Two Point Madness

The Steam holiday sale has been in full swing for well over a week and despite the fact that my wishlist has expanded, I'm happy to report that I've managed to quell any impulse buys.  The one and only purchase I have made has been the "Close Encounters" DLC for Two Point Hospital.  It had been quite awhile since I had last played TPH and I excitedly downloaded it onto my new(ish) PC.  I figured that once it downloaded I could hop right into the alien-infested madness of the new DLC, but there's where I was wrong.  Periodically I get irritated at the fact that the cloud save feature on Steam can be slow and so I've occasionally turned it off (before I decided the new PC was going to be a reality).  Welp--long-story-short...I had disabled those saves about midway through my initial completion of the game (I three starred every hospital because I am obsessive).  Since TPH is one of my favorite games, I wasn't too upset about having to re-play much of it and I've been putting my improved hospital administration skills to the test.

ALIENS!

I've read some very mixed things about TPH, but there's just something about it that manages to always pull me in.  I love micromanaging the details of my staff and hospital and trying to keep things running smoothly.  There's always a better way to do something and it's my goal to figure that out for every hospital.

Besides managing hospitals, I've been keeping my eyes on the 12 days of free giveaways on the Epic Store.  In various Epic giveaways I've snagged some interesting titles that I fully intend to check out at some point.  The 12 days games haven't been bargain bin rejects by any means--I grabbed Superhot and Hyperlight Drifter--a couple of quality games that I have wanted to play, but haven't necessarily wanted to buy.  The giveaway has also featured some awesome titles like Ape Out, Celeste, and FTL.

I've also found myself bouncing around into various games for brief stints.  I did some more lawyering in Phoenix Wright:  Ace Attorney, but I can only handle its goofiness for so long (I still have one last part of the trilogy to play).  I also found myself venturing back into Borderlands 3--a game that I felt has seen improved gameplay, but is still just more of the same--and starting up a new playthrough with a different character.  This time around I decided to go with FL4K and despite being underwhelmed at first, I'm starting to enjoy the playstyle.  FL4K can summon a variety of beasts to accompany it and, since I'm playing solo, it's really nice to have a critter that can tank and soak up bullets while I stand back and fire away.

And, on an almost completely un-gaming related note, I've been enjoying Netflix's The Witcher series.  I had very low hopes for it and have been pleasantly surprised.  I've seen some people commenting on social media that "it's the best video game adaptation I've seen!"  I would hesitate to call it an adaptation of the games as the series has largely followed the storylines in the books.  The first episode started off a bit slow, but I've enjoyed the very obvious nods to the books and some of the backstory that has been built into the show.  I've particularly enjoyed Yennefer's backstory and can see how it is also somewhat linked to concepts in the books--it's mentioned that sorceresses use glamours to alter their appearances (and make them all very beautiful) and there is a moment in the books when Geralt jokes to Yen about how all sorceresses probably look under those glamours (hunchbacked, traditionally hideous and witchy)--and then the show went there and gave Yen those very traits.  I'm a little sad that they changed Dandelion's name though :(

Objection! The Goofy Fun of Being a Video Game Lawyer

The Steam Winter sale has officially begun and it's the perfect time to be snatching up those hot deals!  As usual, I've grabbed a few (very different) titles that have been parked on my wishlist for awhile.  I've been looking for some light, fun games that I can hop into when I feel like it and I've been bouncing between three different games:  Prison Architect, Celeste, and Phoenix Wright:  Ace Attorney Trilogy.

I've spent the most time lawyering about in Phoenix Wright:  Ace Attorney.  In Phoenix Wright you play as Phoenix Wright, a fresh-out-of-law-school lawyer who is trying to earn his stripes in the court of law.  The story plays out in a series of chapters that start with a random crime and then Phoenix choosing to defend the accused criminal(s).  The gameplay involves point-and-click investigating and plays out in a visual novel format.  The entire goal is to find clues, interrogate witnesses to get them to cough up the truth, and to use your powers of attention and deduction to help get your clients exonerated.

Since Phoenix Wright:  Ace Attorney is a trilogy, there's plenty of crime to investigate and trials to be won.  The crimes and stories can be very far-fetched and mostly are pretty silly, but it's still fun to feel like a Sherlock Holmes/Clarence Darrow level genius.  If you're looking for a light, fun, and silly game to play, look no further than Phoenix Wright:  Ace Attorney.

Pretend lawyering is fun and all, but I've also spent a bit of time managing my long-forgotten lady prison #2 in Prison Architect.  Since the game was bought up by Paradox Interactive a series of updates and a new DLC have been rolled out.  I decided to check out the new(ish) changes to the game.

The biggest changes that I noted was the fact that there are a ton of new items--namely a crap ton of new floor types, wall types, and objects.  Many of the new items are much-needed additions--there's a shower pillar that lets you build shower heads on all sides (yesssssssss!)--but others are merely cosmetic add-ons to give your prison its own unique look.  If you haven't played in awhile, check it out.

The biggest Prison Architect news is that a new DLC, Psych Ward, was recently released.  Psych Ward presents a new form of prison to manage--a psych prison that manages the criminally insane.  These special prisons require a different management style and introduce even more unique items.  I briefly considered purchasing this DLC, but after reading numerous complaints of bugs and issues I decided to give it a pass (for now).

Another game that I've spent a bit of time tinkering with is Celeste.  I have read many great things about it, but find that I have to be in just the right mood to want to play platformers.  At first I wasn't sure that I would be able to get into it, but after clearing the first and second levels (with an insane number of deaths) I found that I was enjoying it and am curious about the story.  Over my holiday break I hope to spend some more time scaling the mountain (and dying a jillion times).

Happy holidays everyone!  May your gaming days be bright!

Button Gymnastics--Devil May Cry 5

I've spent a decent chunk of time enjoying some light hack n' slash in Devil May Cry 5.  The series was completely new to me and in the end I'm glad that I bought it (*on sale...I'm glad that I bought it on sale.  I would be hesitant to pay full price.).  I'm at the point now where I feel I can coherently give my review, so here goes.

If you're wondering what exactly the series is about, let me try to sum it up.  It's about being a hot, demon slaying, demon hunter who is also a demon (confused yet?).  Essentially you play as one of three different characters who have supernatural abilities and who wield an arsenal of slick looking guns and giant swords.  Other demons are trying to attack earth and you are trying to get rid of those demons.  Honestly, it's one of those games where you don't care much about the story because the gameplay takes center stage.  Shoot, slash, and punch your way past an army of baddies with a diverse set of stylish moves.  That is the game in a nutshell.

Pros:
+ It looks great and the main characters all look very slick and stylish.  Each has their own signature look which includes some very nice looking, beautifully waving hair.  Video game hair has become so important.  The environments in the game vary between hellish, demon infested zones in the Qlipoth (a giant, treelike demonic structure) and varying ruined city landscapes.

V and his demonic companion Griffon.

+ Story alternates between three different main characters.  Each character has their own fighting style and weapon sets.  Part of what makes the gameplay so enjoyable is learning the unique abilities of each character.  Nero has the ability to pull enemies toward him with a spectral whip which makes it easy to keep the action rolling; V offers an odd, but highly enjoyable style of play where he doesn't directly attack enemies but instead can deploy three demonic companions who can perform ranged and melee attacks; and Dante who offers a challenging array of moves and styles and an extremely powerful attack mode. 

+ Style ratings offer up additional challenge.  Each time you enter combat you are awarded a style ranking that seems to be based on multiple factors--how many different attack combos you can pull off, how well you avoid taking damage, and how well you can keep the action rolling.  The better you are able to do those things, the higher your rating will be and the more bonus orbs (currency) you are rewarded.  The ratings range from D for "dismal" up to the coveted SSS for "smokin' sick style."  At the end of each level all your combat ratings are added together for a final level rating.

