Tag Archives: Xbox

Digital Playground

Console Look Ahead 2020: A Year of Gaming

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Introduction

In our last article, we reviewed our 2020 in console and PC gaming. You probably noticed one big omission from our list. That’s by design. Every week, we’ve done a look back, a look ahead, and then crowned the game of the year for mobile, tabletop, and now console and PC gaming. This article will take a console look ahead 2020. Luckily, both Sony and Microsoft released new consoles recently.

Why doesn’t Microsoft just go with the traditional numbering?

That’s right. The long (?) awaited XBox Series X and PS5 hit the market last month. Before I go on, allow me some time to vent. Following up on my question in the image, “Why does Microsoft insist on such difficult naming convention for their consoles?” If they wanted to be different and pretentious, there are always Roman numerals. I wonder how many kids are going to get the wrong console because it’s the XBox Series X, but there is also an XBox One Series X. I found this out as I was researching this article. Okay, rant over.

Honestly, at this point, there’s no point in reviewing specs for the two. As my 13 year old has already discovered, both consoles are essentially the same in that regard. “Dad, why do people fight about Sony and XBox?” I’m not sure, Buddy, other than people just need to fight about things. I say, “Life’s too short. Enjoy all the things.” What, then, will I discuss? Honestly, I’m not sure. I’ve never been this close to actually buying a “next gen” console this close to launch date. Discover with me what this console look ahead 2020 is going to be.

Sony PlayStation 5

For the 5th generation of Sony’s famous PlayStation (I know that because it’s called the PlayStation 5), they’ve gone with a sleeker design than previous generations. I honestly have no idea why. Every other PlayStation has been a brick and we’ve liked it!

Dating myself with this reference. But, what else is new?

If I’m being honest here, I find the design off putting. I’m not usually much of a traditional American. However, when it comes to my consoles, I like them like I like my women. Thick and beefy like bull. Uh, I may have revealed too much with that comment. Forget it was ever said.

Moving on, Chris mentioned in one of our conversations that he prefers PlayStation to XBox. Because Sony is primarily a Japanese company, they give access to obscure Japanese fighting and RPG titles that he likes. I’m not as familiar with those types of games. However, there are some exclusive titles like Last of Us, Ratchet and Clank, and especially Spider-Man that I find intriguing.

Microsoft XBox Series X or S or SX or SSX Tricky (another timely reference)

I mean, seriously. Again, I’m not usually one to criticize a name (unless it is stupid, outdated, and racist). But, what the hell is that name? It makes it sound like there have been 10 of these things. Given all the redesigns and such, maybe there have been. Also, what is the S? Small? Who the hell knows?

That reminds me. I haven’t even discussed that aspect of the consoles. In addition to the “main” release, both companies have designed a digital only version of their consoles. Chris and I planned to get together to talk about this in the latest attempt at getting the podcast up and running. But, and check off this bingo square again, life got in the way. This time it is much more serious than anything in the past, but I do hope we get a chance to talk at each other more about this soon.

Regarding the Series X, look at that monster. It’s like Microsoft finally just shrugged and said, “F**k it. If we’re going to build a PC, here’s your PC, ingrates.” That thing is a monster. It will be the only thing left in your house with the cockroaches after the nuclear fallout or the supervolcano under Yellowstone finally blows. The Series S is much more dainty like the PS5.

Aw, who’s a cute widdle baby console?

Now, about those exclusives. It does feel weird having a console war about exclusive software. But, honestly, what other differences are there at this point? I bought an XBox one simply because at the time it had Minecraft because Microsoft had just acquired Mojang. They can no longer say that. I think you can play Minecraft on your toaster at this point.

And, this gives me the chance to share the Doom printer video once again.

That’s not to say that they don’t have exclusives. There’s Halo (shameful Noob admission here, I’ve never played it), Gears of War (which Chris and I love for couch coop), and Forza. I looked up Forza a few weeks ago when someone reminded me of Gran Turismo (my all time favorite racing game besides the one Chris showed me where you could pimp your car and street race). Honestly, though, that PS lineup looks stronger.

The Verdict (Console Look Ahead 2020 ended up just being a discussion of games)

Time to wrap up this console look ahead 2020. Technically, I guess it is for 2021 since the consoles came out for the Christmas holiday and, if I get one at all this close to launch it won’t be until February or March at the earliest, but we’re not much for technicalities around here. We are for run on sentences though and that one was a doozy. Sorry, focus, we’re almost done here.

Like I said, it feels weird to Bloods/Crips over software, but here we are. I do like Gears of War for couch coop like I said. I’m not a Halo guy and I tried Forza but it didn’t grab me. Sony has Ratchet and Clank, which Liam said he’d play. Last of Us is my FOMO game of the last two years. Plus, Spider-Man. Need I say more? I will. I just learned that Gran Turismo 7 is scheduled for next year. Sony it is. But, all of this conversation is moot because we all know Nintendo has the best exclusives by far.

