Another season wrapping up and another one that didn't set the world on fire. Collaborations were fine but having almost all meaningful rewards restricted behind additional $10+ passes was highway robbery, not to mention the time, money, and effort clearly split between all the modes. For example, this year's Star Wars event was lackluster compared to last year to put it nicely.

The loot pool was fine, overall but the wings were nerfed a bit more than I would have liked, the bowcaster wasn't that great, and waterbending can go straight to hades. The chain whip was the only consistent, seasonal weapon I enjoyed using.

Lastly, this season's skins were not great. I usually don't "keep" every skin from the battle pass but archiving all but 2 shows this is one of the weak ones.

Specifically played via the Sonic Gems Collection on Gamecube. Seeing the graphics are obviously touched up from the original Saturn release, I assume the version on GC is a port of the PC remaster?

Decided to finally log this after roping in a drunk, unsuspecting friend into playing several races with me. Sonic R has little to offer in terms of replayability and deciphering its cryptic unlocks. Races are confusing crash courses through winding mazes, attempting to control what feels like an oiled-up grandpa going face-first down a slip-n-slide. Needless to say, the core ethos of "speed over everything else" in Sonic does not lend itself to a satisfying racing game; at least in this first attempt.

As everyone and their dog knows, the soundtrack is phenomenal, though it's drowned out in-game with the awful running/engine noises. Sonic R only retains its relevancy in recent years because of that sountrack, the fact the development studio behind the game went on to create the wildly successful line of Lego games of the 00s, and this was technically the first time Sonic was playable in full 3D; there isn't much else to offer, otherwise.

I will play Sonic R again in the future whenever I have over the friend who played this a ton as a child. I'll more than likely put in some effort for the unlocks at that point, but who knows when that'll be?

Specifically played via the Sonic Gems Collection on Gamecube. Seeing the graphics are obviously touched up from the original Saturn release, I assume the version on GC is a port of the PC remaster?

Decided to finally log this after roping in a drunk, unsuspecting friend into playing several races with me. Sonic R has little to offer in terms of replayability and deciphering its cryptic unlocks. Races are confusing crash courses through winding mazes, attempting to control what feels like an oiled-up grandpa going face-first down a slip-n-slide. Needless to say, the core ethos of "speed over everything else" in Sonic does not lend itself to a satisfying racing game; at least in this first attempt.

As everyone and their dog knows, the soundtrack is phenomenal, though it's drowned out in-game with the awful running/engine noises. Sonic R only retains its relevancy in recent years because of that sountrack, the fact the development studio behind the game went on to create the wildly successful line of Lego games of the 00s, and this was technically the first time Sonic was playable in full 3D; there isn't much else to offer, otherwise.

I will play Sonic R again in the future whenever I have over the friend who played this a ton as a child. I'll more than likely put in some effort for the unlocks at that point, but who knows when that'll be?

I will never forgive EA for sending Titanfall 2 out to die. As a die-hard fan of the original on the Xbox One, seeing the game expand further with a more robust multiplayer offering and a lean, exciting single-player campaign was a dream come true. Unfortunately, the ass-hat executive decision-makers at EA decided to release that year's Battlefield game the week before.

On replay on the PC, Titanfall 2 truly comes alive with the objectively better control scheme for the speed of combat, and the online community is still alive and active. Being able to boot into a (nearly) eight-year-old title and still find reliable matches without any major botting issues (from what I have seen in May 2024 that is) or server struggles.

Every "hardcore" FPS fan has waxed poetic about how important Titanfall 2 was in livening the mostly stale "advanced mobility" shooters of the 2010s. Though wildly different from its competitors, TItanfall 2 would have easily stood out from the crowd and could have been a long-term success if not for the shit-brain business decisions that caused its failure. We still feel the sting of this to this day with constant reminder that Respawn had been attempting to work on a follow-up and was canceled in favor of the safety of the Star Wars brand and the insane recurrent revenue of Apex Legends.