I'm going to admit that it's been slow for me. The weather is now getting crappy, flu season is here, I'm impatiently waiting for my Flu Shot and COVID Booster and I'm trying to watch my money right now especially since I have some yearly payments coming up. But, on the other hand, I went to see a Powerwolf Concert, so that was cool. And I'm going to be helping my best friend with his school project this month, so there's things to look forward to in general. And I've been trying to get out a little more as well. Last week I went to the opening of an Art Exhibition at my local community center and got to talk with many of the artists there and I had really fun time. I also found a cool Espresso/Gelato place inside the community center and I've been going there for Iced Chai Lattes which are some of the best I've had.

I'm also still continuing to get films as well and the main attraction: I've been spending a lot of time on the OG Xbox. I'm so glad I'm getting to play it again finally because my old Xbox died and I was getting desperate to play my games for it. Finally, I've been spending time on it and have been loving it and now, I can finally talk about the game I'm playing for it!



This D&D Game gets almost no love. I've not seen many people talk about it, nor do I think it's ranked highly among other D&D games in general. But as a Diablo Style Hack and Slash game, this is awesome. I'm absolutely surprised at how much I've enjoyed the game thus far, I've put almost 5 Hours into it and it has so much to like. Surprisingly gory for a T rated game (The Beholder Exploding was one of the most violent things I've seen in a while) and it captures the dungeon crawl and adventuring of D&D really well. I love leveling up my character and fighting creatures like Yuan-Ti, Skeletons, Trolls and carefully picking my stats to upgrade. It's been a solid experience so far, I don't have many big complaints so this is honestly one of my favorite games I've played this year so far. It might have a special spot in the Top 5 when we get to the end of the year.

Other than that, I'm picking up my reserved copy of Mario Galaxy 1 + 2 this week. I played them back on the Wii but never completed them and I think I sold my Wii and all my old games when I moved, so it's going to be nice to put time into these again and finally understand what all the hubbub was about back in the day. And I have plenty to look forward to for games. Yakuza Kiwami 3 was a pleasant surprise announcement, the reveal of Forza Horizon 6 got me extremely hyped up again about the series and the DLC for Lil Gator Game comes out early next year alongside Dragon Quest VII. Anyways, I don't have much else to add, just trying to be happy.

-TheAutisticGamer

Like everyone else, not many completions but I did get two in.

Dragon Quest (Switch, 09/07, 8.5/10)
POSTAL: Brain Damaged (PC, 09/15, 7.5/10)

Dragon Quest was a delightful surprise. I thought considering it's what many people call the first JRPG, that it was going to be archaic and frustrating. But it was the opposite. I really enjoyed the grind of the entire game and found myself feeling satisfied and rewarded for taking the time and leveling up my character. The 1v1 fights were quaint but nice and it was one of the more rewarding games I played recently.

POSTAL: Brain Damaged is surprisingly competent despite what I thought of the demo for it a long time ago and it's the closest thing to a Dream Simulator that we've gotten to in a long time. Found it very accurate to how my dreams make no sense and are just LOL Random stuff at any moment. It's very tech heavy with managing tons of weapons and items and movement despite not feeling great at first became certainly better over time. However the game crashed numerous times on me which was frustrating, I sincerely hope they intend to fix these crashes, but at this point they'll probably book it to the next project. Fine game in general.

I'm still trying to finish Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes for OG Xbox, so I'll probably be playing more of that this month alongside getting my copy of Mario Galaxy 1 + 2 on Switch this week and putting time into that. I'm very excited to play them as I haven't played those games since the Wii days and I don't know where my Wii or Wii games are at this point so having a Switch Version of them will be nice to revisit them. I hope I can get a couple more games in next month such as a replay of CULTIC with the Interlude and Chapter Two levels done also.

I'M SO FREAKING READY!!!!!

One of the most hype trailers I've watched in a long time. I can't believe we're finally getting Japan as the main setting for the festival. Can't freaking wait. I hope this will be the best Forza Horizon yet.

POSTAL: Brain Damaged
System: PC
Developer: Hyperstrange
Publisher: Running With Scissors
Genre: FPS, Boomer Shooter



Before getting into the game this has one of the most memorable moments of this year in gaming came from the game's third act. In it, you chase after a dated Elon Musk reference in order to get his autograph. You run into a convention of furries, conspiracy theorists and illuminati killing everything that you see and then end up in a parking garage. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a BLOODY Cybertruck attacked me, causing me to panic as it turned into something like a Transformer. I had to literally pause the game, pace for a couple minutes and tell people what I had experienced. I really couldn't make this stuff up as I go along. If you don't believe me, look it up for yourself. But for those who played it, you know exactly which moment I'm talking about.

This moment shows the best of the newest POSTAL game, Brain Damaged when it just goes ape shit with it's surrealism. The entire game is a dream and as someone whose dreams never make sense and are always resulting in LOL Random situations that baffle me to this day, this is one of the best dream simulators out right now and if you're willing to try it, you'll be impressed by how it accurately captures the human dreamscape. Much of the game's three acts are completely different from one another. In one dream you're looking for a TV, in another you have to find Toilet Paper before you crap yourself, and aforementioned you chase down an Elon Musk stereotype who turns out to be your clone in a final battle with a kick ass song playing in the background.

As a game, it's fine. It's a very tech heavy shooter where you're managing weapons, alt fires, items, your movement and in classic POSTAL fashion, urine. In the wake of games like Titanfall 2, Doom Eternal and Turbo Overkill, shooters are becoming more heavy in tech, management and mechanics, making the experience most of the time worthwhile. While this game doesn't do anything major with how it presents it's gameplay, there is lots of satisfaction to be crouch slide jumping throughout the majority of the levels. It does get tiring having to consecutively press control and space while moving forward and a sprint function would have saved people a lot of trouble from getting carpal tunnel and would have honestly been a better and simpler way of moving fast, but it works nonetheless. There's tons of variety when it comes to locations, from desert landscapes, insane asylums, convention halls, spaceships and the like so there's never going to be a dull moment of killing enemies in the same areas over and over again.

So the game works well and as a Boom Shoot title, I don't have much to argue about. There are some weaknesses. Most of the humor is passionless, but that's probably because of the VA playing Postal Dude. Postal Dude's voice has not been consistent throughout the entire series. To me, the guy who did the voice of him in Postal 2 is the definitive version of the character and even though his one liners and jokes are very not PC or even laugh out loud funny, he still amuses me with his quips. Here, Postal Dude just sounds like he doesn't give a shit. And like many games with this type of budget, the character tends to repeat one liners over and over again. Seeing this, I'm beginning to see why I love Serious Sam so much more as rarely does it recycle jokes.

