Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China

Date played: October 31st
Platform: PS4

I finished Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China!

I didn't have too much left to play, only about 3 or 4 levels. The last few levels were easily the best in the game, forcing me to use good stealth to succeed. The hiding spots were fewer and far between, enemies were strong enough to force me to avoid combat and the level design was at it's best.

This garden was beautiful

There was another footrace chapter, where I had to run as fast as I could to avoid a fire behind me, and another where I was chasing the final boss. Both of these segments were really fun. There are spots where it's a little rough though. For example, I died by mistake because the terrain looked like it was solid ground, but the game considered that to be the edge of the map, killing me instantly. However, for the most part, these sections were great. There's a good sense of movement to the game and it just feels great.

The last level was really cool, mostly just because of the mechanics and how it demanded that I time my shit just right. There were many risky jumps and brutal stabbings along the way. Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China isn't an amazing game, but it's a good 2D stealth action game.

Chrono Trigger

Date played: October 30th
Platform: Vita

Chrono Trigger is one of those classic games that will never go out of style. I've always loved this game and played it multiple times during my life, though I've never completed it. I had the itch to play it again recently, so I bought the PS1 version on PSN and am playing it on the Vita. This particular version is well known for having very long loading times compared to the SNES original or the DS remake, but it was the cheapest way to play it on a portable.

I didn't play for very long, but I at least managed to get through the intro. Crono is a young man who lives with his mother in a beautiful, verdant land. The game begins as his village celebrates the Millennial Fair, a celebration of the 1000th year of the kingdom.

I think it's important to note that this game was made in 1995, that's more than 20 years ago. Remarkably, the graphics and sound are as charming and beautiful as they were back then. There's an amazing amount of detail in the sprites, with characters designed by Akira Toriyama of Dragon Ball fame. Yasunory Mitsuda's music is also spot-on, creating a great atmosphere. I love that this game holds up so well, even after 20 years.

The opening moments of the game take Crono to the fair, where he gets to play a few games, meet some people, hear some gossip and visit a few shops. It's not long before our hero runs into a beautiful young girl named Marle. She bumps into Crono and loses a pendant, which I picked up and returned to her promptly. They pair up to see the fair together.

Lucca, a young engineer and friend of Crono's is showing off a new invention with her dad at the fair. They claim they can teleport someone instantly, so Crono puts on his brave face and jumps in as Marle watches. The experiment works (to everyone's surprise...), so Marle asks to try it. When she does though, her pendant reacts and somehow, a giant magical porthole rips open and takes Marle into the unknown. Crono then grabs the pendant and follows her into the void.

He lands in a forest and battles against some little goblins. I haven't had a chance to play much more than that, but it does introduce combat a little bit. While combat is actually pretty simple, there are some cool elements that make Chrono Trigger stand apart from other Japanese RPG's of the era. For example, enemies move around in the battle screen and attacks can target multiple opponents depending on their placement.

I can't wait to really dig into the game, but so far, nostalgia doesn't disappoint. Chrono Trigger still looks and feels as brilliant as it ever has.  

Overwatch

Date played: October 27th, 28th, 29th and 30th
Platform: PS4

Today's hero is Bastion.

Role: Defense

Difficulty: ★

HP: 200

Armor: 100

Shields: 0

Total: 300

Favorite quote: "Boo Boo Doo De Doo "

Favorite map to play on: Eichenwalde

Appearance

Bastion is a robot of a kind that was once mass produced during the war. He has three configurations. In Recon mode, he assumes a humanoid form and is equipped with a simple assault rifle. In Sentry mode, he turns into a stationary turret armed with a powerful mini-gun. Finally, in Tank mode, he turns into a little tank that shoots powerful explosive shells. Bastion is the only hero that doesn't speak a real language, instead using robotic sounds to communicate, like R2D2 or BB8 from Star Wars. Bastion also holds a special relationship with a small bird that follows him around everywhere. It's pretty cute. 

Skills

• Configuration: Recon: Bastion's basic humanoid form. He has a simple assault rifle, which is stronger than most people give it credit for. 
• Configuration: Sentry: This is Bastion's signature skill, as he turns into a stationary turret armed with an incredibly powerful mini-gun.  
• Reconfigure: Toggles between Recon and Sentry modes. This takes a second or two to complete, and can be used while falling, 
• Self-repair: Bastion can repair it's body, healing his HP. This has unlimited use, but takes a bit of time to perform. 
• Ultimate - Configuration: Tank: Bastion turns into a little tank that fires powerful explosive shells for 8 seconds. 

Strengths

• The ultimate tank killer, Bastion excels at melting tanks at high speeds. His mini-gun can take down a Reinhardt shield in a few seconds. 
• Highest damage potential in the game, by far. Bastion's Sentry configuration is absolutely insane at dealing heavy damage quickly.
• Bastion is pretty sustainable on his own. If he gets attacked, he can move away and repair himself without needing a healer.
• When he has the element of surprise, Bastion is unmatched. He can take out most heroes in mere moments, provided they don't know where he is.

