My hottest take in the gaming world is that I've never understood the hype around Rockstar games. To be fair, it's a small piece of my grander opinion of "Some open worlds are just too open for me." Games like Grand Theft Auto, Skyrim, etc. throw you out into a world where there's endless possibilities, but that means I'm endlessly distracted from the content they want you to partake. I never unlocked any of the map in GTA IV when I was kid because I just kept driving around and killing people. Decades later, Red Dead Redemption 2 sweeps the nation. People praise the story so I sat myself down and forced myself to not get distracted, but when I go in I find the plot gratingly repetitive despite a great ending. Now GTA VI is on the horizon with people freaking out, so I've downloaded GTA V to see if something will finally click.

...It didn't.

Even less so than Red Dead Redemption, because there's so much I can do but is any of it really entertaining? Do I really want to figure out investing in the stock market, playing tennis, or doing yoga in my backyard? And then the plot is even less intriguing than Red Dead 2. I hardly care about what's going on past Trevor being a hilarious weirdo and wanting to see what he does next.

Aside from that I also just absolutely hate anything to do with planes or more specifically helicopters in GTA. The controls are awful, and while yes they may be difficult to control in game because they're difficult to control in real life, I ask again is it fun? And on top of that they ask for near pinpoint accuracy with this jank. One mission tasked me with picking up train cars via helicopter. It probably took me 6 minutes to properly align my helicopter with each pickup. Just fucking streamline it. Literally any other open world helicopter is more fun. Just Cause or Saints Row do this so much better.

Is there any good here? Yes. I really enjoy the heists. It is fun to plan out and prepare for these high stakes adventures. Also a lot of the side characters/missions are hilarious. Past that though I'm still indifferent about Rockstar, and most likely will not be getting GTA VI.

It’s hard to talk about Outer Wilds for 2 reasons:

1. People tell you that you must go in with no information at all (which I don’t necessarily think is true for everyone)

2. It’s hard to put what makes this game so great into words

I say I don’t believe #1 to be true because well… This is my 3rd time playing Outer Wilds, and the first time finishing it. This is also the first time I’ve realized how great this game is. The other times I would’ve just said “It’s fun.” I feel like it should be said to new people that getting to the end is the key to this game, especially to those who aren’t immediately on board by just being told to explore. Sure this is an exploration game but in truth this is also a detective game, and these 2 genres are seamlessly melded together. The entire game is one big puzzle box, made out of intricate clues that’ll have you bouncing from planet to planet to see every puzzle thread to its end. Hidden under all that is a deep emotional core that only shows its face if you put in the work.

Every planet within the solar system of Outer Wilds is perfectly built to easily find points of interest. This universe is miniscule but the feelings of running into the weirdo phenomena hidden within are grand. A water world of twisters. Twin planets filling each other up with sand. Whatever the fuck Dark Bramble is. Oh hey look I’m crashing into the sun. All of this is enhanced by a magnificent score by Andrew Prahlow. Makes sense that one of the games that will go down in history would also have potentially historical music. AND it’s got banjos.

The wonder of exploration is only matched with a fear of the unknown, and it makes sense to fear the unknown. It’s freakin’ space! you should be afraid, one wrong move and you’re dead. Outer Wilds once again uses fantastical eeriness to capture these feelings. There’s rocks that move when you don’t look at them and they emit a low droning frequency. There’s the Echoes of the Eye DLC which freaked me out way too much. There’s fucking FISH IN SPACE. That may not sound scary but just you wait, nerd.

To me Outer Wilds is a lot like Death Stranding. Both will have times where maybe you aren’t having fun. You may get stuck. You may even rage quit at points. There’s some creepy ass shit in there too. All of this however is important to the fabric of what makes these games great. For Death Stranding it’s to show you how connection and relationships can better the world around you. For Outer Wilds it’s about embracing the journey. Living life through its ups and downs because that’s what life is all about. To focus on finding purpose to why we’re here will make you miss out on life itself. Go hug a loved one and hang with a friend.

