Weekly Gaming Roundup 11/19/19

What I’m Playing

That’s right, I’m playing five games right now, and I’m ready to bust open like a piñata. I casually play Call of Duty Modern Warfare when I’m looking for quick paced fun, and the other four (Death Stranding, The Outer Worlds, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order) I cycle through them depending on what mood I’m in.

Since this is my last installment of this series, and because there aren’t any games coming out for the rest of the year that I’m interested in, I want to do a list of games coming out next year that I’m excited for.

So without further ado. . .

A Glimpse Into the Future

1. Cyberpunk 2077

This game is based off of a tabletop role-playing game of the same name; and in this game the role-playing still reigns true. You’ll traverse a futuristic “utopia” riddled with augmented humans, ruthless gangs, and moral decisions in abundance. The MAN himself, Keanu Reeves plays Johnny Silverhand (hence the metal hand), a side character in which you can align yourself with. CD Projekt, known for making perhaps the greatest RPG in over twenty years (The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt) is sure to have an excellent game on their hands. Cyberpunk 2077 releases on April 16th, 2020.

2. Watch Dogs: Legion

Watch Dogs: Legion takes place in a post-Brexit London, with embellished technological enhancements to cell phones, etc. that are believable enough to be seen in c. 2020-2021. The game revolves around a revolution of sorts, with the citizens of London fighting back against a militant government. The game’s main hook his hacking, whether that be phones, cars, and anything else you can imagine. The sinker is that you can control ANYONE. Wanna be that nice old lady who can barely walk and loves to feed pigeons? Go for it. Wanna be a police officer? A garbage truck driver? What about a soccer star? You got it. You can control any of them and add them to your cause. The most intriguing part of it is, if they die, they actually die. You can’t play with them anymore. Watch Dogs: Legion is due to release between April 2020 and March 2021.

3. The Last of Us Part II

TLOU Part II is the follow up to arguably the greatest feat of storytelling in video game history. A realistic, gritty, zombie-esque post-apocalyptic story that revolves around the girl pictured, Ellie, who was the secondary character in the first game. Not much is known about the plot of this game, other than that it is a direct continuation of the previous game. You’re bound for a depressing, guilt-ridden, loss heavy story that hits you in the gut after standing up from a groin kick. That sounds awful right? Trust me it isn’t, and it won’t be. The Last of Us Part II comes to PlayStation May 29th, 2020.

Welp, that’s all folks. Those are my most anticipated games of the near future. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed this. See ya soon!

– Taylor

Weekly Gaming Roundup 11/10/19

What I’m Playing

So I’ve been playing Red Dead Redemption 2 on PC, and it’s as beautiful as I could hope for. It’s so much more detailed than on consoles. I’ve only played about 10 or so hours, but I’m taking it all in, slowly. Since I beat the game twice on PlayStation, I plan on taking my time and enjoying all the details of the game this time around. If you have either of the current consoles or a beefy PC, pick this up ASAP.

Midday Friday I cracked and bought Hideo Kojima’s (the mastermind behind the Metal Gear franchise) next epic ball of weird fun and confusion, Death Stranding. Which I believe is based on a book about the oil crisis. Boy is this game strange, I played for about 5 hours Friday night and I have yet to grasp the story. Regardless, I had a lot of fun (which might just be fueled by my intrigue). I’m not sure I can recommend this game to anyone. Not because it is bad, but because how niche it is. I can’t even categorize it. How about this? If you life the Metal Gear Solid games, maybe buy this game?

Strangely enough, I haven’t been playing The Outer Worlds. Which upsets me, only because it is currently sitting at the top of my Game of the Year rankings. I think I have anxiety about beating it. I hate beating games and then never touching them again, especially games like this. It is such a great game. Hopefully I’ll jump back in sometime this week.

What I’m Waiting On

Speaking of games I’ll be playing next week, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order comes out on Thursday, and I’m very excited for it. I, for one, love the movies and the animated shows. Cameron Monaghan from Gotham and Shameless stars as the lead character Cal Kestis. The games combat seems testing, and the story and set pieces look great so far.

