Overwatch

Date played: July 28th
Platform: PS4

I'm back baby! After my rough games two days ago, I was back to form yesterday, winning most of my matches. In fact, I won 9 of 10 matches, so that was pretty damn fucking good. I played a lot as Reinhardt and Winston, and a few games as Lucio, Symmetra and Zarya.

Winston is hard to play well, but he can turn the tide of battle

My best match was attack on Gibraltar as Winston. I had just won the defense round as Reinhardt, and was going to keep using him, but when I saw the heroes the other team picked, I knew it was time to let the ape out of it's cage. They had a bunch of squishy heroes, like Ana, Tracer, Hanzo, Mercy, etc. Their tank was D.Va, which is one that I can usually handle as Winston.

I increased the sensitivity of aiming to maximum for Winston, since his weapon doesn't require precise aiming and it's worked wonders for me. I can turn around very quickly and jump around like a madman. I was very aggressive with him and pushed the front line back as my team moved the payload. I think it worked really well. So well in fact, that I managed to get 3 gold medals and 1 silver, including the gold for damage done... To get the gold medal for damage done as Winston, I must have been doing something right because he really doesn't hit that hard.

I even had a one on one battle with a good Tracer and won. This was a very satisfying fight, since both heroes are very mobile. I was jumping around all the time, getting some hits with my Tesla canon, while she blinked quickly around me, shooting me with her automatic pistols. To be fair, I had a good team, particularly our Mercy. I would often retreat to her to heal up. I kept an eye on her too to swat off flankers.

I played really well with the other heroes too. I was on top of my game with Reinhardt. I held the second Anubis defense point with Symmetra and made a teleporter just behind the point. I healed and fought as Lucio on a king of the hill map. Finally, I fought well with Zarya.

The craziest match was when I was playing with my brother and we faced a full team of 6 McCrees! At first, they dominated us with their high damage output and constant stuns. We found a good solution soon enough though. I switched to Lucio and our team picked 3 or 4 Tracers and a Pharah. My bro picked Tracer for the first time and did amazingly well with her, though the situation was very unique. Lucio was a good choice for me also and amazingly, we won even though the payload was just about to reach the end. 

Overwatch

Date played: July 27th
Platform: PS4

Quite simply, I sucked last night.

I lost 8 matches and won only 4... My aim wasn't at it's best and I made plenty of poor decisions. I won as Symmetra, Mercy, McCree and Zarya. I did all right with Lucio and in other matches as Zarya, but not enough to win.

I was pretty good as Reinhardt in the two matches I used him in, though again, not enough for a win. It didn't help that at one point, our attack team was Reinhardt, Genji, Genji, Ana, Ana and Soldier... Two Ana's is just too weak, and two flankers meant that it was basically me and Soldier against their whole team. It didn't got well at all.

I had a few awesome plays still. My best is when attacking on King's Row as Reinhardt. When I saw an opportunity to get on the first point, I charged in, waited for the enemy Zenyatta's ultimate to end, then used my ultimate to stun him, a Symmetra and a Mei. I then used fire strike on all three of them and swung my hammer, netting me a satisfying triple kill and capturing the point.

A good Tracer can change the whole match. Fuck Tracer man.

I also played two matches with my brother who played Reaper, but he had trouble too. The main problem we had was a very good Tracer who zipped around us like a fucking fly and shot our team down like we were nothing. She was absolutely brilliant, though of course, frustrating for us. At one point, I was so annoyed with her that I used my ultimate just to kill her. They had a teleporter too, so it wasn't long before she was back in our faces... A good Tracer can make a huge impact on a match.

Hopefully, I'll do better next time!

Inside

Date played: July 26th
Platform: PC

Inside just keeps getting creepier and creepier...

I first solved a cool puzzle where I had to raise and lower water levels, I was chased by more ravenous dogs. Using a nearby fence, I controlled their movement by moving over the fence at different intervals while pulling some planks from a wall to make an escape route. It was a pretty clever puzzle.

It wasn't long before I reached a pier of some sort. A masked man was waiting on the pier as small, spherical submarine approached. Another masked man came out of it and met the other. I ran to the submarine, got in and dived.

The boy in the submarine faces the water creature

This whole section of the game was fantastic, and my favorite so far. The submarine has a directional light and a sort of speed boost ability. I dove deep into the abyss, where I navigated around various mysterious structures. At various points, I had to get out of the sub to solve puzzles and even had to make the submarine jump over some obstacles by using it's boost power to propel it out of the water for a short time.

Things got real fucking scary when I noticed a silhouette moving quickly in the shadows. Soon enough, a little, naked, faceless person was chasing me! It's long hair flowing through the deep waters, the creature chased me endlessly. I was able to keep it at bay by pointing my light towards it, just like Boo from Super Mario. It killed me multiple times as I attempted to escape. Eventually, I figured out I had to trap the creepy little fucker behind a door to progress.

I found my way to dry land again, leaving my submarine on a beach. The next part was a huge puzzle where I had to gather 19 of the faceless people to open a door. When I jumped onto a mind control helmet, it broke off and let me move around freely while wearing it. Solving a bunch of little puzzles, I amassed a crew of mindless people doing my bidding. They could even lift the boy up in their arms and throw him to reach higher areas.

While all of this was very creepy, nothing beat how I had to get the 19th person. The boy grabbed a lifeless body, dragged it to the edge of a structure and let it fall down onto the platform that would open the door. What disturbed me the most is the way the child simply grabbed the body, without emotion, and threw it down like it was nothing more than a piece of garbage. It was a powerful moment, and it made me very uneasy.

Overwatch

Date played: July 26th
Platform: PC

I spent more time practicing with McCree last night and I'm clearly improving. I began by going into the training range and modifying my sensitivity to be lower, to increase my accuracy, and it seems to be paying off. I'm hitting my targets more consistently and from further away.  My stats are much better, as I managed to score a few gold medals and a play of the game. My favorite thing about McCree is that his bullets hit instantly...

