Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle

Date played: August 30th
Platform: Switch

I think I really like this game... I've played a bit more, still in the first world, and faced a mid-world boss as well as a bunch of regular battles. One thing that really makes this game work is the great music. Ubisoft took many classic Mario songs and have remixed them masterfully. My favorite is a beautiful rendition of the Princess Castle theme from Mario 64... It weirdly made me want a remake of the N64 classic. The graphics are really good too, considering the power of the Switch, with great animation, bright colors and good performance.

The game is easier than something like XCOM, but it's not a cakewalk either... This became apparent when I faced off against the mid-world boss, a weird fusion of a Piranha Plant from Mario, and a Rabbid. This was one of the largest battlefields yet, and for good reason. The damn plant can cover long distances with his movement and attack. He was accompanied by a large number of regular enemies too...

Combat is very good...

I had to use positioning as my main weapon. High ground provides a bonus to damage, so I tried to stay at a higher position than the boss, but his fireball attacks would often destroy my cover. Their burn effect makes it even worse as it will make my party members move out of position as they try to put out their fiery clothes. Mario died in this battle, my first death, but Rabbid Peach and Rabbid Luigi were able to complete the battle successfully.

After the battle, we found Luigi! He has joined our team, so I now have 4 party members to choose from. Luigi is focused on long range combat, being a sort of sniper, and that seems very useful, so I swapped him in instead of Rabbid Luigi. I love Luigi so far...

I've also gotten a few new abilities that can used once every few turns. For example, Rabbid Peach has a bubble shield that will reduce damage taken for one turn, so if you know you're in bad position and the she will get hit, it's a good way to mitigate the damage. My favorite of these is Mario's and Luigi's, as it's basically the "overwatch" feature from X-COM. This means that during the enemy turn, any enemy that runs through the hero's line of sight will be shot. This allows for many, many strategic decisions.

I'm really surprised at the depth of combat so far... I even just unlocked the game's skill tree, which allows for some character customization a bit. For example, I focused Mario on "movement" skills, but Luigi on "attack". For example, Mario can now stomp on an enemy after being launched by a team jump. The skill trees seem very simple, but there's still enough there to make big differences in gameplay. I love this game a lot, and I want to just go back and play it right now!

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle

Date played: August 29th
Platform: Switch


My history with turn-based strategy games is a long and complicated one, starting with the original Civilization, back in the DOS days. Later, I learned about RPG elements with an little Japanese PS1 game, Kartia. This led many other adventures, including Final Fantasy Tactics, Ogre Battle, Fire Emblem, Advance Wars, XCOM, and many, many others. I really fucking love turn-based strategy games... including the best of them all, chess.

Anyway, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle is the weirdest crossover game I've ever played. A young boy leaves a VR headset lying around in his room. His room is all decorated in Mario stuff... Then, out of nowhere, a bunch of Rabbids appear from a time traveling machine. Yep, this just might be one of the stupidest games I've ever played.

And the stupidity doesn't stop at the story! All the animations, characters and items are full of dumb humor. Somehow, the Rabbids use the VR headset to merge the worlds of Mario and Rabbids. Mario gets separated from Peach, Luigi and Yoshi and ends up with a pair of fucking wacko Rabbids. There's Rabbid Luigi and Rabbid Peach. Peach is particularly great, as she takes selfies all the time, uses her cell phone too much and seems incredibly dumb. Luigi is even worse, but in a less funny way.

Rabbid Peach is great

The team gets some weapons and sets out to stop the Rabbid invasion and save Mario's friends. The world map is pretty cool, with lots of little exploration opportunities that reward me with collectibles and makes new weapons available for sale. It's simple, but it works well to change up the pace after lots of combat.

I'm not here for that non-sense though. I'm here for the portable, light-hearted, yet deep combat. There's a lot to like here. This is basically a mini XCOM, with no base management. Combat is ranged, so there is a big emphasis on cover and chance to hit. There's also a surprising amount of movement abilities, including a dash that can damage enemies while still allowing another action, and a team jump that allows for some really clever positioning battles.

Enemies are widely varied too, and have different types of attacks and movement patterns. I'm still really early on, having played only about 10 battles, but I'm really liking what I've played so far. There are a few minor problems, like not being able to see range and accuracy easily when moving around, and the camera isn't perfect. The character models are also a little bit off for the Nintendo characters, though they work well enough. I can't wait to get back into it!

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

Date played: August 28th
Platform: Switch

My friend asked me to play a few rounds of Mario Kart 8, and we ended up playing two championships together. We started with a 6 race, 100cc grand prix, then a 4 race 150 cc grand prix, and it was all a lot of fun! My friend doesn't have as much experience as me, so I was often way ahead, but there are times where we had some hard fought battles.

I battle against my friend near some lovely heart-shaped cookies

One particular example stands out... I was playing as Rosalina, and my friend as Yoshi on Royal Raceway. This is an easy track, but it's also a very fast track, a perfect playground for my high speed drifting. I led the race the whole time, with impeccable drifting and many purple turbos. Still, at the very end of the race, my friend hit me with a bunch of red shells and caught up! We were neck and neck around the last corner, but my friend hit me with a green shell that bounced off the edge of the track. My friend won this race, and a couple of others, so it's really fun to have some competition!

The 150 cc event was fun too, since it's faster, but we used easy AI for that one, and we stuck to simpler tracks to make it easier. At the very end, I swapped to Lakitu, since I didn't need the speed and weight so much in this faster setting. 

Overwatch

Date played: August 28th
Platform: PS4

Today's play of the night is once again with Winston, attacking on Dorado. I've been playing more and more of him lately. There's really a lot of Widowmakers, Hanzos and Genjis in general, at least in Quick Play, so Winston is often really useful, more than he was last year.

In this play, our team savagely destroys the enemy team. They put up a pretty good fight, but their D.Va wasn't that great. I took particular pleasure at killing Genji over and over again in this match. This play also features a few miraculous escapes, as I drop my bubble shield behind me, then jump out to safety. 

Final Fantasy VII

Date played: August 27th
Platform: PS4

You know what? This game still fucking holds up. A lot of people say FF VII has aged badly, and while that's true of the graphics and some of the interface, the story is still as engaging as ever, the characters are still as lovable, and the combat is still great.

Last time I played, Cloud, Barret and Tifa were trying to find Marlene after seeing Aeris get kidnapped by Shinra. I thought I was headed for Tifa's bar, but I was confused because when I went inside Aeris' house while I was travelling, I found Marlene!

There was a LOT of story exposition here... I learned all about Aeris' childhood, how she's an Ancient that can use magic, how she met her adoptive mother, how she was as a child, etc. It was a really good scene. After a brief reunion between Barret and his daughter Marlene, we rested then headed out towards Shinra headquarters to fuck shit up.

