Has another week passed? It sure has! As we hurtle uncontrollably towards Christmas and the end of another year – as well as, terrifyingly, the end of another decade – let’s take a look at what I wrote during the first week of December.
I struggled through about a third of Assassin’s Creed around nine years ago, before giving up altogether. The repetitive and boring slog that the game became put me off from checking out the vast majority of the subsequent games in the series – with the notable exception of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, which I briefly played and, as with the first game, managed to lose interest in long before the end.
However, seeing where the series has gone with the two most recent games – Origins and Odyssey – has truly piqued my interest again, but I wanted to ensure I had a grasp of where the series had gone in the years preceding its reinvention as a more open world, RPG style adventure. To that end, I decided to revisit the series from the beginning, but I’ve once again found that it’s a bit of a slog – though I have at least progressed past the halfway mark at this point. Shorter play sessions have been the key, but it does mean that it’s taking me a lot longer to get through the game than it really should, but – as I’ve been assured by many people that the series quickly finds its footing in the second game – I’m determined to get to the end and actually enjoy the series.
Will I make it? Time will tell!
Another anniversary was reached last week – there seems to have been quite a few major milestones this year in the video games world and this one was particularly important, marking the 25th anniversary of Sony’s first foray as a major player in the video games industry. Previously the domain of companies such as Sega, Nintendo and Atari, Sony revolutionised the way games were played and marketed, taking gaming away from an image of geekiness – or the perception that games were just for kids – and bringing an edgy sense of cool to the party. As is often the case with me, I took a more personal look at how I first discovered PlayStation, as well as the games that really resonated with me on Sony’s first console.
One of the things I really enjoy doing here is covering smaller, interesting looking indie titles that may well be going under the radar. Here’s another: The Otterman Empire is a local multiplayer, third person shooter starring otters with jetpacks – need I say more? It looks like great fun – and I can’t wait to get my hands on it.
I checked out Asmodee’s not entirely successful Munchkin: Quacked Quest a few weeks ago; last week, I followed that up with a long review of the tabletop card game it’s based on. Though Munchkin’s popularity doesn’t ever seem to wane, it’s always had a few issues – though there’s still a fun experience at its core and it helps that it really doesn’t take itself seriously at all. After all, when you can bring along special bookmarks or wear temporary tattoos which give you in-game bonuses, perhaps it seems a bit daft to complain about the chaos that can occur during a game.
A quick look at the current state of Google’s console-gaming-without-a-console streaming service. Progress is being made, albeit slowly, but a few niggling issues – that really should have been ironed out by now – still remain.
Review: The Jackbox Party Pack 2
I love the Jackbox Party Pack games. They can be enjoyed by almost anyone and the fact that you don’t need to invest in controllers to play multiplayer with as few or as many people as you want (everyone can just use their phones to play!) means that the barriers to entry are significantly low. For what its worth, the second party pack is my favourite of the three I’ve played, with a consistently decent selection and some really varied experiences on offer. Well worth checking out (and included with Game Pass; so if you have that, you have no excuse not to try it!)
I spend most of my time here wittering on about games, but yesterday I took a significant detour into the world of music. I don’t have a lot of confidence talking about music, because I don’t tend to be particularly au fait with genres or with anything technical to do with the art form – but hopefully, I was able to at least convey some details about why I chose the songs on the list. I tried also to cover songs in chronological order, though towards the end that became more difficult; I also seemed to pick a lot of quite chilled out, downtempo tracks – though that wasn’t intentional, I think it speaks volumes about the kind of music that interests me. Go check the list out and let me know your thoughts on what I chose (and as an added bonus, I’ve thrown in a song above that wasn’t included in my list, just because I love Sparks and I find it particularly funny!).
So that’s another week of articles; another eclectic mix, especially with the music-focused article thrown in there at the end. The week ahead will likely be another interesting one – I hope you stick around to check out what grabs my attention next!
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geekmid
Fortysomething gamer with a lifelong interest in many geeky pursuits - including, but not limited to, video games, board games, comic books and movies.
MLGG: Pop Culture News, Reviews & Interviews 