GavinTheAlmighty

I just nabbed Deus Ex: Human Revolution: Director's Cut: Colon and a pro controller from Amazon. I adored DEHR on the PC when I played it the first time, but I'm finding myself veering back towards couch gaming again. It was only $20 CAD (just north of $15 USD) so I figured it was worth a shot. I'm aware of the brutal loading times - I experienced that with Splinter Cell: Blacklist. It'll just be nice to get back into that one, one of my favourites of 2012. The pro controller was just an indulgence - I like the gamepad, but on games where it isn't necessary, I like the idea of the pro controller for its battery life and better ergonomics.

It's hard to say when The Simpsons hit rock bottom, or if it even has. The general opinion I've heard is that it's not worth watching after "Behind the Laughter". There have been individually good episodes since then, such as "Tales from the Public Domain", but the prime will always be 1-7 for me, with plenty of laugh-worthy moments in 8 and 9. The beginning of the end was the Frank Grimes episode, which I've always hated, because it felt a little too "Peter Griffin" for me. The main difference between Homer and Peter is that Homer was likeable. I wouldn't call him malicious against Grimes, but there was a terrible tonal conflict at the end of the episode, with Homer at the funeral saying "change the channel, Marge!" and everyone laughing.

I have great sympathy for Brianna Wu for the harassment that she endured, and I in no way believe that she engineered or orchestrated any of it. I'd like to consider myself an ally to those harassed by GGers. Perhaps it is my privilege as a white dude to do so, but I've been trying to purge my day-to-day experiences of things to do with GG. Part of this included unfollowing Wu on Twitter. Her experiences are valid and she has constructive things to say, but I found that it was getting outnumbered by the amount of stuff she'd post that was just straight-up toxic. I found that she was attempting to inject herself into every space, every conversation, and it seemed like she was just picking fights every chance she got. I don't want to get into tone policing at all, and obviously she didn't invite any of her own harassment, but she was pretty obnoxious sometimes. I also wasn't crazy about how she purported to speak for all women in tech everywhere. Now, obviously not being a woman, I can't tell if her approach was actually appreciated and she was a good representative, but I struggled to accept that she was at face value. I wish her the best and hope that her game sales make her a millionaire, but I just can't have her polluting my feed like that, not when there are, in my opinion, better and more measured voices to be heard.

I adore Mirror's Edge. It's one of the best-designed games of the previous generation for me. No game has ever made movement feel as satisfying as they did in ME. The level that stands out for me as one that I hate is the damn parking garage. It's a maze, and one corridor requires that you navigate past a freaking army. I can't get past that without engaging them - I have to find a weapon, take out the guy with the big massive machine gun, and then use that to clear a path. It really breaks the flow of the game, which is doubly-disappointing because ME is a game that prioritizes flow above all else.

I only watched about five minutes of it, just enough to whet my appetite - I want as much as possible to be as fresh as possible. It looks fantastic and the dialogue sounded and felt natural. Quite excited!

Typically, the only time that I find combat absolutely dead necessary is in the parking garage. That level is a maze, but you have to run through a corridor of guys with large guns, not just pistols. Try as I might, I can't make it through without taking out the bad guys first. I adore that game though. One of the nicest aesthetics I've seen in gaming. I'm not good enough to pull off some of the stealth runs that people talk about here, like completely avoiding guards or total pacifist runs. For me, my self-imposed challenge is with Deus Ex. Multiple criteria: Never kill anyone in the NSF, the sailors on the PRCS Wall Cloud, the Chinese police (Chinese military in NY are OK), security guards at Versalife, Paris cops, etc. Only MJ12, Chinese Military, and UNATCO soldiers, and even then, UNATCO only if necessary. Help all civilians with their side quests (i.e. get Sandra to stay with Mr. Renton in the hotel, kill all the greasels in the sewer system in Paris, help Miguel escape UNATCO, rescue Ford Schick, help Smuggler slip out of NY, find Ambrosia for Stanton Down, kill all MJ12 before they can kill any civilians in the Lucky Money club, save Tiffany Savage, etc) NO BOTS LEFT MOBILE. Either shut them down or blow them up. Cause mayhem wherever possible. This includes releasing the large Karkians in the UNATCO/MJ12 prison, releasing the greasels and the greys in the Versalife level 1 facility (first entry), turn every turret against the enemies, etc.