Weaknesses

• Most of Bastion's heavy work is done in Sentry mode, which leaves his immobile and extremely vulnerable to flanking, sniping and long range potshots. 
• His Ultimate is kind of hard to use well. It's strong, but the tank's cannon fires slowly and isn't the easiest thing to aim. 
• Recon mode is very limited, so when speed or mobility is needed, Bastion isn't very useful.
• D.Va can easily absorb Bastion's damage with her shield matrix, leaving the robot exposed to fire from other enemies. Hanzo is also surprisingly well equipped to take out Bastion due to the strength of his Scatter Arrow. 

Comments

Bastion is a super weird hero. He definitely has his place in the game, but he's unlike any of the others because most of his usefulness comes when he's in Sentry mode, which leaves him immobile. This may not sound that bad, but Overwatch is a game that rewards high mobility and speed. Bastion is actually pretty hard to play well. His toolkit is very limited, with basically nothing special aside from his Ultimate, so playing him well comes down to positioning, target prioritization and aim. 

When I first started playing the game, I hated Bastion. He would sit in a corner and camp, and then would destroy people that came into his line of sight. As time went on and I gained more experience. I started to find Bastion useless. He's easily countered with a number of heroes. For example, Genji can deflect, Tracer can flank him and bomb him, Reaper can hit hard then run away, Roadhog can hook him, Soldier's rockets are a pain in the ass, Pharah can get a couple of rockets off safely, D.Va can negate Bastion's huge damage, Hanzo can one shot him, etc. 

So for a long time, I dismissed Bastion as a novelty at best. However, I started playing with him a bit more in the last few weeks and I have to say, Bastion is actually a lot better than people give him credit for. The trick is to keep moving. I know it sounds weird, considering he's only effective when stationary, but enemies will remember your position and trust me, they WILL counter you. So you gotta move. After every 2-3 kills, I move around, setting up somewhere else to surprise my enemy. 

On defense, this works really well and I enjoy laying siege to the enemy front line as Bastion. On control maps, it's definitely harder, and usually not worth the trouble, but there are times where Bastion can be useful here, for example when the enemy has many tanks. On attack, I don't do as well with Bastion, though I feel like I still have to try him a few more times. He's got potential, but it's a lot harder to set up in a good position on attack than on defense.

I gotta be honest, I fucking love Bastion. While he's pretty situational, there are times where Bastion just shines and makes the whole game completely different than if he wasn't there. You just have to keep moving and switch heroes if the enemy counters Bastion too hard. 

Worst enemy: Hanzo

Best teammate: Reinhardt
Most satisfying kill: Genji

Rating ★★★

Overwatch

Date played: October 24th, 25th and 26th
Platform: PS4

Today's hero is Junkrat.

Role: Defense

Difficulty: ★★

HP: 200

Armor: 0

Shields: 0

Total: 200

Favorite quote: "Everything's coming up explodey!"

Favorite map to play on: Dorado

Appearance

Junkrat looks real nasty. He's got a "piece of shit" vibe going on... He is shirtless, wears shorts, has a peg leg and some ugly gloves and boots. His hair has a bit of a fiery spark, which looks super cool. He wears a large explosive tire on his back and a bandolier of grenades on his shoulders. His weapon, a grenade launcher, has a sweet smiley face at the front. The coolest thing about Junkrat's appearance is that he walks in a really funny and distinctive way due to his peg leg. He also has quite the personality, often laughing like a madman as he lobs grenades at his enemies. 

Skills

• Frag Launcher: Junkrat's main weapon. It launches grenades at a pretty good distance, bouncing off walls, ceilings and floors. It explodes after a short period or when it comes into contact with an enemy. Hits really fucking hard.
• Concussion Mine: A remotely detonated sticky mine. In addition to dealing big damage, it can propel enemies in the air, or even Junkrat himself! This can be used to reach higher ground or cover more distance quickly. It can be thrown a decent distance too, making it a good offensive weapon.
• Steel Trap: A giant metal trap that deals 80 damage and immobilizes the enemy who walked into it. 
• Total Mayhem: This is Call of Duty's Martyrdom perk... When Junkrat dies, he drops 4 grenades near his body that explode shortly after. 
• Ultimate - RIP-Tire: One of the coolest looking Ultimates, Junkrat sends out a remote controlled explosive tire deals a ton of damage, up to 600. The tire can jump and climb walls. It's also very loud. It has 100 HP and can be destroyed by enemies.

Strengths

• Junkrat deals a LOT of damage, more than most heroes. His grenades deal up to 120 damage each, so it adds up. 
• Bouncing grenades around corners and over walls is great for harassing the enemy without being vulnerable. The only other hero that can do this is Hanzo, and his Scatter Arrow has a pretty big cooldown.
• One of the best heroes for disrupting enemy formations. He will destroy a Reinhardt or Winston shield rather quickly and people must scatter to avoid splash damage from his grenades. He can also force a Bastion to move, or destroy a Torbjorn turret from cover.
• RIP Tire is a powerful Ultimate, one of the few with the potential to kill an entire team. It's not easy to do, but it's possible.

Weaknesses

• Junkrat is very weak against targets with high ground, Pharah being the most obvious example. Genji, Tracer and D.Va can be real trouble too.
• RIP Tire is so easily destroyed... Seriously, without a good flanking route for it, odds are the tire will be destroyed before being of any use. Very tricky to use well.
• While he does have his trap and mine to defend himself, Junkrat is still very vulnerable to most offense and tank heroes. For example, McCree, Pharah, Widowmaker, Soldier 76 and Hanzo can take him out from a fair distance with almost no risk. Junkrat needs to stay on the backline most of the time to be effective.
• His grenades are difficult to control. They will bounce around unexpectedly, making it difficult to hit fast moving targets or targets that are far away.