We went through Don Corneo's town again and got some batteries from the weapons shop, which we would need to reach the higher levels of Midgar apparently. There was a short dungeon here where I had to climb to the top by navigating some debris, solving simple puzzles and fighting random enemies. Once at the top, Shinra headquarters stood before us, challenging us.

I had the choice of sneaking in or barging in. Every time I've played this game, I chose to sneak in, so this time, I chose to rush the front doors. It's probably the simplest option, since all it means is a few more battles and less running around.

I spent the rest of my time fighting through the tower. There were about 5 or 6 floors that are were available to explore, and I had to find a key card for each of them. This led to a series of battles, conversations and puzzles so that I could make it all the way to the top. I also picked up a few nice accessories and materia along the way, including "Sense", which reveals information on enemies and another "All" materia.

At the top of the tower, I found a lab and a couple of mysterious containers. That's when we met Hojo, a Shinra scientist who has been doing lots of crazy, impressive research. Inside the container, we saw Aeris, as well as a bizarre, giant feline, maybe a kind of lion. In the other container was Jenova. At this point in the story, there's very little information available about Jenova, except that it lives in a vat, doesn't have a head yet, and is somehow really important.

During the conversation with Hojo, Barret lost his nerve and started shooting the container with his gun, causing some electrical problems. This forced Hojo to open the door... That's when the feline jumped out and attacked Hojo! This gave us an opportunity to go in and get Aeris.

Weirdly enough, the feline has a name, Red XIII, and it speaks! He didn't reveal much about his origins, but I think it's safe to assume that Hojo's experiments had something to do with it. Red XIII wants to save the planet as much as we do, so he agrees to join our party!

I now have 5 party members, and battles are limited to 3, so I had to start splitting up my team now. I sent Barret with Aeris, while Cloud, Tifa and Red XIII stuck together. There was a boss battle here against one big monster, and 3 smaller ones. The smaller ones were in the front, but as soon as they died, the monster revived them. I decided to focus on the boss, but since he's in the back row, physical attacks didn't work that well.

We then decided to meet up at the elevators to escape, but of course, things weren't so simple. We were captured and brought to Shinra's president for an audience. I got a lot of information about Shinra and it's operations along the way, including how they are using the planet's energy, known as Mako, to make profits. Unfortunately, we were then thrown into a jail cell on one of the lower floors.

We spent some time in jail, just chatting and stuff, including some intense awkwardness for Cloud as Tifa and Aeries both seem to be romantically interested... After spending a night in the cell, things got a little crazy. When Cloud woke up, his cell door was open, the guard was dead and there was a giant trail of blood all over the floor. Fucked up.

We released our friends, then followed the blood trail to see where it came from. It seems that Jenova was released from her special container and has been on a killing rampage. This led us to the Shinra president's office once more, but this time, he was lying in a pool of his blood, with s a giant katana stuck in his back. The Shinra president was dead, and all signs point to Sephiroth being a key player in these events.

Sephiroth has been mentioned a few times throughout the game now. Cloud knows him, that's for sure, and they worked together in SOLDIER at some point. It's pretty early in the story so far, but clearly, Cloud doesn't consider Sephiroth a friend. With the president dead, his son Rufus took the reigns of the company. This guy isn't a smooth criminal like his late father. No, he's just pure evil. He plans on raising prices on Mako energy and other, similarly nasty activities.

The group was split up again. This time, I put Barret, Aeris and Red XIII together, leaving Cloud behind to deal with Rufus and Tifa as backup. The group of three found an escape route via the elevator, but were attacked by a big machine. The battle against it was really cool because there was a gap in the battlefield, between two elevators. This meant that I couldn't use short range attacks and had to rely on magic, limit breaks and Barret's long range gun.

Rufus vs Cloud

Next, the game cut to Cloud, who battled against Rufus man to man. With no other party members, I focused on physical attacks and healing. Rufus had a guard dog with him, but one "Bio" spell and he was dead. Rufus went down rather quickly. but it was a really cool battle. He escaped by hitching a ride on a helicopter, leaving Cloud behind. I stopped playing there, but I think I'm close to getting out of Midgar.

Overwatch

Date played: august 27th
Platform: PS4

Today's play of the night is a good example of how team composition matters so much. Our team had Mercy, Zarya, Junkrat, Zenyatta, Soldier 76 and myself, as Winston. We were fighting on the Nepal map, and we completely dominated. They had a decent team really, but they were missing some muscle. In this video, I also get killed an absolutely epic headshot from Widowmaker, as she snipes my head mid-air. It was very impressive... Enough that I made Widow's life a living hell for the remainder of the round.

Final Fantasy VII

Date played: August 26th
Platform: PS4

I played a little bit of FF VII, going through a the train yard dungeon. The group has learned that Shinra is planning to destroy an entire sector of Midgar, dropping one of the upper plates down to the slums, which would undoubtedly kill thousands. Cloud, Tifa and Aeris fought through the monsters of the train yard to meet with Barret and try to stop the explosion.

The dungeon was pretty straight-forward, with most monsters being pretty manageable. After this, I reached the explosion area and had to climb a giant tower to reach the explosive device, and hopefully, Barret. Again, I fought monsters along the way, with nothing too difficult standing in my way. Aeris stayed back so that she could help some wounded. She was also tasked with keeping Marlene, Barret's daughter, safe in case the bomb goes off.

Then lots of bad stuff happened... We reached the bomb and reunited with Barret, but couldn't figure out a way to disarm it. Worse still, a Shinra helicopter showed up, and they've kidnapped Aeris, saying they finally got their hands on the last "Ancient".

Nooooooo!

Of course, this meant a boss fight! Reno, one of Shinra's high ranking henchmen, was my opponent. He wasn't too hard, the only real danger being when he put a barrier against one of my team, preventing them from taking action. I had to attack the barrier to liberate my party members. Aside from that, I just stayed healed up and hit him hard with physical attacks and limit breaks.

After the battle, Reno ran away with Aeris, while Cloud, Tifa and Barret escape the explosion narrowly by swinging from a nearby cable. However, much of Avalanche has been destroyed, with Biggs, Wedge and Jessie dead. We went back to town, shopped a bit and are now heading towards Tifa's bar to see if we can find Marlene. 

Overwatch

Date played: August 26th
Platform: PS4

Today's play of the night is a simple but effective play as Roadhog, attacking the first point on Anubis. I start by taking out a weakened Reinhardt with a good hook, then I spend a few seconds dodging a Widowmaker, until I manage a good hook on her, which led to her death. I end the play with my ultimate, simply to secure the point from the last enemy. It wasn't spectacular, but it's a good example of using Roadhog to his strengths.

F1 2017

Date played: August 25th
Platform: PS4

I've been waiting for this game for a while now, and it's finally here!

In the past two years, I've slowly become a true F1 racing fan, watching every qualifying session and race. It's been lots of fun, as this year, Ferrari is finally giving Mercedes a run for it's money. There's a big battle in the middle of the pack too, with Force India, Haas, Renault, Williams and Toro Rosso all performing rather well. Only McLaren and Sauber have been really struggling. I knew that my recent love of F1 would transfer well to the video game. I loved the demo for F1 2016 last year, and this year, the improvements seemed pretty good.