My main issue is the technical aspect of the game. You can get soft locked very easily and there's no way to get out but loading another save. It's ridiculous how many times I got stuck on something. In POSTAL 2, if you were stuck the game teleports you out of the area. Even if you're still stuck, POSTAL 2 would do it multiple times until you were out. It wouldn't kill you like in a Valve game. How they failed to use this element from an earlier and better game is beyond me. Not to mention the crashes. I crashed three entire times during the game (Well, technically once but I froze twice which lead to me having to close the game). For a game that has insanely positive ratings on Steam (which seems to always be a sign of overhype a lot of the time when I think about it), I don't know why they're selling this game when the game can crash at any time when too much is going on. They really need to fix this. But unfortunately I doubt there's going to be any further patches.

If you like your FPS Games silly and you like them with a lot of tech, I can recommend this one with confidence as it is not a terrible game despite what I might have thought of the demo a long time ago. I paid CDN $5 for it on sale and it was definitely a steal. Look for it on sale and hopefully you'll get it at bargain bin prices.

7.5/10

PROS:

-The closest thing to a Modern Dream Simulator
-Competent Gameplay with tons of heavy tech management
-Surprising moments that caught me off guard in a good way
-Lots of level variety
-Really good bosses

CONS:

-Lots of crashes during my playthrough
-Too easy to get soft locked
-Copycats ideas from much better games
-Voice Actor for Postal Dude is not giving a crap

-TheAutisticGamer

I'm in a OG Xbox mood so I decided to play Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes which I've been wanting to play for a while. And so far it's awesome. Seems like a really stellar Diablo Style game and I'm just enjoying the 6th Gen graphics as the water looks VERY Xbox/PC Like for this time. I'm playing a fighter, but if this goes well I'll probably play again to try the other 3 Classes and also get into the Coop Mode available for it. Glad I'm finally getting to play an actual D&D video game after all this time. I'm hoping to start small and work my way up to the big guns (BG, Planescape: Torment, NWN 1 and 2, Temple of Elemental Evil)

I also finished POSTAL: Brain Damaged and I'm certainly glad I got this for 5 dollars because it's a tough pill for me to pay CDN $25.99 for a game with a demo that I absolutely hated. The game certainly didn't give me a good first impression right from the start but once I got to Act II it was mainly uphill from here. It's a very heavy tech shooter with tons of mechanics and management in terms of weapons, alt fires, items, movement and yes, in classic POSTAL fashion even pissing has it's uses. It's nothing spectacular but I felt satisfied with it in the end especially since you're jumping all over the place like Quake and fighting hordes of enemies. The issues: Game just doesn't wanna work sometimes. I crashed three times (well, crashed once and froze twice) and the game unlike POSTAL 2 wouldn't teleport me out of softlock zones which there are shockingly many, plus the cast of enemies are 99% stereotypes and the one liners aside from a few aren't that good. I still enjoyed it and was happy to see that it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. It definitely goes up when Act II comes along.

I gave it a 7.5/10.

Recently finished the first Dragon Quest game on Switch and I had a really good time with it. I didn't think I was going to like it all that much due to it being based on a nearly 40+ year old game at this point and I'm not fond of playing NES games in general. But the Switch Version had a lot of things I enjoyed. It was surprisingly easy to get into and reading some of the tutorials in game do help you get through parts much smoother. I think the best part about the game is how it didn't feel that archaic and the overall gameplay loop just kept me coming back to improve my character. Grinding was much more fun than I expected in this one and even though it's 1v1 it didn't hurt the pace of the game, which mainly consists of that grind to the Dragon Lord. Dying never was frustrating and I knew I had to go back and improve my character more and more which felt so rewarding when you finally defeat something like a Green Dragon for the first time.

I did use a guide halfway through the game to make things a little bit easier and I don't know if I really would have needed it since I knew right away the Magic Keys play a big role in progressing throughout so unlocking doors became easier once I found a shop. My only complaints really, is that the "Ye Olde English" dialogue is awful and everyone in the game sounds like a annoying patronizing mocking pretentious douche whenever anyone talked like "Thou list be'eth no'wn goeth to'eth saveth thy kingdom!" which seriously, how the hell am I supposed to take that seriously ESPECIALLY having read My Immortal dozens of times for laughs? (seriously, the only thing I find where this works is in Shakespeare). Otherwise, Stellar Game. I was thrilled with the overall gameplay loop and I had a marvelous time.

I gave it an 8.5/10. Can't wait to play other Dragon Quest games after this.

Extremely slow month for me. I only managed one game this month.

Black Mesa - PC, 08/15, 7.5/10

I finally got Black Mesa done after all these years. I'm mainly mixed about it. Xen is WAY too long for it's own good and has too many inconsistent moments, the Marines are just Combine with a Marine Skin so they act more unrealistic than they did in the original Half-Life, voice acting is much worse than in the original game, the gunplay I felt was weak compared to Half-Life 2 as well. But this is a amazing looking game, especially the exterior areas which are all incredible. Everything in Black Mesa itself has been revamped sometimes for the better, the music is really good and it proves to be a much smoother transition to HL2 and it's episode due to actively having certain events and continuity in this one going from this to HL2. I'm rather mixed on the game but overall I'm glad I played it.

I don't know what I'll complete next, so let September decide!

Let me tell you a story.

Seven years ago, I joined HowLongToBeat in order to mainly keep track of all the games I have completed. I was a newbie at the time, not really sure how some threads worked and felt a bit anxious talking to people on an online forum. I hadn't had good experiences with social media interactions before, especially if it was on sites like Facebook or Reddit, so I was very worried this wouldn't be any different.

It turns out, HLTB was, and still is the greatest safe space for gamers to chat around. I felt right at home, interacting with many people who have either left now or are still here to this day. These users, you guys, are still the reason I continue to come here and do what I do here. You're all so kind, welcoming and supportive. This site is magnificent and so are the people.

It is then when I turned my eye to blogging, something that was fairly new to the forums. I thought creating a blog would be a great idea so I could do more in depth reviews on games, while also giving updates to game progress and life stuff. I wanted to add a human element to the blog when I started doing Moving Forward posts and I've lived through a pandemic, I lived through my mom getting chemo and I've lived long enough to get a job I am still working 2.5 Years into.

When blogs started to fill the site, I realize I, as well as Dune as some other users who were the forefathers of the HLTB blog, had accidentally influenced the site in a way I didn't see coming. Since then, so many great bloggers have shown up. Civil, Siver, Skyhler, NotConnor, Dorobo, just to name a few, so many cool takes on blogs have come and went, while others are still striving strong. And I'm extremely happy that the people who started blogging have given the forums continuous life, even if many of the OGs aren't on the site anymore (although, a LOT of them are still on the Discord Server)

Today, I reach a milestone of 100,000 Views on TheAutisticGamer's Behemoth Backlog. It's insane how far I come from this and this post is mainly to look back at the accomplishments everyone involved in this site has made. Your creativity and warmth and kindness continue to push me forward. Siver, a great fellow blogger will also be hitting 100k soon, and I'm extremely proud of their progression as a blogger, as with many other members of the site.