My first triple kill with McCree's ultimate

I played a few matches with Reinhardt, Mercy and Winston. The Winston match was kind of crazy because the enemy team had chosen 6 Genjis to defend on Dorado. While this sounds completely crazy, it was actually really hard to counter because of their high mobility. We ended up with two Winstons on my team, which proved to be a pretty effective counter against the speedy little ninja.

My Mercy game was strong too, defending on Anubis. I feel like I made a huge difference in that match, keeping everyone alive for as long as possible, and we were rewarded with a nice win.

Overwatch

Date played: July 25th
Platform: PS4

I had another fun night playing Overwatch. I started with the usual suspects playing a variety of matches with Reinhardt, Lucio, Winston, Zarya and Symmetra, but nothing out of the ordinary happened there. I played with my brother a bit, who used Reaper, and we really struggled to win, which is unusual. I think we just got matched with good teams, because we played as well as usual.

The night got more interesting when I continued practicing as McCree. I did much better than the first night, though I still need a lot of improvement. My main issue right now is just aiming. His pistol is an instant hit, because the bullets don't have any travel time. He only has 6 bullets before he needs to reload though, so every hit has to count. I think I may have to lower my controller sensitivity  for McCree to have better long range aim...

My first play of the game as McCree!

I find that the key to doing well with the cowboy is to use flanking routes and take long range potshots. I am often running away from battles when I know I can't win, only to come back and shoot the enemy from afar. His ultimate is really hard to pull off because everyone scatters as soon as they hear the iconic "It's high noon!" battlecry, so positioning is more important than ever. His stun is very powerful too, but it has a long cooldown. Finally, I fan the hammer against larger targets like Roadhog, or when desperate in close quarters battles. I like McCree a lot and I want to be better with him.

Inside

Date played: July 24th
Platform: PC

Limbo was one of the most unique, creepiest games of the last generation. I loved it so much, I played it twice since it's release. Inside is the second game from Limbo's creators Playdead, a small development team from Denmark.

Similar to Limbo, the game opens without text, sound or even a cut scene. I am in control of a young boy who looks like he's about 8 or 9 years old. I'm in a sort of forest, in the middle of the night, and my only option is to move to the right. The game has a very unique aesthetic, making sparse use of color. The animation is incredible, with a lot of attention to the smallest of details.

As for the game itself, well, it's a 2D puzzle platformer. Because of the lack of context, many of the puzzles are communicated via the environment. For example, at one point, I had to push a large safe off a ledge to have it fall on some wooden planks far below, which opened up a new path.

So far though, the greatest thing about Inside isn't it's good puzzles. The best thing about Inside is the creepy fucking setting and little bits of story. The child is obviously somewhere he shouldn't be. Masked guards armed with tranquilizer darts and other non-lethal weapons are on high alert, and will chase the boy if he is seen. They have dogs too, which I had to outrun more than once. The first signs of madness appear in the form of slaughtered pigs, some of which have been "possessed" by disgusting worms. There's just a lot of shit that is wrong in this world.

This scene was my favorite yet, as the boy blends in with the mindless humans

Later, I found some humans, but humans that seem devoid of personality and autonomous will. In fact, they are controlled by devices which are attached to someone's head... A few of the puzzles required that the boy attach his head to one of these devices and control nearby people to open a door, or activate a switch or something.

To make things worse, this game has some of the most disturbing deaths I've seen in a video game. While it's not gory like Mortal Kombat, or very violent like Far Cry Primal, it's just fucking disturbing. Seeing the boy have his neck broken by an attack dog or being electrocuted by a crude robot is terrifying. I can't wait to see more of this game, even if I'm scared of what I'll discover.

Overwatch

Date played: July 24th
Platform: PS4

Once again, I played Overwatch with one of my brothers. Our best match is when I picked Winston and he picked Ana on Gibraltar attack. I was very successful with Winston, mostly because of the enemy team's composition. They had Ana, Junkrat and Hanzo, all squishy characters that usually stay on the back line. This made them prime targets for the big ape... I flanked them multiple times, taking them all out rather easily. Winston is really good at that, getting in behind enemy lines, killing a guy or two then retreating back to the front lines.

My brother did rather well as Ana, though he's still learning how to use her. It's hard for her to heal, because she has to actually shoot her teammates, so it wasn't long before I learned to stay still if I wanted some heals. It's great though because he could heal me even while I was perched high above using Winston's jump. At the end of the match, I had to switch to Reinhardt to push a bit harder. My brother used Ana's ultimate on me and I swept up the whole place, killing 3 enemies and a turret to win the match. It was very cool!

It's high noon,

Later, I decided to finally try an offensive character and used McCree for two matches. His pistol, though it's slow and only has 6 bullets, is very fun to use and pretty damn powerful, but it requires good aim. I'm still learning obviously, but I liked what I played of him. His stun is very useful, particularly against fast targets like Tracer.

McCree can also "Fan the hammer", which unloads all remaining bullets at a rapid pace, but with very bad accuracy. It's designed to be used at close range. Finally, his ultimate, High Noon, it's extremely powerful, but very difficult to pull off well. Once activated, the cowboy walks very slowly and scans his field of vision for enemies. He locks on to them, and once a little red skull appears above on a hero, they can be killed instantly. I got a nice little double kill with it, so that was cool. I definitely want to try him again, if only to be comfortable with an offensive hero when needed.

Overwatch

Date played: July 22nd and 23rd
Platform: PS4

Oh man, I had a great time playing Overwatch with my brothers this weekend! We played together online and in person. When two of my brothers came over, we had two PS4's and two TV's, so we took turns to make different teams after each match. One of them played only as Reaper, while the other played mostly D.Va and Soldier. I spent most of my time with Reinhardt, Lucio, Winston and Zarya.

We played really well overall, winning many matches and using our communication advantage as much as possible. It was really fun to see my bro play as Reaper, because he uses different paths and tactics than I'm used to. It's also surprising how hard his weapons hit...

Later, when one of my brothers had left, we decided to do a couple of dumb gimmick matches. For example, we tried two Torbjorns on defense in King's Row. We got fucking slaughtered... I literally had 1 kill, while my brother had none, and we lost the match in record time. I think it might have been my worst game ever.