I'll have to reconsider my opinions going forward!

I wish I could get into Bayonetta. I understand that B2 is a wonderful, fabulous game that essentially fixed the flaws from the first one. I tried the demo, and it just wasn't for me. I'm glad that it exists, and it certainly is a beautiful title, but I just couldn't get into the gameplay. I just capped off another playthrough of Link's Awakening on the 3DS. What a wonderful little title that is. I have a few minor complaints which are more related to technical limitations (the amount of item switching you need to do is annoying), but it really does capture the spirit well. The story is really where it shines though - to my mind, it's the best story with the most plot-depth in the entire series. Here are a couple of good articles on why Link's Awakening is so different from the rest of the series: http://ca.ign.com/blogs/danders16/2014/09/07/500 http://venturebeat.com/community/2011/02/25/the-philosophy-of-zelda-existentialism-the-fourth-wall-and-links-awakening/

I strongly suspect that I went into it with my expectations not appropriately managed. I've had that issue with many older games wherein I've been told how amazing it is time and time again, only to find that it didn't blow my mind the way I wanted it to. See also: Ocarina of Time. Played for the first time in 2014, was a very good title, but I've already played a) the best Zelda (Link to the Past), b followed by end-parentheses (because it keeps giving me a sunglasses icon) a wonderful 3D Zelda (Skyward Sword - yes I'm aware that it derived a lot of inspiration from Ocarina), and c) a fabulous new Zelda game in 2014 (Link Between Worlds). To be clear, OoT is a really, really good game, but I don't have any sort of nostalgic pull to it.

BEGRUDGE'D! THE LOT OF YOU!

OK, knocked off two: Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (the bonus levels). I had finished the regular levels and just got through the rest. It's enjoyable, but I don't think I'm going to be rushing to get back to it anytime soon. The inclusion of the Mummy-Me levels (think Cosmic Clones from Super Mario Galaxy or Mario 3D Land) ramps up the stress factor, which wasn't what I was looking for in that game. The final Toad Brigade level took me quite a while to figure out because you're constantly getting chased by a Magikoopa, and when you're hauling three other Toads in tow, you're a much bigger target. Still, definitely worth the time and money. It's a game that just keeps on giving. Bioshock (the original). I had a difficult time coming to terms with my feelings for Bioshock. This was the first time I'd played the game, so I suppose you have to bear that in mind. I have some complaints, but I want to preface it with the fact that it's still a great game, and if someone tells me that it's the best game they've ever played, I won't begrudge them that. I think part of the problem was that I played Infinite first, which reused a lot of the same mechanics and plot devices, except that I first saw them in Infinite, so they felt repeated in the original. The environments started to feel too "samey" after a while. I had a difficult time keeping track of all the characters The soundtrack was good, but I didn't like that the music just sort of appeared out of nowhere. It didn't seem to load up at any particularly significant moments; just walking through a doorway and Beyond The Sea or God Bless The Child starts playing. Infinite solved this problem in an interesting fashion. The first time you hear a splicer sing "Jesus loves me" off-key, it's unnerving and unsettling. The 100th time you hear it, it's just annoying. The Little Sisters felt too cartoonish. The sequence where you're escorting one reused the same dialogue options over and over again. The hacking games for some machines were impossible due to the arrangement of the tiles. Atlas' voice acting was terrible. Remove Sander Cohen from the story and nothing changes. His segment is relatively interesting but does nothing to advance the plot. I guess most importantly, the big twist just didn't feel all that interesting. I'd been told for nearly eight years that this game had the greatest story and that the twist would blow your mind. It was a big letdown. I mean, it was interesting enough, and the way it played it was OK, but at the end of the game, I just sat there thinking "oh...that's it?". . It's good that they let you act upon the twist, rather than just cramming it down your throat at the end of the story, but still, I just didn't find it that impactful.

