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Alien: Isolation

I'll be honest, I was a bit skeptical of this game at first, because I really didn't want to be disappointed with it, and I wasn't ready at any time to dish out the full retail price for it, so luckily I did pick it up on sale. Having put a couple hours into the game so far, I have to say that the full retail price is definitely where the price of the game should be. I'm a big fan of the survival horror style games as people are well aware of by now. I absolutely love the Amnesia games, I love the heck out of Outlast, unfortunately didn't have a very good experience with SOMA, but i'll get back to that game eventually. Naturally I felt that I was going to really enjoy Alien: Isolation.

I have been enjoying the game for what it is thus far. It's definitely got what the genre calls for. Jump scares, a scary environment, and a pretty good story, but I definitely underestimated how often I was going to be on the edge of my seat when I play this game. I've played my fair share of survival horror games, but now a lot of them really get up there in the sense that this game has done so far. I feel as though I'm having to look over my shoulder all the time, and I always feel like there's going to be something waiting for me every time I crawl into a vent, or when I open a door. It's got that feel to it that really makes you feel like you are the one walking in the **** trying to avoid all the nonsense going on.

There is one thing that I really like about this game that differs from a lot of survival horror games that I've played. Alien: Isolation gives you the ability to take down the enemies you are trying to run away from. Granted, I understand that this also means you will be using the limited amount of ammo that you have access to, but I always wondered what a game like this would be like if you had the ability to shoot at the stalkers etc, and it works really well. Especially in this setting. I still do find myself trying to sneak around and run away from enemies, but unfortunately, this game makes it so running away isn't as forgiving as other games are. I can't even tell you how many times I've tried to run away from the alien, when the better solution would have been to shoot at it and hide. But, I learn from my mistakes. Unless the alien decides to jump from the ceiling and take me out on one blow.

But I digress. It's a great game, and I urge everyone to get it while it's on sale, because even if it wasn't on sale, I'd pay full retail for it. I'm sad that I didn't give myself the opportunity to play this game earlier when it was released, but i'm making up for it now. It's definitely got a lot going for it, so i'm excited to continue it.

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Enter The Gungeon

When I talked about this game before, I hadn't actually experienced the game for myself, but I went ahead and bought the game today, so I can now give a legitimate First Impressions look into what I think of the game so far.

So, I will probably make this brief due to my previous post being a lot more lengthy, if you want to read that one as well, you can find it here: http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ml#post1697242

Anyway, yes, I bought Enter The Gungeon today while it was on sale for the Steam Summer Sale, but even if it weren't on sale, I probably still would have paid full retail for it, if not more, because this game is absolutely fantastic. It exceeds the expectations I had for it, and those expectations were already pretty high due to watching a lot of people play the game already. You basically play as 1 of 4 selectable characters and you make your way into the "Gungeon" to fight mobs, and open chests to equip yourself for the tougher levels that lie ahead in a roguelike fashion. Just think of The Binding of Isaac with guns. I have to say after just buying it today, i'm not surprised at all that I've already got about 4 hours of gameplay into it. I'm probably even going to put even more than that today, as well as for the rest of the week. It's really caught my attention and could potentially be a game that I would rank very highly for my "Games I purchased this year" list, if I ever come to make a list like that.

Anyway, definitely do give the game a shot (pun intended) because i'm enjoying the hell out of it. If you're a fan of Nuclear Throne and are looking for a game that's a bit more polished than that, in a Binding of Isaac sort of roguelike fashion, this one is definitely up your alley.

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Screenshot worthy moments in Fallout 4

I've been playing a lot of Fallout 4 recently. And by playing, I mean i've put in about 15 hours in the last two days. Don't know what it is, but i've been enjoying the hell out of this game again. I have up to 70 play hours right now, and I'm done with the main story, and i'm still managing to find stuff to do. So many places to explore, and stumble upon. It's a good time. So much of a good time, that I have been taking screenshots of various things that I've either found funny, or things that made me sit back in my chair for a minute to think. Bethesda games tend to do that, and i'm going to show you a few of them.





