I think most gamers have at least one game they genuinely love to play. A game that they really enjoy, but for whatever reason the vast majority of gamers seem to hate or dismiss that same game.

Maybe it’s a sequel, a sequel that didn't end the story the way the community was hoping for. Or maybe the controls were really weird or complex, but for you it just clicked. It could be the graphic style or quality. It could be any number of reasons that most of the gaming community have decided that the game you love is bad.

For me I have one that usually makes people look at me funny. Manhunt 2.

I know, I know. People seem to just generally hate this game. When people talk about Rockstar and the games they have released this is usually the one they single out as “The bad one.” The one real blemish on an otherwise perfect, or damn good track record. Like Ricochet for Valve, Manhunt 2 is usually seen as a misfire for Rockstar.

But..I actually enjoyed Manhunt 2. Now don’t get me wrong, Manhunt 2 is not Rockstar’s best game. Not even close. And overall I think Manhunt 2 is far from a great game. But I actually really enjoy it.

There is a reason though. I’m not completely crazy. I’m a huge fan of horror movies, particularly the slasher genre. The wacky and usually campy nature of those films, mixed with the practical effects and low budget feel they all seemed to have, I just love those movies. Movies like Friday the 13th VIII Jason Takes Manhattan. Movies that at one point have a man getting hot rocks shoved into his stomach and then have a scene like this.

There are not a lot of games that let you play a knife wielding murderer. Manhunt feels a lot like an old 80s slasher. And Manhunt 2 feels like a mid 90s slasher, with its weird “Brainwash/computers/evil corporation storyline.From the over the top locations you visit to the weird and disturbing characters you meet, like Piggsy, both games feel like schlock-y slasher films. Looking at some of the character designs in Manhunt its clear that Rockstar were watching some slasher movies. So maybe this was their goal from the start.

And I guess if were talking about horror/slasher games that I enjoy then I have to make a quick mention of the Saw games. Which I enjoyed much less but still liked…I don’t know maybe I am a bit crazy..

Anyways, that’s my game that I enjoy, that everyone else seems to hate. What’s your guilty pleasure, what game do you enjoy but are clearly in the minority on.

Think about some of the games that people feel tell great stories. Games like The Last of Us, The Witcher 2, Kingdom Hearts, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic and BioShock Infinite. Now, think about how many times in these and other games you were watching a cut scene. How many times the game took control away from you and said "Watch this." At that point were you even playing a game? Or are games just filler, a way to pad out a 2 hour movie. A way to make you "Earn" the right to see the next scene or clip.

I should point out here that I'm not declaring games as a bad way of telling a story, or that games haven't told great stories before. I'm merely asking a question, something that I have been thinking about for a bit. Also I don't think cut-scenes are totally bad or wrong. I'm just interested in seeing more games move beyond using videos to tell stories.

But do games lack the ability to tell stories, so instead developers and writers use cut scenes as a way to tell a story. I guess the real question is can gameplay tell a story? We all have played tons of games that told fantastic stories, but I'd be hard pressed to tell you a memorable story moment that happened in game-play- not a cut-scene.

The Walking Dead game, from Telltale actually at times pulls this off. I was playing through Episode 2 of Season 2, don't worry no spoilers, and there is a part where someone is in trouble and you have to decide if you act or let this person get hurt, maybe even die. I decided to step in and saved the person and doing so was a pretty memorable story moment, that I was in control of. Now to be fair, all I did was hit one button and stuff happened. So it might be a bit of a stretch to call it "gameplay". But at least it wasn't just a 2 minute video where I sit back and watch my character do stuff. At least I was interacting, even if it was a small interaction. Also in the first season of Walking Dead there is a moment where Lee has to kill his brother, who is now a zombie, so he can get his key to unlock a room. It is a pretty emotional moment to have to kill your brother to death, and you have to smash his head a few times.And the whole time you are in control.

A bit older, but one of Red Dead Redemption's best moments happens while you are in control. Spoilers. After doing everything the feds ask you to do, John Marston is finally allowed to go home and spend time with his family. You teach your son how to hunt, skin animals and herd cows. You spend time with your wife and just enjoy life in general. But then the feds and the Army come to kill you. You fight them off, protecting your family and helping them get away. Then your trapped in a barn and exit the barn to be gunned down by dozens of armed soldiers.And for the most part you control all of this, and even control your son who gets revenge of the Federal agent who did it.

