Started: 7/29/18

Finished: 8/15/18

Platinum: No

DLC: Included

So thankfully the wife didn’t kill me for playing and beating this before she could even start it. Then again having a 2 year old kind of takes up a good chunk of time so at least someone played it right?

Let me start off by saying I was never really a Tomb Raider fan. I often played the demo levels that came with various Playstation demo disc back in the day and really they never grabbed me. Yes I grew up during the major hay day of Laura mania and there was always those kids in school who would swear there was nude codes and secret sex scenes in the game. I never really cared about that because this was late 90’s graphics, nothing very sexy in seeing some naked woman who was made from very sharp looking triangles. (Not to say I never looked up good fan art…)

The tomb raider reboot that came out a couple years ago on the PS3 was really the first Tomb Raider game that I played and I really enjoyed it. Of course I had to compare it to Uncharted and of course my wife being the Tomb Raider super fan had to remind me repeatedly that the original Tomb Raider games inspired Uncharted (and of course I threw back in her face that if it wasn’t for Indiana Jones neither game would exist).

So I did enjoy this sequel. The graphics were fantastic and many of the areas were fun. But I do have my complaints about it.

First off the story. Maybe because I played almost all of the Uncharted games and seen my share of action/adventure games but I was able to guess a good amount of the twist that came up: The older woman who was Laura’s friend was evil, the leader of the tribe of people being the Jesus figure all the documents talked about, ancient device makes inhuman monsters, evil secret cabal going after the object to rule the world being the ones who killed Laura’s father…

I hate to say it but all of those seem to be check marks on the adventure plot check list. Maybe it’s more me than anything thing else since I played and watched so many action adventure things. It didn’t ruin my enjoyment of the game at all but I do wish maybe there was some kind of twist show up. I did like playing the Baba Yaga DLC mission though.

My other complaint is something that happens in games like this: The surroundings often confuses me on where I can and cant go. The Uncharted series had this and the reboot did the same thing. There were many times where I would be climbing on a section and would get to a point where I have no idea where to go. I could use the Tomb Raider vision to see if there was any kind of special wall I need to hook onto but there were times where either the game may have glitched and showed nothing or I would be near nothing to jump on. The camera would sometimes seem to get hung up on something so I couldn’t really see around the area.

The other issue that would happen at this moment would be Laura deciding to go in the completely different direction I wanted her to go. There were many times where I pointed her to jump towards a platform or something but out of no where Laura decided to launch herself off the wall and towards her death. At first I thought maybe it was me not hitting a button right or something but when my wife started to play she said she had the same thing hit her a couple times. This is something that happens once in a great while in the Uncharted games so I will chalk it up to it being 3D world jank.

The only other problem I had was the upgrade/store section. You unlock a little supply shack where a guy offers some weapons and upgrade items for the special coins you find in the world. This would be good but you find so little of the coins unless you find the special maps, and the upgrade stuff is in the triple digits. After awhile I just saved up for the two items needed for some upgrades and left the others behind. Upgrading the tools and weapons is a bit annoying but then again when you find the weapons you will use all the time you don’t really feel like you have to try to upgrade them all. And since this is like the special “game of the year” edition this has all the DLC weapons unlocked almost from the start so really if you just want a powerful rifle, pistol and shotgun you might end up using the DLC stuff.

Since this version was the special PS4 edition it has all the DLC missions with it. I enjoyed the baba yaga mission and haven’t touched the mansion stuff but there was a special Survival mode that was fun. It drops Laura off in the middle of the Siberian woods and your whole mission is to find treasures in a randomly generated map. You have to watch your hunger and heat levels while fighting enemies and random animals. The map is very random because there were times I started out with several tomb/treasure area like right next to me while other times I was truly in the middle of nowhere, winding up starving/freezing to death or getting killed by animals. There are special cards you can earn/buy that can help or hurt your game. You can use credits you earn in game or spend real money. They are okay but really not needed.

I totally recommend playing this if you like the Uncharted series. The next game is coming out soon and I may pick it up for the wife!

NEXT GAME: Dead Rising (PS4)

Started: 8/16/2017

Finished: 7/29/18

Platinum: No

DLC: Yes

So, I will start out by saying when this game was first announced I was excited for it. I was a big fan of the Saint’s Row games (got into it from part 2) and seeing this new idea from that team got me pumped. I know many SR fans were upset this wasn’t a new Saints Row, and when they released Gat out of Hell (I think we can all agree Gat out of Hell was just some glorified DLC that was released as its own game) people were a bit disappointed. I dug the trailers of the 80’s GI Joe cartoon idea and with the hints of being somewhat remotely tied to the Saints Row universe I was very willing to give it a chance.

I have to say, being attached to Saint’s Row didn’t help this game.

I didn’t follow the live streams or any of what the company released because I didn’t really want to be spoiled on anything they my have in store for the game. Some of the trailers that was being released at the time showed the whole team building thing and the whole idea of special powers and what now got me interested. I ignored the cries of comments on youtube and what not because by this point no matter what a company says or does people will cry bitch and moan about it not being what the fans want. Seeing that most of those complaints were from SR fans made me roll my eyes, say under my breath that they will cry no matter what and went on with my wait.