These 3 images are of a story that was told through a holotape I found in an abandoned bunker. Things like this are really sad to hear because you really get a feel for what people lived like before the nuclear apocalypse happened. Makes you feel bad that these people couldn't be spared.

I love hearing the guards in Diamond City say random ****, because with the Boston accent added to it, it makes it even more funny. Especially this...



Then of course we have Piper, who I have chosen to be my companion throughout the rest of my hours in this game. She's fun to have around, but sometimes the game seems to think that she doesn't want to walk anymore, so they make her fly.



Last but not least, I finally ran into some parts of the X-01 armor. It's a random chance that you find even 1 piece of this armor, let alone 3 at a time. I haven't found the other two pieces yet, but I'm happy I found this like I did. I was just running around the Commonwealth and it popped up.

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Recently, I have been talking a lot about Fallout 4. I've been talking about it so much that you'd think I literally just picked up the game. Well, that's not true, since I have over 70 hours of gameplay on it already. I would like to however reference a post I made a while back that gave my final thoughts on the game without actually completing the main story of the game. At that time, I thought it was fair to critique the game the way that I did, but recently, I have been growing much more fond of the game and everything it stands for. If you'd like to read my previous final thoughts, you can find the post here: Final Thoughts for Fallout 4 (not irrelevant)

I could literally sit here and write paragraphs about each reason why I was wrong to make such accusations about the game when I wrote my final thoughts for the game before, but I'm going to make it simple and sweet, because I want to talk about another part of the game as well, and I feel it would all do well in one long post. Anyway, I love the game again. I loved it from the day it was released (granted there were a few minor issues with getting the game to run, but everyone seemed to have that issue, at least with PC users) and playing it from the day it was released, I've seen a lot of things that really have made this game much better than the previous games in the series. I do want to mention that I do miss the stress on role play that was very evident in Fallout 3 and in Fallout: New Vegas, but I've recently found in Fallout 4 that you can make some of your companions fall in love with you, and with that brings added benefits by giving you companion specific perks, to other various things like companion specific quests. That right there has made me a believer that Bethesda didn't completely dismiss the role playing aspect of the game, they just made it less obvious unless you wanted to do something on the side. The other thing I have really come to appreciate about Fallout 4 is how vast the game really is. There was a lot of gripe from hardcore fans of the series saying that the map seemed to small, and at first, I did feel the same way, but as I ranked up more hours into the game, I had started to realize that I was spending hours and hours just going into buildings I hadn't discovered before and finding things out about people before the great war, and seeing a lot of things that really tug at your heart, one of which I talked about in this post: http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ml#post1717371

I've been having a lot of fun with the game as of recently, and that hasn't stopped at all. I've been finding myself wanting to play the game when i'm not playing it, and to have that feeling again with a game like this is amazing. It's the same way I felt when I started playing Fallout 3 for the first time. All I wanted to do was play Fallout 3, and although that game is aged, it's still a remarkable experience, especially if you had never played a Fallout game in your life, like I had at the time. It made me a believer of the series, so much to the fact that I now own every Fallout game ever made, including the first two. Granted I haven't spent much time in those games like I want to, but I can see how they can be appreciated and the leap the Bethesda team took when going from the second game to the third game.

So now, let's talk about...


Fallout 4: Far Harbor DLC

There's recently been a DLC titled Far Harbor for Fallout 4, and when it was released, I wasn't quick to pick it up, mostly because when it was released, I was in that mood where I didn't really see much appreciation in Fallout 4 as a whole. But of course, as I started playing the game again and enjoying it for the beauty that it is, I decided to pick the DLC up, and I have to say, bravo to Bethesda for once again, making a fantastic DLC to an already great game. I would go as far as saying that Far Harbor goes back to the roots of Fallout and makes you feel like you're playing Fallout 3 again, especially with the dark atmosphere that it brings, along with a bit more freedom with how you tackle the quests. I could even go as far as saying that the DLC may actually be better than the base game itself, but at the same time, with saying that, I'm complimenting how good the base game already is, and it's allowed a great framework for a fantastic DLC.