I started with the game's enormous career mode. I made myself a woman pilot (my daughter insisted), which is pretty cool considering there's never been any women pilots in real F1 yet. I then had to pick a team. Each team has different requirements. For example, you're not expected to do very well in a Sauber, but you are expected to win in a Ferrari. I picked Force India, as it seemed like a good middle ground for a beginner,, with Esteban Ocon as my partner (another of my daughter's requests...). I have a few driving assists on, including the incredibly useful 3D driving line, but I've taken off a few or lowered their settings to have a more challenging time.

See, the thing about F1 racing is that every damn instant, every tenth of a second, is intense, and requires a lot of concentration. So even with the assists, and with the controller-friendly control scheme, the game is always hard.

I decided I wanted the real F1 experience, so I'm setting up the season as full length races, including all practice runs, all qualifying, the pace lap, manual starts, a giant tech tree and multiple pit stops. There's so much going on here... Fuel and tyre management, having the best racing line, pitting, overtaking, defending and even communicating with the pit crew!

It's really a complex and impressive video game. I played through the entirety of the Australian Grand Prix and it was a wonderful experience, if a bit nerve-wracking. Things went well in practice. The game is setup really well here, with exercises made to acclimatize the player to the track. You can earn research points here, and it really works well at teaching me how to drive the track. I posted a decent time, in 12th place.

Then in qualifying, I did really well again, with a few very good laps in Q2 and Q3, netting me a 6th position on the grid, better than my team expected. Then, it was finally Sunday, race day in Melbourne.

What an exhilarating experience this was! I faced a grueling 58 lap battle around Albert Park, a wonderful park in Melbourne, Australia. I had set my pit strategy to 2 stops, with the first two stints in Ultrasoft tyres and the last one on Supersoft tyres.

The opening moments of the race were as exciting as they are on TV, with all pilots vying for a spot at the head of the pack. I defended my position well, and ended up around 6th place for a while, so pretty good for a first race.

My fabulously pink Force India car, during the first lap of the Australian Grand Prix

Of course, I had a few battles throughout the race. I had a few encounters with Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa, and my own teammate, Esteban Ocon. However, my real battle was against Danny Ricardo, racing in his home country. On many occasions, we fought neck and neck for position. He passed me brilliantly at one point. I raced pretty steadily, and didn't have any major issues aside from some light damage to my front right wing, repaired easily during a pit stop.

Two things contributed to my rise in the placement towards the end of the race. First, my pit strategy worked fucking wonders! Many other teams had shorter stints or extra stops, so I overtook Red Bull's Ricardo this way, as well as my own teammate, who opted for a different strategy. In the end, I was battling with Felipe Massa from Williams.

The second thing that really helped was that both Vettel and Hamilton retired due to mechanical problems! This made lots of space at the head of the pack, leaving Bottas in first place and Raikonnen in second. I just had Massa in front of me, and the podium was mine...

Many slower pilots were in the way though, so I had to dodge the various Saubers, McLarens and Haas of the world to reach my target. In the end, I passed Massa and placed 3rd with a few seconds to spare in front of my closest rival! Not a bad first weekend for the underdeveloped Force India car, and a rookie driver.

The whole game is so well polished, it's a joy to play. The controls are perfect, the interface is easy to ready (even if it's full of info), the sounds are amazing, it runs at a solid framerate, and it looks fantastic. Sure, it's not as pretty as some other racing games, but it's no slouch either. After the race, the winning celebrations were well made, the drivers recognizable, but ugly, and the replay was particularly fun to watch.

Of course, this being an epic, 58 lap race, I was exhausted. My hands were numb, sweaty and cramped. My heart was beating fast. I had completed my first weekend of F1 racing.

Broken Age

Date played: August 24th
Platform: PS4

As Vella, I finally began exploring the ship properly. It wasn't long before I met with the wolf and Mom. Mom has barricaded herself in the control room, saying she isn't sure what's happening, and that she will only come out for Shay. Meanwhile, the wolf is trapped in it's room under a boulder, so I spoke with him a while.

Vella was shocked at the information revealed by the wolf, as it explained much of why Mog Chothra exists, but it's still not super clear at this point. Through a series of teleports and clever dialogue answers, I managed to convince Mom that I was Shay, and she came out, as human as anyone! She wasn't a computer at all, she was just in the control room and viewing the ship through some cameras... It was a pretty cool reveal, and it's silly enough that it's funny, while still making sense to the story.

A number of puzzles made me use the ship's camera system to solve them (That's Vella with the big yellow face!)

Part of this dialogue exchange exposed how bad some of the puzzles in the game are though. Many times, clues are very unclear and there's some guesswork involved. For example, I had to know Shay's favorite plush animal's name, but it wasn't written anywhere in the game. I had to assume from one picture that it was in fact, Mister Huggy. It's funny, but I couldn't have guessed correctly. This happened again with a later puzzle where I had to crochet a new destination on a star chart. The clue was a musical string of notes, which flew right over my head. It seemed obvious after looking it up, but I don't think I would have ever figured it out.

The story got pretty crazy when Mom came out of the control room. It was soon revealed that the wolf was not really a wolf, and was in fact a weird man named Mordecai, who is part of a community known as the Thrush. They have been using the Mog Chothra spaceships to harvest young women for a purpose I didn't quite understand.

Either way, it made for some great scenes, fun puzzles and hilarious dialogue. We have reached the land of the bad guys now, and I am completely stuck. I feel like I need to solve that puzzle with Shay, to rebuild the Hexa-Pal, but I can't figure it out at all...

A Boy and His Blob

Date played: August 23rd
Platform: PS4

Wow, this game is getting fucking hard yo.

My daughter and I were looking for something to do, and she suggested A Boy and His Blob. We started with the final level of the third world. The level itself was pretty simple, equipping me with the canon, ladder, trampoline and anvil.

Then we met the boss... This guy was hard as nails, but not cheap like the second world's, or easy like the first's. This was easily the best boss fight in the game so far. I battled against a giant bird of some sort. The flying creature attacked by launching cannon ball enemies at me. I had to set up Blob as a cannon in the path of the cannon. Blob then attacked the boss with it. I then had to climb up to a platform, change Blob into an anvil, then drop him on the boss for a hit.

This boss battle was great!

The problem was that each phase of the battle had a different pattern for the cannon balls. It was already hard enough to dodge them, then set up the cannon in the right position, having them move differently in each phase made the battle way harder. I got through it, but it took persistence and precision.

