Confessions of a gamer

When the season pass for games was first introduced I didn´t trust it, pay for something that you´ll get later. I was raised not to trust things like that and I wouldn´t want to spend money on that. But the season pass would often save you some money on the exact same thing you would buy otherwise (dlc) and sometimes you would even get some extra items you wouldn´t get otherwise. So the question should be, why wouldn´t you buy a season pass for a game? I think a lot of people don´t know if they´re going to buy the dlc for a game, especially if the game itself wasn´t exactly what they expected or if they would rather play other games. Dlc isn´t for everyone so it would be stupid to buy a season pass for a game if you´re not going to play the dlc you get with that. So it makes sense that not everyone would buy a season pass. People that first want to see what the dlc will be can always buy the season pass later, but once you bought some dlc without the season pass then you´re often bet...

Can you remember the first Street Fighter game? I can barely remember it because it´s been quite a long time since I last played that game. But for me at that time it was the fighting game. Just like a lot of other guys I was a fan of Blanka and I really enjoyed shocking my enemies or use the rolling ball move for a quick attack. I guess we all have our favourites but things change and more character became playable, but somehow it never feels like the first game you played in the series. To be honest I´m not much of a fighting game kind of guy, especially when you´re quickly frustrated and angry you might want to avoid fighting games as they bring out the worst in you. But if you learn the moves, know what to do and do it well then you can be an opponent to be feared! I don´t think I´ve ever gotten that far with Street Fighter but I definitely had a good time playing it, especially as Blanka but I also tried Ryu and Ken. I must admit that some character are less interesting to m...

I was going to talk about something else here when I heard some idiot talk on tv about how games make you violent, again! The thing is that this guy is supposed to be smart (their words not mine) and talk about why there is war in the world, but to blame it one people playing games puts being stupid in a whole different light. Oh sure playing games isn´t the only reason but to put it there already makes me mad, the ignorance of such a statement already shows me that this guy has never played a game in his life and yet he knows all about it because everyone that plays games is violent. Ignorance! What´s so bad about one guy talking shit about games? It´s not bad if one person talks shit about games, it´s bad when people think that he knows what he´s talking about and think that he´s right. That´s bad! Why do games always get blamed for such shit? Yes there are games with a war theme but does that make you want to kill people? No I don´t think so! People that do horrible things didn´t ...

I must admit that survival horror games have changed for me, as much as I enjoyed playing the first couple of Resident Evil and Silent Hill games that as much as the last titles from the same game series have actually scared me. Oh sure there is disturbing, but disturbing isn´t really scary. Of course what I find scary another person might find hilarious, it´s difficult to really name something that is scary for everyone. So what about this new game, the evil within? I´ve seen trailers about this game and it looks interesting, then I saw some gameplay and that looked like a lot of fun! This game is made by Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami, you probably recognized the mansion in the evil within trailers. I do think it looks a bit like the mansion from the first Resident Evil game, but this one looks more twisted and a lot darker than the Resident Evil version. Everything in this game is pretty disturbing, not just the environment but also the creatures you encounter. You actual...

This must have been a surprise if you expected zombies, in a way I didn´t think that there would be zombies since that´s the thing of Treyarch. So the reveal trailer showed that you now have to survive against endless waves of enemies with up to three other players with you in exo survival. What does this mean? If you´ve played Modern Warfare 3 you´re probably familiar with the survival mode, so this is kind of the same but then more action packed and of course with your exo abilities. Once again you can play solo if you want to, but you can also play splitscreen with a friend or online with three other players. So whatever your style is you can play it, which is nice because it sucks if you can´t play games with your friends. But why are some people disappointed with this? I guess they expected something ridiculous, something like zombies or the creatures from CoD Ghosts. I actually liked the idea where you would face killer robots, maybe not completely like the Terminator but...

Whenever I play games I sometimes catch myself getting mad about something that doesn´t really matter, but at that moment it seems so important to me that I get mad when it doesn´t happen or doesn´t happen fast enough. This need for succes sometimes blinds the real reasons why I play games, because I play games for fun and not to brag about my skills or achievements. I don´t care about that and I doubt that the majority cares about that either, games are meant to be fun so let´s try to have fun! But what if you want an achievement or trophy and you can´t get it? That would be frustrating and I can see how this takes away the fun in the game, I guess playing for achievements/trophies makes a game a bit less focused on fun and more on accomplishing something. This accomplishment doesn´t even really matter, because it´s not like people think you´re the best because you have more achievements/trophies than other people. I´d say it could even work against you where people make fun of you ...