+ Tons of combos and special attacks to master.  Throughout the game you find (and are rewarded) red orbs which serve as the currency.  Using those orbs you can purchase new combos and abilities for each character.  Each ability requires learning a new control sequence.

+ Devil triggers offer extremely powerful, special attacks.  Each character has their own devil triggers which allow you to perform ultra-moves.  The devil trigger gauge builds as you slay regular enemies and find special white orbs.  Part of the challenge of gameplay is figuring out how and when to utilize your devil triggers.

+ While not open world, there is an aspect of exploration.  There are hidden nooks and crannies sprinkled throughout each level which can potentially contain secret missions (challenge levels) or special blue orbs (which increase your vitality when you find four) or purple orbs (which increase your Devil Trigger gauge).  It is worthwhile to stray from the main path to find these hidden objects.

+ Practice mode.  There is a special practice mode called "the void" where you can test out new abilities and practice your combos.  It's nice because there are a ton of abilities to learn.  You can also alter the settings to include specific types of enemies or whether or not the enemies should attack you (which is good for practicing dodge moves).

+ Challenge mode.  After you complete the main storyline a new wave-based challenge mode called the "Bloody Palace" becomes available.  You can choose from the three main characters and the goal is to survive for as long as you can.  Each wave summons up a new grouping of enemies and every tenth wave includes a boss (or boss-like) enemy that you must defeat.  You receive a style ranking on each wave and are rewarded for completing the waves quickly.  The mode is timed and it is important to build up as much additional time as you can so that you can have enough time for the more difficult boss levels.  Bloody Palace is also a good place to earn red orbs.

+ Replayability.  Even though the main storyline is short, there is a huge replayability aspect to the game.  There are tons of abilities to purchase (and, for three different characters) so farming orbs to unlock abilities could be your goal.  You might want to increase your style rankings on certain levels.  There are secret missions and items to find.  One particularly handy feature is the ability to select which mission you want to replay.  There are also many difficulty levels and it's worthwhile to up the difficulty as you unlock more special abilities.

+Secret missions provide extra challenge for special rewards.  There are 10 secret challenges hidden throughout the game.  They provide character-based challenges (like using Nero's spectral whip ability to avoid touching the ground) and are both frustrating and satisfying (I had to do mission 5 about 987 times until I finally got it).

+ Performance is great.  I had no problems and it ran like a charm.

Cons:
- Main storyline is fairly short-- ~9-10 hours of play.  If you're the type of person who plays things once and then shelves it...it's probably not worth it at full price.

+- Challenging to master.  Trying to remember all the combos and buttons is difficult.  This is definitely a game that requires repetition and practice to truly "git gud" at.  Depending on how you feel about that, the difficulty of mastering the combo system could be a turn off for some players.  I've played it for close to 20 hours and I've gotten some decent stylish ratings (which isn't too hard with V), but I can't consistently pull off the highest ratings with all the characters.  It's hard.

- The void is nice for practice, but I wish it was more like the practice mode in Bayonetta--I really liked the fact that it would tell you when you were correctly performing a move.  It's sometimes difficult to tell if you're correctly performing a combo.

- Dodging feels weird.  I think Bayonetta has forever ruined the way I feel about dodging.  It's so rewarding in Bayonetta and requires some good timing.  In DMC5 that timing window is much tighter and sometimes it is frustratingly difficult to dodge (especially on larger bosses).  I don't know that I've come even remotely close to figuring out dodging.

Final verdict:
DMC5 is a fast, furious, and very stylish hack n' slash that is a ton of fun.  It's difficult to master, but learning new moves feels very good.  Due to the short length of its storyline I would recommend picking it up on sale if you're only intending to play around with it a little bit (you can get it for $19 on Steam.  It seems to go on sale fairly frequently.). 

Hack n' Slash With Some Hotties

The holiday season is not only a time to celebrate with friends and family, but a great time for hot gaming deals.  The Steam autumn sale (just call it what it is Steam!  It's Black Friday!) offered an opportunity to grab a couple of my wishlisted titles at a nice discount.  I decided to grab two very different games--Devil May Cry 5 and Phoenix Wright:  Ace Attorney Trilogy.  I completed one story playthrough in DMC5 and have been puttering around with Phoenix Wright.

V, Nero, and Dante ready to kick some demon ass.

I am new to the Devil May Cry franchise, but I had read many good things about the newest game.  After checking out Bayonetta several years ago, I've discovered a soft spot for goofy, but challenging, hack n' slash games.  Devil May Cry 5 takes a more serious tone than Bayonetta, but still manages to remain a mostly light, yet very satisfactorily slashy, romp through a hellish landscape and story.  One of the more interesting aspects of the game is the fact that you often switch between protagonists and each has their own set of abilities and powerful "devil triggers."  There's Nero, the broody, angry youngster of the group who seems to be focused on proving himself; then there's V, the tattooed, poetry-reading (again, with the poetry-reading--this is like the gaming default way to indicate that a character has a softer, gentler side) weakling who lets his demonic pets do the fighting; and Dante, the ultra-powerful, OG demon slayer who cockily takes on the role of leader.  One thing that's worth mentioning is that the graphics in DMC5 are great and the three protagonists look like the lineup for a sexy boy band.

The gameplay in DMC5 is highly enjoyable and very challenging.  Each character has his own set of abilities that take time to master (there's no way I'm even close to mastering them).  There are tons of attack variations and combos and I am hoping to get more efficient at utilizing those abilities and not just blindly mashing buttons.  One fun part of the gameplay is receiving a rating for each conflict--the lowest rating is a D (for dismal) and the highest is the coveted SSS (I got an SS maybe once...it's hard).  The combat rating is based on the number of different attacks and combos that you use and keeping the fighting rolling.

I decided to start off on the lowest difficulty level due to my lack of knowledge about the series (which is something that I rarely do--I usually opt to start off on normal) and I was glad that I did.  On the easiest setting there's a chance to learn the basic mechanics of utilizing different attacks without worrying too much about dying.  As a newbie, it was a good place to start and I would recommend it to others who are new to the series.

One part of the game that I have really struggled with is dodging.  I am very used to the timing mechanic in Bayonetta and the fact that you are rewarded for your well-timed attacks.  The dodging in DMC5 is much less fluid and requires a tighter timing window which is going to take more practice for me.

There's tons to enjoy in DMC5 and I am looking forward to starting another playthrough on the next highest difficulty setting.  There are lots of orbs to collect to keep unlocking special abilities for the three protagonists, not to mention all the secret missions that I didn't find (these missions are comparable to the Alfheim portals in Bayonetta).  If you're looking for a fun, yet challenging hack n' slash give DMC5 a whirl.

Is a Cute Mouse Enough?

My free month of Origin Access (basic!) has allowed me to do some things that I normally don't do in gaming--experiment with titles I might not try.  I perused their list of available options and picked out a few notable ones...and then I decided to pass on them.  Weirdly, I ended up downloading all 80 gigs of Star Wars Battlefront II only to play through 95% of the singleplayer campaign only to realize that I wasn't really having that much fun.  Let me explain--I enjoy Star Wars, but I'm not the play every game, watch every thing, do all the Star Wars things kind of fan.  I wanted to see what the game had to offer and even though I was initially sucked in by the absolutely beauty of it (it's gorgeous and it feels authentically Star Wars), I quickly saw exactly where the story was going and also got irritated at the combat.  It drives me bonkers when shooters kind of want you to be stealthy.  I don't want to faux-sneak around and then end up shooting everything anyway!  Eventually, I decided that I was done with its nonsense (hordes of baddies just blindly charging at you--just running around shooting stuff--but, flying in a TIE fighter or X-Wing was super cool).  I uninstalled those same 80 gigs with no regrets.