(Written in 2020 on GG)

As you might be able to tell from my game collection, I'm not exactly a fan of realism. Sports games and war games I tend to heavily avoid because to me it feels like the most cash-grabby section of the video game market, coming out with a new game every year with what (as far as I can tell) are slight tweaks to the previous game. Despite this, there's always something about Call of Duty's Modern Warfare series that just clicks with me.

Maybe it's because I've always had friends who willingly buy every CoD game. Back in high school my friend Justus talked me into getting Modern Warfare 2 and we'd play that game for months. It could be that these fond memories attach me to the series. Then I switched from Xbox 360 to Playstation 4 and he switched from Xbox 360 to Xbox One to PC, and our gaming drifted apart just as the Modern Warfare series came to an end. Now CoD has cross-platform online capabilities and we can reconvene on one shared game, aside from Fortnite but I never really found that game fun.

This new Modern Warfare brings back the fun multiplayer of the series, starts a new campaign with a compelling plot and character depth that will probably lead to a second version of the trilogy, and adds a battle royale mode that is honestly the first of its kind that I'm actually vibing with. I'm already back to riot shield and shotgun shenanigans. Sadly it seems more people have jumped on my trend, and others have figured out my weaknesses. Curse that thermite grenade.

Even though I'm giving it a lot of praise, It's still a war game and I know my interest will be fleeting. As soon as my friends lose interest in it, I will as well and I won't think about it again until the next Modern Warfare game in the Call of Duty franchise releases.

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is a better game on almost all fronts. mobility and combat have been upgraded. New and returning villains galore. A soundtrack that only sounds like banger after banger. Side missions that feel purposefully attached to the themes prevalent in the main plot, which also this game's themes are a lot more cohesive in general.

All these things should lead me to say this is better than Marvel's Spider-Man (2018), but for some reason it just did not fully click with me in the same way the 1st game did. Did it hit me in the feels? Yes, but not on the same level as the first finale with Doc Oc and Aunt May.

It's semantics really. All 3 games from this franchise are certified GOATs.

I hope it's not actually just me when I say this, but I feel like every kid starts out their video game career by owning a few games and just playing the first few levels, starting a new game, and playing those levels again and again. Then one day someone asks "Why don't you try going farther in the game," and your little dum dum doo doo gooey child brain goes "That's an excellent query." Then you actually try to finish a game and when the end credits roll your mind is blown. Games have endings? They can be beaten? And I, wee little Joe-boi, have the power to beat a game? This was the game that blew my mind. Spyro: Year of the Dragon was the first game I ever beat. One of 2 games I beat before beating games became regular for me, the other game was Over The Hedge for the Xbox.

(This review was written in 2020 on GG)

DOOM (2016) was a really fun reboot to the series with high octane, never-stopping action. I had a really good time with it, but I couldn't be bothered to do anything more than beat the main story. Once it was done, I was done. DOOM: Eternal takes the simple core of its predecessor and improves upon it in every aspect.

The entirety of DOOM 2016 took place in a space station on Mars. While it was an interesting environment at first, it very quickly became bland, only ever taking short pauses to takes us to the realm of Hell. DOOM: Eternal however takes you to environment after environment. You'll go from an apocalyptic Earth city to a medieval castle to a futuristic arctic lab, even the DOOM version of heaven which is... still run by demons apparently. There's a lot more color and vibrancy, with locations somehow maintaining a consistent look while also being incredibly varied. My favorite place to hang out in is DOOM: Eternal's hub world.