Digital Playground

Mortal Kombat 11 Kombat Pack 2 – Great, Good, Decent

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Introduction

Wait, I have to buy Mortal Kombat 11 Kombat Pack 2? I’m pretty sure the game was a gift a couple of years ago. The friend was kind enough to purchase a version that included some skin packs and the first Kombat Pack. Therefore, this is the first time I’ve had to put money into the game. Okay, that’s not entirely true. I did happily pay for the expansion that included Robocop, Fujin, and Sheeva. But it’s the first time I’ve paid for cosmetics. No, wait, that isn’t true either.

Why am I lying about this? I guess I am just as susceptible to the Reddit mob as the next guy.

I purchased both skin packs and at least one announcer voice. It’s weird that both felt the need to lie and then felt the need to explain myself. Sorry that I’m treating this article like online therapy. I will get back to the subject at hand. Is Mortal Kombat 11 Kombat Pack 2 worth the money?

I mean, ultimately, that’s for you to determine. However, maybe you’re like me. A father of 3 boys who recently took a job that pays more money and it doesn’t matter to you that this game ultimately cost you over 100 dollars. Maybe I’ll have some insight for you. Wait, what? Oy vey. There’s that brutal honesty once again. Well, if you’re still reading, let’s get on with the review.

Decent – Rambo

Move Set – In keeping with the theme of the 80s action movie icons, Rambo’s move set is a bit clunky. He doesn’t combo easily, at least not for a slow old guy like me. With that being said, he is more fluid than Robocop or Terminator and more fun to play. If you’ve ever seen a First Blood movie, you will recognize his bowie knife and bow and arrow. Of the three, he was always my least favorite character. Ironic now that I will probably end up playing him more than the others in this game.

Finishers – Both of his fatalities are consistent with the character. The first one has the iconic wire trap and bamboo and the second involves a string of bullets (Is that what it’s called? I’m a libtard hippie who doesn’t use guns often). I prefer the first. His friendship is fun because of the nostalgia of playing laser tag with the boys. I did get a chuckle when he did the crawl from one behind one inflatable to the other.

Ending – John Rambo has no use for being a god. He wants what he always wants. To simply retire to a cabin in the woods in peace. It would seem as if he finally gets that wish from Kronika’s hourglass.

Good – Rain

Move Set – As I was working through the tutorial, I was sure that Rain would be my favorite character from this pack. Part of his style combines Noob Saibot and Fujin, two of my favorite characters. He is a fun character to play, but you can deduce from process of elimination who my actual favorite from this set is. Damn you angry, internet mob. You win this one.

Finishers – Both of his fatalities are fun. One has an homage to the classic Queen album, II, before eviscerating his opponent. The other has similarities to one of Kung Lao’s in the game with a twist at the end that had me chuckling. His friendship is not one of the more inspired ones. Hey, they can’t all be winners.

Ending – Rain goes a bit Kill Bill on the revenge trip against his father and his other sons. These types of endings always crack me up. They’re given ultimate power over time and they use it to exact personal revenge? I get that motivations are different, but come on now.

Great – Mileena

Move Set – Before this Kombat Pack, Ed Boon’s Twitter feed was a non stop barrage of requests for adding Mileena into the game. I get that Twitter isn’t real life and most of it was for the meme, but it had to have been tiring for him to deal with on a daily basis. Well, she’s here, nerds. You win. I didn’t want to like her character simply for this fact, but I can’t deny. She is the most fun to play beyond a shadow of a doubt. Sure, part of that is nostalgia. But, she is just a well rounded character and worth the wait.

Finishers – That’s not to say that it is all roses and unicorn farts. Neither of her fatalities are particularly interesting. I will say one thing about her second. Instead of exploding her opponent’s head, she implodes it. That was a nice touch. After trolling Mileena fans with Kitana’s friendship, the Edenian princess shows up in teddy bear form for dear sister’s.

Ending – Another revenge story? It would seem that the writers are gonna beat this horse until it’s dead. I mean, this one is consistent with the character’s singular obsession with her sister and parents, so there’s that.

The Verdict

Is Mortal Kombat 11 Kombat Pack 2 worth the money? Of course I’m going to say yes to justify the fact that I spent the money on it. In all honesty, though, 15 bucks isn’t too much to spend for 3 characters that are absolutely fun to play. In order to write this article, I sped through the tutorial and 5 opponent tower in order to get the endings. It only took about an hour at most. So, it is worth about what minimum wage should be. If you were smart and waited, definitely pick up the Ultimate edition as there is so much more in the game like the Krypt, which could have been a game unto itself.