After the delays, I wondered what was going on.

The marketing seemed to lean real hard on the “This is kinda like Saints Row! Really! Honest!” and I think that was adding more salt to the wounds that would be opened when the game was released. And with Johnny Gat as preorder DLC that really got people on the “I hope this fails” train.

Being released as a buggy mess did not help anything!

When I first got it I played it for a little while. The day 1 patch came out but there were still issues with things like graphic hick ups, missions not triggering, and other problems that would make people lose interest in playing. I think that’s why I stopped the first time. I got pretty far in getting some characters up to level 20 and tried to do the side stuff but it was like fighting me whenever I tried to get some enjoyment. I would be in a side mission, almost done when bam, freeze up. Or be in a story mission and boom, an enemy suddenly becomes invincible to any and all damage, causing the mission to not go into the next phase. I got tired of this and stopped playing.

When the wheel picked this for my next game I grumbled. I had a feeling this could be a Valkyria Revolution repeat of me hateing every moment and just wanted to skip everything and get to the end.

But after getting a patch and playing, I have to say I don’t hate Agents of Mayhem. I don’t love it or put it up on the upper level of god like games… but it’s playable. The problems I have with it now can’t be fixed with patches.

First off the side missions and story missions are total repeats. The main side mission that can net you more money, xp and bonus stuff are LEGION hideouts. These places maps are randomly generated but really the rooms are “Kill all enemies” “Destroy items” or “Hack computers” but the main one you will be doing over and over again will be the kill all enemies. This gets old fast. If this was just for the side mission stuff I would just say “F it, going to do something else…” but these rooms and mission also hit during the story missions.

Now you can make a three-person team you can swap out at random during a mission that can help. But I found myself mainly using the roller girl with a mini gun, Daisy, more than anyone else in the game. The characters are neat and each have their own kind of goofy backstory and code name that would make 80’s toy companies proud. But really, I found a lot of them just too slow at causing damage or just not helpful at all. The whole idea is making a team for the mission at hand or to fit your play style but really you need a shield buster, a skin piercer, and a hacker. No one in the game is all three of these because each character is only two skills but again the main ones I listed are the only skills you need for all the missions.

A system the game has that was neat but got annoying to me was a difficulty level that slid up to higher and higher levels the more you played. This is good and all and you can always move the level down on your main hub area “The ARK” but there were a couple times I didn’t realize the game decided to crank up the level to 15 and when I was killed by normal troopers who I was able to kill with ease the last mission I found out I really had to keep my eye on that. I mostly kept my level to about maybe 10 or 12 but yeah when you are trying to make it to a check point then suddenly your blown up by a group of giant bots it will get on your nerves. I wish there was maybe something in the options that can lock the game to a level so you don’t have to worry about the very sudden jump.

The boss characters were interesting but just like the bases or the missions that came before them their fights were also repetitive. They would go through stages, first being shielded by a machine so you have to not only kill the machines but the waves of troops. Then you can fight them but oops the shields came back or more troops. It became a drag for me because really, I wished there was something more to the fights but again it was lather, rinse and repeat till dead.

Now I said I got the last patch that was released for the game. It did fix the issues I had before… but there were some hiccups that almost caused me to give up on this game again!

A couple times a mission would bug out, making a checkpoint or something I was suppose to do not come up and one time an enemy was unkillable. Thankfully I was able to restart a past check point and had no problems but when I was getting close to the end of the game the game hard froze on me twice right in the middle of two story missions. At several points during this moments on my ARK squad screen would also start messing up. The screen would zoom in or the menus for picking character skins and weapons would not show up. It got to the point I was getting close to saying maybe my disc or something was breaking that could cause me to not finish but after giving the system some time to cool off (even though I wasn’t playing it that long or my system wasn’t that hot) The game decided to let me finish it.

The game ends with something of a cliffhanger/sequel bait but seeing how this game didn’t sell well, review well and the company laid off a good chunk of the staff I don’t see a “season 2” happening for Agents. And I have to say, that would be sad to tell the truth!

I think a sequel could fix some of the game play issues the first had and that maybe they could lean more away from trying to lump this with Saints Row. Who knows maybe there could be a part 2 but only time will tell!

There is a interesting youtube video I watched recently about Agents of Mayhem and what went wrong with it I will link right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp3St3sOaVk give it a watch to see what could have been!

NEXT GAME: Rise of the Tomb Raider (PS4) (Oh is my wife gonna kill me for this!!!)

Started: 6/7/2015

Finished: 7/22/2018

Platinum: No

DLC: Yes

It’s odd playing this after beating Far Cry 5. In a way it is a good way to see what kind of changes are made between games.