Have you played the Queen´s Wrath event already in Destiny? It´s maybe not as exciting as you might think, but it´s still cool that you can unlock new armor and items. This is the type of stuff that keeps a game longer alive and I applaud Bungie for making this free and accessible to everyone (you don´t need a gold account to play this or have to pay for dlc). Why would you say that it´s not as excting as you might think? Well it´s nothing new to be honest, you play the same missions you´ve been playing but now on epic (a lot of enemies have armor and shield + they can kill you a lot faster). This also makes this event difficult for low level players (the missions are on level 24) so it´s rough if you play solo and want to unlock new stuff. Then there is the chance that you get the same armor piece when you complete one of the Queen´s kill orders, which means you kind of did it for nothing because titan armor can´t be worn by your hunter or warlock. Of course you can break it dow...

If you played all the other Assassin´s Creed games then you´ve probably spend a lot of time playing these games on your own, oh sure there is multiplayer in some of them but that´s not quite the same as the cooperative gameplay that Unity has. So why would a lone wolf even bother buying this game? First of all, Assassin´s Creed Unity can be played in cooperative mode but you can also play solo. So if you want you don´t have to deal with other people if you don´t want to, you´ll probably miss out on some missions and not getting some achievements/trophies but at least you can play the game. Which is nice because it sucks when you´re forced to play with others. No matter how much fun a game can be playing with others, sometimes you just want to play solo and play in your own pace. Let´s not forget that this game introduces cooperative gameplay in the story mode, so it might be interesting to check that out. Even if you´re a lone wolf it might be interesting to try playing with others...

I wonder if you even remember this game or that you even realized that this game existed. It´s not really one of the best movie games and the movie itself wasn´t really one of the best either, but it was the first movie game I bought and played. Mostly because I did like the movie, thanks to Jim Carrey as the Riddler, and I was curious how the game would play. Also I wanted another game that I could play together with a friend. So you play as Batman and Robin? Yes, player one is Batman and player two is Robin. I don´t think anyone is surprised by that! It does follow the movie in a way but it´s expanded as short scenes in the movie are whole levels in the game. These levels are full of enemies that run up to you and try to punch you, the best way to counter them is sit and wait until they´re close enough for the uppercut. It´s not the most exciting way of beating a game but you can do it almost flawless like that! You also have bosses in this game, the Riddler and Two Face. Especiall...

I can´t help but be a bit surprised that the latest trailer of Metal Gear Solid V created such an amount of complaints about what the character Quiet (female sniper) wears in the game. Sure it´s a bit revealing but looking at games these days it´s nothing new and to blow this up as if it´s terrible is just ridiculous! But maybe as a guy I just don´t understand, well I´m going to talk about it anyway! In video games men are bad ass and women are sexy? I bet that´s what some people think and in some games this comes pretty close to the truth, but I don´t think this counts for every game. It is ridiculous that the ultimate armor for guys is usually some heavy plate armor while women are walking around almost naked with some heavy plate underwear. Of course that´s stupid and I´m not saying that this is right, but to blow this up as if it´s the worst thing ever is even more stupid. If you don´t like it then don´t play it. It´s like everyone is online these days to find things they don´t l...

I´ve talked about it before but I want to go back to this subject because it seems this becomes more and more relevant as we play online games more than a decade ago. Especially since a lot of games have multiplayer or only have multiplayer, which means that you´ll often meet random strangers. But who are these people? Gamers aren´t all the same? Well if you haven´t figured that out by now then you haven´t been playing online for a long time, because gamers aren´t just one group that sums everyone up! You have different types of people in the world and it´s the same when it comes to gamers, sure you´d call people gamers when they enjoy playing games but that doesn´t make them all the same! Even the motivation to play games can be different, because some would play to win while others just play for fun. Either way your motivation drives you and hopefully leads to a fun experience both online and offline. The problem with online is that you never know who you encounter and sometimes (m...

Have you seen the latest gameplay of Resident Evil Revelations 2? It seems you have another partner and it´s a playable one as well, but more in the sense of you being able to switch between the two characters as you might remember from Resident Evil Zero. But is this really a good thing and are we really waiting for this type of gameplay? Resident Evil partners are bad? That would depend, because in some games they´re ok and in other games they´re horrible. In one thing they´re all the same, they don´t really help you kill the enemy and especially in boss fights it´s all you. But sometimes you get a horrible partner like Sheva in Resident Evil 5 that constantly blocks your shots, especially when you hold the rocket launcher then things can get ugly! But most Resident Evil partners are either in the background to do nothing or wandering off somewhere on their own doing nothing, so in a way I don´t understand why you would put them in anyway. Besides survival horror games are...

