Confessions of a gamer

I think we all have our favourite game of 2014, which isn´t always what you expect and sometimes it´s exactly the game you expect. Because my favourite game is a game I´ve been waiting for a long time! I already thought I would like it and I did, to be honest I still enjoy playing it eventhough I beat it several times already. Which game am I talking about? Well keep on reading if you´re curious! What about other games in 2014? Of course there isn´t just one cool game in a year, there are several and sometimes it´s tough to pick a favourite. For example I really enjoyed playing the Wolf Among Us and it was my favourite in 2013, play episodes 2, 3, 4 and 5 was a lot of fun and I hope that they make another season of this game like they did with the Walking Dead. Watchdogs is also a game I enjoyed playing but it didn´t kept me playing it after I beat it, which is a shame because I think the game has potential. Destiny is also a favourite of mine, but it´s too repetitive to call that my...

I´ll spare you the details but it seems that Playstation 4 is a powerful console and a lot of people love playing games on that, which is good for them but probably a bit less good for Xbox One owners. What does that mean for the future of the Xbox One? Is this the beginning of the end? When both consoles launched in 2013 it was pretty clear who made the smartest move, Sony of course by making their console a bit cheaper than the Xbox One and by releasing it also in the countries that didn´t have the Xbox One launch. Microsoft must have really been fucking up there because that was almost an unforgivable mistake! A lot of Xbox 360 players moved over to the Playstation 4 and I don´t blame them, Microsoft let people down and it´s not surprising that people then switch to something better! So the Playstation 4 is better? The hardware is better, which also means that the games are a bit better looking but if that truly makes a console better remains to be seen. I think Microsoft finall...

Do you think 2014 was a good year for games? I´m certain that there are some that would say yes and some that would say no, maybe not always for the best reasons but personal experience can sometimes mean a big difference. For example buying a couple of bad or boring games can definitely influence your thoughts over games in 2014 while one great game can make you forget about all the bad games. But what does that mean for 2014? I think a lot of people still remember flappy bird, the game a lot of people hate and got probably a lot more people addicted to the simple but challenging game. But as quickly as it appeared it also disappeared, which is a shame because the reason for that (too much negativity that made the creator want to stop) is not worth it! But 2014 is also the year of (over)hyped games, for example Watchdogs and Destiny. Especially Watchdogs got a lot of shit when it came out, it wasn´t what the majority thought it would be and so it was a bad game. Eventhough it´s actu...

At the end of the year it´s a good time to look back at what you´ve been doing in that year, all the good things and all the bad things. For gamers it also means looking back at all the games you bought and with that there is sometimes also regret. Games you wish you never bought and played, but also games you wish you had bought or played. When you don´t have a lot of money it´s always lame when you buy a game that sucks or that you can finish in a day or two. Then you really have to wonder if that was worth it. It´s cool if the game is fun enough to play again, for example to get a different ending or to make different choices when you´re offered to choose between different options. Unfortunately not every game offers you this choice and that makes certain games only playable for the achievements/trophies, at least if that´s worth it. I wonder how many people have regret about the games they bought. Watchdogs is a game that had a lot of hype around it but then after people played...

To some people this seems impossible, how can you have more fun on your own than with friends? Well that depends on what type of gamer you are, because not everyone likes to jump into a multiplayer arena and get shot to pieces every ten seconds. But what makes single player games so interesting? I´m speaking here from personal experience but single player games are fun because it´s you against the (game) world, you have to save (or destroy, depending on what type of game you´re playing) everyone and hopefully beat the game. That doesn´t just give you bragging rights, think about finishing Halo games on legendary difficulty on your own, but also a feeling of accomplishment. But that´s not all that there is to single player games. Some single player games are have huge worlds where you can lose yourself for hours, days, weeks and sometimes even months! When I play a game like Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age: Inquisition or Knights of the Old Republic then there isn´t one moment that I´m th...