First thing that I think five fixed from four was the fast travel. In five there was so many fast travel points that it was so easy to get around. With four there was only so many outpost and towns that you will have to walk or drive so far to get to the next mission or side quest. I often don’t mind those kinds of things but the next thing that got annoying was the animals.

Those damn hawks! There were so many more attack animals in four than in five. In five it seemed like I had a little more leeway in avoiding the more dangerous animals but in Far Cry 4 they seemed to zoned in on me. Maybe because there was so many areas that were empty of people that I was the only they could get. Again I don’t mind it but when the larger animals like yaks and rhinos just out of no where attack me while I was walking to the next mission point and getting almost half my life removed.

The other change I liked from five was more weapon customizations. With five it seemed like you can make more powerful weapons with stealth like addons. I was rocking a silenced .50 cal sniper rifle with a powerful scope but in four I didn’t get anything remotely close to a .50 cal till almost near the end of the game because the side missions that unlocked it didn’t pop up till the end. Even then the only things you can add to it was scopes and extended magazines.

Now the problem I see with the Far Cry series (playing 3 through 5) I can see the complaint others had about the series, the villains.

It’s like they base the game on one great villain. On three there was Vass, four was Pagan Min and five was Joseph Seed. These villains have a great intro or what not but it seems like they cant really get a decent supporting villain cast. I really like Pagan Min but the three “bosses” you had to take care of before him seemed like half assed. They really only fleshed out one of them, Noore, but not by much. I know there is the whole thing of hunting down the extra documents in the world but sometimes that can be annoying unless you are really gunning for total 100%. Again I feel that Far Cry 5 fixed that by actually having you spend time with the other villains. The other members of the Seed family felt like threats and also made you hate them. You hardly see anything of the other two FC4 villains (one only twice, a little at the beginning and when you capture him)

Now there was some people from other places who complained about the endings. There are two rebel leaders who you work with. Almost from the get go you are forced to choose between the two, having to side with one of them at the end. Depending on who you side with you get the “true” ending where the leader you sided with takes over the country and becomes as bad or worse than Pagan.

I wished there was maybe a way to get a 4^th ending (yes I know of the hidden beginning ending) maybe one where you take charge, Pagan hints at giving the throne to you if you let him live at the end, and you screw over the two leaders.

I did enjoy the game a bit. I don’t know if I will be getting the DLC for this game anytime soon, maybe in some PSN sale or something.

NEXT GAME: Agents of Mayhem (PS4)

Infamous Second Son (PS4)

Started: 5/30/2018

Finished: 6/28/2018

Platinum: no

DLC: Yes (a story add on that was pretty much released as a standalone, also a combo web/in game series of missions)

I love super heroes, and when the original Infamous came out for PS3 I quickly snatched up the game and played both the good and bad stories. I loved how they set up the whole universe and the hints of the things that could happen in a sequel with the Beast and what could happen when Cole (the main guy in the first two games) would handle him.

The sequel was alright. I did like the idea of Cole losing his powers, his city, and having something of a time crunch to get new powers because the Beast was coming at him (even thought it didn’t really move towards you until you did some story missions). There was a user created mission maker that was fun to get some of the trophies since all people used the thing for was trophy hunting. The endings were interesting but made me worried that there would be no more of the infamous universe. (there was stand alone dlc/game that was a what if Cole became a vampire thing but I never got it because I started playing a dozen other games.)

When the PS4 came out and Infamous Second Son was announced I was excited. It took me awhile to get the game but I finally got it on sale at Gamestop some time ago. I figured I should play the game since PS Plus gave away the DLC game awhile back.

I enjoyed the game and it was for the most part short. I only did the “good” run since I kind of messed up my plan to kind of jump between two saves to to do the separate choices. I did all the side missions and collected the shards to 100% the map. They wernt too hard to do and wasn’t annoying. The power sets were cool and each had their own ups and downs that made you think about what one you wanted to use for travel and what one is best for combat.

Now for my complaints:

Stun locking. Oh man there were several times I got stun locked either by boss fights or when some stronger enemies seemed to get me trapped in a wall and wouldn’t let me use one of my speed/travel powers to escape. The last boss fight got me pissed because several times trying to avoid her but got hit by her fireballs or stuck under her feet.

Better mission markers. When you first get to Seattle the first mission is to get a core to get a power. Now I was use to the last two games where you slowly get the powers in different missions. So I got the first core and went around to get collectables or do the little side stuff. When I kept getting killed I noticed my level progress for my “hero” kept resetting. I didn’t realize that I was still in that first mission and that I needed to collect all the cores. I was confused because they used the same icon for mission waypoints that they use for mission locations. I wish they would have done something like a different color for the mission points once you were in the mission. I almost thought about quitting the game or thought that I had a bad bug for my copy till I went to the next area I thought was the next mission was in fact the next way point.

