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So about that Halo Infinite Campaign...

Proper Context

I played Halo Infinite on my laptop using the Xcloud streaming service. I played in performance mode. I rushed to complete the campaign before my subscription ended. I haven’t played Halo since I was around 9 years old, but I loved the games back then. I primarily play on PlayStation, but I had to give this one a go (along with Forza).

What I liked

The gameplay mechanics are extremely refined. The weapons feel good, the movement feels like a proper evolution of old Halo, and the abilities compliment all of it. A great example is the grapple hook which is new to the series. This particular ability opens up the battlefield/arenas even more for creative plays and exciting player-driven experiences. Vehicles add another level of complexity that can easily turn the tide of a battle or get you out of a tough situation. The team built on a solid gameplay foundation and I enjoyed it. 

Weapon Variety is a delight while playing Halo Infinite. There’s a plethora of weapons to experiment with. You have your staple weapons that pop up frequently and then you have your more specialized weapons that pop up less often, but are typically very exciting to use. My personal favorites were the rocket launcher, skewer, and sentinel beam. 

The grunt dialogue is probably my favorite example of character building that I experienced while playing Halo Infinite. Personally, I don’t know much Halo lore, but after just hearing the grunts chatter and shout battle cries I felt like I knew exactly who I was facing. The dialogue is charming and the game would not be the same without it. 

What didn’t stick with me

The side activities just didn’t resonate with me. I was doing a bit of them at the beginning, but they ended up feeling repetitive and uneventful. There were no interesting characters to meet or scenarios to unfold. I hesitate to call them side missions because they didn’t feel as such.

Abilities/Grenades selection was very clunky. 

Traversing the world felt awkward. There’s a lot of vehicles in Halo Infinite that are a blast to use in battle, but when traveling around the map I couldn’t help but feel it was a bit clunky. Using the mongoose would usually end up with me stuck in some rocks or being flipped after a big jump. Trying to hover around rocky terrain in a ghost can get finicky real quick. However, the flying vehicles proved efficient. Near the end of my playthrough I ended up just getting around using the upgraded grapple hook.

What I didn’t like

The Open World felt flat and lifeless. There’s no weather system, wildlife (aside from the occasional flock of birds), or much of anything to help bring the world to life. The lack of biomes makes the world feel too similar all around.

An additional note: The game did not look pretty playing through Xcloud. A lot of low resolution textures and jarring pop-in was an issue while playing.

The quest design is unbearably repetitive. The main campaign will have you going in this process:

Travel to a point of interest (POI), enter metallic dungeon, fight enemies, activate terminals, fight boss enemy and repeat.

I understand that games have a core gameplay loop, but it wasn’t iterated upon in any meaningful way. At times it felt like sections of a dungeon were there simply to extend playtime. 

The dungeons lack variety and feel the exact same. I grew tired of looking at those metallic walls very quickly.

Sometimes the game will have you do all of this, but in multiple parts. I am not a fan. 

The characters are lackluster.  I didn’t connect with the pilot, Echo-216 (what is his name?), and he felt annoying at times. I think the writers were trying to use the pilot to create some contrast to Master Chief’s gung-ho nature, but I don’t feel it was executed effectively.  The weapon (cortana 2) is kind of quirky and interesting, but I feel like the dynamic between her and Master Chief didn’t really get to go anywhere. Maybe her character resonates with previous Halo fans since she’s connected to Cortana. The main villain Escharum is very 1 dimensional and bland. At times I forgot he even existed. At most I just wanted him to shut up (he talks a lot!). 

Weapon Management was something that frustrated me a lot. This is most likely a ‘Halo’ thing, but having to constantly pick up new weapons became annoying. There were weapons I wanted to keep using, but they would quickly run out of ammo and I’d be forced to pick up something else like a needler or some other weapon I didn’t want to use. 

Final Thoughts

Overall, the game was “Ok”, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who isn’t already a Halo fan. 

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So about that DokeV trailer...

Tell me why I left Gamescom Opening Night Live with this game stuck in my head?!

As the trailer started I was like “what is this little baby simulator?” and by the end of it I was like ”umm ok..I want to try this out!”

This game looks WILD!

Full Trailer Here

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So about Final Fantasy 7 Remake...

Proper Context

I have never played a Final Fantasy game before and knew nothing about the story before playing this game.

I played about 70% of the game on PlayStation 4 Pro (PS4) and the rest on PlayStation 5 (PS5).

The Good

The visuals are absolutely amazing. The character models are rendered meticulously and the in-game cutscenes are jaw dropping. 

