Cyberpunk 2077

 I can only think of one other time when I discussed a game I never played, and it was a similar situation in that it was a game I was interested in but had a terrible launch.  

Cyberpunk 2077 has been in development for years, and it appeared on my radar a year or so ago as a game I was interested in.  The Blade Runner theme of Night City looked awesome.  I'm not a huge first-person-shooter, though, so I wasn't sure what I'd think of the gameplay. It turns out it doesn't matter at the moment because the game launch has been an absolute disaster.

The game launched a week or so ago and initial reviews on the PC were good.  The game looks beautiful on PC and set Steam records for reviews and downloads.  Oddly, there were no console reviews available and sites even mentioned how this was odd.  Then came the anecdotal reports of how bad the game played on console.  Then the reviews. Even the PC version is buggy, but the Playstation version is riddled with bugs and frame rate drops into the teens that apparently the game isn't even playable.  I almost didn't write this post, but decided to once the Playstation store decided to pull the game and give refunds for those who purchased the game and were unsatisfied. This is an unprecedented move.  I have never heard of video game purchases being refunded, especially opened physical discs, but that is now happening with this game because it is so bad.  And for this to happen to a game with so much hype, and such a big budget, is amazing. 

I want a PS5, but have been waiting for them to become available and for a game that I want to play on the system. I thought Cyberpunk 2077 may have been that game, but was surprised to find out a PS5 version isn't going to come out until 2021.  I thought about purchasing the PS4 version to play on the PS5, but at this point I'll just wait.

Sul, Sul: The Sims 4, DLC, and Chasing Off Boys

 

This situation appeared way sooner than I expected.  The classic scenario of dad chasing boy who is chasing his daughter.  My girls are only in grade school.  This time the story is occurring virtually, which is so 2020.  Let me explain.

I've always enjoyed The Sims games.  They are the ultimate putzing around game, with no clear goal but there is always a carrot dangling.  I played Sims 1 and 2 when they were released, but skipped 3 and thus haven't played the series in many years.  I came across an Origin sale for the Sims 4 for $5 and I couldn't pass it up.  Between myself playing and my girls playing, we have logged over 40 hours and counting, which is pretty good for a $5 game.

One of my biggest complaints of the original games was the cumbersome requirements for friendships to advance in your career.  Eventually the requirement to have and maintain friendships would always become so cumbersome to manage in addition to all of your other activities that I would get stuck in a middle of the road career.  Oftentimes I would give up and start using cheats for Simoleons to advance my lifestyle.  This was fun but always felt a little cheap.  The Sims 4 fixes this issue by making the Sims much more social naturally and removing the requirements for maintaining friendships to advance your career (at least in the two career paths I've explored: chef and tech guru). I've been able to advance my main character's career to the end of the path and since have retired, gaining a nice pension.  My wife's career path is advancing nicely too.  This allows me to maintain a nice household without using cheats which is more satisfying.

The character's naturally occurring social skills is where we circle back around to the introductory paragraph.  The city features public gathering spaces - the gym and the juice bar are particularly popular hangouts in the neighborhood - for Sims to mingle.  Simply having your character in those spaces will encourage them to be social without button clicks.  The characters also have cell phones to communicate with other sims, who will call you unprompted.  Keeping this in mind, sometimes my girls will play this game for their weekly video game time.  Along the way one of their characters went on a date with Giancarlo, the main trainer at the gym.  As I was watching her play, I noticed there were now romantic options to interact with the character, including a "kiss hand" option.  She's pretty into the idea of hanging out with Giancarlo, so I'm concerned that the "kiss hand" option will progress to "woohoo with Giancarlo" and so now I have to figure out how to prevent this from happening.  I don't want to have to explain what that means at this point in her life.  I don't know if there is an anti-woohoo option or if I'm going to have to play her game and sabotage her relationship while she's asleep. More to come on this in the near future.

A quick comment on downloadable content.  Despite paying $5 for the game, I have spent an additional $40 on downloadable content for the game.  In the era of online games, DLC has become commonplace.  I think there is some controversy to this as it can be seen as a money-grab. I'm OK with it, however.  I think it is a great way to expand on games that you enjoy. In my entire gaming history, I have not purchased many DLC packages, but the few times that I have they tend to give the game a little boost of extra playability. For the Sims 4, I purchased the seasons pack and the Star Wars pack which both add extra playability and fun to the game.

Picture: Sims mainstay character Bella Goth, fitness guru and government spy, as well as town hottie.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

 

After finishing the animated series Rebels, the movie Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was the next chapter in the Star Wars cannon to view.  I was excited to see the film for the first time as I've heard nothing but good things about the movie.  I was not disappointed.

The story takes place just a few days prior to the events of A New Hope and explains how the Rebels acquired the plans to the Death Star in order to defeat the massive weapon.  Interesting to me was the role that Saw Guerra played in helping the Rebels with their mission.  Saw has been an anti-Empire figure since the Clone Wars, but is a bit of an extremist and his actions usually don't align with the greater Rebel cause.  This remains the case in Rogue One, but his character plays an important role in connecting the Rebels to the Death Star's weakness.

