Sorry for the late review of the April Games. My beautiful wife got me God of War for Easter and I wanted to try the game to include in this post.
Uncharted 4, I already knew I was going to have a great time. I wished I had finished Chapter 7 when I initially played it on disc, as my checkpoint was not saved and I had to restart the entire chapter. I believe I refound all of the treasures, but time will tell on that. That was on me, I knew I should have finished the chapter, but never got around to it. I am committed to playing the game until I finished it. I have a pretty length game rotation shaping up.
DiRT Rally 2.0, on the other hand, was not a bad game. Once I stumbled onto changing the car angle to the more traditional racing style – so that the camera is behind the car, I had a better time with the game.
A nice redditor provided me a trophy guide for the game, so that was nice to have some direction. I earned the following trophies : Adaptable, CAUTION, Don’t Cut, and A Household Name.
So I feel like I got to sample the game enough and feel pretty good about it.
. . .
Right now, Sony is currently giving away the Uncharted Collection and Journey for PS4. Even if you redeemed Uncharted Collection back in January through PS Plus, they made it so you can claim the digital code separately, as once you claim the games, you have them forever. It ends sometime early in May, so you may want to do it now. I added copies to both Walker Dennis’ account and my wife’s account. Might as well, as one never knows.
The games are part of PlayStation’s Stay At Home Initiative, and they donated ten million dollars as well to independent developers. The games are available until May 5.
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God of War has been an amazing experience! We are currently chasing a boar, after killing the second troll. So I am pretty early in the game, but having a blast. I keep thinking about how I need to be a better father. There are all of these instances were we see Kratos trying or wanting to put his hand on Atreus’ shoulder, or his back, in support and to show some tenderness, but keeps hesitating. Some heart breaking things. Of course, I am playing at night, so I wake up with the best intentions to tell Walker Dennis how much I love him, and show him instead of just hoping he knows.
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I have not had a chance to go back to Life is Strange Before the Storm, but I will get back to it eventually.
Walker Dennis got Minecraft for Easter, for the PS4, and we had a fun time playing that for an hour. I could have really used a tutorial, but I was able to stumble my way across how to build things. I bought him like $20 worth of DLC, but did not see any of it load, so hopefully the next time we log in it is there. Most DLC I have purchased on my Plus account, shows up on his account, so I am really hoping Minecraft is not an exception to that rule.
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I did get to play a good chuck of our Lego games. I am committed to playing these games on Walker’s account, but he is not as dedicated to trophy hunting as I am, so I had to start new saved files on my own account.
Lego DC Supervillains, I fought Poison Ivy and reconnected with Harley Quinn. Lego City Undercover, this game takes a little longer to do the Special Operations, which is the traditional Lego level. Plenty to do on the open map, but I wanted to play the game until I got the first mission completed, and will do so until I got the second mission. So I am set up for the next time I play. Lego Jurassic Park, I got through the first level and like City Undercover, there is plenty to do on the open map. Which now that I typed this, most Lego games have that transition from one level to the next, but both of these games feels like there is an activity we do prior to starting the next level. Whereas the recent games, feel like we are merely following the trail, and getting to the next level. Which I don’t mind, but I do sort of like incorporating the earning of the next level, plus it gives me a little more time in the game.
So that’s what I have been up too. I am not sure when I will stop playing God of War to get to Life is Strange Before the Storm, but I might just hit a wall of feeling that I have played the game enough and start craving playing another game.
I have also made a list of games that I have gotten through PS+, and I do want to start chipping away at these past games. These are the 12 games :
In Space We Brawl
99 Vidas
King Oddball
Absolver
Extreme Exorcism
Space Overlords
Knowledge is Power
Another World
QUBE Director’s Cut
Laser League
Rocketbirds 2 : Evolution
Iconoclasts
I keep having this nagging feeling that I want to buy a new game (which is dumb, as I have plenty of a backlog of games), but playing these games should satisfy that inch. My plan is to simply go down this list and earn the first trophy and commit a night to the game. Which I type that, and I have not been able to game for the past two nights, which is starting to nag at me as I really do enjoy my time to relax.