The story, despite me not having any background, is actually very intriguing. I loved the characters I met along my journey. Each one had their own unique story and personality. It made the loss of Jessie even harder (RIP). I still don’t fully understand the relationship between Cloud and Sephiroth, but it was a good show nonetheless. 

Of course, the gameplay holds up nicely. You can play in a classic turn based mode or free fight. I chose to avoid turn based. All the playable characters each come with their own unique combat abilities and allow you to create interesting synergies. Tons of fun!

The Not So Good

No game is perfect, but there were some serious issues that kept taking me out of the game.

FF7R suffers from too much padded content. Many times I kept finding myself saying “again?” and just wondering when a certain sequence would end. The gameplay loop of this game is to explore, fight, discover something, explore some more and fight. This is fine, but it is very easy to spot when things (like waves of enemies) are simply being added to prolong your time. 

FF7R tries to gamify a lot of sequences that are better off being cutscenes. For example, there is a section in the later part of the game where you must crawl through a ventilation shaft. For the player, this is a straight 2-3 minutes of holding up on the controller and watching Cloud crawl as slow as possible. There were a lot of these instances where I found myself thinking “why can’t I skip this?” or “this is taking so long”. 

The pre-final boss battle against the whispers was an absolute low point for me. It is such a shame because the visuals are 10/10 in this section. My main gripes are that the fight is drawn out for too long. This wouldn’t be too much of a problem if the cutscenes could actually be skipped. Furthermore, if you die you have to start at a point right before the entire fight. Yes, that means you have to watch the cutscenes all over again. Very frustrating.

Final Thoughts 

Overall, FF7R is a solid game, but falls a bit short due to bizarre design choices. I hope to see improvements with the Yuffie DLC that I will be playing soon. I would recommend this game to someone with a It’s pretty good.

Extra Tidbits

The haptic feedback and adaptive triggers could have been utilized A LOT better. They were basically non-existent. The load times and activity card implementation on FF7R make it a great showcase for those PS5 features.

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So I just started Hades...

And it's pretty awesome so far! I cannot wait to try out all the different weapons. Wish me luck!

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So about that Ariana Grande Fortnite Concert...

Amazing.

Even if you're not a fan of Fortnite/Ariana there is A LOT of audio-visual magic to feast on here!

The set pieces were very spectacular and over the top. The mix of gameplay elements were well done as well.

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Annapurna Event Tomorrow!

The event will be tomorrow, July 29th, at 12pm PST. Don’t miss it!

There will be an update on the game Stray, the sci-fi cat game everyone has been waiting to see.

Plus updates on other games and new announcements as well.

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So about Seer...

Respawn has shown a few separate videos about the new legend coming to Apex Legends. Their name is Seer. I will admit that after seeing all the videos I still don’t really know what the gadget does. Seer is looking like a mix between Bloodhound and Crypto. It looks like their gadget deploys some type of sphere that detects enemies and shuts down gadgets. I’m very interested to see more on Seer and of course play as them once the new season drops in like 7 days! Which reminds me that I have to finish up the battle pass...

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So that EA Play...

So there was no update on new generation enhancements for Apex Legends. They did show a little more on the new Legend Seer. I'll probably post about him closer to the launch of the new season.

HOWEVER

Dead Space remake tho! I never played any of the Dead Space games so this might be the perfect way to jump in. The game looks terrifying! Battlefield looks super cool but I'm still apprehensive about the $70 price tag. I'm not against $70 games if the game is quality, but Battlefield is going to have a battle pass and microtransactions. That just doesn't sit well with me. Anyways, not a bad show!

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EA Play Is today at 10am PST

I'll be posting my reactions later today. Specifically on Apex Legends news.

Hoping for PS5 related enhancements!

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The Steam Deck...

So Valve announced their new handheld gaming PC the STEAM Deck. So far my reaction is...mixed. The concept of an on-the-go PC that specializes in Steam games is cool, but the price options are pretty bizarre. $399 for a PC that is a little bit more powerful than a PS4 with 64GB of storage?? The next option includes over 200 GB of SSD storage which is great but almost $600. The last option includes a larger SSD and sits at just under $700.

The base option is a ripoff. 64GB is shameful and the storage solution (MMC) means the load times will be abysmal. Plus what big games will you be able to fit on there?

The two upgraded options just seem too high in price for me right now. I will also have to see how it performs.