But these games feel like exceptions to the rule. The amount of games I've played where I set my controller down and watch is pretty damn high. In fact I feel its too high. Games seem so reliant on cut-scenes to tell story. Look at how many former or current movie writers are now game writers. Is that a sign games are becoming more watch then play? With next gen consoles now here, it seems that many games want to "show off" how great they look. And as I learned playing Killzone Shadowfall, that seems to mean boring but pretty cut-scenes.

What does this mean? Does it mean that games are not good at telling a story. That outside of cut scenes games just have trouble telling a story worth caring about. Maybe. But I really don't think that's true. I think its case of two things. One being how young of a medium we are. Maybe we just need more time. More time to figure out how to tell better stories, without relying on videos to do so.

And I think the other issue is that for the longest times games were chasing movies. I remember when the 360 and PS3 first came out. Every developer was talking about making their game "more cinematic". Developers talking about how they were learning from movies how to do camera angles and writing. There seemed to be this feeling among many game devs. that games were "chasing" film. That the ultimate goal was games that looked like movies. Look at Uncharted, a fun game don't get me wrong. But it is also the poster boy of this era of game development. That game was made from the ground up to replicate a movie. And it feels like it.

So, maybe as developers move away from that mentality, as they stop trying to prove that games are as good as film, we will see this reliance on cut-scenes begin to disappear. We already see indie games like Gone Home, which tell a great story with out any cut-scenes or quick-time events. Hopefully more games will try and tell stories with out taking the game away and saying "Watch this for a bit, ok."

(I Originally posted this here on May 7,2013)

I've always been a fan of The Sims. In-fact just this week I started playing The Sims 3 again. Which must have set off an alarm at EA, because they just announced the Sims 4.

So I decided to take a look back at some of my favorite “Strange” things found in the Sims Series. I decided to do 4 things, because Sims 4..get it. Also these are only games I've played, so no Urbz:Sims in the City stuff. (Not that anyone cares…)

So here we go. Heads up now, stuffs about to get weird.

4.Strange Pets

Pets in the Sims series is weird to begin with. This is a series all about managing the lives of semi intelligent humans. You have to feed them, clean them, take them out, etc. So by giving your Sim a pet you are now controlling a person who is controlling a pet. Its like a really boring “Inception” meme.

But The Sims series has always been about taking the mundane and making it weird. So, in the Sims you can have your standard pets, like Dogs, Cats, and Fish. Then you can also have Hyenas, Orangutans, Unicorns and even Ghost pets.

Why would anyone want these pets? If you knew anything about the fans of this series you wouldn’t ask that question. You would instead go: Dear GOD they have a lot of fan-fiction-why so much. WHY?

3. Drew Carey in The Sims

Celebrities in games. Usually a stupid idea.Vary rarely has it worked, in a good way. Take the Sims 1 for example. In the game the you can throw parties. Now throwing a party is pretty easy, but throwing a GREAT party.. well that takes some planning and some skill.

Now if you do pull off one of these great parties, you might be thinking

"I want a celebrity to come here and prove my worth!"

Well keep your party going for a while, and keep it hot, and you might get lucky and have Drew Carey appear at your Sim shindig.

So just like in real life Hollywood, if your party has no Drew Carey, then you are doing it wrong.

2.The Social Bunny, The Tragic Clown

The first time I ever played the Sims 2, I played it exactly how I lived my actual life. So I would get a job, work as little as possible then come home and surf the web and play games. It was great..until The Social Bunny appeared.

In The Sims 2 when your Sim gets “lonely” from having little social contact, you will get a visit from the Social Bunny. Its weird. The Bunny just appears and your Sim will WANT to talk to them. They’ll even laugh at Bunny’s jokes and tell it stories. Worst part, is that only YOUR Sim can see the Social Bunny. Also sometimes he just..stares..

Now, The Tragic clown is a clown who will visit the players Sim when they are really depressed. He will try to help, but in a very CREEPY way.

For one thing, he is terrible at doing any clown-related stuff. He’s so bad at doing things like juggling that he actually makes your Sim even MORE depressed. He’s so bad at being a clown he actually makes you sad..

But you can just leave right? Or maybe close him off in a small room? Stick him outside and delete the door? Well you can do that.

And the he will just teleport to you. Through a magic portal.

Really the only way to get rid of him is to burn his painting or for your Sim to die. Or burn yourself alive with the painting and make him watch.