Visually speaking, this movie looks amazing.  I particularly liked the screens that introduced the planets, which had the planet name and a short description on screen.  It is a different approach from the typical screen swipe that is seen in other Star Wars films and gave the universe a greater sense of size, in my opinion.  

The movie was well received by critics, with the biggest criticism being the lack of character development and dialogue.  In retrospect this is true, but I never really noticed while watching. The story told in this movie is good by itself, but generally is swallowed by the larger story that is the Star Wars universe.  Therefore, the Rebels are the protagonist and the Empire is the antagonist.  I don't feel like a lot of character development or dialogue is needed.  We already knew that the Empire won the Clone Wars and that somehow Leia acquired the plans to the Death Star, which kicked off the events of the original trilogy.  Exactly how she had those plans to upload into R2 was a mystery until Rogue One, and the film did an excellent job of telling the story.  How badass was the final scene where Vader was chasing after the plans before they were passed onto Leia? 

Long Way Up

 

After watching Long Way Round many years ago (and maybe, maybe Long Way Down?), I was excited to watch Ewan and Charlie's latest adventure on Long Way Up.  Other than remember enjoying Long Way Round, I don't remember many of the specifics beyond how difficult Siberia was to traverse.   After seeing that their new trip was announced for Apple TV+, I was excited to watch their newest adventure and it was quite entertaining.

The two of them and their crew (many of which have returned from their previous adventures) journey from the southern tip of Argentina all the way to Los Angeles.  Throwing a curve ball into this adventure, the guys decided to ride electric motorcycles on this trip, which was a great idea and threw extra logistical challenges into the trip.  What was really neat was that they were riding Harley Davidson prototype electric motorcycles and the crew drove Rivian prototype trucks that are just now starting to appear in the headlines as coming to market.  Initially the motorcycles struggled with holding charge in the cold weather and they struggled finding locations to charge the bikes. But as they traveled more north and the temperatures warmed, the logistical challenges of using electric vehicles eased.

Per usual, they saw some fantastic sites and mingled with the locals.  They traveled through some dangerous areas in Columbia and Mexico.  At times I felt like they rushed through certain areas, mostly in central America and Mexico.  It felt like the series could be 2-3 episodes longer, but overall it was an entertaining show. When watching a show like this, part of me thinks it would be really cool to have a similar adventure to see the world and travel. But honestly, I would probably make it to the first tough time on the trip and bow out.  I give them props for sticking through with the plan.  Long Way Round and Down are available on Apple TV+ and we decided to watch both of them.  We're almost finished with Long Way Round and I'd say it is probably better just because it felt like more of an adventure.  But Long Way Up is definitely worth the watch.  

Super Mario 3D All-Stars: Sunshine

 

I never had a GameCube and thus never played Super Mario Sunshine. When 3D All-Stars was announced and this game was included, I was excited to play through Sunshine for the first time.  Unfortunately, I found the gameplay to be a bit cumbersome and decided to move on to the next game in 3D All-Stars, Galaxy.

Full disclosure: I only played about an hour of this game. 

I found the beach environment to be fun, and in typical Mario fashion, the music was fantastic.  The world was much more interactive and felt more alive compared to many of the stages in Super Mario 64, which I thought were sterile at times. That's where my likes end, however.  

The camera is still a problem in this game in my opinion.  While improved over Mario 64's camera, it is still challenging to see what you need to see.  For instance, in the first stage Bianco Hills, there's a group of towers with tightropes between them that you have to reach.  The camera can pan out to expand your view, but focuses on Mario, making it difficult to see where you need to go to reach the tower tops. This leaves you to wonder around until you figure out where you need to go.  I find this quite frustrating. It would be much easier to look forward in first-person mode, something that Mario 64 can do.  Maybe I'm missing something with the views?

The camera is a minor issue. The major issue is the gameplay.  I applaud the game makers for adding a new aspect to Mario gameplay with the water canon.  However, I found using the canon somewhat cumbersome and quite frankly not fun.  I would be willing to put up with it had the canon been just a part of the gameplay, but since it was the main focus of play I wasn't willing to continue with the game. 

Between the camera views and not knowing how to effectively use the water canon, I found myself flipping between YouTube to watch a video to figure out what to do and the game, making the whole experience more like a chore than fun.  I might circle back to the game. In the meantime, onward to Super Mario Galaxy.  I'm really looking forward to playing this game again because I remember it being fantastic. I'm looking forward to seeing if the re-play is as good as I remember the game being.  

