What Am I Playing Now - February 2021

I've been thinking about writing on this blog again for a while now. I've been busier than usual the past couple of years, and it's been kind of a challenge for me to just open up blogger.com, type something and publish it. I always wanted to write, but never found the time. Well I decided this weekend to take that time!

I've played dozens of games during this hiatus, but I'll try to stay true to the idea of "What Am I playing NOW" and stick to what I'm actually playing these days.

My main game right now is Dead Cells, the critically acclaimed and successful indie game released in 2018. First things first, I don't know why I waited that long. Well that's not exactly true, I waited for the price to drop. Being a critical success, it rarely dropped below 20 Canadian dollars. Monetary considerations aside, I have struggled in the past with roguelites. Not that I don't like them ; I actually loved the likes of Crypt of the Necrodancer and Rogue Legacy. But I'm just not that good at that particular genre. I play them for a while then I eventually hit a wall where it becomes just too hard for me. From what I could gather, it's usually somewhere around 50-60% through the game.

In any case, I eventually started Dead Cells about a week ago. Holy crap that game is so much fun. The controls are super precise and responsive. It might sound silly and obvious, but I always feel like the character on the screen is doing exactly what I want when I want. Anyone who has played a wide variety of games knows that this isn't as common in games as it should be. Given the type of game Dead Cells is, such perfect controls are crucial to the game's success. I have only a couple of hours put into the game so far, and only one major boss beaten, so I'm not super far into the game. My longest run, that I actually did a couple of hours ago, is about 32 minutes. It is absolutely living up to the lofty expectations I had.

On the other end of the gaming spectrum, as far as humanly possible, is Read Dead Redemption 2. I started this as a couple's game, because my wife really enjoys watching narrative-driven games (Uncharted 4, God of War 2018, The Witcher III are amongst those I completed with her on PS4) as if they were Netflix series. Sadly, since we don't get that much free time together, this means my experience with RDR2 has been, so far, very broken up. I am about 20% through the game, but have only done around 5% since the start of 2021. As I'm not playing it daily - or, in some instances, even weekly - I feel I have to relearn the controls every time I boot it up. It got worse when I was simultaneously playing, by myself and on a daily basis, other third-person games with different control schemes.

While the controls have proven to be a bit of a hassle, the other parts of the games are nearly perfect. It looks absolutely gorgeous, the story is compelling and the characters interesting and nuanced. Just going around on a horse and listening to Arthur Morgan talk with anyone about anything is captivating. Some action sequences have been pretty good, but they're not the main selling point for me. Maybe playing it on a more regular basis will make the controls feel more natural though. I hope!

Next is Danganronpa 2 : Goodbye Despair. I started the first Danganronpa a few months ago, going in almost entirely blind. To be quite honest, I bought Danganronpa V3 on PS4 a few months ago simply because I had heard the name mentioned positively in a podcast I like and the reviews were pretty solid. A quick trip through gaming forums told me I should REALLY play 1 and 2 before 3. So that's what I'm doing. At first I wasn't sure I liked the idea behind the games, teenagers murdering each other in a high school? What the hell? And then it completely sucked me in. The characters were, for the most part, quite fascinating and I was honestly very intrigued by the setting and the story. This second game isn't grabbing me quite as much as the first one, but certainly enough to keep me interested in finishing it. I'm about halfway through, having completed the third trial/chapter yesterday. 

Finally, let's looks quickly at The Legend of Zelda : Link's Awakening for the Switch. This is one of the rare mainline Zelda games I hadn't played before, since I never really owned a GameBoy as a kid. I did borrow my friend's console from time to time, but he didn't have that game. So I preordered this remake of sheer love for the Zelda franchise and because I had never played it. I'm currently quite far into the game, I think I completed 6 out of the 8 announced dungeons (unless of course the game has surprises in store). It's a traditional Zelda game in so many aspects. Sure, there are a few quirks here and there making it a bit unique, but you pretty much know what to expect going in. Dungeons, new items/abilities to beat the boss and help find next dungeon. I'm oversimplifying quite a bit, obviously, but it's that formula done pretty efficiently. 

What Am I Playing NOW - February 2017

For the past month or so, I've been going through Tom Clancy's The Division. I bought it on a whim during the holiday because it was about 20 bucks (CAN$), shipping included, even if it came from the United States with their silly expensive dollar. I'm usually not big on Tom Clancy's games. I liked the past two Ghost Recon entries, but I could never get into Rainbow Six or Splinter Cell. Fact is, one of the main reasons I went for it is because a gaming journalist/expert I really trust had mostly nice things to say about it. And he's not the type of dude, as far as I know, who is easily impressed.