Last time I talked about spending time with your family, but what if you don´t get along with your family or you don´t have any family? Then X-mas can be a less pleasant time, it probably also sucks to see all the happy shit on tv or everywhere else. So how do you survive this? Play some games! Seriously? Yes seriously! You see games aren´t just a lot of fun to play, they´re also a good distraction. Especially if you play a good single player game that will take you at least twenty hours to beat, I think that will help get through some holiday crap! Especially if it´s a game you haven´t played before, but I think a blast from the past might also do the trick. Because why spend money on games when you already have what you need? I´m not trying to turn you into Scrooge, but it seems silly to buy a game just to get through a couple of days. But then again it´s your money so do with it what you want! What kind of games are you talking about? Think about games like Mass Effect, Dragon A...

It seems strange but some people prefer to play games than to spend time with their family during the holidays. Maybe it´s not strange to you, especially when you have some awesome games that you really want to play. But what about your family? Is that important too? This isn´t a surprise, I hope, but not every gamer is exactly the same. So some gamers might spend way too much time playing games while others just play every now and then, which usually means they have a healthy social life next to gaming. Which is a good thing! Unfortunately not everyone has that, some even go so far that they only see their family when it´s time to eat only to retreat to their room when they´re done to play more games. This doesn´t count for everyone but in some families this is a serious problem. It´s not exactly the end of the world but I wouldn´t call it healthy, especially when you´re a kid it´s important that you stay social unless you want to turn into super socially awkward man...

That is the question! I wonder how many people are still fans of the Halo games and above all still looking forward to Halo 5. I think that number is a lot lower after the issues with multiplayer in the Master Chief Collection. But if I have to believe the ´fans´ hardly anyone was playing Halo anymore thanks to Halo 4. So can Halo 5 change that? Nothing lasts forever, that´s important to know, but I think Halo is ok for now. Despite the amount of hate comments I know that this isn´t the majority when it comes to people that play or have played Halo games. Often these hate messages are from trolls or people that just have nothing better to do, oh right trolls. I think that a lot of people are just disappointed after the MCC incident, but I doubt that they lost any faith because the Halo 5 beta is looking good. But if it will be enough to secure the future for Halo, that remains to be seen... A nice bonus for everyone that was or tried to get into a multiplayer match from MC...

I think a lot of people have played the Sims, probably to check it out and see why so many people love that game. But how many people bought the Sims 2? I mean you can´t use the same excuse for that, oh sure you could say that you were curious about it but in reality a lot of people just love playing the Sims. I don´t think that´s something to be embarrassed about, unless you do weird shit with your sims then you have a pretty good reason! What made the Sims 2 better than the first game? I think 3D made things better, it made things look better and also gave more depth to your houses and the world you´re playing in. Of course it´s not that spectacular compared to the latest Sims games but back then it was pretty cool. I think there are still people out there that play the Sims 2, mostly because they don´t like the Sims 3 and/or 4. What also made the Sims 2 cool is that you could make your own sims and not just slap a head on a body as you did in the Sims. This allowed you to try and ...

Whenever I read comments on a site, check the news when they´re interviewing people or when there is a caller on the radio it´s often someone that is unhappy (to say the least). I´m not going to say that this is strange, I mean we´re not all that fortunate in life so I can understand that there are people out there that aren´t happy. But I must admit that I´m a bit shocked by the amount of hate out there, not just online but also in the offline world. Why is everyone angry? I don´t think that this is something new, people have been angry for a long time and now with the internet they´re more vocal about it. But that doesn´t take away certain things that happened in the last decades. That definitely feeds the anger, not just on one side but on both sides of a conflict. This can be international but also within the borders of a land, different opinions about religion or political influences. Sometimes people don´t even know why they´re angry, they´re just angry because something ha...