Comments

I'm impressed with Junkrat. He's almost always welcome on a team, regardless of map type or team composition. He hits really hard and disrupts enemy formation constantly with his grenades. 

I played him in two or three games. While I was obviously still learning, I found him relatively easy to use and useful to the team. His constant barrage of grenades is definitely his strongest feature, though his trap and mine are also very useful.

When I played him, I found myself not using the mine often enough. Many good Junkrat players will toss that thing at their enemy's face every time the cooldown is up, but I often left it somewhere then kind of forgot about it. I had a bit of trouble using the trap effectively also, since it requires the enemy to walk into it. The best places are probably around corners with lots of foot traffic, hidden from view.

His little grenades that drop after he dies are pretty much useless, unless you die right on top of a Bastion or Torbjorn turret. Players are accustomed to it and easily avoid them. His Ultimate RIP Tire is also a little on the weak side. While it can deal immense damage, it's also very easy to shoot down, which happens more often than not. On top of that, it leaves Junkrat exposed and vulnerable, so it's important to get a nice hiding spot before sending in the tire.

I still have a lot to learn when playing the psychotic Australian, but I like what I've played so far. I might try him again on defense.

Worst enemy: Pharah

Best teammate: Mei
Most satisfying kill: Reinhardt

Rating ★★★

Overwatch

Date played: October 20th, 21st and 23rd
Platform: PS4

Today's hero is Zenyatta.

Role: Support

Difficulty: ★★★

HP: 50

Armor: 0

Shields: 150

Total: 200

Favorite quote: "Death Is Whimsical Today"

Favorite map to play on: King's Row

Appearance

Overwatch's story is usually not relevant, but it certainly explains Zenyatta's unique appearance. Zenyatta is an Omnic, robots which have become self aware and revolted against their human masters in an effort to establish rights for themselves. They are humanoid, but they are very obviously robots. In Zenyatta's case, he also floats, a skill that seems to be unique to him. He wears traditional Buddhist wear. That's because he did not agree with his fellow Omnics and decided to pursue spirituality. A necklace of floating metallic orbs adorns his neck and shoulders, which he uses as projectile weapons. 

Skills

• Orb of Destruction: Zenyatta's main weapon. He throws them at opponents at a fairly slow pace, but deals high damage with each shot. There's some travel time to the orbs, so aiming is a bit tricky. He can also focus energy for a short time to rapidly throw multiple orbs in succession, but for lower damage with each shot. 
• Orb of Harmony: Zenyatta throws a golden orb at a teammate, which heals for 30 HP per second. It can only be applied to one person at a time and Zenyatta must maintain line of sight with his target.
• Orb of Discord: Zenyatta throws a dark purple orb at an enemy, increasing the damage the target takes from all sources by 30%. Line of sight must be maintained, just like Orb of Harmony.
• Ultimate - Transcendence: Zenyatta reaches inner peace and glows brightly, with additional arms (made of light?) sprouting from his back. He is invincinble for the duration. He moves at a high speed and heals anyone in a small radius around him for 300 HP per second!

Strengths

• Orb of Discord is one of the strongest abilities in the entire game. If Zenyatta keeps his orb up on an enemy at all times, it helps the team immensely. It may not sound like much, but 30% extra damage makes a giant impact on any match.
• Transcendence is one of the strongest Ultimates in the game because it can support a push like nothing else. It's immense healing power is unmatched. It takes a while to charge up, but it's definitely worth the wait.
• Zenyatta is actually very good at dealing damage, but aiming is a little tricky. He hits just as hard as most DPS heroes and his Orb of Discord attracts fire from teammates. 
• Orb of Harmony is one of the few long range healing options. Mercy and Lucio have to be pretty close to heal, but Zenyatta can do it from a good distance. Only Ana excels Zenyatta's healing range.

Weaknesses

• Zenyatta is one slow motherfucker. He just moves at normal speed, with no other mobility options. No charge, no double jump, no jetpack, no sprint. Nothing. This makes him extremely vulnerable to flankers and fast heroes like Tracer and Genji.
• Healing is not his strong suit. He cannot heal by himself, while the other three healers can manage on their own. 30 HP per second on a single target just doesn't cut it, and Transcendence doesn't charge fast enough to be used often. 
• He has no defensive skills. Zenyatta relies on his teammates to keep him alive. Sure, he can fight a DPS hero one on one and has a chance to win, but it's far from an easy fight. 
• Doesn't work well in close combat. Control maps are particularly rough on him because close range heroes like Roadhog, Reaper, Genji, Reinhardt and Winston just tear him apart.

Comments

I love Zenyatta, but he only works when you have another healer on the team. Otherwise, there's just not enough healing to sustain a solid push. He's also really difficult to play because there's always a lot going on at the same time. For example, he should always have an Orb of Discord and an Orb of Harmony active, but they deactivate when he loses line of sight. This means having to reapply the orbs very frequently, which is fucking tricky.

On top of that, his orbs hit like a fucking truck, but their travel time makes them difficult to aim on fast moving targets. They work best when firing at a choke point. 