Anyway, so I bought this game and have been playing it a few times per week, constantly, for about five weeks. I think I'm about 65%-75% of the way through, if the map and remaining missions are any indication.

I did not know that much about this game. I knew it was an always-online type of deal, you can level up, it has some sort of loot and it's set in New York City after some dramatic Black Friday event. And that's basically it, really. It's a tad like Destiny in its online-ness (fantastic word, I know, I have the best words). You're always online, but you never see anyone except in safe houses around the city and when you matchmake for missions or for fun. In my case, I only matchmake with other players for Story missions. Side missions and "Encounters" (frankly just another word for smaller "Side missions") are quick and easy, and they can usually be done alone without too much problem. The Story missions are quite longer, harder and can truly be a pain in the ass, even with three other competent "Agents" - the name given to other players.

The story itself is mostly uninteresting. The City has been overrun by criminal gangs and you, along with mostly incompetent and clueless policemen types known as JTF (I'm guessing Joint Task Force), try to wrestle back control away from them. Most of the indications and story elements are given over radio waves, and it quickly becomes white noise in your ears. The missions themselves are mostly straightforward. You go ahead, you take cover, you clear areas of enemies, you hack a computer there or activate a pump here, then it's on to other bad guys. Eventually you get a boss dude or lady who is extremely resistant and tough to kill (more on this later). Dispatch him and whoever is around and mission is accomplished. It sounds boring, but it works because the gameplay is freaking stellar. Cover mechanics work well, your gadgets (turrets, shields, healing stations, etc.) are usually helpful and fun to use, the shooting is very fun, different gun types do actually shot differently. All in all, it's very fun to play.

The RPG-like looting and leveling up leads you to better guns, better gear and basically higher numbers in categories like DPS (damage per second) and toughness (defense). The guns/gear look and sound the same, but the stats vary with the item level so you continually change your setup. For a guy like me who loves the likes of Diablo and Borderlands for the looting/leveling aspects, it's pretty fun to manage that stuff.

Enemies also have levels, they get progressively tougher to kill, do more damage and all that jazz. Exactly what you would expect, right? At level 21, level 21 enemies are a good enough challenge for you, they have more health and deal more damage than the now-easy-to-kill level 16 or 18 enemies. In a video game, this makes perfect sense, it's precisely how these types of games work.

But, it doesn't feel as right as it should. The problem is, for me, it doesn't fit with the vibe of the game. It's so realist. It's set in an actual, well-known city. The guns are actual guns used by the police or armed forces (SCAR-H, MP5, SMG-9, etc.), not magical shotguns that shoot rockets (I still love you, Borderlands). The enemies are humans, not monsters or fantastic beings. Everything is so grounded in reality it's tough to reconcile the fact that you need dozens of bullets to take down a nondescript gangster dude from a few meters away. And I'm not talking about higher-ranking enemies (usually highlighted with different colored health/shield bars), who might take, even if they're at your level, hundreds and maybe even thousands of bullets to take down.

As I said, explain that to a fellow gamer and it makes sense. And it would for me too in another setting (like Destiny, Borderlands or Diablo). But here I can't stop thinking about it.

Somewhat related to the insane tenacity of the enemies is their efficiency at killing you. They will take damage off your health bar waaay faster than you would expect. And they can do that from frankly quite unrealistic distances. And they don't miss often. You are seen, you will start losing health fast if you don't take cover. At one point - and I'm not kidding - one dude started shooting me and I took damage before the shooting animation from that dude kicked in! I was zooming with my sniper at said enemy, and he saw me. Since I was zooming in I could see every one of his movements with accuracy, and I heard shots fired at me and I started losing health BEFORE he grabbed his gun and shot. Granted, the amount of time between the first shot and him grabbing his gun was a fraction of a second, but you would still expect it to be the other way around: grab your gun before you shoot me.

What else to say about this game... Oh, it looks very pretty and I think the sound design is on point. I don't know New York City that much, so I can't speak to the accuracy of the recreation of the city, but it looks awesome. Even my wife was staggered at how great it looked, saying things like "It's crazy how they created that whole city, all the details and everything." And she's right. The map is not as big as other open-world games like The Witcher or Skyrim, but it's dense and very detailed. It really feels as if it was inhabited days before the game takes place (and it probably was).

All in all, it's a great game. I'm not done yet, but it's pretty good so far. I just have to talk myself into the way they mixed RPG-elements with sheer realism.

I have played other stuff these past few weeks, but this is, as you will have guessed, was my go-to game during that time.

I will try my best to update what I'm playing more frequently for the next few months, see how it goes.