After all the commotion around the movie the Interview it does raise the question if it´s ok for a country to make threats and that the movie gets cancelled because of that, I mean how do you feel about that? Is that ok? What about games? Should games be banned just because of what some people think? Let´s see if we can find some answers! Surprise surprise not everyone has the same opinion and not everyone likes the same stuff, which is perfectly fine because if that was reality then the world would be a boring place! The problem is when people can´t accept that some people like other things and then have to make it their mission to ruin that for others just because it bothers them. This isn´t different in the political schemes, making fun of the ruler of a country is apparently wrong and so there are threats and that leads to a movie being cancelled. Is it really that bad? I mean it´s just for fun and nobody gets hurt (at least not physically), so why make a big deal out of it? It...

Evolve is a game where you play as one of four hunters or as the monster and then it´s your objective to kill the other(s). It seems simple but it´s often not that simple, because a clever player won´t run into the group of hunters right away. You play carefully and try to evolve your monster as much as you can before the first confrontation and even then you´ll probably want to strike when you want to and not when you´re forced to. If you´re someone that likes a more tactical approach then the Wraith (the third and last monster you can play in the game) might be something for you! What makes the Wraith so good? Because it´s a female monster? Yeah right, as if that really matters. No it´s because she can use tricks to confuse the hunters and even even abduct one of them for a short time. This means you can´t play like a tank, for example when you´re the Goliath, and you´ll have to pick your moments to strike. Even when you´re discovered you can make a decoy of yourself and then turn ...

We´re so close! The heists are almost here! I´m certain a lot of ´tough´ gamers said that it´s too late and that they´re not interested anymore, but who are they kidding? We´re probably all going to play this because it looks awesome! But what can you expect in GTA Online heists? You and three other people form a team, one of you is the leader and will pay for everything. Excuse me? Yes the leader pays for all the expenses, but he also decides the cuts for everyone and so can give himself or herself a bit more to cover those expenses. The leader is also the one that stays in contact with Lester to form a plan and to give roles to the other members of the team. It´s a vital role that isn´t without risk, because the leader gets payed at the end of the heist while the other members receive part of the total amount during the heist missions. So it´s not just one mission? Every heist exist out of four parts, which means four parts where you and the others have to work towards the goal. ...

Have you played some of the older Final Fantasy games? Maybe you were there at the start with the Nintendo Final Fantasy games or you stepped in when Playstation took over, either way you probably have some history with Final Fantasy and probably look a bit strange at the last ten years of Final Fantasy. Well maybe that´s just me, but I can´t imagine that everyone is ok with these games, at least not the last couple of Final Fantasy games. What happened to Final Fantasy? I don´t know, if I have to be honest. I started with Final Fantasy VIII and then quickly played Final Fantasy VII as well, I love both games and they´re a lot of fun. Final Fantasy IX was a step back for me, I didn´t enjoy playing that game that much but Final Fantasy X was once more a great game! It gave me hope for the future but somehow things only went downhill after that. Final Fantasy XI (the mmorpg) wasn´t something I was interested in, maybe some people enjoyed that but I definitely didn´t. Final Fantasy X-2 ...

There was a time and a place that I considered a patch as a good thing, a game wasn´t working correctly and this patch would fix everything. Unfortunately I found out soon enough that this isn´t always true, what´s even worse that sometimes it ruins the game even more. But let´s not forget about the patch that fixes one thing but fucks up something else. Which kind of makes me wonder, do you want a patch for your game? On Monday I got a patch for Dragon Age: Inquisition, eventhough I experienced some minor issues in the game I wasn´t very happy with the patch. Because the game was working ok, my pessimist nature immediately made me think of all the things that could go wrong now. Unfortunately I was right, after the patch I was stuck in an endless loading screen (something that hasn´t happened before to me in all the weeks I´ve been playing it). You can imagine that I wasn´t happy with that, sure you just restart your console and continue but that doesn´t take away the frustratio...