I'm not celebrating 100k views as bragging rights. That is not the point. I know I'm pretty much the first to do so, but I'm not interested in this milestone because of numbers. This milestone means a lot to me because after Six Hard Years of Work, nearly 300 games later, a new job, multiple new family members in my family tree and a move to a new house, I absolutely cannot believe how far my life has come in those six years, from feeling like I was never going to get out of a life slump, to a D&D session changing my entire life, to getting back on track and living better, healthier and happier with the things I have. My gaming tastes have changed and my preferences continue to expand and grow.

I hope to continue this blog for as long as I can. It's one of my passions to review games and interact in a very safe space for me and others and I'm extremely proud of myself for the growth I have taken throughout the years.

Thank you to the bloggers, forum users, the Discord Server users and everyone who uses this site. It's been a wild journey and I hope I can continue to grow and mature more as a person and learn many new talents and things along the way. I am also just proud of everyone here, you should feel good about yourself including the bloggers who are dedicated to their unique perspectives and never ending creativity.

CHEERS!



-Michael, AKA TheAutisticGamer

title

I don't tend to get Platinum Trophies or all Achievements in games most of the time if that's what you mean. But I have a few games that I like going back to. Lil Gator Game is the obvious one. I 100%ed the game 3 different times on Steam, Xbox and Playstation. It's pretty much a game I absolutely adore and I'm so stoked for the DLC and hopefully it will release soon because I wanna get back into the world of Lil Gator.

Another one I've spent a bit more time in is Biomutant. Definitely a game with a mixed reception and it's not perfect by any means (I mentioned how repetitive looting can be which is my biggest issue with the game as it gets tiresome after a while) but I've already put 8+ hours on the Nintendo Switch version. I already got the Platinum on Playstation which was certainly very easy. I have it on a couple other systems and it's a game I enjoy the atmosphere of a lot.

Not much else in general though if we're talking 100% Achievements or Platinum Trophy.

Black Mesa
System: PC
Developer: Crowbar Collective
Publisher: Crowbar Collective
Genre: FPS, Remake, Classic Shooter



Half-Life. It's a game that changed my life. Because of it, I took video games more seriously and began to think more artistically about them. Half-Life needs no introduction. It's influential gameplay flow, story, combat, puzzles, boss fights and setting made for what is essentially the greatest FPS Game I ever played, if not the best game I've ever played. So when it comes to tampering with the original Half-Life, I'm very much a purist. Half-Life Source was a terrible idea and should have never been made and it ruined the majority of what made Half-Life so great in the first place. And for several years now, it's taken dozens of attempts for Black Mesa to click with me. There were MANY bad first impressions every time I attempted to play it and I thought I would never be able to finish it. And now, I have finished it.

To go over Black Mesa in it's entirety would take a 30 Page Essay to dissect it. So instead of doing the equivalent of a 5 Hour Video Essay on this blog, I will attempt to simplify things by telling you what I enjoyed about the remake and what I didn't. There's many mixed feelings involved, but this is a normal thing considering Black Mesa has gigantic shoes to fill.

First, I want to address what I thought of the game in general. And let me start by stating these things: No. Black Mesa is not a masterpiece. No. Black Mesa is not better than Half-Life. No. Black Mesa shouldn't be played over Half-Life. But Black Mesa is a good game. It really is. It could have been incredible if they had stayed more faithful and had done much more to enhance the Half-Life experience though.

I'm not going to go over story. I've talked about Half-Life several times on the forums and everyone who is in the know, knows how Half-Life plays out. But I will be talking about story specific events in some parts. Let it be known though, Black Mesa has the same great story that Half-Life had. There's no doubt about it. Half-Life's story is timeless. It's simple, immersive, atmospheric and filled with life. And the first of the improvements is better continuity. In Half-Life, you would never had known that the Microwave Casserole you blew up was Dr. Magnusson's. Nor do they mention the names of Kleiner or Eli. They don't even mention Barney until Blue Shift. So going from Half-Life to Half-Life 2, there's some things that need some time to be adjusted to. Thankfully, Black Mesa makes the jump from this game to Half-Life 2 smoother. It features Eli and Kleiner, not to mention it fills in some holes if you interact with the environment. There's also just more depth in general to the world around Black Mesa. A marine at one point talks about the idiotic choices of their leading officers to have them kill civilians after the Resonance Cascade. This not only provides much better depth, but it makes the people you're fighting feel human. There are also female scientists finally in Black Mesa. In Half-Life, there were five models of Black Mesa employees. I'll call them Kleiner, Eli, Einstein, Magnusson and "Barney". To have female scientists is a much welcomed change, especially when Half-Life does not feature any female characters.

The best thing about Black Mesa is the graphics. It's an astonishing looking game and it rivals today's AAA games in terms of how much attention to detail there is in general with the world. When I got outside to the Canyons in Surface Tension, I was blown away by the insane details on the canyon walls, how everything just looked as realistic as possible. The character models are typical Source Engine fluff, but the environments (especially the exteriors) are a sight to behold. This is a must play game for how great all the levels look. The lighting, VFX and shadows are some of the best I've seen in any game. The Rocket Launch is also a highlight in terms of graphical prowess during On A Rail. The music is also one of the best parts of the game. It's very much akin to the Half-Life 2 soundtrack, where it's more electronic atmosphere and darker, moodier beats than the original Half-Life and again, the musical continuity makes an easy transition from this to Half-Life 2. Black Mesa has some fantastic tracks, but once you get to Xen I feel the music takes a gigantic nose dive, but that's just me.

The revamped levels are also a big plus. Some are not for the best, but going through some of these levels in a new perspective is very much appreciated. It's not just a copy paste of Half-Life. The team at Crowbar Collective have tried their hardest to make differences that matter. Some are too convenient, others are very good additions to the game. There's also just some memorable moments in general. The Nihilanth boss fight at the end is a marvel. I might even say it's better than the original game. He'll throw cars at you from portals and you'll also enter a big bullet hell section which is just bonkers. It's a perfect challenge to end the game on. It's an exciting fight in a game where the combat leads some things to be desired.

The NPCs also got a boost in their AI. The problems with the NPCs in the original game is that sometimes if you tell them to follow you, they won't. Or they will stop a certain way. And if they see too many dead bodies they'll refuse to move even in significant parts where you need them (Questionable Ethics is one that could be annoying at points). Here, not only do they actually follow your steps, sometimes you don't even need to tell them to follow you. They'll just do it automatically. So having a security guard just follow you into a place like in Office Complex makes them feel more competent than they did in the original game where the NPCs were certainly a problem. There's some changes that are good as well. Sometimes you'll get weapons earlier than you did in the original game (The Explosive Charges are given to you in Power Up) and some of the new lines from NPCs are very welcome.