Then, we tried two Symmetras, which worked ok at first, but it wasn't long before someone on the other team clued in and started using Winston, which neutralized us very quickly.

Zarya is so much fun to play

Things got fucking crazy when we decided to try two Zaryas on payload attack in Numbani. It was absolutely incredible! I still can't believe how good we were with twin Zaryas... We would shield each other and push forward. Our energy levels were very high at all times, making kills rather easy. It was just wonderful, and I think we'll need to try this combo again when playing payload attack. You can watch the game here!

The King of Fighters XIV demo

Date played: July 22nd and 23rd
Platform: PS4

I decided to download a few new demos for PS4, and King of Fighters XIV was one of them. I've never really played this series, though I've tried it in the past. This 2D fighting game feels good. It has 3 types of punches and 3 types of kicks, a few special moves, a block, a dodge and a grab. At least, that's what I could figure out. It's fast and responsive, which is key to any good fighting game.

I played it a bit against AI, and later, I played against my brother who was visiting. We had a good time, it feels like there's a lot of depth here, without being too complicated. We traded victories, and it was equal most of the time.

Tits!

There was something else that captured our attention about the game. Something so big, so hypnotic, we couldn't help but look at it. Boobs. We were captivated by the game's boobs. One character in particular has a massive set of fun bags, like, fucking huge! Now, if that wasn't enough, their movement is absolutely bonkers, swaying from left to right like giant punching bags in a hurricane. It was glorious. It also happens that the girl's fighting style was my favorite of the demo characters. This game is cool. 

Overwatch

Date played: July 21st
Platform: PC and PS4

Well, I've reinstalled Overwatch on PC to see if it would resolve the crashing issue, and so far, I think it has. I managed to play quite a few matches last night without a hitch, so I'm hopeful that I've fixed it for good. This means I ended up playing a few matches with my friend, who is primarily using Junkrat, with a bit of Pharah and Torbjorn on the side.

We lost our first few matches. I mainly played Reinhardt and Lucio, and we just had weird teams that didn't stay in a group. We also had Ana in every group, and sometimes she was great, but sometimes she played like fucking Widowmaker instead of healing the team when needed. Later, our team composition got better and i did very well with Lucio.

The best moment is when we were attacking on Hanamura and were trying to get the second point. We kind of rushed it after the first point, so we had a bit of an advantage, but it was very close. I stayed on point the whole time, jumping and wall riding to avoid damage and keep healing my allies. At one point, an enemy Bastion set up near the spawn exit and took out my friend's Junkrat, so I was alone with Reaper on point. I took out the Bastion on my own, popping my ultimate when I had barely any health left. That sealed the deal and we got the point after this. It was incredibly satisfying!

I take out a Bastion on point, avenging my friend's death and winning the match!

Later, I played a few matches on PS4. My first match was a shit show. We got trampled on King's Row when I was playing as Symmetra. However, I had very good performances after this with Zarya, Winston and Reinhardt. In fact, I even had my best game ever as Zarya, beating various career bests and getting 4 gold medals!

I was aggressive with her, made sure to keep my shields active as often as possible to build up weapon power and help my team survive and prioritized healers when attacking. Zarya can be so fucking dangerous once her weapon powers up, she melts people down like ice cream in the desert, but she's vulnerable between shield cooldown and because she can't move quickly. I am steadily improving with her, and I like her more every day.

I also had a really nice game as Winston on attack on Route 66. We had a Reinhardt and a Mercy, so I figured Winston would be good to get behind enemy lines and wreck havoc. I was right. I jumped behind the front lines and got killed the squishies hiding behind it. I focused on their Zenyatta, Hanzo, Junkrat and Ana. I also harassed their Reinhardt. At one point, I jumped on top of a little bridge, unbeknownst to the enemy team, and took out a Junkrat and Zenyatta without them even realizing I was there. I also had a great moment where I teamed up with a Tracer to take out Reinhardt who had become isolated.

Finally, I had a great defense match on Route 66 as Reinhardt. The best moment is when I got boosted by Ana's ultimate, Nanoboost. This thing is insane... It boosts movement speed and attack power, while also reducing damage taken. She boosted me while I was defending the payload, which allowed me to kill the enemy Ana, Hanzo and Zenyatta in one fell swoop, without assistance from other teammates. This gave me play of the game, though I feel like that was really Ana's play of the game. 

Overwatch

Date played: July 19th
Platform: PC and PS4

I played the PC version of Overwatch a little bit last night with my friend. However, I have been getting lots of crashes with the game there for some reason, I think I have to reinstall it or something because it's very frustrating. One cool thing is that Ana is out on PC, and I got to play against her a few times, and had her on my team also.

Ana is a weird hero, but she seems to be a powerful secondary healer. Her strongest ability is her sleep dart, which knocks a player down for up to 12 seconds, as long as the target doesn't take any damage. Her ultimate seemed really powerful too. In one of my games, she used it on a Roadhod who was using his ultimate and it just destroyed our entire team! Her healing seems sub-par though, she certainly can't heal on her own. Her damage is low also, so she is kind of a debuffer more than anything else.

I played as Lucio and as Zarya, but we lost pretty fast in all the games I played with my friend. He's a fan of Junkrat now, but still uses Pharah quite a bit.

When the game crashed I switched over to PS4 and played with my brother. We tried out the new brawl, where only tanks are allowed. It was an absolute blast to play! I used Zarya and Winston mostly, while my brother used D.Va. While my stats weren't very good, I still feel like I made a huge difference in the matches, particularly with my shields as Zarya and with Winston's mobility. The key factor here is that everyone had a ton of health, so battles were much longer and exhausting, which was great.

Yes Reinhardt, yes, step into my spiderweb of death

Then I played a few normal matches and used Symmetra for the most part. I even got my best performance ever as her on Illios! She's hard to use on maps like this, but once she's setup, she's a monster. I set up my turrets on the point and sucked people into my spiderweb of death, getting the most kills and objective kills in the match. I wasn't as successful when defending King's Row because the other team was just so fucking good... 