What Am I Playing NOW - Part VII

Considering the flurry of new titles released in the past 2 months, you might expect someone "running" a gaming blog must have played most, if not all, of the noteworthy titles. In most cases, you'd be 100% right. However, in my case, it most certainly wasn't the case. For various reasons (No free time, because I have a 3 months old daughter, and no money, because I have a shitty job that doesn't pay well enough for a man to take care of his wife, baby, rent, car AND gaming hobby. Sometimes you have to pick something to sacrifice. In this case the choice was pretty obvious!), I haven't played a more recent title than Destiny. I actually own an even more recent title in Borderlands : The Pre-Sequel! (pre-ordered with the E3 deal), but I haven't even opened it yet since I'm still not done with all Borderlands 2 DLCs. I also should mention that I played more recent games given away for free with the PS+ subscription.

The Sequel before the Pre-Sequel

Let's begin with Borderlands 2. Since my PS3 died last year and that, for some unknown reason, my saves weren't being uploaded to the PS+ cloud, I had to restart a character in Borderlands 2. I usually play as Zer0 (like I did Mordecai in the first game), but I wanted to try something different. Very different. I went with the Mechromancer, Gaige. I kinda regretted it at firt because I really liked Zer0's skills, but now I'me getting more used to her, it's not that bad. Anyway, I'm nearly done with the main game, after which I'll do the 2 DLCs (Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt and Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep) I didn't have time to play before my PS3 died. I loved the first two DLCs, so I'm glad I'll finally get to try the last two. Eventually. Hopefully before Christmas (I was not kidding when I said that I have no free time).

Destiny, still

It seems, when I listen to gaming podcasts, that everyone was done with this game 2 months ago. Not me! I'm level 15 and I did, if I remember correctly, only one story mission on Mars. It's a very fun game, although the story is very lacking. Uninteresting, to be exact. But the gameplay is so freaking solid. And I haven't unlocked all the abilities of the one class (out of three) I have tried. Looks like many hours of fun are still ahead of me.

South Park

I started South Park : The Stick of Truth about a month ago. Played it a bunch during a weekend when my wife and baby were away. It's a very, very funny game. It really feels like a South Park episode. The combat system is pretty basic and can get a little repetitive. But you don't play South Park for its innovative gameplay, you play it because it's freaking South Park. Because you get to hang out with Princess Kenny, Cartman, Butters and the likes.

No time = small and/or portable games

The subtitles says it all. I don't have much free time, so I often resort to quick little sessions of games you can start quickly and, especially, quit at a moment's notice without losing (too much) progress. Obviously portable games are perfect in that case. I've played a bit of Vita games, especially Dragon's Crown (though even after 4-5 hours, I can't "get" into the game that much) and other smaller titles like Luftrausers and Pix the Cat. But I've played a lot more 3DS during that time, most notably Super Mario 3D Land, The Legend of Zelda : Ocarina of Time 3D and Mario Tennis Open. To my surprise, the former isn't quite a great as I expected. Don't get me wrong, it IS a good game, but the controls aren't as intuitive and sharp as I would have hoped. Anyone who has ever played a core Mario title knows the controls, essential to the platforming genre, have always been stellar. Here, they're not bad, but they're not stellar. Otherwise, the levels are short and sweet, perfect for short gaming sessions.

There's not much to say about Ocarina of Time. It still is the greatest game ever, no matter the format or number of screens. Mario Tennis Open, on the other hand, is disappointing. I absolutely loved the Mario Tennis game for GameCube, it was pretty much perfect. I used to turn off the special/power shots most of the time to get a truer tennis experience. The special shots are fun at times, but in the long run, the mini-cutscenes before each one become tedious. In this one, you CAN'T turn them off. Seriously? That really sucks. It's a stupid choice by Nintendo, as far as I'm concerned. The minigames are still fun and the gameplay, other than the special shots, is still very solid. But man. That's a bummer...

Anyway, let's hope next time I'll have a newer game to write about!

What Am I Playing Now - Part VI

Damn, it's been a while.

As far as gaming is concerned, this summer has been particularly light for me. I moved in early July, been stuck in boxes for basically 6 weeks and - more importantly - my wife gave birth to our first child (it's a girl!) two weeks ago. So I was missing both time and money in the last 3 months to truly enjoy every shiny new game on the market. Thankfully I didn't really miss that much.

I bought a Wii U (the Legend of Zelda limited edition) so I played a bit of Wind Waker, which put a massive smile on my face for the 5 hours or so I've put into it. Even my wife enjoys watching me play it. It truly is a joyful, colorful and still - 11 years later - very beautiful game. You can't help but be happy playing it.