After seeing the latest Metal Gear Solid V game demo from the Tokyo Game Show I´m more and more excited about this game. It looks so good and the possibilities are almost endless or at least they seem to be. Unfortunately in the demo they speak Japanese and there are no English subtitles, which means that I might be wrong about some things but I think I got an idea what they showed in the demo. The biggest surprise for me is to see Quiet working with you, in case you don´t know Quiet is a female sniper that can become invisible and also looks pretty cool. At first I thought she would be one of the bosses you need to beat, something you´re probably familiar with in Metal Gear Solid games. But she´s dropped in by parachute and assists you from a distance, you can give her commands and she can move at almost lightning speed to that location. What´s intersting is that she realises when you´re looking at her, for example if you look at her with your binoculars she´ll nod at you. Her outfi...

I think about twenty years ago I bought game magazines to read about the latest games and to see what others thought of those games, the review wouldn´t always be professional but at least you got a pretty good idea what the game was about and if it´s a game you want to buy. But in the last couple of years I´ve noticed how a lot of reviewers are more and more just a bunch of stuck up losers that have no business reviewing games. What happened? I guess the internet happened, more people can voice out their opinion and a lot of people do exactly that. It probably doesn´t surprise you that a lot of people are negative online, this sucks and that´s bad type of comments. But from a reviewer you expect a little bit of professionalism, because they influence people with their review and that means that they have to do their job (because that´s what it is in a lot of cases) right! That doesn´t take away that a lot of people also voice out their opinion or their own review of a game, but ...

It´s now a week after the launch of Destiny and I´m still having a lot of fun playing it! But I´ve heard several people that are disappointed or some that even dislike the game, maybe they expected more or something else? That doesn´t take away that still a lot of people play this game, almost everywhere I go there are other players and it doesn´t take long to find a multiplayer match. So it seems that´s not a problem. I´ll try to answer some questions here, at least things I heard that are unclear to some people. What do you do once you hit level 20? It doesn´t take you that long to reach level 20, even when you don´t play a lot it´s just a matter of time. So the game will tell you that you reached max level at 20 but that you can level up further if you equip the light in your armor. What does that mean? This means that you have to find armor pieces with light fragments in them, they´ll show up as stats like strength, intelligence and discipline. If you´ve got enough total...

So maybe you´re wondering, what´s Kessen 2 or maybe you´ve never heard of the first game as well? Kessen is a strategy game, you´re the commander that decides where troops move and you can give the instructions what to do and who to attack. It seems simple and in a way it is, the trick is that preparation is the key to victory. One of the characters in the game even says this: "those that fail to plan, plan to fail!" This makes this game interesting for everyone that likes to focus more on actual strategy than hack and slash. What about the story? The story takes place in China about two thousand years ago, which keeps things a bit more simple without the bombs and all that type of nonsense! You play as Liu Bei and you have to defeat Cao Cao, this game follows the story of the three kingdoms but puts a romantic twist on it where Cao Cao has kidnapped the girlfriend of Liu Bei and you have to rescue her. The big twist is that when you finally defeat him that you get a vi...

I think we all have moments we just want to hack and slash, sometimes friendly NPCs get in the way and that may result into some unfortunate killings. Maybe some people do that on purpose, for others it´s just an accident. But that doesn´t take away the fact that you´re killing characters you shouldn´t, what says that about you?!!! It´s fun to be an asshole? I guess in some games it is, for example in the Saints Row games I like to just go on a killing spree. Why? Because I can! It´s not like GTA V where the cops are extremely effective in killing you, so if the police in Saints Row can´t stop you then why should you? I think the same can be said about Fable games, it´s fun to be evil and just murder everyone. But there is a downside to that choice, the villagers won´t come back and you´ll have less things to do when everyone is dead. But what if it´s an accident? We all make mistakes, unfortunately the game doesn´t always see it that way. Just look at GTA V where you hit someone w...

I´ve heard so many times from people that dlc is a waste of money, it´s something game developers created to cash in some more money and maybe with some dlc it does feel a bit like that. But I do think that there is plenty of dlc out there that´s actually a lot of fun and definitely worth buying! Why waste money on dlc? I wouldn´t even call it waste money, because sometimes dlc keeps a game you love to play longer alive. Thanks to new missions, new things to do or just some cool items you have fun playing the game a bit longer. I actually like that a lot! For example Resident Evil 5 has two fun dlc stories that keeps the game a bit longer alive. Games like Mass Effect and Dragon Age also have a lot of benefits when it comes to dlc, because it keeps the world alive and you want to keep playing. It´s the same for Skyrim, it´s already a big game but to add extra things to that world you have even more things to do. But what is the point of dlc? That depends, some of it is for cosmetic...

