The comparisons between the newly released Tom Clancy's The Division and 2014's Destiny are making it's rounds across the internet. Both are similar in structure while being different games almost entirely. One is an online coop role-playing first-person shooter while the other is an online coop role-playing third-person shooter. With similarities all over the place, it's time to find out just which game does it better because competitive behavior is all the rage these days.

Loot/Gear

Both games are heavily reliant on finding sweet, sweet loot. Every enemy, every chest has a chance to drop that upgrade to take your damage or damage resistance to the next level. While both games offer a wide variety of gear drops, Destiny's loot drops feel more rare when they do fall. The Gjallarhorn from Destiny's arsenal took some players months to obtain, and then some hardly any time at all. Most legendary gear felt like an achievement of sorts to obtain. Some gear is locked behind events such as Raids or special weekly events. And after Destiny's game-changing patch before The Taken King released, every item you had gave you a bonus of sorts including Ghosts and backpacks.

The Division didn't launch with raid gear but it is coming soon. Instead of finding Ghosts and capes, you find mods for your weapons and armor to increase their stats. The one really cool thing that The Division does better is providing an appearance system that changes just that: appearance. Destiny offers a different way to customize the look of your character through shaders. Shaders change the color scheme of your character to almost anything imaginable. If you want a bright glowing teal with white, you can do it.

After playing enough of The Division to get a good look most of their high end loot, I can say that The Division doesn't offer as a rewarding feel for getting drops. This may change in the coming weeks with more content, but the glaring difference between The Division's loot and Destiny's loot is that the legendary drops from Destiny feel legendary. By that I mean you can recognize loot by not only look but sound. When someone fires off a Suros in Destiny, it sounds a lot different than a typical sub-machine gun. Each legendary weapon has a specific look to it that is very unique is style, look and ability. Each legendary armor piece looks completely different from rare items you'll see.

The Division suffers a bit for being a "realistic" game. It's legendary gear looks all about the same outside of sometimes having a different color scheme. I upgraded from a superior AK-74 to a high end AK-74 and outside of having different stats, it looked about the same. The Division at least allows you to equip as many high ends as you want, which Destiny never did. But I can't say The Division doesn't loot and gear better than Destiny.

Winner: Destiny

World Design

The Division is going to have a tougher time in this category because it's held back by realism. You're stuck in one area: New York City. And not even all five boroughs. You're in a portion of Manhattan. That doesn't mean that The Division is completely shallow. In fact, The Division does Manhattan really well. There's a lot of scenery from a real world perspective and having visited myself, it's really accurate. I had a friend leave a safe house and locate me using the street and cross street. That's really cool.

There's a few areas of interest in The Division. Outside of just looking at sky scrappers, cabs and trash bags, the main missions let you explore deeper into Manhattan. One of the first missions you do takes you to Madison Square Garden and shows how much of a nightmare New York City has turned into. Outside of the main missions, there's not a lot of a uniqueness to the world even in the Dark Zone. You can go in a few buildings, but they feel copied and pasted from the other areas in the game. I don't know how many times I ran into the Grow Home board game on the shelf. Once you put in some times, you see how much of the content and scenario is copied from another area of the game. Yet, they managed to have some of the most detailed trash bags I've seen in game. Much love was given to those trash bags.

Destiny doesn't keep you pinned to one location and each map is properly big enough to transverse using a speeder--I mean, a Sparrow. There's several worlds to visit, each with their own unique theme and enemy. The Division's main campaign takes you deeper into the world. So does Destiny. And Destiny was a let down when it released. A lot of land mass was missing from their initial unveiling. However, there's still more world design and unique areas to visit even in vanilla Destiny. It helps with the nature of the game to see a completely different setting when you're grinding away for gear or materials.

One final nail in favor of Destiny is the world has actual players walking around outside of instanced zones. A huge bummer with The Division is that random players are tied to certain locations, making less of a case for an always connected world. Destiny's worlds actually feel more alive due to this and is the case shut for Destiny taking this award.

Winner: Destiny

Joining Others In-Game

Destiny and The Division are both pretty much the same for match-making. In Destiny, you go to your in-game friends list and can see all the active players to join. In The Division, you can see all your friends walking around the map and join them. Both games let you teleport to them while in party and makes for a terrific and nearly fluid experience.

