So...it's been a while since the last one of these, huh? I certainly didn't intend that to be the case. At first it was just writer's block, which I tried to wait out. You know, sometimes it's better to just not write than to try to force it. But then, well, let's just say that anxiety over "current world events" sapped me of any will to write whatsoever for several weeks. Which is not to say that anxiety is gone, far from it. Let's also not say anything else about this, and instead focus on the good things in life. And since there aren't any of those left these days, I'm going to write about video games!

Rise of the Tomb Raider.

I'm kidding, of course, I think this game (and at least one other in this blog) is really good. I might even go so far as to say great, even if it didn't exceed my expectations. That's not the game's fault, that's the fault of hearing so many good things about it over the year between its initial release, and the PS4 release. It might also be partly Uncharted 4's fault, for releasing between those releases, and reminding me of how much better a story and characters can be in this sort of Indiana Jones inspired adventure.

And if I was going to pinpoint an aspect of ROTTR (unfortunate shortening, that) which disappointed me, it'd be the story and the characters. Not to say the Tomb Raider reboot had an amazing story, but at least I remember liking that game's cast of side characters more than the ones here. But that may be more because I spent most of Tomb Raider thinking Lara and Sam were, to use the term straight people use, "gal pals," and let's leave it at that. At least Lara is still likable, and well acted.

In ROTTR, instead we get Jonah, who I initially forgot the name of, and hand to go rewrite this bit after I remembered and is barely in the game, an evil lady whose name I don't remember and isn't in the game much, and a guy named Jacob who isn't all that interesting. I feel bad making the "I don't remember" joke, especially since I played the game about a month ago, but it's true. There are some other characters as well, but aside from an evil guy whose name I don't remember and had bloody hands, none of them really mattered to the story.

Even if the side characters were better, it's still the same narrative the previous game had, all four Uncharted games had, both National Treasures had, and three of the four Indiana Jones movies had. There's some sort of ancient thing that the hero (Lara) needs to find, and she needs to get to it before the villains (who vastly outnumber Lara and are much better equipped) do, because they'll use it either for profit, or evil. I'm not complaining, because like I said, all those other things that I like use the same framework, and I didn't mind it in them. But I guess maybe it's gotten to one too many for me, and ROTTR had the bad luck to be the one too many. Or maybe one too many this year, with Uncharted 4 months ago.

All that said, the game part is still great, and a definite improvement over the previous Tomb Raider. It still has the Metroid style progression, where new items and weapons are used to get through areas that were impassible, and to find stuff in previous zones. Most of the game is a pretty linear progression, but there's a few bigger, more open areas with side quests to complete, collectibles to find, challenges to complete, etc. They're still not huge, though, and honestly not quite as big as I had been led to believe by some people, but they do help change the pace between those linear, often action focused sections.

There's actual Tombs to Raid, too, both in the story, and as optional things to do when in those bigger areas. They tend to have some fairly useful abilities for Lara as rewards, which is nice. I was going to say that made them worth doing, but really they're worth doing because they're enjoyable puzzles to solve. All that said, I do still wish there was more of that in the game, and maybe a little less combat.

The combat is fun, as is the stealth, but by the end of the game I felt like I had my fill of it. Which is why I didn't end up messing around with any of the challenge mode stuff. Actually, that's not true, the reason I didn't is because of all the card stuff with it. You know, free to play, spend actual money on cards, many of which are single use, card stuff. I hate those sorts of systems. Even here, with the special Anniversary edition, where I got a whole bunch of cards "for free," because it came with all the DLC, that system just made me not want to play it. Especially not after I tried (and failed) to power my way through the VR mission stuff in Deus Ex (another Square Enix game) earlier this year. Still a little miffed that I'll never get the Platinum in that game because of those Trophies.

I did play some of the DLC, though. There's one about a witch (that I forget the name of) that gets integrated into the story (along with blatant messages informing you that it's the DLC), and one accessed from the main menu that's set in Croft Manor. The witch one was enjoyable, but I feel like the extra XP I got from it leveled me too much, too early in the game, and it was a game that already felt too easy. I actually increased the difficulty midway into ROTTR, which is not something I've done in a game in, some number of years.