I faced a similarly difficult situation in the next challenge level, one that was spent entirely in rocket mode. I tried this one so many times, but there was a part at the end that I just couldn't clear, no matter how careful I was. A series of spikes on the ceiling would fall on my head, killing me, in each attempt. After many minutes of frustration, I looked it up online, and found that there was actually a boost button... I feel stupid for not figuring this out, but I also don't think the game ever showed me how to do that, so it felt kind of cheap.

Anyway, the next world is very bleak and right in the first level, shit gets bad. I get separated from Blob, who is now lost. I have to save him! The first level was entirely spent without Blob, featuring a series of more traditional platforming puzzles and challenges. It was a nice change of pace for a single level.

Thankfully, right in the next level, I was given a new ability, and I think it might just be my favorite so far. The shield is a powerful tool that can block enemy attacks, but even better, it can blow up enemies at close range without damaging the boy. It's actually a lot of fun to use, and the animation on it is just fantastic.

Another difficult level had me lining up a very, very precise cannon shot that required a rebound around some quick-moving enemies... This took many, many fucking tries, and honestly, it wasn't a very pleasant experience. Maybe if there had been better checkpoints, it would have been less painful... I got it eventually, but it took way more time than I would have wanted.

The last level we played featured some new mechanics once more. Some new enemies showed up, and they copy my movement exactly. This made for some absolutely insane challenges and some really clever puzzles. Things got even crazier when I got a new jelly bean that turned Blob into a copy of the boy! Again, this allows for some crazy new puzzles. I'm kind of amazed at the variety in this game overall,... 

Final Fantasy VII

Date played: August 22nd
Platform: PS4

I didn't play for very long, but it was one of the most memorable, funny scenes in the game. Cloud, dressed as a sexy escort, and Aeris, dress in equally slutty clothing, make their way inside Don Corneo's mansion and find Tifa. She was trying to infiltrate the man's group to gain information, but now, it was her turn to be "of service" to the Don.

Don Corneo is a dirty old pervert

After a lengthy, hilarious and fun scene, the we fight a boss after being dumped into the sewers by the Don and his men. The boss was a big monster, which I defeated by just using magic, regular attacks and limit breaks. Aeris' limit is particularly useful right now as it heals the entire party.

That's about all I did, it was pretty late at night, but I love the combat in this game...

Overwatch

Date played: August 22nd
Platform: PS4

Today's play of the night is a weird, but effective play as Winston, attacking on Illios. I act maybe more as a distraction than anything else, but it works well enough for us to win the round. Watch and enjoy!

Final Fantasy VII

Date played: August 22nd
Platform: PS4

Final Fantasy VII... Where do I even start?

When it came out, way back in 1997, there was nothing else like it on the market. FF VII, without a doubt, ushered in a new era for the Japanese RPG genre. This game was even bigger than that though, as some of the visuals on display were impossible on other, competing hardware at the time. Plus, of course, there's this teenage wet dream of a commercial for my young self, and many others like me.

I was already a bit of an RPG fan, having loved Super Mario RPG, FFVI and Chrono Trigger, but it wasn't FFVII that I fell in love with them, at least for a few years. This version of the game is a little bit weird, as it's a PC port with much smoother polygonal graphics and added detail, but the backgrounds are still the originals. This makes for better looking battles, but exploration hasn't aged very well.

There's also a few unique features to this port. The best of them is the ability to play the game at 3x speeds. This has already been useful in sections where I had to use trial and error, while skipping a lot of useless dialogue in between attempts. The other features are more like cheat codes for combat, so I doubt I'll use them, at least for a good while.

I played through a good portion of the opening. This is an old story, and it won't bear repeating here, but I'm enjoying myself a lot more than I expected. The writing is a little rough, but there's some real gems in there once in a while. The music is as wonderful as ever, and the characters as interesting as when the game first released. There's a surprising amount of "sass", for lack of a better word. Lots of jokes about sex, some cursing, alcohol, drugs, gambling, prostitution, it's all there.

Tifa, being a badass as usual

Combat is still simple, yet fun, at least so far. As the iconic Cloud, I've fought beside Barett, Tifa and Aeris against a variety of monsters. That's another thing that I forgot was so great about this game! There's so many different monsters to fight, that the randomized combat doesn't even bother me very much. The Break Limit system is still as fun as ever, and materia is a great way to implement magic into battle.

The last thing I did was gather the items required to enter Don Corneo's mansion. This guy runs Midgar's greatest whorehouse. Cloud and Aeris have seen Tifa enter the building after some of the craziness of the reactor explosions. To enter, Cloud has to dress as a sexy woman and offer his services as a hooker.

This led to a series of fun mini quests. For example, I had to help a woman with her digestive problems by offering her some medicine, which I got from a coupon I got at the nearby Korean BBQ House. After a few of these mini quests, I had some sexy perfume, a blonde wig, a diamond tiara and a silk dress. Cloud is ready and dressed to impress! This game is funny, crazy, and still manages to have a good story and characters. I'm glad I picked this up again. I don't know how long I'll stick with it, but it seems like a good game to play when I'm tired or very lazy.

Overwatch

Date played: August 22nd
Platform: PS4

Today's play of the night is a very quick second round of competitive play. I played Reinhardt, attacking on Eichenwalde. We had barely held the first point in the first round, but it seems that taking the point ourselves was a piece of cake. I scare off a Soldier, then charge a Junkrat, fire strike a Mercy to death, ending the match with a charge that leads to a kill a Bastion. Glorious.

The Deadly Tower Of Monsters

Date played: August 21st
Platform: PS4

I had been wanting to try this game for a while, and when my daughter asked me if I had anything new to play, we tried this game out for a few minutes, playing through the opening moments and enough to get a real feel for the game.

The Deadly Tower Of Monsters is sort of a 2D, dual stick shooter, similar to maybe Dead Nation or something, but with a ridiculous theme and lots of humor. The idea is that the whole game is presented as a DVD commentary of a very old, very shitty sci-fi movie. Something from the 40's maybe. The whole game looks like a movie set, with action scenes littered with bad special effects, people held up by strings and even stop-motion animated monsters.

The game has a decent variety of weapons and abilities, my favorite being the default raygun. There's also many upgrades available to each weapon, unlocked by spending currency and collectibles. There are a few simple puzzles, and each can usually be solved by only one of three playable characters.

The playable characters, having just defeated a giant ant

The man is a stereotypical movie hero, the woman is a sassy Russian and the robot is a friendly hunk of metal. This is clearly a low budget game though, as the animation isn't great and it doesn't feel 100% "right", but it's good enough to be enjoyable.

The monsters are particularly cool! I fought tons of cool movie monsters, like a giant gorilla, some aliens, pterodactyls, giant apes, little slimy things. They all look pretty cool and have fun sound and animation. Combat is pretty basic so far, but it's not bad. It feels a little sluggish though.

The coolest, unique feature of the game is how you can look down a ledge and fight on a different axis than usual. Since the whole game is about climbing the titular tower of monsters, this means there are plenty of opportunities to look down and see some cool shit and even fight some enemies.