Both games always have a strength above the other. Destiny's is what was mentioned above vaguely. You can see other players running around in the world and not in just certain areas. But The Division has a much cooler way of showing off where your friends are playing on the map. While Destiny's in more serviceable, it's too difficult to choose between the two because they both have a strong case.

Winner: Tied

PVP

I've put my dear sweet time into Destiny's PVP. I've ranked to the highest level on the Iron Banner a number of times. I've played several days worth of PVP. And I even got a collective whooping from other astounding players in The Trials of Osiris. But the modes are the all about the same. And the random loot monster seemed to always reward weaker players with better loot. Luck of the dice, I guess.

The Division brings back something I've been dying to have back in games for a long time as seen from this NeoGAF post from 2012. Hardcore PVP has a very nice risk and reward system. In The Division's Dark Zone area, you might get a quality drop and have a chance to lose it by some knucklehead killing you for fun. That sounds awful to some but if done correctly (which The Division does), it leads to an incredible experience. You have to trust (and be cautious) of every single player. Even players in your team.

Or you can just be like me and murder everyone you come in contact with because being wanted and surviving is a fun metagame.

Winner: Tom Clancy's The Division

Story

You'd think The Division could walk away easily with this one as Destiny has a very generic sci-fi story on the surface. Yet The Division doesn't do anything exciting with it's story. You don't even have a really good idea the time from the initial virus outbreak to your current story. Is it a week? A month? Years later? They don't even fill you in on some of the more basic operations of the game. I'd like to know why red barrels have made it's ugly appearance all over the place. And why are these looting bad guys shooting up supplies when they could be stealing it for their home base?

Joking aside, The Division has an awful story that's not interesting at all. I finished it without a care for an single character in the game. But at least The Division's lame story is in the game. Destiny went with the idea that people want to collect cards and then go read about them on an app or website. What were they thinking?

While Destiny's story in-game is generic and doesn't fulfill you're desire to care about why you're doing anything, the cards reveal that there's much more than meets the eye. A lot of speculation has floated around about who the Traveler is, who guardians actually are, down to who Xur actually is. Most can be read about on forums or Reddit, but since most of what we do know is generic, it's hard to give Destiny the win here. The Division and Destiny have bad stories.

Winner: Tied for having bad stories.

Mission Design

Both of these games are grindy. You'll be doing a lot of the same stuff a lot to maximize your level and gear. And in that grind, you have missions you need to complete from campaign missions to side missions. The Division and Destiny have very similar campaign layouts. You go to an instanced area. You fight waves of enemies. You may or may not encounter a boss depending on the mission. The biggest difference? Destiny's core campaign requires you to activate waves of enemies using a Ghost rather than automatically activating the wave.

The Ghost used to activate waves of enemies was a major complaint when the game launched. Nearly every mission required you to hold a button at a computer while a few waves of enemies came in. It wasn't transparent enough for a lot of gamers. Understandable too. The Division doesn't do much else other than remove the Ghost and gets you right into the fight. Some missions have a "Ghost" mechanic such as scanning an area before an ambush, but it's a lot more rare. As far as campaign designs, there's not a lot of difference in content. It's short wave survival. Destiny has platforming puzzles sometimes which changes it up. The Division doesn't have a single puzzle that I remember of doing. That's a mild difference but it's something.

Here's where Destiny outranks The Division. In Destiny, you have some side quests known as bounties. Bounties are daily rewards for completing various tasks. Some bounties are to hunt down a specific AI, gather certain materials, do community events, and more. You also have Strikes that are better than the core missions themselves with better rewards. The Strikes allow you to experience even more of the land mass and see (sometimes) unique looking bosses. The Division has zones with the exact same missions copied and pasted around the map. From your starter zone to your ending zone, you're doing the exact same missions. You'll rescue someone. You'll find a cell phone. You'll hold down a location. You'll hunt down some named elites. Over and over again.

The Division copies the worst parts of Ubisoft's games by adding a map full of icons to go after. And much like every Ubisoft game, they're all the same thing over and over again. It's one of my biggest complaints in my review. It's flat out boring to do the same side mission over 10 times in a different area. Because Destiny offers a change of pace with Strikes and quick playlists to get into another event, I'm giving the win to Destiny. If that's not reason enough, The Division doesn't even have community events to keep the monotony of exploring the same area slightly fresher. Most any massive multiplayer, pseudo or real, offers some type of event that knocks you out of formation.

