort... It was truly disgusting that someone would be willing to do this to young women. One photo showed Rachel being buried in the junkyard, apparently lifeless... There was also an empty binder marked as "Victoria", so it was safe to assume that she would be the next victim...

The girls rushed to the junkyard to search for Rachel's body. It wasn't long before they found her lifeless corpse buried exactly where the photo indicated... Chloe was very upset, as expected. This scene was very well done, with a fitting, emotional song playing. Both of them were now convinced that Nathan was responsible, considering the evidence found in the photo studio. They decided to go to the Vortex Club party to stop him.

At the party, Chloe went off like a crazy woman to find Nathan, presumably with the intention of killing him. Meanwhile, Max talked to the folks at the amazing pool party, with a real DJ and even a VIP area for the Vortex Club members. It quickly became evident that Nathan was nowhere to be found.

Instead, I had a heartfelt conversation with Victoria, who doesn't seem to be all that bad honestly. She's just trying to be a good photographer. She listened to Max when she told her about how Nathan was a dangerous person. Before leaving the party, Mr. Jefferson, the photography teacher, awarded Victoria the prize for the photo contest, a trip to L.A. to expose her picture in a famous gallery.

As they were leaving, the girls received a text from Nathan, stating that there would be no evidence left to find. While this was kind of a weird text, they still rushed back to the junkyard to stop him and ensure that Rachel's body was still there for the police to find. When they got there, the unspeakable happened... Mr. Jefferson sneaked up on them, drugged Max with a syringe and shot Chloe in the head, killing her! I was fucking shocked! This whole time, I thought Nathan was the bad guy, but it turns out that Mr. Jefferson was the real villain all along...

Creepy shit

Episode 4 begins with Max tied up to a chair in the dark room underneath the barn. Victoria is also there, unconscious on the floor, tied up. Mr. Jefferson was going at it, taking his creepy photos. Using photos that are lying around, Max begins a time travel adventure. She goes back in time a few times, all of which were still inside the dark room. Mr. Jefferson revealed that his reason for doing these unspeakable things to young girls is to capture "innocence lost" in his photographs. He also reveals that Nathan was sort of his apprentice, and that he was responsible for some of the crimes. However, as Nathan was proving to be unstable and increasingly dangerous, Jefferson killed and buried him... As twisted as that is, it also means that there are plenty of pictures around that Max can use to go back in time.

Eventually, Max found the selfie she had taken in class on that first day, just before the bathroom incident. She goes back in time to that moment and texts David Madsen about the underground room beneath the bunker in the hopes that he will alert the police and stop Mr. Jefferson before the week's tragic incidents. She also submits a photo to the contest and has a heated conversation with Mr. Jefferson. She also has a great conversation with Victoria about bullying.

The elaborate plan works! Max comes back to the present time and she's on a plane with the principal, heading for the photo gallery in California. Mr. Jefferson was caught by the police, Chloe is alive and Kate never tried to kill herself. However, it's becoming clear that Max might have been abusing her powers. Reality is unstable, she has more nosebleeds than ever and she can't even see the horizon, since it's blurred out due to the effects of the time manipulation.

Time jumps to the gallery event, but I had to stop playing there. I have a feeling that the storm and other weird meteorological events still have an important part to play in the story, and I'm sure there are still problems to solve. Sadly, Rachel is the only one that I know I can't save. I can't wait to play the conclusion of this unique game.

Rocket League

Date played: May 18th
Platform: PC

I'm about to get my highest aerial goal. I'm the blue car on the right with the white trail

I was on fucking fire last night! My aerial game was ON baby. I scored a ton of goals, got MVP often, won most of my matches and was very aggressive. There's not much to say, but I'm glad I was performing very well. It feels good to conquer the field like I did. I had a bit of a rival again who was at about the same skill level and had a similar playstyle,so that was fun too. I think I've scored my highest aerial goal. While it was a simple play, a very straight shot, I came at it from across the field and hit it from very high up in the air, straight into the net. Fuck yeah baby!