On the news cycle front, there’s not much to talk about. I do want to mention that Bethesda is giving out refunds for their Fallout 1st subscription service, thank the heavens. I can’t believe anybody bought it in the first place.

Hopefully some better news stories come around in the next week, and until then, see ya!

-Taylor

Weekly Gaming Roundup 10/31/19

So there’s quite a bit going on right now regarding my personal gaming habits and the news about gaming as a whole.

I wanna start off by chatting about what I’m playing right now. First off, we have The Outer Worlds, an RPG from some of the original creators of the Fallout franchise and most notably Fallout: New Vegas, Obsidian. I’m about 20 hours in and I’m absolutely in love. This is one of the best RPGs I’ve played since Fallout: NV, come to think of it. It’s shorter than other games in the genre and I think that lends well to the game. It’s very well paced, written, and really just well done all around. I feel right at home playing this game, given that it’s structured so much like Fallout, my favorite franchise of course. Anybody reading this, please play this game. If you have a PC or an Xbox One, and are subscribed to Xbox Game Pass, you have a chance to play it and save a bit of money.

On the other end of the spectrum, I’ve also been playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019), a reboot of a sub series within the CoD series that exploded the franchise into the ether of pop culture. Honestly, this game has given life to an older franchise looking to keep up. I’ve been playing this and the aforementioned game above off and on in my free time, and it’s a nice change of pace. the maps are a bummer but literally everything else is a 10/10 from me. I think this game is for anyone looking to jump back in to the series.

Looking into the future, I’m pretty excited. Next Tuesday, November 5th, Red Dead Redemption 2 gets a PC release. I’ve beat this game on console twice already, that’s about 200+ hours of cowboy rootin-tootin’, bandit shootin’. I’m ready to put another 200 in with the beautiful graphics provided from my gaming PC.

Regarding some news, I just want to speak on things that have grabbed my eye.

Bethesda announced a subscription service for Fallout 76, called Fallout 1st, and I must say, it’s terrible. The game’s player base is almost non existent, and Bethesda keeps making mistakes regarding the franchise. Thank god for The Outer Worlds. The price is awful, and the content you get from it is bugged and broken. There’s that. That’s all I can muster up about it.

In other news, Ubisoft, off a dead-on-arrival release of Ghost Recon: Breakpoint, has delayed ALL of their major releases for next year. Which is a good thing. Yves Guillemot, Ubisoft CEO, announced this alongside a message of hope, saying that the delays are for quality reasons. Giving each game a little more time to roast in the pot will most likely work wonders. I’m looking forward to how these games turn out.

EA cancelled the upcoming NBA Live 20 to focus on the series for next year’s next generation of home consoles. In a way, I’m happy about this, the series has slowly been catching its stride, trying to compete with 2k’s NBA 2k games. Hopefully the extra power from the PS5 and the “Next”box will help them cut the gap between them and the competition.

Also, Red Barrels teased their next entry in their fan favorite Outlast horror series, no announcement, no timetable, just a tease. Hopefully, we will find out soon what they have cooking in the kitchen.

Well, folks. There you have it, all of the news I care to talk about. See you next time, junior.

Fallout: New Vegas, the Nine Year Review

Fallout: New Vegas is a post-apocalyptic, retro-futuristic RPG developed by remnants of the teams behind the two original Fallout titles, Interplay and Black Isle Studios. Now known as Obsidian Entertainment, on a one time deal with Bethesda Softworks so that Bethesda could work on the eventual titles The Elder Scrolls V and Fallout 4. The game puts the player in the role of a courier delivering the most important of packages. A shot in the head later and you’re up and at em’ to do whatever you want. The Mohave Wasteland spans a trimmed down Vegas strip and a lot of its surrounding areas. You can join factions or go it alone. The story DLCs delve into the weird and wacky side of Obsidian’s story-telling, and round out the player’s backstory while adding different areas to explore.