I have been enjoying the heck out of Sonic Forces. It is a pretty solid Sonic game, I may be even enjoying it so much more than Sonic Mania. I like how there are super simple daily challenges. I will admit I am mostly doing it so that I can earn the 10 daily challenges trophy but I do to mind playing a level a day and doing a daily challenge a day. The level designs are varied and I am enjoying all of the customization I get to do with my avatar.
This is what my avatar looks like right now :
I have over 50 items unlocked thus far.
Will I play after I unlock that trophy, only a few more days will know.
I earned that trophy and I already feel like I am done with Sonic Forces for a bit.
. . .
I killed the first Colossus in Shadow of the Colossus. I liked playing enough, but like I initially felt, I don’t feel compelled to keep playing.
After watching Nathan of PlayStation Access kill the first few Colossi :
Makes me want to at least kill the second one, but I am not super excited to make the attempt.
. . .
I moved my plans to make Life is Strange : Before the Storm my March Platinum to my April Platinum. I made this decision as I finally earned the Lego Batman 3 Platinum!
I really missed these early Lego games, where the missions do not feel like they take forever and the subchapter selection is nice. I have to play the full level in Free Mode but for clean up purposes, it is great to jump in and out of levels once obtaining minikits, or character tokens, or rescuing Adam Wests.
Walker Dennis and I have been playing Lego Incredibles and like Lego DC Supervillains, we are not both earning trophies so that has been highly disappointing. So for now on, I will just play games with Walker Dennis on his account, as I can only imagine how disappointing not earning a trophy is. I already started this policy with Lego DC Supervillians, and I am annoyed that I have to play that game separately, but earning several trophies in Lego Incredibles that he should have rightfully earned, was enough for me to make that decision. He also tells me how disappointing it is, so it is not a secret or anything. Such lousy game design, and with Lego games too. These earlier games are just the way to go.
I also already know I will not get the platinum for Lego Incredibles, as I can’t earn the gold in two races, so that has been a lousy feeling as well. I still want to finish the levels in Free Play, and I do like how there is a trophy for each main level. What I don’t like, is that there is no minikit red brick so I am going to have to look up how to get all of the minikits, which is also annoying. We still want to get more characters, I just have some work to put into it.
Whenever Lego Jurassic Park goes on sale again for under ten dollars, I will probably pick it up as I can only imagine it is a fun game. I know there is no DLC, so hopefully it is more like Lego Batman 3 and not Lego Incredibles. I should probably wait until we have finished Lego DC Supervillians, as it was causing some silly stress having three ongoing Lego games.
. . .
I also earned my second bonus trophy for the year with Hitman Go! Which I can already see myself, once earning 12 platinums, just cooling my quest to earning a platinum a month. 12 sounds good enough to me, one way or the other. I am at five already.
Hitman Go was a lot of fun and so relaxing. Did i just follow a guide the entire way? I sure did and it was just a nice way to start a night’s gaming session. From what I have read, Lara Croft Go is not as good, there are puzzles added to it, which makes sense, and I imagine it is as easy to play but I have never been much of a Tomb Raider guy. I am not much of a Hitman guy either, but playing his games at least exposed me to the character and encouraged me to get this game. That and it being only three dollars.
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I was looking through the Double Discount sale and saw Bulletstorm : Full Clip Edition is currently $24. It was a PS+ title back in November 2018. We also got Yakuza Kiwami, Roundabout, and Burly Men at Sea, that month. I got the platinum for Burly Men at Sea, I enjoyed the silliness of Roundabout and I allowed myself to get stuck on the first real boss of Yakuza Kiwami, and that was enough for me. I never got around to Bulletstorm, as I am not the biggest FPS guy, but I also am trying to make a bigger point of playing these free games I have received.
I finished Act 1, Chapter 1, and got to the train sequence of Chapter 2. I had earned a few trophies along the way, and the game is pretty enjoyable. I keep running out of ammo, so I end up leashing a guy, and kicking him into walls or off cliffs, so that was a fun night.