There's also lots to be desired.

The worst thing about Black Mesa is the length. Half-Life is a 5 Hour Game that is relatively easy to get through. However, Black Mesa takes what is essentially a 5 Hour game and then puts 5 More Hours of padding on it. I'm talking about Xen. While Xen isn't the best part of the original game (Especially the Interloper chapter) and was rushed out, Xen here feels like a totally different game, maybe an expansion pack added onto what was a perfectly paced game. I swear, I had put 10 or so hours into this game because Xen was so damn long. It was ridiculous. I spent 2.5 Hours twice getting through Xen and it was ridiculous. Sure, Xen looks pretty and there's more depth to the Vortigaunt Slaves, but it needed to be drastically shortened. This is basically Crowbar Collective blowing their load and now the entire game just dies in terms of pacing. There's good things about it like Interloper being more focused on puzzles and platforming, but it's exhausting.

The gameplay also leaves something to be desired. Most of the weapons are much worse than in the original game. The SMG has increased recoil making shots inaccurate while fighting moving targets, and the tranquilizer gun and magnum are useless now. Why? Because the Marines in this game are basically Buffed Up Combine but with a Marine Skin. This means that they act more like Combine and move back and forth and back and forth, meaning that you have to forget about long range fighting and need to get up all in their faces to kill them. Even aiming down the Magnum and Tranquilizer gun won't help. They move to erratically and unrealistically compared to the original game where they acted more realistically. Some chapters are also shortened much to my chagrin. On A Rail is one of my favorite chapters in Half-Life because it's one of the big combat heavy sections where you're fighting marines. Even though shooting the missile is more involved in Black Mesa by having to prep it, it's a damn shame that this chapter has been castrated significantly to where by the time you start it, it feels like it's already over.

The voice acting also leaves much to be desired. All the voice actors are reading the original dialogue transcript of Half-Life word for word and most of the time it just feels awkward. Compare it to the line delivery in the OG Game, which has become so iconic and memed upon. These voice actors have nothing compared to the original voice actors. One more issue is that the game is just too easy now. Blast Pit and Power Up were intense chapters because they were back to back "Boss" encounters where you had to be careful or else you would get one shotted and die. Now, the tentacle monster in Blast Pit is a lame antagonist, barely scraping you for damage. And I did play this game on the default difficulty, but it didn't seem to matter sometimes. I would rarely lose tons of health. Power Up is also just too convenient now with the generator being placed across the room instead of hidden in the back a little bit making the rush to kill the Gargantuan not that exciting or intense.

There are many mixed feelings I have of Black Mesa, but it's still a relatively good game. But compared to some of the other mods I've played for Half-Life and Half-Life 2, it doesn't match up to the highs of some of these other mods that are absolutely worth playing. Black Mesa I feel should be played after finishing Episode Two, mainly because this is a game that relies a lot on references and fan service that anyone going into this would be a little confused about some elements that are obscure like the beer and the microwave casserole. It's still worth it for Half-Life fans though and is a solid entry into the Half-Life modding scene.

Rating: 7.5/10

PROS:

-Astonishing Graphics with immense attention to detail
-Kick ass soundtrack that is reminiscent of Half-Life 2
-Revamped levels can be really fun
-New NPC Dialogue is funny and adds depth
-Nihilanth boss fight is a definite highlight
-Adds more depth to the world of Half-Life
-Smoother continuity means transitions into the next games are easy
-NPCs now follow you almost perfectly even without having to ask them

CONS:

-Gameplay (mainly gunplay) leaves lots to be desired
-Marines have worse and more unrealistic AI than they did in the original game
-Xen is just way too long and the pacing dies
-Some chapters are frustratingly short
-Too easy until we get to Xen

-TheAutisticGamer

I'm currently on Dragon Quest I for the Switch. It's basically the Android port of the game on the console but I had the urge to try it out and I'm glad I did. I'm really getting into the grind of the game and I just did one of my first dungeons. It didn't have anything to do with progression but I did get a crap ton of gold pieces and I did get a sleeping spell. And I think I'm up to date with the equipment I have. I still have to get the princess and find the three things that Erdrick's grave told me to find so I'm nowhere near done, but I'm glad I'm nearly at Level 10 so I'll probably be ready to kick some major ass soon. Really enjoying the game so far. Only downside is that everyone in this game talks in YE OLDE ENGLISH and it's infuriating. Maybe it's because I've read so many troll fics or bad fanfictions that have characters use YE OLDE ENGLISH and 99% of the time it always sucks, but it's nowhere near as funny as when Voldemort did it in My Immortal and shockingly, it's more idiotic then when Link's Queen used it for the King of Hyrule in My Inner Life. Seriously, it's a HUGE hurdle to get over, I don't know what the hell the translators were thinking when they brought this game over back in the 80's as Dragon Warrior.

-An Update! Plus Some Changes to my Gaming Life-

Hello everyone.

Currently I'm sick at the moment so my computer time is limited from being in bed the majority of days, but I just wanted to say that I've come to a realization in terms of gaming.

I've completed nearly 300 games since my time on this site. I've enjoyed many, disliked some, loathed very few. After thinking about my gaming life by going into some threads and watching various videos, I've come to this conclusion.

I don't actually need to complete games in order for me to enjoy them.

For years, I was worried that if I didn't finish a game, I couldn't fully appreciate it. As someone who writes and reviews LOTS of things, I thought it was my job to complete the majority of the games I play and only retire a few. However, this was causing me to drop games constantly. I was starting games than instantly dropping them due to a lack of motivation. It was frustrating me to say the least.

But now I realized something: I don't actually have to finish every game! Reading peoples comments, seeing videos on this matter, I just felt like another burden has been lifted off my shoulders. While I still would like to complete some games, I have decided I don't need to have the urge to finish games to completion. If I got all that I can out of a game despite not finishing it, then that's okay. And if I want more, I can come back to it later.

This of course is problematic with some games that are series. Baldur's Gate I and II are basically one gigantic story while BG3 is it's own thing basically. And then there is my beloved Yakuza, still trying to get through Kiwami 2 as that is basically an epic at this point. I'm not sure how I'm going to handle this with series I want to try and finish or just try in general unless they're all their own separate things (Pokemon, Ys, the Warriors franchise, Grandia) so I'll have to ask some people for advice on that. Because I'm becoming more interested in JRPGs and CRPGs as I speak, mainly JRPGs though.

I also had an argument with myself if I should trade in my Xbox Series X. This sounds crazy because if you know me, it's my Forza console. And since there's probably a new Forza Horizon around the corner I can't just leave this series in the dust despite these games also being on PC. So I was conflicted if I should trade it in because I wasn't getting much use out of it. But, I came to the conclusion to hold onto it. Getting rid of a library of digital and backwards compatible games that I have was ridiculous, and there are a lot of features I genuinely enjoy on the XBSX like Quick Resume, which is one of the things I'm most grateful for compared to PS5. Also, I wanted to play Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey and other Xbox First Party stuff as well such as Keeper, Avowed, Halo Infinite, the new Gears of War remaster, South of Midnight, plus the new Fable from Playground Games, one of my favorite devs.