1.Hybrids

In the world of The Sims, you can do whatever you want. Which means you can eat whatever you want. Have whatever job you want. Dress how you want. And of course FUCK what ever you want.That last one is where Sim fans have gone a bit crazy..

Yes, the photos above are just a few examples of “hybrids” between different types of Sims. You have your classic “Green Alien Baby” Hybrid. Your less classic “Ghost Baby” and your what the fuck is wrong with people who play The Sims “Grim Reaper Baby hybrid”

The thing is, for alot of these Hybrids it takes steps and sometimes hacking/cheats to get these babys into the game. For example the Alien Baby has to be from a man, who gets abducted by aliens and impregnated with the Alien Hybrid. For the Grim Reaper baby, you have to de-update you game, and use console commands.

And there are a ton more hybrids in the Sims series. Like, Vampire-Human. Zombie-Vampire. Human-Ghost-Vampire. Werewolf-Alien. Alien-Mummy-Grim Reaper. The list, disturbingly, goes on.

If you never played a Sims game, and read this, then you might think the Sims is a very strange game, filled with weirdos who write way to much fan fiction.

It is. But its also really fun. And addicting, and I can not wait for Sims 4.

One of my favorite games of all time is Half-Life 2. Fantastic game and one of my favorite moments in Half-Life 2 is when you're dealing with the ant-lions. There are these large machines on the beach and coast that when activated begin to stomp the ground, which keeps the ant-lions away from you. They don't disappear or get killed, instead they skitter around near you. I would sometimes be surrounded by 5 or more of the cow-sized bugs, but they can't do anything to me. All they can do is walk and fly around the area waiting for me to leave.

This is what I call a "Shark Cage Moment".

When something dangerous, deadly or hostile is able to be viewed safely. Sometimes, like in the Half-Life 2 example, up close. Other times from afar, or behind a glass wall. Maybe you're on top of a building looking down on some nasty creature who just 10 seconds ago was right behind you, ready to kill and eat you. Now you can sit there and watch it pace back and forth. I love that feeling.

In GTAV I would drive my car into the forest areas and wait. Pretty soon a cougar would come on by. And I was completely safe. I also did this on a wooden structure in the desert. Eventually the cougar attacked glitched his way onto the platform and killed me, but the few minutes before that was great. Watching him walk around, looking around, looking at me, growling and roaring at me.

I don't know why I love "Shark Cage Moments". Maybe its the thrill of being so close or seeing something that would usually want to kill me. Maybe it's the fact that you get to see animations that I would expect not a ton of people see. I mean, I wonder how many people stopped and watched the Glowing One that was captured and behind glass in Fallout 3. I watched for at least 10 minutes. Or how many people stood ontop of a building and watched zombies shuffle around in State of Decay.

Actually now that I think about it, I really hope I'm not alone in this weird love of "Shark Cage Moments". I probably sound a bit crazy and strange to be honest. But I can't help it, I really love these moments in games.

Does anyone else out there feel this way? Any moments that come to mind?

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is short, if you haven't heard yet. But you probably have heard about it because the internet basically exploded when news of it's length got out. Since then Kojima has commented on the length and Game Informer have released more details about the game.After reading about the game I've decided that the internet needs to calm down.

Was anyone REALLY surprised at Ground Zeroes length? I mean, if you buy the game digitally on Xbox 360/PS3 it's $20. Did anyone really expect a $20 game to be the same length or size as say, MGS4? Back when that price point was revealed I noticed some people on twitter who pointed this out. The smaller price point and the fact that every time that game was shown it was the same area/mission I began to realize that Ground Zeroes wasn't going to be that big.

Now to be fair, Kojima and Konami could have been upfront with the length of the game when they first revealed it was the "Prologue" to MGSV Phantom Pain. In fact, I wonder how much of the internet freak out would have happened if they had just told people right away that the game was only 2 hours or so. Waiting this long to reveal the actual length of the game and letting a magazine be the ones who break the bad news was a bit of shitty move on Konami/Kojima's part.

