Usually when they add a bunch of new games to Game Pass at once, it's pretty much just one good title, plus a bunch of weak titles. Not this time. They've added a bunch of really good games tonight. I'll start with Shantae: Half-Genie Hero. A couple months ago, I played and beat Shantae and the Pirate's Curse. I'd never heard of the series before, but after playing that one for a couple hours I looked it up and found out it was a long-running series. After watching a "History of Shantae" video on YouTube [note added for this blog post; I actually searched my YouTube history for the actual video I watched], I was caught up with the story so I knew who was who and what was going on. I loved it, and wanted more. Came very close to buying Half-Genie Hero a couple weeks ago, but now I'm glad I didn't because now it's on Game Pass (I bought Fallout 4 and Elder Scrolls Online shortly before they were added to the service).
I was going to set all the title to install then go to sleep, but I started with Shantae. It is such a small game that by the time I set the others to install (including the two new free Gold games), Shantae had finished installing. I couldn't resist and started playing immediately. I must say, even though I love the first one*, this one is definitely an improvement! It's challenging enough that I died a few times, but easy enough that by the end of the second map I had the new controls down and was playing as if I'd been playing it for several days. I just finished the second map, and now I will go to sleep. I'll probably review some of the others once I've played them.
*I know Pirate's Curse isn't the first Shantae game, but it's the first one I've played, and according to that History video, it served as a sort of soft reboot to the series. So in that sense, Pirate's Curse is the first one and Half-Genie Hero is the second one. Even though in reality they're the third and fourth games in the series.
The second game I'm playing that's new to Game Pass this month is Wolfenstein: The New Order. I've been avoiding this game because I assumed it was just another standard first-person shooter. I mean, it was one of the first and I always used to get it and Doom mixed up as a kid, and now they have a new Doom and a new Wolfenstein around the same time. They're the same thing!!
But I figured I may as well give it a chance since it's on Game Pass now. And I have to admit I was definitely wrong! It feels like they were aware that there's an over abundance of first-person shooters, so tried doing everything they could to avoid clichés. It seriously doesn't feel like any FPS I've ever played before.
Unlike Doom where the goal is to run in guns blazing and doesn't really allow for stealth (my preferred play style), Wolfenstein literally rewards you for using stealth. Plus there's dual wielding guns done right! Typically when you dual wield in games, you press the regular fire button and it fires both guns. either alternating between the two or at the same time. In Wolfenstein, the right trigger fires the right gun, the left trigger fires the left gun. I was a little too excited when I realised that.
I also like the option side quests. In the first mission, I was supposed to meet my people at "the bunker", but I saw another objective not far from there. That one has a question mark next to it. I went there and it started a new mission where I had to take out the anti-aircraft guns. After I finished, it continued the story. I didn't have to do that mission, but I'm glad it existed, because it was a fun side mission.
Overall, I'm legitamately impressed with this game. Where with Doom I got bored with it after a few hours, I can see myself beating this game, and I also want to play the sequel and the other one announced at E3. With his daughters. (I wasn't paying attention when they were talking about it because I didn't care about the series at the time).
Took a break from "4za" to play one of the free Games with Gold this month. Had never heard of it so put off playing it, but figured I'd give it a chance. After playing several levels I have to conclude that this is a crappy mobile game that somehow made it over to console. But I just looked and it's not even available on mobile, so… It's a crappy mobile game that bypassed mobile platforms and went straight to consoles. There's somehow a sequel. Both are available on the Switch. To be honest, this looks like the type of shovelware that infested the Wii-U's library. I can totally see the characters as Miis. I will admit, though, that it's an interesting idea, but I think I'd have liked it more if it was a mobile game and not forced onto consoles.
I just got my paycheck and it was a little bigger than usual. So I decided to pre-order Assassin's Creed: Odyssey. It releases in an hour and fifteen minutes, but apparently it still counts as a pre-order, because I got the pre-order bonus The Blind King. Both are currently downloading to my Xbox, and I'll likely not be able to play it until morning because larger games take a long time to install for me. Took a day and a half to install the 110gb Halo 5: Guardians. Odyssey is only 45gb, but that's still pretty big. My largest installed game is Forza Horizon 4 at 56gb, and that I let that install while I was doing chemo. I'd left in the morning and by the time I came back that evening it was finished. So hopefully Odyssey will be installed by the time I wake up.
I also bought Star Wars Battlefront: Ultimate Edition because it's currently $4 with Gold, and Star Wars Battlefront II (base game) because it's currently $10 with Gold. I'm not installing them right now, but at least now I'll have them for when I do decide to play them. I did the same with Life is Strange and Life is Strange: Before the Storm. I've played both long ago when both games came out, but I plan to someday make an event of it. One episode a night, starting with Before the Storm. I bought the deluxe edition of Before the Storm so I also got the bonus episode. It's Max and Chloe as kids, so I don't know if I should do that before I start Before the Storm, between the two games, or after (it is called Farewell, after all).