With the integration of The Fortress of Doom, The Doom Slayer's space station that acts as a hub world for the game, players can easily go back to a level and complete the remaining collectibles and side missions. Maybe the previous DOOM also had a way to backtrack, but I didn't find it and like I said after I beat it once I couldn't really be bothered to go back. The Fortress of Doom is a nice pause in the action to catch your breath and look at what you've done, as every weapon, toy, and music album you collect is then placed into the Fortress for your viewing pleasure. The Fortress' aesthetic is beautiful, mixing DOOM's futuristic tech with gothic architecture with heavy metal posters from your music albums haphazardly posted about its halls. Doomguy also has a personal office with a triple-monitor gaming PC and some sick guitars hanging on the walls. Also hidden in the Fortress are unlockable skins for Doomguy, and while they're mainly meant for use in the multiplayer Battle Mode they will also be used in every cutscene of the game which is really fun.

Enough about aesthetics, it's time for action which is just as kinetic and fast paced as the previous DOOM. Runnin' and gunnin' is the name of the game, and you need to think quick because ammo, health, and armor is surprisingly sparce. Thankfully you unlock tools to help you acquire more. Chainsawing an enemy can give you ammo while glory killing an enemy can give you health, and if you use Flame Belch on an enemy it will light them on fire and cause them to start puking out armor. It's an interesting concept that adds split second strategy decisions to DOOM and adds complexity to the game mechanics' simplicity. Scattered around levels are parkour sections where you swing off bars and climb up walls while jumping great distances with a boost/dodge movement upgrade. This parkour is also added to the battle arenas, where you can use swing-bars to escape being cornered at times.

I think another reason I like this game is because it's more goofy. I mean it's not like a Borderlands where everyone's meta and making jokes constantly. DOOM: Eternal uses seriousness to hide a layer of fun inside of itself. DOOM (2016) kinda did this, having every character in the game act like this is a serious situation except for Doomguy who just rushes in and smashes shit up. In DOOM: Eternal everyone else in the world feels a little bit more "in on the joke." Maybe it's because the world is a bit diverse now instead of just when you were on Mars stuck talking to the same 2 bland assholes throughout the whole game. The robot guy is back by the way but it does feel nice to have some connection to the previous installment. Animations in DOOM: Eternal feel more kooky and certain demons have been redesigned to have goofy looking pupils. There's even some cartoony sound effects hidden amongst the gore.

Composer Mick Gordon returns with his awesome heavy metal score, just as blood-pumping as his last bout into this hellscape. I saw a video showing off Mick Gordon's "Heavy Metal Choir" where he brought together different screamers from assorted sub-genres of Metal to add some extra gusto into Eternal's score. While I was super excited to hear them, I felt it was under utilized. Maybe I was getting too into the action to notice but I heard the choir very little. I'm hoping when the score drops on spotify I'll be able to hear them more.

All in all, DOOM: Eternal is insane fun. If fast paced, first person shooter gore-fests are your kinda thing thing, then this is a must buy. As of right now this is my game to beat for the year which I guess isn't really saying much yet, and I doubt it will be my game of the year when we've got Last of Us Part II, Cyberpunk 2077, and (hopefully) Psychonauts 2 on the way. Nonetheless this game is something you'll be hooked on during this coronavirus quarantine.

Cocoon is a delight. A strange world all based around that joke at the end of Men in Black (1997) where you find out our whole galaxy exists in a game of marbles some alien dude is playing.

This game only really has about 5 levels, but the trick is that all 5 levels coexist and you're constantly traveling between them at a moment's notice. It's a marvel and a technical mystery. I love all the weird designs of the creatures and environments. feels kinda Cronenberg-y sometimes. I hope we get the sequel it kinda teased, cuz this was a really great and I want more.

As someone who usually enjoys walking sims, Fort Solis is a slog to get through. This is mainly due to the fact that this game's walk cycle is the speed of an old man fumbling his way to get some Ensure out of the fridge. Even if the walk cycle wasn't this slow, this game is a compilation of elements done far better by the games that inspired them. The horror of Dead Space's madness, the piecing together of Gone Home's story, The companionship through Firewatch's dialogue, and... pretty much any Quantic Dream game's quick time events. All interesting elements watered down in the hands of people who didn't quite yet have the skill to unlock their potential. Still playable and somewhat intriguing, but hard to recommend to most people. At least the acting's good I suppose