Category Archives: What Im Playing

I Think They Like Me

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A quiet week with little progression. But some weeks call for a little down time.

Games: We played some more Aliens: Fireteam Elite this week. We’ve passed the halfway way point of the story. One of our players has already progressed through the story once, unlocked the final character and levelled up quite significantly. I think for this reason alone we’ve been able to make steady progress without much grinding, as the game ramps up the difficulty with some pretty serious wave-based survival sections. The gameplay has been enjoyable, but from a story perspective, it’s mostly told through radio chatter and the initial loading screen before the level starts. So there’s not really a lot to absorb and it’s easy to tune out.

AOTW: Achievement of the week goes to, unsurprisingly, A:FE. I always find achievements that ask you to fail in some way to be kind of funny. “I Think They Like Me” asks you to get pounced or grappled 5 times in the same mission. Getting pounced or grappled takes a pretty good chunk of health off, so without help this can easily end your run quick. Early on in the game this is quite doable organically, as you are running down the halls a large alien can be waiting for you around a corner. Later on, with the right sensors you can see the aliens waiting in advance so its easy to avoid. I intentionally went for this, running ahead of our group so I would get pounced knowing my team was there to back me up. It was also a failed run anyways as we were not adequately prepared for the final sections of the level and got overrun.

Comic: Outside of playing video games I made a little more progress in my Stranger Than Friendship webcomic. The latest comic is focusing on Surgeon Simulator and the results are pretty funny, if I do say so myself. Here’s a little preview, should be able complete it this weekend as I’m currently not at home:

“Cruz, where are your clothes?”

Drawtober: As I mentioned above, this week I won’t actually be at home as I’m house-sitting. This has put a twist into my drawtober plans as I will not in fact be able to get as ahead as I wished. I will share my first week’s post though, which I will be publishing on Friday. And then every Friday going forward I will be showing off a new coloured piece. Hopefully. That’s the plan.

Colour gradient tests
Looks good in print.

Anyways, a small update this week.

Be good. Stay safe.

-iRogan

Tell me if you’ve heard the one about the Orc, Alien, and the Surgeon

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As I try to update this site more frequently (my goal is once a week, still deciding on a specific day – leaning to either Sunday or Monday), I am reminiscing of the times early on, years ago, when I would update it daily. Before the wife, before the kids, the house and the cats. Just me and my computer and my Xbox. Writing about game news, and E3. Simpler times.

These days I’m stretched pretty thin – obligations pulling in all directions, hobbies reaching for their time in the spotlight as well. But in a good way. Kids before comics and Xbox. Try to get some drawing in during the week. Sleep is important too.

I’ve thought about incorporating my comics passion into this site somehow too. Like a “What I’m Reading” segment. I go every Wednesday to the comic book store, like clockwork. It’s actually the one reliable constant. I’d have to think of a way to make it interesting though. More than just a photo gallery of cover pages.

I updated the Screenshots page to include Spider-Man and Outriders. Currently building up the gallery for Shadow of War as well.

Currently also prepping for Drawtober 2021. Last year I did 14 full drawings, mostly black and white ink. A few had splashes of colour. This year will be very different. I’ve taken three drawings from last year’s drawtober, 1 from this year and a brand new one, and will be full rendering. Colour, poster quality. So only 5 in total. 1 per week. Quality over quantity this year. As I just don’t have the time or energy. That’s the plan anyways. I have 1 done already, for October 1st. Currently working on a Surgeon Simulator webcomic idea for Stranger Than Friendship, and then I’ll jump into the 2nd Drawtober drawing before the end of the month. This way I have a 2 week buffer.

This past week we made a bit more progress in Aliens: Fireteam Elite. Made it to the 2nd mission where we are introduced to the Synthetics enemy type, and the levels get a lot more open as we’re planet side and not in the tight corridors of a ship. The game continues to be enjoyable, but the lengthy chapters and no checkpoints does sting when your team wipes at the climax of the chapter, and you have to start over. 30 minutes of progress lost.

Trudging through the lands of Middle-Earth as well. 11 hours in. Finishing Act 1 opens up the Nemesis system to allow me to start building my army, turning Orcs over to my side, allowing for bodyguards and spies within the Orc ranks.