Overall, a pretty big surprise. The Steam Deck (Steam Pal) was rumored for awhile but actually having it here and confirmed is something I'm still taking in. The time of this reveal is also peculiar. The new Switch OLED model (also a ripoff IMO) just got announced to lukewarm reception. People were expecting the long rumored "Switch Pro" with beefed up specs, but instead just got a prettier screen. You can't help but wonder if Valve thought to take advantage of that 🤔

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My favorite multiplayer games

I’m a big single player gamer, but in between I like some multiplayer action! 

The current rotation:

Apex Legends - I loved Titanfall 2 so I’ve been supporting this game since day one. Definitely my favorite first person shooter right now. 

Fortnite - I never got too into Fortnite, but its a good way to connect with my friends who moved away for School, Also, the content updates are very, very good. Definitely the most polished battle royal/free to play game. 

Divinity: Original Sin 2 - My friend and I decided to just jump into this game and it has been a wild ride so far. It’s a slow burn game but super fun. We are still finishing this one up (it’s pretty long!). 

It Takes Two - Picked up this game at launch because I love Josef Fares and Hazelight studios. Been playing through this with my friend and it has been an absolute blast so far. However, I do wish there was proper PS5 feature support (haptics, adaptive triggers, etc.). 

Games that always come back:

Dead by Daylight - This game always comes and goes for me. I like this game a lot and it’s super fun with a party of friends. I play it for like two weeks straight then put it away for months and the cycle repeats. 

Rocket league - Who doesn’t love soccer cars?

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Some recommended watching! NoClip does amazing documentaries and this time around its on the Demon’s Souls remake by Bluepoint Games and Japan Studio. I’ve always been a fan of souls games, but I had never played the original Demon’s Souls. It was such a delight to play this visual feast on PS5. 

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What I’m playing right now...

I recently finished Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart which was a great experience. So right now, I am hitting the backlog and finishing up The Evil Within 2. I’m a pretty big Shinji Mikami fan so I’m loving this game. I finished the first game quite recently too. The world is so eerie and tense. It’s NEVER ok to feel comfortable. I always have to take a breath when stepping into a new building or turning a corner in a hallway. I can’t wait to see how this game pans out.

Next up..

After The Evil Within 2, I might finally finish up Final Fantasy VII or Doom Eternal. That should be enough to hold me over until Ghost of Tsushima Director’s cut....

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State of Play Impressions

Overall I thought the show was adequate. Nothing I hoped for was at the show, but there were some pleasant surprises. 

Games I’m excited for:

Moss 2 - To this day it is one of my favorite games on PSVR. I cannot wait for this sequel. 

SIFU - A proper badass kung fu game is something the industry is lacking. Sifu looks to nail the atmosphere as well. 

JETT - This just looks like those games you get lost in. Can’t wait. 

Death Stranding Director’s Cut - Ok, I was not expecting this at all. I loved Death Stranding and holy hell this looks like a proper expansion to the game. I’m HYPED. 

Full lineup:

Moss 2

Arcadegeddon | Early Access starts today

Tribes of Midgard 

F.I.S.T |  September 7th

Hunter’s Arena | Coming to PS+ August 3rd

SIFU | Early 2022. 

JETT | Coming this year

Demon Slayer | October 15th

Lost Judgement | September 24th

Death Stranding DC | September 24th

Deathloop | September 14th

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Hopes for State of Play

Today should be a fun day for PlayStation fans. This event will showcase a lot of Deathloop, indies and third party partnerships. No big first party surprises. Glad Sony sets expectations for these shows. 

My number one hope is to see Little Devil Inside. 

We last saw this title at the Future of Games event in 2020. It looked super interesting, and the art style was right up my alley. 

Other games I would like to see are:

Season - This game looks beautiful and has such a calming atmosphere, but a mysterious tone. 

Stray - I would love to see more of this, but it is likely we see this at the Annapurna event later this month (July 29th). 

Check it out today, Thursday, June 8th at 2pm PST.

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Introduction to this blog

It is important to disclose some of my gaming background and biases to set the context for this blog. Here are some quick facts:

Platform History

I game primarily on console.

First Console: Sega Genesis 

Current Console: PlayStation 5

Console Preference: PlayStation

Top 5 Games in no particular order:

God of War (2018)

The Legend of Zelda Majora’s Mask

The Last of Us Part 2

Resident Evil 4

Tekken 7

Genres I love:

Fighting

Racing

Action Adventure 

Virtual Reality 

Genres I tend to skip:

Real Time Strategy 

Side scrollers/platformers

JRPGs

Sports