A Half Year in Review (The Start New Game Edition)

             I’d just like to state that I am totally holding up with my end of the bargain, so far.  Two blogs in two days!  This kinda stuff spoils most folk, but I know you guys and gals were raised in a socially acceptable manner and won’t take advantage of my generosity.  Well, I don’t know that… but I’ve got pretty high hopes that you ladies and gents won’t. 

            So, this blog, as promised will be more about my year in NEW games.  Brand spanking new!  Not fresh out of the box, day-one buy, new for some of them.  Most of them…  Eh.  Who is counting really?  You’re not, I’m not, and we are all square on my end.  I have to put a disclaimer on this blog, it is incredibly nerdy and will exclusively contain constant video game references and if that is not your deal… Then you’re gonna want to step out on this one.  Second disclaimer; these are not all the new games I have played this year, only the games that I really truly enjoyed the crap out of this year that also happened to be new.  (So… like… not GTA V.  It just didn’t hold my interest.  Saint’s Row for life!)

            I’m going to knock out some of the new titles that I played this year before gushing profusely over my “Big Three” of the year so far.  Without further ado…  Drumroll please…  No?  Alright, then I will just get started.  The past couple of weeks I have been diving head long into some games developed using UbiArt.  And despite other issues I have with Ubisoft as a whole, their UbiArt titles have been soooo good.  (Cue excessive drooling.)  Child of Light and Valiant Hearts: The Great War are some of the best games I have played in a while as far as side scrolling, single player, story based games.  The art style utilized in Child of Light is so brilliantly worked into the very essence of the game, it is like a masterpiece painted in High Def.  It makes me happy just looking at the art alone, and the game is a pretty good RPG with an interesting upgrade and combat system.  (Plus they rhyme in every dialogue segment!)  Valiant Hearts is a puzzle game at heart, but is wrapped in a beautiful and heart rending story of a family torn apart by the First World War.  The game hits hard emotionally and keeps running until you can’t run anymore.  The characters are built on the solid foundation that you can still find good people to walk beside you, even in times of tragedy.  It makes me both happy and immensely sad to play this game.

            Next up is a more, well known, title.  inFamous:  Second Son.  I’m going to preface this paragraph with the statement that inFamous and inFamous 2 were… okay.  The third installment of the inFamous saga however is freaking awesome!  You play as a far more enjoyable and likeable character (unless you’re evil in which case you’re just a dick to everyone), you get (as Chris would put it) such hype as sh*t powers, and the story isn’t long enough to be convoluted like the first game’s was.  Just powering up alone is where the game shines.  Once you get maxed in the power track that Delsin (the main character) is on, you basically freaking just fly around the city and swoop down to deliver swift justice/havoc wherever you please.  It is an incredibly entertaining game… but as I said before, it is also incredibly short.  So… play through twice or something. 

            From one short game to another; Transistor.  Transistor is shorter than inFamous: Second Son.  But it is a solid game.  The ending really aggravated me.  (Beyond the normal level of aggravation I often send out into the universe.)  I can’t really say that I agree with the choice to end it the way that it ended.  To each their own, I guess.  I will state however that the gameplay stays solid the entire game:  with an interesting “Turn” system that allows you to zip around the battlefield and devastate foes in such an enjoyable manner.  And it provides a phenomenal pacing throughout the game.  There is never a point where the enemy is too hard to fight.  They always seem to be the right level of challenge at any given moment.  (Except the Spine boss.  That dood was messed up hard.)  The art in the game and the soundtrack are also solid reminders that Super Giant is really good at this game making thing.

            A few titles that I love, but am just going to touch on a bit…  Reus, the game where you rebuild the world with a bunch of friendly giants.  It’s fun and very replayable.  Banner Saga, is a strategy and tactics based game that is very unforgiving of mistakes made on the battlefield.  The story is quite good and very Viking saga-ey?  (Plus any money you send to Stoic really screws with those douches at King.  And really, isn’t that what we all want?)  Octodad, the most frustratingly fun game you will ever play with 3 of your friends.  Moving around as an octopus trying to be human… come on, that just screams video game gold.  The Yawhg (and yes I did spell that properly), a story based game where you pick and choose what you do for 6 weeks and see if you’re ever the same after the Yawhg happens to you.  (It’s also super replayable.)  Mariokart 8, the most friendship crushing game I’ve played in a long time.  If you love your friends and you want to very rapidly hate them, play Mariokart 8.  And Talisman, based on the board game and only fun if no one else knows what will happen to them from specific spaces.  (Best played with noobs.)

