Overwatch

Date played: July 30th
Platform: PS4

Today's play of the night has me defending the first point on Hanamura as Symmetra. Most of the night I had been stuck tanking or healing, since people are fucking idiots in this game sometimes and pick the worst team composition possible. Near the end of my night, I decided to play at least one round as Symmetra and had a pretty fun little run, including this surprisingly effective opening move... 

Forza Horizon 3

Date played: July 30th
Platform: Xbox One

I finished Forza Horizon 3!

Well maybe "finished" is a bit too strong of a word, but I mean that I got the credits rolling. After watching the F1 race in Hungary this weekend, I really needed to drive some fast cars and hear some roaring engines. I jumped back into the giant game that is Forza Horizon 3 and raced for a while.

I started by buying myself a new car, just for fun, an Audi RS4, the fastest of the A4's, and painted it bright yellow. I gave it a quick whirl in a Super Saloon race in the outback and loved it quite a bit. It's pretty fast, but it's the AWD drivetrain that makes this car very fun to use and easy to handle.

I roamed around a lot, as you do in Forza Horizon, and found a new barn car, a sexy, old school Nissan Skyline. I explored a few new roads, did a few PR stunts, then completed some more races. I had an event that required an american car, so I decided to ride my Ford F-150 Raptor. While the big truck is heavy and clumsy, it's also very powerful and can easily overtake cars in the same class in straights and during acceleration, I just had to slow down a bit more on difficult corners.

I was having fun, doing random races and championships all over Australia, when I got the notice that the final showdown event was available, and it was a crazy one! I had to race against a giant blimp in a small, off road vehicle, also known as a side-by-side. The little machine is a ton of fun to drive, but it's not very fast, which made the race interesting, since a blimp isn't very fast either. The track was fun to drive and there were plenty of moments where the looming airship overhead made for some fantastic views.

Racing a blimp was a fitting finale to an amazing racing game

That was the last "big" event in the game, so I've effectively completed the game, but there's always some fun racing to be had in Forza Horizon 3, so I'm sure I'll jump back in once in a while. Forza Horizon 3 is a fucking masterpiece. It's racing games that ignited my love of video games, and I hope they will be around forever. As our world moves away from gasoline engines, I hope there will still be a place for those of us who enjoy driving as more than a means of transportation, and I hope that racing video games stick around for the long haul.

Overwatch

Date played: July 28th
Platform: PS4

Today's play of the night features Roadhog, defending on Anubis. I had kind of a weird team, so I picked Roadhog to add some toughness. It came in handy a few times during this fun 6 kill streak.

Spy Chameleon

Date played: July 29th
Platform: PS4

I started and finished Spy Chameleon, a top down stealth puzzle game I got for free with PS+. My daughter wanted  to play a new game, and she liked the icon on the PS4 menu, so we gave it a go. It was a really short game, taking less than 2 hours to complete, but it was pretty cool overall.

You play as a spy chameleon, of course, and must traverse rooms without being spotted by a variety of obstacles. There are security cameras, spotlights, lab rats, patrolling flies and other dangerous things to avoid. I also had to pick up some collectible flies in each level. There were 75 short levels, most of which took less than a minute to solve.

These lab rats were my favorite obstacle

The key mechanic is that the character can swap to 4 different colors, which hides him in the world when he's over an object of the same color. There were tons of fun variations on this concept throughout the game. I also enjoyed using a special object to turn lab rats into muscled bouncers.

Spy Chameleon is far from amazing, but it was entertaining. The tight controls made it easy to enjoy the game, as errors usually my fault, and not the game's fault. 

Overwatch

Date played: July 27th
Platform: PS4

DOOMFIST IS HERE!

The big guy is finally out, and he's a weird mix of Reinhardt and Genji. Today's play of the night is an actual play of the game in one of my first matches as Doomfist, attacking one of the points on Nepal. I had played a few rounds with him already, but every new hero takes a while to learn. Still, I manage a pretty cool looking play here!

Overwatch

Date played: July 25th
Platform: PS4

Today's play of the night is a surprisingly successful use of Torbjorn on Illios. Control maps typically aren't great for Torb, but I've been meaning to get better with him, so I picked him anyway to practice. I ended up doing really well with him. I find that unless I have a really good, protected spot for the turret, it's really better to move the turret around after a few kills, so that enemies don't know where to expect it. I'm also improving with his main weapon. It's actually really strong, if a little hard to aim. It works best at long range, defending tight choke points. I like a few rounds of the rowdy dwarf once in awhile.

The Last Guardian

Date played: July 24th
Platform: PS4

I finished The Last Guardian!

What an incredible ending... I swear, this has to be one of my favorite video game endings in a long, long time.The remaining gameplay portions were all pretty simple and lots of fun, but my last hour with the game was definitely more story focused.

Trico and the boy had reached the center of the white tower and found a small opening leading to the interior of the central pillar. This led to an odd pulsating device that was enveloped in a dark substance, floating in the air. I aimed my mirror towards the device, which made the substance retract temporarily, allowing me enough time to climb the device safely. I solved another short puzzle after this, then was able to exit the tower and reach it's roof and reunite with Trico one more time.

After a few moments of idyllic peace, soaking in the warm light of the setting sun, the tower's antenna started emitting a loud noise. It quickly became clear that the device in the center of the tower was some sort of overarching entity that controlled the evil Trico. It also became quickly apparent that there are many of these creatures in the world, as dozens of armored Trico's flew to the tower at the device's call.

The boy reunites with Trico at the peak of the white tower

Shit got heavy real fast. The creatures all attacked my companion, ruthlessly and violently biting and scratching to the song of Trico's agonizing cries of pain. My mirror was knocked away, so in a desperate attempt to help Trico, I ran towards it. I was knocked away by one of the bad Tricos and fell down the vertiginous heights of the white tower. During my fall, I was attacked again, but this time, I managed to grab hold of the attacking beast's plumage. I went for a bit of a rollercoaster ride here as the animal tried to throw me off it's back, flying through the air at high speeds.

Eventually, I was dropped on the white tower's roof again by the beast, presumably to get some help from it's friends. I made another run for the mirror but this time, I was stopped by something even scarier than the armored Tricos. No, this time, I was stopped by the intense pain of seeing Trico suffer.