But, ignoring how Konami and Kojima handled revealing information about Ground Zeroes, I still feel the internet is going a bit crazy. Granted, asking people to pay $40 for a game that can be completed in less then 2 hours might seem crazy. But then again people have beat Dark Souls in less then a hour. Hell tons of people have beat Skyrim in well under 2 hours. Or even the original Metal Gear Solid has been beaten in less then 2 hours on extreme difficulty. Sure, these people are speed runners but I think it shows that the length of a game is not a good way to judge quality. More importantly it shows that a game's length is relative to the person playing it. I still haven't beaten Dark Souls, and took months to finish Skyrim's main quest. I was too busy exploring Skyrim to actually care about the lackluster main quest, and Dark Souls kicks my ass. So what took some 2 hours or less took me weeks or months. Now I don't expect it will take months for someone to finish Ground Zeroes, but I bet for some this game will take more then 2 hours to complete. I know my first run will be a super slow and stealth run that might take longer.

Then there's the open world and sandbox approach to stealth and combat that Ground Zeroes has. More so then any other Metal Gear Solid game, Ground Zeroes gives you the freedom to play how you want. Game Informer's Tim Turi talked about entering a jeep then realizing that the headlights would give him away. So he had the idea of shooting out the headlights. That wasn't something the game told him to do, or some much touted feature. No, he just naturally figured it out and did it. And honestly its these little things, all these systems coming together, that has me super excited to mess around with Ground Zeroes. To explore every nook and cranny, to discover the stealthiest way to finish the mission, or the fastest. Plus some of the bonus missions look cool.

That feeling of doing something just to see what happens. Its why I love the Grand Theft Auto series. Shooting a passing car's tire or pushing a dumpster into the ocean, just to see how the game reacts. And Ground Zeroes seems to be filled with this type of gameplay. So why I am excited to learn more about the crazy Metal Gear Solid story, I'm even more excited to see Metal Gear Solid evolve and to mess around in that world and see what is possible. To me that's worth the $30 I'll be paying for the PS4 digital version of the game.

And for me, when it comes down to it I will ALWAYS take a good game over a long game. I'm here to have fun and play something cool, not spend 60 hours or more of my life playing something that is sort of ok. But I understand that for others they can't stand spending $20 or more on something that can be beaten shortly, especially if that game has no multiplayer. Which is fine, everyone has different tastes. But that doesn't excuse people acting like 4 year olds who got their toys taken away from them. Attacking Hideo Kojima, or people attacking Game Informer for lying or not playing it the right way.

And if you don't feel like Ground Zeroes is worth $20-$40 don't worry, you don't have to buy it. Also I wouldn't be surprised if it comes packaged in with Phantom Pain. But either way, calm down internet. Seriously, go read a book or something.

It's time once again for me to look at another series. To judge it and come up with a tally of "Good" "Meh" and "Bad" games in the series. Last time it was Assassins Creed.Today I am going to tilt my head and stroke my beard, while I think about the Tony Hawk series.

A wonderful series, filled with punk music and rap music. Filled with floating VHS tapes, letters and money. And also Spider-Man. I really loved the Tony Hawk games, that first game hit at the perfect time. I was old enough that I was looking for new music, I was WAY into the X-Games and I had tons of time to kill playing video games. So for me Tony Hawk Pro Skater on PS1 was perfection. But, how about the rest of series? For the sake of this discussion, I will be looking at the "Main Games" from this list. Which basically means the Neversoft games. Here we go.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (1999) -The original, the one that started it all. At the time I remember the game just blew me away. Visually it looked great, sounded great, & most importantly played great. I still remember spending hours playing "graffiti" with my brother.-Good

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (2000) -For me at least THPS2 is the "Empire Strikes Back" of Tony Hawk games. Its better in every way then THPS1, included all kinds of crazy stuff & brought create a park/skater to the series.Plus it brought Rodney Mullen to the series.-GOOD!

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (2001) -Even though THPS2 was amazing, it was THSP3 that for me cemented the series as a all time classic.This entry added the revert.Combos were never the same again.It was also the first to launch on the PS2 & has one of my favorite songs of all time.LOVE this game. Its also tied on Metacritic as the highest rated PS2 game ever.(With GTA3) -GOOD!!