Act 1 appears to conclude the Shelob part of the story, so I’m not sure if she’ll make a return.

The Ascent and Surgeon Simulator took a back seat this past week as its been difficult to coordinate co-op game time, but hopefully we’ll get to play those more.

In the last bit of news, the wife has finished her play through of Psychonauts 1 and 2 as she’s gearing up towards Extra Life in November. I’ll post more about her campaign next month leading into the big day.

Be good.

iRogan

12 Minutes a Surgeon

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Wrapped up 12 Minutes this week. So spoiler warning if you’re interested about the ending, I’ll be discussing it a bit.

Ok. I enjoyed the game but I found it tricky. The game essentially takes place in one small condo. Living room, one bedroom and one bathroom. So every clue and solution is here somewhere. After 10 minutes a cop shows up and places your wife under arrest. Asking about a watch. And then kills you to get the answer from her. That’s the gist.

The idea is you are stuck in a twelve minute loop and after you die or leave the condo the loop restarts until you get the endings. To progress requires a series of trial and error attempts. Each loop you ask new questions and find out more about the situation, and your character remembers everything from previous loops.

It’s a cool concept and pulled off well, and I think the simplistic restricted setting helps a lot. I was confused about the endings though. The finale has you find out that you and your wife are actually brother and sister and have a kid on the way. You share the same father as a result of an affair and your mom died early and you were never adopted by your father. So you never knew you had a sister.

But the confusing part is the death of the wife’s father which is the reason the cop is even here. She believed she killed her father and ran away and kept it a secret this whole time. But the dad actually survived and was killed later on by you the main character. But somehow you don’t remember that? And the endings see you confronting the dad earlier and he’s telling you you can’t continue to see his daughter. Or go through with the pregnancy. And you can choose different outcomes. One had you agree to leave her alone. One had you fighting for your love and killing the dad. And one had you hypnotized. I was kinda confused as to when these happen in the timeline as they mention the pregnancy. Anyways. I’ll probably have to read up on it. Someone smarter than me can explain better.

This door allows us to go forwards but not back in time.

I’ve also been playing more Surgeon Simulator 2, and I’m really happy about the story. It has a Portal vibe. Doors are locked. Lots of questionable scenarios. You’re being directed along by this woman doctor voice, but keep hearing this random voice through the vents which is the doctor’s assistant. Then you escape the main floors into an underground network, and start doing surgeries in the dark basements. Very cool and excited to see where it all goes.

Playing in co-op has its challenges due to the physics and the stability of the network. Sometimes your co-op buddy will be holding a tool or syringe and suddenly they get all glitchy and their character will start ghosting all over which inevitably leads to the patient getting mutilated and failing that level. But definitely a fun title.

-IROGAN

Shadow of the Surgeon Simulator Too

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After wrapping up Outriders, I was stuck with what to jump to next. I always try to have a few different games on the go. Usually a racing title that I plod through, a co-op game or three that I play with Illestrader, and then a lengthy single player story game, for me.

Outriders kinda filled two of those holes, but I found myself playing that game mostly single player as it was hard to find time to coordinate co-op sessions and I really wanted to see that game through to its conclusion.

In the racing game category I’ve playing Dirt 5, checking off the DLC races while I patiently wait for Forza Horizons 5.

Co-op, I’ve been playing The Ascent, Aliens: Fireteam Elite, Zombie Army 4, and recently tried Surgeon Simulator 2, as a new Game-Pass addition. Played through the tutorial and first level, and I’ll tell you… that game is not easy to grasp the controls. But it was a riot.

I’ll probably write up a separate piece on Aliens Fireteam Elite, as I have a few things to saw, but I want to progress further in the game.

Helloooo!

Moving on to single-player choices, as I have a few in the queue to say the least: Assassins Creed Valhalla, DOOM Eternal, Immortals Fenix Rising, and Watch Dogs Legion. Tip of the iceberg.

But the choice I ended up landing on was Middle-Earth: Shadow of War. 2017 sequel to Shadow of Mordor. And I really can’t explain what directed that pick. I can really only guess that it was because it was still installed on my HDD after all these years. I’ve always wanted to play it as I really enjoyed the first one. But there were so many distractions along the way. At the end. of the day I really just wanted a game where I could swing a sword and kill lots of enemies. Like just surrounded by them, hacking and parrying. AC Valhalla easily offers that but I just re-emerged from the AC depths with Odyssey not that long ago, well over 100 hours invested, and I honestly need a break.

