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Monday Gaming Diary: The 4th of July Calls for The Division

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This weekend I worked on another review, but then I realized that with AT gone, I have more time to play games I actually want to play. For now, I won’t be reviewing nearly every major release under the sun. Don’t focus on the strategy guides I still need to review and just go with me for a second.

I haven’t really been able to play a game just for me in a long, long time. It was December 2014 and January 2015 where I took out a chunk of time to finish Dragon Age: Origins, Awakening, and Dragon Age 2. That was really the last time I was able to carve out time for my backlog at all. So while I was sad that AT is no more, it also takes a ton of pressure off.

So last night, after I finished playing my game for review, I looked through my library to pick something to play for myself. I seriously thought about Dragon Age Inquisition, but then I thought of another game that I really need to finish this year: Tom Clancy’s The Division. Besides, it’s the 4th of July weekend; what better way to celebrate our nation’s independence than to save New York from a deadly virus? I really can’t think of a better way to do so. I mean, the 4th just screams shoot crazy terrorists in New York.

Tom Clancy's The Division

Although I did learn the hard way that even though I may be level 20 and the recommended level for a story mission is 16, when you haven’t played in several months, your extra levels ain’t gonna help. I mean, I forgot essentials like how to swap weapons on the fly and dodge roll. Once I came to my senses and did a few side missions, I was able to get right back into the flow that I had left behind. A lot of little things about the game have changed as well, which took some getting used to. It is an MMO, and I knew several patches released since the last time I played. But sometimes you need to experience it to really understand how much it has changed, even though all the changes were fairly minor.

According to my game clock, I’ve put in more time for The Division than I did The Technomancer, and I even did all of the sidequests available for the latter. Story-wise for The Division, I’m a little over halfway. I’m really curious how the first expansion adds upon things, as I doubt I’ll get in on the Incursions. I don’t have enough friends who are willing to get back into the game, as they already have their MMO of choice.

I also hope this extra time means I can get into Final Fantasy XIV, a game I’m still paying monthly for and yet have not had time to play. I know, I know #gamereviewerproblems.

That said, it’s on to wrap up writing my latest review and then more The Division. New York ain’t gonna save itself today.

Hope all of our US readers have a very happy (and safe) 4th of July!

Monday Gaming Diary: Two Strategy Guides Release This Week!

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In this industry, when it rains, it pours. It’s been fairly dry since early May after DOOM released, and now this week, we have two anticipated games and strategy guides releasing: LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness. I cannot wait for this new LEGO guide to help me obtain yet another Platinum trophy.

And I’m going to hope and pray that Star Ocean doesn’t become yet another game I start and don’t finish due to its length and depth. I still have so much guilt about Xenoblade Chronicles X, which I do want to get back to. Not to mention, Twilight Princess. Poor Wii U; I seem to neglect you the most.

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As for what I’ve been playing, I’ve put in 30 hours for a game I’m reviewing for PSLS that I can’t mention. And that 30 hours was all this week. If I hadn’t gone to E3, I probably would have finished the game by now. I’m fairly certain I’m at the halfway point or close to it.

I’ve also been playing a bit of Final Fantasy Explorers, as that’s a great quick pick-up game for the handheld. However, I’m already stuck at what to do to complete this one exam as the instructions don’t entirely make sense. I need to see if there is a strategy guide for this one. I may have missed such an announcement, as I did with Yo-kai Watch, and I need a guide. Who has time to run around the entire creation looking for ten dragons to slay in an hour? I sure don’t. I’ll kill them myself, but show me where they are. That’s all I really want, as well as a list of which ability combinations will create which Crystal Surges. Such a beating.

And I’m lazy. But that’s obvious, right? I write about strategy guides, which are for the lazy and those who want the most efficient methods possible to get the most out of a game. Hey, I think I just wrote a mission statement for a guide company. Feel free to PayPal me a check!

Monday Gaming Diary: Back from E3

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Prima Games at E3So as you probably noticed, we kind of disappeared over the last couple of weeks. Chris is still on a photography tour, so he wasn’t supposed to be around, but I became extremely isolated. And then I ran off to E3. Let me explain why I withdrew, and then I’ll get into a bit of the greatness of E3.

About a month ago, I was promoted at my main writing gig as Editor-in-Chief, which was huge, and I was beyond excited about it. Two weeks later, I got the call that the company owner decided to shut the site down at the end of the month. And no, they aren’t going to wait and see if I can turn it around. I was numb for several days, and I bounced a lot of ideas around while I was in shock. What am I going to do? Will I have to get an office job? What about my kids? What about SGR? Is my time writing about games over? I was a hot mess.

And then I had to go to E3 with a smile on my face as if nothing was wrong, which I failed miserably at. Fortunately, some of my previews are getting published at sister sites, so not all the work I did at the show will be for nothing.