Star Wars: Rebels

 

Rebels sits in between the Clone Wars (prequels) and the original trilogy.  Admittedly, following Anakin & Ahsoka would be a difficult task for any master-padawan combo.  After the first few episodes, I almost gave up on this series.  I just wasn't into the Kanan-Ezra duo.  Especially Ezra, who, when compared to Ahsoka, seemed like a complete amateur.  But obviously a lot happened between the ending of the Clone Wars and the beginning of A New Hope.  I knew Ahsoka and Darth Maul made appearances in Rebels.  And Because of both The Mandalorian and the Clone Wars, I knew Dave Filoni could tell a great story, so I decided to stick with the series.  I am glad that I did.  While it wasn't as good as the Clone Wars, and left a lot of questions unanswered, the series improved as it progressed, and the odd collection of characters grew on me as I got to know them better.

At this point in the Star Wars timeline, the Empire is in complete control of the galaxy.  Rebels focuses on a group of people called the Ghost Crew who are trying to challenge the Empire's authority and protect their home planet of Lothal.  We are introduced to some great Empire antagonists, including Grand Admiral Thrawn and the Inquisitors. Additionally, Ahsoka Tano and Darth Maul, who are two of my favorite Star Wars characters, make appearances as well.  Beyond small appearances from Obi Wan and Leia, the storyline of Rebels primarily focuses on the Ghost Crew and their adventures protecting Lothal from the Empire.  There doesn't seem to be a lot of additional tie-ins to the original trilogy of movies, which is fine.  

The best part of the show is watching Ezra progress from a clueless street thief to a worthy padawan.  Specifically, watching his connection with the force grow is what I found most interesting.  I always thought of the force as a way to move objects without touching them.  I've learned that it is much more than that.  As an example, Ezra connects to the force through his interaction with animals, a theme that is explored countless times.  While exploring a Jedi temple on Lothal, Ezra is able to use the force for time travel and communication with other force users.

As the show progresses, clearly there is an enlarging movement of people who are fed up with the Empire.  The Ghost Crew goes from working in isolation to being joined by other groups of rebels, and familiar faces do appear from time to time.  But this show is all about the Ghost Crew and their protection of Lothal.  During the show's epilogue, it is explained that Captain Rex and Hera Syndulla both fought in the battle of Endor, so their characters continue to live in the Star Wars cannon.  Additionally, Mandalorian Sabine Wren and Ahsoka are shown leaving together in search of Ezra.  It is rumored that both Sabine and Ahsoka will be featured in the Mandalorian series this season.  More to come on that story.

Overall the show was good and worthwhile to watch. It didn't have quite the star power or importance to the Star Wars universe that the Clone Wars had, but it introduced us to a unique group of characters that are likely to appear in other Star Wars stories.

Super Mario 3D All-Stars: Super Mario 64

 

Super Mario 64 is one of the best and most memorable video games from my generation.  When I learned that they were releasing a Switch version of the game I jumped at the chance to play it again.  I still have my Wii hooked up and thus have played the game relatively recently, but only the early portions.  Everything that made the game great (and not so great) remained true on my replay of this classic.

To begin, I'm much more into completing games (as much as possible, that is) now than I was when I was a kid.  When I was a kid, I wanted to get through the game as quickly as possible in order to move onto the next game.  As an adult, if it is a game environment that I really enjoy, I will try to get as much out of that game as I can.  I'm pretty sure when I played this game originally, I got the bare minimum 70 stars, went to defeat Bowser, and moved onto another game (probably Goldeneye or Ocarina of Time).  This time around, my goal was to get all 120 stars.

The concept of this game is great. Peach's castle has been taken over by Bowser, and in order to save the castle and all of your friends, you collect stars from various stages.  Not only do you get to explore 15 courses, but accessing the courses by exploring the castle is a great touch.  It was a great design at the time of its release and remains pretty fantastic.  In my opinion, it is the best part of this game, followed by the game's music in a close second place.  

Some of the stages are memorable and are pretty cool.  I particularly like the snow and water stages on this game.  Tick, Tock, Clock is a cool one too.  A lot of the courses aren't too memorable, however, and the sand and lava courses are a bit of a pain.  The graphics are polished on this Switch release but the terrible camera angles and semi-frustrating controls remain.  These are leftover from the first generation of 3D console games as a lot of games from that generation have not held up well to the test of time.  These are frustrating at times, but the game overall remains quite enjoyable.  

For whatever reason, the final battle against Bowser is a memorable one.  It isn't overly interesting and in the grand scheme of final video game boss battles is relatively easy.  But out of all the video game boss battles I've had, I do remember this one which is saying something.  The music during the battle is fantastic as well.

I finished the game with 100 stars.  I was able to get all 6 stars from the 15 courses, as well as 10 castle special stars.  I was ready to move onto another game.  I still need to get the 7th 100 coin star from all 15 courses, plus 5 additional special stars.  I may return to the game at some point to collect the remaining stars, but for now I've seen enough of Peach's castle.  It was a great stroll down memory lane, and while I've played the first 6-7 stages of the game several times, this is only the second time I've beaten the game and seen the later stages.  Onto the next game in this collection, which is Sunshine.  I never owned a GameCube and thus have never played this game before.  It looks...interesting.