Also on that same Wii U I found the Call of Duty : Black Ops II game for a whopping 4.99$. I'm not known to be a massive CoD fan, but a few days earlier I played a bit of Zombies mode (in the first Black Ops) with my brother at his place and rather enjoyed it. The way I see it, I bought the CoD Zombies mode for five bucks, and that doesn't sound half-bad, even if the Wii U GamePad is quite massive to handle for a twitchy FPS like this. I might do the Single-Player campaign at one point. More on that if it ever happens.

At the hospital for basically a week with the wife and baby, I had time to try a few handheld games. I got to the Forest Temple in Ocarina of Time 3D and through the first two worlds in Super Mario 3D Land on my 3DS XL. Zelda is awesome because it's freaking Zelda, and Mario is great so far but I'm still getting used to the control scheme. It feels a bit unnatural how they did it. Anyway, the level design is - so far - simple but still very enjoyable.

Still at the hospital, I started Dragon's Crown on the PS Vita. Fun game so far, since I'm a sucker for loot-driven games. The story so far is uninteresting and most ladies involved happen to have exceedingly massive breasts (which at this point are a turn-off more than anything else), but the satisfying gameplay makes up for it. I'm not even two hours in though, so we'll see how this goes.

Back home, I played a lot of Fez (Free on PS+) on the PS4, but I still don't feel like I get that game, however fun it is so far. It's kind of funny because before starting it, a guy from a podcast I listen to weekly talked about how that game made him feel not smart with all its secrets and weird stuff going on. I understand how he feels I think. The game says I'm more than 70% in, but I don't feel closer to the end than 6 hours ago.

With the PAX sale going on this past week on the PS Store, I got Transistor and Trials Fusion for 13.49$ each, but I still haven't installed them on the console. They're definitely next on the PS4 list along with Plants vs Zombies : Garden Warfare, which I got for 18$ (!!) brand new yesterday. I can't wait to give all those a try, but it will be hard since Destiny is right around the corner...

And on the PS3 I'm veeeeery slowly going through MGS3 HD, enjoying it somehow even if I'm really terrible at stealth games. I'm almost 7 hours in but I'm pretty sure it took me 15+ realtime hours to get there. After that I'll go through Crysis 3 (free last month on PS+) then it's all Borderlands 2 DLCs and The Pre-Sequel.

Reading all I've just written, I realize this summer wasn't THAT light. But when something as important as the birth of your first child is involved, everything else seems insignificant!

What Am I Playing NOW - Part V

Since I got a PS4 a few weeks ago, you would think I would play on it non-stop, that my PS3 (my main seventh-generation console) would only gather dust. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. While I enjoyed three different games during that time on the PS4, I still spent more time on the PS3, trying to clean the slate before the big games arrive in spring.

These past few weeks I played mainly through Puppeteer, a very pretty and entertaining platformer which takes place in a theater setting. I say very beautiful because I think the artistic design is as impressive as anything I've experienced this generation. The game itself is longer than you'd expect - I would estimate around 10-12 hours to go through the seven acts - but it always fits the purpose of the story. As this game takes place in a theater with, curtains, acts and a "live" audience, you'd be entirely right to think that it would be focused on the storyline. The plot itself is not revolutionary, but it is delivered masterfully by the rich characters and fantastic voice-acting. The gameplay is sadly not as superb as the character or artistic design, but it is solid enough and offers the player a unique control scheme based around the use of "Calibrus", a pair of legendary scissors your hero use to do basically everything from slicing enemies to traveling at high speed through fabric. You also collect heads as you go along (your head - you are a puppet, and I should've mentioned that earlier - has been taken at the beginning of the adventure by the main enemy, the Moon Bear King), and those heads have unique abilities. However, these abilities are basically useless for the main storyline, as they only serve to open bonus stages (one per curtain, three per act) or to shower you with gifts like stars (the "coins" of Puppeteer). Overall, it's a pretty entertaining and charming game, and definitely one of the best PS3 exclusives of 2013.

I also just finished Contrast this past week, a PSN game for the PS4 which was - and still is - offered for free to the PS+ subscribers. You play as Dawn, a woman who can only be seen by a little girl named Didi, and you have the ability to shift in and out of walls using your own shadow and other objects'/people's shadows to move around. As Dawn, you help Didi discover what exactly is going on with her dysfunctional family - and actually help said family - through a series of 3D/2D puzzles. The ability to shift into walls is the focal point here, and is interesting enough to carry the game all by itself. Otherwise, the gameplay is a bit clunky and is subject to glitches at some points. Some puzzles, like the one where you have to repair an pirate ship attraction for a circus, are well done enough that you see the potential in this new gameplay mechanic, but the puzzles are wildly uneven and hinder the fun of the game. The game last about 3 to 4 hours, depending on you puzzle-solving skills and whether or not you're committed to finding all the collectibles. Overall, it's a solid game solely on that shadow-shifting gameplay mechanic, and I wouldn't mind seeing a sequel - or spiritual sequel - in the future.