I liked Echoes, but I have to qualify that sentiment a bit. I didn't consider the games to be a "trilogy" of sorts. I know they all played the same and had a cohesive story (of sorts), but I generally didn't consider them to follow from each other, aside from Dark Samus. That is to say, after having played them all, I felt like I could have played them out of order and it wouldn't have mattered. I appreciate that they felt they needed to do something different, but I didn't like the light/dark world theme. The world was already quite large, and adding in the dark world bit, while unsettling, made for seriously long travel times, especially near the end when you have to hunt for the keys (that's not a spoiler). I also didn't care about the Ing as enemies. The boss battles were interesting enough, and Quadraxis was cool because it was so large, but the game just felt like a disparate series of elements all tacked together. I did like the music though - the dark world variations on the light world themes were terrific. Corruption failed to grab me for several reasons. It's still a decent, above-average game, but it didn't feel as much like a Metroid game as I felt it should. The number of speaking and friendly NPCs eliminated the sense of isolation that should pervade a Metroid title. I didn't like that you could call in the gunship to take out targets - that seemed out of place and also nonsensical - why couldn't I just bomb the hell out of everything? Also, the soundtrack felt lacking. It felt a little too ambient, and I always consider the soundtrack to be a very important atmospheric element in Metroid titles.

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker! I finished the "main quest" lines and now I'm into the optional bonus stuff. It's beautiful and fun, and I'm glad it ended when it did. It's the type of game that can easily outstay its welcome, but doesn't. Some of the challenges were real brain-pullers, and it felt like there was a sharp difficulty spike near the end of episode 3 (the final regular episode). Still, it's nice and relaxing to play, and it's so joy-filled!

Prime is a fabulous game, one of the best of the 21st century so far. My theory is that they took a cue from Super Metroid and focused on creating a world that creatures lived in first, and that you played in second. I know that this is a conventional concept, but they really succeeded at it. They focused on the ancient, lush environment first and foremost, and it really showed. Create a space that not only tells a story, but also has a reason to exist in the first place, and that goes a long way towards creating a game that sticks with people. It also helps that they didn't need to go for too much in the way of realism. As such, Prime is a game that has aged fabulously well. They did so many things right and so few things wrong that I could focus forever on the minutiae, but I really think that the world they built is the key. It's a world that is teeming with life, where things don't really feel out of place just for the sake of making a game. Plus, the soundtrack is an achievement in and of itself.Yeah, there are weird things, like shooting a door to open it, or the morph ball controlling mechanisms, but that can be rationalized with "Chozo tech lol". It also helps that Prime has a very similar flow, artistic vision, and gameplay style as does Super Metroid, the greatest video game of all time. If I had to dredge up a complaint about the game, it would be that movement across the world can be slow, which is irritating, especially for tracking down the keys at the end, where you have to go to the far corners of the map again. Prime is, to my mind, 3D Super Metroid, and that is extremely high praise.

I'm aware that I probably didn't give it a fair shake after one hour, but I just could not get into The Talos Principle at all. It's not that it was bad; it's just that it didn't feel like a different enough game from a pile of other puzzle games I've played to be worth my time. I kept wondering if I was missing something, but none of the puzzles were particularly interesting. It was challenging while I was playing it, and had a remarkably steep learning curve, but it just did not grab my attention at all. In a world where Portal and The Swapper exist, I just didn't have it in me to keep playing this one.

That was the one area I got "stuck" on as well. It's the only area in the game where some measure of counter-intuitive progress is required - there's nothing to indicate that there is anything beyond that wall, whereas other places that require bombing at least showed a gap under a platform, or were made visible through a map (such as the Super Missile wall blocking access to Kraid). The first few times I played it, I went back through the lava room. I think I found out that you could walk straight through that wall by complete accident.

Wow, you are totally correct - barring some crazy wall-jumping skills and physics exploits, there's absolutely no way to get back to the map room once you drop down that long red chamber leading to the energy refill station/Spazer in Lower Brinstar. I had no idea! I do recall that wall that leads to Kraid now, right by the elevator.