The thing is, when Zenyatta works, he fucking works. You'll need a main healer on your team, like Mercy. Then Zenyatta does what he does best. Deals heavy damage, debuffs enemies and assists in healing. He can then boost a push or protect his team from an enemy ultimate with Transcendence.

I really love playing him, but the opportunities are kind of limited. I also need to be on top of my aiming game for him to be useful, since his orbs hit so hard. I've had a few matches with 4 gold medals as Zenyatta, I even got 5 golds in one match. 

One thing that works really well for Zenyatta is pairing up with Winston. Throw a discord orb on a target, wait for Winston to jump in, then shoot the target, which is now distracted by the ape. It works surprisingly well. I also love pairing up with Zarya, since she can shield Zenyatta and can focus down a target rather quickly with her beam, boosted even more by the discord orb. 

Zenyatta is in a good place right now and I love to play as him, but only when the team composition and map are favorable.

Worst enemy: Roadhog

Best teammate: Winston
Most satisfying kill: McCree

Rating ★★★

ABZÛ

Date played: October 23rd
Platform: PS4

I started and finished ABZÛ!

ABZÛ is a weird little game. It's 2 hours long, it doesn't have any text (except for menus), no voice acting, cut scenes are very limited and everything is mysterious and unexplained. In many ways, it feels exactly like Flower and Journey did.

This game is all about a diver that explores the seas and tries to reinvigorate the ocean by restoring life to it. The game is linear, but with open areas ripe for exploration. There are secret seashells to find, new animals to "activate" and cryptic paintings that tell a bit of a story. Progress is gated by simple puzzles, for example, activating a set of pulleys. However, the joy of the game is simply to explore the amazingly detailed environments, each teeming with life.

My daughter watched the whole thing and she was really cute to watch. She would try to infer the story by studying the paintings and would help me find seashells. She was captivated by the incredible visuals. There really is something special going on with ABZÛ. While the creatures aren't as detailed as a big release, and the textures are simple by any standard, the sheer number of creatures roaming around the diver make up for it. The game runs flawlessly also, with a great framerate throughout.

There are some crazy moments in this short game. My favorite of the whole game was a glorious swim with a group of whales. The sense of scale is very good. Another great moment is when the shark that had been sort of threatening during the whole game just dies in front of me, crushed by a large explosive device. Speaking of which, there was something ominous and weird going on. There are explosive mines sometimes, and impossibly large structures underwater. This is far from being a realistic game, even though it features real animals. It almost feels like a fairy tale in a lot of ways.

I couldn't call this post complete without mentioning the beautiful classical soundtrack of the game. It fits perfectly with the visuals and creates a wonderful experience. ABZÛ is a fantastic little game, and I'm really glad I played it with my daughter.

Call of Duty Infinite Warfare beta

Date played: October 23rd
Platform: PS4

I have a long history with Call of Duty. Call of Duty 2 was one of the first games I played online on my then spanking new Xbox 360. I played as the Polish and Canadians in Call of Duty 3. I jumped into the revolutionary Call of Duty 4 and it's many innovations in the shooter genre. I burned and stabbed some dudes in Call of Duty World at War. I explored the insanity of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 and 3. I used the crazy gadgets of Call of Duty Black Ops. I deflowered my PS4 of it's shooter cherry with Call of Duty Ghosts. Finally, a couple of years ago, I learned to wall ride and side dash with Call of Duty Advanced Warfare.

There's a few games I've skipped, most notably last year's Black Ops 3. In part, it's because I got fatigued with the series, having spent hundreds of hours with these games over the years. It was also largely due to Rocket League monopolizing my gaming time.

Infinite Warfare looks like a damn good Call of Duty game

Infinite Warfare, this year's Call of Duty game, has a beta going on right now, so I figured I would give it a shot. The game looks good and feels good, as usual. It's definitely more "future" than any other game in the series, with one of the beta maps even taking place on a space station. There's tons of high tech toys, and a nice little jetpack that acts as a big jump.

I played a few matches, maybe 3 or 4, and I enjoyed myself. There's a new thing that kind of resembles Ultimate attacks in Overwatch. I chose the Merc, which arms me with a powerful gatling laser for a short period of time. I equipped some cryo-mines, which slow down enemies, and picked the biggest LMG I could find.

I felt right at home withing a few minutes. This is Call of Duty. It feels like Call of Duty, and it plays like Call of Duty. In many ways, that's great, since they are definitely quality games. However, it doesn't really do anything amazing that I haven't seen before, so I will stick with Overwatch.  

Playroom VR

Date played: October 22nd
Platform: PSVR

My daughter asked to play the cat and mouse VR game, so I sat down with her and my girlfriend to play a couple of rounds. There's not much to say that I haven't already said, but it's really fun to see her wearing the headset. It seems really natural for her, which is a little scary honestly. We also spent some time with the little claw machine to win some items for our little virtual room. This is one of the coolest looking things in VR, it's basically a virtual dollhouse with tons of funny little animations. 

Overwatch

Date played: October 17th, 18th and 19th
Platform: PS4

Today's hero is Winston.

Role: Tank

Difficulty: ★★

HP: 400

Armor: 100

Shields: 0

Total: 500

Favorite quote: "Houston, uh... we have a problem."