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 (2002) -I think part of the reason I was disappointed in THPS4 was 2 reasons. One, it didn't really add anything new to the series, at least nothing as game changing as the revert. And two, it felt different from the older games. It was open world-ish now, the game felt a bit slower, it just never really gelled with me.Going back, I think I was unfair to dislike this game. -good

Tony Hawk's Underground (2003) -In some ways THPS4 ends up feeling awkward after playing THUG.(Best abbreviation) You can tell that Neversoft was heading this way,& with THUG they finally just commit & go for it. And I loved it, I know some feel the series begins to fall here, but I disagree.The story was dumb and cheesy, but at the time I really enjoyed it. The engine got overhauled and everything felt more controlled and smooth.Plus you could get off your board and walk around, which was neat. Oh, plus this song was great.-Good

Tony Hawk's Underground 2 (2004) -At this point I was starting to get a bit worn out on the series. To make matters worse THUG2 is where the series began to get REALLY crazy and strange.Bam became a major force in the game, which depending on your taste was a good thing or a TERRIBLE thing. I remember at the time having fun, it was neat importing your old THUG character into the game.But I also remember playing this one less then any before.Classic mode was nice, but not enough to keep my interest. -Meh

Tony Hawk's American Wasteland (2005)- I knew something was off when the biggest selling point this game was advertising was "You can ride BMX bikes now.This is the first game I just never finished, barely put any time into it.I got it on Xbox 360 not to long ago and rediscovered its not that great.It feels like it was trying to be 2 or 3 different games, like they just threw stuff into a pot and served it. A sign that this series was headed downhill.(And speaking of Downhill and BMX bikes,just play this instead.) -Bad

Tony Hawk's Project 8 (2006)- The final Tony Hawk game before the Skate series came in, Project 8 was in some ways a return the series former glory. Gone were the super weird and crazyness of THUG2.Gone was the bike from THAW. Instead P8 focused on skating. The "Nail-a-trick" mode allowed you to slow down time and take control over your skater's feet. It was pretty impressive. The size of the city and amount of skaters,tricks and songs was also large. I mean it had Punk Rock Girl. Hell, I even enjoyed the story.It was simple and felt more like THUG1. Overall Project 8 would have been a great way for the series to end... -Good

Tony Hawk's Proving Grounds (2007) - At this point Neversoft had been making Tony Hawk games for nearly 8 1/2 years. And in some ways this game just felt..tired. I barely remember playing it. I do however remember feeling it was a step backwards from P8. Sure it added Nail the grab and manual, which were similar to Nail the trick mode from P8.But it felt crummy, looked old and just oozed a sense of old and tired. I never came close to beating it. At this point Skate had my full attention, and this game felt old.- Bad

That was the last Neversoft title, as Robomodo took over the series after that. They ended up making the Tony Hawk games that used that stupid skateboard controller. But they did make something else.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD (2012) -I know some people are sour on this game. They feel it just doesn't feel as good as THPS 1,2,3. And I'll agree, that it feels a bit...off. But other then some weird control issues sometimes, I'll give credit to Robomodo for making a damn good HD remake of THPS 1,2,3. They brought back some of my favorite songs, maps, and skaters. And listening to Superman again, while playing as Tony Hawk in Warehouse is pretty cool. Yeah, nostalgia is a big factor here, but its my list so I get to make the call. I call THPSHD good. I like it a lot. -Good

Lets tally it up:

Good - 7 Meh - 2 Bad - 2

So there you go. Yeah, I skipped over the Robomodo games, the ones that use the dumb controller. Partly because I never played them for any real amount of time and partly because I really think of this series as a Neversoft series. And that was the series I wanted to look back at. I let THPSHD slide in because it is a remake of games that Neversoft made, so it was close enough for me. Plus I have put a ton of time into that game and really enjoyed it.

Overall, not bad. Out of 11 games, we got 7 good ones, 2 ok kinda crap games, and 2 pretty bad games. If you throw RIDE and Shred onto that list it makes it 13 games, and adds 2 more bad games to the total. Which is not as great of track record, but when it comes to Neversoft made Tony Hawk games they did a fantastic job. Releasing a new Tony Hawk game every year for 8 years was probably a difficult thing to do. But to release amazing classics like THUG, THPS2 and THPS3 during that time, that's impressive.

I hope Neversoft gets the series back, I think THPSHD showed that the series still has fans, and I would love to see what Neversoft could do on next gen console. But who knows. And seeing as Skate 4 is MIA looks like Ollie Ollie on the Vita is the only new skateboard game we have. Which is sad. I miss skateboarding games..

What do you think? Do you agree with my list? (Do you also miss Skateboard games?)

I've never played the original Dungeon Keeper series, so I went into the new game from EA Mythic with an open mind. I didn't bring any nostalgia or memories. I also didn't bring any money, which means I'm screwed.

*(To Continue Reading this Dungeon Keeper Impression please wait 2 hours OR use 10 Blue Gems)*

As I downloaded Dungeon Keeper from the Play Store, I was thinking about all the hate that people online were throwing at the game. Was it really that bad? Well, 5 minutes in this convinced me we were in disgusting territory.