Wasteland Wonderland

The first thing I have to mention is the freedom to do what you want. The perk system from Fallout 3 returns, along with a few new perks to spice up the gameplay. Thanks to the writing prowess at Obsidian, the dialog is varied with dark and humorous overtones. Possibly the most notable thing about the game is the yellowish-brown filter, opposed to the green-grey tone of Fallout 3. This gave the game a certain flavor, and even in the more colorful parts of the world like the conserved part of old Las Vegas’ main attraction The Strip, that yellow shade bled through. The DLC in the game is also some of the best story-wise from Bethesda. The Lonesome Road DLC, brought a mysterious backstory to the player that makes you feel like the importance of your character’s life began before the game starts. The ambient music is dark, atmospheric, and perfect for the world it inhabits. The music presented from the radio is some of the most memorable from any game you’ll play. Hits from Dean Martin, Nat King Cole, etc. breathe life into this game. Taking down enemies to The Ink Spots works so well with the dark humor of the game. The last thing I want to touch on is the list of companions you can have follow you into battle. They come with their own special abilities andf actions you take can change their behaviors towards you, even making them turn on you.

The Ugly

My largest gripe for this game is the gunplay. It’s clunky, unresponsive, and downright annoying at times. The VATS system is the savior of the combat. It’s time-stopping mechanic slows the pace to let you pick apart your enemies strategically. Bethesda’s Creation Engine isn’t great with gunplay. 2015’s sequel Fallout 4 has twice as good gunplay as F:NV. When the game first released, it was a buggy mess. Game-breaking bugs popped up 24/7, and though most of them were fixed, they still show up.

The Verdict

Bethesda handed off the franchise to some of its original creators; including famed story-writer and level designer Chris Avellone. The few that survived Interplay and Black Isle’s downfall grouped together to create Obsidian Entertainment. With nine months Obsidian created what is still considered to be the definitive Fallout experience. With its amazing storytelling, deep and varied player-choices, and long-awaited continuation of the two original games, Fallout: New Vegas perfectly crafts a true sandbox with a ton of weapons, great NPCs, and an outstanding world. No wonder IGN ranked it at 28 on its list of the greatest RPGs of all time.

Nine years ago, I would have told you to buy this game immediately if you liked Fallout 3, even at $60. Even today I’d say purchase this game right now for full price, but I am biased. Anyways, should you buy this game now? It’s $10 for the base game and $20 for the Ultimate Edition. If you haven’t bought this game by now it might not be up your alley, or you’ve lived under a rock for ten years. With about 40 hours of just main story quests, and well over 100 hours of DLC, side quests, and exploration, $20 is a steal; especially for those looking to buy a game with enough meat to keep them busy for weeks.

Hello Everyone

Hi everyone, I’m Taylor.

The first thing you all should know about me is that my favorite thing to do is play video games. I play just about every game that comes out. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t have a life. Because I most certainly do. I have an absolutely beautiful German Shepherd/Blue Heeler mix named Ryder, and he looks identical to Dogmeat from Fallout 4. I share him with my wonderful girlfriend of 4 years, Angel. I watch a ton on movies/television shows, read comic books, and just got into D&D. Basically anything nerdy. I also love the Los Angeles Lakers, Indianapolis Colts, and the LSU Tigers. I have an insane amount of useless knowledge about all of those things. Also, I hope to write for a large website about my nerdy tastes one day.

My blog posts will most like revolve around video games, movies/television, and comics. Given that I can talk about them in length at any moment. It may be a simple appreciation blog post, or a in depth analysis. I also write for a video game news website, where I serve as the Head of PlayStation, which you can read at www.jackofallcontrollers.com. There I give my opinions on hot button issues within the gaming community, review new games, and report on the news. In fact, I’m currently reviewing Blair Witch, a game just released based on the The Blair Witch Project film and its sequels. I also aim to help others come the conclusion that video games are an actual art form, regardless of their content, as games can tell some of the most powerful, touching, and expansive stories in any genre of media.

Tell me, if you play games, what’s your favorite? Mine is Fallout: New Vegas, which I’ve played for more than 1000 hours over the course of nine years.

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