Story a little cliché. SPOILERS: You travel with your older brother who is a cop and wants to cure you of your powers and through out the game he buys the governments whole “super power beings are bio-terrorist” stuff till the end (at least in the “hero” run) where he happly comes around to you being a hero and also not calling the conduits bio terrorist… but then he is killed. There is also the whole thing of the villain being evil and hurting people but “Im doing this to protect my kind… just ignore the whole “me experimenting on my own kind” thing”. I called those twist happening but with this game I was more for the fights and powers than the story really. Maybe if I play the “evil” path maybe there would be some major differences.

This is a good game if you like the open world type of games and also like super heroes. The powers are cool and balanced and the city was cool, even though a little small.

NEXT GAME: Farcry 4 (PS4)

Alternate title: Titanfall 2 (wow that was a short campaign!)

Titanfall 2 (PS4)

STATS:

Started: 11/16/2016

Finished: 5/30/2018

platinum?: no

DLC: yes (multiplayer modes and maps)

So first off I never played the first Titanfall. I didnt get a 360 till I moved in with the woman who would become my wife. She had a 360 and we really didnt play much online multiplayer stuff on it. I myself not the biggest online gamer and she didnt have a Xbox gold account so we mainly played stuff on my PS3. I did like the idea of giant robots you call down from the sky to wreck shit and from friends who had 360s they seemed to like it. There were a couple times I was tempted to buy that limited edition Titanfall that came with the large statue of a titan that my local gamestop seemed to not be able to get rid of for the longest time. I think the only reason that I didnt buy it was because it was a multiplayer only game. No real single player to speak of I couldnt see paying how ever much money for a game that I would most likely be trash at since I would be like a year or two behind those who played it like all day everyday for months!

When Titanfall 2 was announced and was going to be on other systems I decided to maybe check it out. When they made a big deal about a single player story mode I got more interested and when it was on like a two day only super cheap sale on walmart.com I snatched it up in a second.

Now if you look at my start date you may wonder why it took me two years to finish the story mode. Well having a kid and being super busy with work caused titanfall to get buried in the backlog (thus this little blog series!)

Well, finishing the story mode this morning (1am) I felt a bit dumb... the story mode was very short and I got it done, on normal mode, in about two days...

But seeing what it was mainly used for, the short story mode is not a complaint! The story mode was a nice long form way to get you use to the wall running mechanics and to play with the different types of Titan loadouts. I did play some of the multiplayer when I first got the game (the forums here helped me get the Buffalo Wild Wings nose art awhile back) and did have some fun with it.

All in all, I had fun with Titanfall 2 and wouldnt mind checking out Titanfall 3 if one is made and if it has a story mode... oh and not have EA force bullshit loot boxes into it and try to act like they are needed!

complaints:

My one complaint is the last two boss battles. I know they were meant to be training for if you play against someone in multiplayer but there were times where there was total bullshit in what was going on. The second battle tried to act like it was timed where you had to try to stop the main weapon from fireing but you have to battle a boss titan and several others. I didnt want to press my luck by getting a fail state by not messing with the weapon during the battle. Maybe if I had the game on easy it wouldnt have bugged me much.

So, a good game with a good size story to help you get ready for if you want to play in multiplayer. I know there is talks of the next black ops not having a story mode and hearing Jeff and the gang talk about the reasons for that I can see it would be something I wont play myself (really I only liked the first black ops for the time frame, once they started going into future tech I gave up on it)

NEXT GAME: Infamous: Second Son

So, let me start by talking about the game I was so disappointed in. A game that I looked forward to, happy to get and hoped to gush about non stop...

Valkyria Revolution...

Ugh... This game... just... I almost gave up on doing this little project because this game annoyed me so much that when Far Cry 5 came out I decided to play that to completion just to avoid playing any more of Valkyria Revolution!

But after beating FC5 I had to suck it up and force myself to finish Valkyria Revolution. So last night I finished the last mission and here we are.

Valkyria Revolution (PS4)

STATS:

Started: 3/7/2018

Finished: 5/23/2018

platinum?: no

DLC: Free but meh

A quick personal history lesson:

When Valkyria Revolution was first announced it was said to be a prequel to the original Valkyria Chronicles. I was excited! I loved VC and its WW2 like setting. I loved the characters and the story and the whole world it was all based upon. Valkyria Chronicles is one of a small handful of games that I will happily buy repeatedly for anything it comes out on (I preordered VC on steam and on ps4 when those were announced) So the idea of a prequel excited me. Maybe playing as Welkin Gunther's dad during the first war and seeing how things happen. The idea of this universes WW1 had me wondering what kind of things would happen...

After awhile news trickled in saying the game would be set almost a hundred years before VC... um okay so maybe seeing how the rift between the Darcsen people and the rest of the world happened that explains the hate that happens in VC could be interesting...

Then the truth hits... VR is happening in an alternate universe... hundred years before VC happened... and really has nothing to do with VC at all! The only things that loosely link VC to VR is a being known as Valkyria and the ore known as ragnite. Then the footage comes out showing it to be more of an action RPG, not the tactical RPG VC was.

I still gave it a chance, who knows it might be good! It might be something interesting...

No, I was wrong, this game sucks!

complaints:

Where to start?!