I like what I've played so far, but I don't know if I'll stick with it.

Overwatch

Date played: August 21st
Platform: PS4

Today's play of the night is one of the few times I've had the pleasure of joining a group of 5 people, all using voice communications and playing beautifully. They were pretty annoying honestly, but it was still a lot more fun than most matches, and it definitely helped our team coordinate. This being competitive mode (the season ends soon, I wanted to at least complete my ranking matches...), I chose Reinhardt to defend on Hollywood.

It wasn't easy, but we won at the first point, mostly thanks to our incredible Mercy, but also the whole team really.

A Boy and His Blob

Date played: August 20th
Platform: PS4

I played through the remaining levels of the third world, except the final one. My daughter is being very helpful during puzzle solving, often thinking of new ways to approach things. At this point, most of the levels are more of the same, but now things are much more complex, challenging and levels are longer.

This means that each level is a long series of complicated puzzles, each very satisfying to solve. We've been getting all three chests in each level and completing the hidden challenge ones as they become available. Some of these are pretty rough, but most are just fun.

CANNONBALL!

My favorite moment was blasting through some crumbling rocks as a cannon ball, launched by Blob in cannon form. It looks great, is easy to use and is lots of fun to play with. I can't wait to see what the boss will be in the next level, I hope it's better than the last one...

Overwatch

Date played: August 20th
Platform: PS4

Today's play of the night is a simple, but fun little play as Soldier 76, attacking on Lijiang Tower in competitive mode. It's nothing great, and I had a great team, so I don't deserve much credit, but this match was an easy win.

DOOM

Date played: August 19th
Platform: PS4

You know what's fucking great? Shooting and dismembering demons on Mars. That's fun. DOOM manages to nail something that is so important, yet so rare in video games. There's a now famous quote from one of the developers on the original Halo that I love:

"In Halo 1, there was maybe 30 seconds of fun that happened over and over and over and over again. And so, if you can get 30 seconds of fun, you can pretty much stretch that out to be an entire game."

Now, this doesn't mean there shouldn't be variety in video games. No, it just means that if you can nail that core mechanic down and make it fun to "shoot demons" or "lead an army" or "explore a world", etc. DOOM really gets this, and the core combat is so good, that I would play this game regardless of it's setting or graphics or story. It's all about that combat.

I completed one level and started the next one a little bit. The most interesting thing to happen was finding a rocket launcher! Yeah, a motherfucking rocket launcher! This thing is really fun to use, and just brutal... I love it.

I've been mainly using the shotgun and the assault rifle as my weapons of choice. The shotgun's explosive blast is fucking great and it's just a very versatile weapon. When I need something stronger though, the rocket launcher is a perfect fit. I'm not a huge fan of the plasma rifle, but it's been good for taking out minor enemies without wasting good ammo. Finally, I picked up another new weapon, the super shotgun. This thing is an old school, double-barreled shotgun that hits like a truck, but it's kind of slow and cumbersome. I have to try it out some more to see if I like it.

Olivia Pierce loves demons

There's been some cool story stuff happening in the background too. I met a woman named Olivia Pierce, who I think is kind of a cult leader. She is definitely Samuel Hayden's enemy and they are working towards different goals. Olivia wants to open the portal to hell and let the demons take over, while Samuel just wants to harness demonic energy for profit. Meanwhile, the hero, Doomguy, just wants to kill fucking demons. I now have to disable some filters in the next level, which will hinder both Olivia's and Samuel's plans.

A Boy and His Blob

Date played: August 19th
Platform: PS4

I spent a bit of time playing A Boy and His Blob with my daughter yesterday afternoon, but we didn't make much real progress. The main reason is because I went back to two levels in the third world where we had missed some treasure chests. Finding these wasn't too hard, but the bonus levels we unlocked out of it were very difficult.

The first was a simple, but precise drop with the parachute Blob, avoiding enemies along the way and making tight maneuvers. It quickly became a level that's really just about memorizing the path, so after a few tries, I got through safely.

This hidden bonus level required precise controls and careful timing

The second bonus level was even harder... Armed with only an anvil and a trampoline, I had to fall down tall cliffs and get through dangerously precise puzzles. The problem was that I often couldn't see the bottom of the pits, so I would throw a jelly bean down the hole and jump towards it's approximate position.

This led to many, many deaths as I plummeted to my death, hoping to find the trampoline waiting for me at the end. After some trial and error, I had the first part of the level down and was able to get to the end pretty consistently, but that last puzzle just wanted me to fucking fail, repeatedly.

The setup is simple. The final jelly bean is in sight, but it's too high to reach. There's a bunch of spikes on the floor nearby, so I can't get close to it and besides, there are enemies blocking the path anyway. Above my head was a small platform. I reached the platform with the trampoline easily. Then I threw a trampoline jelly bean onto the spikes, approximating where I would need it to be to reach the golden jelly bean. As with other parts of the level though, my view was obscured and I could never see exactly where the trampoline had landed. Then I would blindly jump towards it's location, hoping I was accurate.

I wasn't. Many times. I died so much here, and replayed this level so often... Eventually, I looked it up online, and I was doing it correctly, with one minor difference. It turns out, there's a button to center the camera on Blob! I was not aware of this, and it would have made many earlier sections easier to handle. Once I added this to my tool set, I cleared the level right away. 

Overwatch

Date played: August 19th
Platform: PS4

Today's play of the night is another fun romp as Winston, attacking on one of the Lijiang Tower maps. Our team seemed to have decent composition, but I was playing Zenyatta, and it just wasn't working... The enemy Lucio was always on top of me and I couldn't get anything done. I had a feeling that Winston is what our team needed, so I took the big gorilla out and went bananas. It worked well, and we won the round easily after I switched.

Broken Age

Date played: August 18th
Platform: PS4

Shay is still stuck, trying to find an electronics genius and an anti-gravity thrust unit. I scoured every inch of the map once more, trying items with people, or with other objects, but to no avail. The only meaningful conversation I had was with F'ther, who described a knot to me, trying a few techniques to see if he could untie it. Brother Lightbeard was still stuck up in his cloud.

Unsuccessful, I continued speaking with people until I reached Carol, who is working on some fishing hooks. She apparently knows about knots, and offers give me instructions to untie the knot, but she needs a writing utensil first! I remembered that Alex, back in the ship, always had a good old pencil on his ear, so I went straight to him and borrowed it.

Armed with her new pencil, Carol then asks me to describe the knot... This being a hilariously written adventure game, I wasn't surprised to see a series of subjective, vague descriptions made available to me, such as "A bucket of fingers". I picked the one that seemed to fit the knot I saw back in cloud village, had Carol draw instructions, then returned to F'ther.

I really shouldn't have been surprised, but when I brought Carol's instructions back to F'ther, I had to give another set of funny, but convoluted and vague instructions to untie the knot. My options ranged from "Steal the banana" to "Tug on the piggy's tail" or even "Make the boat go under the bridge". It was a fun sequence.