Digital Playground

Mortal Kombat 11 AfterMath Reaction

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KvpDKlAY1k

Thanks for watching my Mortal Kombat 11 Aftermath Reaction Video. A few days ago, I noticed an announcement on Ed Boon’s Twitter account. It was about something coming for Mortal Kombat 11. People speculated that new story content was coming. They were partially right. Mortal Kombat 11 Aftermath will arrive on May 26th with new story content, 3 characters, some skin packs, new stages, stage fatalities, and friendships!

I’ve never done a reaction video before. However, this one seemed perfect for my first one. I watched the video over a dozen times. It still makes me smile every time. There is so much in this update. Recently, I was told that some people are upset that it costs money.

Hey, you’re all entitled to your opinion. When I first discovered that it was going to cost 40 dollars, I was initially shocked. However, I talked to a buddy about it and he didn’t hesitate in his pre-purchase. That’s all I needed to hear. I’m going to put money down next Thursday when I get paid. The content alone is enough.

As you know if you read my article, I loved the story of Mortal Kombat 11. They hired an actual writer to do the story this time and it shows. Getting more of that story alone is a good thing and I’m willing to pay for that. Besides, we all knew deep down that this was going to cost us something. This is the same company that charged money for a Frost character that you could unlock simply by playing through the story mode. So, pay for it or don’t. I’ll be logged in on the 26th ready to play.

I hope you enjoyed my Mortal Kombat 11 Aftermath Reaction video!

Digital Playground

XBox One Minecraft Tour

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Introduction

XBox One Minecraft Tour? I’ve been planning to do Minecraft in May for the last three years. Generally speaking, May is when things ramp up in school. This year is no different, but the ramping up looks quite different. As a result, I will at least get to do Minecraft in the first week of May for now. The rest of the month, I’m going to focus on family games.

Similar to Mortal Kombat, I’m not sure how I’d do a review of Minecraft at this point. I don’t think there have been any updates recently other than a hot fix of some bugs. Additionally, if you’ve ever even seen a screenshot of Minecraft, you pretty much know the game. Finally, for the purposes of this introduction, there aren’t the same kind of mods on XBox One as on the PC, so I can’t really review them.

As a result, I’m going to do the same thing I did with Mortal Kombat. I will record a couple of videos giving a tour of two worlds that Quinn and I have been working on recently. Check them out and hopefully these are the videos that get me uploading to YouTube more often!

Massive Mine World

Quinn started this world and I joined after he had built the small house and started to dig out the underground base. I added a Nether portal that he moved into the base, which was a better location. I, as I often do, started to mine for diamonds. My latest idea is to try to clear out the bordered level 12 that is inside our mines. We’ll see how that goes. See the video below for the tour.

Video coming soon.

Desert House

Quinn also started this world. He’s been playing a ton of Minecraft lately. As I was watching, I saw the multicolored sand mountains in the background. That gave me the idea to start the house that you will see in the tour. Check out the video for what I mean.

Video coming soon.

Thank You

Thank you for joining me for my XBox One Minecraft Tour. I hope you enjoyed the videos of our works in progress. I will continue to update, especially if I get that area cleared out in the Mine World. Otherwise, hope you enjoy your time in Minecraft. If you haven’t played it before, you are missing out. It’s a simple, but fun time!

Digital Playground

Aging Out of Video Games

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Introduction

I don’t remember how or why we got on the topic. I know that it started as a text conversation with Chris. We talked about the new Pokemon Go crossover game for the Switch, moved on to Street Fighter collection, and ended with some unnecessary Fortnite bashing. It was about then that we came to the conclusion that we may be getting to old for the current generation of video games.

Get off my lawn.

I think I’ve known about this issue for some time. I never considered that it might be a symptom of something larger until Chris and I talked. Now it all makes sense. We just have to fast track the plan of converting the podcast to 2 Old Guys Gaming. We can complain about kids these days, eat dinner at 4 in the afternoon, and argue with Gamestop clerks about out of date coupons. Come to think of it, we already do 2 out of three of those things.

A Note About Repetition in Video Games

On the podcast, we talked about two topics that I want to clarify. Both were addressed but, as usual, I have more to say. The topic of repetition came up a few times in the context of current shooters. The one quote that stuck with me was from Chris’s dad who said something along the lines of, “Now you’re shooting zombies. Now you’re shooting aliens. Now you’re shooting bugs.” I immediately pushed against the argument that repetition is the enemy of games.

The point that I made and reiterate for the sake of clarity here is that repetition is the backbone of video games. Due to the restrictions of the power of any given system and the storage of media, the game play of most games is limited in the things you can do. Some of my favorite games like Mario mentioned in the podcast and Minecraft are considered boring and repetitive by many. When we, and anyone else, complain about repetition, we are complaining about the type of repetition in the game and that it isn’t anything that we’d want to repeat over and over.

After all, I once heard Minecraft as “you mine stuff and then craft things” early in it’s life cycle and that’s exactly it.