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I heard Call of Duty Modern Warfare : Warzone was a free battle royale so I gave it a shot. I did the tutorial and the extra practice course for the free item both provided. I then joined the 150 other peeps who were also playing. I was grouped up with two other people for a squad of three. The game looks amazing. It took a while to find a gun with a scope that I prefer. I am a simple man, so I like a scope that just puts a dot on where I am aiming.
I essentially just followed the one guy around the map, and made it all the way to ninth position, so I felt pretty good about that. I probably will not go back to it but it was fun during the 10 minutes or so. There is no trophies for Warzone, so I felt pretty free to just enjoy it.
The one thing I would have liked was to know how to crouch, as I could not figure it out.
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I have made it to just past the Bane fight in Arkham Asylum. I am not sure if the game starts to look worst towards the end, as the main complaints I hear about the Return to Arkham remasters is that the cut scenes look drastically different (and for the worst), but the game looks good to me. The controls are slightly different from Arkham Knight, so that took a little getting used too. Mostly it is realizing I want L1 for detective mode, and not up. Everything else feels pretty good. That and in the fighting, I can’t seem to string a combo together. I am used to punching with Square, and pressing X to evade, and then follow up with punch again, but that does not seem to work as well, just I end up just punching and pressing Triangle to counter, to get any real combo going.
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I sort of feel like I am inbetween games. I really like Arkham Asylum, but I feel like I am waiting for another game to make an appearance to get pulled into. Chrono Trigger celebrated its 25th birthday on March 11, and I think I really want a JRPG to enjoy. I found a list of 50 games like Chrono Trigger on PS4 but the bulk of them are not really jumping out at me.
Persona 5 (1), but I would also just wait for the Royal edition to release. Though the 100 hour time cautions me.
Battle Chasers : Nightwar (6), which next time it is on sale for under ten, I will probably buy it.
I am Setsuna (8), which I know was made to be in the same spirit of Chrono Trigger but the game is rarely on sale, staying at $40.
Cosmic Star Heroine (9), which i played and platinumed, and is the type of game I want to play.
Ni no Kuni II : Revenant Kingdom (18), is on my psprices wishlist but is also an expensive game.
Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition (23), I am not sure what “Pocket Edition” means, but if the Royal Edition ever drops to under ten, I could be convinced to buy it.
Lost Sphear (25), is the other game inspired by Chrono Trigger like I am Setsuna, but is also a rather expensive game.
What I am looking for is a game I can complete in, ideally, one playthrough, and is not like a 50 hour game, or the 12th entry in a franchise that I have never heard of. What I should do is just buy the Final Fantasy VII game for the PS4, play the heck out of that, and maybe get excited for the Remake. I tried the Demo and there is just something about playing a demo to a game I either will not buy or will buy in a year, that I could not adjust to it.
What I really want, is to be able to buy Chrono Trigger and play it on my PS4. I read that Chrono Cross is also available for the PS3 and Vita through the PSOne Classics line, but those do not have trophies and also, I do not currently own a PS3 or a Vita. If only!
Though seeing Battle Chasers and being tempted to play the game, has made me want to read the comic again.
I know it was never finished and I have the first seven issues (somewhere), but I should treat myself to the Anthology series, actually read it, and then get the game. That is how I should do it.
The March 2020 Free PS Plus Games are : Shadow of the Colossus and Sonic Forces!
Shadow of the Colossus is a PS2 game that was remastered by the same team that brought us the Uncharted Collection, Bluepoint Games.
Sonic Forces was the other game released to celebrate Sonic turning 25, and we got Sonic Mania way back in June 2019.
I am going to commit to at least killing the first Colossus and completing the first level set for Sonic, and then see where I go from there.
. . .
PSPrices
Shadow of the Colossus is typically a $20 game but goes as low as $10.
Sonic Forces is typically a $20 game but goes as low as $10, as well.
So both games are collectively $40 at their highest and $20 at their lowest.
