Monthly Round-up: April 2015
My new NBA blog: Holding Court
April Playlist
1. Bloodborne: April was all about Bloodborne, fifty one
hours of it to be exact. I exhausted every area and boss, with the exception of
the Chalice Dungeons which I thought were dull in comparison to the rest of the
game. I got the squid baby ending and even tried a bit of NG+, just enough to
convince myself that I'm not up for a second playthrough just yet. A week
removed from my final visit to Yharnam, and I’m still thinking about Bloodborne
and all the things it did so well.
2. Valiant Hearts: Valiant Hearts makes great use of an
otherwise underutilised setting - World War One. The art style is beautiful and
it softens some of the more unpleasant scenes without lessening their impact.
VH does a good job of highlighting the history within its fiction, and I
enjoyed learning a little about the settings and events that are depicted.
Gameplay is mostly concerned with lever and item-collection puzzles, which
quickly become tedious, but I'm glad I saw it through to the end.
3. Yakuza 0: I only started earlier this week, so I don't
have much to say other than it's typical Yakuza and I’m probably going to love
it.
Words: Alex Kidd
Fan Fiction
"God, these bastard hands". Alex Kidd's
gigantic mitts had embarrassed him yet again.
He had lost count of the number of times he'd accidently
splintered doors, smashed tables or broken the arm of a well-wisher looking for
a hi-five. He had saved Miracle World a dozen times, yet the tabloids always chose
to ignore his heroics and focus instead on his “fucking massive hands”.
It didn't help that he also had big ears and a shit haircut.
The tabloid teasing was one thing, but what upset Alex
the most was how small Elena's hand looked in his.
"I'm so sorry, Elena. I've left my custom ball at
the palace"
"That's ok Alex. Let's just do quasar laser instead.
Half price on Wednesdays, I think" replied Elena. It was Wednesday.
Elena was right, she always was. Alex had his heart set
on ten pin bowling, but there was no way he was going to get his chubby digits
inside an alley-ball.
"Quasar it is then. I love you Elena"
"Thanks. I just need to pop to the toilet. I'll see
you over at the counter, yeah?"
"Will do!". Alex had used the L word a couple
of times since their relationship began last summer, but Elena had yet to
reciprocate. Alex knew he needed to be patient, he knew that love would not be
rushed.
Unfortunately, Elena died in the toilets. Drugs probably.
Alex never bowled again.
The Month Ahead
I'll most likely spend the majority of May playing Yakuza 0 and Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate.
Splatoon looks like fun and The Witcher 3 might be alright, but I won’t be in
any great hurry to buy either of them.
I haven't bought anything new since Bloodborne at the end
of March, and looking at the release schedule for the rest of the year, I’m not
seeing much of interest until September and MGSV: The Phantom Pain. I might be
tempted by Batman if it ends up being more Asylum than City, but otherwise I’ll
spend the next few months catching up with games I missed last year, such as
Alien Isolation, Assassin’s Creed Unity and The Evil Within. I was hoping that
No Man’s Sky might fill the spring and summer void, but I think it’s a little
late in the day now for any such announcement.
The Summer Drought has started early!
I really enjoyed Valiant Hearts. The story was great and while the puzzles weren't anything to write home about, I still preferred it to the new Telltale style of adventure gameplay. And the artstyle was really wonderful. I will be grabbing the new Wolfenstein and maybe Splatoon this month. Probably makes for a more exciting gaming month for me than any so far this year.
ReplyDeleteI really should play Wolfenstein The New Order and then maybe the new one too. People keep recommending NO and I'm sure I'd enjoy it.
DeleteAs for Splatoon, it does look like fun but it's not a game I can see myself putting a lot of time into. My poor Wii U hardly gets a look-in these days.
Cheers