Rather than go for the questionable big dogs* (Origin Access is chocked full of the major EA titles--your Battlefields, your FIFA's, your Need For Speed, etc.) I decided that my free month would probably be best spend playing through the shorter indie options.  I was intrigued by a game called A Ghost of a Tale and opted to give it a whirl.  In A Ghost of a Tale, you play the role of Tilo, a mouse minstrel who has wound up in jail.  You quickly learn that Tilo's wife was also arrested, but that she is missing.  Tilo desperately wants to find his wife and luckily someone in the jail wants to help him for some reason--someone slips the cell key to Tilo and encourages him to come find this hidden individual.  The rest of the game has players helping Tilo sneak around the jail and surrounding areas in order to complete quests and reveal pieces of the story of his wife's arrest.  (Probably 12-14 hours play time.)

Pros:

+ Anthropomorphic cast of critters is very cute.  Tilo is a tiny, cute little mouse; the guards are all creepy looking rats; there's a salty frog pirate.

Who can resist a cute little mousy!

+ Nice environments.  There are many different areas to explore and the entire game has a visually pleasing aesthetic.

+ Quests/sidequests.  There are many tasks to be completed and enough to keep you busily running around.

+ Music mechanic.  There are times during your interactions with other characters that you meet that they will request that Tilo perform a certain song.  It's a cute mechanic and the songs themselves are fun to listen to.

+ Humor.  There are jokes and humorous interactions throughout the game that will make you chuckle.  Kerold, the pirate-frog is quite a character.

+ Story.  The main storyline was deeper than I expected and it was worthwhile to learn about the other characters in the game.

+Cute costumes.  Part of the challenge in the game is to track down several costumes that are used to help Tilo complete quests.  Pirate Tilo, Thief Tilo, and Ranger Tilo are all great.

Cons:

- My biggest irritation with this game was the fact that I just didn't feel like many things were explained well.  Tilo earns experience points for his actions, but there was no explanation about how to use them when he leveled up.  There were some basic explanations about how to use tools and hiding places, but when it came to helpful hints to at least nudge you in the right direction...it was very lacking.  I spent more time looking things up than I would have preferred to.  I will admit that part of that was my own error--you find florins (the currency) sprinkled throughout the game.  Early on, it explains that the blacksmith is your main source of information and upon talking to him you find out that you can pay him to reveal vital pieces of information--like where things are located on the map.  There is literally no other use for the currency in the game and it's never clearly explained.  The same can be said of some of the quests--in one quest you learn of a smuggling ring and are told that the mark of this group is hidden in the sewers...but you're never shown what the mark looks like!

I suppose you could chalk it up to making a more authentic, less hand-holdy type of gameplay, but I was frequently frustrated by the lack of information in the game.  There's a lot of trial and error and just not having a clue about what you're supposed to be doing or where to find something.  I think the game could really benefit from some additional explanation about mechanics.

In the end, I would cautiously recommend A Ghost of a Tale.  If you're not upset by looking things up and just want to enjoy the story experience...by all means, do it.  Personally, I had to look up way too many things and felt way more irritated at the game than I would have liked.

Story Rich--Tacoma

After the high-stakes action of Shadow of the Tomb Raider, I needed something considerably lighter to play.  Luckily enough, I received a free month of Origin Access (basic...because you know, premium is only for the cool kids) for setting up two-factor authentication on my EA account.  There are many serious EA titles on Origin Access, but I decided that I would check out some of the indie titles first.  I've enjoyed the bulk of the indies that I have picked up in the past, but from an economic standpoint, I don't find them to be the best bang for my buck.  Sure, triple-A titles cost a pretty penny, but I can play a big RPG for 100+ hours in some cases--most indies I pick up are of good quality, but are the kind of game that you'll play once for the experience and then, most likely, never pick it up again.  Maybe that's the wrong mindset to have, I do enjoy supporting smaller indie studios, but it feels like a better investment to buy a game that I know I can sink a lot of (mostly satisfactory) time into.

The first indie I decided to check out is the space investigation game Tacoma (2017).  Tacoma was developed by the same studio that created the indie darling Gone Home and had long been a game that was lurking on my side wishlist.  The story in the game involves you playing the role of a contractor who is investigating a mysterious accident on a space station.  The crew is missing and there's virtually no information about what happened to them.  Using a clever interface of pseudo-augmented reality overlays you are able to replay and investigate the events surrounding the accident.  (Spoiler-free!)

Pros:
+ AR-like investigation tool is fun.  The major events leading up to the accident play out in a series of pre-recorded AR sessions.  Specific zones on the ship are locked until you play through the AR recordings throughout a certain section.  The AR recordings are time stamped so you can get a clear sense of the sequence of events.  All you can see in the recordings are the outlines of the crewmembers on the ship, but you can hear all their dialogue.  The recordings can be rewound and replayed--this is handy because the recordings cover any crew member activities within a section, so you need to move about and observe what everyone is doing.  While you observe the recordings you also will see specific ? queries appear on the time marker--this means that you can engage with a specific crew member's AR interface.  It's sort of like snooping around in someones phone; you can read their text messages, their e-mails, or see what relevant information they've been searching for.

+ Great character development.  Using your AR tools and also being observant while you're searching through the ship gives you insight into the personalities and quirks of the six crew members.  Each of them is dealing with some very human issues and has their own insecurities, strengths and weaknesses.

+ Story unravels in tantalizing pieces.  The plot builds throughout the end of the story and makes you want to keep investigating.

+ Amazing details.  I was extremely impressed by the number of small details in the game.  The ship is littered with items that can be picked up and investigated.  It might sound tedious looking at a piece of floating garbage, but that piece of garbage has been carefully crafted to help set up the feeling of living in space.  Nosing through recycling bins can reveal scrapped personal letters that shed light on each character.

+ The story itself is entertaining and didn't turn out the way that I thought it would.

+ Very diverse cast of characters.

Cons:
-+ Short story.  I completed the entire story in four hours.  I liked the story and felt like it was told in an entertaining way.  If you're the type of gamer who is looking for something that is low-key, story-rich, and will only take a few hours to complete, this would be the perfect option for you.

-Limited replayability.  This is a game that you'll most likely play once and then not think of it again.

If you enjoy indie games and are the type of person who liked Gone Home, I would heartily recommend Tacoma.  I felt very engaged in the story the entire time I played and wasn't exactly sure how it was going to play out (my initial prediction for the story turned out to be quite wrong).  The small details are a great touch and the characters in the game felt very real.

Rolling Around in the Mud--Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Ooof!  I just finished my first full playthrough of Shadow of the Tomb Raider and, I've got to say, it is my favorite of the three Tomb Raider re-boots.  I had a great time playing it (barring some technical annoyances that I will get to) and would definitely recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the series or who is interested in picking it up for the first time.  Being my normal completionist self (*I got 97% completion...so irritating, but I refuse to look up the items I missed!) I did my best to find as many of the collectibles as I could, complete any sidequests, and, of course, to master all the challenge tombs...oh and pet the llamas.  With all these activities my completion of the story clocked in at 31 hours, which I felt was just right.

Pros:

It's a frickin' pirate ship!