This was easily the most heartbreaking moment in the game for me... The evil Tricos were violent enough with Trico that they tore end of it's tail off completely. Trico howled in pain and despair. It was fucking horrible... The mutilated piece of it's tail flew into the nearby opening that led to the strange device in the center of the tower. Desperate to find a way to help, I jumped down and found the tail. I then dragged it to the center of the room, where the device was still emanating the dark substance, then aimed the mirror at it.

To my surprise, I was able to destroy the device, which had some unexpected consequences. Outside, the evil Tricos started falling from the sky, as if their bodies just stopped responding. I need to add that the music during the entire ending sequence was fucking fantastic. It was beautiful, emotional and very well matched to the events on screen. The actions taken by the boy hurt him though, as the device wounded him when it shut down.

Trico comes to the boy's rescue, no longer being under attack by the evil Tricos. My loyal friend is limping, bleeding, is missing a large piece of it's tail and and losing feathers. Trico slowly picks up the boy in it's mouth, then jumps back out to the roof of the white tower. The tower itself is now crumbling slowly, due to the destruction of the device. Trico looks out into the distance, with unconscious boy in it's beak, then he swallows him for protection.

Then it happens. The happy moment. The payoff. Trico winds up, then jumps down the white tower to fly away, out of the crater where the whole game took place. He drops for an uncomfortably long time, but finally, he spreads it's wings and takes flight, out into the real world.

Trico crash lands a little later, exhausted. The duo must have been close to the boy's village because there were humans around. Trico regurgitates the boy, who is promptly picked up by a man. The warriors stand off against Trico, but as the boy is carried away, he regains consciousness and mumbles a few words. It took me a moment, but I soon realized that I had to use the command to send Trico away. This time, it was goodbye forever.

I was very sad that the boy and Trico never see each other again. Their bond was strong... The epilogue was pretty great though. The boy grew into a man, and lives in the village. Some of the kids in the village randomly found the mirror, buried in the soil. The game then cuts to distant land and we catch a glimpse of Trico, seemingly healthy. The best part though was when I noticed another pair of smaller eyes glowing in the darkness. Paired with the higher pitched sounds, I can only assume that Trico has had a child, possibly even with the evil Trico that we fought the whole game...

The Last Guardian was a weird game. Ignoring the years and years of development and the transition from PS3 to PS4, the game still had tons of problems. Controls were shit. Camera was worse. Some of the puzzles were too obtuse and in some areas, it got a little boring. However, the bond that I've built with Trico over the game is something that I'll remember for my whole life. All the big set piece moments were amazing too. The amazing ending is really the cherry on the cake. I cried like a little girl when Trico finally took flight for real. I had goosebumps of horror when it's tail was mutilated. I feared for the boy's life more than once. The Last Guardian is a deeply flawed game, but it delivers such a great story that I am left with a very positive impression. Maybe one day, we'll get to see Trico's child in action...

Splatoon 2

Date played: July 24th
Platform: Switch

I played a few quick matches last night, mostly with my trusty Splattershot rifle. I've reached level 8 now and have been granted access to a few new weapons, including a powerful but unwieldy chaingun. Since Splatoon 2 has a weird map rotation thing going on, I got a chance to try a few new maps. Some of them are not as good as others, but most of them have very fun battle areas. Knowing the maps is critical of course, so I've been improving a lot as I play them.

I'm the third player in this image, armed with my trusty Splattershot

The biggest thing I learned is that I have to play this game differently than any other shooter, even shooters that have territory control elements. This is because of the swimming ability that the inklings use to move around. I didn't realize it at first, but it's a huge element during combat. Not only is the way to recharge ink, but it's also a fantastic flanking tool. More and more, I'm weaving in and out of paint, flanking enemies or staying hidden for a moment to take them by surprise. It's been working remarkably well.

It helps that the Splattershot has better range than most weapons, since I can usually hold an opponent at bay by simply spraying in their general direction. I'm still very far from being any good at this game, but I'm definitely improving at a rapid pace. Splatoon 2 is a lot of fun in quick short bursts, and it's a lot deeper than you might think based on the childish visual style.

The Last Guardian

Date played: July 23rd
Platform: PS4

Ohhh man, shit got real heavy!

After a bit of climbing and some risky jumping, I managed to push one of the two eyes off the bridge that was blocking Trico's way. However, I wasn't able to push the second one off as a literal army of animated knights of armor attacked me. To my huge surprise, Trico conquered it's fear of the eyes and jumped to my rescue, fighting off all the enemies in one shot. It was a very touching moment.

We continued climbing and climbing until we were interrupted by the evil Trico, as it attached us directly. it overpowered my friend many times, and in each case, I had to find a way to help. The best moment is when I had to pull the evil Trico's tail into a gate, then use a switch to make the gate smash onto it.

Trico vs Evil Trico was an amazing battle

During the battle, the evil creature's helmet was taken off, and it's revealed that this is really just another creature, with no remarkable traits different than Trico's, except perhaps the color of their feathers. The battle was fierce, but we managed to scare the dangerous beast away. Trico was badly hurt though... We fell to the bottom of a tower and I had to find 4 barrels of food to get my friend back on it's feet. In the process, Trico regurgitated the mirror that I had lost early on, so I had a new tool at my disposal to progress and battle.

We went back up the tower, using the mirror's electric attack on knights of armor and distant stained glass eyes. There was a lot of action here, and lots of fun little segments. Eventually, we got very close to the white tower, the iconic structure that dominates the skyline since the beginning of the game. To reach it, Trico had to take out it's big wings once again and fly for a little bit. It's landings are still rough as fuck, but the creature can cover a lot of distance. It all looked quite spectacular. We fought some more knights of armor upon landing on the tower, then found an entrance.

Inside the tower, there wasn't much except some big structural columns that Trico used to traverse, and a giant spinning fan of some kind at the top. I found a small opening that led to the center of the structure, but had to stop playing then. I think I'm very close to the end of the game, and I hope it's got a happy ending...

Splatoon 2

Date played: July 21st and 22nd
Platform: Switch

I bought Splatoon 2! I had skipped the first game on Wii U because I was already deep into other multiplayer games, but Splatoon 2 looked so cool that I had to give it a shot. I wasn't disappointed by the game's core mode, Turf War.