Mordor: The Road

ME: SoW still looks good and plays well. I find the main character to be a little slower than before but that could be my memory. Slow walker that is, purposeful, methodical. But I just run everywhere and use the boost.

An interesting choice they made was to turn Shelob the Spider into a sexy human female for most of her appearances. Interesting choice. Not a complaint.

The Nemesis system is still a lot of fun as well, so I’m glad that made a return. I am still early on in the game, with lots left to discover, so I’ll check back in later with the results.

-iRogan

2019 Video Game Reviews Done Quickly

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Last year around this time (on this day to be precise), I did a full year review of the all the video games I played. I composed tiny reviews for 23 games. This year it looks like the magic number 23 again. Sounds like a trend.

So, these are the games I completed in 2019. Some of which may not have been released in 2019. And when I say complete, I mean either I 100%’d it, finished the main campaign story if it is open-ended or has end-game content, or I consider it done enough that I won’t be revisiting it. Also the order below is roughly Jan through Dec, for when I completed the game, and not necessarily when I started the game. You’ll get the idea as you read the list.

Onward…

Red Dead Redemption II (2018): I technically beat this game January 1st 2019, but mostly played it in December, and did a little blurb in last year’s review, so we’ll just start with this:

“[…] this game is a technical marvel, from game-play to visuals. Rockstar Games has always paid incredible attention to the most mundane of details. It means their games take 5-6 years to make, but the time pays off.”

Astroneer (2017-2019): Astroneer started out as an early access game that Wayne and I played in 2017. The 1.0 version came out early 2019, with achievements and an actual end game. The game is a fun mining/crafting game. You start on a planet and have to mine and gather materials to build a spaceship to travel to other planets. There’s a very deep crafting system that allows you to refine the raw materials into alloys and then build buggies, and trailers, and solar panels, and air-purifiers. Each thing to help make the primary task easier. I never fully completed this game, but do jump in every once in a while. It has terrible lag when playing in co-op and I’m not sure if that’s been resolved yet/ever.

Horizon: Zero Dawn (2017): Horizon Zero Dawn would be the sole Playstation game for 2019, and I actually started this game in 2017, but just never got around to completing it. After completing Spiderman and God of War last year, I figured it was finally time to wrap up Horizon Zero Dawn. Game takes place in a post apocalyptic lust world, where machine-like dinosaurs rule. You play as Aloy, trying to find out what hapened to the world. Again, this was another game that just didn’t grab me initially. I would play here and there for a bit but couldn’t stay interested. Primarily due to the difficulty curve, as it just felt like a grind to play. I dropped the difficulty down to Story mode and had an absolute blast for the rest of the game. I haven’t tried the DLC, but I really should. 2020 will be a big year for me in the Playstation realm, with Death Stranding out now, and The Last of Us II release mid-2020. I also want to play Uncharted 4 and Uncharted Lost Legacy which are in the queue (aka: shelf).

Planet Alpha (2018): Planet Alpha is a fun side-scroller platformer game, similar to Inside or Limbo. You wake up on an alien planet and must try to escape. There are more puzzle elements at play as you can adjust the day and night cycles which will use to navigate each level. You’ll notice that side scrolling walking puzzle games are my go-to this year. I just appreciate their pace.

Assassin’s Creed Origins (2017): Origins was the first major leap for the AC series into the next gen, with 4k visuals on the Xbox One X. And it is a pretty game. I even posted a large photo album of in-game screen shots. I’ve always liked the AC games and this was no different. They modernized the RPG elements with leveling, and gear pickups which is a nice adjustment. 2020 I’ll be getting in Odyssey, and then I should be fully caught up, until Vikings comes out I guess.

DOOM (2016): 2.5 years after I started playing this game I finally pushed myself to finish it. There was nothing wrong with the game that caused me to take so long, it’s just very intense. Very in-your-face, loud metal music playing, gore and nonstop frantic combat. After each level I was just left very white-knuckled, a little jumpy and short of breath. So I would have to put the controller down for a few months at a time before getting back into it. This year I decided to just play it consistently and push through to the end. Very solid game, lots of fun, and gorgeous on the Xbox One X.

