Space Hulk: Deathwing....Sigh...

I am a big Warhammer fan - of both the 40k and fantasy variety. Now I've never played the miniatures game nor spent time painting little figures and setting up huge battlefields, but I have read some of the literature and played many of the video games since learning about Warhammer back in high school.

One of my fondest memories from high school was during the summer staying up late at a friends house with a group of buddies playing the Space Hulk boardgame. There's no one instance in particular that stands out from those times, just that we all had a great time.

So when I saw Space Hulk: Deathwing, naturally I was excited. So much so I went and even pre-ordered the game. Unfortunately Deathwing is not a very good game. That's not to say that it doesn't have its moments; for the first couple of days I was genuinely excited to come home and play the game. However, that feeling wore off quickly when I realized that there's very little substance to Deathwing. All you do is move slowly through a space hulk, killing waves of enemies while completing monotonous and arduous tasks. It's not a fun game.

Yes I did complete the game, but I did not want to spend hours upon hours to do so, so I used some cheats to get through the game as quickly as possible. Did I ruin the experience? I don't think so, if anything it made the game a bit more tolerable.

If Space Hulk: Deathwing is a game you're interested in but are unsure of, I highly recommend watching Atomic Facepalm's Played In Full Deathwing review. It's quite entertaining and spot on with how I felt about the game.

If you enjoyed the video then please visit Atomic Facepalm's Youtube page, give them a like and be sure to check out their other videos while there. You can even subscribe if you so desire.

Roses Are Red, And So Are The Glasses...

This post isn't about the supposed insurmountable pressure of the almighty backlog and how to overcome the guilt and depression it seems to paralyze gamers with. But I will mention that what I have done recently was to make a list of all the game purchases starting from the first time I had to install Steam. A couple of games on the list are Serious Sam The First Encounter HD and Second Encounter HD.

I actually still own the physical copies of both those games. I am a huge fan of the first two Serious Sam games and remember enjoy the heck out of them many years ago. So naturally when they did a HD makeover I had to buy them.

Actually, I didn't have to buy them. But I did, and this past weekend I decided to install them and give them a go.

Lately I have really been craving a single-player FPS experience. I've been playing Battlefield 4 and Rainbow Six Siege online, but I had a hankerin' for a game with lots of guns that I can just shoot people in the face. All from the point of view from my face! Because of that I did buy FEAR Platinum on GOG while on sale for only $2.50! But more on that in a bit.

I knew when I started playing SSFE that is wasn't a long game, but that it's more like backwards running simulator 2001. So I loaded up the cheats and just went to town. For the first three hours or so I was really enjoying the game. It's old school shoot shit and blow shit up with little story or dialogue, and, the remakes do look much better than the original classic versions.

But around the third hour something happened. I realized that I was kind of getting bored. It was at that point that I started keeping track of how much longer I had till the final level. Then I got to the final level, died and had to repeat a section that took about fifteen minutes to complete. It was at that point that I lifted the white flag and declared the game complete. I then promptly installed SSSE and didn't even make it to the second level before giving up and uninstalling the game.

Both Serious Sam First and Second Encounter are great games, but my taste in games has evolved the past 16 years since I played them. Realizing this I decided to play some FEAR because my FPS thirst wasn't quenched yet. Besides, I didn't like the game much before, maybe I'll appreciate it now. What a mistake that was.

I hated FEAR when it was first released and I absolutely hate it even more today. It has some nice lighting and particle effects, and the horror aspect is well done, but that game is super overrated. It looked ugly back then and it looks even worse today. The gameplay is dull, the story is ok, and worst of all, it's boring as shit. FEAR is a pile of turds and I hate it.

So after playing two Serious Sam games and forcing my eyes to look at the shit that is FEAR I came to a few conclusions -  games that we remember fondly as being super great, are not as good today as maybe they were during the time we originally played them. Not all games are like that, but for me the Serious Sam games are. I also learned that if you hated a game with a passion and thought is was horse shit, chances are it's still a pile of steaming horse shit.

Hello, It's Me...

Dear Blog,

It's been awhile since we've last talked. I hope you've been well, I myself have been really, really busy. In November of last year I started a new job as a Facility Manager for a very small self-storage company. Yeah, it's a good job and I am enjoying it thus far. In January I did a 21 day purification program that was suggested by my chiropractor. It was tough at first as I was literally starving after the first day. But I persevered and it changed my life. I lost almost 30 pounds and haven't felt this great in years. It also changed my perspective on my diet. I am eating better, cleaner and I really want to hit the gym to see if I can get into better shape!

I'm still playing games. I have gotten better at not buying more games than I can play, but the backlog is still an issue for me. After beating Dead Rising 3 in early January I've been in this funk - you know, the funk that I've written to you about a few times in the years past. I have so many games that I want to play but none of them are quite grabbing me. I end up just sitting in front of my monitor till I pick a random game. It really leaves me in an unsatisfied state honestly. The funk is one reason why I tend to play multiplayer games a lot. Like the couple of months at the end of last year when all I was playing when I came home from work was Star Wars Battlefront, and why I'm playing lots of Battlefield 4 and Rainbow Six Siege; even if I play a few matches I feel like I accomplished something game wise.

But enough about that, let's talk about us. I know I've been neglecting our relationship over the past few years. But I promise to spend more time with you, to be around when you need me. I've missed you, missed us. Till next time blog.

Love,

Jayedub