Brother Lightbeard was a fraud!!!

When I was successful, Brother Lightbeard's big sham was revealed! Of course, his special cloud was floating thanks to the anti-gravity thrust unit that he stole from Alex's ship. But more surprising was his hidden hoard of useless junk. For a guy who preached "lightness" and a detachment from materialism, this was quite a hidden vice... Out of his hoard, an electronic talking fish fell, all the way to the branches of the speaking tree down in the forest.

The next puzzle required me to make the tree laugh with a good joke, so that he would shake his branches from laughter and make the electronic singing fish fall out. I struggled with this as the conversation tree (Ha, get it?) was weird. I had a few "set up" lines, like "What did the axe say to the stump?". I also had a series of punchlines, most of which were terrible. For example, "Because the coffee tastes terrible!". Eventually, I found a combination that worked for the tree, something about his bank's "branch" closing down (urgh). It was actually lots of fun to try out all the combinations and see the tree's reactions.

I got the fish, showed it to Carol and told her I caught it with my crochet hook. Satisfied with my hook, she gave me her old wire! I brought the anti-gravity thrust unit to Alex, who installed it on the ship. Then I attempted to repair the little robot I have with my new wire. Unfortunately, there is a big number of possible configurations with these wires, and I can't make sense of it. I did figure out that the places I put wire will create a different pictogram when the robot is placed in a special spot. I have no idea what the pictures mean though, and was honestly completely stuck.

Desperate, I decided to start playing Vella's act 2, hoping it would reveal something about the pictograms at some point. Vella is kind of stranded at the bottom of the ship. There's only a few things nearby, including Shay's good friend, the knife. The homicidal maniac and Vella seem to get along quite well too.

I solved a simple puzzle where I had to use the knife to cut apart some tubing and repair the nearby broken airlock. This also turned off the gravity generator, so the next puzzle was spent in zero g! This next one required that I use a mechanical arm, fitted with a nice knitted sweater, to grab some magnetic boots in zero g. These were protected by a giant mechanical arm, probably from Mog Chothra's broken tentacles. I was then able to swing myself into the opened airlock nearby. I stopped playing there, but I can't wait to see what Vella finds aboard the ship!

Splatoon 2

Date played: August 18th
Platform: Switch

At my daughter's request, I played a few rounds of Splatoon 2 yesterday afternoon. I only played a couple of quick rounds before she asked that we check out what's in the grate in the main hub. I knew this was where the single player levels were, but I played dumb and went in anyway.

I had a lot of fun with the single player levels, playing a boss level and three two normal ones. The boss was really funny, as it was basically a giant toaster of sorts, possessed by an evil tentacle, spitting out purple paint from it's toasting orifices to attack me. Yep, this game is crazy sometimes! I had to avoid paint attacks, then paint myself a little route to the toaster's summit. This was all done during a short time window, so I messed up a few times before succeeding.

This toaster boss is.... toast!

With the boss defeated, I was sent to a new world with a new series of levels. The two levels I played there were both pretty cool. One of them was particularly fun since it took a page from Ratchet and Clank's book, featuring some great "grinding-on-rails-while-shooting-at-shit" moments.

The single player levels are better than I was expecting. I'm also impressed by how well it teaches different ways to use the core mechanics, which might actually improve my multiplayer skills... 

Overwatch

Date played: August 18th
Platform: PS4

Today's play of the night is a weird one by Symmetra, defending the second point on Route 66. We had struggled to set up a good defensive line, and we were losing badly. I set up a shield generator and some turrets in one of the central side rooms, in the hopes that it would give enough help to my team to survive. It wasn't enough, but it helped me get a nice little moment here as I kill the enemy Reinhardt, Mercy, Genji and Lucio, only to fall to their zippy Tracer. 

Paper Mario Color Splash

Date played: August 17th
Platform: Wii U

I played through a single level of Color Splash with my daughter yesterday. It was set in a sort of fortress, guarded by Spinys and Spikes. The Spinys have spikes on them, so I can't jump on their heads. The Spikes are easier, but have more HP and can throw some spiked balls at Mario.

Unfortunately, most of the level was actually really fucking boring. There wasn't much that looked interesting visually, the music wasn't as amazing as usual and the enemies were a little bit frustrating to fight, since I had to use my hammer cards all the time.

I fought so many of these Spiny and Spike enemies...

The only interesting element to this level was the inclusion of some cylindrical cardboard rolls that can be used as a transportation method of Mario, allowing him to walk on spiked floors. It can also be used as a movable platform to reach new areas. While the mechanic is pretty fun, the controls for it are a little rough since it's a bit hard to evaluate depth perception when riding the little cylinders.

The boss was hidden at the bottom of the fortress, near some lava. The boss was a giant Spiny, with a LOT of health and some very dangerous attacks. Thankfully, I still had some POW blocks cards in my inventory, which will flip the Spiny over and give me a good opening to attack with powerful jump attacks. After beating it, we got ourselves a new paint star and a new road appeared on the world map. It's too bad that this level was boring, but I'm sure there's some great stuff ahead.

Overwatch

Date played: August 17th
Platform: PS4

Today's play of the night features some fun jumping around as Winston, attacking the first point on King's Row. This play is all about disrupting enemy formation and fucking up their defenses by just being a raucous, violent gorilla. While I eventually had to switch to Reinhardt for the final point, this play still shows the value of Winston at disrupting enemy teams,

Overwatch

Date played: August 15th
Platform: PS4

Today's play of the night is nothing spectacular. Instead, it's just good positioning and coverage as Reinhardt, defending the first point on Anubis (successfully too!). The enemy team was a bit disorganized, but they had some skilled players. I'm particularly proud of how I fucked up Genji who was camping, and how I helped out Widowmaker survive a Doomfist attack with a well-aimed Firestrike.

Wipeout Omega Collection

Date played: August 15th
Platform: PS4

I played a couple of events in Wipeout 2048 when Overwatch was patching. The first event was a regular race, but now I'm running at A Class speeds, so things have gone up a notch. This race was set on Sol, one of the coolest looking tracks in the whole franchise. Set high above ground, the track is mostly suspended on large, sweeping tracks that reach up into the sky. The bright blue sky, fluffy clouds and futuristic track design make this one of my favorite tracks.

Sol is a fantastic track

I won that one without any issues, using the Feisar Speed craft. I hit a wall with the next event though. This time trial is requiring a time of 1:44, and the best I was able to do after 5 attempts was 1:49. I think I may be using the wrong ship, or maybe I'm not using a good route on the track. I'll have to try this again differently the next time I play. 

Just Dance 2017 demo

Date played: August 16th
Platform: Switch

My daughter has been playing Just Dance in various settings for a while now, at school, day camp, friend's houses, etc. However, we never actually played it together, so I downloaded the demo for the 2017 game and played it's singular song a couple of times. The song in question is none other than teenage bop superhit "Watch Me".