Favorite map to play on: Nepal

Appearance

Winston is a talking Gorilla who was raised on the moon. Yeah, seriously. He wears a pair of cute black glasses and some heavy body armor. On his back, he wears a pair of jump jets that he uses to launch himself into the air. He is armed with a Tesla cannon, a large device that emits electricity. He's got some really cool skins too, including a deep sea explorer's outfit and a jungle explorer outfit.

Skills

• Tesla Cannon: Winston's main weapon shoots out an arc of electricity that continuously damages anything in front of it. It's actually pretty weak, but it can pass through many defenses, including Genji's deflect, D.Va's defense matrix and Reinhardt's shield.
• Jump Pack: Winston lunges through the air and lands violently, dealing 50 damage in a small radius around him. 
• Barrier Projector: Winston drops a small device on the ground that generates a spherical shield. Protects teammates from projectiles until it is destroyed. 
• Ultimate - Primal Rage: Winston turns into a giant, rage filled ape with a powerful melee attack and lowers the cooldown on the Jump Pack. Also boosts his health to 1000!

Strengths

• Winston is the ultimate sniper killer. He'll take down Widowmaker or Hanzo in an instant and can also target other squishies like Mercy, Symmetra, Ana, etc.
• Anti-genji. Winston's Tesla Cannon is strong enough to take care of Genji on it's own and it passes through Genji's deflection. Winston can defend his healers from Genji like no one else can.
• Makes shit fucking move. When there's a stalemate, and no one is able to break the defensive line, Winston is always a good answer. He'll knock people around and make people break formation, opening up the field for friendlies to fire on the enemy team. 
• The Barrier Projector can save the entire team when it's well timed. 
• Very mobile, one of the most mobile heroes in the game.

Weaknesses

• Winston is very situational. Sometimes, he's basically useless. It's important to know when it's time to take the big ape out of his cage, and when he should stay out of the way.
• Reaper. Fucking Reaper. Reaper eats Winston alive. D.Va is trouble too, due to her high armor.
• Very low damage potential. Winston isn't made for killing, he's made for controlling the map. While his Tesla cannon can usually handle smaller targets, any attempt to damage a tank is a fucking waste of time, except maybe Reinhardt since you can damage him through his shield.
• Primal Rage, Winston's ultimate, is hard to use effectively. You basically need to use it to restore health during a big push, and knock people away, breaking their defenses. It's NOT made for killing, and it's not made to be used alone. It's meant to disrupt.

Comments

I absolutely LOVE playing as Winston. Sure, there's times where I would never pick him, like if the enemy team has a good Reaper, but in general, he does really well on attack, and even better on control.

It's weird, I kind of instinctively know when we need a Winston push. Like, we'll be stuck trying to grab a point, and sometimes, I'll know it's time to take the ape out. Tired of Widow stopping your team before reaching the chokepoint? Send Winston. Your Mercy keeps dying to a sneaky Genji? Send Winston. Pharah causing trouble on your back line? Send Winston. Need to break up a tight knit enemy group? Send Winston.

There's also times where you should just stop playing Winston. For example, if your team can't seem to kill anyone, then Winston's low DPS might be part of the problem. Can't move forward because Bastion is covering a key choke point? Switch heroes and leave Winston.

One of my favorite things to do with Winston is to make a push last a lot longer than it should, raising our chances of winning significantly. The trick is to jump in, drop the barrier, damage whatever I can with my Tesla Cannon then pop Primal Rage just before running out of health. This refills my health to 1000, lets me knock people around and generally make things move.

Winston is hard to play, mostly because he deals such little damage. He's a great disrupter and harasser, but you need to know when to pull out and go back to your team for healing and support. Winston is one of the most entertaining heroes to play, and he's almost always welcome on a team, as long as Reaper isn't an important factor.

Worst enemy: Reaper

Best teammate: Zenyatta
Most satisfying kill: Genji

Rating ★★★★

Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse

Date played: October 17th
Platform: PS3

I finished Castle of Illusion!

While waiting for dinner to be ready, my daughter asked me to continue playing Castle of Illusion, so I did. It turns out, we only had one level left and two bosses, so we ended up finishing the game. The last level was a challenging swim through the castle's depths. It wasn't too hard, but I had to be vigilant, the jump timing is pretty tight. The boss was pretty average. He's a dumb-looking dude that swings a hammer around. I had to lead him to hit some large bells while he spun to knock him down and hit him on the head.

Mizrabel was fun to fight

With all 7 of the rainbow gems in hand, Mickey was ready to confront Mizrabel and save Minnie Mouse. Minnie is held at the top of a tower, so Mickey must climb it while avoiding Mizrabel and her magic broomstick. This was a very short level, but it was very difficult. The game threw everything it had at me, including falling platforms, swinging ropes and Mizrabel slinging magic spells. After a couple of failed attempts, I made it to the top.

With Minnie now in sight, Mickey fought Mizrabel head on. The evil witch changed forms and revealed her true power. She has a lot of health, and the boss battle was easily the longest, most difficult encounter in the game. The fight is a pretty standard boss battle, but it was quite varied, with Mizrabel throwing a different type of attack after each time I hit her. To add to the danger, the floor tiles were falling out at a regular pace, making it even more difficult to stay alive.

It took me at least 6 or 7 attempts before I beat her, but my daughter's encouraging words helped keep me motivated. I beat the witch, rescued Minnie and went back home safely. This was a fun little game!