1) The look of the game. The characters look like they belong to a super early PS3/Late PS2/Dreamcast era game, not something on a PS4/XBONE! They are so stiff and at times in cut scenes they turn like they are on tank controls for a old Resident Evil game! The characters just look so ugly. I'm a fan of anime but the girls in this game just look messed up. Their eyes are like 80% of their heads! The male characters look somewhat normal but the females just look freakish!

2) Voice acting... I couldnt stand the english voice actors so I turned it to the Japanese voices. But even then I started to tune that out because it wasnt long before I decided I didnt give a flying fuck about any of the characters or the story in general.

3) Plot/Story: This game could be called "Anime cliches" and it would fit better than slapping "Valkyria" on it. The main male hero is the brooding quiet type hungry for revenge. The main female character is a princess who *gasps* has magic powers. The main bad guy is so evil because he controls his magic weapon girl and wants to rule the world, magic evil girl is a huge breasted woman with no real human emotions who *double gasp* has a history with the main hero. Oh and one of the main hero's friends is also a large breasted female who hardly wears enough clothing and is sometimes used in scenes where another of the hero's friends tries to find out about her bra size... ugh!

The plot was becoming so boring trying to inject the back room dealings with other countries (that do jack shit in the game at all) and other things trying to make this world interesting that I just got tired of it and skipped every cut scene. I had to roll my eyes because there was one of the main bad guys generals was *triple gasp* a conflicted warrior who starts to question his own motives!

And lets not forget the tired and true anime cliche of "hero has chance to kill bad guy but cant because... reasons!"

That happens twice! First time when you beat the Valkyria down. She has a moment of clearity and tells you to kill her... but hero boy (I dont care what any of these people's names are, they are just annoying cookie cutter JRPG/Anime tropes at this point) cant because she was his nanny at the orphanage he lived at...

The second time he has one of the super evil generals messed up, on the ground ready to kill but hero fuck boy can't kill him because... he said something bad to him...

WHAT?!

I sat there as hero boy stood there with his fuck off giant sword and he is like "I can't kill him..."

I sat there and yelled "YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?! WHERE THE HELL IS YOUR TROOPS AT?! ANY ONE OF THEM COULD TAKE THE SHOT OR STAB THE FUCKER?!?!"

But hero boy whines, general escapes and the hero's troops (who by the way were standing like 3 feet away from him, seeing everything that happened and could easily walk over and kill the asshole for him) stand there and ask why he escape...

REALLY?! WHAT STOPPED YOU ASSHOLE WITH GIANT AXE FROM KILLING HIM? WHAT ABOUT YOU ASSHOLE RICH BOY WITH THE WANNA BE WOLVERINE CLAWS? YOU KEEP SAYING HOW MUCH BETTER YOU ARE THAN YOUR LEADER WHY DIDN'T YOU WALK OVER AND SHANK HIS ASS?

Ugh... I'm done with this part. Maybe if this was suspose to be a satire of anime tropes or something then maybe it could have been funny or something. But no... all this was done in a super serious tone.

So skipping these cut scenes exposes another major flaw of the game

4) So many load times! Sweet baby Jesus and the orphans there were so many load times. Any time there was the smallest cut scene... NOW LOADING, any time the map did something NOW LOADING. God help you if you lose a battle or what happened to me where a map glitched, making an enemy spawn somewhere outside the map where I couldnt kill him to progress mission. Get ready for another series of loads!

5) The combat in this game is just... it doesnt know what it wants to do. It seems like this could have done better with a Dynasty Warriors hack and slash type system. The system in place is a timer system where you have to wait till your character is charged up and get a ready prompt before you can either do a basic attack, attack with a side weapon or use magic. Thats all well and good if the enemy only uses melee attacks but in latter missions they have groups of men with machine guns or shotguns... so they pepper you with shots while you run around in a circle waiting for your time to attack. Yeah you could hop into anyone of your fellow squad memebers and attack but there were many times i did that but they just got done with their attack so more waiting!

6) Upgrade system: So this wasnt explained very well and I had to read up on it on a forum. Yes your characters earn levels and experience... but it doesnt go to their magic or anything like that... no. You have to go to the upgrade shop in between missions and use the magic you earn from battle to upgrade a huge tech tree for each of your troops... and it gets expensive. Side weapons you can use money you earn from missions but unless you S rank missions and do all the side stuff to get any decent money. So expensive that it exposes the biggest bullshit thing this game has the fucking nerve to pull on you...

7) GRINDING! Hey you want to get all the trophies and what not? Well I hope you like the same maps repeated over and over again because we are going to make you GRIND! They try to make it interesting by having a battle map with some things happening on it (Our troops are losing here, lets help! Stop the enemy from taking the city back) but these missions repeat over and over again. There are hints of maybe the enemy invading areas and it could effect other missions, and if that worked that would be interesting...

Yeah, that doesnt happen. I only got a message about invasion missions from after I beat the game... yeah so a interesting thing that might make grinding maybe fun... you get when you beat the game... I may only play it so I can get the trophy for it and be done with it!