Watch me whip, watch me nae nae

We used the Joy-Con to control the game and had a lot of fun trying to imitate the great dance moves on screen. The pre-recorded video of dancers is quite fantastic and it's use of vibrant colors makes the game look great. The controls seem accurate enough, since my daughter beat me fair and square. Considering the amount of practice she has, I guess I should have expected that, but for one of the first times in my life, I've lost a video game to my daughter without trying. I was very proud!

I'm not a big fan of motion controlled games in general, and I've had my fill of rhythm games for a while thanks to an intense Guitar Hero phase a while back, so Just Dance isn't really for me. It's great for my 7 year old though, as she has been dancing to these songs with her friends for months. 

Overwatch

Date played: August 15th
Platform: PS4

Today's play of the game is with one of my brothers, as we defend the first point on Volskaya. I was Reinhardt, and he was Soldier. As usual, we make a pretty damn good team together. Yesterday though, we were playing in the same room so it was even easier to spot enemies and make strategies. In this play, I do well enough to win the match at the first point, but the enemy team was pretty bad featuring the usual suspects of Hanzo, Widow and Genji, and no tank... 

A Boy and His Blob

Date played: August 15th
Platform: PS4

I had time to play a few levels of this charming puzzle platformer, in the third world. Of the three levels we played, two featured a new jelly bean, granting the wonderful canon ability. This allows the boy to jump inside Blob, then shoot himself out at high speeds, rolled up in a ball that can destroy certain walls.

Yay!

It creates some really interesting puzzles, as I had to find the right angle to bounce the boy off a wall into the destructible elements. A few of the chests evaded us though, which means we have a few undiscovered secret levels left to find at some point later. One of my favorite scenes was at the end of one level, where other Blobs joined in the celebration, it was just cute. 

Front Mission 3

Date played: August 14th
Platform: Vita

I spent the night at a hotel and had a bit of time to kill, so I played Front Mission 3, making some real progress for the first time in this very old and ugly PS1 tactical RPG. It's a very Japanese game in it's setting, mood and story. Thankfully, the story has been pretty damn cool so far, since it's about a couple of test pilots that discover a grand conspiracy in the Japanese military and government. Using giant robotic war machines called Wanzers, they fight back against all conspirators, teaming up with a foreign woman who is also a skilled pilot.

We fought other Wanzers, some helicopters and some tanks!

What I'm really here for is the tactical turn-based combat though, one of my favorite video game genres. The combat here is deep and very tactical. Since the game's mechanics allow for individual part destruction, sometimes, I'll up fighting with a missing arm, or with lower mobility due to damaged legs.

The main character has a shotgun and a melee weapon, his buddy has a small machine gun and the girl has a missile launcher. They also each have some individual skills, such as improved accuracy on occasion, or pilot damage. It's lots of fun to play really. There's also an elaborate fake internet, which is interesting considering that this game came out in 1999.

The only thing that really hurts this game is how fucking ugly it can be at times. I have a pretty high tolerance for bad graphics for these types of games, but holy fucking shit man, this game is ugly. Still, the deep combat, cool looking mechs, intriguing story and sci-fi military thematic is really working for me. 

Broken Age

Date played: August 12th
Platform: PS4

I made lots of progress in Broken Age late last night. I knew there was something weird going on with the snake at the edge of the forest, so I went back to see him again, letting myself get captured. I tried every item I had, even trying combinations, but nothing worked. I decided to see what would happen if I just waited, and sure enough, the snake got tired and eventually let go...

Fucking stupid puzzle... Anyway, I took the snake to the town's mayor. After getting squeezed by the slimy beast, the mayor spit out what was choking him, a small tuning shell. I showed him the blueprint for one of the parts needed on Alex's ship and he made me a model with sand. I then went to see the tree in the forest, and made him puke up some sap on the model. The new hardened model was good enough to be used as a mold for the lumberjack, turned metal-worker, to make me a metal version. I brought this back to Alex and he installed it on the ship.

I was still missing lots of stuff though. I offered the Vella cupcake to everyone I met. Eventually, the dad from the cloud city family agreed to taste it, but since he's on a gluten-free diet, he only licked off the frosting. The naked cupcake needed some fresh frosting, so I went to see Vella's grandfather, who always carries emergency frosting in his walking cane. He used up the last of his frosting to fix my cupcake, then gave me the empty cane.

I went to see the Dead Eye girls and challenged them to a stick battle, which I promptly lost. However, the teens decided that they had enough of worshiping the Dead Eye God and took some important decisions. This led to them jumping off the cloud, naked, leaving their robes behind. The flew into the sunset, hopefully towards a bright future.

These girls made some big changes in their lives!

These robes made for a great material for a radiation suit. I went to see the rejected Maiden and gave her the materials. She made me a beautiful, feathery suit which I brought to Alex. I then went to see my father to help him with his weird mixture to fix the ship's hull. After a bit of fucking around, I figured out that I had to drop some egg shells and some fruit juice into the mixture. I would then use my talking spoon to measure the ph level until it was exactly 7. Satisfied with the mixture, my dad went back to the ship.

I still need to find a way to fix my robot guy, and I need some sort of anti-gravity device. For the robot, I need some wire, which I can get from Carol, the fisherman lady. She wants a good hook, but she won't take my crochet hook. I need to prove to her that it's a good thing to use for fishing somehow. The other item will require that I find a way to help brother Lightbeard off his cloud, but I have no idea what to do. 

Paper Mario Color Splash

Date played: August 12th
Platform: Wii U

Here's a game I've been meaning to play more often, but kind of forgot about, thanks in part to the release of the Nintendo Switch. I picked it up yesterday and played through a few levels. My first task was to explore a strange forest to find the professor in charge of a nearby excavation site. This was one of the most interesting levels so far since everything there was GIANT!

Everything is huge, yes

We're talking giant coins, giant trees, giant bushes, giant goombas, giant everything! Combined with the cardboard aesthetic, it made for a very fun, unique level. It even affected combat, as the giant enemies had way more health than normal enemies. We found the professor, who is still looking for his missing pet, Princess. We convince him to go back home, then set out to find Princess. The professor gave us access to the excavation site, so we decided that would be a good place to start looking.

The excavation site was a huge level, filled with many combat encounters, secret rooms, things to paint and crumbling scaffolding. It turns out that Princess is a giant Chain Chomp. She's kind of mean and definitely very dangerous. On a few occasions, I had to avoid her attacks by completing simple platforming sequences. It all looked really cool, but it was a little bit confusing at times.

At the end of the level, Princess charges through a wall, making large portions of the excavation site crumble. This revealed a secret room, home to a fresh paint star! It also revealed a giant dragon skeleton of some sort, but it needs a big coat of paint. I'm not exactly sure where to go next, but there's a new level that opened up, so I'll give that place a visit. 