So, I'll continue to post on the blog as usual but note there might be a change coming soon. There might be less reviews, but I might do more Moving Forwards and Quickviews on games I'm playing at the moment. And trust me, there's a lot of things I'm enjoying right now. I'm on the Switch OLED again and trying Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island and also playing the first Dragon Quest on Switch. I still enjoy getting my thoughts out on games, so be sure to keep checking in every now and then.

That's all I really need to say. I'll be off for a while because I'm sick but wanted to make this post because I think it will be a positive change going forward for me as not only will I be able to enjoy games more but I'll also be able to try more things, plus continue to talk about things I'm enjoying at the moment.

K, see you guys later!

-TheAutisticGamer

P.S: I said I was playing Dragon Quest I. For something that I thought was going to be so archaic I genuinely am having a great time and the grind is going smoothly with this game. Totally is clicking with me now. Hope to talk about it more soon.

This was another excellent month for me in terms of gaming. There was really only one dud but I managed to get 4 Games Completed here.

Doom: Legacy of Rust - PC, 07/06, 7/10
Painkiller: Hell and Damnation - PC, 07/09, 6.5/10
Metroid: Zero Mission - GBA/NSO, 07/16, 8/10
BRUTAL JOHN 2 (Early Access) - PC, 07/25, 9/10 - BEST

The only game that wasn't really worth it was Painkiller: Hell and Damnation. I thought the OG Painkiller was a decent game back in the day but this remake says otherwise. I don't know however if this is the remake's fault because I don't remember Painkiller playing so badly. Bunny Hopping is clumsy and the game plays worse than many of it's contemporaries even during the time the remake came out. Serious Sam 3: BFE plays so much better than this game. The only thing it has going for it is that it removed a lot of the fat Painkiller Black had since I remember it being a very bloated in game in general. I don't have much to say here.

I finished playing Classic Doom with Legacy of Rust. It's yet another unremarkable MachineGames expansion and to be honest, I have a hard time even believing Machine Games are great developers. Wolfenstein: The New Order left a bad taste in my mouth and the expansions for Quake and Quake II they did are barely memorable in their own way and are WAY behind what other people are doing with those games. While this isn't a bad WAD it's certainly more frustrating than other Doom WADs I've played. It certainly gets better the more you progress but yet again, this is fine but these classic franchises deserve more than just "Fine" expansions.

I also played Metroid: Zero Mission this month and it was VERY good. How you progress in the game is mainly excellent and the improvements taken from other Metroid games are apparent as well. It looks amazing and the music is very good. The last part of the game as Zero Suit Samus is the biggest highlight for me. It's intense, well paced and feels very rewarding. I hated the Mother Brain fight and getting rid of the Metroids and there is some stupid cryptic crap in there, but I had a very good time with this. I'm certainly going to play more in the series and some other Metroidvanias as well.

The winner this month is BRUTAL JOHN 2 (And if you're wondering where's Brutal John 1, BRUTAL JOHN 2 is Brutal John 1) just released in Early Access and is by far one of my favorite FPS Games to come out in a long time. It's a much better playing Duke Nukem 3D with great humor and hilarious characters and a batshit insane story about Crypto Mining Mutants taking over the world. Gunplay is extremely satisfying and the cameos and jokes are aplenty. It looks really good with it's pixel texture filtering and the levels are extremely entertaining. I found myself overjoyed by this one and I seriously hope they can make the December Deadline for release and not fall into a lack of transparency and updates like so many of these FPS Developers do nowadays. This has BIG promise and I can't wait to play more.

The other games I'm playing right now are Batman Begins on PS2 which is one of the best looking 6th Generation games I've ever played and I also started Chrono Trigger which I'm really excited to keep going with. I hope next month is just as good for completions.

I finished the Early Access build of BRUTAL JOHN 2. And no, there is no Brutal John 1. Brutal John 1 IS BRUTAL JOHN 2. Gleefully, I can say this is my favorite Boom Shoot game since Slayers X and it has so much going for it. It's like a bizarre mish mash of Duke Nukem 3D, Serious Sam, Half-Life and F.E.A.R all wrapped in one incredible EA Package. It has everything I want from a shooter. Batshit insane story, lots of great humor and laugh out loud moments, tons of interesting and funny secrets, excellent gunplay, interesting graphics, lots of creativity, really good levels and lots of interactivity with the environment as well as just a lot of dumb one liners ala Serious Sam. This game is certainly under the radar and I highly advise people support it. It's obvious this is not just a quicky cash grab by people who don't care put onto Steam, this is LEGITIMATELY awesome.

I ended up giving the EA Build 9/10. Loved it from beginning to end and it's just so fantastic. I'm certainly going to go back to it time and time again.

Brutal John 2. Quite frankly my favorite Boom Shoot game since Slayers X, it pretty much has everything I could want from this type of game and it's certainly gone under the radar. We also have tons of cameos and even John J. Dick, Serious Sam himself makes a cameo as our classic one liner spewing hero. It just came out and it does have things that need to improve with it being Early Access but I sincerely hope they do finish it in 6 Months like they said and are more transparent. I'm just sick of so many of these FPS Games either being put on Steam and never releasing, or getting released in EA and taking WAY too long to come out with little transparency from the developer. I certainly have my hopes high though as this is apparently 70% of the campaign.

Metroid: Zero Mission
System: GBA (Via Nintendo Online)
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre: Platformer, Action, Metroidvania



There's some genres I just have never played before. Mainly because they're not what I'm looking for. But there are some genres and series I never played even though I've wanted to. Metroid is a series that has eluded me for years. The platforming element, the action, the progression, the atmosphere and main character always interested me however and I've tried to play some games before this. I remember picking Metroid Prime on Gamecube back in the day before being completely stumped by it, then the critical disaster known as Metroid: Other M which I only got so far into before yet again being stumped. And I have attempted Super Metroid, but I've again only got so far into the game before hitting a roadblock.

I'm 28 now and I'm much more competent at games than I was as a kid playing on my family's old Super Nintendo. I was actually waiting for the remake of the NES Metroid, Zero Mission to come to the GBA Expansion Pack for Nintendo Online. It seemed like it would be a perfect game to introduce myself to the franchise once again and come in with a fresh mind. I thought before trying any other of the Metroid Likes or Metroidvanias out there, to start with the series that popularized the format. And it's a very good game, filled with improvements but also filled with some annoying bullshit from the NES era.