Winner: Destiny

Launch Game Lasting Appeal and End Game Content

The Division just came out and I'm done until there's more content unless I want to take gear away from players in the Dark Zone. I have an inventory full of rare guns, armor, mods, and costumes. I don't think The Division has legs to keep people sitting there for months to a year unless the Dark Zone and daily repeat missions keep you going. That is until the content rolls out. Destiny suffered from repeat missions as well, but given the worlds and the loot, Destiny takes the cake. Given the gameplay style of The Division, I don't really know how long the raid content will keep me entertained unless they throw in some puzzles and unique looking bosses that require different play styles.

The Dark Zone is something I'm going to continue to visit from time to time as it's the best feature of this game. Maybe if the entire game was built around the Dark Zone, I'd have a lot more desire to jump on. But once you've been to busted up Manhattan for a week, completed the main game, and did a few of the dreadful side quests, there's not much game outside of the Dark Zone.

Destiny's harder content forced players to examine their weaknesses and strengths. Should you help your team with a sniper rifle or be a tank to lure the enemies away from your sniper? Just little strategies you were able to do in Destiny kept things interesting.

Winner: Destiny

Final Verdict

There's nothing really wrong with The Division. I think it's a really fun game. But when I kept comparing the two similar games, I found myself wishing this game did more than what it did. The Division and Destiny comparisons have been made on several sites and forums. It's inevitable since they're really unique shooters. But apples to apples, Destiny's core game had more content that kept you going than The Division in my opinion. It has more interesting design in terms of gear and worlds. It's side content is more fun. But if you can't stand sci-fi games or get sick playing first-person shooters, then The Division is probably going to be more your style.

But subjectively, Destiny is the clear winner here.

I've decided to start progress this year on knocking out some of my backlog. Last year, I went a little crazy buying games without the time to finish them. I'm a contemporary gamer; I buy games without the time or energy to finish anything! Much less, go back and play classics I love.

1. Undertale: This game is short and I can knock it out quickly if I can get the drive to load it again. I've given this game a couple of chances, regretting my short playthroughs both times. But I hear I'm near the point where the game gets good. I'd love to like this game, and I'm trying.

2. Broke Age: I'm at the very end of the game. I loved the first part of the game, and even a good chunk of the second part. The ending has just been really tough to sit through. That should be a single evening. I love the art design, the story, and the weirdness that Double Fine brings to their games. But my interest in the game dwindled during the final area. Let's hope I can buckle down and finish this one up!

3. Just Cause 3: One of the longer games I'm working on. Almost done.

4. Life Is Strange: Sadly, I've only finished the first chapter.

*Amazon doesn't charge until it ships.

Amazon's deal is up to 20% off game pre-orders right now. Discounts apply at check out. This includes collector's editions!

*Amiibos

Dark Souls 3

Dead Island 2

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth

Dishonored 2

DOOM

Dragon Quest VII

Far Cry Primal

Final Fantasy Explorers

Final Fantasy VII Remake

Final Fantasy XV

Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright

Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest

For Honor

Gears of War 4

Gravity Rush Remastered

Guilty Gear Xrd -Revelator-

Homefront 2

Hyrule Warriors: Legends

Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8

Kingdom Hearts III

The Last Guardian

The Legend of Zelda (Wii U)

Life is Strange LE

Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam

Megadimension Neptunia VII

Megaman Legacy Collection

Mighty No. 9

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4

NieR: Automata

Nights of Azure

Odin Sphere Leifthrasir (Storybook Edition)

One Piece: Burning Blood

Overwatch CE

Project X Zone 2

Quantum Break

Ratchet & Clank

ReCore

Republique

Resident Evil Origins

Rise of the Tomb Raider (PS4)

Scalebound

Senran Kagura Estival Versus (Endless Summer Edition)

South Park: Fractured But Whole

StarFox Zero

Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness

Steins;Gate LE

Street Fighter V

Tom Clancy's The Division

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

World of Final Fantasy

Zero Time Dilemma

*Possibly anything from here?

I've hit a point in this game where I don't know if I'll continue, but I decided to put up a short review/impression in the meantime. I can't imagine my opinion changing if I decide to continue this.

We all play games for different reasons, but ultimately it's to have a fun experience. This game will not bring that unless you just want to jump on a bandwagon of LV for a mediocre product.

The game is automatically being played off on false nostalgia. The graphics, sounds and part of the combat system is familiar to a lot of older gamers. However, the reason you played those old school console JRPGs was because they were fun. You had exploration, characters that were interesting, a variety of spells and attacks, and a reason behind everything.