Have you seen the latest Resident Evil Revelations 2 trailer? In this trailer you can see Claire being kidnapped and then she has to escape some type of unpleasant place. Maybe it´s that prison, you know the one you saw in an early screenshot. Who knows, what I do know is that this one looks creepy and it might be that we´re going back to less action and more horror! Why Claire and not Jill as the main character? I guess Jill has had her moment in the spotlights for quite some time, ok she wasn´t in Resident Evil 6 but she´s the main character in Resident Evil Revelations and I know that the Resident Evil developers like to switch with main characters in their games. As you probably know when you look at Resident Evil and Resident Evil 2. Some might not like Claire, others might love her, but she´s a tough young woman that can handle some zombies. So I doubt that this game will be bad, I just hope it´s not going to be a babysit adventure as the last two games with Claire (yes I consi...

It probably sounds silly but there are games out there that cause problems for your eyes, I´ve experienced it myself so I know it´s not a load of bollocks. But it seems not everyone is affected by that or maybe some people don´t play games as much as others. If you feel that your eyes are hurting then it´s probably a good idea to stop playing, even if it´s just for a short time. Too much of something isn´t good! What do you mean with hazardous for your eyes? I´m talking about games that have a negative effect on your eyes that causes them bleed. Your eyes become irritated and that hurts, but it also makes your vains appear and it will colour your eyes red. This is probably nothing new for gamers that play long sessions at night, but I´m not talking about the type that you can sleep off. There are games out there that can actually damage your eyes if you play them (for too long). If a game is causing this then you´ll know soon enough, it usually doesn´t take long for your eyes to star...

Yesterday I talked about all the negative comments about Destiny, how a lot of people thought and maybe still think how this game will fail. Well I think that they´re wrong! I´ve played Destiny and it was so much fun! Eventhough I´m absolutely rubbish at it right now, I think with some practice I could be a decent player. Playing solo is a bit challenging but it´s not impossible, but there are a lot of people online so there should be potential team mates out there! What can you expect from this game? In just a few words? A lot! Imagine a big open world where you can pick missions, advance your character, fight alongside other people or against them, explore planets in our solar system and so much more! I really like how you can be your own character in this universe and stick out with your unique outfit, character, emblem, ship and weapons. You can customize a lot and this can work to your advantage if you do it right. It´s easy to get lost in this game, but once you let it all sink...

I think under every Destiny trailer and anything related to Destiny there are always some people that hate this game and what to spread their hate for this game. Wether these are trolls, ´popular´ people just giving their opinion or losers that have nothing better to is unclear. But these next couple of days will be interesting as a lot of people will play or try to play (you never know with these online servers when it comes to consoles) Destiny. Why would Destiny fail? That´s easy, because people have high expectations and so many people have been praising this game for so long that at this point it could only disappoint. Unless the game is actually that good, I don´t know because I haven´t played it yet. I think the first disappointment will be trouble getting online, because no matter how great a game is when you can´t get online to play it then it still sucks! Do you remember GTA Online? Well this will probably be even worse, but maybe you´re lucky and you find a way through...

Dead Island isn´t even an old game, but I don´t mind looking back at games that aren´t that old. The idea is to see what you can expect when you play this game and if it´s fun to play. A lot of people enjoy playing it so let´s take a closer look at this game. So what do you do in this game? It´s actually quite simple, you kill zombies. Not from the safe third person view but in first person view, this makes close confrontations a bit intense but that also gives the game some more character. Talking about character, you can play as four different survivors and in the Ryder White dlc you can play as another character. Each character has his or her own abilities and favourite type of weapon. You have the blunt weapon specialist, the sharp weapon specialist, the fire arms specialist and the throwing weapon specialist. Each character also has a role, for example the blunt weapon specialist is also the tank and the sharp weapon specialist is also the healer. Th...

When I play a game I like to win, sometimes it´s almost an obsession that I must win. Which means when I lose or something goes wrong that I´m upset, that sometimes leads to rage and that´s never a good thing. It´s weird how winning a game can mean the world to you, at least in that moment. But is it really that important? For me it´s always there, the need to win. Sometimes it´s a bit stronger than other times but the need to win is always there, I think I´ve only let someone win once in my life and already regretted that decision. Not that I didn´t want her to win, but she never shut up about it anymore. So I did learn that a victory has to be earned, never give it away just like that! But do you have to be serious about it? I guess not, because when you play with friends then having fun should be more important than winning. But what if winning a game is your idea of fun? Then I´d say you better buckle up because when you play competitive games you´re going to lose sooner or later...

