I finally got around to playing the July 2020 Free PS Plus titles enough to write about them!
NBA 2k20 actually feels like an improvement over 2k19. The Prelude was pretty fun. I started the entire game with a two player match between the Phoenix Suns (me) and the Chicago Bulls (Walker Dennis, originally). I think starting off this way was a good refresher course. It gave me a comfortable zone to practice the game. I only scored one point with the green glow, signaling a perfect shot. The Prelude isn’t too long, I enjoyed making choices throughout it. I do regret ditching Rosario Dawson’s college advisor for Thomas Middleditch’s professional agent. Though I had no real problems minutes later when Middleditch is opening all types of venues for my guy. I also liked how my guy looks the same from 2k19, though I”m sure that’s because I didn’t fuss around too much in the creator option. I did try to download the app to scan my own face, but it kept failing on me.
The true highlight is Lamorne Morris (Winston from New Girl) cuts my character’s hair before the NBA Draft. Just checking his Wikipedia page, it doesn’t look like he has a new series yet, which is absolute bonkers.
Thanks to BMcKayGaming for hosting the beginning of the scene.
So much fun!
I was having some real stress about not making it into the Phoenix Suns, but I totally did it and felt so good!
2k20 doesn’t have any MyNeighborhood related trophies, so I sort of feel like I am now done with the game. I may look into how to get some of the other trophies, but I didn’t earn any besides what I earned after winning that original game.
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Turns out, I only completed one proper playthrough of Erica. So I finished my second playthrough as soon as the game was announced to being a July game. Tonight I plan on playing my third playthrough. I would then be half way through the game, so hopefully I just commit to it. I also really hope to just stumble onto Fallout Girl, but I’ll definitely get it during the sixth and final playthrough. Such a great game, but like Man of Medan, I need a decent break between playing these decision making story based games. Which I have been really thinking about Man of Medan a lot lately, and I really need to do an All Brain Decisions playthrough and another where I kill them all.
Someone was nice enough to really recommend using the phone app for Erica, and I would also join in that recommendation. It seemed like I had extra time to make decisions. It might be better even on a bigger phone or a tablet, but I don’t have that option. When I got to that moment of following Officer Blake or staying in Erica’s flat, I got all types of nervous, as that’s where my original attempt at my second playthrough fell apart. But I was able to follow him and enjoyed following the rest of the playthrough.
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Rise of the Tomb Raider starts off pretty fun. I finished my first night with the game at a camp site. It felt like a good place to stop, but really, I haven’t played enough of the game to really write a bunch about my time with it. I also don’t like this specific post being not published until after the 15th, but I will commit to playing more of the game. At least a few more nights with it.
Every Friday, I search Roku to see if I can watch Ratchet & Clank or any of the three Tomb Raider films, and none of them are availalbe on any streaming platform, which seems like a real missed opportunity when we are subscribed to like five different streaming services. None of the films have been on sale through VUDU either, but I will let you all know if that changes.
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PlayStation Access released their Top Ten Driving Games video, in their series of Top 10 PS4 games :
Which really made me want to revisit Burnout Paradise Remastered. So I played a slew of that game, meaning I did not play any of the other games for a bit. I was bouncing between Burnout Paradise and NBA 2k20, its Prelude being a decent length.
Walker Dennis saw that the Delorean, the Jansen P12 88, is in the game, and that means something to him now (before it was just a cool looking car). He loves placing it in hovering or floating mode, He’s been having a blast with the game, so now he plays between Burnout and Goat Simulator.
The Jansen P12 88 is a great car to look at, but gosh, it gets so easily destroyed, but Walker Dennis is all about driving fast enough to time travel and then crashing the car head on. But I’ve seen him not even driving that fast but still taking a turn a tad short and it destroying the car when only a headlight should have been busted. So it is very fragile.
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Like most people after July 3, my wife and I have become obsessed with Hamilton. Which I really want to play an American Revolution game, but only Assassins Creed III has that setting. George Washington does not feature in that many games besides Assassins Creed III and The Council. So I have been playing The Council a lot more than I thought I would be in such a short span of time. Which I have really been enjoying, though Episode Three doesn’t have enough of George Washington, but I do like how I do bump into him a few times. Which will have to be enough.
Two more episodes left! I am starting to worry I will not get to level 15, the trophy I am most anxious about, as the rest of them are going to be easily done by replaying Episode One at least twice more. If I don’t earn level 15 by the end of Episode 5, then I’m going to have to replay the entire game again, and just focus on whatever skills give me the most experience points. Which could be fun as I really am enjoying the heck out of the game.
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I bought Mohjong for two dollars during the July Savings event, and I like either ending my night with a game, or starting my gaming session with it. It is very relaxing. My only gripe is that it has all of this nice background music and setting, but a very gamey sound effect for when tiles match, that I wish was more inline with the aesthetics of the rest of the game.
Shadow and Flame with Magik 