A Boy and His Blob

Date played: August 12th
Platform: PS4

My daughter and I were looking for something to do, and we settled on A Boy and His Blob. We did really well, and ended up going through the entire second world, reaching the third world. The second world was set around the city and some rocky cliffs as well as a few creepy caverns. The atmosphere was way darker than the first world, with more somber music and darker levels.

There were also a few new items for Blob to transform into. The first is very much like a giant hamster ball, where Blob opens up his mouth and lets the boy step inside. I can then move much quicker than normal and can destroy some enemies with it. While in concept, this is really cool, in practice, it's a fucking mess. The parts of the game that use this mechanic are by far the worst in the game so far, so it was pretty disappointing.

I got frustrated with this item a few times already, but with practice, perseverance and a bit of luck, I got through it. Even the world's boss heavily relied on this mechanic, which turned it into one of the worst levels in the game. The big quadruped beast charges at the boy, fires projectile attacks and attacks with dark tendrils. On their own, these things aren't too bad, but being stuck in the fucking hamster ball made this battle complete hell.

With a bit of luck, I got through it.

The second item, a mechanical jack, was a lot more fun. I used it to solve a multitude of puzzles, each more intricate than the next. I lifted some rocks to different levels, used the item as a jumping platform, raised some giant rock pillars and even moved a giant monster out of the way with it. I loved every puzzle where I had to use this thing.

A Boy and His Blob is gorgeous, cute and touching

I absolutely loved the introduction to the third world. At the end of the second world, the Blob turns itself into a small rocket and the boy hops on. The next sequence was one of the cutest and prettiest scenes ever, as the duo triumphantly rides out into space, through many solar systems, towards a distant world.

Their destination was none other than Blobolonia, the Blob's home world! This place is absolutely beautiful, with wonderful, colorful backgrounds and tons of fun scenery. There are some other Blobs here also, living in a sort of underground hut. I played one level here, which focused on the rocket ability. This thing is amazing, as it lets the boy fly in any direction for an unlimited amount of time, it's lots of fun to use. I can't wait to explore more of this strange alien world!

DOOM

Date played: August 12th
Platform: PS4

I didn't play for very long, but I made some progress good progress in the level. I was tasked with destroying 4 demonic nests, scattered around a mining outpost of some sort. As usual, the main appeal here is the intense action and gory violence. DOOM really pushes the player to play aggressively, rewarding gutsy moves and offensive tactics rather than more passive plays.

Combat is satisfyingly violent

Throughout the level, I fought a few new types of enemies. Some of them now have beam weapons that can be fired from long range, as well as a berserker type that just jumps and attacks with it's fists. These Hulk-like beasts are scary, and very powerful. I am using my secondary weapons a lot more now, particularly the shotgun's explosive shells and the assault rifle's mini missiles.

I also picked up a new weapon, a plasma rifle, which rapidly fires orbs of energy. It seems pretty cool, but I think I prefer the shotgun and assault rifles. I got a couple of upgrades for my armor and ammo capacity, both of which have come in handy already. Carrying more ammo just means that I don't have to use the chainsaw as much, so that's cool.

I fucking love this game, it's intense, and I usually don't play it for very long, but the combat is very satisfying and fun.

Overwatch

Date played: August 12th
Platform: PS4

Today's play of the night is a last minute offensive play, defending the second point on Hanamura as Reinhardt. I scare off a D.Va who was attacking from the window, then I turn the corner to see Mei, Mercy, D.Va and Junkrat all grouped up. My team's Genji and Mercy were with me, so I used Earthshatter, slammed Mei into a wall, killing her and Mercy in one swoop, then I knock out Junkrat before being killed by Orisa. It was enough to deter them long enough to give us the victory, and it was good enough for Play of the Game too.

Overwatch

Date played: August 11th
Platform: PS4

Today's play of the night is a simple but effective play as Bastion, attacking the second point on Anubis. We struggle a bit to break the defensive line a little bit, as the enemy team was pretty good at holding us off. I use a bit of suppressing fire, something that only Bastion can really do in this game. This allowed my team to make a good push as I stood back a little bit, but then my team started dying. With D.Va, I storm the point and use my ultimate, then get a triple kill on point! I died to Winston shortly after, but it was enough pressure to get us the win in overtime. 

Broken Age

Date played: August 9th
Platform: PS4

Shay continued exploring the new world he was thrown in. I actually ended up exploring the entire area, including every inch of Shellmound, the lumberjack's house and the cloud village. Along the way, I was surprised to find Vella's family searching for her.

I did a wide variety of things, gaining new items or making certain stories progress. For example, I spoke with Vella's mother, who was trying to comfort the Maiden who didn't get eaten in the cloud city. The discussion eventually led to the girl's love of sewing, so she agreed to help me make a new radiation suit, which we need for Alex (the cryo guy) back at the ship. I have to find her a pattern and some material. The pattern was easy, I just gave her my baby radiation suit, which she will use as a model. I haven't figured out materials yet...

In another segment, I found the two blind kids, Dead Eye Courtney and Dead Eye Dawn, at the peach tree in the cloud city since it was the answer to their riddle. Exploring this area, I also found the weird little guy who likes to eat peaches. He is trying to be healthier, so he drinks an absurd amount of peach juice everyday. I convinced him to give me his juicer, which I used to help a baby bird crack open his egg's shell, which I then stole to be used in my dad's weird concoction.

Another great segment is when Vella's little sister befriends the kid from the cloud village, who end up selling Vella-themed cupcakes to "raise awareness", while simultaneously spitting out some of the game's funniest dialogue, expertly delivered via great voice acting.

The writing in Broken Age is fantastic

I'm also trying to get a stick to duel with the Dead Eye girls, I gotta find a way to make the mayor spit out a bell, I have to build a complex tech device, I am still missing parts for the radiation suit, I've gotta help Brother Lightbeard come down from his weird cloud, which I suspect I'll have to use to get parts at some point. There's so much going on right now! Still, I think I am stuck.

There is one part of the map that I haven't been able to get too, a forest West of Shellmound. Guarding the entrance is a giant snake that attacks on sight and wraps itself around anyone who comes close. I can fend him off by blowing into a nearby tuba (shit maybe it's a French horn?), which attracts the snake's attention. I must be missing something, I just hope I don't have to resort to a walkthrough...

Overwatch

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

The summer games event is back! And there's a bunch of amazing new skins, including a BBQ Soldier 76 and a beach bum McCree. I got a couple of fun voice lines and victory poses, as well as a spiffy Torbjorn skin. Today's play of the night is one that was born of desperation. My team was fucking garbage, and as is becoming the norm, we had a Widow and Hanzo, because of course, no tank and no healer. I tried holding on as Reinhardt, but even then, it was shit. I went for broke and picked Bastion in a desperate attempt to fend off the enemy team. They weren't much better than my team, so I did pretty well. The single best moment here is when I counter-snipe the enemy Widow with my recon gun...