            Now… The “Big Three.”  First of these amazing titles is Destiny.  I know, the full game hasn’t come out yet.  But if the game is even a fraction of good when it goes gold, then it will be better than most of the other shooters and MMOs that exist to date.  I only got to try the Alpha, which is insanely solid.  Just an FYI it is freaking great.  I hope that I’m not building too much hype into the title.  Since its release is later this year, I won’t honestly know if the game is as good as I think it will be.  But just one day of playing the Alpha had me sold… well… I already pre-purchased the game.  Let that tell you exactly where I stand on a game that combines Mass Effect magic, Halo shooting, and Borderlands RPGing.  So, basically the greatest game to ever exist.  (I know, right?!)   I was also promised access to the Beta.  And if I have that, I will give you a more personal and accurate retelling of why I probably have no friends and grow way to attached to playing dem vidya gaymes.

            Speaking of overly attached to games; The Wolf Among Us… what can I say about this game?  Telltale really nailed it with this one.  Now, they often do this, but this game is just straight amazing.  You play in the modern refuge of Fabletown, where Fables from the old world come and try to live a new life in New York City.  You’re Bigby Wolf (That’s Big Bad Wolf for those wondering), the sheriff of Fabletown, charged with keeping its inhabitants safe from the mundane world… and themselves.  This is a mystery/adventure/story game.  The dialogue system is progressive and characters remember things you say to them earlier in the story and may even bring it up later on in another chapter.  It is story driven and any time that you get put in a situation where you have to fight, it is less run and gun and more story combat.  You picking your actions and seeing where they get you.  The entire game is story driven and the combat is reactionary to this gameplay choice.  And I will never be the same for having experienced it.  I literally can’t get enough of this game.  As of this date, there is a new chapter out.  You should be proud of me for resisting its thrall and doing this blog.  Seriously, I’m freaking out man!  The game can be a little laggy after major decisions on the Xbox 360, but I’m hoping for a next gen revamp, where I will of course buy it again… duh…

            Finally…  I cannot stress this enough…  This is the best game I have played all year.  I know, I’ve been throwing best out a tad bit in this blog.  But… TowerFall:  Ascension is the top of the list.  I will probably be unable to explain this game properly, but here goes…  It has simple game mechanics, that can be manipulated into doing surprisingly complex things.  It is multiplayer, so you can kill your friends for hours.  (It has actually robbed me of sleep.)  And it is so much fun that I have bought the game twice.  If there is DLC for it, I will offer to pay for it if it is free, and I will buy it for twice the amount it is worth if that is asked of me.  It has brought many of my family/friends together to shout profanities at one another whilst shooting copious amounts of arrows at our sprites on screen.  Smashing each other’s heads in and dodging flying projectiles.  Disappearing into the darkness to jump out and surprising an unsuspecting foe.  I cannot completely tell you why the game makes me happy and angry to play.  Or why I submit myself to Chris’s insurmountable skill, Marcus’s volley of arrows, or MAYRA’s need to stomp us all flat.  I think… and hear me out on this one… TowerFall is life.  That is truly the only way to explain it.  But don’t just read about these games.  Play them!!!!

                                                                                    LAZY Rhino “LMFAO”

                                                                                                Andrew

(I beseech thee to read my blog and follow me on the Twitter.  @ANDCauthen.  Also, start playing them games, and if you have a PS4 and want to join in on Destiny action in a few months… hit me up.  Gamer tag style, fools.)

A Half Year in Review (Replay Edition)

            Wow!  I am the most inconsistent.  This is terrible!  We’ll get over it though.  I have faith.  So…  Where the hell has the year gone?  It’s freaking July already.  Gonna have to try and slow it down a bit.  No more of this napping through the year.  By the way, if you’re wondering why I haven’t posted much (or even if you weren’t) it’s because naps are soooooo amazing.  But, they have been eating up a lot of my time and I have recently decided to finally start doing that whole living thing.

            Since the year is going by so quickly, I wanted to take this half of the year and review what’s been going on.  The fact that I am out of the global politics game, and haven’t kept up to date on many social issues, I’m going to review the year in games I have played!  Cause that’s what nerds do with themselves.  And if you’re not down with that… Well… too bad.  Because it has been half a year, however (and I play a ton of games), I’m going to break this blog up into like… 3 parts.  Maybe 4.  Yeah!  4 parts! 

