Badland: Game of the Year edition (PS4/Vita)

Date Purchased: September 6, 2016
Date Completed: September 20, 2016
Price: (Free PS+)

Flappy Bird meets Limbo?  It's possible, and it's good.  I started playing this on my PS4, and was surprised at how much I was enjoying it considering I've had it forever on my iPad.  The controls are so much more responsive with physical buttons.  I quickly switched to the Vita version as it's the perfect game to pick up and play in short bursts. The aesthetics are beautiful, and the game is generous with checkpoints which leads to many "glad I'll never have to do that again" moments.  I really had a hard time putting it down.  It's fantastic.   Recommend.

Uncharted 3 (PS3)

Date Purchased:  November 1, 2011
Date Completed: N/A Replay
Price: $59.99 (Future Shop)

There was some hot debate 5 years ago that Uncharted 3 was inferior to it's predecessor.  I'd heard it talked about a lot leading up to the release of Uncharted 4.  Maybe it was just the time in my life, but I knew I'd finished Uncharted 3, but remembered very little of it.  I remembered a desert, and an airplane hanger, but otherwise...blank.

Replaying this game was almost like playing a new Uncharted game.  It's crazy how much I'd forgotten.  Some things came back to me like that dreaded ship graveyard level, oh how I hated it, but some of the most epic moments, like the cruise ship, galloping through the dessert, all gone.  This game is great, and having played them all of the Uncharted games recently, this one may be the best in the series.

It starts a little slow and is heavy on puzzles in the first half, but the second half flew by with very few frustrating moments.  Graphics still looks good today, and as is a staple with Uncharted games, the voice acting and sound is top notch.  Absolutely recommend.

Bastion (Vita)

Date Purchased: August 19, 2016
Date Completed: September 15, 2016
Price ($3.75)

Bastion, a game I've heard about for 5 years, finally complete.  It's is a relatively old game at this point, but it's art style, music and game play still hold up today.  It reminds me of mini Destiny or Division.  I'm fully willing to admit that my limited experience with RPG's would lead me to say this, had I played a plethora of RPG's growing up, maybe I'd feel like Bastion is just an expansion on some of these games mechanics.  Anyways, Bastion offers many upgrade paths for your wide variety of weapons which require cash and XP to upgrade.  I found however that I typically stuck with 2 or 3 weapons, and after having upgraded those, I felt no need to upgrade any others.  Maybe the weapons get overpowered, but I felt the game was ridiculously easy.  Did I play it wrong?  I'm not sure.  Regardless, I'm happy to have finally played it, it definitely got me through a couple night shifts and made the time pass very quickly.  The art style is terrific, but the music and sound is what really sets this game apart.  The narrator alone makes this game a recommend.

The Division (PS4)

Loot shooters get the hooks in me like I never expected.  It's always nice to find a genre of a game that comes by surprise.  I remember when I discovered tower defense games with Plants vs. Zombies and that was all I played for months.

Anyways, the Division is a "loot shooter" which means there is a lot of upgrades, a lot of inventory management, and a lot of grinding.  I typically play these games while watching the Tigers on a second screen or  I'll throw on some YouTube videos if there's no game on.  The game does have a narrative, but it's fairly simple and doesn't require much attention.  Story is not why I played the Division.

I kept coming back because it was a simple distraction to a long baseball game.  It was an easy escape from the stresses of daily life.  The game required little thought, and the shooting was just good enough.  It was my game of summer, and may just wind up my game of the year.

All said, I have about 50 hours into the Division, roughly the same as I put into Destiny.  Compared Directly, I'd have to say Destiny is the better game, but I liked this one better in a few regards.  The available matchmaking at any time really made the game much more enjoyable for someone like me with limited friends available to play with.  Something Destiny severely lacked.  Recommend.

Ultraton (Vita)

Date Purchased: August 1, 2016
Date Completed: August 30, 2016
Price: (Free) PS+

I'm not sure why this game exists.  I'm no n00b to twin stick shooters,  I consider myself pretty good at them because I've played so many ... but this game does nothing special.  The graphics are quite simple, the upgrades don't seem very beneficial, and the enemy projectiles can be hard to see with all the shooting happening on screen.  I did manage to finish this one beating the 40 levels in a couple of night shifts, but had I been not getting paid, I'm not sure how much time I would have put into this one.  Stick with the superior Geometry Wars or Pixel Junk Shooter.  Pass.

Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows (3DS)

Date Purchased : April 15, 2016
Date Completed: August 21, 2016
Price: Free (DLC)

Plague of Shadows in considered "Free DLC", I'd consider it more of a remix.  It takes the regular levels of Shovel Knight and has you playing as Plague Knight in a more comical take on the story. Plague Knight controls so drastically different it really does feel like an entirely new game.  I prefer the more straightforward controls of Shovel Knight, but it's impossible to not appreciate what the developer has done here.  Oh, and hey, it's free if you buy the base game.  Recommend.

The Pile: 08/19/2016

Picked up Bastion on sale, still plugging away at the others.