Splatoon 2 is an online third person shooter, almost. There are not bullets or shotguns though, instead, all the weapons are about splattering paint. The objective of Turf War is to paint more of the map than your opponents. The teams are 4 vs 4, and the maps are relatively small. This is mainly because the weapons have very low range compared to a regular shooter. Even the game's equivalent of the sniper rifle might as well be a shotgun in Doom.

Splatoon 2's got style!

Of course, in the process of painting more and more of the arena, you end up fighting against other players. Splatoon 2's combat is built around it's odd and varied weapons. My favorite so far has been the closest thing to an assault rifle I could find. There's some wild weapons though, like a bucket of paint, a paint roller and even a sort of paint grenade launcher. Each weapon comes with it's own sub-weapon, such as paint grenades, and a special ability.

The specials are earned by painting the map, but when you get killed by another player, you lose some of your special meter. My favorite special has been one that launches me into the air, Destiny style, and allows for some paint grenade lobbing from high ground.

Combat is fast and frenetic, and I love it. The 3 minutes matches make for short but exciting matches and the bright colors and fun atmosphere make this a joy to play. Still, it's not without it's fair share of problems. The biggest annoyance is having to back out of a game lobby to change weapons. There interface is pretty, but kind of slow and cumbersome.

I also tried the single player mode a little bit, but so far, it's been very simplistic and very easy. It's a good way to learn how to get around, and there's been a few creative portions in each level, but it's not really keeping my attention.

At level 6, I've unlocked a few items and weapons and am starting to get better at the game. However, there are clearly some much better players than me in this game, so I'll have to practice a lot!

Overwatch

Date played: July 20th
Platform: PS4

I had a few great games last night, but the play of the night has to be this crazy defensive move as Reinhardt near the last point of King's Row. I charge a Genji to death, then use Earthshatter to stun 3 or 4 enemies at the payload. I then pair up with Reaper to kill them all. It was quite glorious, particularly because our healer was kind of bad...

The Last Guardian

Date played: July 18th
Platform: PS4

I made a lot of progress in the game... I picked up where I left off, at a large pool of water. There were a good number of puzzles here that all required that I reach a switch to open a gate and make an underwater door open for Trico to swim through. It's kind of cliche to say that a video game's water level sucked, but damn, the water level sucked.

The swimming controls are difficult to use, and it's easy to go in the wrong direction. This led to a few accidental drownings on my part... Then there's Trico, who can swim, but does so very slowly, like a real animal would. This is realistic and all, but it's also really bad gameplay wise. However. the real problem was one of the puzzles.

The room was simple. There was a big pool of water, a large rock that acted as a springboard for Trico to jump into the water, a gate and a small underwater tunnel leading to the switch. The problem is that the ledge to reach the switch was too high. I spent a long time in this room, and got very frustrated. I tried everything I could think of, but all I got was a whole lot of swimming slowly and Trico being confused. I had to look it up online, something I really don't like doing. Turns out, the solution was to get near the switch, then have Trico jump from the rock, which made waves big enough to carry me to the switch.

Shortly after, we escaped through an underwater gate, but the boy doesn't have the giant lungs that Trico has. I was stuck underwater for too long and passed out, Trico swimming away without noticing the missing boy. When I woke, I was in a big room with some suspended cages that ended up being makeshift elevators.

As I explored the area, I found a large room and saw Trico's tail hanging from a platform. I grabbed onto it and climbed into the main portion of the room, excited to be reunited with my feathered friend. To my horror, it wasn't Trico's tail, it was the evil one's instead! He was really fucking mad too, and started attacking me right away. I spent the next few minutes trying to escape by climbing and jumping to areas out of reach to the animal. At one point, I even had to jump on it's head, which was stuck in a doorway. I eventually hid inside one of the cages from earlier, protecting me from the dangerous beast. However, I actually trapped myself in the cage...

The contrast between the bad swimming section and the exhilarating sequence with the evil Trico is a great representation of how I feel about The Last Guardian in general. It's got some really good highs, with emotionally charged moments, sweeping music and amazing animation. Then it's got some really bad lows, with frustrating checkpoints, floaty controls and obtuse puzzles. There are times where I fucking love this game, and there are times that I hate it. The highs are so good that I still enjoy myself, but it could have been so much more.

Anyway, I had to wait a very long time in the cage, with nowhere to go. I could move around a little bit, by rolling the cage around, but there was no path for me to take. There were even some cinematic cuts that led me to believe the kid was there for many days. After a few of these cuts, I called for Trico and heard it's faint response from a long distance. After a few minutes, I saw Trico's head poking through the ceiling of the room as he dug through the rock. My friend came to my rescue!

I was still stuck in the cage though... Trico helped me by pushing the cage around with it's muzzle. Iwas then able to move around a bit more, rolling the cage around like a hamster. I crashed down some stairs and ledges and platforms, destroying much of the path along the way. When I crash landed, the door to the cage finally opened.

Trico was exhausted and needed some food, so I went in search of more glowing barrels. There was a good sequence here where I had to lead one of those statues around the room long enough to grab a barrel then bring it back to Trico. It was a cool little puzzle. After being reinvigorated, Trico was ready to go again. We reached another of those nests, and of course, Trico swallowed me again.

This time though, the boy had a dream, or a kind of flashback and it revealed the origins of the boy's story. He lived in a small village and was kidnapped by a Trico during the night. The creature had much bigger wings, longer horns and a bunch of armor.  There's also mention from the villagers that the boy is "chosen", so that's mysterious. The beast flew away thanks to it's gigantic wings, but was struck by lightning near the ruins I've been exploring since the beginning of the game. Some men show up, tie up Trico and leave. I think they chopped it's wings and horns, removed it's armor and left the boy for dead. But Trico regurgitated the boy after some time, leading to the opening moments of the game.

Is this... Trico?

After the flashback, I woke up to the most impactful scene in the game so far, at least to me. Trico is awake and no longer under the influence of the nest, so he picks up the boy and tries to wake him by carrying him to a courtyard. What's special about this scene is that the boy looks like he's dead, and for a long time, I thought he was, and that this was the end of the game. The scene lasted really long, and you could feel the tension as Trico desperately tried to wake it's friend and companion. Thankfully, after a few heart-wrenching minutes, the boy woke up.