 
Back to the PS3, I just started Katamari Forever, which has to be one of the weirdest games ever. I'm not sure I understand exactly what the point is, but basically you have to roll around with a Katamari (a ball upon which everything sticks) and form the largest possible ball, which will become a star. Why? Because your father, the King of All Cosmos, has destroyed every star for some reason. If it seems to you as a peculiar setting for a video game, you're entirely right. But so far (I've done 3 stages only), it's pretty entertaining even if I suck as I'm still getting used to the controls which use, almost exclusively, the two joysticks. More to come on this strange game.

Finally, we'll finish on the 3DS, where I've only just got the Master Sword in the new game The Legend of Zelda : A Link Between Worlds. It's a well-known fact for everyone around me that I LOVE the Zelda franchise, which I consider to be the greatest videogame series ever. A quick glance at my personal "Greatest Games of All-Time" rankings will tell you that much, as 3 Zelda titles occupy the top 10, including the #1 spot for, obviously, Ocarina of Time. This new title, A Link Between Worlds, is the sequel (a rare moment for a Zelda game) to A Link to the Past, the wildly - and widely - loved SNES masterpiece. A few hours in, it has become quite evident that Nintendo has pulled it off, creating a whole new game in a very familiar setting. Since I'm really not done with the game, let's point out the two most interesting gameplay features - so far - this game is offering. First, you'll gain, very early in the game, the ability to merge in - and out of - walls as a painting, which, as you might suspect, opens up the game quite a bit and makes for very interesting puzzles and combat strategies (you can't stay in wall forever, you have a gauge to consider). The transitions are seamless and very satisfying to execute, unlike in Contrast, where it often gets clunky. The second will be a real surprise to anyone who has played many Zelda games in the past. Most of the series' beloved items, like the bow, the bombs or the boomerang, are not found in dungeons as usual, acting like a clue to which item will be required to defeat the dungeon's boss. No, they're all at your house, available for rent from a merchant named Rovio. What you have to do, then, is rent whichever items (all of them if you want), for a price between 20 and 100 rupees, you'll want to use. You can keep the rented items as long as you please, unless you die, an event upon which Rovio will take his items back and you'll have to rent them again. At first I thought I wouldn't like this feature, since I've always loved finding items in dungeons, as it felt like a tremendous accomplishment. But so far it has proved to be another great idea by Nintendo, basically asking the player to plan ahead and keep a lookout on his rupees count in the case he dies. A Link Between Worlds, after a few hours, is shaping to be a real winner and clearly among the best games of 2013.

What Am I Playing Now - Part IV

When I wrote Part III of this feature nearly 3 months ago, I mentioned how "early" 2013 games like Tomb Raider and Bioshock Infinite were contenders for the best game of 2013 crown. While both are still amongst the best games of this whole generation, they were up against such excellent competition this year they had no chance to stay on top. That "excellent competition", you will have guessed, is Naughty Dog's The Last of Us.

While I finished that game maybe 6 weeks ago, its impact is too important to be ignored here. I'm not going to drag on for too long here, but let's just say The Last of Us will have a prominent role on the upcoming "Best Games of the Seventh-Generation" list.

Since I finished that epic, hype-shattering masterpiece (I'm not even exaggerating), I turned my attention to the third/fifth installment in Ubisoft's Triple-A franchise Assassin's Creed. After finishing, earlier this year, the good-but-not-excellent Assassin's Creed : Revelations and being, at last, intrigued by Desmond's story, I went ahead and bought Assassin's Creed III for 19 dollars at Costco, thinking it was a bargain. It was not. ACIII is by far the weakest entry in the series so far. The hero, Connor Kenway, is painfully uninteresting and very hard to root for. In fact, halfway through the game, I found myself rooting for the Templars instead of the Assassins. That's kinda problematic. Not only that, but the pacing of the game is completely off, the transition between cutscenes and gameplay was horrific and made the storyline very difficult to follow. At many points during the game I thought about abandoning it, only to fight the urge because I wanted to see how Desmond's story would eventually end... The ending was very awkward and off-putting, and not in a good way. I probably would have been better off reading the plot on wikipedia. Anyway, the game was somewhat saved by the solid gameplay and by the impressive amount of content (side quests, hunting, naval missions). Overall this game could have been a 4.5 / 10 and somehow ended up in the mid-6s range. Not abysmal, but certainly a long way off the quality of Ezio's adventures.