I don't think I need to explain Metroid to anyone. Anyone who knows this series or is a fan of it knows how the story goes. Samus goes off to defeat Mother Brain and all the Metroids while traversing a giant maze underground. One of the best parts of the game comes near the end, but we'll get to that later. To sum up, if you've not played a Metroid game before you're mainly platforming, shooting aliens, collecting upgrades to your suit and unlocking new areas and points of interest. For first time players like me, this could probably account up to 6+ hours of playtime if you're attempting this game. It's certainly a long-ish journey, with a couple of cryptic irritants that will certainly add onto the playtime including doing a mandatory shine spark puzzle to get the Super Missiles in order to even progress. The cryptic bits are not very fun and there's only a couple moments in the game that just aren't that great to begin with.

The only MAJOR detriment to the game is that some of the bullcrap of the NES era is still here. Specifically, the Mother Brain portion of the game. Fighting Metroids is so GOD DAMN annoying. Mainly because they surround you so fast so even if you attempt to get one off you, there's a chance that another will just completely latch onto you before you even can shoot at it or move out of the way. Using the Freeze beam you got does help but that can only get you so far. And by the time you've defeated every Metroid, you have Mother Brain to deal with. You have to go through tough platforming, rings that shoot at you from every direction and BTW, you will NOT have enough missiles to defeat Mother Brain after this so don't even try and by the end I had about 110 Missiles from the tanks I collected and I only had 20 Left. Once you defeated every Metroid, save before the final Mother Brain room, go back upstairs, go to a Chozo statue and replenish everything and THEN you can go back down and fighting Mother Brain. But even then, it has the bullshit from Castlevania where if you get hit, Samus will jump backwards and fall into the lava that's also in this stage and you have to get back up but the rings that shoot everywhere will continuously keep you in the lava so you have to do this as quickly as possible and forget about skill. This section is all about luck, and that's never fun in games.

Everything else however is VERY good from beginning to end. Metroid may have not had perfected the formula of steady, rewarding progression in games but it certainly birthed the idea. The game doesn't go for a carrots on a stick approach like A LOT of games do in terms of progression and rewards, but it rewards you by being patient and playing smart. If you can get to one area after another, you'll be struck to find out how many collectibles there are. They don't come easy, but by exploration you'll most of the time find something useful, be it and energy tank or more missile capacity. And the suit upgrades are always worth it, every single one being a small step to getting closer to your goal. Metroid in general just feels nice to play, because the controls can be tight which leads to satisfying platforming and the quality of life improvements from other Metroid games really do make a GIANT difference when playing.

The other aspects are solid as well. Excellent graphics make the world in Metroid feel very immersive and many of the themes the OG Metroid had are still in place. Even getting to be on the planet's surface briefly is something I absolutely had a fun time with and didn't expect. But the best part of the game comes after you think the game is supposedly over. You're attacked by Space Pirates and have to infiltrate their base as Zero Suit Samus. This means only having a short range laser gun in hand and none of your power ups. Enemies will chase after you if seen, so stealth is necessary, but there are also moments where that's not an option, so you get chased through the level having to do very tight platforming in order to get away and hide. Also, you're health goes down FAST if you're hit, so you don't want to do this. This lasts for a good chunk of time and is my favorite part of the game. I just found it to be incredible and fast paced and intense. I'm assuming other Metroids have chase scenes like this in other games so I'll be very much looking forward to seeing if these elements are a part of other games in the series.

Finally, you'll be able to get a fully powered suit back to defeat the pirates and at this point you're unstoppable. One beam shot can kill anyone in one hit the majority of the time and the game ends with another boss fight, another escape before the timer runs out and Samus flying away in a ship she stole from the pirates. It's an awesome end and a great last quarter. I'm glad I stuck with it because if I didn't I would have regretted it.

Metroid is certainly appealing as a series now that I've played Zero Mission. The incredible graphics, the rewarding progression, the tight controls, exploration and last quarter make this a VERY satisfying game. I'll certainly be looking for more Metroidvanias in the future. I found Zero Mission to really be enjoyable to most extents and I'm certainly looking forward to playing more from this series.

8/10

PROS:

-Tight controls leads to satisfying platforming
-QOL Improvements throughout
-Progression is rewarding throughout without being spoon fed
-Excellent graphics for a GBA game
-The Space Pirate Mothership section is astonishing

CONS:

-Annoying bullshit from the NES era still lives on
-Cryptic parts are still not fun

-TheAutisticGamer

Last time I played it, years ago, I got hung up on Mother Brain and never did finish the game. Aside from that it's a great remake.

I realized the trick was after defeating all the Metroids I went back up to the first area of the game and went to one of the restoration statues to refill on missiles and health since I only had like 15 Missiles and no Energy Tanks left. It helped some, but a lot of it had to do with the rewind feature on NSO. If it weren't for that I probably would have dropped the game, but then I would have missed out on the excellent final part of the entire thing so I'm glad I stuck with it.

I finished Metroid Zero Mission on GBA via Nintendo Online. Having not played a Metroid game before this or any sort of Metroidvania at all, I'm certainly glad I enjoyed it so I'll be definitely looking out for more Metroid games and more Metroidvanias to boot. Even over 20 Years Later this game really still holds up with it's excellent graphics and interludes between gameplay, not to mention it's fast paced and has made improvements such as having a map feature in the game. This had some of the best progression I've played in any game. It's certainly not a carrots on a stick approach like a lot of games are, but you slowly earn everything by challenge and exploration. The levels are great but sometimes there's cryptic crap that you can overlook and GOD DAMN the Mother Brain fight is bullshit and I absolutely hated fighting the Metroids. Thankfully, the best part of the game comes after that with the Space Pirate Mother Ship which combines fast paced stealth, chase sequences and intense platforming to create a big highlight of the entire game. And when you get fully powered up that feels like such an achievement.

I genuinely really liked it, but it's not without it's faults like that Mother Brain bull crap, but it's still pretty good and I'll certainly be taking a look at more Metroidvanias in the future. I'll give it 8/10.

It's been a little bit, but I do have some stuff to talk about!

This is probably going to be a VERY mini Moving Forward post considering I don't have too much to talk about, but I've been playing some things recently.



I don't know how many people have heard of this one, but it came out around 2004, which was a HUGE year for FPS Games in general. This wasn't sold commercially, it was basically open source and it kept getting updated and is mainly used as a arena deathmatch game nowadays. But there are single player elements! I do have some issues like how tiny the maximum amount of ammo you can carry is. Not to mention you can't pause the game for real since it is being played on a multiplayer deathmatch engine, so the game just continues. I hope you don't need to use the bathroom at all when playing this one. But, it's decent. I like the player characters you can play as and I also this is maybe the first ACTUAL Boomer Shooter game? And it released over 20 years ago? I first heard of it at a computer summer camp in 2008 but this is my actual first time playing the game. It can get very horde like but overall it's a alright time.