We found a path forward that led us down some collapsing mine shafts, where I had to solve a few simple puzzles and turn on some switches. We're back on track now, reaching a large bridge blocked off to my feathered friend by some more stained glass eyes. I have to find a way to destroy them now.

Overwatch

Date played: July 17th
Platform: PS4

Today's play of the night is a savage defensive move as Reinhardt, defending the last point on Dorado. I ram a Soldier into a wall with charge, then kill an exhausted Mei, destroy D.Va's mech, then kill her and finally, I get the killing blow on a mid-barrage Pharah. Pharah killed me with her barrage, but my assault was enough to change the momentum of the match and give us the victory.

The Last Guardian

Date played: July 16th
Platform: PS4

Trico and the boy continued their journey towards the top of the towers that litter the landscape. I climbed a lot, navigating crumbling ruins, shimmying along edges and finding ways for both the boy and Trico to continue moving together. There were many switches to pull, enemies to avoid, barrels to carry and stained glass to destroy.

At one point, the bridges and structures we were using to progress began to crumble under our feet, which led to an exciting sequence as I fled the scene, trying to find a solid foothold. As cool as it was, the game's performance was complete shit. I mean, I'm running a PS4 Pro here, and the game looks good, but not that fucking good, and it still can't keep a solid framerate? It's pretty disappointing, even though it still looked really cool.

The architecture in this game is fantastic

We got pretty high on the towers, but due to all this crumbling, we didn't have a safe place. This led to our first direct confrontation with the other Trico, the dark one that I've caught a glimpse of a few times already. As Trico and the boy were hanging on for dear life from a ledge, the dark Trico showed up and attacked! It's quite intimidating because it's feathers are darker and it wears some armor. It swiped at Trico's head, knocking us down through a structure's roof below.

To my horror, this was a room I had visited before, the room with the dangling blue potion on a chain. Fuck this fucking room. So anyway, our fall damaged the place enough that there were a few new spots to explore. I was stuck on a branch, hanging by my shirt's collar, and Trico was wounded below. It took many instructions and multiple attempts,  but eventually, I managed to get Trico above me so that I could grab it's tail to escape.

We then spent a bunch of time just working our way back up, through a different route. Lots more exploration and puzzle solving awaited me ahead. Most of the puzzles are fun, but one of them was particularly shitty. I had to move two crates near a gate, then throw a barrel onto the crates, then through a hole in the gate. This would have been fine if it wasn't for the game's shitty controls. It's really frustrating because I know exactly what I want to do, but the fucking kid moves like a drunk squid! He stumbles around, gets stuck on rocks, won't grab onto chains and throws his barrels all over the place. I got it done, but it took way longer than it should have. In a game with better controls, this would have been over in 10 seconds instead of 10 minutes...

Later, I reached a large arena-like structure, where Trico had to fight a few bad guys. This time though, some of them held shields with the eye design on them, so Trico was scared of them. I had to make the bad guy drop his shield by shoving him from behind and hoping that Trico would kill it before it picked up it's shield again. After the battle, I escaped the arena by having Trico step on a chariot that would end up acting like a catapult for the boy, sending him soaring through the air to safety. It was a great moment.

I have now reached a pool of water, and it seems like Trico knows how to swim pretty damn well, so I have a feeling we'll be solving some underwater puzzles for a little while.

Overwatch

Date played: July 15th
Platform: PS4

Today's play of the night is a solid push as Soldier 76, attacking on Eichenwalde. We struggled with the first choke point because the enemy team had a good Hanzo and Widowmaker, making it difficult to break through. After lots of dying though, we finally push through and take the point, then I push the payload almost by myself about halfway to the next checkpoint. Feels good man.

The Last Guardian

Date played: July 13th
Platform: PS4

I played through a big portion of The Last Guardian. Much of my time was spent solving the environmental puzzles of each room. In fact, it's quite Zelda-esque in many ways. Not Breath of the Wild Zelda of course, that's a whole different thing, but more like the classic 3D dungeons. It's really fun to experiment and try different things to find the solution.

Except when it doesn't work and I get stuck that is... At one point, I had to carry around a large pot with blue Trico food inside. I attached it to a chain and it Trico would pull on it, raising a nearby gate temporarily, allowing me to go to a new room. What I got stuck on is that I didn't know I was able to pull a big rolling object to the top of a platform, and ran around exploring the nearby area for way too long.

These eye things are a pain in the ass!

I eventually figured it out... Later, the environment got a lot more interesting, as I reached some bigger open areas, littered with rickety bridges, narrow platforms and large stained glass eye designs. These designs scare Trico very much, so I had to find creative ways to destroy them, like throwing little stone statues through them or making their foundations crumble.

There was a fantastic moment, where a bridge collapsed, and Trico saved my life by extending it's tail below it to give me a handhold. It was all in slow motion with some sweeping orchestral music going on, so the effect was powerful.

I went through a series of these elaborate platforms, each more difficult to solve than the last. It's pretty cool and kind of relaxing, but I wish the controls and camera were tighter... it's quite distracting. Still, I'm loving the game so far. 

Overwatch

Date played: July 12th
Platform: PS4

Today's play of the night is a textbook example of how to win a game just by staying on the objective. By the end of the match, I had exactly 3 minutes of objective time, pushing the payload through the entire level. I died a couple of times, but only after getting a checkpoint. I also had pretty good success with my fire strikes. Staying on point is so important...

The Last Guardian

Date played: July 9th
Platform: PS4

It's really hard to write about this game, since it's just a series of little platforming puzzle rooms one after the other. Of course, the big appeal of this game is that these puzzles are about interacting with Trico, who really acts like a living being. The more I progress in the game, the more I understand Trico and his behaviour.

For example, I've had to fight many statues in various rooms. Trico is a great fighter, stomping and slamming on enemies with lots of energy. However, he clearly gets very affected by this, as he becomes restless, jumping around like a hare. He also doesn't like it when I climb on him at those times. The trick is to climb to his head then pet him gently. After a few seconds, he calms down and is back to normal.