In Undertale, the exploration is limited to different paths that sometimes lead to a funny/cutesy/quirky thing. In one scene, I saw a fishing rod that had a picture attached to it. I couldn't tell if the picture was a philosophical parable or a very simple joke. The combat has a feature to talk your way out of battle. I found the most useful feature is Fleeing a battle because the battle system is boring. This was the one aspect I was hoping would be a lot of fun. Instead, I found myself wanting random battles to never happen. I quit talking my way out of battles because the dialog that spews from an enemies mouth is, frankly, bad. It's not funny not entertaining. It's bland.

The music and graphics are something. They captured an era, and it's the one positive I can give the game as of now. They're ugly as sin and the main character looks like a reject from The Simpsons: Bart vs. The World, however, that's what this game was going for and they nailed it. When I left the first area start my quest home, the graphics went from Commodore 64 to a weird NES/SNES look. I could dig it. The music is charming, and probably the best part of the game. It fits the environments well and it's about the best reason to recommend Undertale.

You may have heard this game shares similarities to Earthbound. Yes and no. Yes, because it has some art aspects that look Earthbound-y, but no to everything else. If you want to play Earthbound, there's many options available. And it's actually going to make you happy playing it because it's fun, cute in a way that's relaxing, and has a decent overall plot line for an old game. Undertale just keeps dragging on and on.

I don't think this game was created with a bad vision. I think it's just a very poor game and has been grasped by a certain type of indie community that feels certain games that shouldn't be popular should be popular. There's people that are going to legitimately love this game. And good. Not everyone needs to love the same thing. But I think the overhyped community, the missionaries of this game, have spoiled it. This game having certain words associated with it like "feels" and "deep meaning" damages the game more than honors it.

If I finish the game, which as much as I don't want to, probably will to mark off my backlog, I will update the review if I feel it needs it. But as of now, I have to say don't bye into this weird hype. I don't watch My Little Pony even though it have a strong (non-physically) community. Undertale is no exception. Bad is bad and quirky isn't always good.

$599 U.S. Dollars.

WTF are they thinking?

Happy New Year!

It’s time to start planning what games you’re going to invest in this year. I’ve compiled a list of all the games I’m personally looking forward to. There’s going to be some games missing that you may be excited about, but hey, this is my blog!

I won’t include any VR-only games or games that are on the fence with a 2016 release date. The reason I’m not including VR games isn’t because I’m not excited about any of that (I’ve already owned a DK2 unit and I’m a strong believer in our current technology with VR), but it’s because I just don’t want to. If I did, 100 Foot Robot Golf would be at the top of my list.

No Man’s Sky (PC/PS4) (Trailer)

No Man’s Sky is a giant space exploration game from the studio behind of Joe Danger. This project is the complete opposite of what Joe Danger is, so it’s going to be interesting if they can pull it off. The key feature I like about this game is being able to find a planet that’s never been discovered, scan all of it’s details including plant and monster life, but also name it whatever you want. I plan on visiting Butt Planet as much as I can.

Horizon: Zero Dawn (PS4 Exclusive) (Trailer)

Monster Hunter 4 was as close as I came to getting into monster hunting games outside of Pokémon. But Pokémon is fun (to me) due to collecting things and leveling up several monsters. Horizon: Zero Dawn looks like a Monster Hunter game made in the west. There’s a graphic fidelity that looks gorgeous and has me questioning the wizardry behind their art team. But ultimately we play video games to have fun, and the game looks like a blast to play.

Persona 5 (PS3/PS4 Exclusive) (Trailer)

This might be the biggest game coming out this year simply because I’m in love with the series. If you’ve never stumbled onto a Persona game, it’s a weird treat. It’s an anime story of high school teens trying to stop some type of evil presence with the help of their summoned personas, or monsters. It’s a story-heavy game that fulfills two types of games: turn-based role-playing and friendship sim. It almost feels like a mature Pokémon game with it’s collecting.

Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 (PC/PS4/XB1) (Trailer)

As simple as the original game is, it’s a lot of fun to play and due to the aesthetic style and use of colors, it’s a beautiful game to admire. While it’s practically an easier to play Battlefield game, it still has a lot of debt and “unlockable” goodies to have. I have high hopes for the sequel to be even better.