Playroom VR

Date played: October 16th
Platform: PSVR

My daughter was really impressed with Playroom VR, particularly the cat and mouse game. She asked me to play it again, so I rounded up my girlfriend and we went to play for a little while. I kind of feel bad for letting my 6 year old play this, considering there are warnings everywhere that it should be played only by people 12 years or older, but we're playing in short spurts, so I'm hoping it's ok...

She LOVES being the cat, poking her head out of the curtain to catch us. There's a cool little feature too where the headset's microphone picks up audio from the person wearing it, then spits it out with a cat voice filter. It makes for some really funny shit. I got into character and meowed like an alley cat in heat!

Cat and Mouse is my daughter's favorite VR experience

After a few minutes of this, we decided to try another game in Playroom VR. Wanted is a weird little game where the VR player embodies a robotic sheriff who must shoot bad guys inside a saloon. The kicker is that only the TV players can see the image of the bad guy. They must describe the bad guy to the VR player, who then looks at the characters on screen to find the person who matches the description.

It's deceptively fun... My daughter and girlfriend were screaming descriptions at me as I scrambled to find the right guy. It's surprisingly fun! The choice of words used to describe the bad guys is really important. For example, you can't just say "He's got a hat!", you need to say "He's got a BLUE hat!". We then switched positions, with my daughter donning the sheriff's star. I was worried that she would struggle to understand our descriptions, or fumble with the controller's aim, but she was fucking perfect and scored 10/10! It was a lot of fun to play this, I am pleasantly surprised.

Finally, we decided to check out another portion of the game, a little crane game, like in the arcades. Using coins that we won for playing through the other games, we used the crane to pick up little toy capsules. These are then displayed in an adorable virtual room. It's really cool in VR because you get to move around and look at the objects in detail. There's tons of funny stuff too, like a miniature gym, haunted house, arcade, park and the saloon from the other game. The best part is a little race track that runs around the room and has two robots riding Wipeout craft. Fuck, I miss Wipeout. 

Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse

Date played: October 16th
Platform: PS3

After completing Journey, my daughter was still interested in playing games on PS3. After a break, we looked at my list of games and Mickey Mouse caught her eye. We had played this remake of the 16-bit game before, but it was a while ago. We decided to start over from the beginning and ended up playing through 4 of the worlds.

The first two worlds weren't too interesting, since we had already played them. The forest is fun and easy and the toy world was a big step up in difficulty. The third world, The Storm, was a lot more interesting. Here, the platforming is taken up a notch with some falling platforms. I jumped, swung and slid through some rocky cliffs and gushing waterfalls. There was even a section where some water rushed at the bottom of the screen, creating some temporary obstacles. It was pretty cool.

The boss fight was the worst in the game yet. The water level rose and fell as a weird from person attacked me. Then it was two at a time, then 3 at a time. The problem wasn't so much the mechanics, but the framerate. The game slowed down to a crawl in this battle, making it much more difficult to time jumps correctly.

The next level was a Library. The first few sections were on the library's shelves as I dodged magical books, bookworms and sentient alphabet letters. Soon enough though, the whole level changed as Mickey entered a special magical book that sent him to a land of candy, sweets and treats! I always enjoy food-themed levels in video games... I used Jello as a trampoline, I jumped cookies floating in a milk river. It was great.

The Licorice Dragon

At the end of the level, there was another boss fight, this time against a giant licorice dragon that lives in the milk river. I was standing on three cookies floating in the river and had to avoid his attacks until I had a chance to jump on his head. This was easily the best boss fight in the game yet. We're getting close to the end for sure, the next level is an ominous castle...

Journey

Date played: October 16th
Platform: PS3

Following the 2 or 3 rounds of Pac-Man Championship Edition DX with my daughter, I quit out of the PS3's menu. My daughter saw the icon for Journey, a game she watched me play on PS4 recently. She seemed very interested in playing it now. She's starting to have more experience with gaming, thanks to her interest in Pokemon, so she is more confident in trying new, more complex games.

Thankfully, Journey isn't too hard to play. She picked it up pretty quickly, since it's a relatively simple game. She continued from where I last left off years ago, about midway through the short game. She loved it so much, she actually completed the story! She needed help a few times for some of the trickier jumps, but for the most part, she handled it really well.

At one point, she was joined by another player. It's so weird seeing a child in this situation... She immediately formed a bond with this other person and wouldn't leave their side. They journeyed together to the peak of the mountain. It was a lot of fun to watch.

Pac-Man Championship Edition DX

Date played: October 16th
Platform: PS3

My daughter has been watching a new show on Netflix recently, Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures. In the last few days, I've heard and seen some of the show as she watched it, and was pleasantly surprised to hear some of the original music and sound effects being used. This prompted me to explain the basics of Pac-Man to my daughter, whose only exposure to the yellow chomper is from the TV show. When I told her I had a good Pac-Man game on PS3, she wanted me to show it to her.

The TV show

I booted up Pac-Man Championship Edition DX and played a couple of time trials just to show her the game. This is easily my favorite Pac-Man game ever made, so it was still lots of fun to play. My daughter enjoyed the long, rainbow-colored train of ghosts following Pac-Man.

Playstation VR Launch Special!

Date played: October 14th and 15th
Platform: PSVR

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the future.