Trico and the boy are starting to bond

At one point, we reached a wide clearing, filled with ruins and grass. Trico was clearly happy to get a chance to play outside and thoroughly enjoyed the brief playtime. On a few occasions now, I caught a glimpse of another animal similar to Trico, usually perched high above us, watching. Trico growls a little and is on guard when the other is around, so I have a feeling there's gonna be tension between the two animals.

The biggest change in the game so far has been the addition of some new mechanics. Now that Trico and the boy are closer, I was given the ability to give commands to the beast. I can ask it to go in a specific direction, stay, jump or stomp. The jump has been the most valuable as it allows me to reach much higher areas and solve more puzzles.

I should also add that the music has been tastefully implemented, with grand sweeping piano segments chiming in during important events. The narrator has been cool too, helping out when I got stuck. I wonder what's the story with the second Trico?

Overwatch

Date played: July 9th
Platform: PS4

Today's play of the night is a classic play by Reinhardt, pushing the motherfucking payload! Attacking on King's Row, I had started the first point as Winston, then swapped to Rein for pushing the payload. It went pretty damn well, except at the end. I got Nano-boosted by Ana, but there was no one around. Trying to capitalize on the wasted Ultimate, I rushed the enemy base and killed Sombra, then tried to kill Reaper. He was about to win the fight so I put up my shield and backed up, only to fall unceremoniously to my death down a bottomless pit.

Snake Pass

Date played: July 8th
Platform: Switch

I didn't get to play a lot of video games yesterday, but I still managed to play through a couple of levels of Snake Pass. The environments are getting more complex now, with more elaborate structures to climb. On the other hand, I'm getting a lot better at controlling Noodle. This is really what sets this game apart, and it's quite difficult to explain in words, but the control scheme is very unique. It took me a while to get used to, but now I'm starting to really "feel" it and I'm moving more naturally and I'm thinking less of the buttons.

Structures are getting more elaborate

That's a good thing too because the structures I'm climbing are a real bitch to climb. Some of them even have moving parts now, adding another layer of complexity. Water is also starting to take on a bigger role. In the last few levels, there were some deep pools of water. Noodle can swim pretty fast, and he can also dive. I had a lot of fun swimming around trying to find collectibles.

The optional collectibles are getting harder and harder to find also. I found absolutely everything in the first 4 levels, but now that I'm getting deeper, I'm not finding everything on the first run. I'm excited to see what the next world holds...

Boys, Beers and Bats

Date played: July 7th
Platform: PS4 / Switch

I spent the evening at one of my brother's house and we played video games all night. It started with a bit of Switch showcasing, as a lot of people there had never seen one in person. The guys tried out Snake Pass before moving on to proper multiplayer games.

First up was that great demo for Puyo Puyo Tetris. We had 3 controllers, so we played 3 player and had a ton of fun. One of the guys was particularly good at Tetris, and he won most matches.

The bulk of our evening was spent with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. One of the guys has a Switch at home, so he went to get his Pro controller and we got some 4 player action going. This was a lot of fun for everyone, though of course, there was the usual bitching about bad luck and such. We even tried out Battle Mode, which was cool, but not as fun as I would have hoped. The classic tracks were a huge hit since there were a few fans of Double Dash and Mario Kart Wii.

Finally, we played a little bit of Jackbox Party Pack 3. We did Trivia Murder Party and Fakin' It, but had way more fun with the latter. Everyone understood the game's rules, so it was fair. Still, the fakers got caught easily in most rounds. People were slow, bad at defending themselves and didn't have very good poker faces... Until it was my turn to fake it that is.

I fucking fooled these motherfuckers so well. I used my peripheral vision to anticipate where people would point, I kept redirecting the hate towards others and I kind of laid low. It worked beautifully. Only one person was suspecting me, but they couldn't convince the others to follow suit. I'm pretty proud of myself!

The Last Guardian

Date played: July 6th
Platform: PS4

I finally convinced my daughter to let me play The Last Guardian without her. She had showed interest initially, but never really got excited about it, so it's been sitting on my shelf for way too long. I didn't play very long, but enough to progress forward a little bit and see one very disturbing scene.

The first few sectors were pretty standard, regular navigation. I zapped a few barriers with Trico's lightning, I crawled through some tight spaces and used the beast as a stepladder. Kind of the usual stuff since the beginning of the game. Later, I found a big clearing, with lots of trees and open space. It was really nice, but there wasn't much to do there.

Trico can be scary...

Eventually, I reached a sort of metallic nest, something that was very scary to the animal. When I urged it to follow me, it came, but it became agitated. Then the weirdest thing happened... the beast swallowed me whole in an instant! I woke up later with my mirror shield gone and Trico chained to a post. I am really confused about what happened...

I freed Trico and continued onward as if nothing had happened. At one point, I had to get Trico to fight some statues that animated themselves to life! It was quite a sight to see the animal fight them... I got stuck after that, not finding a way forward and decided to stop playing.

Overwatch

Date played: July 5th and 6th
Platform: PS4

Today's play of the night is unique because you'll see it from the point of view of our team's Widowmaker. It's nothing that special, but it was fun to see a play of the game where I know I was a big help. That little blue arrow you see the whole time? That's me damage boosting her. I even heal her after she takes a bit of damage. We end up winning this defense round on Eichenwalde.

South Park: The Stick of Truth

Date played: July 4th
Platform: PC

I finished South Park: The Stick of Truth!

The ending was quite a bit longer than I expected though. We started by storming Clyde's castle of course. With the help of the girls, the pirates and other factions, the team broke the defenses of the fortress and fought their way to the top. There was a boss fight against one of the kids and it was pretty tough because he was immune to most status effects, had a shit ton of armor and hit hard.

When we reached the top, we met with Randy, who explained that the Taco Bell cover up was real. There is a nuclear device inside Slave's colon, and we must make the device abort it's launch sequence. Who could possibly have experience performing an abortion AND be able to shrink in size? Me, of course.

I shrunk down and climbed into Slave's anus. Inside him was a huge dungeon, filled with bats, bacteria, semen, a cell phone, many random objects and even a couple of armed soldiers. It was fucking disgusting and I had to look away from the screen a few times just to get a little break. On top of that, I was guided through the intestine and colon by a trio of ghosts, presumably of creatures who died inside Slave to satisfy his sexual appetite. Like, fuck. One of these guys was a boss, and he was super hard because he couldn't be burned, grossed out or bled out... We deactivated the device by performing a mechanical abortion, then climbed out of Slave through his throat.