So the tl;dr summery: This game sucks, I hate it and I am glad to be done with it! If someone told me this game was originally going to be it's own IP but SEGA looked at it and decided that it would bomb on it's own so they slapped the Valkyria name on it to get a couple bucks out of it then I have to say I am not surprised. This whole game just reaks of budget title!

Okay, got that done, lets talk real quick about Far Cry 5!

FAR CRY 5 (PS4)

STATS:

Started: 3/28/2018

Finished: 5/07/2018

platinum?: no (but really close)

DLC: coming soon

So Far Cry 5... I loved it! When I got FC5 I started it up, figured I would at least get the first little bit done before stopping to play Valkyria Revolution but I couldn't stop playing FC5! Yeah there are those bits that are eye rolling (the CIA asshole piss tape mission, some asshole talking about "libertards" and what not) but I rolled with it. I know people had complaints about how this couldn't happen in the US for real but all I have to say is look up stuff about Leith, North Dakota or Rajneeshpuram and what they did in Oregon in the 80's.

I only have two complaints:

1) The ending. I seen some theory vids on youtube and other places but both endings just seemed a bit bullshit to me. It seemed like maybe they should have set up a little more than some random radio news broadcast that you might skip over.

2) The silver bars micotransactions. It was stupid and the stuff you could buy with the bars didnt do much. Im glad there were other ways to earn the bars (finding safes in world, earning levels in the arcade) but it was still stupid to have outfits locked away behind a silver bar paywall... when it's a first person shooter...

So there is another episode in the bag, I played a shit game that made me really regret wasting my time, and a fun game that didn't make me want to stop gaming!

NEXT GAME: Titanfall 2 (PS4)

So, another game done on my little 2018 challenge. I was a bit side tracked thanks to Iconoclasts so let me talk a little about it before going onto Uncharted.

ICONOCLASTS (PS4)

STATS:

Started: 1/25/2018

Finished: 2/22/2018

platinum?: no

DLC: None (as of right now)

= = =

After watching the Quick Look I bought the game when I came out on PSN. I really enjoy Metroidvania type games and I really liked the style of this one. I really got into playing it after putting my son to bed.

REVIEW: (Maybe spoilers)

So the story of the game is interesting. The planet is dying due to over use of a chemical (the name of it escaped me since its been a little while since I played it). Some of the systems they had in place were fun and added something new, but now...

complaints:

1) Some of the puzzle boss battles were annoying. Many of them I had to look up some youtube video to see what I had to do. There were a couple battles that even following the videos was still annoying because of timing or just cheap stuff. Some of the bigger bosses were cool looking thought

2) I really wish there was a way to extend the health bar. Any other metroidvania game have health pick ups and I did make sure to look up on some sites to make sure I wasn't missing anything but there was nothing. I know some add ons can be used to take a hit but only if your other meter is full. Some of the later bosses and my attempts at the extra bosses really drag this point out for me.

3) Even though I was having fun with the game when I was getting close to the end I just wanted to finish up. I tried to fight one of the extra bosses since one of the trophies involves getting all items and add ons in one play through involves fighting the extra bosses. I did make an extra save so I could maybe come back one day and get that trophy.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

A good game if you like Metroidvania games. The art style and soundtrack is great. The story is a bit odd to follow as it goes into some weird places but it isn't too hard to figure out whats going on and there are some times that are a bit shocking.

UNCHARTED (Uncharted Collection PS4)

STATS:

Started: 1/25/2018

Finished: 3/5/2018

platinum?: no

DLC: None

= = =

The original Uncharted was one of the main reasons I got a PS3! I loved the whole Indiana Jones feel to the game. It came close to being the first game I would have gotten platinum on if I ever finished the Crushing difficulty. When each new game came out on the PS3 I of course got them! The main reason I got this collection was mainly because of my wife. She loved the original Tomb Raider games and when she played the 2013 release I told her about Uncharted. She watched me play and complete Uncharted 3 and talked about maybe playing the others. Once the Uncharted Collection was released I got it not only for her but for me to have them on one disc and to see how well they hold up!

REVIEW (maybe spoilers)

So playing this I decided to play on easy. I didn't really notice any real difference in the graphics. The faces on the characters seemed maybe a little better but it looked to me almost like the PS3 version. The story is nothing major, the typical action/adventure kind of thing, major pulp kind of thing. Nate goes after a lost treasure and runs into trouble via pirates and hired mercs. With some hardcore parkour moves and guns you will find the truth of what happened to El Dorado.

complaints:

1) There were a couple times the game glitched out, I made a video where Nate kicked down a gate and suddenly he was stuck in a T pose, just our of reach of enemy gun fire. I had to restart from a checkpoint so didnt lose too much progress. I dont know if maybe it was this port to PS4 or maybe it was something that happened a lot on the original PS3 version.