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

Date played: May 17th
Platform: PS4

I played through Chapter 8 and the beginning of Chapter 9. Nathan and Sam had just entered Avery's cave to find his treasure. This whole chapter was all about platforming, navigating the treacherous pirate lair and solving a few puzzles. One of the best puzzles required that I move a series of cranks to align crosses in the right order on a wall. It was a clever puzzle, though it was easier than it looked.

Nathan and Sam worked together to climb steep cliffs, crawl through small tunnels and swing over huge chasms. We also solved a few simple crate pushing puzzles. The whole area was fun and very atmospheric. The amazing lighting set the mood perfectly. When we reached the final room, there was a scale with a cross on one end and some small coins on the other. Based on the clues we got earlier, we knew that we had to take a coin and leave the cross. This revealed a map on the ground that pointed to King's Bay in Madagascar.

Avery's cave was really cool to explore

Unfortunately, just as we were about to leave, Nadine and her goons blew up a wall and entered the room. She figured out that King's Bay is where the treasure is stashed... After a bit of a standoff, Nathan convinced her to grab the cross, which triggered a mechanism that made the floor collapse! In an epic scene, Nathan climbs on collapsing columns while being shot by the military men. Nate and Sam shot their way out and called to Sully to pick them up in the plane. I slid, swung and climbed my way to the ocean while killing enemies and dodging grenades. It was all very cool and exciting, and tons of fun to play.

Nathan, Sam and Sully headed out to Madagascar to find the treasure before Nadine and Rafe. They rented a Jeep and started exploring the beautiful island. This place is so fucking pretty, it's hard to believe it's a video game. Amidst the lush vegetation, rugged terrain and muddy tracks, a volcano in the distance steals the show. It's a real sight to behold, and I made sure to take some time to just look at the scenery.

Chapter 9 is completely different from anything that was done in the series in the past. It's kind of an open world, though it's actually pretty limited. I drove the Jeep around the muddy tracks, trying to find a path inland. There are multiple paths available and small treasures to find, but the main objective is to find a path for the Jeep. I had to find ways to climb steep, muddy hills without slipping. It was kind of like platforming, but with a vehicle, which was really fun. The Jeep itself is a lot of fun to drive too. There were even a few instances where I had to tie the vehicle's winch around trees to hoist it up steep hills.

I reached an area that was overrun with Nadine's soldiers, so I got out of the Jeep and started clearing the area. While at first, I was going for a stealth assault, it didn't take long before I was spotted and had to fight my way out with guns and grenades. I almost died a few times, but I made it out alive. I can't wait to continue exploring the wonderful island of Madagascar!

Life Is Strange

Date played: May 16th
Platform: PS4

I continued playing Episode 4 as Max and Chloe's search for Rachel intensifies. It started at the school's dorm where I spoke with the students and staff in the yard. We needed to figure out where Nathan is so that we could safely break into his room and steal a cellphone and find other clues. I had some nice conversations with Samuel, the groundskeeper. I also convinced Daniel, the bullied sketch artist, to come to the Vortex End Of The World party, we'll see if that's a good choice later...

When I was sure Nathan wasn't around, I broke into his room. The whole place is creepy as fuck. This kid clearly has some serious problems... His family is cold, demanding and ruthless. He's got a huge drug problem, and he takes hardcore medication. His room is dark and covered in bondage photos... I found the phone then headed out to meet Chloe. That's precisely when Nathan showed up and threatened us with a gun just for being in the boys dorm... Warren appeared from out of nowhere and beat the shit out of Nathan, but I stopped him before it got too serious.

The girls then went to meet Frank at the beach to try and convince him to share his client list so that we could link Nathan's drug purchases with his actions against Kate. This was a really tough conversation and I had to rewind it multiple times before I said all the right things. In the end, Frank isn't such a bad guy. It seems like him and Rachel were truly in love, and that he wants to find her more than anyone, so after a series of failed attempts where he attacked Chloe, he agreed to give us the list of clients. He also gave us the gun back...