It´s been a long wait and now I finally got it! The Xbox One! Of course I could´ve imported it if I really wanted to, but I can be patient. I must admit that I was nervous, is everything in the box and will everything work? I don´t know why but I don´t have a lot of trust in electronic devices, they seem to break or just not work whenever I´m around. But the Xbox One is fine, eventhough I didn´t get an ethernet cable with my console I still had the one I used for my Xbox 360. To keep it short, I like the Xbox One! So how does it feel to play on the Xbox One? It´s weird, eventhough the controller is quite similar to the Xbox 360 it does have some slight changes to it. The same can be said about your dashboard, because you have no dashboard anymore! You press the guide button (the glowing button in the middle with the X on it) and you enter your Xbox home, this is where everything is and even in the middle of a game you can acces it if you press the guide button. This feels a bit weird...

When it comes to survival games then you often have two types of gamers, you have people that want realism and there are people that prefer to go crazy with fantasy influences. I guess both sides of survival games offer an interesting way of playing it but I doubt that survival games with a lot of unrealistic elements are much of a challenge when you compare them to realistic survival games. So what do you think, do you prefer a realistic survival game or not? I must admit that I like a bit of realism, but not up to the point where that dominates the gameplay. I don´t want to find water every hour and spend too much time on planning. Sometimes I just want to hack and slash, which means that I prefer to look for games that offer you a chance to do more than just find resources. When you look at a game like Fallout New Vegas you have an option to go for realism, which means that the game is suddenly ten times more difficult and that it´s not just about killing enemies anymore. Staying ...

I think everyone that enjoyed playing City of Heroes has been waiting for some good news about this game and it seems that we´re one step closer to getting it! NCsoft is willing to give up the rights on City of Heroes so others can bring the game back to life, it seems like a neverending story but this is important to see things going the right way. So hopefully this means that City of Heroes will be back online as soon as possible! What is City of Heroes? In case you´re not familiar with this game I´ll try to sum it up for you. City of Heroes is a game where you create a hero and then go on missions to save the city and become a stronger hero in the process. You can play with other players and form groups or even have your own super group and create your own base. But you could also make villains and do some less heroic things. The costume creator is probably the best one I´ve ever seen in a game, with so many choices and possibilities it really gave people with creativity a chance ...

I´ve played the first three games plus all the add ons so I couldn´t let this one escape my grasp, eventhough it´s probably going to be more of the same. Hah spoken as a real pessimist! But seriously this new game is a bit of a disappointment, I´m not saying it´s a bad game but I was hoping the Sims 4 would keep a lot of the good things from the Sims 3 and add something extra. Well they´ve added some extra things but also got rid of some good things. What´s new? Well let´s start with create a sim, this is completely new and gives you a lot of customization options with details when it comes to making a sim. It´s easy to use and detailed, especially when you want to go for a close look you´ll be able to make a sim look like almost anyone if you know what you´re doing. Unfortunately when it comes to clothing you have less options, especially when it comes to colours as this is limited to only a select few. So you might have to add some mods to fix this or hope that there will be an add...

When I look at the old mascot games (Mario and Sonic) then I can´t say that you had any customization options, well Mario could wear a different suit which would give him new powers but nothing that would actually give you the option to change his appearance. For example you can´t get rid of his moustache and you can´t change the colour of his eyes. But these days there are so many games where you can customize the main character, even up to the point where he or she can look a lot like yourself. Why would you want to make the main character look like yourself? I counter that question with another question, why not? I mean it´s fun to play games but to play in a game with someone that looks like you kind of gives you the idea that you´re in the game yourself, ok that sounds a bit silly but to be honest this is something a lot of gamers like to experience and making the main character look like you helps you with that. Of course you don´t have to do that to feel like you´re in the gam...

Of all the games I´ve ever played this is probably my favourite, which might surprise you but it´s probably more for sentimental reasons than actual gameplay. But that doesn´t make this a bad game, for the time this was the type of game you´d play if you´re into action/adventure, it´s simple and yet detailed enough to keep yourself busy for a lot of hours! The Greek mythology theme definately made it more interesting as well, but let´s not forget that this was the first game for me where I could name the main character which gave me a closer connection with this character. So what´s so great about this game? With my love for Greek mythology and playing action/adventure games I already have enough reason to like it, but it´s the story where you fight your way through legends and myths that makes you feel like you´re one of the ancient heroes yourself. You gain more powers by doing tasts for the gods and goddesses in the game, sometimes it can take some time to complete such a task but...