With Winter being this close and several parts of the world already having a white blanket on the landscape it seems like a good idea to talk about SSX. Why SSX 3? Because this game concentrated more on single player than multiplayer, something that made the previous SSX games so much fun (especially SSX Tricky). Does that make SSX 3 a bad game? No, but it takes some getting used to! What´s so different about SSX 3? Because SSX 3 took things to a new level, instead of just snowboarding on courses you actually have a mountain to conquer! This means more freedom and less confined bullshit. Which is perfect for everyone that loves snowboarding, but it kind of sucks that this was at the expense of the super fun multiplayer. I couldn´t sit with a friend on the couch and play SSX, something that often lead to some hilarious moments. But getting back to the freedom, it´s amazing how you can just move around on the mountain and select what you want to do. It´s simple but it works very well! ...

Have you noticed how people respond to new games? Games that are good have to be better and games that are already better have to be the best. It´s insane but this is how it works, somehow there is always something that is wrong and for some people these minor issues are just as bad as big issues. Strange? That´s one way of calling it... People don´t play games for fun anymore? Not everyone if I have to believe the comments under so many game videos, apparently it´s more important to play through the entire game just to look for a glitch or something else that could be used as a base for their complaints. Instead of just enjoying the game there are actually people that see it as their mission to look for mistakes in games. These aren´t people that actually review the game, no these are people that probably have nothing better to do with their lives. Which is probably 80% of the youtube commenters in a nutshell. So what makes gamers spoiled brats? Let me first say that this doesn´t ...

I don´t understand why some people find is necessary to finish a game or dlc as fast as they can. It makes no sense to me, because when I have a new game I don´t want to finish it that quickly because I would rather enjoy playing it for as long as possible. A lot of games are less fun the second time you play them, sure it´s still fun but nothing beats the first time playing a game and I would rather have that feeling last instead of rushing through the game. Why do people want to finish a game that fast? An obvious reason would be bragging rights, as if anyone actually gives a flying fuck about such things, and then probably have their 15 minutes of fame for being the fastest to beat a game or level in a game. I guess for some people this is important, for others it´s just stupid behaviour. Those that do enjoy finishing a game as fast as they can are often called speedrunners, this sounds cool but in fact it´s just someone that found a way to beat a game as fast as possible. Some ad...

It seems silly but in truth a voice actor can elevate a game beyond the normal rating it would´ve gotten and at the same time he or she can also make a game with excellent gameplay look like an awful experience if the performance is bad. So it´s a good idea to spend some money on your voice actor(s) because nobody wants to listen to people that have no idea what to say or do. A Hollywood star doesn´t guarantee succes? It´s interesting when a (big) Hollywood star is in a game, he or she does a voice in the game (usually one of the important characters, but it could be the good guy or the bad guy) and that will attract a lot of attention from both gamers and people that have no interest in gaming. Either way it gives the game attention and that´s hardly ever a bad thing if you want your game to sell, unless the performance is awful and makes you regret ever listening to whatever he or she said! It doesn´t happen all the time but sometimes it seems like voice actors are ju...

It´s nothing new, a game you like to play gets dlc and you have to pay money to get acces to this dlc. You don´t want to pay money for that dlc, but somehow you can´t play the game anymore (at least not as smooth as you did before) and you´re kind of forced to buy the dlc to continue playing the game. Is this fair? No it´s not, but what can you do about it? If you´ve played CoD games then you´re probably familiar with dlc you have to pay for, especially if you´re a fan of multiplayer and/or the extra mode (zombies, extinction). If you want to get acces to new content then you´ll have to pay, if you decide not to buy this then there is a chance you´ll be kicked out of certain lobbies when you play multiplayer. In CoD Ghosts they made special playlists for dlc maps but eventually they would be added to the standard playlist, if you haven´t bought the dlc by then there would be a chance that you would be unable to play on a certain map because it´s part of a dlc pack that you didn´t buy...