+ In true Tomb Raider style, the game is absolutely beautiful.  The story is set in Mexico and South America and involves tombs and settings inspired by Aztec, Maya, and Inca ruins.  The settings vary from lush jungle zones, to ancient stepped pyramids, to small village outposts, to a crumbling mission, to creepy, monster-filled caves.  Each environment is stunningly detailed and it is enjoyable just to spend time walking around and taking in the local flavor.  The Mayan/Incan inspired outfits are gorgeous.

+Movement and camera angles are very good.  It's not perfect, but it has gotten so much better since ye olden days of Lara Croft.  There were almost no frustrating moments where the camera lodged itself into an unhelpful angle and made it difficult to traverse.  Some of the most awkward times with the camera were times when Lara was navigating an overhang--it could be somewhat difficult to figure out exactly where she needed to go.

+Oodles of collectibles.  Each zone is scattered with items that require some added incentive to fully explore.  There are documents, survival caches, relics, murals, and treasure chests.  The items that you collect help to tell stories about the civilizations, characters, and issues related to the story.  In particular, finding murals is useful because each mural helps Lara learn one of the three dialects present in the game and allows her to eventually be able to translate monoliths.  Once translated, monoliths will present Lara with a riddle to solve in order to find a hidden cache of valuable materials.

A very Mayan/Incan flair and feel.

+ Challenge tombs were fun and not overly complex (*disclaimer--I don't mean easy and I had to look up the solution to two of them.  After looking up those solutions I discovered that I missed some very stupidly obvious parts of the puzzle).  Completing these tombs isn't mandatory, but each tomb does unlock specific talents which are tied to chaining talents, so worthwhile.

+ Fast travel system allows you to return to zones that you previously explored.  The nice part about this system is that there are multiple campsites (your fast travel beacons) scattered throughout a zone and it's very convenient to have one located near your objective and not have to repeatedly traverse certain areas.  It's also basically mandatory if you're going for some degree of completion due to the fact that certain items are unlocked by progressing through the main story.

+ Wide variety of craftable gear that provides different perks depending on the set.  Lara can equip a top and a bottom piece of gear.  Some of the items give combat perks and others are more geared toward gathering.  The craftable gear has a cool, Mayan/Incan look and integrates the items that Lara finds in the jungle (like jaguar skins).  Some items are found in crypts; others are rewarded in sidequests or main storyline quests.  If you're in it for more cosmetic reasons, there are also many outfits that Lara can equip--including several skins that revert Lara to her classic look (the very geometric classic look....)

+Stellar action sequences.  I was blown away by the action sequences in the game.  Throughout the story Lara gets swept up in events that require her to absolutely run for her life.  It is extremely intense and will have you on the edge of your seat.  No other game series I've played has managed to convey that feeling of surviving by the very skin of your teeth.

+ Improved stealth mechanics.  Lara can smear herself with mud and hide in special muddy vine patches.  It's the perfect formula for hiding and waiting for Trinity goons to stumble into stabbing range.  Most of the main combat zones are sprinkled with opportunities to be stealthy, however, being completely stealthy is easier said than done.  Mud Lara is an absolute badass.

Pet those llamas.

+ Llama petting.  Every game should include animals to pet.  The end.

+ Herbs provide healing and buffs for a variety of purposes.  Those buffs are handy for combat situations and also for exploration.

+Photographer mode!  I love snapping up some sick screenshots and tweaking my photos to make them just right.

Cons:
- Technical difficulties.  I experienced a somewhat frustrating number of game freezes.  The weird part about these freezes is that they really didn't seem to hit until I reached a particular part of the game.  I tried lowering my graphic settings but still had crashes.  It wasn't until I did some researching on the cause that I read that disabling DirectX12 seems to solve the freezing issue.  Once I disabled DX12 I only had one weird crash.  The game also didn't start off on the right foot due to a strange error message I received upon my first launch--it claimed that the default settings were too high for my GPU (which is an RTX 2070....).  That problem was solved by disabling the Nvidia GeForce overlay.  It's frustrating that a game suffers issues in its default settings.

Lara facing her demons.

- Forgettable story.  I love the gameplay of the Tomb Raider series, but the stories are always something along the same lines--evil organization is hunting for powerful artifact, Lara must stop them, Lara has identity crisis along the way, lots of people die, eventually Lara overcomes issues and solves the problem.  Let's just face facts and say that we play TR for the awesome traversal system, gorgeous environments, and amazeballs action sequences.  Who cares about the plot.

I would heartily recommend Shadow of the Tomb Raider.  It's the most fun I've had with any of the modern TR re-boots.  If you're having any crashing or freezing issues, disable DirectX12 to solve your issues.

Punching, Kicking, Falling and the $999 Half-Life Thought

After giving up on Monster Hunter:  World, I decided to snap up Shadow of the Tomb Raider (which frequently goes on sale).  Weirdly, I also took a brief foray back into the zany world of Bayonetta--I felt a strange urge to punch, kick, and torture my way through the minions of Paradiso.  I would absolutely love it if the other Bayonetta titles made their way to the wonderful, magical world of the PC.

One major piece of gaming news dropped this week--the announcement of a new Half-Life game!  Even though it's not Half-Life 3, Project Alyx is a dose of HL that has long been missing from the gaming scene.  Valve is a tricky, tricky trickster though and decided to make the newest entry into one of my most beloved series a VR exclusive.  Damn you!  Part of me is waving an unhappy finger at Valve but this other part of me wants to say "I see wut u did there."  Fans have long been frothing at the mouth for some HL and this rare opportunity could very possibly see those semi-rabid hordes investing $999 (I don't know how much Oculus cost, but you get Project Alyx free with Valve Index) to get that much needed HL.  I'm not gonna lie; I did click on the Valve Index ad after the trailer dropped--and then I laughed at spending $999 for one title (I mean, of course you could buy other games, but still!).

Currently, I am spending my time falling off of virtually everything as Lara Croft in Shadow of the Tomb Raider.  This newest entry into the series has Lara adventuring in the jungles of South America in an effort to destroy yet another evil plot by Trinity to find and use an ancient artifact to destroy the world.  I'm not a die hard Lara Croft fan, but I have enjoyed the rebooted games.  One of the new features in the game is improved stealth through the use of camouflage in the form of Lara smearing herself with mud.  Once she has adequately covered herself, she can can hide in special mud-covered vine patches and wait for unwitting enemies to creep close enough to be stealthily stabbed.  It's a new, added challenge to sneak through the jungle and not be detected.

If there's one thing that the new TR games have in common it is the fact that Lara Croft is nigh-on indestructible.  Even though she can nimbly navigate a wide variety of narrow ledges, sketchy looking rock outcrops, and dangerously high areas, she is constantly falling off of things.  One of the sequences I completed was a flashback of Lara as a precocious, freckled kid.  Her vibrant imagination had constructed her own special backyard Croft manor adventure.  In true Lara style though, she veers off into dangerous territory as she scales up the side of massive manor house...and, of course she encounters a loose section of gutter and goes tumbling off (but, always managing to fall to safety).  Can poor Lara just have it a little bit easier?  Maybe not fall so much, please?

I constantly find myself holding my breath as I guide Lara through some truly treacherous areas.  SotTR has some sequences that will trigger any mild phobias lurking deep within you--fear of heights as Lara clambers up a precipice; claustrophobia as Lara squeezes herself through excruciatingly narrow passages; aquaphobia as she swims through some truly challenging underwater areas (caves, tunnels, and again, freakishly tight passages)...and so many more that it's truly nerve wracking.  Those things might sound like a negative experience, but I am always astounded by the fact that these fictional experiences are made with such high quality that I am feeling those things while playing.