This is the game I'm really into right now. This is my first time playing a Metroid game and I gotta say that this is pretty great. It's a updated version of the OG NES game with a map feature and better controls and it's been a really immersive experience so far. It looks amazing and the music is stellar and the modern updates to the game make this very much worth playing. I was getting confused in the Kraid sector because I had no idea how to progress but I eventually figured it out and now I'm hopefully able to continue my journey throughout this game. I've already collected a crap ton of Missile Containers so my total missile count is up to like 70 or something. I'm so glad I played this and it might have even made me want to play more Metroid games and Metroidvania like titles in general. I generally have been enjoying my time here and it's probably going to be one of the highest games I've rated this year if I'm being honest.

I'm also still in my Doom marathon and decided to skip Doom 64 to Doom 3. I just thought I would enjoy it a lot more.

Otherwise, that's pretty much been it. My mood has been all over the place although I might be in a better spot now. I'm hoping to go back to the theaters soon to watch some films, especially the new Naked Gun film from one of the Lonely Island guys. I loved his work on the Chip n Dale movie he did for Disney+, so I'm really excited to see a new version of those films. I also hope to catch up on other films via renting them from Apple TV or seeing them on Prime Video.

That's about it! See you later.

-TheAutisticGamer

Gee, I wonder why I got Six Total Completions this month? Lets see...

Doom: TNT Evilution - PC, 06/10, 8.5/10
Hello Kitty: Roller Rescue - Gamecube, 06/13, 6.5/10
Doom: The Plutonia Experiment - PC, 06/25, 9/10 - BEST
Doom: No Rest for the Living - PC, 06/27, 8/10
Doom: Sigil - PC, 06/28, 7/10
Doom: Sigil II - PC, 06/28, 8/10

Yeah, I pretty much binged nothing but Classic Doom this month. The only game that wasn't Doom was Hello Kitty: Roller Rescue, which is essentially Baby's First Devil May Cry with a wacky world and bizarre characters and a surreal storyline. It was average for the most part, most of the reviews on HLTB I saw were joke reviews so I managed to make the first legit review on that game here. It doesn't control too well, the gameplay is piss easy and everything about it is dumbed down compared to any other character action game out there but it was very weird so I got something out of it.

Okay, so I'm marathoning Doom which I think I may have mentioned before, but I took a while to finish TNT Evilution and Plutonia. TNT has awesome music, but it's The Plutonia Experiment that wins Game of the Month and it's one of the highest ratings I gave a game this year. Plutonia is like Classic Doom on Crack with tons of high level enemies and just insane fights in general. It really made me appreciate how great level design can really has a positive impact on someone's enjoyment while playing Doom WADs. No Rest for the Living was good, it really did feel like a Modern Episode to Classic Doom. Sigil was probably my least favorite of these so far especially with the huge amount of narrow paths you have to take. Sigil II thankfully was better and a good improvement over the previous WAD.

I'm continuing my Doom Marathon and I'm nearly finished with Classic Doom, after I finish Legacy of Rust I'll be on to replaying Doom 64 and then Doom 3, and then I'll finally get to the modern Doom games again. As for other games, I'm going to try and get back into Yakuza Kiwami 2 in July.

Another Official Doom Episode done. This time The Plutonia Experiment. My favorite of the WADs so far, this is absolutely intense and exhilarating with amazing levels and non stop action that gives you pretty much every single weapon in the game to begin with, not to mention I love the fights in this game, they're masterfully crafted and are some of the best fights in Doom ever. Love it so much. Genuinely a real treat and marathoning the Doom franchise has been really memorable so far. I can't wait to continue to the other games.

I also beat TNT Evilution as well at the beginning of the month and it has kick ass music but Plutonia I think is the more exciting game here and it's no wonder that they chose Dario Casali to work at Valve. His skills as a level designer are incredible. This gets one of my highest ratings of the year so far, a full 9/10. Next up is No Rest for the Living.

I'm a massive fanboy of The Room. Almost to the point where I give that movie my attention more than the ones I geniunely do enjoy. There is something about the way it's made that just keeps me coming back. Not only does Tommy not understand how screen writing works but it's so ineptly written that it seems like he's an alien. The way you can tear apart the way the movie is constructed almost feels like a game of outdoing yourself when you aren't laughing at how horrible it is. I have never been to a midnight screening of it but it looks like a blast to do.

I also listened to the Disaster Artist audiobook twice. If there is one geniunely good thing to come from The Room, it's that. The movie is also garbage by comparison to the book and this is coming from someone who doesn't like to actively compare stories with alternate versions. The thing is, the Disaster Artist is non fiction so I can't even pull the, "this is an alternate version or different take" card either. Greg's Tommy impression is also amazing and godlike. The audiobook also makes me appreciate the movie in a backhanded way, it felt like a movie that should've never have gotten made but somehow it did.

Hell even my worldviews and how I don't demonize creators of media I dislike and often try to wonder how things happened the way it did was because of the Disaster Artist.

I think what makes The Room great for me is that it takes something like a Melodrama, which in general I absolutely despise and takes the shit out of it with a bunch of hilarious moments and surreal storytelling. I know Tommy really loved reciting Tennessee Williams in drama classes from what I've read about him and literally, the old trailer for The Room says it has "The Passion of Tennessee Williams", so if this was his bizarro take on that kind of story I still have to say bravo to him for taking a genre I tend to hate and absolutely bringing the zest it needed, even if it came from his own wacky imagination.

Oh and here are some highlights from my screening:

-Everyone cheered when Tommy and Greg's cast credit was on screen
-Everyone booed when Juliette's cast name came on screen
-Everyone was clapping in unison to the music in the sex scenes
-Everyone applauded when Tommy said "If a lot of people love each other, the world would be a better place." Words of wisdom.
-Everyone went "Cheep cheep cheep!" whenever that happened
-Whenever there was a football scene, the audience would count how many times the football was passed
-Audience yelling at characters to close the door
-No clapping at the "You're Tearing Me Apart Lisa!" moment, but everyone quoted it and everyone laughed afterwards
-The Famous "Oh Hai Mark" scene had everyone go into rapturous applause and cheering
-Audience members saying "WHO ARE YOU?!" at the other characters that don't get a proper introduction.
-Everyone laughed when Lisa said "WHAT KIND OF DRUGS AND HOW CAN I GET SOME!?"

So on and so forth. Yeah, it was an awesome time. I'm so glad people are still passionate about this film over 20 years later. It truly is a special film for me and I can't wait to attempt to go to another showing.

-QUICK UPDATE!-

Hey everyone. Just wanted to chat for a second. This will be mostly a ramble, but let it be known that things are fine on my end! The summer is here and I am so happy we're going to be getting so much bright skies and sunny days which will certainly help my mood.