Virtual reality has always been a technological fantasy. Early attempts at virtual reality have all failed miserably, from Nintendo's infamous Virtual Boy to the Sega VR, they all sucked. The processing power wasn't there, the tech wasn't there. Not yet. But this year, things have changed. Earlier this year, the Occulus Rift and the HTV Vive were released for. They seem to work really well, but the cost is exorbitant. I kept an eye on them, but I couldn't justify the amount of money required... That's where Playstation VR comes in.

While the PSVR is still rather expensive, it's a lot more reasonable than the other two and is still a high quality product. I got mine in the mail on Friday and set it up. I've gotta say, even though it's trivial, and unimportant, the packaging is really nice for this thing. Anyway, I took it out plugged in everything. There's a shit ton of cabling to deal with, but it was all rather easy. I then spent some time calibrating the headset using the built in software. Again, everything was super easy.

I bought the launch bundle, which includes the headset, the camera, two move controllers and one game, VR Worlds. It also comes with a demo disc with many demos. I also downloaded a few free games and a few apps. Two of my brothers were with me for the first night, so it was really cool to share this experience with them.

Putting on that headset is nothing short of amazing! It's incredible comfortable and very easy to adjust. There's enough room for my glasses too, which is great. We began with Playroom VR, a free collection of multiplayer games from Sony. It's impossible to describe it well with words, but there's a wonderful sense of scale and place when wearing the headset. Even the game's main menu is awe-inspiring...

The first game was a little 3D platformer. I control a little robot who must gather coins, destroy enemies and jump on platforms. If this weren't in VR, it would be just a normal ass platformer. However, VR adds an incredible sense of depth and place to it. I was turning my head to look around the 3D world. It's just such a weird, but fun feeling. My brother played this with me. He controlled a little character who could help me find coins and defeat enemies. What he saw on screen wasn't even close to what I saw in the headset, which was a lot of fun .

Next, we tried another mini-game where the player wearing the headset is a cat hidden in a cupboard, The players without the headset control 1 of 4 mice who must gather pieces of cheese. The VR player can move his head to peek outside of the cupboard, pushing his head through some curtains. If he sees the mice moving, he catches them. The mice players must try to gather all the cheese then stop moving when the cat pokes his head out. This was a lot more fun than I expected. It's also very cool to be "cat-sized" in VR.

I then swapped VR Worlds, the only real game I own. It's actually a collection of 5 small games, so we began with Ocean Descent. This isn't exactly a game, it's more of a cinematic ride. Basically, you're put in a diving cage and lowered to the depths of the ocean. Again, the sense of scale and place is like nothing I've ever played. There's a shark attack and it's really cool to see the shark swoop in and rattle the cage.

Next, we tried a really cool recreation of Pong called Danger Ball. This was one of the coolest experiences so far, as it's basically Pong in first person. To aim, you just move your head to move the cursor. The bombastic music and trippy visuals make this one a lot of fun to play for a few minutes.

We then tried Scavenger's Odyssey, a game where you control an alien in a spaceship. Aiming is easy, as it uses head tracking. There are little creatures that attack sometimes, and it kind of auto-aims as long as I'm facing the right direction. There's an awesome jumping mechanic also to jump between meteorites. This was the first time I experienced a weird feeling in my body. I felt slightly dizzy, so following advice from people that had played lots of VR, I closed my eyes and quit the game.

I think the reason I got dizzy was because of the fast movements in the game. So far, I definitely prefer games that don't move too much. I've always been prone to motion sickness. For example, I just don't do any rides where I spin around or I get sick. I have a feeling that I'll prefer slow moving games for VR. Maybe I'll get better with time too, like how it was hard to play 3DS at first, but got easier with practice.

We then tried a couple of short movies, Invasion! and Allumette. Invasion! was kind of bad and low quality, but Allumette was very special. It's almost like watching a puppet show in a lot of ways. It's really hard to describe, but being able to move around the scene and get close to characters was something very very special. I feel like there's a lot of potential for new kinds of experiences here.

We also tried a demo disc, though we didn't play many games on it yet. The first stop was Thumper, a game described as rhythm-violence. There's a scarab-like creature that is riding a road at very high speeds. There are pads where I had to press X to the beat of the music, and corners where I had to hold X and turn at the same time. The gameplay is simple, but extremely fast and difficult, even in the early levels. It has a very unique visual style and amazing music. I definitely want to play more of this, though I also got a bit dizzy when there were too many corners in a row.

My favorite demo was Wayward Sky. It was a very short demo, but it was so cool. This is a little adventure puzzle game. I control a young boy who must rescue his grandfather. What made this game work for me is the static perspective. It moves slowly and is viewed from a bird's eye view. To control the hero, I had to aim the controller's light bar to where I wanted to go. I solved a few simple puzzles and avoided a few enemies. It's a simple game, but so far, it seems like the kind of game I could spend a lot of time with.

I still have many demos to try on this disc, including a driving game, a horror game and a multiplayer arena shooter. I can't wait to try them out, I just hope my body can take it.

Finally, I played a good portion of London Heist, one of the games that are part of the VR Worlds game. This was easily the most impressive game so far. There's real characters this time, and they talk to you as if you were there. I played this with the Move controllers, each controlling one of my hands. There's a bar scene at one point where I could pick up objects with my hands. This was so fucking weird, but also very very cool. There's a real sense of "being there" that is great.