I don´t know if you played the reboot of Tomb Raider but that one was fantastic! I know that some people hate that game but you´ll always have people that hate games for being a bit different, that´s something that doesn´t restrict itself just to games by the way. Lara Croft and the temple of Osiris is more puzzles and tomb exploration than personality, so if that´s your thing then you´re in luck. Also you can now play with three other people at the same time in the game. But is this really what Tomb Raider is all about? To be honest I don´t mind these games, they´re fun to play with friends (solo usually gets old pretty fast) and it´s nice that you actually have a role in the team instead of just being number whatever that helps shoot the enemies. The characters have skills that can help you get through the temple, for example the grappling hook and some type of staff that raises platforms. Both help you get through the temple and sometimes help another character that doesn´t have t...

The real question is, are you still playing Destiny? If not then I don´t know if you want to abandon the games you´re playing now, because eventhough you get several new things in this dlc it´s not exactly for everyone. You´ll get new armor, new weapons, a new raid, new missions and some other options. But is it really worth it? Well that depends on you, if you´re done with Destiny (you´ve played it a lot and don´t enjoy playing it anymore) then I wouldn´t advice you to go back. Sure if you have friends then you can play the new raid and try out some of the new missions but if you play mostly solo then this will be more of the same for you. So this dlc is bad? I´m not saying that! This dlc offers a lot of things and for people that are still playing Destiny or are looking for an excuse to go back to Destiny will have a good reason to buy this dlc. But Destiny is really a game you should play with your friends, the solo experience gets old real fast and it´s not easy to find friendly ...

I know this isn´t an old game, but since it fits so nicely on Dragon Age: Inquisition (the game I seem to be playing all the time now) I wanted to take a closer look at it. After Dragon Age: Origins a lot of people were super excited about Dragon Age 2 and I was one of them. But then once Dragon Age 2 launched people complained and started hating the game. Was this just or are people just whining assholes? Well it wasn´t the story, because the story is pretty good. You play the game that one of the characters in the game tells, it´s the story he tells so there are times that you´re just playing bullshit (Hawke, the main character, beating up darkspawn without breaking a sweat and Varric teaching his brother a lesson) and other times it´s actually the truth no matter how difficult it is to believe that. What´s also interesting is that you don´t just play a story, you play a part in someone life. Because the game takes place in and around Kirkwall where the main character (Hawke) stays...

As a kid I had to learn that you can´t always get what you want, just like the Rolling Stones song, and that sometimes there are things in life that you just don´t get. It´s a harsh lesson but one you´ll (often) learn sooner or later. Does that make you a better person? Oh I wouldn´t say that, but I do think it´s important that you learn that you can´t always get what you want. No matter how much you want something, sometimes it´s better (for yourself) to not get what you want. How does that work? If you always get exactly what you want then you´ve probably never dealt with disappointment or loss, something which you can´t avoid in your life forever. I´m not saying you must learn this when you´re little but the sooner you learn it the better it is. There is nothing wrong with spoiling someone you care about, but I wouldn´t be extreme with that because that leads to bad things. Parents sometimes want to be the best parents in the whole world for their kids, but giving them everything ...

Lately I´ve noticed that a lot of games that had just a single player mode now also have a multiplayer mode, apparently you can´t escape that and it seems Metal Gear Solid has also joined the multiplayer side of gaming. But what is Metal Gear Solid Online? From what I saw in the trailer it´s two teams of people fighting against eachother in a type of team deathmatch. You can fight eachother with team tactical moves, stealth or even use certain vehicles (a type of robot that allows you to move faster and shoot enemies with a machine gun) and then hope your team wins. It seems like it´s a serious attempt to allow people to use their skills against eachother and see who is the ultimate boss...ok ok ok Big Boss! You´re fighting as soldiers in the army of Big Boss? Actually you can pick your own skin for your multiplayer character, which means you can also play as Big Boss and on the other team there was someone playing as Revolver Ocelot. So I get the idea that there might be more ...