After that I played a game offered for free on PS+ a few months ago : Sleeping Dogs. This GTA-like puts you in the shoes of an undercover cop operating working his way inside a Hong Kong triad named Sun On Yee (Fun fact : if you google it you will eventually come across the Wikipedia entry for Sun Yee On, a real-life Hong Kong triad). The cop's story is interesting enough to take you through the 30 main missions this game offers, but he's pretty much a one-man-show throughout the game. The only other two or three interesting NPCs aren't exploited enough to make them stand out as much as they could. Same goes for the setting. Hong Kong looks very pretty in Sleeping Dogs, with tall skyscrapers and bright colored neons highlighting the Chinese and Western influences on the city. However, it's a bit dull. Sure, there are a few side quests available, random events triggered and a few favors to complete for people, but they get old quick and very few are actually fun. As far as the gameplay is concerned, Sleeping Dogs does one thing very well : hand-to-hand combat. Apparently influenced by some Tony Jaa's movie, the melee combat system is excellent, one of the best I've experienced in a non-fighting game except maybe for the Arkham franchise. But I have to say some of the in-combat QTE prompts weren't as sharp as I would have hoped, making for a few frustrating encounters. You have two kinds of experience points for the missions throughout the game : triad and police. Both will net you new skills as you reach levels depending on how badass you were (triad) or how well-behaved you were (police). There's also a "Face Meter" which fills up and levels up as you do favors for people. It's pretty much useless from a story standpoint, but it does let you buy better cars and "cooler" clothes. Overall I'd say it's a very good game. Certainly it's not as deep and complete as Grand Theft Auto IV, but the interesting story and melee combat system make it an enjoyable experience.

While playing Sleeping Dogs, I also finished a PSN game with an amazingly inefficient, yes still kinda funny, name : Bit.Trip presents Runner2 : Future Legend of Rhythm Alien. As it names suggests, it's an endless runner, meaning the character goes forward (in this case he goes right as it's a side-scroller) automatically and you have to jump, slide, attack or block to evade incoming obstacles and make it to the end untouched, or you'll have to restart (there's a least one checkpoint midway through every level). I think it's some kind of achievement when you can include a start-the-level-over feature in a game, yet still make it very enjoyable. It'll make you come back for more as you hunt for "Perfect"(collecting all golds in a level) and "Perfect+" scores (all golds + hit the target's bullseye at the end). It's also a great game for gamers who enjoy high scores, leaderboards and the sorts. Superb game all-around.

The "biggest" news of the past few months (since last entry) is me selling my Xbox 360 to buy a Nintendo 3DS and Ocarina of Time 3D. I just wasn't playing anything on the 360 except Forza Horizon (and Gran Turismo 6 is coming.), so I figured I should sell it for another console.

I hesitated about buying a Wii U instead of a 3DS, but it'll have to wait since there are not enough games just yet (Only two come to mind. Yikes...) to justify a 350$ hole in my budget. Anyway, I just started OoT3D but I won't be writing about it just yet. I also bought classic SNES game Chrono Trigger for the DS to play on my new 3DS. In fact, that game could have made the "Best Games I've Never Played" feature, but it won't! I'm 2 hours in and enjoying myself a lot. I usually don't love turn-based combat, but this one is fluid enough to keep things interesting. Great stuff so far!

What Am I Playing NOW - Part III

To tell you the truth, the short answer to that question for the past two months would be "Not much..." But of course, there's a (somewhat) longer answer. Yes, I haven't had the time to play as much as usual for various reasons : being quite busy at work since the end of the school year is approaching fast, some never-seen-before high temperatures in late april and early may which called for a lot of basket-ball outside, more activities planned with friends and family, etc. But I still finished two 2013 Game of The Year contenders and started two other good/great games.

The In-Between-Games Game
I always have some games that I play "during" other games, usually a racing game or a sports game because there's usually no storyline (or one so uninteresting that I simply don't care about) so I can play without mixing up plots or characters or whatever. Plus I can play those game on mute or with a very low volume, which is practical for someone like me who listens to many podcasts per week (sports related, all of them). So during those past two months I've been playing a lot of Forza Horizon and a bit of NBA 2K12 and Shift 2 Unleashed.

The Early Contenders
Earlier this year were released two superb games I had preordered ages ago : Tomb Raider & Bioshock Infinite. Both lived up to the hype and one could even argue that Tomb Raider exceeded it (although it has to be said it wasn't as hyped as Infinite). Anyhow, Tomb Raider proved to be as good as the so-called Tomb Raider clone, the Uncharted series. Perhaps the story or characters, besides Lara herself, weren't as developed as the Uncharted cast, but the gameplay was simply superb and I was glad the developer didn't copy Uncharted's infamous "everyone is shooting at me from everywhere even from places I've cleared 1.5 second ago" moments which kinda infuriated me at times (I'm not hating though, that trilogy is hall of fame worthy). Also, I liked how they  didn't feel obligated to follow Drake's globe-trotting expeditions and managed to exploit a small island and transform it into a semi-open world with tons of stuff to find, even the area to explore clearly was not that big. Great stuff!