In my experience with Fallout DLC's, and i've only experienced The Pitt DLC from Fallout 3, it doesn't seem like Bethesda rushes these things. They do everything they can to make the experience even in a DLC to match and sometimes succeed the experience that you receive in the base game. To me, that just shows how much they appreciate the fanbase of the game. Some developers would just throw out a DLC and say "here, pay 50 bucks for it" and it doesn't add much. Far Harbor adds a new island with new monsters, armor, weapons, etc etc. I won't get too much into the story of the DLC just so I don't spoil it for anyone, and the fact that I haven't really dove into it too much yet, but if you are a fan of Fallout 4, I would definitely recommend picking up the DLC. You'll love it.

To end this potential tl;dr post that i'm sure most of you are super excited to read. I just want to exaggerate the fact that in my initial post about this game, when I gave my final thoughts, I want those thoughts to be seen as a bit more irrelevant to my actual final thoughts on the game. I don't want to delete the post, because it still holds a bit of history to my experience with the game, so I feel it's only fair to keep it in the journal. However, this post reflects my thoughts more about how I feel about the game, and i'm happy to say that I've got a much more positive outlook on Fallout 4 as a whole. It's been and hopefully will continue to be nothing but a great experience even as I make it into the 100+ hours of gameplay time.

In conclusion, I still don't really know where I would rate this game in relation to the other releases, because I don't think an experience with the first game that you ever played in a series could ever be surpassed, even if the game is obviously better. If I were to rate it however, I would probably put it as: Fallout 3 > Fallout 4 > Fallout: New Vegas. Fallout: New Vegas does have some charm to it, and I enjoyed watching people play it as well as play it myself, but I didn't have the same kind of experience that I had when I played Fallout 3 for the first time. And since I have that same exciting feeling about Fallout 4 that I had with Fallout 3, I feel that both those games could be almost equal in how I feel about each. Fallout 3 will always be my favorite though, and again, I don't think anything will change that, but...Fallout 4 is amazing in it's own way, and I don't think anything will change that either.

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Pokemon Go

I am more than willing to admit when i'm wrong, especially when its about a game that has gained a lot of hype over the past couple days. I wasn't a huge fan of the game when it was released, so I sort of dismissed it. Then, everybody and their mother was posting about it on Facebook, so I gave it another shot. Before I knew it, my battery had gotten down to nearly dead and I had caught a **** ton of Pokemon, and I admit it, i've been having a great time doing it. This is one of the few times when something was hyped so much, and it actually has delivered, for the most part. If you're living under a rock and you don't know what this game is, well...it's basically like being your own trainer on your phone, and catching Pokemon in a pretty clever way. It manipulates your camera and puts Pokemon into your world, and you get to catch them. Granted, the game does have it's issues, but that's to be expected due to it both being a free app with in game purchases, and still being in it's beta form. There's been a lot of instances of the servers not working properly, but that's probably due to the massive amount of players on it right now. I've even seen people playing this and I know for a fact that they're not even a fan of Pokemon, at all. But it's nice to see that the game is doing so well. Hopefully that will mean there will be more motivation to make the game better.

I'm one of the few that thinks the game is good the way it is currently, but there's been a lot of people and I mean a LOT of people complaining that the game isn't anywhere near what they were expecting. I'm honestly surprised that Nintendo was able to put out a game that is as cool as this one. Again, it's got it's issues, but it hasn't kept me from enjoying it, especially since I was able to catch one of my all time favorite Pokemon right in my front yard:



Of course...it would be nice to be able to make dinner in peace again, instead of being rudely interrupted...



At the end of the day, it's a game that people will either have fun with, or they won't. I'm definitely having a good time with it, and I hope the hype for it continues.

Zhanteimi

This craze kinda reminds me of:

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Zhanteimi

LetsTalkMusic

The Batlord

I'm just gonna assume that Pokemon GO has made children in Japan into oblivious road hazards.

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Zhanteimi

It's not in Japan yet, as far as I know. Only Stateside.