The best gameplay sequence in the game

After the incident, the two young women went back to Chloe's room to put all their clues together. This included stuff from David, Nathan and Frank. This was easily the best gameplay sequence in the game yet. I had to analyze tons of clues by examining pictures, documents and photos. I then had to select the right clues to continue the investigation. I cracked open a cell phone, I put together coordinates, dates and times and eventually, we had a clear picture of the evening of the party where Kate was drugged. It all led to a barn on the outskirts of town...

When the women reached the barn, I stopped playing. I feel like I'm going to find something horrific inside, but I'm going to try and stay positive.

Rocket League

Date played: May 16th
Platform: PC

I fucking kicked ass last night!

I score a fast goal with Hotshot

Riding the Hotshot car, which I don't use often, I was a force to be reckoned with on the field. I had many good goals, great passes, epic saves and a few quality aerial plays. It helped that I mostly played with competent players who don't just rush the ball and instead read the play correctly. It feels good to get a few MVP's after the night before where I played like shit. I won most of my matches, though of course, I still lost a few.

Rocket League

Date played: May 15th
Platform: PC

I had a bit of a rough night in Rocket League last night. I was missing a lot and I'm not sure what's wrong. I had a few nice plays, but mostly I was terrible. I had a couple of sick goals, including a nice aerial one, but for the most part, I was relegated to chasing after the ball like an idiot. Maybe it was just one of those days.

I score a nice goal in my daughter's car

The best part of the evening is when my 6 year old daughter customized a car for me. She chose everything! The car model, the paint decal, the colors, the paint type, the antenna, the wheels and the hat. Of course, she gave me a tiara, some pink and purple colors and the rainbow boost. She also chose the beautiful cupcake for my antenna... I looked hot, too bad I played like shit.

Ratchet & Clank

Date played: May 15th
Platform: PS4

I played one level of Ratchet & Clank with my daughter this morning. Planet Batalia is an icy world that has been invaded by enemy forces. Ratchet must meet up with his Space Ranger friend Cora to defeat the enemies. I bought a new weapon, the Warmonger which is a powerful rocket launcher. I used it a lot to defeat some tanks and other big enemies and I like it quite a bit.

Cora and Ratchet team up

There was an extended rail sequence here which was pretty easy, but also really fun. When I met up with Cora, I helped her progress through the area by using my wrench to extend some bridges. The Groovitron is still one of my favorite weapons to use because it disables enemies for a while and makes them vulnerable to my other attacks. Later, I reached a large cannon and activated it with a short puzzle. I then had to defeat 4 capital ships in a first person turret shooting sequence. It wasn't really hard, but I enjoyed it. I now have the option of going to two other planets, I can't wait to play this again!

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

Date played: May 14th
Platform: PS4

I played through chapters 7 and 8 last night. Chapter 7 has Nathan, Sam and Sully team up to steal another cross that is supposed to have clues to Henry Avery's treasure. The cross is being sold at an auction for very rich people. Sully schmoozed his way in, while Nathan and Sam must pretend to be gardeners, then sneak into the building through a window.

The early parts of this chapter were filled with awesome platforming and climbing, which is always one of my favorite parts of the Uncharted games. After many dangerous jumps and rope swings, the brothers reached the window and entered the building, then took off their gardening outfits to reveal some slick tuxedos. They met up with Sully and devised a plan to steal the cross.

Sam would steal it from the pedestal disguised as a waiter, Nathan would turn off power for a short time to give Sam some time to steal the item and Sully would stay in the room, keeping an eye out for problems and coordinating the whole thing via radio. Once again, I had a lot of platforming to do and a few simple puzzles to solve. At one point, Sam lit the way for Nathan with a lighter as they navigated a maze of wine barrels.

In the great ballroom where the auction was taking place, Sully met some old "friends". Nadine is the head of a private military company, an army for hire if you will. She is a stunningly beautiful woman, but she also seems very dangerous. That's when Rafe showed up, the man who had been in the prison with Nathan and Sam... This guy is actually working with Nadine, having hired her to help with his excavation of a cathedral. He threatens Sully, saying that he believes he's up to something...

