Toomanywires

The Best & Worst of 2020 /  2019  /   2018  /  2017  /  2016  /  2015  /  2014  /  2013  /  2012  /  2011  /  2010 2021 was a solid year for games. We had a steady stream of quality releases, but there were few compelling reasons to own new hardware. Most of the best games on PS5 and Series X/S could be enjoyed on previous-gen consoles, albeit at a slightly lower framerate, with marginally less pretty graphics, and minus the smugness that comes with ownership of a new console. Despite being a year removed from the launch of a new generation, shortages and delays continued to dominate the news cycle. An unwelcome carry-over from an awful year and a problem that shows no sign of abating. Anyone secure their Analogue Pocket preorder for 2023? But not every holdover from 2020 was depressing. Game Pass remained my favourite part of modern gaming, and Microsoft continued to delight with their commitment to backward compatibility, even if that commitment has now been capped. Nintendo cont

My daughter has spent a lot of time over the last few weeks perusing the Christmas 2021 Toys R Us catalogue. I have instilled in her the importance of reading it regularly and fully hyping herself up for the festive period. Look at the toys, imagine what you might receive on Christmas morning, and turn yourself into a quivering, over-excited yuletide wreck. Just like her father. This year's catalogue is a little thin on games, but there's plenty there to excite children and adult-children alike. Its glossy pages are adorned with doll houses, Tamagotchi, Pokemon everything, board games, craft sets, a chain gun that fires off foam pellets, bikes, cars, robots that are cars, cars that are robots and robots that are just robots. It also features Lego sets to satisfy every kind of interest, as long as that interest is Disney, Minecraft, ninjas, or girls on vacation. And of course, it has video games. What would a Christmas catalogue be without them? Our favourite hobby gets a double

I don't half fancy an Uncharted 2 replay. There's never a bad time to revisit my favourite game of the 7th Generation , and a permanent fixture in my all-time top five.  I should do that soon. Over the last few years, I've increasingly found myself revisiting games. As a child and teenager, I would of course play the same few titles over and over. I'd only get my hands on so many games over the course of a year, so I'd play them again and again. This was also driven by a youthful desire to latch onto something that spoke to me and play it to death. As I got older, and had disposable income, I went the other way. Desperate to play everything new and noteworthy, I'd almost never make time to revisit games. I've mellowed out considerably over the last few years and rediscovered the joy of familiar comforts. The Mass Effect Legendary Edition was by far the best thing I played this year, Final Fantasy IX HD brought back some lovely memories, and I also really enj

In Case You Missed it: Success in Akihabara  / The Goliath and Peace & Quiet / A Rare Gaming Sesh November Playlist I've spent the bulk of November playing and enjoying Forza Horizon 5 . You can read all about that in the last two links above.  I also dipped my toe in the Halo Infinite multiplayer. It's good but it hasn't really grabbed me, but then it has been several years since an online FPS did. However, it has definitely increased my interest in the single player campaign next month, so job done. I finally got around to Jedi: Fallen Order earlier in November. I really should've played that much sooner. The first hour feels a lot like Uncharted in space, though it isn't able to maintain that level of quality throughout. I loved the characters, and although I never felt I'd completely gotten the hang of the combat, it was certainly satisfying. It's far from perfect, with overly long chapters, unrewarding exploration, and huge gaps between narrative

Something unusual happened yesterday morning, something that almost never happens any more. I played video games for three and half hours, uninterrupted and undisturbed. I had the morning, the house, and the TV all to myself. I decided to ignore the million other jobs and projects I could've, probably should've, been getting on with so that I could indulge in my favourite pastime. And that pastime, as you may already be aware, is video games. I don't deprive myself of games, not by any means. I try to play for an hour almost every evening, but I very rarely settle down for a multi-hour stretch. There just aren't enough hours in the day and, if I'm honest, my attention span isn't what it used to be. Also, the chances of me being wide awake much beyond 23:30 are slim, especially on a week night, so there's a fairly hard cap on the time I'll spend with my Xbox or PlayStation. I'll get my hour in though, as long as I'm not nodding off. I spend far lo

My favourite part of Forza Horizon 5 thus far was when it shut up for almost fifteen minutes. A little under fifteen minutes of uninterrupted racing, free of clutter and noise. A chance to focus on the essence of what is clearly one of the best games of 2021. The Goliath is the finale for one of the Horizon Mainstage events. Supposedly, it's the longest race in Forza Horizon history, according to the very cheerful lady who's constantly in my ear. It took me around twelve minutes from the start to finish, and provided an ideal opportunity to take in some new scenery and drive on roads I had yet to grace with my led foot. It was a starting grid full of supercars, but beginner-friendly supercars. Fast, low to the ground; consumer-grade Batmobiles. They scream from the start line, and will weave and wobble at the hint of a change of direction, yet they're fairly easy to tame. On Horizon's advice, I selected the jet black Lamborghini from my garage, and it was perfectly suit

It was the last stop of the day. The Suragaya nearest the JR Station, the one tucked away down a side-alley. I wasn't holding out much hope for bargains, as it's usually over priced. Well-stocked, so worth a perusing, but you're unlikely to get your wallet out. It had already been a very fruitful trip to Akihabara, Tokyo's electric town and home to all things video games, anime and anything remotely nerdy. It was a last-minute decision to visit two Sundays ago. Back when I was working in Tokyo, I'd stop by Akiba almost weekly, but the pandemic put an end to that. However, with the situation more under control, I'm starting to venture out a bit more now and I feel much better for it. And nothing lifts the spirits quite like a trip to Akiba. As proof, here's a video of me struggling to contain my excitement.  Shopping on Mercari or Yahoo Auctions is fun, but it's not the same. You can find some unexpected bargains in your local Hard Off, but it's one s

In Case You Missed it: FFIX and Nodding Off / Blur - Why Not Play Something New? / Long-term  Resident October Playlist I really enjoyed  Resident Evil Village. It's far more consistent than RE7 and does a decent job of harkening back to previous Evils whilst continuing, and improving upon, the series reimagining. And it was a steal at that 6-months-after-launch nice-price. I did more detailed words, and a picture, on Village the week before last. The link's above. I wasn't going to buy Deathloop , but then I did. Mainly because I found a copy at a silly price, but also because it has certain qualities that appeal. I'd been imagining it as a kinda-successor to TimeSplitters, what with the time manipulation and slightly exaggerated art style. It's not TimeSplitters, obviously, but it is rather good. It took me a little while to get to grips with the ins and outs of the looping story, and how I'm supposed to manipulate it, but once that clicked I really got int

I've been playing Resident Evil since 1997. Four decades of Biohazard.  No other series can compete for longevity. Final Fantasy would come the closest, but RE would still have it beat by 2-3 years. Metal Gear Solid is of that era, but it has since expired along with many of the other gaming franchises that were important to me in the 1990s. While almost everything else from that period fell by the wayside, Resident Evil remained - entertaining and relevant. It almost didn't though. Resident Evil 6 felt like a point of no return. Tired and overdone, it was a bad impression of what had come before, combined with contemporary action-game conventions that were already growing stale. MASH CIRCLE TO LAND THE PLANE! It was an incohesive mess, each promising section undone by several irredeemable ones. It was clear that the series had to change. Fortunately, Capcom were well aware.  They looked backed and reimagined; they looked forward and reinvented. Viewed today, remaking the origi