We already got our money’s worth last month with our subscription for the high end. For the low end, we were at $41 dollars and now we are at $61, so that is one more dollar than the subscription service, so all of the games for the rest of the year are pure bonus. I may keep tracking it just to see what the overall value is for the subscription service.
I checked the PlayStation Store and none of the games have any paid DLC. Sonic Forces Digital Standard Edition which came with the free Shadow DLC. Shadow of the Colossus does not have any additional DLC.
The most repeated criticism is that we are now three for three months wherein we have received a remaster. Which I do not mind as I have been wanting to play Shadow of the Colossus for years now. The other criticism of the month is that Sonic Force is the lesser of the two Sonic games, but I am sure it is still playable.
. . .
Here are the videos from my YouTube peeps :
Nathan with PlayStation Access :
Now that Elle is leaving, Nathan is having to do the Free PS+ video and the store update videos again.
I earned my 28th Platinum with Adam’s Venture Origins, a pretty enjoyable game. There were sections where it looked like collectibles were clearly meant to be added as there are some open spaces with nothing to explore. The game literally had to point out the characters names were Adam and Eve(lyn). Pretty clever. My least favorite element was the stealth required for Chapter 14, it took a while for me to figure out the routes, and there were only two routes really. Chapter 19 has the same stealth elements but I was able to figure it out fairly quickly.
I am considering Adam’s Venture Origins as a bonus platinum and still plan on earning Life is Strange : Before the Storm as my March Platinum. Good to stock up on these.
. . .
Erica, a game I really have been wanting for a while, is finally five dollars. I did my first playthrough and only really messed up not walking across the carpet that Kirstie was cleaning. My second playthrough was a tad more disastrous and has killed my buzz to continue with the game for a bit. There is a moment when Detective Blake takes Erica back to her flat and he breaks open the neighbor’s door from across the hall. We have a moment to either follow or stay and I desperately wanted to follow. Instead, either the very gracious timer ran out or I did not hover the cursor over follow clearly enough. So she stayed and I lost like 30 minutes or so, it could have been 20. But it was so late at night that I did not want to restart it. I did tweet at Flavorworks asking for a patch to make the cursor a tad user friendlier.
@flavourworks I am really loving Erica! Could you please create a patch where the choices are more traditional where I can use the up and down arrows instead of moving the cursor around? I am finding myself missing the choice I wanted to not making the choice fast enough. Thx!
If it could be more like Late Shift, where the options are on the bottom of the screen or that I can choose what I want with the arrow prompts, that would be preferred. You can use a phone app to play the game or the controller. I did not like using my phone so I uninstalled the app but when you use the controller, you strictly use the touchpad. Which is not that bad until you want some precise decisions to be made.
I will eventually get back to it but I am taking a break from the game. I just have five more playthroughs, so I will do it but I will just move onward with my gaming rotation.
. . .
A game that is giving me no problems is Hitman Go. I am purely playing along with a guide but I am having such a great time with the game. I just love how it is like a chess board as we move Agent 47 around, completing either one of two goals. Sometimes, all three goals can be met at once but it is a rare treat. The goals are usually: complete the mission, do it under x amount of times, grab a briefcase. I have completed the first two chapters and have the third one of seven to complete next.
There is a Lara Croft Go but I may just wait on that one. I have never really played any Tomb Raider games besides attempting the third one on the original PlayStation One, and I barely could jump over the water slide onto the vine back then.
. . .
With my final new game, Monopoly Family Fun Pack, I completed the Plus side of the pack and still have the Deal side to play. Plus was a lot of fun, and that is the half of it that I wanted the game for. There is a MyMonopoly DLC that is ten dollars, and it rarely goes on sale and when it does, it only goes down to eight dollars, so I probably will not be buying that anytime soon.
. . .