One of the things that I always forget about with TR is the fact that Lara's deaths are particularly gruesome.  Last night I played through a main storyline tomb that involved Lara suddenly sliding down a slope...but, not just any slope, a slope with strategically located spiky poles sticking out from the wall.  Being completely caught off guard, the first round saw me steering Lara directly into the poles and then grotesquely having a spear impale her.  Poor Lara!

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is particularly gorgeous and I am enjoying the photo mode.  Here are a few screenshots I snapped:

Mayan and Incan ruins feature prominently.

That's not ominous at all, right?

Challenge ahead!

Inside a story tomb.

The Monsters Win

The sad news this week is that I've officially given up on Monster Hunter:  World.  It's not that it's a bad game, it's just that it's not the kind of game for me.  It was a questionable choice to begin with and it's the kind of game that I could see myself potentially revisiting at a future date.  I didn't finish the main storyline, so I don't feel like I can reasonably call this a review--it's just my personal thoughts on what I liked and disliked about the game.

Giant monsters are a central part of Monster Hunter:  World

Liked
+ Character creation has lots of options for a personalized hunter.  One of the features I particularly liked was the ability to pick the color you wanted and then use a customizable color palette to get exactly what you were looking for.  There are a wide variety of hair, makeup, and facial features to choose from.  You could potentially spend a lot of time tweaking your character to make them fit the aesthetic you're shooting for.

+Palicos!  Not only do you get to create your own character, but you also get to create a super cute, felyne companion.  The aforementioned character creation options are also extended to your palico--you can choose from a wide variety of fur lengths, colors, and patterns to make your felyne guardian feel like your own personal companion.

+Tasks to keep you busy.  There are plenty of options for how you can spend your time--main story quests, optional side quests, collection missions (to get new ingredients for the palico chef), arena fights, going on expeditions to explore new areas, or just farming for ingredients.

+ Looks nice.  The graphics are nice and I liked the variety of zones (in the part that I played).  There are some pretty stock biome types (your traditional jungle or desert), but there are also some interesting varieties like the coral highlands.

+Armor sets and weapons look cool and there are a ton.  The monsters you kill or capture provide crafting materials that can be used to craft new armors or upgrade your weapons.  Each type of armor has a look that closely matches the monster that dropped the parts.

+Collectibles.  You can capture small creatures and them keep them as pets in your room area of the main base.  It's fun to find new critters to capture.

Disliked
-Always online.  Monster Hunter:  World is clearly meant to be a multiplayer title.  You must play online, but you can very easily restrict your session to singleplayer tasks.  There really isn't an option for playing offline and others will join your session.  There are some nice options for having other people help you--you can fire an SOS flare and other hunters could help fight a monster.  I really didn't have problems with this system and 99% of the people who joined my game were doing their own thing.  I think it would be a great game to play multiplayer, but I just wish there was an option to play offline.

-Very grindy/repetitive.  I mentioned that there are a ton of armor sets and weapons, which is great, but the reality is that building those sets requires farming monster parts.  This potentially means killing the same monster over and over.  Killing monsters is fun, but doing it over and over just felt way too grindy to me.  The fights themselves are long and I just found that I didn't have the patience or desire to keep grinding out parts.

-Story is not very engaging.  I was semi-pursuing the main storyline, but didn't feel particularly drawn to the story missions.  To me, the meat of the game seems to be about farming monsters to upgrade your armor and weapons and, unfortunately, I lost interest.

I don't think Monster Hunter:  World is a bad game, it's just one that isn't for me at the moment.  I think there are gamers out there who will really enjoy it--killing monsters is a lot of fun.  The reality for me was that I just couldn't get into the grindy, repetitive nature of farming parts.  I'm going to shelve it for now and maybe re-visit in the future.

On the Fence About Monster Hunter: World

Since I knew my time with Assassin's Creed:  Syndicate was winding down, I began looking for my next gaming time sink.  Steam has a had a few different sales going on in the past few weeks and I decided to pounce on one non-wishlist and one wishlisted game.  Shadow of the Tomb Raider had been sitting on my wishlist for awhile, and honestly, I'm not a die hard Lara Croft fan, but I just couldn't resist the 67% off price tag (which happens fairly frequently).  My non-wishlisted choice was Monster Hunter:  World which was a bit of an impulse buy.  I've spent some time killing monsters and I'm wavering in my feelings about the game.

Monster Hunter:  World is part of a series of games that were primarily console games.  I decided to give it a whirl because the reviews were very favorable and it looked like the kind of game that I would enjoy--some exploration, some crafting, some monster killing...a nice, meaty game that I could sink my teeth into.  The entire premise of the game is that you are part of a squad of trained monster hunters who are exploring a new landmass that is teeming with an overpopulation of monsters.  Your character is being sent to the "new world" to help establish new bases and also to help reduce the number of potentially dangerous monsters in the area.  There's also a big, bad elder dragon (an enormous, magma spewing monstrosity) that seems to have made its way to the new world.  Part of your job is to figure out why.

My character and Palico.

One of the most daunting tasks is creating your character and trying to decide which of the 14 different weapon types you want to wield.  There are melee weapons--giant two-handed swords and axes, sword and shield, daggers, and several interesting/strange weapons including the gun lance (a lance that can also fire shells) and weapons that can convert into other weapons.  If you're hoping to put some distance between your character and the dangerous monsters roaming the land, you can opt for several ranged weapons--there are rapid firing crossbows, a longer range, rifle-like crossbow, or a more standard bow.  I opted to start off with a rapid firing crossbow.

Creating your character and picking a weapon is step one, but your creation tasks aren't done!  You also get to create a very cute felyne (a race of helpful cat-like creatures) companion called a Palico.  Your Palico fights by your side, has their own weapon and armor sets, and even finds items for you.  I, of course, modeled my Palico after my real-life feline companion.

Once you enter the world you have many options for how you want to spend your time.  You can pursue the main storyline, you can spend time exploring the many zones you discover, or you can pursue various sidequests which can range from gathering certain materials to hunting and/or capturing large monsters.  There is tons of stuff to do.

The Palico cooks make some tasty looking food.

The highlight of the game is, of course, hunting down monsters.  The monsters are huge and come in many varieties--some monsters fly, some breathe fire or spit poison, some are aquatic.  Defeating these monsters is no easy task and requires research so that you can learn their weaknesses.  Once you've engaged them, the fight can be quite long and requires careful attacks to disable weak points, as well as some well-timed dodging.  The fight also consists of several rounds of damaging the monster, having to chase it down as it flees, and then wearing it down until it dies (or you capture it).

So far, I've been on the fence about Monster Hunter:  World.  There are some tutorials in the game but much of the information you will need requires your own research.  I was frustrated because my initial choice of rapid-fire crossbow seemed to do almost no damage to the monsters I was fighting.  Apparently, you aren't meant to just pick one weapon and stick with it, but instead should vary your weapon type on the monster you are fighting.  This means that just as you're getting comfortable with a weapon that you should probably change it up which also means trying to learn a new weapon.  I finally changed to the insect glaive and it worked well for the monster I was trying to take down.  You also will need to tailor your armor choices to the damage type of the monster you are fighting and should invest in multiple sets of armor.  I sort of messed that up by investing all my armor spheres into one set.

The gameplay itself also has moments where it feels a bit sluggish and off.  I had some serious issues with dodging when I had my crossbow equipped and "fainted" several times due to getting smacked down by a giant, T-rex-like monster.  I still haven't quite figured out if the dodging is more of a timing kind of thing or if you should just be mashing the dodge button.

I feel like I've figured a few things out and I'm going to keep playing Monster Hunter.  I'm not totally sold yet and there are still aspects of it that feel very console-centric.