The Croft Manor one is entirely exploration focused, which was good, given what I said about having my fill of the combat. I've seen people describe it as, "Tomb Raider Gone Home," which is accurate, but Lara knows how to move faster than a slow crawl, so I was able to complete this without having to look up what to do. The puzzles aren't terribly complex, and the story stuff isn't anything world shattering, unless you REALLY want to know about Lara's parents, but it's enjoyable. Oh, I guess there was a combat side to it too, but it's more of that challenge stuff, probably involving cards, so I didn't do it.

Along with all the DLC, the PS4 version came in a special thing made to resemble a book, instead of a regular PS4 game case. Actually, I guess it technically is a book, because it has some pages of concept art, and other art before the game disc. It's not anything amazing, but it's a neat touch, and certainly unique. At least in my collection of video games.

But that's about all I have to say about Rise of the Tomb Raider. It's a great game, but nothing about it blew me away. It's worth playing, just don't expect it to knock your socks off. Unless your socks are only hanging on by a toe or two. If that's the case, you should probably pull your socks up. You might trip over them. Or just take them off, but it's getting pretty cold, at least where I live, so I wouldn't be going around sockless. Aside from in the shower, and stuff. I'm not THAT weird.

Titanfall 2.

I'm going to be frank here: I went into Titanfall 2 with pretty high expectations after hearing so many good things about it, and I still managed to have said expectations fall short of the actual game. It's both (probably) the best "playing" online shooter I've ever played, and the best "Call of Duty style" campaign I've ever played. At least in terms of game play, level design, etc. The story is, well, I'll get to that later.

It's one of those "feel" things that's hard to describe in words. But it's not just about how the double jumps, speedy wall runs, and slides feel, it's about how all the levels (online and off) are built around all that stuff. It's about how rad it is when you double jump up to a wall, run along it, jump between several walls, then jump off and land perfectly in a window in a building. That, and how easy it is to pull off stuff like that. It's a testament to both how well tuned the "feel" is (and there's options for adjusting some stuff yourself if you want), and how in tune that is with the level design.

Then there's abilities you can use on top of all that, like a grappling hook, or a speed boost (Stim) to make the traversal even faster, or to get out of jams. There are other, non-movement based ones too, but those are the two I use almost all of the time. I just haven't had much luck with the other ones, so I stuck with what worked. I ran into a similar thing with the weapons, and the "boosts" (basically a kill streak like reward, except you don't need to streak). There's a lot of them, and a lot of variety, but I mostly stuck with what worked (regular assault rifle, grenade launcher, electric smoke grenade (as much as I love THERMITE NINJA STARS), and map hack.

And none of that is even taking into account the thing that actually makes Titanfall (2) different from other shooters: The titans. Getting into a titan makes it feel like a completely different type of game than when you're on foot. Instead of being light, speedy, and agile, now you're piloting a hulking mech, and carrying much larger, and more powerful weaponry. It's still a very fast paced mech game, at least compared to what is generally thought of when thinking about mech games, but it's different enough from being on foot that it's a good mid-match pace changer.

There's six different titans, each with its own loadout of weapons and abilities. While there's technically only three different speed/armor classes of titans (two in each), they all feel very different from each other. Legion, with its enormous minigun, feels quite different from the other heavy titan, Scorch, which is equipped with a single shot thermite cannon. Ronin, with its shotgun and sword, is little like the other light titan, Northstar. That one has a sniper rifle that can be charged for increased effect, and jump jets to fly over stuff (for a few seconds, at least).

They all have a special core ability that slowly charges over time, but speeds up as you do stuff. You know, stuff, like getting kills, or scoring points in whatever way the mode you're playing gets points. It's the same way the boosts and titans are acquired on foot. Anyway, the core abilities are super powerful, and in the case of at least three of the titans, almost exactly the same as Overwatch ultimate abilities. Ronin pulls out and charges up the sword, like Genji. Northstar flies into the air and shoots out a ton of rockets, like Pharah (though technically Tone's ult is closer to Pharah's, since Pharah's ult doesn't actually send her into the air, and Tone shoots out a bunch of rockets too). And finally Legion, where that core auto-locks onto the weak spots of enemy titans (or enemy pilots if they're on foot), just like Soldier 76. Unlike 76, Legion gets infinite ammo when the core is active. Though, I guess technically both games feature infinite ammo for regular weapons (not for anti-titan weapons in Titanfall 2), you just don't need to reload Legion's gun during the core.