After this disgusting journey, we confronted Clyde. He was not doing all these evil things on purpose really. He thought the green goo was actually green sauce from Taco Bell. Still, he didn't believe us when we explained, thinking it was just a trick to give up the Stick of Truth. He had one last trick up his sleeve, and that was to inject the rotting corpse of long deceased Chef with the Nazi Zombie virus.

Chef was a regular character during the first few seasons, but was retired as the series went on. He was a fan favorite, but because the actor had a beef with the creators, the character was killed off. In the game, he becomes a Nazi zombie. Aside from the usual Nazi screaming, his audio lines were taken from the original recordings, so that was pretty cool.

After the battle, the government bad guys showed up. The next few scenes were filled with story revelations and dialogue, all more ridiculous than the last. There's even an elaborate Skyrim joke in there that works much better than you would expect. My favorite moment was when Morgan Freeman showed up to explain a convoluted piece of the plot. Apparently, every time he does that, he earns a new freckle!

The final battle was a big surprise for me... Who would have thought that in the end, Princess Kenny had been plotting the theft of the Stick of Truth for a long time. She's so convincing that even the big bad government guy buys into the story and tries to steal the Stick of Truth for himself. He takes off his clothes, penis dangling, and attempts to control the universe. When it doesn't work, he begs Princess Kenny to help him... It was great!

Princess Kenny had an amazing, Anime-inspired intro

Princess Kenny was by far the longest fight in the game. As any South Park fan knows, Kenny never really dies... so in battle, she was the same. At first, it was pretty easy, but when she realized that she wasn't going to win, she drank some of the Nazi zombie juice! I must have killed her 5 or 6 times, maybe more, before it was over.

In the end, the group saved the world from Nazi zombies and united the elves and the humans. The friends even make comments about what the next game should be. Cowboys and Indians? Egyptians and Pharaohs? It would be cool if the sequel had a completely different setting. At the very end, my character spoke for the first time in the entire game!

"Screw you guys, I'm going home!"

South Park: The Stick of Truth is a surprisingly wonderful game. It's got fun mechanics, it doesn't last too long or too short, it's got quality voice acting and best of all, it's funny and isn't afraid of making fun of anything. There's a place in the world for people like Trey Parker and Matt Stone. We need to be able to make obscene, racist, sexist jokes once in a while as a society, and it's idiots like this who keep the world a fun place. That doesn't mean it's going to be funny for everyone. In fact, I doubt there's a single person in the world who thinks all these jokes are funny.

Comedy doesn't have to be funny to everyone, but it has to be allowed to exist freely, even if that means offending some people.

South Park: The Stick of Truth

Date played: July 3rd
Platform: PC

I picked up where I left off, moments before the final confrontation between the humans and the elves. I got one last chance to side with the elves, but I stayed loyal to Cartman and the humans. Of course, this meant a battle against Kyle, who was actually a pretty boring fight.

Turns out though, the Stick of Truth was not actually hidden in Kyle's desk, since they don't even have desks at school, just tables. Real smart move Cartman. It was dramatically revealed that the real bad guy is another kid named Clyde. He stole the Stick of Truth and quietly gathered an army who protect his giant backyard castle! The little shit is even spreading Nazi Zombie goo to grow his army, so it's more than just a game now. We have to save South Park. Unfortunately, just as we were about to fight Clyde and his minions, it was bedtime. The kids scattered and went back to their homes.

I didn't have a quiet night though, as my room was raided by the infamous Underpants Gnomes. This game has a weird tendency to gradually ramp up the "WTF" factor as it progresses, and this was one of the most shocking yet hilarious scenes in the game.

My character woke up and fought them, but being gnomes, they were no match for my might. However, their wizard had a trick up his sleeve... He shrunk me down to their level. I spent the next few minutes fighting them, then exploring the insides of my room's walls as I chased after the wizard to get him to turn me back to normal size.

That's when it happened... My parents were having sex, and the gnomes went to hide in their room. All the battles and exploration in this section was punctuated by moaning, the sounds of meat being pounded and the cries of my father as he begged my mother to keep calling him a little fucking bitch as she fucked him. That's not even the worst part!

The final battle against the wizard gnome took place on the actual bed, titties swinging above our heads to the beat of sensual soul music. Shit, I even had to dodge my dad's low-hanging balls in a spectacular, yet terrifying slow motion moment. There is absolutely no way I could have ever dreamed of playing a video game like this. On the bright side, I gained a new ability that lets me shrink down to gnome size at anytime.

In the morning, the humans and the elves meet to discuss the Clyde problem. After many insults, the group agrees that their only hope is to join forces. Even that won't be enough though, so we need other factions. Most notably... the girls! Of course, they want absolutely nothing to do with the boys, but Kyle thinks that I could maybe convince them.

The girls have a secret base, but they're not about to reveal it's location, so I had to meet one of the girls to act as a facilitator or these negotiations. She blindfolded me and brought me to the girls. Their secret base is incredible! It's got lots of posters of cute boys and unicorns, lots of pink, and cute, neatly arranged desks. Wendy runs the show here, and before they agree to help the boys, she had some missions for me to prove my loyalty.

The girls have a very cool secret base, but they are a bunch of little two-faced bitches

Most of it revolved around gossip, but it culminated in an incredibly disturbing sequence in the town's abortion clinic. Basically, they wanted to find out who had an abortion recently to identify the person responsible for spreading abortion rumors about one of their friends. The first step towards that was a complete makeover to make me look like a girl, and there was a minigame to go with it! It was just like one of the countless dress-up apps that populates the app stores of the world. It was stupid, yet quite funny, like a lot of South Park I guess.

Armed with my little whorish outfit, I went to the abortion clinic, pretending to need an abortion. The clerk didn't fucking bat an eye, and the doctor made a comment about how I was a little young to get an abortion, but that he had a booster seat, so it was ok. What. The. Fuck. But that's not all! Lots of shenanigans ensue, including a disgusting scene where I pretended to give an abortion to Randy, Stan's dad.