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

Date played: July 18th
Platform: 3DS

I played through the game's first dungeon yesterday, the Eastern Palace. Of course, this was a rather simple place, since it's the introduction to the game's dungeons, but it was still lots of fun. The worst enemies in there are the skeletons. They jump away from Link's sword slashes, so they have to be cornered to be defeated, or hit with the boomerang several times.

The Eastern Palace

There weren't really any puzzles here. The closest we got was finding the right pot to lift to find a button to open a door. Eventually, I got the dungeon's special item, the bow! This thing hits hard, and works well against the new enemies nested in the depths of the dungeon. It wasn't long before I found my way to the dungeon's boss, the Armos Knights. Six large, armored knights jump up and down and attack Link in different patterns. All I had to do was shoot them with my arrows while avoiding their attacks.

After the battle, I picked up my heart piece and went back to the old man to give him the pendant I collected. He rewarded me with the pegasus boots, which allow Link to sprint and charge into enemies and objects. I must now head to the desert to find the next dungeon and pendant. I explored quite a bit, trying to find a way in, but I've been met with dead ends everywhere. I seem to remember having to ram a bookshelf somewhere with the pegasus boots, but I don't remember where, so I'll have to keep looking.

Overwatch

Date played: July 18th
Platform: PS4

I was kind of hit or miss last night. I had a few great matches, and a few horrible matches... I spent most of my time with Zarya and Symmetra, to take a bit of a break from Reinhardt, Mercy and Lucio.

I still started the evening with a Reinhardt match on Hanamura attack. I did pretty damn well honestly, but it wasn't enough for a win. That map is always difficult to attack, but my team was a little too spread out to make a coordinated push. We made a few solid attempts, but it just wasn't enough.

I was badass as Symmetra last night

My brother joined me soon after and he played as Reaper the whole time. I played with Zarya and I was competent, but not great. My brother was on fucking fire though! He got a play of the game where he killed 4 people with his Death Blossom ultimate. I did manage to get a new trophy for keeping Zarya's weapon power above 70 for 60 seconds!

Later, I played with Symmetra a lot, and not just on defense. She's actually terrifying on attack, or king of the hill, but she's a bit tricky to use because the turrets are less effective in these modes. She's fucking deadly at close range though, so I've been waiting around corners for enemies to move forward, then I try to get them with my beam from the back, melting their health quickly. I have to put turrets up more often, since they are more easily destroyed. Also, the teleporter can be very useful on attack, though it kind of depends on the map. I ended up winning all 5 of my matches with her, so it went really well.

I also had a really good match as Mercy when attacking on the Volskaya map. At the very end of the match, I swooped in to the objective with Guardian Angel, revived three people, then died. However, this was enough for my brother and the other two people to take the point and win the match. It was awesome!

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

Date played: July 17th
Platform: 3DS

Since I`ve recently completed Super Mario World on 3DS, I figured I should take a stab at another classic, a game I'm ashamed to say I've never beaten; The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.

While I've played a ton of this game over the years, I never reached the end. I only played the first hour or so. I woke up to Zelda's message, received as a dream, and went out in the rain to help her at the castle. It wasn't long before I had both the boomerang and the lantern, as well as my trusty sword and shield. I fought rats, snakes and bats in the lower levels of the castle and eventually brought Zelda to a safe place, a church just outside of the castle's grounds.

I must find the Master Sword to defeat the evil wizard that has taken control of Hyrule. To do this, I will search for the village elder, who is rumored to be one of the 7 wise men of old. I explored the town, talked to some folks and gathered some items. I picked up a few bombs, some arrows (though I don't have the bow yet), two bottles and a bug catching net. I explored the surrounding areas a little too and found some pieces of heart. I'm heading East to find the old man now, after getting some information from a kid in town.

There's something really special about this game. The amazing, beautiful art creates a very cool world, and the incredible music makes the whole thing even better. I can't wait to get into my first real dungeon!

Ratchet & Clank

Date played: July 17th
Platform: PS4

I finished Rachet & Clank!

It turns out, I was really close to the end the last time I played. All I had left were 2 boss battles. The first was against none other than Captain Quark himself! The battle was cool, but simple. I abused the Groovitron, Mr. Zurkon and grenades. The best part of the fight is that at one point, Quark starts using his own Groovitrons, forcing Ratchet to dance like an idiot. To counter this, I had to position Ratchet in a way that would make his weapon hit the disco ball.

After this, it was time for the game's final battle against Nefarious. The mega-villain uses his giant flying contraption to fight Ratchet & Clank. Much of this battle was spent in the air with Ratchet using his jetpack. This time, I used a wider array of weapons, including the buzz blades, the missile launcher and even the Combuster. I threw everything I had at him, but I died on my first attempt. On the second attempt, I got him real good and sent him into a burning sun to his death.

The fight against Nefarious was hectic and fun

Ratchet & Clank is really fun to play, has a funny story and has some of the best weapons in the history of video games, so I'm really glad I played it. My daughter was pretty pumped that we beat it and asked me to start the game over for a few minutes. I ended up playing through the intro again and the first two levels... On the second playthrough, weapons can be upgraded further, so that's fun. I might jump into it again sometime.

Overwatch

Date played: July 17th
Platform: PS4

I've been doing great with Zarya, Reinhardt, Lucio, Symmetra and Mercy recently. I played with my brothers a bit, so that was just as fun as ever! One of my bros spent most of his time with Soldier, D.Va and Lucio, while the other played mostly Reaper and a bit of Junkrat.

Crushing this D.Va was a key moment in this victory

We played well and won a lot! We even won a match without a healer when I played as Symmetra. The teleporter was good enough to compensate for that match. I also switch to Winston for one life sometimes, just to break up enemy defense or fuck with them a little bit before we make a real push. It works surprisingly well.

My best play was when I was Mercy, defending the first point on Anubis. One of my brothers was busy harassing the enemy back line with Reaper, while my other bro was holding our front line with D.Va as I healed him. I noticed a Tracer and a Reaper for through the little side door to flank us, so I called it out, and my bro rushed in with D.Va. I was a bit too far, so his mech was destroyed before I could heal him, but I kept him alive anyway and he managed to take out Tracer, McCree and Reaper just with his fucking pistol, thanks to my healing. It was glorious. 