Much like Overwatch, the different titans have different advantages and disadvantages to each other, which can make picking the one you use more than just a taste thing. It can, but usually I just go with whatever I feel like. Unless it's Last Titan Standing (where everyone starts in a titan), and I actually want to do well. Then I usually go with Tone or Legion, because I'm best in those. Ronin might be my favorite, though, because I just love dashing around, shotgunning, and swording in that mech. It's the most anime one in the game.

The modes are where I think Titanfall 2 misses the ball, if only a bit. There's only three that I've spent a lot of time with. Attrition (team death match, but with AI on both sides), Bounty Hunt (get dollars for killing neutral AI enemies, lose half of your dollars if you die before banking said dollars), and Last Titan Standing. Normally in CoD style games (or really just CoD) I tend to gravitate to control point type modes. Titanfall 2 does have one of those modes, but it doesn't have any of those AI. That, and sticking in one place to secure a point doesn't really seem very Titanfall-ish to me. There's also capture the flag, which I haven't played, and a mode with no titans that I think misses the entire point of the game.

Then there's also the problem of player count. On PS4, I haven't had any problems finding players in those three modes that I play. But, everything I've heard about weak sales makes me wonder how long it'll last. Not that I expect, or need every multiplayer game I ever buy to maintain a large player base until the end of time. That's just silly. It does have me worried, though, which is partly why I've played as much of the game as I have. To get my fill for if, or when there aren't enough people to find matches regularly. I've prestiged (or regenerated, whatever) once, and am close to doing it a second time.

And then there's the campaign. It's really good! It's also way more platforming heavy than I was expecting. Sometimes it feels more like a platforming game with shooting than a shooter with platforming. Even though I'd still probably say Doom was a better campaign overall, Titanfall 2 definitely did platforming better than Doom. It also did the penalties for falling to your, well, doom better than Doom did. During the platforming sequences, there's a Super Meat Boy-esque near instantaneous reload, and the loads during combat sequences are not bad either.

There's collectibles, and while they unlock absolutely nothing for finding them (aside from Trophies), they're really fun to collect. These floating, spinning, and glowing pilot helmets are strategically placed through the levels, often (but not always) in plain sight. The challenge, however, is in figuring out how to get to them. And that's also where the fun in collecting them is. It's the right kind of collectible, because the real reward is the journey-

It's not just platforming and collectibles, the game has a lot of really good encounter design, and some cool moments throughout. Some of which are just big battles against titans (including duels against named bosses), and some are things that I don't want to spoil. I will say, however, that this game has what I think is the button prompt of the year. It's real good.

Actually, I am going to spoil some stuff. So, you know, don't read the stuff in the spoilers section if you haven't played the game yet.

I also think it's worth noting how the campaign begins. Well, after the tutorial, which is there mostly to teach how to play the game. No, I mean the first combat level, where it starts out on an extremely linear path, you don't have the double jump, the wall runs, or any of the cool stuff. I almost feel like it's there as some sort of statement against the olde fashioned design of the CoD games, but I have no idea if Respawn would do something like that. It's definitely there to serve as a reminder of how cool the abilities you get shortly after all. Probably.

Then there's the story in this game, which is, well, there's not much to it. There's some sort of war going on between the Militia (who Cooper, the dude you play as, is a part of) and the IMC (some sort of giant and evil space corporation). But the game never actually explains why the two are in conflict. There is an audio log from the leader of the IMC (that I missed the first time I played the game), but all that really did was show that guy and the IMC are evil. If he explained the cause of the conflict, I missed it.

The more interesting, and far better story in Titanfall 2 is that of the relationship between pilot Cooper and Titan BT-7274. Honestly, even that is overselling what it is. Really, BT is a fun character that has some good, often funny responses to your dialog choices (yes, dialog choices) throughout the game. There is a bit of a trust building thing between them through the game, but this isn't Uncharted, or Mass Effect. It's really good for what it is, but don't go into the game expecting it to be a masterclass of storytelling. I just really like BT.

It's just a superb game all around. Great campaign, great feel, great art (even if it's not the most technically advanced game (won't complain about that framerate, though), and even the music is good. Which is not something I've seen anyone else say, so just take my word for it. If you like first person shooters, and want one other than Overwatch to play online, play Titanfall 2! I can't really recommend it for just the campaign unless you can find it for pretty cheap (sorry I wrote this after Black Friday, where it was fairly cheap).