One of the biggest highlights at the show was seeing the fine people at Prima Games. I was feeling so down, and when they saw me coming, they smiled, and seemed happy to see me. It was a nice pick-me-up that I needed, especially when David S. J. Hodgson came over and said he’d love to be on our podcast. Oh you better believe I’ll do my best to make that happen as soon as Chris returns.

Prima also has a rather stellar line-up planned for 2016 and 2017, and yeah, I already claimed a few guides even though I’m so behind on the other ones I still have. That’s one thing I can say about losing the job; I’ll have more time to finally get around to these reviews!

As for what I am going to do, now that I’m back and calmer, I’m slowly developing a plan. It has to do with freelancing, mostly, but whatever I can do to still be as available for my kids as I can. That said, enough sad stuff; on to the greatness that awaits us throughout the end of the year!

Monday Gaming Diary: DOOM and Hard Reset Redux

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I loved DOOM, something Chris and I have both talked about at length. I’m so glad that I don’t have a review right now so that I can get back to the strategy guide, even though my youngest child decided that the guide needed a trim. Putting it down for as long as I had did take some time to get used to the controls yet again, especially after playing a game for work called Hard Reset Redux, a remastered version of the Hard Reset PC game for consoles.

Hard Reset Redux

I had never played, yet heard of Hard Reset, so I didn’t know what to expect other than what I played at PAX East. In many ways, it’s a lot like DOOM, but the controls are just different enough to not let me fall back into DOOM as easily as I would have liked. Although one thing I can say about HRR is that it got me into the habit of constantly rotating out weapons, something that DOOM attempted to teach me but was never able to keep me in the habit. Unfortunately, swapping weapons in HRR is ten times easier than in DOOM, and I find myself wishing rather often that DOOM took a page from HRR.

If you aren’t into DOOM or have already finished the game on Ultra-Violence, I highly recommend checking out Hard Reset Redux. The game is pure joy in many of the same ways that DOOM is. The action is fast-paced and satisfying, the bosses are quite difficult, the enemies constantly keep you on your toes, and the upgrade system is superb. The only reason why it’s not better is because the story is a bit weak and forced, and the Redux part slaps the Exile DLC at the end of the main campaign without a single transition or heads up. The voice acting was also as forced as the storyline, which was a bit grating. At least there wasn’t too much talking. It would have gotten in the way of all the machines that needed murdering.

Can you murder machines? I suppose it’s possible in this sense as the machines are a bit sentient. And not to mention evil; they’re trying to kill what’s left of the human race, for God’s sake. They need some murdering.

Although between murdering demons and murdering machines, after I finish with my guide review of DOOM, I may need a break from the FPS scene, no matter how much fun these games have been.

Monday Gaming Diary: TMNT Needs to Get the SHELL Off my PS4

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It’s always interesting when I tell people what my main job is. The usual response is something along the lines of, “Oh, that must be so much fun!” and then I respond with, “For the most part, yes.” And then they cock their eyebrows at me like I’m crazy. I know what they’re thinking; you play games all day (which isn’t true), how can that not be fun?

Well, when you have to review games like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan, the job isn’t that fun.

TMNT game

The actual dialogue line accompanying this shot was “Nerd Selfie.” Not. Lying.

I know this is very much a #firstworldproblem surrounding a job that many people would like to have. Oh boofuckinghoo, you have to play a game you don’t like and get paid for it. And you got that game a free review copy, so why should I feel sorry for you?

I’m not asking for pity, believe me, not even when it comes to my sad paycheck, because this is my choice. With that said, though, I still want to proclaim how this TMNT game is probably one of the worst games I have ever played.

I was a bit cautious after Transformers: Devastation killed me inside, but I wasn’t prepared for how bad this game was. I even stated in my review that the Transformers game was a game of the year contender next to TMNT. That’s just how bad the game is.

Here’s a small sample of what I bemoaned in my full review on ActionTrip.com:

Unfortunately, none of these missions are fun. They boil down to the same five or six mission types: roll a gigantic weapon ball to a warp point (I’m not joking), take down all the enemies, survive the ambush for a set amount of time, take out a scout before it alerts others, defusing bombs, and destroy a rampaging truck/helicopter/tank within a time limit. If you fail a mission, the only penalty is that you have to find another mission to complete and fill that boss meter bar. The only real motivation to complete a mission is to not find more boring things to do.

I pretty finished the game just to say I finished it, and ugh, I want those 4-5 hours of my life back. At one point, the husband watched me play and he asked me what was fun about it. I said, “Nothing.” I should never say that about an action game, much less one created by Platinum Games, whom I love and adore.

Apparently, Platinum needs to just focus on their original IPs with their own content, because this licensed path they’ve recently gone down with Activision is awful at best.

I can’t wait to get back into DOOM and actually play Uncharted 4 so I can, I don’t know, actually review some strategy guides.

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