Bottom line though, the Nazi zombie virus spread through the clinic, infecting aborted fetuses. Yep. I fought some motherfucking Nazi zombie aborted fetuses. Seriously. And there was a giant one (which was previously carried by none other than Khloe Kardashian) to fight at the end for the boss battle...

After this whole ordeal, I had gathered the list of abortion clinic patients for the girls, but unfortunately, it was written in French. The legends speak of a place, far to the north, past the forgotten forest, where people speak French. I would need a passport first though. To get it, I had to fight off a pedophile who had taken over the photo place. Yep, that's South Park.

So uh, we went to Canada. The entire segment was completely stupid, kind of annoying and also, quite brilliant in a few ways. The first thing that jumps out is the extreme change in graphics. The entirety of Canada is rendered like and old school RPG, complete with visible pixels, a top down view and some very, very repetitive music.

The cities of Ottawa, Banff and Vancouver are represented on the map with the conspicuous absence of Montreal and Toronto. Lots of dumb shit going on here, but I basically had to kill the bishop of Banff and bring his balls to the Prince of Canada and his queefing wife. Along the way, I met the famous pair of Terrence and Philip, who taught me the final magical fart, nicknamed Nagasaki. It can blow up some special barriers in the world.

During my travels in Canada, I fought the most difficult enemies in the game. Dire wolves, dire bears, snakes, etc. They were all very powerful enemies, so even with my top end gear and max level character, I still had trouble with some of these. One battle seemed particularly impossible, so I called in Jesus and had him fire his assault rifle at the wild animals.

We translated the abortion clinic document by saving the Duke of Montreal, then went back to South Park to finally convince the girls to help out. They agreed, and now I think I'm headed to the final dungeon. My quest log is empty, I've explored every nook and cranny I could find and I'm ready to see the end. This game is surprisingly amazing, but also way more disturbing than I expected.

South Park: The Stick of Truth

Date played: July 2nd
Platform: PC

As I was trying to convince the goth kids to join the army, Stan's dad, Randy, asks for my help in proving that the activity at the mall is in NOT, in fact, the construction of a new Taco Bell. To get past the military guards, he showed me a new farting technique. This special fart can be remotely controlled and moved to any location on screen. When detonated, it attracts enemy attention. It's just like throwing a rock in Horizon, except it's a disgusting, wet fart.

This allowed me to sneak past the guards and investigate the crash site. I soon learned that there was a dangerous gas released by the ship, and that the plan is to completely destroy South Park to cover up the whole thing. It's all quite ridiculous, but it gets better. It turns out, the gas turns regular people in Nazi zombies. Yep. Plus, some of them got loose after I entered the crash site, so now there's Nazi zombies all over town. To make things even funnier, they use really old recordings of Nazi dialogue, and it's just so fucking hilarious!

Nazi zombies!

At this point, it was time to move the story forward for me. I had to choose between helping the elves, led by Kyle, or the humans, led by Cartman. I chose Cartman, mainly because that probably means he'll join my party as a wizard soon, but also because he welcomed me into his team with open arms. I felt like I owed the humans something, so I sided with them.

Meanwhile, the elves had barricaded themselves into the school, so we attacked with all our might. I fought countless elves in the school, but also, some of the gas got loose and the hall monitors are now Nazi zombies. I stopped playing after going through a good portion of the dungeon, but I feel like I'm close to the final standoff between the two factions. I even got to fight Stan and his dog in battle, which was lots of fun. 

Snake Pass

Date played: July 2nd
Platform: Switch

Looking for stuff do to as it rained on this lazy Sunday, my daughter and I decided to check out Snake Pass together. I had played the first two levels on my own, but she was really curious about it, so we ended up playing two full levels together, as well as going back to the first two to gather missing collectibles.

The third and fourth levels were lots of fun. The difficulty is snaking up (lol) slowly, but surely. The 3 main objectives in each level have been pretty easy so far, but the blue orbs have been challenging, and the coins have been really difficult.

Weeeeeeeeee!

There's many cases now where I really have to set up an elaborate knot of sorts with Noodle's body to safely progress. Obstacles now require half a dozen twists and turns at least before reaching the top. The coins are even worse, as they are often suspended over bottomless pits that lead to a quick game over.

The level design is fantastic in this game, and that's what keeps it interesting. My favorite moment was when we skid down a tubular slide straight into a pool of water. I'm loving Snake Pass, and while it's been rather difficult, it hasn't been too frustrating yet and it's been rewarding to solve a difficult sector.

Puyo Puyo Tetris demo

Date played: July 2nd
Platform: Switch

Well, this demo is getting a lot of fucking playtime in my house... I really should be buying the game at this point, but it feels a little too expensive. Either way, I had some fun playing a few minutes of Puyo Puyo Tetris in multiplayer.

On the right, my daughter's second game of Tetris

I even managed to convince my daughter to give it a try, though she was clearly having a hard time. I figured Tetris might be easier, but after seeing her play, I'm thinking I might have been better off if I had given her Puyo Puyo instead. Still, we had a great time playing this quirky little puzzle game. I kind of want to see the other modes...

Pokemon Moon

Date played: July 1st and 2nd
Platform: 3DS

My daughter finally felt like playing Pokemon again, after a 5 month break! We spent most of our time making our way through Route 5 and completing the island's first trial. Route 5 was nothing special, just a bunch of battles against wild Pokemon and some trainers. My daughter's team is starting to look pretty good. She's got good balance and some pretty strong Pokemon, she even evolved two of them while we played.

At one point, we were given an egg by the Pokemon daycare. To hatch it, we just had to carry it with us as we walked, but it took up a Pokemon slot, so it's kind of a hassle. Mine hatched after a while, but my daughter's is still inside the egg. Inside was one of the most iconic Pokemon of all time, Eevee. This cute little guy is special because he's got a ton of different evolutions. Depending on which items it holds or other weird conditions, it can evolve into many varied types of Pokemon. I like Eevee a lot, so I might just keep it on my team.