A Note about Trash Talk in Video Games

Chris and I fully sounded like two old guys shouting at clouds on this podcast. As I edited it, i kept hearing, “but it’s different” and it caused me to wonder how it was different. I finally came to a similar conclusion as I did in the podcast. Trash talk was different then because it was in person. Furthermore, you mostly just trash talked people you knew. Maybe they weren’t friends, necessarily, but you saw them around the arcade. Now there’s some anonymous chump telling you things about your mother you never knew. Also, like I said in the show, the other person always had the option to forgo the video game and just punch you directly in the face if you went too far with your mouth.

Staying Current with Video Games

I promised myself after buying an original PlayStation only to see the price drop a few weeks later that it would be the last time I’d pay full price for a console. It is a promise I’ve kept except for buying a Wii U a few years ago to keep the Santa delusion alive. Seems reasonable, right? What does that have to do with getting old? Well, one of the comforting lies we tell ourselves to make getting old more bearable is that it imbues us with wisdom.

And, we’ve got a lot of old morons out there.

The thing about it is that my commitment to being current has gotten less and less, well, committed. I mentioned on the podcast that the PS2 was the last console that I bought relatively early in its life. My wife got me an XBox 360 for Christmas one year. I bought an XBox One only this year and really only for Minecraft. I just bought a used PS3 last year. I don’t own, nor do I see myself buying unless maybe to play against Chris, a PS4. I might buy a Switch, but that’s different and will be covered at a later time.

Get All These Shooter Video Games Off My Lawn

I’ve been trying to figure out when my hate for shooters appeared. In fact, DOOM and Hexen are two of my favorite gaming franchises of all time. It became a running gag in my house that I’d ask of every electronics gift I received, “Can you play DOOM on it?” The new version of DOOM was a driving force in my decision to finally get an XBox One.

Apparently I wasn’t the only one. Yes, that’s an inkjet printer touch screen.

I think it goes back to when the games became more military focused. Without going into too  much detail, I’ve never been a fan of war as entertainment. So Call of Duty and World at War and Battlefield and Battlefront and Black Ops–and some or all of these might be the same game which shows my ignorance–just don’t appeal to me in the slightest. The fact that I’ll still play Gears of War and games where you shoot zombies acts as further evidence to support this theory.

The current generation of shooters is well beyond my capacity to understand. I mean, I get the point of the games. I just don’t understand the point of the games, if that makes any sense. PUBG was a novelty. Fortnite was an unnecessary inevitability and now the whole landscape is lousy with these games. No thanks, no way, no how. I will gladly concede that I’m too old for this stuff, to paraphrase Danny Glover from Lethal Weapon.

Conclusion (or is it a Eulogy in this case?)

Mourn not for me, new generations of nerds. Not that you will. Those who benefit from progress rarely consider those that came before. I never considered nor mourned for the old guys who used to play Pac-Man and Donkey Kong for high scores when Super Mario, Metroid, and Zelda became the games of choice. As I’m sure that they never mourned for the folks who grew up with Pong as the pinnacle of technological advancement.

I will wait on the sideline for retro to be “it” again. I know that there is always a segment of the population that will always consider retro to be “it”. But, they are usually the old farts who have been left behind. Then we just have to hope that the youths get bored of the new hotness and our old ways will be there waiting.

Digital Playground

First Impressions of Destiny 2

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Introduction

One of the reasons that I finally ordered an XBox One after so long of living in the past (well, really, I always live in the past when it comes to video games) is that a deal came along that I simply could not ignore. Chris texted me about it because he knew that I was looking. I also suspect that he secretly might be working for Microsoft and that’s how he can afford such a luxurious lifestyle. Granted, he did buy a PS4, but that’s exactly the kind of thing that a secret Microsoft employee would do to make it seem like he’s not working for The Man.

The bundle that Chris told me about was an XBox One with Forza, the Forza Hot Wheels DLC, GTA V (Five), and another game that I can’t remember right now. Well, the main reason that I wanted an XBox One was for cross platform Minecraft. I could buy the game (again), and would have. However, I noticed that Wal*Mart had the exact same bundle available with Minecraft instead of Forza. I like Forza, but I have not played it even a fraction of the time I’ve spent with Minecraft. That sealed the deal.

Minecraft is a hell of a drug.

It still took me a week or two to order the system. I wanted to have ample time to play it and my break (this week) was still a couple of weeks away. By the time I got around to ordering it, the other game (that I can’t for the life of me remember), was sold out. They were offering Destiny 2 instead. No big deal. The game that I really wanted was Minecraft. As I discussed in my last article, GTA is always just big, dumb fun.