I am in my final two levels of Lego Batman 3 in Free Play. I still have to go back and get the bulk of minikits, save Adam West, and obtain all of the character tokens. My main goal was to go through all of the levels in Free Play, earning the character token that will make Bat-Mite happy, obtaining the Red Brick with Plastic Man, seeking out any minikits that I can find (now that I have the minikit detector), and rescuing Adam West (now that I also have his location detector). I earned those last two red bricks, plus the character token red brick, way late in the process, so I will have to go back and get those. But in that clean up, I just have to get the item I want, and jump out of the game, which is pretty nice.
I am making my way through all of the Lantern planets, with just two left, Odym and Okaara. I am also making pretty good progress with the VR missions. After all of that, I just have to chase down all of the gold bricks in the Batcave and the Watchtower. Plus, all of the DLC missions have to be done in Free Play too, but I wanted to wait until I got all of the red bricks first so I can get those done in one.
. . .
I found a pretty handy guide to get the Sims 4 Platinum rather quickly :
I got the Full House trophy but could not download every recommended community pack, but it just feels wrong to earn the trophies in this way. But I might commit as there are a few trophies that I rather not really put the work in for like outliving five spouses and making whoopie with a ghost and such.
In my proper file, I did master piano playing and programming, so that felt pretty good. While taking a shower, I noted all of my instrument playing and cooking, I have gained like 30 pounds so, and all around my midsection, so that is not great. I am working my painting skills now. I have to add a drink bar to my house so I can work on my mixology skill after that.
I have a real problem where I just want to play for like 30 minutes and I end up playing for hours, and I am staying up way too late!
. . .
PlayStation is celebrating six years of the PS4 with a PlayStation Player Celebration :
I registered but never received a confirmation email but it states I completed 2/2 tasks so I believe I am in.
There are an assortment of prizes and giveaways.
Goal One is 125K games played, and 500K Trophies earned. We already hit the games goal and we are at 281,972/500,000 trophies earned.
We get an exclusive PS4 static theme and matched avatar.
Goal Two is 375K games played, 1.5M trophies earned and we get a set of five avatars. Joel and Ellie from The Last of Us 2, Aloi from Horizon Zero Dawn, and Drake from Uncharted 4.
Goal Three is 675K games played, 2.7M trophies earned. We will earn an exclusive PS4 dynamic theme.
The next goal starts when the previous goal is met.
The grand prize, to be given away on March 17, is a real-life Platinum trophy (that I really really want!) with our PSN ID on it, a $100 PSN voucher, and voucher codes for a selection of the PS4’s greatest games. Pictured is Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War, The Last of Us Remastered, and Uncharted 4. So I would give away the Last of Us Remastered code, sell back my physical copy of Uncharted 4, and enjoy the heck out of Horizon Zero Dawn and God of War for the very first time.
I am pretty confident that the community will hit all of those goals pretty easily. We just have to play one game for at least one hour (across multiple sessions) and each trophy earned goes toward the goal but multiplayer trophies count as double. But only six trophies per day, so be careful out there!
We already got to the half way mark by the very first day so we are going to smash this!
I wonder how they came up with the 2.7M trophies number, seems very odd.
PS+ Subscribers received Sims 4 and the Bioshock Collection of games for February. Plus Firewall Zero Hour for the VR.
After thinking I would not invest too much time into Sims 4, I invested a crazy amount of time! I made myself maxed out on playing video games, writing, playing both the violin and the guitar. I am currently working on my piano skills. During my writing days, I was earning royalties for all of the books I was writing but I suspect those may be drying up lately. I made my wife who goes out and works all day so I can stay home and work on my skills, and I used the game’s genetics option to make Walker Dennis, who came out pretty well. Pretty much my face but with my wife’s proper proportions, so we are all pretty happy. I really need to move us into a larger house as the piano is out in the yard and that cannot be good for it.
I plan on trying to stick it out and keep the game into the rotation. It really is a lot of fun. Repetitive but fun. I was getting annoyed as I was trying to write songs and it takes forever to write a song, to the point, where I have not written any songs.
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Bioshock, and I am definitely not the first one to write this, is such a fun and interesting game! I pretty much played it over the course of two nights and I defeated Dr. Steinman, and that felt like a good stopping place for the moment. I am not usually into first person shooters but this game just feels so good to play and explore Rapture.