I've Stabbed All the People--Assassin's Creed: Syndicate Review

Last night I finished up my 53 hour playthrough of Assassin's Creed:  Syndicate.  I am a newcomer to the Assassin's Creed series and have been picking and choosing which games I should play.  Since there's no way I'm going to play all of them, I Googled the high points and went from there.  I was aiming for a top five and Syndicate appeared near the bottom of that list.  Thus far, my Assassin's Creed adventures have included Black Flag, Origins, Odyssey, and now, Syndicate.  I will agree with the assessment that Syndicate belongs in the #5 on the list.

Syndicate takes place in mid-19th century London and unlike the other games in the series that I had previously played, it is a very urban setting--tons of buildings, bustling streets, docks, the busy Thames filled with barges and ferries--there's so much happening!  One of the other intriguing aspects of Syndicate is the fact that there are two different protagonists--the Frye twins, Jacob and Evie.  I found Syndicate to be a 'tweener game--when it was released it was moving toward the much more open-world type of game that Origins and Odyssey are but still had the more centrally-focused parkour/action-y style from the earlier games in the series.

Pros:
+ 1868 London is beautiful.  The Assassin's Creed series does a great job of immersing players in historical eras.  The attention to detail is always amazing--there are famous landmarks to explore, green spaces, and zones that differ in their aesthetic--posh, upper-class areas, rundown slums, and busy industrial spaces (complete with giant, steam-driven machinery).

+ Collectible-palooza.  Although Syndicate is nowhere near the staggering size of Odyssey, the city of London still offers players plenty to explore.  Each zone is scattered with several different classes of items to find--chests, pressed flowers, beer bottles, helix glitches, and music boxes.  The nice part about these collectibles is that players can choose to use in-game currency to purchase maps which reveal the locations of some of them (namely the chests, pressed flowers, and beer bottles).  If you want to catch 'em all (trademark Pokemon) you will need to explore--helix glitches and music boxes have to be discovered.

+ Secrets of London offer uber-explorers a chance to use clues to puzzle out the locations of the 32 hidden music boxes.  I mostly enjoyed the challenge and was able to find all but one without looking up a guide.  The nice part is that the reward for finding all of them is a fancy outfit for Evie.

+ Side tasks galore.  As you travel through London and progress through the main storyline, you meet some very famous Londoners.  All of them have concerns and need your help with some task associated with them.  These side-missions are mostly fun and offer the chance to gain some rare crafting materials and schematics.  Besides these mission based tasks there are also more exploration-based tasks--the city is pieced into zones and each zone includes tasks that can be completed for associates in order to raise your reputation with them.  The ultimate goal is to establish the dominance of Jacob's gang, the Rooks--doing so requires players to complete the various tasks in a zone and then defeat a rival gang in a gang war.  There are also other side activities, for example Robert Topping offers various "fight clubs" and carriage races in each zone.

Basically, if you're worried that you'll run out of things to do...you won't.

Jacob looking dapper in his fancy outfit.

+Unique inventory for both characters.  Jacob and Evie can equip a variety of weapons and gear which can be tailored to how players want to play each character--for example, brass knuckles and canes have a higher "stun" stat which will stagger enemies--kukri's (a kind or curved knife) have a higher-lethality stat and offer faster kills.  Both characters also carry a pistol.  When it comes to their gear, Jacob can equip belts which give him various stat boosts and Evie can equip cloaks.  Exploring, completing missions (main and side), and raising associate reputation unlocks schematics for a wide variety of items which can be crafted with materials found throughout the world.

+ Jacob and Evie offer two differing playstyles and have talents tailored to them.  Evie specializes in stealth and Jacob prefers a more confrontational style.  You can freely switch between the two while exploring, but the main storyline sees you switching between the two or specific missions.

+ Rope launcher!  This unique contraption allows you to navigate the tall buildings and landmarks around the city.  It conveniently creates ziplines anywhere and makes you feel like an 1868 Spiderman.

+ Combat is fun and both Jacob and Evie are super OP.  You can literally battle hordes of baddies with no problems.  You feel like an ultimate badass.

Cons:
- Technical difficulties.  Initially, I couldn't get Syndicate to run on my old PC (an issue that I believe was tied to my non-ideal graphics card overheating) and tried to refund it.  On my new PC, it ran very well, but Syndicate is the glitchiest Assassin's Creed game that I have played so far.  Some of the most entertaining glitches happened when all of a sudden horses and carriages would come raining out of the sky (it's funny until one lands on you and kills you).  One major bug I had was the fact that not all of the associates (who you raise rep for) would show up on my progression tracker.  Even after completing the missions to meet them my journal still showed a "locked" symbol for Ned Wynert.  This meant that I couldn't see which tasks I could complete to raise rep with this character, which was annoying.

- World > Story.  I have found this to be true of all the Assassin's Creed games I have played so far.  The stories in the games are very forgettable and the amazing worlds are the highlight.  I've come to the conclusion that you play the games more for the worlds than the stories, so if you're hoping for some deeply engaging story...'taint happenin'.  There a big baddie who has some littler baddies who work for him--your job is to take out the little baddies to get to the big baddie (who is trying to steal some legendary artifact)...it's a stock AC scenario.

- Side tasks can feel very grindy.  Even though these tasks are optional, some of the best schematics for high-level craftable items are unlocked through rep.  In particular, Ned Wynert's tasks are obnoxious as heck--hijacking cargo over and over or sabotaging ships.  I also had an annoying bug that wouldn't let me see which tasks I hadn't completed for Ned, so his was the only rep I didn't max out.  I also read several complaints that the carriage racing is difficult--the AI definitely doesn't give you much leeway.

- Like any Ubi game there are microtransactions.  You're not pushed to buy them, but you will see ads for them on the pause menu. 

Final verdict:
If you're interested in adventuring through the Assassin's Creed series the games frequently go on sale.  I would recommend playing Syndicate, overall I had a good time, but I was ready to move on to something else by about hour 40.  Get it on sale (I bought it for $13 during a sale).  It's not a "must play" in the series, but does offer some unique features that fans will enjoy.

Doing the Things You Hate--Assassin's Creed: Syndicate

There are certain sidetasks in many video games that I tell myself that I don't need to do...but then I end up doing them anyway!  Currently, I'm still working my way through Assassin's Creed:  Syndicate and, as I've stated several times before, I'm a shameless completionist.  The idea of speeding through the main storyline in a matter of a few paltry hours is completely unacceptable to me.  I...must...do...all...the...things (even if they annoy the crap out of me).  I've made it my personal goal to at least try to find all the collectibles (which includes several different categories--chests, illustrations, helix glitches, and pressed flowers).  I was feeling good about my progress with this task until I realized that there was an entirely separate class of collectibles--music boxes!  I had accidentally stumbled upon a few of the items and had no idea what they were--then I made a visit to the hidden vault and discovered that they are a more challenging type of collectible; the kind that is intentionally meant to be hidden and puzzled out by players.

A visual music box clue--there are some helpful details.

Generally, I don't like looking things up unless I'm absolutely stumped, so doing the search for the music boxes requires some powers of deduction.  Once you reach the hidden vault, a new series of clues appears in your game progression log--each music box location is accompanied by a short poem (that seems to be completely useless) and a visual clue that is more helpful, but can still include frustratingly little information.  I've managed to puzzle out the locations of several boxes by looking for large, prominent landmarks to use as visual references--a large church steeple or towering chimney can offer an convenient place to begin your search.  From there, it's usually a matter of using the rope launcher to traverse rooftops and keeping your ears open to the tinkling, musical notes of a nearby music box.