As for Infinite, I was expecting sooo much out of Irrational's masterpiece it was practically unfair. But, amazingly, it lived up to the hype. I wasn't that fond of Booker for the first few hours, but that was mainly because I was speculating on the man's story. When you learn a bit more about him, you have to like him. As for Elizabeth, nothing wrong can be said about her. Charming, useful, deeply attaching, she's basically the best A.I. partner a video game has ever seen. You simply care for her, not unlike this new Lara Croft in Tomb Raider. The story is a bit hard to follow, especially the ending, which had me spending 30 minutes on the Internet to be sure I actually understood the right thing. But it's truly excellent, many developers have something to learn from Irrational for story-telling. I wish we would have seen more of the Songbird, but that's a small price to pay for such a superb game. The gameplay is perfect, the variety of actions you can do during combat is impressive and the set pieces very, very fun. The combat is harder than I would have expected, but nothing out of the ordinary. Anyway, it's a great, great game, clearly among the best I've played this generation.

I would have to talk about Assassin's Creed, but I have a piece coming on the series.

I first started writing this more than two weeks ago, but never had time to finish because of work and other obligations. Since that time, I've started XCOM : Enemy Unknown, finished Braid in a few hours (old, I know, but I had to finish it at one point) and my PS3 broke down for the third time. So I had to bring it to this repair man I know. Meanwhile I play more Vita and other consoles, but not that much since summer is starting at last and I can finally play basketball, tennis and other sports.

I'll try to do this more regularly in the next two months.

What Am I Playing NOW - Part II

So these past few weeks I've gone over more than a few games, traded-in about 8, bought 4 and started/finished some games on PSN I had bought a few weeks/months ago without playing them.

What's new?

The 4 games I bought : SSX, Ace Combat : Assault Horizon, Sonic Generations and DiRT 3.

SSX : Very, very good but somewhat infuriating at times for weird difficulty spikes. It takes quite some time getting used to the controls, especially in some "Survive" events where the track is usually narrower. You move your joystick a millimeter and your character goes flying a 100mph in a unexpected death hole on your left. It gets better when you get the feel for the different events and characters' abilities. But overall, it's a extremely fun game, and it's pretty rewarding as well when you win some races or "Trick it" events (I'm only a third into the career mode and have only done 20/160 events in Explore). When you get the grip of it : how to land tricks and stick together a combo, which characters to use when, how to use the different equipment, it becomes an exhilarating experience.

Ace Combat : Assault Horizon : Haven't started it yet, got it today...

Sonic Generations : I only did a few levels, but so far it's pretty fun, even if in side-scrolling mode it almost gave me a headache for unknown reasons (never happened to me before, pretty weird). I can't really pronounce myself on the game so far but it looks (a lot?) better than Sonic 4, which I feel was off with its controls and level design.

DiRT 3 : I first got DiRT 2, did about 25 career events then lost all my data when my PS3 died. So I went and got DiRT 3 Complete Edition instead of starting it all over again. (It doesn't make much sense, I know). Opus #3 feels more modern and polished, less "extreme" than the previous one, which captured better what rallying is about in its presentation. It's not a bad thing, just a style change. But the important part, the racing, feels as awesome as ever. It's a bit hard on slippery and uneven terrain (I never played a rally game before this one), but it is SO amazing to play.

PSN : Basically, I "finished" Crysis in a few days, finished Sly Cooper 1 HD in 3-4 days, started Red Dead Redemption Undead Nightmare.

Crysis : I was REALLY looking forward to this game, having heard reviewers and hordes of PC gamers sing its praises for years. I like the fact it gives you a lot more freedom than Crysis 2, you could always decide how to attack a base or complete an objective. The graphics are still amazing 4-5 years later (seriously, how the f*** did they do that?) and the gameplay is solid. Now I haven't finished the game yet, because I cannot figure out how the hell you beat that final alien/mech thing on the boat. I get killed in one-shot even if I'm hiding behind cover, my attacks don't do nothing to him/it. So I'm stuck there, if you can believe it. And it was easy all the way through (even on Hard/Delta). I don't understand... But apart from that, it's a great, great game.

Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus : I got this game for free (PS+ is worth it if you like to try many, many games, I'm telling you) and I really enjoyed it. I didn't have the chance to own a PS2 so that's one of the many gaming classics I've never tried. It's very easy, sure, but it's very enjoyable nonetheless. The story served the game well and was interesting enough, the locations were diverse and fun to play through, the characters endearing (well I did get mad at Murray in those levels you have to protect him, but that's only twice and it lasts about 2 minutes or so) and it simply looks great, HD or not.