Crackdown 3 (2019): This game is exactly like Crackdown 1 and 2. Disappointed that it took so freaking long to make, and the waiting for the cloud-based destruction wasn’t even in the campaign, but attached as a multiplayer component. Verdict: not worth the wait.

The Gardens Between (2018): This was a fun little puzzle game. Game starts as two young friends are about to be separated as one is moving away, and the game is told from the perspective of their memories together. Each one, its own little island, from the perspective of the child’s imagination. You control the two players simultaneously, and you do so by moving time forward and backwards, as the characters walk their path. Very simple mechanic, and a fun little heartfelt game as a result.

39 Days to Mars (2019): Another little fun 2-D puzzle game that I played in co-op with Nichole. The concept is you and your friend are going to fly the most unreliable spaceship to Mars. Everything at some point will break down during the trip, and you’ll come across space squids that will ink your ship and you’ll need to catch with a fishing net and eventually a space kraken. The in-between times when your ship is not falling apart, you’ll need to make tea and sandwiches. The game is made with co-op in mind and the co-op puzzles are all paper-craft types which can be both funny and frustrating to pull off. This game did not end up in divorce.

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (2017): I have very much enjoyed the Wolfenstein reboot games. They are very polished and have solid dual wielding gunplay mechanics. Difficult at times, but I felt this had a shorter, but tighter story than the previous two. Only issue I had was when I was about halfway through, I accidentally wiped my game save. And had to start from the beginning. But that was my fault.

Anthem (2019): Alright, first of 4 big 2019 AAA titles I played this year. EA/BioWare’s big new IP. A lot of complaints got thrown at this game on launch as it made a lot of weird decisions in its design, and didn’t have any satisfactory end-game content. For me, I don’t care about end-game content. That’s a weird term. The campaign is over, the game is over. Move on. Why do you need more? They have made a lot of changes to the design and added more content over the past year, but gameplay remains relatively the same. Big positive ease-of-use improvement is you can changes your weapons mid-mission now. Which, why that was a limitation on launch, I’ll never know. This game wanted to be the next Destiny, so why didn’t they make it more like Destiny, instead of handcuffing the player at every opportunity? Because EA? I enjoyed the story and gameplay a lot. I actually wrote an “in progress” review for this game back in March.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider (2018): Third and maybe final (?) in the Tomb Raider reboot series. A very solid conclusion to the series if it does end. A tighter story than the last one, but with more tombs which is nice. Gorgeous as always. Gameplay hasn’t really changed since the 2015 reboot, they just keep adding more and more outfits.

FAR: Lone Sails (2019): Another side-scrolling puzzle type game, similar to Limbo, Inside, and Planet Alpha. This time you play a little dude controlling what can be best described as a desert sailboat? A large machine with wheels, and a sail. You start off with very little, but as you progress, your ship gets upgraded with better wheels and a sail. You need to pick up fuel as your progress, and you need to repair your ship as the story moves along. The sail helps conserve fuel, but if you are not paying attention, you can crash into walls or checkpoints if you don’t stop in time. A quiet, somber game with an enjoyable soundtrack.

Celeste (2018): This game won Best Independent Game, and Games for Impact in last year’s Game Awards which inspired the purchase. The game is a 2-D platformer with speedrunning in mind. All about speed and finesse. Retro look and feel. The game gets very difficult near. Each level also has a few collectibles and a b-side to encourage replayability. The story is about a girl who is suffering from depression and anxiety, and her goal is to climb this mountain and reach the peak. The subject matter touches on struggling with anger and doubt, and defeat, and overcoming those emotions.

Submerged (2015): 3rd person combat-free game in which you explore a flooded city in a boat, and must scale the buildings to find the medical parcels to help your brother. Easy achievements, can be completed in a day. Nothing exciting worth writing about.

Gears 5 (2019): 2nd big AAA title for 2019. Follow up to Gears 4, following the events of the Gears team, with the focus on Kait Diaz as she discovers the origins of the Locust and her family. Good looking, a little buggy with the robot, Jack, as a playable character. Story was pretty routine, but the large open level segments where you surf around on the skiff really took me out of the game, as these segments were just large and void of anything. Close quarters, narrow alleys and crumbling buildings is where Gears thrived. Back when it was dark and scary. Now it’s bright and open and I don’t like it. Also you end up fighting robots a lot now. Two thumbs neither up nor down. Just sideways. Meh. They put a lot of emphasis on all the different multiplayer modes, and escape modes which I was not interested in.