            This first list of games is the replays list.  Games I have revisited this year because of reasons!!!  By the end of this one, if you think that it’s too long, then you are really in for a surprise on the next list.  I have game ADD something fierce.  But that is future Lazy Rhino’s problem.

            Civilization V started out my year.  61 hours in total.  Not this year of course.  I was real into it last year.  That didn’t stop me from dropping another 20 or so hours on the game.  I believe I spent an entire Sunday playing in January.  Just sat down at 8 in the morning and didn’t get up until I decided it was probably time to actually eat around 5.  Not my worst sit down in a game, least of which not my worst sit down for THIS game.  I just start a civilization and don’t stop until I’m either the winner or wiped of the planet.  And I have NO regrets!  (Here is a nod to Alexander, who I was dominating with the last time I played.)

            Mass Effect 3.  (And I don’t mean the single player campaign, cause that would just be rage inducing.)  Chris and I started drowning ourselves in the multiplayer again.  It was so awesome.  It reminded me how much I loved the Mass Effect series before the third game ruined every dream I’ve ever had.  (All of them, no exclusions… ruined… *sob*)  And it was an appreciated jaunt back into the frantic biotic throwing mania and Krogan rampaging party that it was when it first came out.  I can’t help but smile and remember that this series was once the best…  Mmmmm… Memories.

            Now, in-between little forays into League of Legends, I picked up Asura’s Wrath again.  This might not be popular “gamer” opinion, but I’m not going to apologize for loving this game.  It was like playing through an anime.  (Which I freaking love!)  I just needed that feeling…  The anger, the colossal task of tearing down the heavens, and the ending that was infinity times better than Mass Effect 3’s and Bioshock Infinite’s endings combined.  It was Gurren Lagann’s galactic brawl all over again, and I ate up every dang second of it. 

            After that, I was in game limbo for a bit.  (And I don’t mean the game Limbo, though I probably should go back and play that.)  A sudden urge to play some old school games came over me, so I plugged in the N64 and the PS2 and started to jam on some older titles.  First, Ogre Battle 64.  And if you are a fan of this game as I am, you know that it is in serious need of a real title sequel.  With a classic this good, though…  It isn’t a surprise that it never had a real follow up.  (Other than that Tactics Ogre one… Which I wasn’t really into… Just wasn’t the same.)  I had been rewatching Samurai Champloo and started watching Sengoku Basara’s 2^nd season around this time.  When I was satisfied with Ogre Battle 64, I played Way of the Samurai 2 and Samurai Warriors 2 Empires.  After slaughtering countless foes (Like we do), I put down these 2 gems in favor of real deal game time. 

            I soon picked up Spelunky again.  Oh Spelunky.  If you have ever been insanely frustrated yet completely entertained by hours’ worth of deaths you put into a game, then you have never truly lived.  It is a game with an incredibly high learning curve, and you will die a lot.  But all the time you put into it, will eventually get you where I am in the game… Nowhere… and you will love every second of it.  It has some of the most unique ways to die at random just doing your Spelunky thing.  It’s like if Australia was a game.

            Speaking of Australia the game; I also poured quite a few hours into the (still) amazing Don’t Starve this year.  And have gotten farther than I have ever done before in the game.  I’m not kidding on this game being deadly (if you didn’t get the Australia reference) and it is constantly testing your ability to not get killed by everything in the world that randomly generates for you to try and survive.  From spiders, hounds, pigmen, tallbirds, walking killer trees, deadly robotic chess pieces, and darkness that will eat you… to starving to death, freezing to death, going insane and being attacked by shadow creatures, and let’s not forget they keep expanding the list of things that can kill you…  Oh yes they do.  And it is just so enjoyable.  (Invest some time in their Wiki page if you want tips to survive.  It’s pretty much necessary now.)

            Honorable mentions:  Games I played for one day.  Awesomenauts (with Chris and MARCUS).  Borderlands 2 (also with Chris), Assassin’s Creed II (for the swordplay), Baldur’s Gate (because of a new PathFinder group), Dishonored (DLC tried out and enjoyed), and Halo Reach (cause it is best Halo).

            So yeah… those were the ‘worthy of talking about’ games I replayed at least some this year.  And much more fun was had.  I probably just can’t remember it.  Tomorrow, I will talk about the new games I tried and or poured my heart and soul into this year.  And there will be much rejoicing!  (Or at least some.)

                                                                                    LAZY Rhino “COO”

                                                                                                Andrew

(If you like this blog any of the other ones I’ve done; follow me on Blogger or Twitter @ANDCauthen.  I mostly just talk about stuff all the time, so feel free to join in on that!)