Another portion of the game featured a full on shoot out in a jewelry store.  I aimed with one hand, and reloaded with the other. I had to duck around a counter to take cover and get line of sight on enemies, it was fucking cool. Then, we had to escape, which led to a big car chase. I shot at motorcycles and SUV's with an Uzi as we drove quickly on the highway. Surprisingly, I didn't feel nearly as dizzy as in other games, even if it moved quickly. I still had to take a break after, but I felt ok. It was very exciting!

I still have a lot to learn and play with Playstation VR, but so far, I am impressed. I'm conscious that the price of this thing is still very high for what I'm getting, but I'm happy to be there for the start of a new technology. I just hope I don't get sick from this stuff. So far so good, but breaks are important. 

Overwatch

Date played: October 11th. 12th and 13th
Platform: PS4

Today's hero is Torbjörn

Role: Defense

Difficulty: ★★

HP: 200

Armor: 0

Shields: 0

Total: 200

Favorite quote: "Don't get caught with your beard in the letterbox."

Favorite map to play on: Hollywood

Appearance

Torbjörn is a dwarf that looks like he came straight out of World of Warcraft. He's short and has a big fucking beard complete with two large braids. He wears a lot of armor, but leaves his tattooed arm exposed. His right arm looks like it's a cybernetic prostheses. He uses it to melt metal to create armor, reload his weapon and construct his turrets. He also has a sort of cyber eye thing going on, though it doesn't really seem to serve a purpose in game.

Skills

• Rivet Gun: Torb's main weapon. It can fire a long range projectile that has a slight downward arc, or a short range spread shot, similar to a shotgun. It hits a lot harder than it looks, but it's kind of hard to aim well.
• Forge Hammer: One of the weirder items in the game, Torb's hammer is used mainly to build, repair and upgrade his turret. It also hits pretty fucking hard, matching Reinhardt's hammer. It just doesn't have as much range as the tank's weapon.
• Turret: The Swedish dwarf's main ability. He builds a small turret that automatically aims and fires at enemies from relatively long range. It can be upgraded by swinging the hammer on it. It then fires much faster and has a mini rocket launcher added.
• Armor Pack: When enemies die, they leave behind scrap, a collectible item for Torb. Scrap is the resource used to create armor packs, which can be collected by allies to gain 75 armor.
• Ultimate - Molten Core: Torb turns into a fiery little creature of death, spitting fire from his rivet gun. He also increases his health to 500, as much as Winston, and his level 2 turret increases it's HP to 800, making it very difficult to destroy. I think it also increases the turret's rate of fire.

Strengths

• Excellent on defense, particularly on assault maps. His turrets have enough range that they can be placed behind the objective and still be effective. 
• Molten Core is really good for controlling territory. There aren't many heroes that can take on a molten core turret and Torb head on.
• Armor packs are easy to create and spam on an objective, acting as small health packs for your team.
• The Rivet Gun hits surprisingly hard, so long range pot shots can be very effective at choke points. This also works well against unsuspecting targets.

Weaknesses

• Turret placement is vital to Torb's success. A badly placed turret is a liability to the team rather than an asset. If the turret is down, Torb is mostly useless.
• Doesn't work well on attack maps, even if some people keep trying it. 
• Has no escape mechanisms. If cornered, Torb is toast.
• Level 1 turret is completely ineffective. You have to get that thing to level 2 to have a chance of being useful. 

Comments

I really don't like playing Torbjörn. His turret is pretty good, but he's just so situational. In fact, I don't think there's anything that Torb does better than Bastion, except for the little armor packs. I really haven't played Torb very much, so maybe if I got used to his main weapon a bit more, I would like him better, but he seems pretty weak overall.

The problem with him is that his turret is actually pretty easy to take out. When I first started playing the game, I found him really strong, but as I learned the different heroes, it became apparent that the turret is weak. 

There are obvious ways to take him out, like Widowmaker or Hanzo sniping the turret at long range. Even McCree can do it at range. Zenyatta is also surprisingly effective against turrets. Pharah can shoot rockets at it from range. Junkrat can bounce grenades to it. Winston can pop his shield giving the rest of his team time to shoot safely. Roadhog can just tank it with his immense health pool. Zarya can abuse turrets to power up her shield. There are just so many ways to counter that Torb sees little use in serious games.

One of my favorite ways to deal with turrets is with Reinhardt. Since he's the hero I play the most, I had to find a way. The fire strike works really well on it, dealing 100 unblockable damage. But the single most satisfying method is to shield as Reinhardt, then ask Mercy to shoot the turret with her pistol. It's worked countless times with my brothers and it makes the Mercy feel like a badass.

Torb has his uses though. For example, he's usually a good hero to have on defense on Hanamura. The multitude of choke points, hidden alcoves and high ground positions available to the defenders give Torb many opportunities to place a dangerous turret. He's also really helpful at holding a point after people have died, since his turret keeps firing. His Molten Core ultimate can stop a team dead in their tracks if they're not prepared. 

In the end though, I don't find him fun to play, regardless. Setting up a turret and spending half the match repairing it is not fun. It's boring. I don't mind a decent Torb on my team when defending, but I have no desire to play him.

Worst enemy: Widowmaker

Best teammate: Bastion
Most satisfying kill: Tracer

Rating ★