Overwatch

Date played: July 15th and 16th
Platform: PS4

I played a good amount of Overwatch last night, and some this morning. Last night, I had some very strong games as Winston, harassing the enemy team and breaking up defenses. Later, I had an insane game as Lucio, my best performance ever with him I think. Watch it here! While many of my eliminations were just from a few hits on enemies, I feel like I had a really good presence on the battlefield. In fact, I saved the match twice with a rush to the point as overtime was dwindling down, we were about to lose. I got 4 gold medals for my efforts.

My best match ever as Lucio!

This morning, I had a very successful series of matches with my brother. We started with defense on Volskaya Industries where I used Symmetra and my brother used D. Va. I have killer turret placement on that map and made it really difficult for the enemy team to break through the choke point. My teleporter helped keep us in the game when they made a good push, and we won without them capturing the first point.

The next round, on attack, I had one of the fastest wins ever. In fact, we won the whole thing in exactly 2 minutes... Watch it here! I was Reinhardt, and my brother was Mercy. It's funny, I only blocked like 300 damage during the whole game, I was too busy charging into enemies and smashing their skulls to block.

Our last match was incredible too! This one was more difficult, I think the enemy team was stronger overall. We were attacking on Gibraltar. I started as Winston, and my bro as Mercy. However, it became clear that this wasn't going to work too well. The enemy Roadhog and Tracer were tearing us apart. So we switched. I went as Zarya and my bro as Lucio. It was a rough battle, but we won.

I had a couple of really good plays. The first is when I ambushed a Widowmaker and Symmetra. I killed Widow, then fought Symmetra, popping my shield just as her weapon was ramping up in damage. After she died, I even destroyed the teleporter she had just dropped. The second play was at the very end. I used my ultimate to group up 4 enemies in a corner. There was a Roadhog, a Symmetra, a Bastion and someone else. Me and brother teamed up to kill all 4 of them and win the match. It was so fucking satisfying! Watch it here!

Overwatch

Date played: July 14th
Platform: PS4

I only played for a short time last night, 1 match as Lucio, 3 as Reinhardt and 1 as Mercy. I'm doing really great with Lucio lately, it seems like I'm getting better at moving around, avoiding fire. I'm also popping my ultimate at better times, like when I'm anticipating a big push from the enemy team, or during my own team's push.

"Let's drop the beat!"

I was really good with Reinhardt, though I only won 1 of 3 matches. I didn't do well as Mercy, losing the only match I played with her. I played with my brothers for a little bit, but not too long. I feel like it's time for me to actually learn an offense hero and a defense hero. For offense, I'm leaning towards McCree, or maybe Genji, since my brothers never play them. For defense, I think Mei would be the best fit for me, since she's all about area control. 

Overwatch

Date played: July 13th
Platform: PS4

I had lots of success last night, playing with Reinhardt, Winston and mostly, Lucio. As Winston, I had a lot of fun on Gibraltar attack. My best moment is when I flanked the entire team, came up behind them, killed a Zenyatta, then Hanzo, Reaper and Reinhardt! I had help from my team of course, but I made that play.

As Winston, I flank on Gibraltar Atatck

Reinhardt was more of the usual, and I was in top shape, winning most of my matches. However, my real highlight was going 5-0 with Lucio! I'm using his wall riding ability a little bit more and it's saved my life more than once. I got many kills with the blaster also, even a few environmental kills. I really enjoyed what I played with Lucio last night, he's very powerful!

Rocket League

I save a goal with some rough play

Date played: July 12th
Platform: PS4

It's been a long time since I've played Rocket League, but I haven't lost my touch apparently. The servers for Overwatch were down for a little while, so I booted up Rocket League and played 3 or 4 matches. I was really fucking good, it was kind of scary...

I got MVP in every match, won every game and even had a 7 goal game. I don't know if it's because I've played so much Overwatch, which requires intense concentration and quick reflexes, but I was very very good. Feels good man.

Overwatch

Date played: July 12th
Platform: PS4

Well, it seems like I've got a crush on Symmetra these days! Last night, I picked her on almost every defense map and was very successful with her. My best match had me at 18 kills, 1 death, 4 gold medals and 47% teleporter uptime! I was smart with my turrets and aggressive with my gun, and it paid off.

I like Symmetra

I also tried the new weekly brawl and it was lots of fun. The mode restricts character selection to one hero of each kind per team, and hero changes are not permitted during the match! It's a different game for sure, since you have to play the hand you're dealt, you can't just switch heroes on the fly. I chose Lucio and Reinhardt in the matches I played. 

Overwatch

Date played: July 11th
Platform: PS4

I had a good time with Overwatch last night. While I played quite a bit, I only had one match with my brother, so I mostly played with random people. I spent lots of time with Reinhardt and Mercy as usual, but also spent more than a few games playing as Symmetra.

I typically only play her on defense, though I'm starting to feel like I should try her on attack more often, or on King of the Hill maps. I'm improving with her. I'm placing my turrets in smarter spots and I'm getting into the melee more often with her amazingly strong, short ranged main weapon. Her teleporter is extremely powerful also, but very vulnerable. I'm getting better at finding good spots for it. The best areas are close to the objective, but not in paths used by flankers.

I'm getting better with Symmetra

The problem with Symmetra is that if the enemy teams starts moving quickly, she can't keep up. There's no time to setup a proper turret nest and her ranged attack is better at defending choke points rather than fight head on.

I was pretty damn good with Reinhardt too last night. I'm still blocking a lot for my team obviously, but I'm more aggressive than ever with the big German man. I love smashing into a Bastion in sentry mode with Reinhardt's charge move. I love using Earthshatter, followed by a fire strike, when shit gets heavy. I love taking out a sneaky Genji just as he starts his ultimate. I love blocking a McCree from getting a single kill when it's High Noon!

On a related note, it will be interesting to see what happens in the game in the coming weeks. There are many big changes... Torbjorn's turrets will deal 30% less damage on consoles. Zenyatta will get a bit more shield health. D.Va's bullet blocking ability will have a meter instead of a timer.