The cross ended up going up for auction before Nathan could turn off power, so to gain some time, he started bidding for the crucifix against Rafe! I then turned off the power, Sam stole the artifact and escaped amidst the confusion. The next sequence had me reach the parking lot to get away in Sully's car. This time, the climbing was combined with some stealth. I threw guys off ledges, choked men from high grass and when I got spotted, I shot my way out with my pistol and an assault rifle.

By chance, Nathan ended up in a room with Nadine who wanted him to give up the crucifix, unaware that it had actually been taken by Sam. I had a quick unarmed battle with her, but she was clearly a much better fighter. She ended up throwing Drake through a window in one of the most spectacular moments yet. Nathan managed to escape with Sam to reach Sully's car.

Scotland

A clue hidden inside the crucifix led the group to Scotland in a graveyard next to the cathedral Rafe had been excavating. There were many stealth combat sequences here, as I hid in the tall grass and choked men who were looking for us. I also spent a lot of time climbing and jumping of course. In addition to that, there were some rocky "slides" pretty often, which were fun to navigate. We found a secret path beneath a grave by following the clues from the crucifix. After a little puzzle, I saw that we had to go to a cave nearby.

I reached the cave and stopped playing, but the game is getting better and better. I love the stealth stuff and am getting more comfortable with gun battles. I also have some dynamite now, so that helps in combat.

Super Mario World

Date played: May 14th
Platform: 3DS

As I was waiting for my daughter's dance class to be over, I played a few levels of Super Mario World in the final world of the game, Valley of Bowser. The first few levels weren't too bad at all, as I traversed the caverns and lava-filled caves of Bowser's home. I kind of got stuck for a while in a ghost house where I had to make a stream of coins go up to a secret exit, using a P-Block to make a path for myself. It was tricky to get it right and I had to restart it a dozen times before I made it.

I'm near the end of the world now, but I am still chasing down 2 secret exits, and both of them require Yoshi to access, so I guess I'm not very good with Yoshi... I'm getting there though, I was real close. 

Friday night multiplayer session

Date played: May 13th
Platform: PC

Yesterday was a huge day for me and my family, as I celebrated my daughter's 6th birthday. After the dust had settled from the celebrations, two of my brothers stayed to hang out, talk and play video games. We ended up playing a few rounds of Nidhogg, which is always lots of fun. While Castle is always kind of a shit show that never ends, we had some really good matches in Clouds and Wilds.

We then jumped into Rocket League for a few matches. We had some really cool colors, so that was fun. We did relatively well, but we had some really tough opponents and didn't win too much. As always though, local multiplayer Rocket League is amazing.

Rocket League

Date played: May 12th
Platform: PC

Last night, I built up a bit of a rivalry with a dude named Chaoswolf1995. While he's 13 years younger than me, according to his user name anyway, we had very similar play styles and skill level. I spent most of my evening in a lobby with this guy, so naturally, we ended up butting against each other pretty often.

This kid had a bit of a negative attitude, sending out ironic "What a Save!" comments when a teammate missed a save, so I felt like I had to show this guy some humility. He's actually pretty damn good though, so it turned into a huge battle between me and him. We are both very average at aerial play, but we are also both really good at long range, intelligent play. This resulted in some cool battles from the end of each zone.

I block Chaoswolf1995's red Octane with my teal Merc

My best moment is when I raced this guy to the ball while I was on the attack, then I clipped the ball slightly to direct it towards the goal. If I had let the ball go at this point, Chaoswolf1995 would have saved it easily. Instead, I used my momentum to bump him, acting as a shield between him and the ball. While this sounds rather simple, it was done at incredibly high speeds, so I'm really proud of that play. He was also very visibly frustrated by it.

Don't get me wrong, he beat me many times too, it was a huge back and forth all evening. I love it when I find myself a rival in Rocket League, it makes every game more personal, every play more emotional, and that's fun!