Eevee and it's many evolutions

After Route 5, we reached the first trial of the island. To complete it, we were given access to a new mount, Lapras. This gentle giant is a beautiful marine Pokemon, big enough to ride. This means we can now cross rivers and lakes, provided there's a beach somewhere for us to get onto our new mount. The trial was pretty simple, mostly it was about using Lapras to get around and fighting some aquatic Pokemon along the way.

I really enjoy playing this with my daughter. It's a simple game, but there's enough depth there to have some fun with the systems. The dialogue is straight forward, so even my kid can read most of it. 

South Park: The Stick of Truth

Date played: July 1st
Platform: PC

I played another good chunk of The Stick of Truth, and lots of stuff happened. It all started with a really difficult battle against Al Gore. He begins with a speech on global warming, which puts my party asleep of course, then proceeds to put on a cape and attacks. After a couple of hits, he calls in a secret service squad and two of the guys have machine guns, which cannot be blocked. On my first attempt, I got my first game over screen. This guy hits hard as fuck. On my second try, I was more strategic with my attacks, particularly my mugging stuns. I was also a bit more liberal with my item use.

After I beat him, he ran away. I soon discovered that Manbearpig was none other than Al Gore himself! He has a bunch of armor, some stilts and some fur. He also behaves like you would imagine a Manbearpig would. That was another fun battle, though it was easier than the other.

I spent some time in the sewers, mainly to hunt for special animals for Jimbo. I ran into Mr. Hanky, the famous singing Christmas turd. He's literally a piece of shit. He needs my help to find his family of little turds, his wife and 3 kids. They were scattered throughout the sewers, so I fought a bunch of rats and hobos to find them.

To continue the story, I had to convince the goth kids at school to join Cartman's army. These guys don't like conformists though, so I had to change my appearance to match theirs. Of course. That meant finding some goth clothing, some cigarettes and some coffee. When I got the last item, I was attacked by the elves and taken to their fortress!

The Elven Kingdom

It turns out, the elves are run by Stan and Kyle, who had been conspicuously absent in the game so far. They say that Cartman is wrong, and that the Stick of Truth belongs to the elves. They end up trusting me and giving me some quests and support. Their camp has it's own weapon shop, so that's good. Stan and Jimmy are now available as combat companions. Jimmy is literally a bard, while Stan is a warrior. I took Stan because it complements my thief class well.

I did a bunch of other crazy shit, like fight Stan's mean big sister and help Mr. Mackey deal with his hoarding addiction. I'm leveling up a lot too, which gave me a few new abilities. I've been really trying to get a good equipment combination, as there's lots of room for experimentation with the game's weapon and armor mod system. 

Banana Peels, Tetrominos & A Friendly Noodle - Special Edition

Date played: June 30th
Platform: Switch

My youngest brother came over for a much needed game night. We both needed some time to chill and not have to deal with other obligations, so playing Switch all night seemed like a good idea. I started off by showing him Snake Pass, because he was curious when he saw the icon in the menu. I played a few minutes of the third level to show the odd control scheme and fun physics. He really enjoyed what he saw and might consider it on PS4.

Next, we played a few rounds of the Puyo Puyo Tetris demo, which is starting to look like one of my most played demos of the last decade. We only played a few rounds, but we had a ton of fun with it, as usual. I think I need to buy this game...

Really though, most of our evening was spent battling against 10 other players, racing in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. My brother had played this game once or twice before, back on Wii U, but he doesn't know the tracks or anything. We took a few minutes to get him acclimated to the controls, then we jumped online to race against some real people.

My brother as Shyguy, myself as Lakitu, racing around Hyrule Castle

My brother did really well, considering his lack of experience. Granted, he's played a lot of Mario Kart in general during his life, but still, he was taking corners at full speed and making few mistakes. Shit, he even beat me a few times! I wasn't able to secure a first place victory, but I had many 2nd and 3rd places.

My bro's main character is usually Shyguy, which he used quite a bit, but he also played with Link a few times. He was particularly impressed by the graphics and general look of the game. I think our most entertaining race was on N64's Rainbow Road at 150 cc. That shit is just crazy! 

South Park: The Stick of Truth

Date played: June 30th
Platform: PC

I played an absurd amount of South Park yesterday. I had a day off alone, which is a very rare thing, and I didn't want to do anything productive or energy consuming at all, so I played about 5 hours of South Park...

There's sooooo much going on here, but the bottom line is that I'm really enjoying he humor, story, combat, characters, items and environmental puzzles. I can't even come close to talking about all the things that have happened, there's just too much. Still, a few scenes and moments really stood out.

My job was to continue recruiting some kids to join our group of warriors. I explored much of the city while doing so, stumbling upon many iconic characters from the show. I even got myself 3 summons! I've got a Chinese wok chef who slices it's blades at people. I've got a sex slave guy, who wears leather and swallows up enemies into his asshole to win the battle. Then there's Jesus, who I haven't tried out yet.

Stick of Truth is fantastic!

I've leveled up a few times too, getting new abilities, weapons and armor. The loot cycle moves pretty quickly in this game, with items not lasting more than a dozen battles before finding something a little better. My backstab ability is probably my favorite thing to use in battle, because it hits from the back and it also leaves the enemy bleeding. Mug is also pretty great, as it also hits from behind, but it also stuns the enemy and steals and item from them. My third ability is a shield and armor-breaking jump attack.

Kenny joined my party and can join me in combat instead of Butters. Kenny is kind of like a Bard or something. He can charm enemies by flashing his little titties, he can summon some rats to attack enemies and his bow hits pretty hard. He doesn't fit too well with my thief class though, so I typically stick to Butters.

I did so much stuff.. I beat up a disabled kid in a wheelchair, I played a rhythm mini-game that always ended in Stan's dad getting rammed in the ass by a giant alien dildo, I beat up some Mongolians who were bullying the local Chinese restaurant, I fought an army of gingers, shit, I even delivered some crack to the local coffee shop!

At one point, I was abducted by aliens and taken to their ship. After some poking around and alien fighting, I beat them, but their ship crashed in South Park. Following these events, the Stick of Truth is missing, presumably taken by the elves during the night.

The beauty of this game is that the mechanics are sound. Previous South Park video games focused on the humor, which was good, but forgot to build a good game around it. With developer Obsidian at the helm of Stick of Truth, the mechanics are in good hands, so it's easy to enjoy the jokes and humor.