2) Something that, if I remember, was a problem through out most of the other Uncharted games was there were times that it was hard to see or figure out what was something to jump on or grab. There were times what would be simple jumps would end in death because come to find out it was too far or maybe it was something you wernt suppose to land on. There are times a little "hint" would come up on screen and you have to push up on the control pad but most times it would just move the camera to point at the building you need to get to, nothing else.

3) The camera sometimes would get stuck in ways that made it hard to figure out where to go or how far something to jump at was. Yes there are areas where the camera is suppose to be in a fixed spot but there were times where the area had free movement but would sometimes seem to stick. Again, I cant remember if this happened on the PS3 version or if it was just for the collection!

FINAL THOUGHTS:

If you like action/adventure games give this a try. I dont know if the collection has some issues or maybe just the first game was a bit glitchy. Maybe try the PS3 version if you dont have a ps4. If and when I get to the other two games on this collection during this year long event I will be sure to pay close attention to if those are also a bit glitchy or if there is any major changes!

THE NEXT GAME: Valkyria Revolution (PS4)

STATS:

Started: First week of January

Finished: 1/24/2018

platinum?: no

DLC: Included but not played

= = =

So I have been wanting to play this game for a good long while but always seemed to have been too busy or involved in other things. I downloaded the PS3 version couple years ago when it was a PS Plus free game. When I got a PS4 and saw there was a "Definitive" edition I figured I would get it at some point. During a Gamestop used game sale I picked it up for a decent price. And once again it sat on my selves. So I was happy when "Wheel Choice" picked it out I was happy to finally give it a shot.

I never played any of the "True Crime" games back in the PS2 days. I never really got into them because to me they looked like cheap versions of GTA. I dont know if I will ever get back to try them out or if I will just look up some kind of lets play.

REVIEW: (spoiler warnings)

So the good things: I did like the story even though there were some parts that I knew were going to happen like your boss being crooked and some point exposing you to the mob or when your childhood friend is murdered by the crazy wanna be mob boss.

The voice acting is good with the mix of English and Chinese. The location of the story was very interesting and I have to admit that I didn't get use to driving on the other side of the road, then again I never really play these kind of games to do proper road rules.

The combat is good. Some of the fist fights can get a tiny bit annoying when fighting the big guys or the blockers. Many times I wished there was more fight moves to break the blocks easier or something but I will get into it in a bit about that.

Now some complaints:

1) Needed a have a fast travel: Yes I know you could take a cab to go to any store or story location but with no way to call a cab to your location I found myself desperately trying to run after a cab. You can call a person to drop off a car for you but it is still annoying to drive across a map.

2) Multiple ways to get your cop level up but seems like only story missions help get your triad level up. I wish there was some ways to get that level up like the police and face. I mean you do illegal things like street racing but when you win you get little bit of money and other levels. Im close to getting the trophy for maxing out the levels but trying to get any points on pass missions for me is a bit annoying to bet my old score with clothes that give an extra 15% score and get hardly anything.

3) Buggy. There was so many times during races or story scenes when the game hitched up or just something would just mess up and would have to restart at a check point. I know open world games have their jank but there were a couple times doing the races where my car would somehow get stuck on a wall or something and cause me to lose or in some group fights my character would pretty much be stunned locked by getting grabbed from behind by a large guy and breaking lose from the grab just to be hit by someone else and regrabbed. That was very annoying and at times caused me to just give up for the night.

4) A very walled off open world. There were areas that should have been able to climb over a rock or small wall to use as a short cut but this game has the very nasty habit of using invisible walls. There were several cases where if I was given a normal jump button there would have been some decent short cuts to get some of the cases or other collectibles but the game wanted you to get a boat or swim around a island to get some box on the beach.

And finally on my complaint section is the radio. Games like GTA and Saints Row have some great radio/music. I mean there were times on past GTA games where I would just listen to the crazy commercials or DJ banter between songs. Sleeping Dogs has some good tracks from Flying Lotus and Daptone Records but a lot of the stations were just meh to listen to. And with commercials in chinese and nothing really being funny or interesting being talked about on the stations I just tuned out when driving the cars. I know the game was going for a more "real" kind of world but they could have done a little something to give the radio stations some life to them!

FINAL THOUGHTS:

This was a okay game. It had its moments and at times the story did get brutal. I may come back to it sometime in the future to try to get plat or to play the DLC stuff. If you can get it cheap used or something it's worth checking out. Maybe have a mp3 player handy for your own soundtrack and maybe figure out if you want to go after 100% or just play for the story.

THE NEXT GAME: UNCHARTED (Uncharted collection)

So on January 1st I got a platinum trophy for Tekken 7. Useing Wheeldecide.com and a list of games I had that I either haven't started or maybe stopped playing due to a number of reasons. The wheel picked "Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition" and for the past several weeks I have been playing it and decided to start a blog about the games I will play this year, maybe two or three post per game depending on how long the game is and what not. I will also post the list of the physical disc games when I beat one and show what is the next game. I will post maybe a little review, how many trophies I got once done and if I would play the DLC or leave them be.