Rocket League

Date played: May 11th
Platform: PC

I've had a real busy week, so I haven't been able to game as much as I would want, but Rocket League fits in anytime. While I had a few frustrating lag issues last night, I think it was on the server side since other players were affected too. This made some of the matches a bit more hectic and unpredictable, and sometimes frustrating, but it wasn't a huge issue for most of the games I played,

I score a long range goal

I played pretty damn well all night. I was fast, accurate and aggressive. I won a lot and got a few MVP's, with a good amount of goals overall. The only thing that I had real trouble with was judging the height of the ball on long range aerial shots. I usually am good at the height, but bad at judging the right angle. Last night, it was the opposite...

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

Date played: May 10th
Platform: PS4

Uncharted 4 is here!

I'm a huge fan of anything Naughty Dog puts out. I loved Crash Bandicoot back on the PS1, I enjoyed what little I played of Jak and Daxter, had tons of fun with The Last of Us and of course, I've played the hell out of all the Uncharted games, including the oft forgotten Golden Abyss on Vita. I've been very excited to play Uncharted 4 since it was announced, so I jumped in last night and played the first 5 chapters.

The game begins with a little prologue where the hero, Nathan Drake, is driving a boat in the middle of a tropical storm during the night. He's trying to reach a large island on the horizon, and a man named Sam is in the boat with him. They are attacked by armed men who are chasing them with their own little boats. Sam shoots at the pursuers while Drake drives. At one point, I got thrown off the boat, then when I climbed back in, I had to help fight the attackers by shooting at them with a pistol. A larger boat then crashed into us, then the game cut to black.

The first chapter shows Nathan as a child, about 12 or 13 years old. He lives in an orphanage and is being chastised by a nun because he got in a fight with another kid. After the nun left, he saw his brother outside the orphanage, flashing a light at him, calling at him to come out and meet him. This was no easy process, since Drake is not supposed to leave his room. This whole sequence served as a tutorial on cover as I avoided the orphanage's staff to escape through a window.

It turns out, the dude in the boat, Sam, is Nathan's older brother and he's got a surprise for him, but they have to climb the rooftops of the orphanage to escape. Again, this was more of a tutorial mission. I learned how to navigate the world and use one of the new additions to the game, a grappling hook. After many perilous jumps and other acrobatics, the brothers were outside the grounds. The details of the story here don't matter much, but it's clear that Sam has always had a big influence on Nathan.

The next chapter begins with a young Nathan Drake, probably in his early twenties. He's in the middle of a fist fight with a thug in some sort of South American prison. Here I learned how to fight unarmed, a system that seems to work pretty well. The prison guards break up the bloody fight and one of them takes Nathan to an underground portion of the prison. It's quickly revealed that the guard was an accomplice who was being paid to get Drake to a piece of land that sits right next to the prison.

Apparently, a nearby castle had been used as a prison when pirates were a thing, and clues led Drake to believe that a fabulous treasure was hidden in one of the cells. This is where I played my first real "level" as I climbed my way towards the tower, jumping from ledge to ledge and using he grappling hook to progress. Then at the end there was a little puzzle, nothing too complicated, though I didn't see the solution right away. While there was no treasure to be found, Drake picked up a little ornament.

I went back to the prison with my prison guard ally, Vargas, and went to meet my accomplices. It turns out, Sam is in the prison with Nathan, as is another man named Rafe. Vargas has been asking for a a portion of the treasure instead of his agreed upon pay, so the group is a bit distraught. As they moved through the prison, they were ambushed by the guys Nathan had been fighting at the start of the chapter. I had another big melee battle here, then the guards came in and stopped the fighting.

When the guards searched Drake, they found the artifact he picked up in the prison cell, so Vargas got real angry and took the group away to an office. He then pointed a gun at them and insisted on 25% of the treasure. That's when Rafe stabbed him in the gut with a knife, killing him violently... The next sequence had the trio of thieves running through the prison to escape. At the end of the big action scene, Sam was shot and was left for dead. Nathan, riddled with grief, still managed to escape with Rafe.

I should stop here and point out that Uncharted 4 is quite simply the best looking video game I've ever played! The game is just so incredibly detailed, the framerate is solid and everything is just so fucking pretty. It's really a technological marvel, and if every game looks this good in the future, I will be a very happy gamer.