To make things worst, when you spend gems he, "Horny", laughs at you or makes fun of you. He even bemoans the fact that you aren't spending more money on your dungeon. It literally is like the devil tempting you.

*(OH No, looks like you want to keep reading this Dungeon Keeper Impression- please wait 20 Weeks OR use 200 Green Crystals tm)*

The basic idea of Dungeon Keeper is to create a massive and dangerous dungeon. Which you do by digging out tunnels and building rooms. Which, should be a fun and strategic part of the game. Except, its not. Instead its a giant waiting game. And I mean waiting game. Some of the blocks only take 5 seconds to break down, but others take 45 minutes, 4 hours or even more. Like how about a whole fucking day..

*(Your Energy Meter is Depleted!! Share this Impression with 20 friends to get a FREE refill OR Wait 3 hours.)*

What makes this wait worse is that you have to have a minion to do anything, whether that's placing a trap or a door or digging out your dungeon's tunnels.Which wouldn't be that bad if minions weren't ridiculously expensive..which they are. They are laughably over priced. A single minion costs... 800 Gems. Now here is the price breakdown on the Gems..

The saddest part about Dungeon Keeper is that at its core, there is a fun game here. The basic idea of being the bad guy and building a big dangerous dungeon is cool, as it was in the older games. The art style and voice over work is really nice, even if the writing is a bit annoying. The production values are high, and the touch controls are responsive and easy to use. I even enjoyed attacking other people's dungeons, even if its nearly identical to Clash of Clans, its still a interesting idea.

But by hiding it all behind paywalls and IAPs, behind bullshit micro-transactions and timers it makes me hate playing the game. I mean, what this game and similar games are basically saying is this: "Our game isn't very fun & there is not a lot to do, and if you WANT to just skip this stuff well, you can. Just give us some money." And if any game designer or creator is OK with that message, then I hope they stop making games. I hate sounding like an old man, yelling at the kids on his front yard. But this is not how games should work.So just please, leave this industry before you take part in ruining another franchise. Please.

But, what do you think?

It's become one of the more annoying running jokes of the internet. A site posts a teaser for an unknown game, or someone reports that a developer is tweeting out cryptic hints. Then, like clockwork, someone comments "Half-Life 3 confirmed". Or comes up with some crazy equation that eventually equals "Half-Life 3". But as annoying as the running joke is, their is a reason it exists.

October 10, 2007. Half-Life 2: Episode 2 is released, after some delays. The game receives lots of praise, and immediately people began to wonder when will we get some info about the next episode. Those people, including myself, continue to wait. What makes the wait worse is that it seemed like Episode 3 wasn't too far away. Developer commentary in Episode 2 talked about Episode 3, and how some elements from that game found there way into the 2nd episode.Then in 2008 Doug Lombardi was talking about how Valve would probably have information about the game "later that year". Later that year came and went, with no info from Valve.

Some concept art leaked not long after that, and there were even some talks of a non-Valve Episode 4, but then in late 2009-early 2010, all info stopped. Valve stopped talking about Episode 3. Gabe Newell before every interview started saying "No questions about Half-Life 3". He knows how desperate people are for information. So why are people so desperate for this game?

I can't speak for others, but I can explain why I am still SO excited to play more Half-Life. For starters lets talk about how Half-Life 2 Episode 2 ends. Spoiler warning, for those who haven't played Episode 2 yet.

That is the definition of a cliffhanger. But, after that emotional gut punch fans were left with waiting...and are still waiting. A big reason I want Half Life 3 is because I want to see what happens after that cliffhanger, to continue or even end Gordon Freeman's long journey. Sure, he will probably save the world, but how that happens is still a very intriguing question that I would love to have answered. Besides, I don't want the final moments of the Half-Life series to be the death of Eli, that's sad. It feels like a horrible way to end this series.

But besides wrapping up the story, I also want a Half-Life 3 because I want to see what Valve does next. People seem to forget how influential and innovative Half-Life 2 was when it was released. Going back to Half-Life 2 after playing games for the last 10 years, it truly shows you how important Half-Life 2 is not just for shooters, but for games in general. Sure, if you didn't play it when the game was originally released in 2004, you might not get what all the fuss is about.