Last but not least, a new character is coming to the game for free, Ana. She is a support hero who can heal allies or damage enemies with a sniper rifle. She also has a tranquilizer gun that stuns enemies for a short time, a healing pack that can be dropped on the ground and an ultimate that boosts another hero's speed and damage for a short time. She will change the game a lot, and maybe people will pick her instead of Hanzo or Widowmaker. Time will tell, but I'm excited to try her.

Overwatch

Date played: July 9th and 10th
Platform: PS4

I played some Overwatch during the weekend, but nothing very special happened really. I played lots of Reinhardt, Mercy, Winston and Symmetra, with a bit of Winston and Lucio thrown in for good measure. I played with my bros a few times, but I didn't get much time to play this weekend.

As Symmetra, I burn through a Soldier and a Zenyatta in no time

Symmetra can be a real monster sometimes. For example, while playing defense on a payload map, I was able to charge in, take out a Soldier who was using his ultimate and melt a Zenyatta right after, clearing the payload of any enemies and winning the match. She's quite difficult to use, since her turrets take time to set up, but they are deadly when positioned well. I even got a play of the game with her!

I was strong with Reinhardt, but I wasn't at my best. I won quite a bit, but I always felt like I could have done way better. 

Overwatch

Date played: July 8th
Platform: PS4

My two brothers came over with their PS4's last night, so we connected 3 TV's and played Overwatch all night! It was amazing playing in the same room with them! Obviously, it was a lot easier to communicate the important info for the matches, but the best part is just joking around and talking about the game.

Throughout the evening, we played with a ton of different hero combinations. The main heroes we used were Reinhardt, Mercy, Lucio, D.Va, Pharah, Soldier 76, Reaper, Junkrat, Hanzo, Symmetra, Tracer and Winston. One of the stupidest, but fun rounds was when we decided to use three Winstons at the same time! It didn't actually work that well, but jumping in as a bunch of gorillas in the middle of the point on attack is so satisfying.

3 TV's + 3 PS4's + 3 copies of Overwatch + 3 brothers = amazing night!

We won just about as much as we lost I think, but the important part is that we had fun. We could pull off crazy combos a lot easier than usual, so that was nice too. Our strongest team was probably Reinhardt, Mercy, Soldier, as they work so well together.

We even tried the weekly brawl, which is a mode where all players must pick a support hero. I used Symmetra, then we had a Zenyatta and a Mercy. It was kind of a stupid mode, but we enjoyed ourselves. I wish I could do this every weekend!

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

Date played: July 7th
Platform: PS4

I played two chapters of Uncharted 4 last night, and it was incredible!

It began with Nate and Sam exploring Libertalia, the pirate colony. The lost city is absolutely gorgeous. The crumbling stone buildings are overrun with lush vegetation as the brothers jump, climb and swing their way through it's ruins. It wasn't long before we ran into some goons from Nadine's army. I used stealth as much as I could, taking guards out by choking them to death or throwing them down impossibly high cliffs to their doom. When I was seen, I took out my guns and shot my way through.

We eventually found the scene of a large battle near a big building. After exploring it a bit, it became clear that the pirate colonists revolted against their leaders, Avery and his friends. The colonists were angry because the pirate leaders had stolen all the treasure from the town. It's the same old rich vs poor story that's been told countless times throughout history.

The brothers discovered that there was a second village nearby where the Pirate leaders lived, segregated from the general populace. The brothers believe this is where the treasure was taken so they climb a giant tower to get a better view of their surroundings. After they reached the top and saw the village, they were ambushed by a group of Nadine's mercenaries who launched rockets at the tower!

The moment before the tower is destroyed

This was one of the most impressive scenes in the game yet, as Nate and Same fall with the tower, grabbing on to whatever they could to save their lives, jumping from platform to platform in mid fall. Of course, they got out safely, then dispatched the enemies swiftly. We ran straight into none other than Nadine herself! The brothers battled against the deadly woman in an epic hand to hand battle. One thing is for sure, Nadine is a real fucking badass and the whole scene was just incredible! The cinematography and the action was so cool. She won the fight, and just as she was about to kill us, Rafe showed up.

Now, Rafe really wants to get that treasure, and he knows the brothers are the best at following clues, so he's hesitant to kill them. During the conversation though, it was revealed that this whole time, Sam had been straight up lying to Nate about his escape from prison! There was no mob boss, there was no breakout, there was no threat to his life. Rafe is the one who got him out and they searched for Avery's treasure together for a while, when Sam decided that he wanted the loot for himself and betrayed Rafe! That lying son of a bitch!

Rafe decided that he only needed one of the brothers to help him find the treasure, and shot at Nate with the intent of killing him. Sam jumped in front of him and took a bullet for his brother! Nate fell down a nearby cliff in the process, landing in a pool of water far below... So Sam is shot, perhaps dead, and Nate is alone at the bottom of a cliff. What a shitty situation... Miraculously, we get a brief glimpse of Elena tending to Nate's injuries. It's hard to say how she got there, but damn, it was nice to see her.

Nate passed out and the game faded to the next chapter, a flashback sequence featuring the Drake brothers as teenagers. I stopped playing there, but I can't wait to see what will happen next.

Overwatch

I was a motherfucking badass with Reinhardt last night

Date played: July 7th
Platform: PS4


I started my evening with a little bit of Symmetra on Gibraltar defense, and it went pretty damn well. Symmetra's primary fire is fucking scary up close, she can melt down tanks without much effort, but she has to get close to do it. Her teleporter was useful too, it turned the tide for us multiple times, allowing my team to get back into battle quickly. I also played a little bit of Winston, but didn't do that great.

However, it's with Reinhardt that I really got into my groove. I did really well with him, playing very aggressively. Shit, on a king of the hill map, I even managed to get 4 gold medals! That's most eliminations, most objective kills, most objective time and most damage. Feels good baby.

I did rather well with Mercy also, winning every match I've played as her. I realize now that I'm kind of an aggressive Mercy, whipping out the pistol more often than most. That thing hits harder than most people expect, is very accurate and has long range. I even managed to take out a Tracer in a one on one fight, twice. I think I may have to use my ressurection ultimate a little more often though. Sometimes, I wait for more people to die to use it, but it often backfires, leaving me open to enemy attacks or missing my window for ressurecting some players.