There's also a part of me that absolutely hates wasting time doing these searches--wandering around feels fruitless and like I could just look it up and save some valuable time.  I find that looking things up completely ruins the reward of working things out for yourself though, so I am usually able to avoid it (I did have to look up one box last night though--the clues for it were very vague and I had already looked for about 30 minutes).

I'm a little torn on some of the other sidetasks--there are several characters who you randomly meet as you explore the city (some are important historical figures and others are just interesting people) and they offer up a series of tasks that you can choose to perform to raise your reputation with them.  Robert Topping offers activities of the more recreational type--a "fight club" series of battles scattered around the various zones of London or carriage races.  Ned Wynert's activities include doing anything to interfere with rival gang activities and economic interests--hijacking guarded carriages, sabotaging goods on barges, or robbing trains.  I've found Ned's activities to be the most tedious and am still undecided on the value of trying to raise my reputation with him.  Raising your reputation with the various side characters in the game does unlock new items or schematics, so it's definitely worthwhile.

I still have many more hours of adventuring in 19th century London ahead of me and I'm mostly having a good time.  Next week, I hope to write my full review of Syndicate.  Have a happy gaming weekend!

Stabbing Fancy People in Assassin's Creed: Syndicate

After I gave up on Borderlands 3 (which I liked, but I am a failure at the slaughterfest side missions), I decided that I would attempt to get Assassin's Creed:  Syndicate to run.  For some strange reason (which I believe was tied to the GPU in my old PC), I could not get Syndicate to work--I even tried to refund it (and failed because I was outside of the two-week return window).  The good news is that it works like a charm on my new PC and I can enjoy leaping from the smoggy skies of Victorian London to stab the gang members lurking below.

I am finding Syndicate to be an interesting mashup between to older Assassin's Creed games (the ones that the AC purists will claim are the "real" games) and the newer, more RPG oriented entries into the series (namely Origins and Odyssey).  The world of Industrial Revolution-era London is stunning--it's filled with factories full of giant, churning machines; bustling streets filled with the various social classes of the time--grubby street urchins, bedraggled workers, and the impressively bedecked upper-classes.  Like the other games in the AC series, the attention to historical detail is amazing.

Jacob Frye perched above the smoggy skies of London.

One of the more interesting aspects of Syndicate is the fact that there are two protagonists in the form of the Frye twins--Jacob and Evie, and that players can freely switch between the two characters.  Each character intentionally leans toward a specific set of talents and a playstyle--Jacob is geared toward more of a directly confrontational style, while Evie seems to lean toward a stealthier, more indirect style (of course, you can pick any talents you want).  There are also many options for the types of gear that the Frye's can utilize and a crafting system where new items gradually unlock.  The main storyline also accommodates the unique two character system with branching missions that require players to switch between the twins.

The semi-open world of London also features tons of side tasks to complete.  Each district in London is under the control of a violent gang called the Blighters.  As you explore and find fast travel points, different tasks appear on the map--a Templar controlled area that requires you to find and kill a certain leader; a gang controlled area that requires you to sneak in and kidnap a leader; or missions to free the unfortunate victims of child labor.  Each time you complete one of these tasks, a small portion of the map comes under the control of Jacob and Evie's gang, the Rooks.

Other than establishing gang dominance over London, there are also numerous side missions to complete.  Throughout your adventures in London you meet many famous historical figures who have tasks that they need help with.  Some of these tasks reward you with money and experience points, but the best of them rewards your character with new gear or upgrades.  They are definitely worth completing.

If you get tired of doing sidequests there is always the option to just tool around and explore the city.  The city is littered with various collectibles and hidden objects.  One of the fun pieces of equipment that makes exploring a blast is the rope launcher--a special addition to your assassin's gauntlet that lets you launch a rope to quickly climb or zipline across virtually any space (it's awesome.  I can understand why they took it out of subsequent games--it makes traversal way too easy).

I'm having a blast with Syndicate and look forward to eventually establishing gang dominance over the entire region of London.  Long live the Rooks!

Max Level Shenanigans in Borderlands 3

I finished the main story in Borderlands 3 last week and then waffled on what to do next--should I start up a different vault hunter for a new experience?  Should I find something else to play (I'm leaning toward trying to get Assassin's Creed:  Syndicate to run on my new PC)?  Should I invest in another new game?  The answer to all of these questions turned out to be a resounding none of the above.  I decided to stick it out with Amara and see what else Borderlands 3 had to offer.

My post-main story options were to A.) start over in True Vault Hunter Mode (the new game plus mode) or B.) finish up any remaining side missions and hunt down any missed challenges/Eridian writings.  I opted for B and discovered the addition of a cool, new feature in Borderlands 3--Mayhem mode!  Mayhem mode reminds me a lot of the different Torment difficulties in Diablo III--basically, you can choose to crank up the difficulty (tougher enemies, even some character debuffs) and get better drops--a higher drop rate for rare loot and increased cash and Eridium crystal drops.  This option is great for any missed content--the enemies you face are maximum level and you can have the added challenge and better drops.  Even better, there are three Mayhem modes that increase in difficulty and reward (I've only played it on the first level) for all the uber-gamers out there.

After you complete the main story (and possibly discover and translate Eridian writings) a series of trials unlock.  Each trial is a timed challenge where you face various enemies--wild critters like spider ants and skags, Maliwan soldiers, Children of the Vault, or basically any combination of baddies.  It features a gated map where you can only advance by killing all the enemies in one area.  At the end of the challenge you face a boss type of enemy.  The challenge includes bonus objectives like killing a special Eridian creature called a Fallen Guardian which appears and then will warp out if not killed quickly.  There are also bonuses for completing the trials quickly (within 10 minutes--which is a bit insane) and not dying.  The trials offer a bit of challenge and are fun (I completed a couple of them on Mayhem mode, but the ones that are higher level are rough).

I also had a Slaughterfest mission left to complete and decided that I would try to do that one in Mayhem mode (I'm probably going to regret it).  Slaughterfest 3000 is a match-up against Maliwan soldiers (bring a shock weapon).  It's going to be tougher than the Children of the Vault one.

This anointed assault rifle provides a nice buff for my siren.

As I've reached the "end game" I've noticed that there are some different options for weapons--certain weapons are "anointed" and feature general or class-specific bonuses.  I've managed to grab a couple of guns that offer siren specific bonuses like increasing weapon damage and accuracy after phasegrasping an enemy.  The real reward is to find anointed legendary weapons--so far, I've only managed to land one (I'm guessing that chance would increased with additional Mayhem modes, but I don't want to die).

I think I will mess around with Borderlands 3 a bit more.  It's proving to have quite a bit to offer.

UPDATE:  I only had Slaughterstar 3000 left (and I kind of hate the slaughterdome-like missions) and I gave up after several failures.  I think it's time for a Borderlands 3 break for now.

Go Loot That Vault! Borderlands 3 Review

Just this morning I wrapped up my first full playthrough of Borderlands 3 and now I've processed  the finality, I'm feeling ready to write up my review.  I mean, most likely it's not final...there will undoubtedly be a spewing toilets worth of DLC dropping at some point in the near future (I'd loot that toilet!).  For now, I will just content myself with wrapping up some undiscovered challenges and tracking down collectibles.

Some stats from my first playthough--I decided to start off with Amara (the bufftastic siren) as my vault hunter.  My completionist ways forbid me from skipping sidequests or exploration based challenges, so my complete playthough clocked in at 58 hours.  I didn't quite get all the exploration based challenges and actually forgot to complete a couple of the slaughterfest-type challenges (I fully intend to complete them...even though it's totally pointless).