But at the time, that game blew my mind. Graphically it made Half-Life 1 look like a broken N64 game. The environments and the atmosphere were at times haunting. Other times they were lonely. Driving up the coastal Highway 17 is still one of my favorite moments in gaming. Sound design and level design combine to create an amazing experience. It felt like I was all alone on a desolate, long road. Sometimes I would drive by a house sitting on the edge of a cliff. I'd pull my buggy over and walk around the house, find a dead man, a tire swing with actual physics, a locked cellar with a headcrab zombie inside. Did the man outside, the dead man, know this person? Why were they here? For me at least, Half-Life 2 is FILLED with Stories and moments like that. But it also was filled with action and satisfying gun-play.

Then there's the engine that Half-Life 2 was built in. Source. It powers so many great games like the Left 4 Dead series, Portal, DoTA2 and even the upcoming Titanfall. Its a flexible and powerful engine that for the last decade has made Valve lots of money. But it's also allowed smaller studios or single developers to create tons of fun and well made mods, like Insurgency, Dear Esther, The Stanely Parable, Gmod and more all use the Source engine. And lets not forget that one of the most played PC games of all time, Counter-Strike, started as a mod based on the original Half-Life.

Point is that when it comes to moving games forward or giving creative people the tools to make amazing games, Valve is one of the best companies out there. So imagine what Source 2 could do. What Valve could do now that consoles are more powerful. Remember the Source engine is 10 years old, and in those 10 years look at how much more powerful and easy to use PC gaming has become. Hell, look at how tablets and smartphones have become powerful mini computers that we carry with us everywhere. I'm excited to see what Valve could do with more powerful hardware and more experience making games. I'm excited to see what Half-Life 3 looks like in this day and age.

I know, 7 years of waiting and rumors is not good. Look at Duke Nukem Forever, or actually maybe don't look at it. Whenever games take this long to make it usually leads to a shitty game or a canceled game. But there have been a few times when long, delayed development led to amazing games. The two that come to my mind is Half-Life 2's 5 1/2 year development and Team Fortress 2's nearly 8 year development cycle. Both, as you probably know, were developed by Valve and both were released to praise both from fans and critics. Valve has a track record of making people wait, Valve time as its usually referred to. But they also have a near perfect record of making great games.

So, I'll wait. And I know I'm not alone in waiting. Waiting for that day that Valve finally brings us more Half-Life. Will the next game have Oculus Rift support, or maybe it will finally just combine the Portal and Half-Life series, seeing as they exist in the same universe. Who knows what Valve has planned, they seem to being going in so many directions these days. From Steam box to SteamOS, DoTA 2 and TF2, free to play, that rumored space game, the Steam Controller, Steam itself and more, Valve is a busy company these days.

I just hope that deep inside that studio, someone is animating a Source 2 crowbar swing. That maybe Gabe Newell is playing an alpha build of Half Life 3, giving some notes to some designers. That Laidlaw is emailing them his latest script. I just hope that Valve hasn't forgotten about old Gordon Freeman. I know I haven't, and if the jokes on the internet are any indication, it seems no one else has either.

I don't like Assassin's Creed: Liberation HD all that much. I'm not enjoying the way the game feels, or lot of the story or world design. The missions are kind of..boring and short. Personally, I think its kind of terrible. But I'm playing it because I want to be able to say "I've played all the Assassin's Creed games." At which point, in my head anyways, someone walks up and nods slowly, in an approving fashion then walks away.

But now that I HAVE played all the games, I think its time we all talk about something..

I don't think the Assassin's Creed series is very good. I mean some games are, but overall the series feels really hit or miss. So I thought, why not take a look back at the series.(Just to be fair- some of these, like the DS games, I only played a bit of, so I'm going off reviews and old memories for those.) I'll do this in release order, and I won't spend a lot of time on each entry.I'll also label each one with a "Good, meh, or bad." Sound fun? Lets begin:

Assassin's Creed - The original.At the time it looked really nice. But it was also really repetitive & had terrible combat. - Meh.

Assassin's Creed: Altaïr's Chronicles - A prequel to the first game, it saw release on iOS and DS.Not that great. - Meh.

Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines- Set between 1&2, this was a PSP game that I remember having nice visuals.But overall it just wasn't that great. Still, it looked nice. - Meh.

Assassin's Creed II - A fantastic sequel that added just enough to make it feel big, but not too much that it got bloated. -Good

Assassin's Creed II: Discovery - Another DS/iOS game, I actually remember having fun with the game when I played it on my cousin's DS. And reviewers at the time liked it so.. -Good.

Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy- Basically a shitty Facebook game that had some information about the AC story. -Bad

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood- The following year after 2, we got Brotherhood.Which added multiplayer, and I actually really liked it. With friends it was fun. Also, running a Brotherhood of Assassins was kind of neat. -Good.

Assassin's Creed: Revelations- Two things jump out at me when I think of Revelations. First, was that it technically was released less then a year after Brotherhood. (364 days to be exact.) And second, it was the first of the main console games that I just didn't finish. Got about 60% or so in and just lost all interest. Remember that tower defense minigame? - Bad

Assassin's Creed III- I was really excited for this game.New character,new time period,new location. But that 4 hour tutorial intro really deflated my excitement. Then I ran into bugs and a terrible ending chase sequence.Still, I had some fun with it, and I think at times its heavily attacked due to all the hype around it. Not great, but not the worst thing ever. -Meh.

Assassin's Creed Liberation HD - So far it feels like a uglier, more sluggish version of 3. Which is not great. Also, not much to do in that game..but changing outfits is kinda neat. And Aveline is sadly a rarity in this industry, a African american female lead, so it was nice to see something different. But, not very good overall. (So far..) -Bad

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag - I'm sort of the odd man out on this one, personally I found myself disliking this game as I played more and more of it. (My review) BUT, a lot of that has to do with playing all the other games, I think I might just be a bit tired of the AC series. I actually totally see why people like this game. So I'll give it a good, even if I feel its more a meh.- Good.

So lets tally up all the goods, and mehs and bads.

Total games: 11

Meh - 4

Good - 4

Bad - 3

So, out of 11 games only 4 are "good" (Whatever that means..) And 7 of them are mediocre or worse. Personally I always found it really interesting how popular the series had become, seeing as I it never screamed "Mainstream hit". And looking back at all the "core" games, it seems like the series has been a roller-coaster of quality. But what do you guys and gals think? Would love to get other people's opinions on the Assassin's Creed series overall.

(SPOILERS ARE HERE- If you have yet to play or finish Gone Home and don't want the ending spoiled, don't read any further- SPOILERS BELOW.. seriously.)

I'm going up a flight of stairs, headed towards the attic. I don't actually know if this is the end of Gone Home, but it feels like the story is coming to a close. My stomach is in knots, I'm so afraid of what I might fine. I open the attic, take a deep breath and enter.

Gone Home tells a touching story of young girl, who falls in love and what happens to her life when she does. You discover your sister is in love with another girl. Your parents are against this, many people at her school are against it and even your sister seems confused and unsure of what is going on. But as the story progresses the two of them become close and develop a loving relationship.

That is until the girl your sister is with has to leave. She is in the ARMY, a dream of her's, and has to leave for basic. It crushes your sister, Samantha, and as the game begins to reach the end, Sam begins to talk about not being able to live without her. She writes how empty life will feel without Lonnie, and how she doesn't know what to do. This is when a terrifying thought entered my head. The first note your find, left by your sister, is on the front door. It says she has gone away, Mom and Dad won't understand. But it also tells you not to enter the attic.

I was worried about my sister. What if Lonnie leaving was too much, what if she took her own life. It doesn't help you find a map towards the end. Its a map of the house, marked on the map is "Will do it here". Or the fact that she begins to sound depressed, detached from everything around her.

As I reached the attic I was so afraid of what I might find. I was terrified I would discover the lifeless corpse of my younger sister. I told myself she would never do something like that. Sam was strong and smart, But love makes people dumb and weak at times. I opened the attic, took a deep breath...and paused the game.

I walked away for nearly 5 minutes. Seems silly now, but at the time my body needed a small break. I needed some Cheetos, some water anything to think about other then what I might find in that attic. That was only the 2nd time in my gaming life that I ever walked away from a game out of fear. The first was a much younger me, playing Silent Hill and being attacked by weird dead baby creepy things at the start.

Finally I got the courage to move forward, to enter the attic and face my fear. What I found was an empty attic, a note explaining Lonnie didn't go to basic. That she called Sam and told her how much she loved her and that they should run away together. What I also found, was relief. I was so happy for Sam. So happy I didn't find a body, and a note explaining why. I was so glad my sister wasn't home..that she was happy.

I wonder what Sam and Lonnie are doing now.. But I don't want DLC to tell me.