I'm not sure why, but I feel I'm not enjoying my time on my computer as much as I should be. The only times it feels very rewarding is when I'm writing on the blog or writing a chapter for a story. I've thought about it and maybe it's my Steam Library? It's just way too cluttered. Even though I've removed a lot of the games or hid them I feel my catalog of games could be so much better so that I'm more excited by the games I genuinely have there than I do now. I've made a list of all the Steam Games I've completed and since I'm not really for Boomer Shooters anymore, I've kind of lacked a lot of energy to finish some of the other games in my list (Forgive Me Father and Warhammer 40K Boltgun being the big two). I don't know, it's just not the same anymore? And I certainly haven't been binging Boomer Shooters either (and by that I mean Retro Style Shooters that have been released since 2018's DUSK which started the whole trend).

I'm looking at my games on Steam and aside from GMOD, Teardown and Ravenfield (games I play while listening to Youtube or Spotify) I'm not really putting in a lot of time into many games, even though I want to play longer games in general. I've certainly wanted to play a CRPG for a while, or just a Western RPG/Action Adventure game, but I'm not sure where to start.

Good news is, I'm figuring things out as I speak and am taking action. I just want everyone to know that I'm still looking for possibilities to get on the blog and write stuff since I'm really in a writing mood right now. I also am not specifically quitting First Person Shooters in general. I'm currently going through a Doom marathon as I make my way up to Doom: The Dark Ages which after testing it actually runs on my RTX 2070 shockingly (although I'm probably gonna drop the resolution down to 1080p when I do play it) I'm currently on The Plutonia Experiment which I'm having a great time with, by far my favorite of the Official Doom WADs so far that came packaged with the KEX Engine Port. The thing is, I really like the 90's/2000's shooters of yesteryear. I really do. And I still get a kick out of coming back to these games as we speak. I still have to go through Entropy: Zero 2 which I need to finish as well.

But for now, I think my gaming plans are going to move towards consoles for now. I started playing Kirby's Return to Dreamland Deluxe and I think I'm on the Third World of the game. As for Doom, my next stop after Plutonia is No Rest for the Living, then Sigil 1 and 2 and then the Legacy of Rust WAD. Then, I'll probably replay Doom 64, then Doom 3 and it's expansions, followed by a replay of Doom 2016, Eternal and a fresh start on The Ancient Gods DLCs (really interested in those because Andrew Hulshult composed the music for those. Love that man dude his scores for FPS games are killer). I'm hoping to try something out like Ghost of Tsushima on PS5 since I got a physical copy of it (which are pretty uncommon for that version surprisingly from what I know). I also am wanting to get more game time in with friends, so hopefully that will be something I can do over the summer.

I also recently got the Sony H9 Inzone headset which took me back about $450. I wanted a premium headset and after tinkering around with it I really am enjoying the immersive quality of it a lot more while I play Classic Doom. I'm really looking forward to also trying it more on my PS5 since it's compatible with both that and my PC.

In general, I'm removing/hiding lots of Steam Games I'm just not gonna play in general. It's a good start, but maybe more will be removed until I find what is to be a perfect catalog.

Oh, and I wrote an entire Chapter for a new story! YAY! Nearly 5000 Words total, I'm very proud of myself for accomplishing this. This is the most I've written in months.

Anyways, that's my ramble. I'm going to have to figure out if my current unenjoyment of PC is just because I need to purge some games or what, but I'll figure it out. In the meantime, I still enjoy doing this blog and talking with all of you. And writing continues to keep me happy despite my PC Gaming Problems. Gotta get ready for tomorrow though, I'm seeing a midnight screening of Tommy Wiseau's masterwork The Room at the Rio Theater and I'm going with my best friend. Because of The Room, me and my best friend met and we've been friends since Middle School so this is extremely important to us. So I'm really looking forward to seeing the movie that made us lifelong friends.

Okay, done talking. See you all later!

-TheAutisticGamer

Hello Kitty: Roller Rescue
System: Gamecube (Via Dolphin)
Developer: XPEC Entertainment
Publisher: Namco
Genre: Action



In the last few weeks I found out a lot about Hello Kitty. The fact that Hello Kitty's first name is "Hello", the fact that she's from London, the fact that Hello Kitty's family has the last name White, even though her last name is "Kitty", the fact that Hello Kitty isn't actually a Kitty at all, the fact that this game I played is DMC for Toddlers and that there is actually a sentient Car in Hello Kitty's world, not to mention a pudding throwing dog and a cheerful gator. I don't know why I decided to finish this game, but I will say that Hello Kitty is a delightfully weird franchise, although maybe this isn't the best look into the long running character.

To be blunt, this is a character action game in the likes of DMC, but it doesn't have any of the sophisticated high octane hack and slashing and shooing you would expect from DMC. Instead, this is Baby's First DMC, with like four sets of attacks to do. This obviously isn't going to win action game fans over, but considering that this is specifically meant for a younger demographic, does it at least satisfy in any single way?

Roller Rescue isn't really worth playing for the gameplay at all. Although the Roller Skate movement is realistic, the controls feel stiff most of the time since Hello Kitty has to push one leg forward, then the other one. This means there is a delay, but it also means that the Roller Skate movement is more akin to real life. However, the fact is that this is a game. Hello Kitty doesn't need realistic roller skate movement in a action game. The action isn't worth it either. Most of the time it feels a tad bit clumsy and it's about as rough as sandpaper. It doesn't feel as fluent in control or tight in action as other action games may feel. The bosses aren't anything to write home about either, hit them a certain amount of times and they're gone. The last boss consists of stun locking him and waiting for the timer to run out. Riveting? Not really.

However, Roller Rescue can be enjoyed by how absurd it is. The characters and their designs are interesting and the story is insane. It's not deep or anything, but it's so wacky that it might as well be the reason to enjoy the game in the first place. The world of Hello Kitty is nothing special, mainly just small town vibes, but the characters are really cool. I mentioned a sentient car that absolutely caught me off guard, not to mention the adorable Gator pet of one of Hello Kitty's friends. Most of this stuff you can learn from unlocking character PDAs with the money you collect in the game. There's also unlockable music tracks you can get once you rescue a certain character but it's honestly not worth putting any effort into.

Still, the fact is, it's an absurd game and the storyline about invading block aliens and Hello Kitty deciding to jump into action to stop the Aliens from taking over whatever version of Earth this is, is really damn interesting. It's very surreal and anyone who likes wackiness in their games should at least take a brief glimpse at this. It's extremely short at 2 Hours and there's only 16 Levels in the entire game (almost half of them are boring boss fights) but there's plenty of amusement to be had here. It's nothing fantastic, but maybe kids could get something out of it. It's barely qualifies as average although it's mainly okay.

Rating: 6.5/10

PROS:

-Absurd story that is ridiculous
-Interesting cast of characters
-Really wacky in a good way

CONS:

-Gameplay and Action not very tight
-Controls are pretty stiff
-Comes off as a Poor Man's DMC

-TheAutisticGamer