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Zhanteimi

LetsTalkMusic

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Whether it's console games, PC games, or even mobile games, 2016 has been jam packed full of them, and I'm going to be talking about them for the next few weeks. There's still some games that I'm hoping get releases this year, but there's also been some great games that have come out this year that I really enjoy. I don't know if i'll be ranking them like I do with my top albums of the year, but I still want to talk about the games that have blown me away this year. And to add a bit of a twist, I'll also talk about games that left me wanting more, or got moved straight to my uninstall list. There's been some duds this year, but a year isn't a normal year without some disappointments.

Each post will be separated into three separate categories:


Games that I have played that I consider a good game, and would be willing to play through again. Also games that I continue playing long after their release date.


Games that fall a little bit short. There are some games this year that I was looking forward to, that really didn't do it for me. Unfortunately means that they are no longer in my "to play" list.


I watch a lot of gaming channels on Youtube, and most of them play games that are released this year. Sometimes a game doesn't completely pull me in, so having the reference of someone to watch really helps with that. Some games I have gotten for myself even after someone plays them. But most of the time, if I've watched it on Youtube, I haven't really bothered buying it for myself.

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I've talked about Enter The Gungeon a few times in this journal. Once when I was talking about the fact that I had only been watching the game in a First Impressions post, then another time when I started to play it for the first time. Since then, I've racked up a couple good hours into the game to come to the conclusion that the game is a damn fine release for this year. It's developed by a team by the name of Dodge Roll, and published by Devolver Digital, who is known for publishing games like Downwell, Hotline Miami, Broforce, and the list just goes on and on. Basically, they're pretty renowned as a pretty good publisher, and the games that have in their arsenal of published is pretty amazing.

What should you expect from Enter The Gungeon? Well, if you've played games like Binding of Isaac, or Nuclear Throne, or any type of bullet hell style game, you pretty much have Enter The Gungeon. But it gets much deeper than that. In most rogue like games, you'd expect some depth to them like weapon choices, synergies, fantastic level design, great music, and difficult bosses. Well, Enter The Gungeon delivers not only that, but much more than that. If you've played Enter The Gungeon before, you know all about the difficulty curve that the game throws at you from the start. I've probably talked about it a few times myself. Basically, the game is hard as ****, for good reason. When I play games like this, I do typically like them to be hard at first, because the satisfaction of progressing makes you feel like you have actually worked hard to get to that point. Pretty much the same goes for my time in Binding of Isaac. The more you play, the better you get. I think that could be the standard for rogue like games, but I could be wrong. And if I am wrong, well...that should be the standard for these types of games, because it feels great once you get to the point where you can say "yeah, i'm good at this game."

So yeah, Enter The Gungeon is tough. It's definitely one of the harder games I've picked up recently. I don't know if it's as hard or close to as hard as Darkest Dungeon, but both have their own difficulty curves which makes me want more. With the toughness though comes the satisfaction of what I mentioned before, the variety. You can find a variety of different weapons ranging from a squirt gun, to a gun that shoots bees at your enemies. Of course, finding out whether those guns are good or not is all up to you using those guns and seeing how far you can get to them. The other thing this game adds and it's something I really like, and it adds to it's difficult curve, is how little the game helps you along the way. For example, you could go through a whole run (and runs typically take up to an hour, if you're good enough at the game to get to the end boss), and you could easily not get one single ammo drop, or one key to open a chest, or whatever. You get plenty of money though so that's where it equals it out. So, if you've played gun games before and you're not used to conserving your ammo, you better get used to it, because if not, you're screwed in the end game.

At the end of the day, Enter The Gungeon is a fantastic game, and definitely one worthy of being in this list as well as being a shining moment in the rogue like genre altogether. Dodge Roll have done something amazing, and I sincerely hope they continue the streak of developing amazing games, because they really know how to do it. I look forward to seeing where this developer goes, and if they take off into another genre, I hope they stick with how difficult they make games, because the difficulty again is a big part of why I enjoy this game so much. And do pick it up for yourself if you're interested, I guarantee you will get that feeling of "man I want to play this game right now" feeling right away.