Archive for the 'Gaming' Category

January 1st, 2018

Gaming year in review: 2017

Happy New Year everyone! It’s time for my usual gaming year in review! This is where I briefly review every game I played in the year and pick my favorites. (As always, I only count games that I haven’t played before, are remakes, or have new content – no replays.)

Let’s start with the favorites! These are picked out of the games I played in 2017, which may or may not have been released that year. This time, I’m adding an “honorable mention” since I play way more single player games, and I feel like I miss out on featuring other really good games.

Favorite Single Player: Legend of Zelda – Breath of the Wild
A Zelda game that is unlike other Zelda games, which also exceeded my expectations. I had my doubts on the open world feel, but it was refreshing to see a Zelda game finally break out of its formula. While I wished the Divine Beasts provided more of a challenge, the rest of the world offered more to fill the gap, and I found myself addicted to exploring and doing things at my own pace.

Favorite Multiplayer: Destiny 2
Destiny 2 feels like a MMO/shooter mishmash that doesn’t quite know what it is, but it’s filled that online co-op gap that I’ve been missing. It’s been fun to play with my friends, and I like how different and involved the raids are. I do wish that it had more content, but at least they’re still adding things, and the weekly challenges keep bringing us back in.

Favorite Indie/Download: Pyre
Supergiant excels when it comes to beautiful art, music, and likeable characters. Pyre is probably the most different feeling of their three games, with its decision making gameplay and a combat system that is more like a sports game. I was unsure about it at first, but the more I play it, the more into I get.

Honorable Mention: Tomb Raider
I enjoyed Tomb Raider more than I expected. At first, I didn’t take it seriously because it seemed like everything that could possibly go wrong for Lara does (and continues to). However, it’s the right balance of combat, exploration, and puzzles, making this a great game.

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13 · Posted in Gaming, Hobbies, Year in Review

March 26th, 2017

Life as a gaming couple

Lately, my husband and I have both been playing Breath of the Wild, which is really nice because we can talk about it with each other and share tips and hints. The downside is that we’re currently sharing the Switch and have to plan when I get to play and when he gets to play. This got me thinking about the pros and cons of being a gaming couple!

Pro: Co-op partners for life
In addition to being able to talk about games with each other, we always have someone to play co-op games with! It’s great since we’re sitting next to each other, and we don’t have to worry about using a headset or typing to chat. It also guarantees that we’re always playing with a competent co-op partner. We don’t have to deal with the frustration of finding someone random online. Playing a good co-op game together is one of our favorite ways to spend time together!

Con: Having to plan our games around each other
This is what we’re doing now with the Switch. We have to plan when each of us gets a turn, and we have to do this whenever we play any console game. With PC, we’ll both buy a copy, so we don’t have to share, but it’s not very reasonable to buy two of every console. Most of the time, we plan our games so we aren’t on the same console and have to switch discs. For example, if I know he’s using the PS3, I’ll play a PC game or use a different console. (We also have to split up our consoles on different TVs, so they can be played at the same time.)

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17 · Posted in Gaming, Hobbies

January 14th, 2017

Gaming year in review: 2016

I normally have my gaming year in review up earlier, but I had a hard time filling it out this time! 2016 was a weird year for me when it came to gaming. I barely played any single player games, and I didn’t really touch my consoles. Most of the games I played were indie and/or multiplayer ones for the game days that my husband and I have been holding at our house. I really didn’t work on my backlog as much as I would have liked!

As usual, this is my annual review of games I played in 2016. I only count games I haven’t played before, remakes, and ones with large updates. (I don’t count any replays.)

Let’s start with my favorites! These are of the games I played in 2016, which may or may not have been released that year.

Favorite Single Player: Kirby Planet Robobot
Well, this is the first time I didn’t pick a major PC title as my favorite. Planet Robobot really shined as one of the best Kirby games and one of the best 3DS games I’ve played. It keeps an old school Kirby feel as a side scrolling platformer where you steal powers, but it adds a new element with the mech, which can also use enemy powers. The boss fights are better than previous Kirby games, and it uses the 3D in clever ways. I actually wanted to turn on the 3D for this one!

Favorite Multiplayer: Towerfall Ascension
Towerfall is a combat platformer where you try to kill each other with limited amount of arrows (which you can pick back up), and items will also appear. In most games, someone gets good enough to keep winning, but Towerfall is so well designed, that it feels balanced each time. This has become a definite favorite in our game nights that we’re able to play it over and over.

Favorite Indie/Download: Unravel
I played so many good indie games last year that this was really hard to choose. In the end, I picked Unravel because it was so memorable for me. It’s is a beautiful platformer with creative uses of yarn. You use the yarn in different ways to get through levels, and as you’re going through the game, you are viewing someone’s story. It’s filled with both happy and sad moments, making this a very bittersweet game.

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10 · Posted in Gaming, Year in Review

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