Overwatch

Date played: July 6th
Platform: PS4

Once again, I got to play with both of my brothers last night, so that was lots of fun! I had another really good match as Winston, even though we lost. I find myself using him a lot when we have another aggressive tank like D. Va or even sometimes Zarya. He's not as good for me on payload maps, but I always enjoy myself as the big ape.

I had a couple of really good rounds as Mercy also. In one match, I latched onto a Pharah that perched herself on a high platform near the end of the King's Row map on defense. I could heal my entire team as they moved the payload, hidden from enemy sight! It worked surprisingly well and I'll keep an eye open for these kinds of opportunities in the future, I'm sure there's a few more maps where I can do that.

"Till Valhalla!"

I bought myself a new legendary skin for Mercy, the wonderful Valkyrie. I think it looks really cool, but on top of that, it even changes her voice line when reviving people to "Till Valhalla!". I found that little touch quite nice.

My brothers played well too, picking their usual heroes. Later, I played competitive mode with one of them and we got brutrally slaugthered.  Competitive mode is motherfucking ruthless. Seriously, I was doing my very best with both Reinhardt and Mercy and we just couldn't make a fucking dent in the other teams. I mean, we won a round or two, but we didn't win a single match. I don't really know why we lost so badly either, it just seemed like the opposing teams were so much better than us. It was kind of frustrating, and I don't think we'll play competitive mode very often.

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

Date played: July 5th
Platform: PS4

I played through chapter 13 of Uncharted 4, where Nate was stranded on the beach of an island in the middle of a huge thunderstorm, separated from his brother Sam. This whole chapter is very representative of what Uncharted really is. It had lots of climbing in the middle of the jungle, gun fights amidst the lush vegetation and beautiful vistas.

It's nothing out of the ordinary, and nothing really spectacular happened, but it was a fun, straight forward chapter. I did get a new tool, a piston that can be used to grab onto some rocks to make climbing a bit more interesting. I eventually found Sam too, then we went through some ancient buildings to find a way deeper into the island.

Finally, Libertalia!

It was all worth it too, because they found Libertalia, the pirate haven that is supposed to be hiding Avery's treasure. Libertalia is a real sight to behold, and I can't wait to explore it!

Overwatch

Date played: July 5th
Platform: PS4

I fucking love playing video games with my brothers!

I played with both of them again last night and we made a great team. I played as Reinhardt, Zarya, Winston and Mercy. One of my bros played as Hanzo, Junkrat, Mercy and Reaper, while the other played D. Va, Soldier 76, Tracer, Reinhardt and Lucio.

I go apeshit with Winston at the end of a payload round

The most interesting game is when I played Winston, with my bros playing Lucio and Tracer, on payload attack. I'm starting to find that Winston and Tracer go really well together, since they are both very mobile. I jump in with Winston, attrack attention and damage squishies, while my brother swoops in with Tracer and picks kills enemies. In fact, I had my best game ever as Winston, getting a ton of kills and making a clutch play at the very end with my ultimate. Winston's ultimate is fantastic at denying an area and is really good at making Bastions move, or even at killing them. Shit, I even made a Bastion completely waste his ultimate on me as I jumped away, leaving him with no targets to shoot at.

Overwatch

I love it when my bro plays Reaper

Date played: July 4th
Platform: PS4

I played a bit of Overwatch with one of my brothers last night. I played a lot of Reinhardt, but also a bit of Zarya and Lucio. He played mostly Reaper, with a bit of Mercy, Junkrat and surprisingly, Hanzo.

I love having a good Reaper on my team, that dude can fucking wreck unsuspecting teams in a few seconds. He's high risk though, since he relies on being hidden from the enemy team. Once he's out in the open, he's pretty vulnerable. On more than a few occasions, I would capture the enemy's attention with Reinhardt, blocking with the shield, then my brother would swoop in from behind and fill them with shotgun bullets! It was very satisfying.

As for Hanzo, my brother is still learning how to use him, but he's been pretty decent with him so far. His ultimate looks dangerous, but it has to be timed extremely well to be effective. You often see Hanzo's twin dragons flying dangerously through the map, but kills with it are not that frequent.

I did well with both Reinhardt and Zarya, but I did even better with Lucio. In fact, I had my best ever game as Lucio, beating all my career best stats as him. Shit, I even got close to 30 kills with him, which is crazy for a healer.

Overwatch

Date played: July 3rd
Platform: PS4

The best part about playing Overwatch, is playing it with my brothers. Last night, we played a few matches together and did relatively well. Our most satisfying match was a grueling battle against a tough team on Volskaya Industries. We defended the point very well, winning it by a hair. Then on attack, we had a really hard time pushing through. The enemy team had a Bastion and Torbjorn protected by a Reinhardt and a Mercy, making any push to the point extremely difficult. I had been playing Reinhardt and Zarya, trying to find a way through, while one of my brothers was Lucio and the other alternated between Reaper and Junkrat.

As the timer was winding down, I decided to make a final push, but as Winston this time. My brother used Lucio's ultimate at the door of the room, then I jumped in with Winston and wrecked havoc on their defensive area. This allowed the rest of my team to push in and we even had a team kill for it, winning the round gloriously!

Just three bros, chilling on defense

I particularly enjoyed playing Zarya last night. She's amazing on capture point maps and her weapon is deceptively powerful. I even had a 15 player kill streak with her at one point. She's quickly becoming one of my favorite heroes. Reinhardt is awesome, but when my team doesn't use the shield to their advantage, Zarya performs better for me.

We also had a brief stint as Mercy, Reinhardt and Bastion on defense. While it started pretty well, the other team was incredibly well coordinated and mowed us down quickly after our first defensive effort.

Super Mario World

Date played: July 2nd
Platform: 3DS

I finished Super Mario World! This must be the 20th time or more that I've completed this absolutely amazing game. There's something very special about Super Mario World for me. I don't really know what it is about this game, but it always makes me happy to play it.