Dragon Quest Builders (PS3/PS4 Exclusive) (Gameplay Trailer)

Minecraft is a pretty big hit and in Japan, so is Dragon Quest. Dragon Quest Builders combines the crafting and survival of Minecraft with the JRPG giant, Dragon Quest. The fun, blocky look of Minecraft has been overhauled to look almost like it’s copying the style of 3D Dot Game Heroes. So what makes this game more special than Minecraft? There’s some story and a much better combat system. What’s going to keep it from beating Minecraft? The brand name and lack of multiplayer.

Street Fighter V (PC/PS4) (Gameplay Trailer)

The new age of heroes is coming February! For the first time that I’m aware of, Street Fighter console gamers will fight against PC gamers. I’ve already played the beta a little bit so I know what kind of quality it is. It’s a visual step-up from Ultra Street Fighter IV. The new characters (and old) look fantastic. I’m not a pro at fighting games, but I always enjoy playing them.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (PC/PS4/XB1) (Gameplay Trailer)

Deus Ex is one of the best at combining role-playing, stealth, and action. The cyberpunk theme and dystopian future setting puts it in a pretty unique category since not enough games use these perfect video game settings. Adam Jensen is also just a cool character. He didn’t ask for any of this, but we did. The one fear I have is they try to change something like they did with the boss fights in Human Revolution. The game was easily one of the best titles on last generation but tarnished by annoyingly bad boss battles. Let’s hope they’ve learned their lessons.

The story sounds pretty great too. Jensen works for a company as an augmented (cyborg) counter-terrorist that deals with global terrorism. He also deals with shadow governments and corporate corruption, or the Illuminati. The game takes place two years after the events of Human Revolution. Man is divided against the augmented humans and terrorist are running afoot. If they keep a general formula going as they did with Human Revolution, this may be a game of the year contender.

Final Fantasy XV (PS4/XB1) (Gameplay Trailer)

If you bought Final Fantasy Type-0 Remaster, then you probably have playing the XV: Episode One demo that was included. I thought it was going to be difficult to care for another Final Fantasy after the direction of XIII. But they managed to make a Final Fantasy combat system that feels great to play. Sadly, it’s not turn-based but the new action combat system feels really fun and fluid within the world. You still get a sense of Final Fantasy with creature encounters, but without the spinning world effect.

[MORE WRITE-UP SOON, BUT UNTIL THEN, HERE’S THE LIST!]

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (PS4 Exclusive) (Gameplay Trailer)

Cuphead (PC/XB1) (Gameplay Trailer)

Mirror’s Edge Catalyst (PC/PS4/XB1) (Gameplay Trailer)

Nier Automata (PS4 Exclusive) (Trailer)

Ratchet & Clank (PS4 Exclusive) (Gameplay Trailer)

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands (PC/PS4/XB1) (Trailer)

The Last Guardian (PS4 Exclusive) (Gameplay Trailer)

Doom (PC/PS4/XB1) (Gameplay Trailer)

Pokkén Tournament (Wii U Exclusive) (Gameplay Trailer)

XCOM 2 (PC Exclusive) (Gameplay Trailer)

Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam (3DS Exclusive) (Trailer)

Yakuza 6 (PS4 Exclusive) (Trailer)

Dark Souls III (PC/PS4/XB1) (Gameplay Trailer)

God Eater 2 (PS4 Exclusive) (Gameplay Trailer)

Mafia III (PC/PS4/XB1) (Gameplay Trailer)

Shadow Warrior 2 (PC/PS4/XB1) (Gameplay Trailer)

The Legend of Zelda (Wii U/NX <-maybe) (Gameplay Trailer)

It's the end of the year which means it's time for everyone's game of the year announcements. 2015 was a really good year for gamers.

1. The Witcher III: Wild Hunt: This took me 5 months to complete, but the ending was totally worth it. The Witcher series has always had a nice touch on bringing a "realistic" (for fantasy) world to life with characters and side stories. The Witcher III just brings more of that and in a fantastic open-world. Every main story quest along with every side quest felt well thought out. I could only imagine their storyboard and how that looked. The graphics are great, and the voice acting just brought each character to life. There were performance hick-ups and weird bugs (like the endless loading bugs from launch), but a fantastic experience all-around. It's one of the few video games my wife has asked me to play through with her instead of watching a movie or TV show with her.

2. Bloodborne: From Software makes another incredibly hard action role-playing game set in a cool world that's full of fast moving creatures and sweat triggering bosses. I'm a decent enough fan of the Souls games so this was going to be a sleeper hit for me. Only after playing this did I really notice how slow and clunky Souls games feel. This is definitely the best playing FromSoftware game to date.

3. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain: This could have easily been my game of the year if the game was actually complete. The gameplay is top-notch and a blast to play. It's so good that you easily forget you're spending a good chunk of chapter 2 doing the same missions you did before just on a harder difficulty.

4. Batman: Arkham Knight: I really enjoyed the previous entries and this was a bigger version of that. The combat felt great and the world felt a lot darker (thanks to that Mature rating -- finally!). While this is clearly an unpopular opinion on the internet, I enjoyed the tank sequences a lot too. It's one of those games I used to sit back and just take in the world.

5. Rocket League: This was an unexpected smash hit among my friends and myself. Take soccer and throw in some RC cars that do stunts. It's a simple game that ended up being one of my most played multiplayer games of this year. It's rare that I go out and buy DLC just to support them (since the PS4 version was free for Plus members), but I did just that.

6. Super Mario Maker: Who doesn't enjoy 2D (or 2.5D) platforming with Mario physics? Being able to make and remake maps for 4 different Super Mario eras is great. It's the perfect game to play when you don't even want to play a game. And it's the first game I've played that has a very practical reason to have a screen.

7. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege: I ate major crow on this game. I wasn't a big fan of the first beta I played. I liked parts of it, but the terrorist hunt (one of my favorite modes from Rainbow Six Vegas) was really broken and had some ridiculously mediocre A.I.. I didn't think I would ever play the final release. Now, this is my go to multiplayer game. It's a party game so if you don't have friends playing with you, I don't know how much you're going to enjoy it. But I have a rotating set of friends playing with me anytime I want now. It's one of the few games that has lasting appeal with limited maps, limited customization (compared to Vegas), and lacking a campaign. As much as I hate to admit it, I've had more fun than I could have imagined with it.

8. Mortal Kombat X: This game doesn't hold a candle to how great Mortal Kombat 9 rebooted the MK series, but it's still a great game. I know the PC version had some issues at launch, but once you were in the game it was a bloody good time. The first month this was out, I had played over 300 matches. That's a lot of MK time for me since I suck at fighting games. And that gore. Whew!

9. Transformers: Devastation: A Platinum game based on the Transformers from the 80s? Sure. And graphics that look very 80s anime? Sure. This was kind of a shocking hit for me because I'm not the biggest Transformers fan.

10. Dying Light: I wasn't a big fan of Dead Island, but who was? But Dying Light took the things I didn't like, threw them in the trash, and made a game I think they originally wanted to make. A lot bigger open world to parkour through, less jank, and a great co-op experience. There was still the problem with having limitations on weapons you built, but they lasted a lot longer than in the Dead Island games.

Honorable Mentions:

* Yakuza 5 - It only missed my list because this game came out in 2013 technically.

* Axiom Verge - Really close to being on my list. It would be in the top 15, for sure.

* Tales of Borderlands - I haven't finished the entire thing yet, but I enjoyed the first few chapters.

* Life is Strange - Same as above with Tales of Borderlands.

* Until Dawn - So close, but I picked Dying Light over this because I had more time with it.

I have a lot of games from this year that I haven't played enough to say yes or no too. Undertale and Pillars of Eternity I just bought so I can't say yes or no to it.

I'm probably way too late but I didn't see anything listed. Batman: Arkham Knight is $39 smackers on Amazon today.

That is all.

I'll just leave this here...

I only completed one game last night-Batman: Arkham Knight-and obtained a Platinum trophy. Yes, I did all of those stupid Riddler “challenges”. And by challenges, I mean a total waste of time. I noticed once I finished a set of these puzzles on one island, the other islands were almost identical. It was just more of the same. But I did finish the game and I loved it for the most part.

As stated before, I finished the game this month and loved it. I plan on writing a review, even though I haven’t written a review in ages. If you’ve played the Arkham series before, you know what to expect in terms of combat, puzzles, and it’s dark story. The introduction of the Batmobile is the biggest change in the Arkham Knight game. It’s a combination of a fast vehicle that turns into a tank in an instant by pressing a button. How’s it handle? Depends on who you ask. I didn’t have a problem with it at all, but there’s enough complaints about the Batmobile online either through reviews or community threads.