A good example of this was the beginning of chapter 3, which begins with Drake in scuba diving gear, swimming through beautiful underwater scenery. He's apparently diving for salvage. He finds the cargo he was looking for, a bunch of crates inside a crashed semi truck. I had to carry a few of the boxes into the semi, then call my colleagues to lift the loot back to the surface. It turns out, Drake is out of the treasure hunting business and has been working for this salvage company for a while. His boss offers him an illegal job in Malaysia, which Drake politely refuses.

The next chapter begins with Nathan in his attic where a bunch of old artifacts and souvenirs are stored from his previous adventures. I looked at the items a little bit, then played with a toy gun, shooting at targets in the room. When he went back down into the house, it became clear that Drake has settled down and married Elena, his on and off love in the previous games.

Nathan and Elena play Crash Bandicoot

Elena, the beautiful blonde adventurer, was sitting on the couch, apparently writing an article about Thailand. As the couple eats, they discuss their lives a little bit. It's apparent that they miss adventure, but also don't want to end up in prison. The acting here is absolutely wonderful, it's easily the best in the video game business. Every word, every movement, every facial expression is perfectly captured and believable. Uncharted 4 is a very special game that's for sure.

After eating, the couple decides to play a video game. In a wonderful little nod to the history of Naughty Dog, they boot up an original Playstation 1 and play the first level of Crash Bandicoot! It was a really cool moment... Later, Drake back to the office to do some paperwork, when an unexpected visitor showed up, his brother Sam.

Nathan thought that his brother was dead, so he was very happy to see him alive. After they caught up, Sam told Nathan that he needed help. The game then cut to a scene where I controlled Sam during his time in the prison. One of his cell mates turned out to be a very important drug lord who organized his own escape. He offered Sam to join him in exchange for getting the treasure that he was always babbling on about.

The level had me fighting prison guards with a pistol, and later an assault rifle. It was nice to finally get into a real firefight, and the whole scene was filled with action and huge explosions. The group made it out safely, but now Sam must find the treasure within 3 months or the drug lord will kill him... Drake reluctantly agrees to help his brother, and even lies to Elena in the process, telling her he had finally agreed to the Malaysian job.

I fucking love Uncharted 4, I think it's a real milestone in video games that will be remembered for years to come.

Life Is Strange

Date played: May 9th
Platform: PS4

As expected, Episode 4 is rough.

It picks up as Max reached Chloe's house in the alternate present. Chloe's dad, William, is alive. However, Chloe is paralyzed, in a wheelchair and in constant physical pain. The girls went for a walk (a roll?) on the beach. There's a bunch of beached whales too, another hint at the upcoming weather disaster...

Max and Chloe discuss the accident on the beach

The girls talked for quite a while. Chloe had a car accident with the new truck her dad bought her for her birthday. Obviously, Max is ridden with guilt, though she doesn't reveal her secrets to Chloe or anyone else. They went back to the house and watched Blade Runner together. It was clear that Chloe really appreciated that Max finally spent some time with her...

The next morning, Chloe asks Max to get her some morphine from the bathroom. I explored her room and the house for a while. Lots of high tech gear is required to care for Chloe, and it's been a huge financial burden on her family. It's so bad that they are about to lose their house. I spoke with William, then Joyce, about their lives. They are happy that Chloe is alive, but are obviously struggling in all aspects of life right now.

One of my favorite moments is when Max went into Chloe's old room... It's empty and sad. They had even bought crutches for their daughter, hoping she would walk again someday. Max had some great, reflective moments there. I also discovered that Chloe's respiratory system is failing rapidly and that she is likely to die sooner rather than later...

When I brought the morphine back to Chloe, I was faced with the hardest decision in the game yet. Chloe knows she is dying, so she asked Max to mercifully euthanize her with an overdose... She said that she wanted her great day with Max to be her last memory. I couldn't fucking do it. I just couldn't. I refused... Chloe was very mad and asked me to leave forever. Max decided that she had to go back in time and let William die, so that Chloe could live.