But that's not important right now. I'm not going to do that for quite awhile. I'll definitely be posting my thought on Odyssey once it does install and I've played it a bit.
I've been playing Odyssey for three days now, and it just keeps getting better. By this point in Origins I was over halfway through the main story, while still doing the side quests as they popped up. Not only do I highly doubt I'm even halfway through the game, I'm still just barely getting started. Without spoiling anything, I just got to where I can sail the open sea. Since I know this game is vast and expansive, I'm taking my time and doing all of the side quests I see and trying to do everything I can. Really immerse myself in this world. I've been posting for awhile about not having a main game, and I think I finally found my new main game. Ironically, my last main game was Origins. Plus, once I've completed this game, I already plan on playing it again and making different choices. I've already seen smaller decisions I made at the beginning having massive outcomes, even a few smaller consequences. Sometimes it's something as small as I get a new crew member, and sometimes it's as big as entire populations dying because of a seemingly small choice I made early on. I'll be curious to play this again and see what happens when I do things differently. But first I'm playing it through the first time, leisurely.
The game was released a week ago an hour ago, and I've been playing it almost nonstop. As I said in my 24 hour review (which I left as an actual review and you can read here, I'm taking my time to really enjoy this game and not just rushing through the story. That said, I'm still in Sequence 2 (they don't call them that this time, but I'm just assuming it's S2 because usually the sequences are broken up by modern day scenes, and I've had one of those already. Thus, Sequence 2). Without spoiling anything, I've made it to Athens and have had one story mission since. I've been doing a ton of side quests and collecting and such. Currently I'm level 26, and all of my gear is legendary (gold) except my helmet. I can't find a legendary helmet anywhere.
As much as I love Origins, this game definitely tops that one. It took me a month to do pretty much everything you could do, including all of the DLC. I can already tell that it's going to take me a very long time to do that this time. Especially since they're planning on doing episodic DLC. I just bought the season pass, so I'm excited about getting them. One of the things you get with the season pass is Assassin's Creed III: Remastered when it releases. I'm a little concerned that I won't have time to play it because I'll still be deep into this one.
I've actually lowered my Gamefly from two at a time to one at a time. I plan on renting Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces. Basically use it to get smaller, linear games, because Odyssey takes all my time now. Only breaks I plan on taking are to watch The Walking Dead and Doctor Who. Just bought the season passes for both on Prime Video, so I'll be watching them the day after each episode airs.
Anyway, if you haven't played Odyssey yet, I very highly recommend it.
I took a tiny break from Odyssey to play Madden '18. It came in the mail from Gamefly today. I don't like sports at all, but I thought I'd at least try it. I don't like skateboarding, but love the Tony Hawk games. Plus, I may not like football, but I like football movies (like Remember the Titans, Gridiron Gang, and Radio), and Madden '18 has a story mode. But it turns out that in order to play it, you need at least some football knowledge. I had no idea what was going on or what I was doing. First thing it has you do is pick a team. I don't really know that many teams, but I live near Cincinnati so I know of the Bengals. That's which one I picked. All I know about them is the logo and that they are Cincinnati's team. But then I tried doing a practice game, just to figure out the controls. You have to choose what plays you want to use, and I just picked things at random, because I didn't understand any of it. Eventually I decided to play Longshot, the story. But that ended up being an interactive movie. You occasionally have to choose things (like, "Agree or disagree", etc), or have quick time events. It was interesting, but I'd have rather just watched if that's what they were doing. I decided to just play until I got an achievement. That way it wouldn't entirely feel like time wasted, as it adds to my Gamerscore. I eventually got on for completing "Act 1", then I uninstalled the game and will be returning it in the morning. I think if I had even a little football knowledge I'd have enjoyed it more. Or even at all.
I should be getting another Gamefly game soon. They shipped Sonic Mania, so I might be getting it tomorrow. As for now, I'm going back to Odyssey.
As I said a couple days ago, I was expecting Sonic Mania from Gamefly, and it arrived yesterday. I played it last night when I got home from work, and some more this morning. It's essentially Classic Sonic, but kind of remixed. Having grown up playing the original games, I really loved this game. I loved the updated classics, like Green Hill Zone, but I also loved the new additions, especially Studiopolis. The game is very short, but definitely worth it, even more so if you grew up playing the original games.
Little sad at the moment. I just cancelled my Gamefly account again. Their service has definitely decreased since I last used it a couple years ago. Back then, I'd be able to rent like five or six games over the course of the month using the two at a time plan. This past month I was only able to get three. I returned LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens and it took them two weeks to get it and ship the next title. I might get it again some other time, but currently it's too expensive at $22 to not even get a lot of games. If it was the same quality service they had two years ago, that amount would be worth it, but it's not anymore.
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