The new Batman game has a very mature setting in the later part of the game. The games were rated Teen before, even though I personally have always thought of them as mature games. But this one kicks it up a notch in terms of pure violence. I can’t really discuss too much on this without revealing some spoilers, but trust me when I say it’s a darker game.

And wouldn’t you know that right after I finish the game, they announce a 1989 Batman costume and skin for the Batmobile? Maybe I’ll pick up the season pass on a sale and go through the game for a third time.

Oh, yes. That’s right. I finished the game two times. That’s a requirement for the Platinum trophy. New Game + was more of a headache as they remove the indications of someone hitting you. So you really have to pay attention to the animations instead of wait for the colored indicators above their heads. But I really didn’t run into too many issues. There was only a section towards the end that was a headache to go through. Overall, my Bat-skills are amazing.

PlayStation 4’s free games last month included Rocket League. I originally would have ignored this game as it’s gameplay involves driving cars and playing sports; two things I’d never think would be enjoyable. But since it was free and people on NeoGAF were praising it to the high heavens, I decided to give it a shot. I was in love the instant I started driving around and hit this giant futuristic ball. It just felt so polished and well done.

A few of my friends and I have played a lot of multi-player. We’re not really competitive in a lot of games. We just try to have fun. We’re not pulling off amazing shots with skill (just luck). We’re just having fun. I’ll probably support this game through DLC in the future, as long as I continue to play.

I’ve owned this on PlayStation 4 since it dropped but after my month, I cancelled it. I didn’t have anyone to play with on my server. One of my friend’s recently moved and wanted to get into an MMO after we played The Elder Scrolls Online for a bit this month too. So after a week, I’ve managed to hit level 25 in one class and level 10 in another. It’s also the first time I’ve sat down as a mage for longer than a few hours in an RPG. I love armor and swords, so I never wander too far from that.

The differences that I’ve noticed between World of WarCraft aren’t night and day, but it’s a new setting and a change in some instances. A couple of major points of interests is the marriage system. My wife is playing with us and we’re going to try this out. You can actually schedule a time to get married on your server. No one else can get married during that time, and there’s a legit ceremony. Another difference is that you can have one character that’s a jack of all trades. In Final Fantasy, you level up jobs instead of classes. It fits perfectly well in their universe. The last big change I’ve noticed so far is how there’s a main story quest that you can follow along. I’ll admit. I’ve been skipping every instance of story so I could hit the end level. But I have plans on going to an inn and watching the major events of the game so I have a reason to buy the expansion.

What in the world is this game? I’m a group of bikini-clad ninjas chopping up vampires and zombies using a variety of weapons. And included in the physical edition, I’m a group of NSFW fruit wearing ninjas. Yes. That’s a banana and set of strawberries as a way to censor the naughty bits. Oh, Japan!

But ignoring the obviously overly sexualized nature of this series, the game is actually a lot of fun. It’s an action game much like Bayonetta or Dyntasty Warriors, just with bikinis and over-the-top gore. It’s biggest problem is that it’s a short game. I think I’ve seen that the entire game is only 3 hours long. But the replayability is strong, so I’ve heard. I’m enjoying the game so far, which is all that matters.

It’s nothing of a masterpiece, but more of a B-tier game. I’m fine with B-tier games. They’re something I’ve missed having in my library.

Admittedly I bought this game on August 1st, but I’m leaving it in my July update. The day I saw a trailer for the episodic game and that Roberta Williams was going to be involved. While it looked a lot different from it’s grass roots, it also looked very familiar.

Last night, I ended up playing to the half-way point of the first episode with my wife. She enjoyed the writing and the art style so far while I enjoyed those plus the sense of nostalgia while playing as the would-be king Graham. I grew up with Sierra’s hardcore adventure games and Graham’s adventures were how we spent a few Friday nights as a family while I was growing up.

It’s not the traditional point-and-click adventure games, but it’s a lot better than the Telltale versions of adventure games. And really, it’s better than old adventure games since it is a much more straight forward idea of what you should be doing instead of guessing what strange logic the creator had in mind. It feels like the evolution of graphic adventures. I’m hoping this style becomes a trend and copied in the use of Double Fine’s adventures and even Telltale’s games.

Welcome back to my heart, Sierra!

Miscellaneous

I also picked up Tembo the Badass Elephant, Phantom Breaker, Tetris Ultimate, and Doom Classic Completeon PSN. I haven’t played enough of these to really give a solid opinion. But maybe I’ll get to these in August since nothing is coming out aside from a few indies and Until Dawn.