It was a very tough moment and it made me quite emotional, it was just so sad... Max rewinded time again and went back to the moment where William left the house for the last time. This was rough on me, since Max consciously chose to allow William to die in order to save Chloe... 13 year old Max spoke with her friend one last time before burning the photo that allowed her to return to this moment.

Back in the present, things are back to "normal", David was leaving with his things, so Max took the opportunity to snoop in the garage for more clues. After prying open a locked cabinet, she found some cryptic information, including a huge set of coordinates. She also found a heart-felt letter that David began to write for Joyce, but never completed. It's becoming clear that while David is a real fucking asshole, he's an asshole with good intentions. While I'm not 100% certain yet, I believe he is trying his best to find Rachel and avoid future incidents of the same nature.

There's this little side story about a blue jay bird. Back in Episode 1, Max saved the bird as it crashed into the window of the house. Later, I saw it again in the bathroom of the house. Then in Episode 4, the bird is still stuck in the house, so I chose to help it fly out the window.  I even found some eggs and a nest in the garage after David left, so I wonder what's going to happen with that?

Finally, Max and Chloe went to the hospital to visit Kate. One of my favorite moments is when Chloe apologized for being a bitch when I answered Kate's call at the diner. After exchanging pleasantries, Max and Kate discussed their plan for finding evidence against Nathan Prescott, who Kate claims has taken advantage of her. Kate seems to be doing much better now, and even has ideas for a children's book, so that's great news. I stopped playing as Max reached school, but I can't wait to see what happens next.

Transformers: Devastation

Date played: May 8th
Platform: PS4

Optimus Prime continues exploring the ship that is responsible for the "cyberforming" of Earth. My job was to disable or remove the ship's power core to preserve important data while still stopping the Insecticons from destroying the planet. I fought all three of the original Insecticons in the process. None of them were very difficult, though at one point, I had to fight all three of them at the same time, which was a bit more challenging.

When I reached the room with the power core, I fought these guys again while destroying the power core's shielding at the same time. This whole sequence even had a timer, so it was pretty stressful. When I succeeded though, the Decepticons flew in and stole the power core... This stopped the cyberforming, but the Autobots still had to find the power core.

My next task was to find a Decepticon and try to get information from it on the position of the power core. Optimus found Thundercracker, a jet Decepticon, roaming the city. I chased him down through the streets, shooting it occasionally with some missiles and my blaster. After taking enough punishment, Thundercracker cracked (ha!) and revealed the location of the power core. It's stored on an island that is now heavily protected by Decepticons.

When Optimus reached the area, he was attacked by bigger soldiers than usual, enemies that transform into tanks! They are definitely tough to battle, though they are generally kind of slow. I've been rocking a hammer with Optimus, and a pair of swords for much faster enemies, though I rarely use it. I also have a nice missile launcher and a powerful single shot blaster. Then Starscream, the coward, showed up to fight! I dismissed it rather quickly using my guns and a few hammer attacks.

To weaken the defenses around the island, we had to find some red Energon cubes to use as explosives. For some weird reason, this sequence was played from a top down view, and all the controls were exactly the same. It was funny, but it didn't work as well as the normal third person view. I fought a bunch of enemies along the way, then brought the red Energon cubes back to the bridge and blew up the defenses.

Optimus is about to be ambushed by Blitzwing

As Optimus reached the bridge to the island, he was attacked by Blitzwing, a dangerous Decepticon who can transform into both a tank and a jet. In a really cool sequence, I controlled Optimus in vehicle form from a 2D side view. This whole segment played like an old school shmup... I could attack Blitzwing by aiming my gun in any direction while dodging it's attacks and jumping over large gaps in the bridge. It was spectacular, it was stupid, and it was fucking awesome.

Finally I reached the island and had to fight Blitzwing again, but this time on flat land. This fucker is fast and very dangerous. I struggled a bit, though I didn't die. His tank attacks are really fast, while his jet form is hard to hit. It was a really cool fight. Just as we reached the power core, the Decepticons grabbed it again and flew away!