I spent some time to unlock every secret path, except for the 8 super secret levels in the star world. The funniest secret is where you have to ride Yoshi to the end of the level, then jump down below a platform, ditch Yoshi, dropping him to his death to reach the platform behind the goal line.

The final few levels are awesome, but the best moment is definitely the battle against Bowser and his flying clown copter. It's also interesting that this game is where Bowser has the scariest looking design. I love Super Mario World, and I'm glad I played it once again.

Overwatch

Date played: July 2nd
Platform: PS4

I played some Overwatch with my two brothers yesterday, and it was glorious! I think we won just about as much as we lost, but it was so much fucking fun! I mainly played Reinhardt and messed around with Mercy, Winston and even Zarya. One of my brothers played a lot of Soldier 76, Mercy, Lucio, Pharah and Zarya. The other played Junkrat, Mercy, Widowmaker and Reaper.

Me and my brothers

We make a good team together, communicating a lot. We have one or two major weaknesses though. Good Tracers are just amazing against us in most cases. A good McCree is trouble too. Bastions are always difficult to deal with, though with a good flanking move, we can take care of them.

We do very well against Torbjorns, with whoever has a gun shooting from behind Reinhardt's shield. Other tanks are generally not a problem, though a good Roadhog with a Mercy is always trouble. Junkrats aren't a big problem unless they are exceptionally good. Reapers can sometimes surprise us, but generally aren't too much to handle. Genjis, Hanzos, Widowmakers are generally easy to handle also. We make a great team and we have fun playing together!

Ratchet & Clank

Date played: July 1st
Platform: PS4

Clank got a lot of action when I played Ratchet & Clank yesterday! I solved a bunch of puzzles with him, moving little robots around, using their bridge, power supply and trampoline forms to find the way. I then fought some of the biggest battles in the game yet as Ratchet. All the toughest enemies were there, and in large numbers.

I took this as an opportunity to level up some of the weapons I had used less, like the sniper, the grenades and the buzz blades. I also picked up a new weapon, the glove of doom, which launches 4 little explosive robots that run to enemies and blow up. They are very powerful. I now have a good number of weapons at level 5, the maximum. What's cool is that there is always a little something that is different about the weapons at max level. For example, the flamethrower creates explosive embers with every kill.

Ratchet wasn't able to destroy the deplanetizer. In fact, he was caught and discovered that captain Quark was a traitor who was helping the enemy! Fucker! Ratchet was disappointed, and went back home. Clank convinced him to return to the Galactic Rangers and lead them to victory. We devised a plan to infiltrate the deplanetizer in a stealthy way instead of just barging in like last time. This meant we needed a disguise, so we headed to the Gagdetron headquarters to acquire one.

Gadgetron headquarters had many rail-riding segments

This planet was filled with grinding rails, and I spent a lot of time riding them to find the man who would give me the disguise. Again, lots of difficult battles here. The game threw everything it had at me, so I took out my best weapons and fought hard. I got a new weapon here again, the famous Sheepinator, which transforms enemies into sheep. It's really fun to use, but it's slow, so it's only useful in a certain circumstances.

When I found the man, he challenged me to a hoverboard race to win the disguise. The race was fun, but not too hard. Disguise in hand, Ratchet and Clank return to the deplanetizer. The disguise makes them look like Captain Quark, but cannot jump or fight while disguised. I had to use stealth to progress, waiting for enemy robots to turn their backs to progress. At times, the enemies could press alarm buttons that would instantly kill Ratchet, so when I needed to fight, I also needed to ensure they wouldn't reach the button. The Groovitron became a necessity for me in these situations, as it stops enemies in their tracks.

Ratchet & Clank is at it's best when the fighting is intense, the rockets and bullets are flying in every direction and the enemies blow up in a glorious pinata of bolts. I love it.

Overwatch

Date played: July 1st
Platform: PS4

A major patch has just hit PS4 for Overwatch. McCree's pistol is significantly weaker than before, making him less effective against tanks, but still as effective against weaker targets. Widowmaker is also weaker, with her body shots doing less damage so that characters like Zenyatta can survive a bit more. Finally, the patch adds competitive mode to the game.

Competitive mode requires players to be level 25 or higher and has some slight rule changes in place. For example, if a player leaves the match, they are not replaced. Payload matches are now played in rounds, one for attacking and one for defending. The winner is determined by the distance they've carried the payload. For king of the hill matches, it's now a best of 5. As for capture points, I am not 100% sure how it works yet, but I think it counts how much time there was left on the timer when the points were captured.

It also requires 10 placement matches to receive a rank, so I played those last night. The skill level was definitely higher here, with people paying more attention to team composition, using voice chat a bit more and fighting like hell for victory.

In the end, I won 6 matches and lost 4, so that's not too bad. After the first few matches, I was put into a team where 4 of us were actively using voice chat. We ended up grouping up together and played the last 4 or 5 matches together. We made a pretty good team. I swapped between Reinhardt, Mercy and even a bit of Lucio. We won some, we lost some, but we always fought hard and communicated with each other.

I have a skill rating of 52. Not bad.

The ranking system is set up to give players a score between 1-100, higher being better. After my placement matches, I was ranked 52, which is reasonable enough. I'm interested to see what the matches look like once I start playing against similarly ranked opponents. It's kind of scary in a way, but also very motivating.

Overwatch

Date played: June 30th
Platform: PS4

My brother came over to play some Overwatch last night. He brought his PS4, so we hooked up a second TV and played all night! We tried a combination of different heroes, starting with Reinhardt and Mercy. I was very strong as Reinhardt, and he was awesome as Mercy.

We played all our favorite heroes. I got some time in with Lucio, Mercy and Zarya. My brother played as Lucio, Mercy, Soldier, Tracer and D. Va. He was particularly strong as Tracer, much better than he usually is with her. I struggled with Zarya, but was strong with the others.

In one defense match, we decided to do something fun and stupid, we both picked Symmetra on defense. We had a really good little nest going on the point, with 12 turrets surrounding the perimeter. At one point, we had two teleporters at the same time! It was really fun, but inefficient. Perhaps our turrets weren't placed in the best way, but it didn't work out that well.

I love playing Overwatch with my bro, and it's even better when we're in the same room!