For me it's Phantoon. I don't know if it's random or what, but I always have the most trouble with that fight. The spiraling flames from his eyes hit for so much damage, and they just never seem to stop! Is it part of the normal progression of SM to get the Super Missiles before Kraid? I honestly can't remember at this point. I could never mockball to save my life - I'm just not that good with the timing.

There's still a lot left to do in Maridia. Maridia has two pieces of music to it that don't sound anything alike, so you'll know that you still have lots left to do if you haven't heard both. Here's a full-size map that should be able to help you substantially if you get lost: http://kayin.moe/fullmetroid.jpg

Whereabouts are you stuck? Collectively, I'm sure we could all help! Failing that, this one is pretty thorough: http://metroid.retropixel.net/games/metroid3/walkthrough/ Gun to my head, Super Metroid is probably my most favourite game of all time. It nailed ambiance and flow better than any other game out there. There isn't an ounce of fat on it and it doesn't outstay its welcome. Perhaps I've got the nostalgia-glasses on, but at the time, nothing out there been able to immerse me in a game's environment the way that Super Metroid had. The heavy influences from Aliens certainly didn't hurt. One of my few regrets in life is that I won't be able to play Super Metroid for the first time ever again. Prime was also glorious, though in my opinion, they did get progressively less enjoyable as the series went on. Echoes suffered from excessive backtracking and through excessive bloat (finding those damn keys just wasn't fun), and Corruption had too many NPCs, eliminating the feeling of isolation that is the trademark of the Metroid series. I will say that the music was amazing throughout the entire Prime series. Absolutely gorgeous stuff.

As a side note, there was an actual issue about journalistic ethics that broke in Ontario just yesterday. The Toronto Star reported that Global TV (for our international friends, Global TV is a big national TV station) suspended lead anchor Leslie Roberts because it came to light that Roberts is part-owner of a PR firm whose clients were frequently featured on-air, interviewed, and provided positive press by...Leslie Roberts. Oops.

Though not my #1, it's easily one of the best of the 2000s and it's the absolute pinnacle of the stealth genre, in my opinion. Everything in that game just clicked so well.

If it's not right at the top for me, it's definitely close to it. I have a nauseatingly difficult time rationalizing my favourite game of all time. The problem for me is that I have several titles that are so heavily laden with nostalgia and fond memories that it could be any one of them at any point. In the end, I typically boil it down to Super Metroid, but I feel super compelled to also recognize Zelda: Link to the Past and Illusion of Gaia, the latter of which is incredibly flawed but still captures such a strong youthfully innocent feeling for me. I almost prefer to do a top five by decade, because Deus Ex does things so differently than Super Metroid or Link to the Past or Yoshi's Island or Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory or Spec Ops: The Line that it's tough to compare them.

I have no idea if someone else has already said this, so apologies if I'm repeating points, or saying something that has already been addressed. I don't have an informed opinion about Wilson's guilt or innocence in murder, but it seems absolutely insane to me that this wouldn't at least go to trial. I'm not American and I have only a Law & Order-understanding of the US court system, but it's so crazy to me that they wouldn't proceed with charges in this case. I mean, seriously, a police officer killed an unarmed man. Even if Wilson's version of the story is correct, it's horrifying to me that the courts consider that a legally appropriate response to being punched in the face is homicide.

It could be entirely due to series fatigue as I played three of them in less than a year, but I couldn't really get into The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD. I got it for free as part of the Mario Kart 8 promotion and I just got around to playing it over the last two months. Perhaps it's because I got it for free that I wasn't as invested in it, but despite a wonderful design, I just couldn't get into it. Over the past year, I played and beat A Link Between Worlds, Link's Awakening, and Ocarina of Time 3D. I enjoyed them all thoroughly, and while I found that WW had great humour and a glorious art style, I think I was just burnt out on that particular type of game. I went back to playing Metroid Prime and I haven't looked back.