So coming soon will be Episode 1: Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition (PS4)

So I work Sundays, and while working I get an email from the Playstation blog site talking about a Taco Bell contest where you can win a 3G/Wi-Fi Vita with a 4 gig memory card, Little Deviants, and a choice between LittleBigPlanet™, ModNation™ Racers: Roadtrip, or MLB 12 The Show™. So on my lunch break I go to the near by Taco Bell and pick up a box, pop in the code on the box and... lost. I shrug, I already had a wi-fi version reseved and payed off so really didn't care too much.

So today (Monday for those playing at home or reading this eight years from now) I go out to lunch and decide "fuck it, I'm going to taco bell again." So I go in and tried to make up my mind between another "game" box or something else, I shrug and get the other game box. I head back to the office and eat my meal, I then decide "what the hell, plug in the code!" So I plug it in and his submit...

And this comes up...

I sit there stunned! It ask me for some info (address, email). I sit at my desk waiting for an email saying confirmed or something but after some time nothing shows up. I click on the rules link and see that to confirm me as a winner, they will be sending me a first class letter within a day or so with more instructions!

So when I get that, I shall update this blog and see what happens!

[UPDATE]

Since it has been about 10 days since I won the contest and still haven't gotten any email or real letter from taco bell or the people who are running the thing; Ventura Associates. Looking around on google showed several post on different game sites of others who won and haven't gotten any word. A person on one site produced an email address to contact the company. He got an email back from them saying they are running behind on the letters and to give it couple more days. I figure since I won my 11 days ago I think I should send them an email. So I just sent one out now and am waiting for a response. Hopefully I get some kind of answer soon!

[UPDATE 2]

After thinking about it, I decided to go onto Taco Bell's twitter page. Taking a page out of Ryan's twitter NARC story (also Jeff's cd story) I thought about maybe just posting something on Taco Bell's twitter...

And when I got there I was beaten to the punch by many people. Taco Bell's answer to the people who twited about no letter or email was "Call out 800 number" So I did, after chatting with a support person for 10 min (who i surprised by not only keeping the reciept but also the winning box and telling her I printed out the winning screen any everything) she said a manager will be calling me in 2 to 3 days and she was really sorry about me not getting a letter because it looked like I had all the proof I needed. I guess there were people calling in trying to scam their way to a prize or something!

[UPDATE 3]

So yesterday (Sunday) at work I called the number that was on the kotaku story and left my info, also sent the email again with more info, thinking hey, might as well try. Today (Monday) at work I get a call on my cell phone from a private number. When I answer it, it was a person working on the contest. She asked for my name, email, and code on the box. I had to run outside to get the number since the box was in the truck. After she read the number back to me she said someone will call back within 24 hours. So fingers crossed!

[UPDATE 4]

Got an email from Taco Bell... saddly I didn't win. I guess I will still hold out, maybe they were answering the email I sent out Friday where I didn't have any info on it and maybe they will call with a different answer. But I know one thing, after reading all the different sites where people are pissed that whoever runs this contest system fucked up and gave out a shit load of winning prizes, I would not be surprised that some kind of class action lawsuit comes from this!

[UPDATE 5]

On Friday (Feb 17 for those playing at home) I got another email from Taco Bell asking me to email them my name, email, method of entry, and box code. At first I was going to just ingnore the email, I mean they said I didn't win so why brother but my girlfriend told me I should at least try, maybe there was a mistake or something might happen. I said fine and emailed the info. Today (Feb 22) I get an email from Taco Bell saying the following:

Thank you again for contacting Taco Bell regarding your entry in the Unlock the Box Promotion and voicing your concern. A thorough investigation was initiated since our last contact with you.

We learned that during a period of time on January 30, 2012 some people entering the promotion erroneously viewed a message suggesting they had won a PlayStation Vita, pending verification.

After a thorough investigation, and an additional review by the independent company administering the promotion, it was confirmed that these entrants viewed these messages or accessed them directly as a result of technical issues created by outside attempts by others to gain illegal entry and defraud the system. Unfortunately, these entrants were not valid winners.

Taco Bell designed this sweepstakes to be fun for consumers and knows you are a disappointed fan. We are therefore giving you and other consumers who may have viewed these erroneous messages on January 30 an additional chance to win. You will be automatically entered into a separate drawing to win a PlayStation Vita. The drawing will take place on March 21, 2012. All winners will be notified directly by the week of March 27, 2012

Thank you for your understanding and participation. The issue that occurred on January 30 has been resolved and the Unlock the Box promotion will continue to run through March 11, 2012.

Sincerely,

Ventura Associates

So it looks like there was some kind of glitch (either their system or some asshat who was trying to cheat) and a good number of people who "won" in fact didn't and we will be entered into a different drawing on March 21st. I guess it's nice that something might come from this... then again I'm picking up the Vita from gamestop I already had paid off after work today so if I do win... maybe I'll give the extra one to my girlfriend or something!