It´s been a long time since I last heard that name, Barry Burton. I will probably always remember him as the guy with the Magnum in Resident Evil. Others might remember him as the guy who likes a Jill sandwich, no that´s not as dirty as it sounds! He had a tiny role in Resident Evil 3, if you had a good ending, and after that there was so much nothing. Sure he would pop up as a playable character in the mercenaries game but that´s not exactly the same. But he´s back! He´s a playable character in Resident Evil Revelations 2. Aren´t you playing as Claire and Moira in Resident Evil Revelations 2? Yes you do play as them, but you can also play as Barry and Natalia (a new character in the Resident Evil games, for as far as I know). If I got the right idea then Barry and Natalia are looking for Claire and Moira and they´re on their trail, which means things you might do as Claire and Moira might have an effect when you play as Barry and Natalia. The enemies are also a bit different whe...

If you´re a fan of Game of Thrones and you like Telltale games then you´ve probably heard about this game already. The first episode (iron from ice) is now available and I must admit that I´m curious about this game. Not just because I like Game of Thrones but also because I´ve played other Telltale games like the wolf among us and the walking dead, I love those games so I hope this game will be just as much fun! What´s the story in this game? Well it seems to follow the books better than the actual series on tv, because you play as members from house Forrester and eventhough they´re in the book they haven´t appeared in the series on tv yet. It looks quite interesting to be honest, but since you play as different characters I get a feeling that not every character you play as will survive and I must admit that I wasn´t a big fan of the 400 days dlc for the Walking Dead where you also had to play as different characters. I hope that works better in this game. Do you also see familia...

Assassin´s Creed Unity isn´t even out for a month and there is already news about the next Assassin´s Creed game, it has the codename Victory. It seems that Victory stands for the Victorian age in the 19th century of England. But what does that mean? It means top hats and some manners good man! But seriously this could be interesting because a lot happened in that period, for example the Industrial revolution. Which means machines making their way into human life and that means new gear (maybe some steam punk inspired stuff). Apparently the assassin will use some type of grappling hook to move around or use it as a weapon against enemies, perhaps it´s even a combination of that. But hopefully this will add some new and awesome gameplay! Is this a logic step after Assassin´s Creed Unity? If I have to be honest then I´d say no, but that´s my personal opinon and maybe Ubisoft has a pretty good reason to put you in England. How that is connected to the other Assassin´s Creed games or i...

You´ve probably noticed the similarities between Dying Light and Dead Island, it´s not a surprise then that it´s from the same developer (Techland). But what does this mean for Dying Light? Does that mean more of the same stuff or a new and improved version of Dead Island? Maybe something completely new? Well it´s not completely new, because you´re still in first person mode fighting against zombies. But you do have more movement options, as in jumping and climbing on obstacles. This is a big improvement compared to Dead Island and in Dying Light this will be your best chance on survival when you jump around the rooftops. I also got the idea it´s now more based on survival, it´s not like you find guns everywhere and you can blast your way through the game. It seems like you´ll have to use your weapons with care and pick your fights carefully, you also have ways to distract zombies when you face too many to deal with. So it seems Dying Light is motivating you to use your brain, the sa...

For everyone that isn´t certain about Dragon Age: Inquisition I´ll take you back to where it started (with the Dragon Age games). When I first saw Dragon Age: Origins I was interested, everything looked pretty good and I like these type of RPGs. The only part I didn´t like was that your main character doesn´t speak, instead you select text and the others will respond to that. It´s not terrible but compared to other games that´s just a shame. What do you do in Dragon Age: Origins? You have to stop the darkspawn and that means eventually dealing with the archdemon (looks like a big dragon), I put that in simple words because to describe all that is Dragon Age: Origins would be injustice on just this page. It comes down to you and another Grey Warden to stop the enemy. What is a Grey Warden? A Grey Warden is someone that is specialized in killing darkspawn and it also means you´re the only one that can kill the archdemon. I won´t go into too much details because then I enter the world o...