In my discussions with Chris and Kevin about Destiny 2, I mentioned that I had heard mixed reviews of the game. I’m learning more and more that might not actually be the truth. Because of the proliferation of voices due to the internet and social media, we tend to hear and read things that may actually be popular opinion but become part of the zeitgeist due to repetition. What’s the saying?

If you repeat a lie enough times, eventually it becomes the truth.

In spite of the negative comments that I heard about Destiny 2, I bought the bundle. I suspect that they might have just been because people like bashing Activision whenever they can. It started (at least I started to notice it) when they invested in Blizzard a few years ago. I find it funny that one of the little guys who were just trying to make good games when I was a kid have become the 900 lb. gorilla in the room and a big bad simply because they want to give developers money to develop good games. I will never understand the psyche of nerds today.

The Good

In my GTA V (Five) article, I talked about the story in this section. Those of you who are regulars at the page know that I often talk about the story with games. I understand that not everyone is into good stories, but I feel like enough of us are that they keep trying to appease us with decent to good stories. Again, take this with a grain of salt because I don’t remember the source, but I heard the argument that some of the best narratives today are in video games. Actually, I just remembered where I heard it. Christine and I have been binge watching the MTV Scream show and a character made the point.

So, yeah….

Ignoring the source, I do think that they have a point. Since the graphics of games have gotten so good and realistic, they can’t really be used to sell a game anymore. As a result, there are more or less two ways to sell a game. First is with gameplay and the second is by writing a compelling story. While Nintendo has decidedly gone in the direction of gameplay, many other developers have chosen to hire better writers. Heck, one developer makes its money solely on “Story Mode” games.

I appreciate both methods and am still a huge fan of Nintendo. However, as I get older and my time is at more of a premium, I find myself playing and replaying those games that offer the story. If there’s any question about that, I have played through Portal 2 twice, once by myself and once while the boys watched to show them the story. I discovered it again the other day when I was trying to hook up a controller to the computer for Minecraft and started playing through it again. It wasn’t at my favorite part of the story yet, so I didn’t finish it again, but it’s only a matter of time.

The cake may be a lie, but Portal 2 is the real deal.

Again, similar to GTA V (Five), I’ve only gotten to play a bit of the game the other night before passing out on the couch. Whereas I only got a little bit of the way through the tutorial missions there, I am about 2 hours into Destiny 2. In that time, I can confidently say that the story is going to be good. It’s not a terribly original story and might actually be the only story that these types of games are producing at this point, but it is a good start and I can tell that it should keep me interested in the game for a bit.

The Bad

I’ve never been a fan of first person shooters. Well, that’s not technically true. One of the first games I ever became obsessed with was DOOM and then Hexen after that. I got Quake for the Nintendo 64, but I didn’t play that much. By that time, I had moved on to 3D platformers because of Mario 64 and Spyro the Dragon. I also really liked sports games, especially MLB The Show for the PSP. It wasn’t that I didn’t like FPS games, it’s just that there were so many other games out at the time and what felt like a glut of first person shooters. I think this was around the time that all of the military games were being released. Because I wasn’t a social gamer at the time, I had absolutely no use for them.

Since then, Chris and I have been terrible at one of the Call of Duty games and one of the Rainbow Six games, so I’m more willing to play FPS.

Sure the game has some interesting mechanics. I like the “ghost” for each character. It’s sort of like your own personal GLADoS, only not as funny nor sarcastic. Also, at least with the type of character that I chose, there is a mystical element to the game similar to that from Hexen. However, at the heart of the game, it is just a typical first person shooter and not a revolutionary one like (broken record time) the Portal series.

The Ugly

When I was talking to Chris about the game, he mentioned that it was one of those “always online” games. I didn’t know exactly what that meant, but now I do. During the game, it seemed like other players were able to join me during different parts of the game. I first noticed it when I was playing through and I saw that someone needed me to revive them. Shocked that someone else was in my game, I missed the chance and apologize if that was you.

Though, to be fair, I’m no good at reviving even if I’m in the same room as the other person. Ask Chris.

This in and of itself was not ugly. I actually didn’t mind having the help and needed it because I died twice during that part of the game even with the assists. But, I was also talking to Kevin about the game and he mentioned that the “always online” part of the game extends to personal lobbies that you might make to play with friends. Those lobbies are always open and other players will come in to grief you and your friends while you’re trying to play the game. I generally avoided PvP realms in World of Warcraft because of the griefing that people would do. I just don’t understand the appeal. So, if that’s something that actually is a problem in the game, I want no part of it.

The Verdict

Similar to my Grand Theft Auto article, this one is based on limited experience with the game. As a result, my opinion may change and I can revisit this in a month or two if I find that things are radically different then. As of right now, I very much enjoyed my time in the game. The story is engaging, the gameplay is just different enough to keep me interested and I don’t exactly have many other games that are occupying my time right now.