For technical reference--I had one crash (a weird lockup) and one strange bug (during the last fight, a huge black pixelated blotch appeared in the center of my view.  It eventually disappeared, but it was really weird).  Performance, for the most part, seemed very stable.

Pros:
+ Beautiful new environments.  I was ecstatic to be venturing off of Pandora and I found the new areas to be varied and fun to explore.  The story takes place in a bunch of different settings--neon-lit cities, swampy jungles, ancient ruins, and many, many more zones.  The game manages to keep its signature look (that sort of hand-drawn, semi-cartoony feel) and jump the graphics up a notch.

+ Photo mode.  I'm one of those nerds who likes to take screenshots in video games, and the new, improved Borderlands is worthy of stopping and taking pictures.

+ Vastly improved gun play.  The Borderlands series has always been a bit of an odd duck (or Goose for all you Untitled Goose Game fans)--it's trademark has been the blend of shooter and RPG.  In my opinion, the shooter aspect of the game has always felt like a weakness.  The guns in previous games just didn't feel good to shoot and had a bit of a mushy, unrealistic feel.  I can tell that much time and effort went into improving the way that the weapons perform in Borderlands 3.  They feel more realistic and believable--I don't know that there's a good way to describe it; to me, they just feel like they have a more solid impact.

They also gave many guns multiple firing modes which is one of my favorite new features.  Maliwan weapons (traditionally the guns that do elemental damage) typically feature two firing modes that allow you to switch between elements.  It's like getting two guns for the price of one!  Other weapons feature a blend of more traditional firing modes--semi-automatic, burst, and automatic fire.  Many legendary guns feature very unique bonuses.  For helping to build CL4P-TRAP a new robot friend I was granted a pistol called the "baby-maker" that, when reloaded, is thrown like a Tediore weapon, but instead explodes and spawns multiple "baby" pistols that act like mini-turrets.  There are also new gun brands--Children of the Vault weapons look like a blend of a gun and a machine and they feature the unique ability of not needing to be reloaded.  The downside is that those guns overheat and require a "repair" period.  Atlas guns feature a self-targeting fire mode which will send every bullet toward the target of your choice.  They weren't kidding about the billions of guns.

+ Vehicles are more fun to drive.  There's really only one new vehicle variety, but the fun part is that you can find parts (through exploration, through hijacking hostile vehicles, or by finding special unique vehicles) and then customize your rig to your liking.  I enjoyed the cyclone, a very cool looking, fast and maneuverable single-wheeled vehicle.  From there, I could choose customizations for my weapons, my armor, and for other features--like one that allowed my cyclone to hover just above the ground.  It's a lot of fun to experiment with the new parts and find your favorite combinations.

+ A very detailed 3-D map.  I absolutely love the new map--it shows the entire zone (and there are many, and they are quite large) and indicates exactly which parts you have explored.  Since it is 3-D, you can tilt it to discover any areas that might be above or below your current position.  I didn't have any trouble finding quest markers or waste any time searching for something only to realize it was located on a higher or lower part of an area.

+Fast travel from anywhere.  One of my major gripes with the past games was the amount of pointless running around that you would find yourself doing.  Borderlands 3 has added in the ability to fast travel from anywhere--this doesn't mean you can just skip huge chunks of areas, but it does mean that once you've found the fast travel beacon in the area that you can simply look at your map, select the node you want, and then immediately select that area.  You can also fast travel directly to your vehicle--this feature also saves a ton of useless running around.

+ Each zone features exploration based challenges.  The nice part about the new map is that when you are close to one of the challenge items, a symbol for it appears on your map, so that you can quickly return to the item if you want to go back later.  Having these challenges available made me want to explore every nook and cranny of the map.  I found the number of challenges to be just right--it's not an Ubisoft-esque nightmare of map symbols.  These challenges include scavenging parts from dead CL4P-TRAP's, finding unique creatures to kill for Sir Hammerlock, killing outlaws for Zer0, listening to historical logs left by a past vault hunter, or finding unique vehicles for Ellie.

+ Fun cosmetic items.  There aren't the ridiculous amount of skins which were constantly dropping in the older games, but instead, there is a smaller (but still fun!) collection.  There several categories of cosmetic items including character skins, character heads, weapon trinkets, weapon skins, emotes, room decorations, and info module skins (your character actually pulls out a little doodad when you look at your map).  The nice part about these cosmetic items is that they are purchasable with their own currency--Eridium crystals.  Storage deck upgrades are no longer tied to crystals and are purchasable with the regular in-game cash.  These cosmetic items range from downright goofy to stylistically awesome.  Weapon trinkets have a special tie-in with past games.

+ Many of our old, favorite characters make a reappearance (which doesn't work out well for all of them...but, no spoilers here).  It's nice to see what the characters from the previous games are up to.  Some of them have rather minor roles, but others are a central part of the main story.  There are also some new faces who will most likely play a role in future games.

+ This time around, I didn't find myself getting bored.  I've always felt a bit torn about the Borderlands series--the shooting was always so-so, but I could find something to enjoy in the quirkiness of the story and characters.  I always disliked how you would clear a zone, return to a bounty board in another area, and then immediately get a mission that would require you to re-clear an entire area.  It drove me bonkers.  Borderlands 3 is less guilty of this and the maps are so large that quests are more easily cordoned off into one area.  I also believe that the fast travel system was a vast improvement.

+ Main story is fun, adventure-packed, and has plenty of twists and turns.

+ Sanctuary III serves as a fun base filled with everything you need.  There are some great new features too--namely the fact that there's no longer a tiny amount of shared loot storage, but instead you can use your bank (and buy bank SDU's) to share loot between your characters.  There's also a new type of machine that will magically save any blue+ loot that you might've missed.  Marcus sells guns, Tannis peddles shields, and Crazy Earl sells cosmetic items.

Cons:
-The Calypso twins are pretty blah as villains.  They're obnoxious, do lots of horrible things that make you want to kill them, but they are nowhere near the evil greatness that was Handsome Jack.

(This one might be a pro for some people, but a con for others)
-Signature Borderlands quirkiness is lacking.  I've always enjoyed the utter strangeness of the citizens of Pandora and the randomness of the tasks they ask you to perform.  There's definitely some degree of that, but it's just not as prevalent as in other games.  The story and events have a much more serious tack--it's a bit like Borderlands grew up.  Some people might love this fact, but I enjoyed the weirdness (I read a negative review by PC Gamer where the juvenile sense of humor in the game was definitely something the reviewer didn't appreciate--I was confused, because apparently this person hasn't played Borderlands before)

- The entire voice-actor dispute that resulted in the voices Rhys and CL4P-TRAP being completely different.  You will get used to it, but it's very noticeable and slightly disappointing.

- Soundtrack isn't as great and I barely noticed the music in the game.

- Boss fights are so-so.  There are a few bosses with unique mechanics, but mostly the strategy for victory is to just keep moving and shooting as much as you can.

- New vault hunters feel a lot like variations on the previous ones.  There doesn't seem to be much that's new or unique.

- Gameplay wise, there's not a lot that's new.  I would agree with the assessment that I've read several times--it's more Borderlands.  If you're expecting something fresh and completely different from the series...you're probably going to be disappointed.

Even though I didn't feel like there were many fresh, new elements added to Borderlands 3, I did enjoy many aspects of the game and feel like the base gameplay has been improved.  The main story is fun, there is a much larger exploration based element to the game, and plenty of new locations to visit.  I don't think it deserves the more critical reviews that I've seen and that most fans of the series will be happy with Borderlands 3.  Currently, it's only available on PC at the Epic Games store, but will eventually be released on Steam.