Red Dead Redemption Undead Nightmare : Got this one at a surprising discount, the whole game was a mere 25$ (Red Dead AND Undead Nightmare) on PSN (PS+, again). The downside? Both games take about 18 gigs of HDD space together... good thing I've got a 500gb disk then... On to the game then. I liked Red Dead Redemption quite a lot, and was eager to see whether this expansion pack was really as great as reviewers made it out to be. Well so far it's pretty damn good! They did a good job keeping the same locations with those cool and crazy NPCs while going in another direction completely. And hey, who doesn't like to shoot some zombies in the head? No one! It's great fun to explore that world once again. I've only just started though, with only 3 or 4 main quests done and 2 side quests completed.

Side note to developers everywhere : THAT's how you make DLC/expansions worth their price.

What else?

Well I've lost my game save in Skyrim (that REALLY sucks...) so I'll start over again soon enough.... And there's something deeply wrong with NBA 2k12 in-game rating system... Oh, and I'm nearing on lvl 45 in Battlefield 3 multiplayer, I'm currently sitting at lvl 44, with a K/D ratio of about 2.1... You can add The Witcher 2 (360) on my 2012's most-wanted list. I really want to try this game...

What Am I Playing NOW - Part I

Happy New Year to everybody! I know I'm a tad late, but I still think it's polite to wish you all a happy year. And I hope that it will be as rich as 2011 was, gaming-wise.

So, in this first edition of "What Am I Playing NOW", I'll start with a game I've only just beaten yesterday : Prince of Persia : The Forgotten Sands. The latest PoP was actually a very, very good game that I enjoyed a lot more than the last cel-shaded outing where you couldn't die. That one wasn't bad by any means, as I enjoyed the relationship between the two protagonists and the artistic graphics, but it was nothing memorable.

So, The Forgotten Sands, let's just start by pointing out that the gameplay overshadowed every other aspect of the game. Seriously, the free-running was incredibly well executed, it felt fluid, intuitive and the regularly added powers all felt natural and added some thrill and excitement to the great wall-running/climbing and puzzle solving. The emphasis on timing in the latter parts of the game really made the game that much more fun. Graphically, let's just say that beige, grey and brown walls ruled the day, even if some settings were pretty interesting in an artist's point of view. The weaker point of the game is the story, which was somewhat original, but I thought it wasn't presented very well. That Djin lady (I forgot her name) really was boring. Anyway, a very fun game, the best Prince of Persia I've played since Sands of Time on GameCube.

There's a game I've only just started that is, so far, extremely fun : Rayman Origins. I'll start by saying I've never played a Rayman game before, except on my brother's iPhone, which was certainly not the best example of what the series have to offer. Anyway, it's bloody fantastic. I LOVE the cartoony graphics and the sheer silliness of the characters and enemies. The "platforming" isn't bad either, while maybe not as sharp as, say, the Mario series (then again, which game is?), but still very, very good. I played the game for maybe an hour after opening it yesterday and I was smiling all the time, and that's a great way of saying that it's very enjoyable. More on Rayman Origins soon!

I've just started Gears of War 2 as well, but I've played only for 30-45 minutes so I can't say much about it yet, except that it looks a lot like Gears 1 (obviously...) but with some tweaks that made it a bit better. Looking forward to play it more!

And, last but not least, The Legend of Zelda : Skyward Sword. I haven't read a thing about the dungeons or the length of the game (it's Zelda, by far my favorite game series ever, I don't want to spoil a thing), but I'd say I'm past the halfway point of the game, or so it feels (yes, I've played so much Zelda games I can actually feel where I am in the story). Let's just say that it's a superb game, predictably, and that Zelda games always find a way to innovate while staying true to their formula. It's quite amazing. I'm still not entirely sold on motion controls, but it feels more natural than it did in the first few hours. GoTY candidate for sure.

I also played a tad of Fable II (still at the beginning of the story) while waiting for my brother to give me my Wii back. It's good so far, but I haven't much to say about it, it's tough to comment on an RPG so early in the game. More to come as well.

I could say I'm playing more game than that (and I am), but all others are basically Sports game or online shooters, and those games you can pop in your console, play for 15 minutes to satisfy some craving, then go on with my life. That's a lot harder to do with Zelda or Fable II. Those games are NHL 12, NBA 2K12, Forza 4, BF3 and MW3.

Games to start soon : Skyrim, GTA IV Complete (yes, 3 years later...) and a few PSN games as well.

See you soon!