Digital Playground

(Very Limited) 1st Impressions of GTAV

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Introduction

Always on the cusp of several years ago when it comes to just about anything, I finally purchased an XBox One. “Why,” you might ask, “after all of this time, did you finally buy an XBox One?” If you are asking about the choice of console, there’s really only one answer and it is the answer that regular readers of the page will recognize. The XBox one version of Minecraft is the first one to be cross platform with the Windows 10 and mobile version. As Minecraft is still a huge deal in our house, that sealed the deal on the XBox as the next console in the house.

If you are more wondering why I finally dropped the cash to get one, my wife was wondering the same thing. It came in the mail on a day that they were all home due to snow, so I took it into the living room to show Aiden because I knew that he was excited about it and waiting for it to arrive. “What’s that?” She asked. Aiden replied, “An XBox One.” “Why did you buy an XBox One?” She inquired. This time I replied. “Because I’ve been working my balls off for 2 months and I finally have the money.” Aiden, our child who is most enamored with “bad words” giggled at my response and then asked me to set up the console so that he could play some Minecraft.

Minecraft is a hell of a drug.

Over the next two days, I got texts from both Chris and Kevin asking me how I was enjoying the new console. To be fair, I had texted them both that I finally ordered the thing and when it arrived. However, I hadn’t even been able to play it yet when they both asked me, so I had to sheepishly reply that the boys were enjoying it, but I hadn’t had a chance. I did try to play Grand Theft Auto V (Five), but as soon as I put the disk in, it started to install something that looked like it was going to take at least an hour and I thought I had to be up at 6 the next morning. Plus, I just didn’t have the patience for that. Back in my day, you put the game in and you played it!

Well, I’m here to report that I finally got to play GTAV (Five) for about an hour last night. That’s the only game that I’ve gotten to play so far, so this article will just be about my first impressions of the game. I hope to do something on cross platform Minecraft next week and maybe in a few weeks, I can do a deeper dive on GTA and maybe even Destiny 2 (the other free game that I got with the console) after that.

The Good

Bear in mind that I have only made it through (maybe) half of the tutorial of the game. I had a beer last night, the second mission is a driving one, and I am proof that you should not drink and drive, not even in a video game. I couldn’t, for the life of me, finish that mission. So, I was only able to see the opening shootout, the cut scenes with the psychologist and introduction of the two repo men, and some of the driving mission before I failed it. Not once, but twice.

No lie. No joke. This is as far as I made it in my first attempt. I made it to the part where you cut through the alley on the second one. Don’t drink and drive, kids.

Nevertheless, what I saw of the story was good. It isn’t that much different from what I remember in previous games. For reference, I played GTA3 to the end and then used the tank code to beat it so that I could see the ending, played a ridiculous amount of “try to jump the canal on your motorcycle” in Vice City, and just couldn’t get into San Andreas because it felt a little to real for me. I had a similar reaction to movies like Boyz N The Hood.

Even with the familiar feel, I was still invested in the characters that I met. Rockstar does a good job with their storytelling in their games and that is something that I appreciate. In fact, the story for Red Dead Redemption was not terribly original, but it was very well executed. The same can be said for this story. I can’t wait to finish that second mission to see what kinds of crazy trouble I can get into and what weirdos I meet.

The Bad

The story might be good, but I already wrote that it is, to put it mildly, familiar. I also mentioned Red Dead Redemption earlier. By the time that game came out, I had played enough GTA that I knew the formula. As a result, it took a while for me to actually play that game. I often derisively referred to the game as Grand Theft Auto: Horse. Consequently, when I finally got around to playing Red Dead Redemption, I got a good lesson in not judging a game by its cover because it remains one of my favorite games I’ve ever played.

And, the 2nd one became like Portal 3 or Half-Life 3, a fairy tale told to children to keep them docile and well behaved.

I mean, can you blame me? Grand Theft Auto 3 was pretty revolutionary at the time. They took a top scrolling racing game and developed it into a fully realized 3 dimensional sandbox game that was almost on par with Super Mario 64. I already told you that I played that one so much that I got to the end. Granted, it was with a cheat at the very end, but hopefully over the last 3 years of this web page I’ve successfully painted the picture that I am a casual and lazy gamer that has only gotten more lazy due to the time commitment of adulthood.

So, what do you do when you have a successful formula in movies, games, or anything else really? You abuse that formula to within an inch of its life. Humans are more creatures of habit than anything, so you can exploit that fact and just release the same thing over and over and people will still buy it. As a result, Vice City was just GTA with motorcycles! San Andreas was GTA with bikes. I never played 4 because I soon tired of the formula, but I assume that’s when they introduced airplanes and helicopters. If not, then this is that game.

I am invested in the game, so I will continue to play it. I don’t expect to be blown away by any new technological advances. Unlike another game that I started to play that is very much like the original, The Sims, I suspect that I might get bored of this one earlier. Who knows, maybe the story and nostalgia will be enough to keep me engaged right to the end.