What Remains of Edith Finch (2017): In the 2nd half of 2019 I started playing a lot more, smaller, indie games. Games that I could run through in a short time. I had a very specific goal for Extra Life 2019 to reach 250K Xbox Gamerscore. When I started this in July I needed 14k to reach my goal. Indie games are usually pretty quick, and easy to 100% for 1000G. WRoEF was one of these game with an interesting story about a large family, where all the family members die. The daughter/narrator returns home to this weird house as the last remaining member of this sad family, and reads/plays through the family journal to tell the story of each family member, and their unfortunate death. One story was of a boy who was on a swing-set and believed he could do a full 360 loop around the tree branch. He succeeded, and subsequently flew off the swing and cliff and died. This story told in first person view actually caused me motion sickness and had to stop playing for a day. Another story was of a baby drowning in a bathtub. That one kinda messed me up for a bit, as a new dad.

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (2016): At any given time, Activision has 3 different teams working on Call of Duty titles. This iteration primary took place in space, in the future, and had you flying a space ship for a chunk of levels. This game won the award for having the most down-voted announcement trailer. Good game though. Pushed the bar for visuals for a COD title and was fun to play with the futuristic weapons. With COD titles you pretty much know what you’re getting into, which is why I don’t buy them new.

Guns, Gore, and Cannoli 2: Sequel to Guns, Gore and Cannoli 1 – go figure. 2-D side scrolling shooter game, like the old Metal Slug games. Played in co-op on Extra Life night (supports up to 4 players), completed in 1 sitting. Fun, humourous and a cartoony art-style.

Diablo 3: Nichole and I started this game in 2017, and it took us 2 years to finish it. Top down dungeon crawler game with lots of loot and fun gameplay combat. Equally fun in co-op except when you’re waiting for the other person to manage their loot and gear, and attacks, and spells, and, and, and…

Far Cry 5 (2018): Fry Cry games really became fun to play around Far Cry 3. 3 had a good story. 4 was fun. Primal had a good story and no guns (which was different). 5 was tedious. When 4 was introduced, they introduced Co-op in the most broken way. You could join a friend’s game, gain xp, and help unlock outposts, but you’ll make no progress in the single player campaign. So you don’t unlock achievements or any story progress. So why bother playing in co-op at all? Wayne and I beat the game begrudgingly. We beat “HIS” game that is.

STAR WARS Jedi: Fallen Order (2019): 3rd big AAA title of the year. And probably my top game of the year (without counting the next game). a fun Star Wars story about a unknown Jedi, taking place after Revenge of the Sith and Palpatine’s Order 66 which turned the clone army on the Jedi Council. Force powered individuals are in hiding and this story is about finding a codex of force enabled children before the Republic does. Fun platforming and light-saber wielding gameplay with force push and pull powers. Made by the Titanfall developer. In a time where EA has the exclusive rights to make Star Wars games, and so far they’ve only turned out Battlefront multiplayer crap, having a Single Player focused game, that doesn’t get cancelled, and its actually GOOD, is a relief.

Honourable mention:

CONTROL (2019): I’m currently in the middle of this game, so it can’t be officially included in this list. But its a neat one. kinda like Psi-Ops / Second Sight. You play a female agent who arrives at a large building that deals with strange anomalies. All the staff have been taken over by this strange force, and you use a gun that is alive(?) to fight your way out of problems. You also have telekinetic powers, and can throw objects around and create a shield made of concrete. Made by the develops of Alan Wake and Quantum Break. Also the main character has internal dialogue with herself/you the play. Its bizarre, and cool. And will likely win Game of the Year at this year’s Game of the Year Awards (which take place tomorrow, Dec 12).

Top 5:
SW Jedi Fallen Order
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Wolfenstein II
Horizon: Zero Dawn
The Gardens Between

Bonus: I also plan to do a “My Top Games of the Decade” list before the end of the month. Pray for me as I enter that rabbit hole.

-iRogan