Rocket League

Date played: May 8th
Platform: PS4

I played a few matches of Rocket League last night and it was very exciting! I was fast, accurate, aggressive and smart and I was teamed up with skilled players. I was also pitted against really good players, so it made for some of the most exciting, satisfying Rocket League play in a while for me.

My sick bicycle kick was the game winning goal

I didn't really score a lot though, I was more of a quarterback. I did have a shit ton of assists, so there's that. My best play is when the ball had a weird bounce off the opponent's back wall and I reversed to score a beautiful bicycle kick goal from a good distance. It had power, it had style and on top of that, it was the overtime winning goal! 

Life Is Strange

Date played: May 7th
Platform: PS4

Life Is Strange hits. It hits hard. Be warned, there are some major spoilers in this post...

Max and Chloe were hanging out at the school pool after hours. They were soon interrupted by David Madsen, the school's security guard and Chloe's stepdad. I had to use my power to get away from the pool before being spotted by David. After we got out safely, Chloe invited Max to sleep over at her house.

When the young women woke up in the morning, they had a pretty great moment together, doing nothing but enjoy the warm sunlight and listening to acoustic music. Max had no clothes to wear, but Chloe had an old outfit that used to belong to Rachel. She put it on then went down to have breakfast with Joyce as Chloe lights up a joint. Joyce and Max had a good conversation, talking about Chloe and Rachel. I even got to eat eggs and bacon!

Soon enough, Chloe came down from her room and immediately started being snarky and bitchy with her mom... When Joyce went back to the kitchen, Max took advantage of the quiet time to sneak into the garage and find clues about Rachel's disappearance by searching David's things. His computer was password protected, so I searched for possible clues in the garage. I collected lots of date, like dates, license numbers, etc. Of course, this is a video game, so one of the clues had the correct password. Personally, I think people are really dumb about their passwords, but maybe that's because I only have random passwords...

Anyway, I discovered that David was definitely stalking and spying on people, including Max, Rachel, Kate, Chloe and Joyce. When I went back into the house, David came home and all hell broke loose. Him and Chloe started fighting right away, and at one point, I decided to jump in and reveal David's stalking habits to the family... This shocked Joyce, who kicked the man out of the house, telling him he should go to a hotel for a while. Also, there's a bunch of dead birds all over the city, so that's weird and ominous.

Later, Chloe and Max thought that Frank, the dangerous drug dealer with a vicious dog and a shitty trailer, might be a good lead for clues about Rachel, since the pair hung out together quite a bit. The girls went to Frank's mobile home and set out to break in. The dog was inside the trailer while Frank was having breakfast at the diner, and the trailer was locked.

Max went inside the diner to try and steal Frank's keys. I had conversations with Frank, a cop and Nathan Prescott inside the restaurant, all of which revealed lots of useful information. Eventually, Max was able to get Frank to take out his keys, taunting her with them. I then grabbed the keys from the table, reversed time for a few seconds and went back out to the mobile home.

Max and Chloe opened the door, distracted the dog with a large bone and explored the trailer together. This led them to discover that Frank and Rachel had been in a real, loving relationship... Chloe was so fucking pissed off. She blames everyone for her unhappiness, including Max, her loving mom and her dead father.  It was a rough scene...

That's when shit got real fucking crazy. Back at Chloe's home, Max looked at a picture of herself and her friend from when they were 13 years old and somehow, her power kicked in and she was transported in time back at a special moment. It was when Chloe last saw her dad before he went out and died in a car accident.

Max, on her way to go see Chloe after saving her dad in the past

Spontaneously, Max decided to use the situation to save Chloe's dad by hiding the keys to the car in the sink. She then convinced her father to take the bus instead of drive. She woke up in the school's yard, sitting with the Vortex club members. Even Victoria seemed to be friends with her! Max freaked out and wondered what else she had changed, so she went straight to Chloe's house... Chloe's dad is still alive, and he was happy to see Max. When he fetched Chloe, I was fucking shocked!

Chloe is paralyzed and bound to a wheelchair... That's when the episode ended. This game is something special. The story and characters are very well developed, and I can't wait to see how the story continues.