Then again, the new DOOM (and Fallout 4) beckons and DOOM was my first pew pew game love, so it might end up winning my heart again.

The Ugly

I may be an old man. And I probably can remove the may from that previous sentence. And I definitely can remove the probably from that previous sentence. I am an old man. I’m not ancient, but I am (statistically speaking) on the other side of the proverbial hill. So, what I’m about to say won’t come as much of a shock.

Granted, I haven’t made it too far into the game, but so far the violence level is high, but it’s not off the charts. So far, it is just spatters of blood. Certainly nothing like the disemboweling that happens in the Mortal Kombat series. I expect that to change, so something might come along to shock me into reconsidering my time with this game.

The other mature themes have yet to show up, too, so I can’t speak on them. But, the language. I’ve only played through maybe 5 minutes of actual game and they’ve used the “F” word more than a full length movie. I mean, I haven’t been counting, but when the phrase “F” this “F”ing “F” is used, that seems a bit excessive. Bear in mind that I’ve used that phrase more than once in my life.

Heck, the reason that I laugh so hard at the soap scenes in A Christmas Story is that I’ve lived it more than once.

So, I’m no stranger to swearing and I don’t even consider swearing that bad. It’s just that when anything is excessive, over the top, or it feels like it’s being used to cover up weak storytelling or dialogue, I get a little nervous. Also, I’ve listened to a podcast series recently that has changed my mind a little bit about the extraneous effects of certain pop culture phenomenon. I’m not going to jump into the GTA is contributing to the downfall of American life (except I kind of am skirting the issue), but we can’t possibly know all of the repercussions of any single event. Now that I’m older and the kids will eventually have to take over for me and the other old farts, I worry what legacy we’ve created for them.

The Verdict

This has become my calling card. Like the Tick with “Spoon!”, I have “It’s *fill in the blank*.” There’s a reason for that and I wrote about it earlier. When you find something that works, you repeat that formula until it doesn’t work anymore because, well, why would you? Why take the resources to develop something new that will take time when you can just slap a new wrapping on the old thing and nobody will question you?

Well, that’s where we are with GTA. Good or bad, it’s GTA at this point. They might give it updated graphics. They might be able to convince some Hollywood hotshots to lend their voices to the series. They might let you drive helicopters or boats. They’ll put in an online mode. But, in the end, it’s just GTA. For now, I can forgive that because the story and my memories of the old games have me engaged, but I can’t promise that will last. After all, I bought GTA 4 on the recommendation of a friend and never opened the game.

And that one was supposed to feed exclusively off of my nostalgia for the “original”.

Digital Playground

Currently Playing…Vol.16

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God of War 3 Remastered (PS4): Usually I skip any “remastered” version of a game (which is ironic because the other game I’m going to talk about is remastered as well. HAH!), but since I don’t currently own a PS3 and never played GOW3, I figured I’d give into the cash grab. I’m a huge GOW fan (I own every one in the series, besides the PS3 version), and from what I’d heard this game was amazing. I strolled into Gamestop (I go once or twice a week), and grabbed a preowned copy off the shelf. While I was mulling over if a used copy was worth $25, another customer walked up to me holding GOW3. He was about to trade it in (re: get lowballed) and wanted to know if I was interested. $10 later we both walked away happy. I saved myself $15 and he probably got about $5 more than what they would have offered. Ok, great story, but what about the game? Well right away the graphics jump out at you..the game is gorgeous. It’s essentially the same gameplay though, solve puzzles, kill things, fight giant bosses, upgrade weapons and Magic,..etc. I think some people were turned off that not much changed, but to me, this series has been gaming perfection, so if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. The story has the same general premise as the others; kill Zeus. The boss fights last longer than the older GOW titles in my opinion and feel more epic. My only complaint is the QTE’s (quick time events). There seems to be more of them, and while not especially challenging, they can be annoying after awhile and take away from the fast paced combat. All in all, it’s a typical God of War game which means that it’s pretty close to perfect. Now would I run out and buy it if I already owned the PS3 version? No, I’ve seen the side by side graphics comparison and while the remastered edition is slightly more polished, I don’t think it’s worth spending the extra cash on a remastered edition…unless you can get it for $1 0.