If you're reading this, and you haven't, you should probably play Titanfall 2.

PS+ Check Up: November 2016.

I know I used to have enough material to make entire blogs about PS+ games, but hey, take it up with Sony and their PS+ lineups, not me.

Everybody's Gone to the Rapture.

You know, I was actually kind of into this game for a while. Early on it makes it seem like this game is going to be about this weird thing causing stuff like people disappearing. And, when I say weird thing, it made me think the crux of the narrative was going to be about figuring out what it was, and then there would be some sort of big reveal about that. I'm not going to spoil what happens, but let's just say I was really disappointed on that front for a variety of reasons. Instead, the game seems to mostly focus on a few smaller, more personal stories involving a few people. They intertwine a bit, and the voice acting is good enough.

My biggest issue is that the movement speed is way too slow. Even with the "run," moving at max speeds feels like that should be the default walking speed. It was bad enough in Gone Home, but at least that game was set entirely in a house, and not in a sprawling town in the English countryside. It made a lot of the game, especially later on when I got completely lost, a real pain. The biggest pain, though, was going inside buildings. Then the game decides that even the regular walking speed is too fast, and slows you down even more. I ended up not going into any buildings I didn't have to because of it.

At least it looks nice, even if the framerate isn't as smooth as it should be. And hey, it was free. I bet there's people out there that really like this game, and I understand why. I just think I don't really have the patience for these "walking simulators," at least not unless they become "jogging simulators," or have a really, REALLY excellent story. Oh well!

The Deadly Tower of Monsters.

For whatever reason, I can never remember if this game is called "The Deadly Tower of Monsters" or "The Tower of Deadly Monsters." I had to look up which it was. Anyway, the premise of this game is that it's actually a crappy old sci-fi B movie (more accurately a C movie, I'd guess), and the director of the movie is recording commentary for a DVD. It's a good premise, and there's some funny lines in there. Not hilarious, but it got some chuckles out of me.

The game itself is party dual-stick shooter, part beat'em'up, and part platformer. And it does all of these things competently, but none of them are especially great. It's fine. The real reason to play is for the aesthetics, which I think the game mostly nails. I'm a sucker for bad movies, and apparently for game aping bad movie looks. I honestly wish more games would make things look like they're moving in stop motion, like the Ray Harryhausen movies of old. Not just for laughs like in this game, I mean in general. How much better would games like Dragon's Dogma or Skyrim be if you were fighting skeletons, and they moved in stop motion?

Well, I'd like it more, at least. Though, I went back and looked at some actual Harryhausen skeleton footage, and they move better than I remembered. Better than the enemies do in this game, anyway. But Harryhausen was the best of the best, and anyway, you get the point I was trying to make.

It's a goofy little game, but doesn't really have much worth writing about. I guess it's a mild spoiler, but the game starts breaking the fourth wall in some weird ways toward the end. Stuff like throwing scissors to cut the wires holding enemies in the air, and the final boss literally being the director of the movie. It's weird.

Overwatch Update?

Honestly, I've barely played Overwatch since Titanfall 2 came out. Just a match or two after Sombra was a thing. I'm sure I'll get back into it whenever the next event is. Probably in a couple weeks? I'll have a proper update then. I will say that Pumpkin Reaper was the only Legendary Halloween skin I got. I also got ghosty Reinhardt, and a couple others.

Anything else?

I actually bought kind of a lot of stuff on Black Friday, if you include getting PSN stuff on sale soon after Black Friday. I bought Hitman, and both Witcher III expansions. And for physical purchases, I got Mafia III (which I am enjoying so far), Mirror's Edge Catalyst (a game I feel like no one I know played), and No Man's Sky. For the record, I bought No Man's Sky before they announced the new patch. So, obviously, they decided to do that purely because I bought it. And not because of pure coincidence.

I'll have things to say about all of that in the future! I also went and made a Japanese PSN account to download the (36 GB) Yakuza 6 demo. While I was at it, I also downloaded some sort of Japanese Final Fantasy XV demo? At least on the last 8-4 Play they made it sound like it was a demo? I mean, it was free, so no harm done either way.

Anyway, thank you very much for reading. I can't guarantee that there won't be another massive wait between what I post, but hopefully I'll write again in the future. It is December now, and yes, The Moosies will (presumably) return. They might be late, but they will arrive in one form or another.

I hope you're all doing well out there. Stay safe.