Grade: A-

Ducktales Remastered (360): I actually used to own the original NES version of this game. It was a childhood favorite of mine, and to be honest, ranked right up there with Mario as far as platforms go. The remastered edition still holds its own and is just as fun as the original. The levels and bosses have been redesigned so it feels like a new game even if you played the original. The graphics make you feel like you are in an episode of Ducktales, and are obviously a vast improvement over the original. You control Scrooge McDuck as he travels the globe in search of artifacts and treasure, while attempting to stop Magica DeSpell from taking Scrooge’s #1 dime and hatching her evil plan. Some reviewers have said that this game doesn’t hold against newer Mario titles, and while I agree for the most part, I feel that the only things that held this game back are the massive amount of cut scenes that the developer added to make the story flow, and the overall length of the game. While there are hidden areas to find and explore it feels like Ducktales can be beaten in a night and the cut scenes are really, really annoying after awhile (even if you can skip them, which you will find yourself doing A LOT). To be honest, Ducktales Remastered would have been graded higher without the cutscenes. Still, this title is worth picking up if you get a chance and are looking for something light hearted to play or just looking for something to play with your kids.

Grade: C+

Digital Playground

Currently Playing…Vol.10

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dark2

Darksiders 2 (360): I was a fan of the first Darksiders, mostly because I’m a huge fan of Joe Mad’s artwork, and also because I liked the Devil May Cry/God of War/Zelda hybrid-feel to it. Was it the most original game? God no. Anytime you can call a game the hybrid of <insert game titles here> then it’s not all that original. Strangely though, despite the less than the original concepts, it was a really fun game with some mind-blowing bosses. Last week, during my nightly eBay perusing, I saw a copy of Darksiders 2 about to sell for $4.75 with free shipping, so I swooped in with 8 seconds to go and got it for an even $5.00, ruining someone’s night and making mine a bit better. Double bonus. After playing it for a few days, I can say that this game is much different from the original Darksiders. The biggest difference being the addition of loot. You now get coins and more importantly, equipment that you can either use, sell, or sacrifice to level up the equipment you have. Just this one aspect makes this game more enjoyable to me. Also, I like the fact that the battles are not one after another after another after another..etc..so you actually get some time to explore the enviroments. It gives the game an RPG kinda feel to it. The puzzles are a lot more interesting, a couple reminded me of Portal, (you have to fire portals to get from point A to point B),and generally they didn’t piss me off like some of the puzzles in the original. Not that the original’s were incredibly difficult, just incredibly frickin’ long. I actually really enjoy playing as Death more than I did playing as War in D1 (tired of typing Darksi…damn..<sigh>…Darksiders). Death’s abilities are more interesting and just plain cooler. He can create doppelgangers of himself, wall-walk, summon monsters, and opens doors and chests with ghostly hands. His scythes are pretty damn neat too. The bosses from what I’ve seen so far are huge but not as challenging as the bosses in D1. We’ll see if that holds true as I get deeper into the game. Speaking of which, I read earlier that this game is larger than the D1, so that’s another bonus. Overall I’m really happy with this game, definitely worth 5 bucks. And ruining someone’s night.

Digital Playground

Currently Playing…Vol.5

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mvc3

Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 (360): I was a huge fan of the first two Marvel vs Capcoms’, so I was practically kicking in Gamestop ‘s door to get my hands on MVC 3: Fate of Two Worlds when it first came out. Little did I know that I had just fallen right into the classic Capcom trap. Yup, those clever bastards suckered me with their infamous multiple versions of the same title trick (although this was forgivable)*. 8 months after the release of Fate of Two Worlds the Ultimate Edition was released with 12 new fighters and being the weak, weak, gamer that I am, I couldn ‘t resist the call of all that shiny new-ness. Mainly because I was disappointed with the initial selection of fighters they had chosen. So I gave my copy of Fate of Two Worlds to Shawn and rushed off to buy the newest version of MVC3. With the Ultimate Edition I had nothing left to complain about. It ‘s essentially perfect and rates right up there with MVC 2 (which is my favorite 2D fighter of all time). I really love the updated graphics, the gameplay is actually faster and more frantic than the second game, and the super combos are practically seizure-inducing. On a side note, Deadpool ‘s super combo (BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!), is hilarious. Speaking of combos, this game is really geared towards combo fanatics. With the one button strike that launches your opponent up into the air the game engine makes unleashing massive combos a LOT easier than MVC 2. Last night, I hit my personal best combo: 78 hits using Nova ‘(clears throat) ‘.against an AI opponent that wasn ‘t fighting back. Or moving. Don ‘t judge me. I’m not proud. I learned long ago that there is a big difference between practicing combos on a dummy and fighting a real opponent like Shawn. Even after hours of studying my strategy guide (Q: Who the hell buys a strategy guide for a 2D fighter? A: This guy), practicing air combos and chaining together super combos; I was no match for my buddy ‘s thumbs of button-mashing fury. Needless to say that strategy guide is in a box somewhere and Bradygames made my list.

 

*To be fair, Capcom was planning on releasing the 12 new characters as downloadable content, but because of the earthquake and tsunami Japan suffered in 2011, it significantly delayed the release of the content to the point where Capcom said ?Screw it ?, and just released a revised edition of the game. Although, in my opinion, I think they would have ended up doing it anyways. It is Capcom after all.