There is an amazing Remasters and Retro sale going on right now! I bought the Batman : Return to Arkham set for five dollars as quickly as I could! I also scooped up Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 as Walker Dennis really wanted to play a Spider-Man fighting game after he saw me playing Injustice 2. UMvC3 is nine dollars and felt like a pretty good price. Infinite is way too much for this me, if I was more into fighting games, I would jump at all of the content for $24 but I can easily wait. Especially as I feel like I am already done with the game. I would be jumping right into Arkham Asylum but then . . .
The Division 2 was set to three dollars and I had to buy it! I knew next to nothing about it, except that it usually still goes for $60 and on sale, it still like $20, so three dollars was pretty worth it. I definitely got my three dollars worth out of NBA 2k19.
The one draw back is that the Division 2 is such a huge game so now I feel like I have to mainline it for a while to justify the space it takes up.
Here is Dave from PlayStation Access playing the game :
I watched a few minutes of the video and figured, “What the heck?” and bought the game.
I got to level 6 and completed the third main story mission. So I was able to unlock squads and definitely got my three dollars worth. The game is much better when you get matched with others, heck, even just having a partner made the game more enjoyable.
. . .
Thanks to my 26th Platinum, Life is Strange, I finally got to level 18!
Such an interesting game. I still plan on making Life is Strange : Before the Storm, my March Platinum.
. . .
Here is also a deal that Adam’s Venture Origins is only 19 cents.
I quickly picked up Erica for $5 and Monopoly Family Fun Pack for $6.
I was making such good progress on Lego Batman 3 again but that is okay, it will be there when I get back.
A lot of excellent games are on sale right now. I was surprised with how many games I already owned!
Batman : Arkham Knight, Bloodborne, Grand Theft Auto V, Lego Marvel Collection, Mafia III, Ratchet & Clank, Man of Medan, The Last of Us Remastered, Lego Movie 2, The Witness, Uncharted 4, Until Dawn, and Until Dawn : Blood Rush,
Here are the two guides for Erica. One is for overall game :
My plan is to play it like Late Shift, with one playthrough, and then play another game or two and come back to Erica.
. . .
For my birthday, Walker Dennis got me Lego Incredibles and we burned through the story mode and now just enjoying the open world.
We unlocked Splashdown, and Walker Dennis really wanted to use his mask for his Spider-Man creation, but it was not in the creation options. So that is unfortunate and disappointing. It would have been amazing!
. . .
When I bought Injustice 2, it did not take long for Walker D to want to fight Batman and the Ninja Turtles. Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 went on sale for only ten dollars so I bought it. I forgot the Capcom games did that team-up thing so it isn’t just one character versus another, but three on three.
Turns out, one of Spider-Man’s alternate suits is the Scarlet Spider, so I am super happy about that, but one of the other ones is the black costume, so Walker D likes that. Though he has been playing as the traditional red and blue suit, which is fine.
. . .
I treated Walker Dennis and myself to Lego DC Supervillains Deluxe Edition, so expect some updates about that game!
The February 2020 Free PS Plus Games are : The Bioshock Collection, Sims 4, and Firewall Zero Hour.
Firewall Zero Hour is a VR title, so that is great that we are moving toward getting VR titles, now we just need to get two PS5 titles (probably Post-January 2021) and my hunch will be correct about what Sony will be doing with the PS+ subscription going forward.
The Bioshock Collection I have heard nothing but amazing things about. The first two take place in Rapture, an underwater domed city, and Infinite takes place in the sky. People absolutely rave about these games.
Sims 4, I have heard of the franchise and my gal pal April adores it, I had not heard it had made its way to PS4 yet. I wonder how it plays on console? Also, Sims turns 20 this year, so this is like a birthday present for all of us.
I really love that we are getting game collections through the subscription.
I will probably start with BioShock 1, then try Sims 4. One day, it would be nice to own a VR set, but I have to wait until Walker Dennis is at least 12, so six more years!
. . .
PSP Prices has the games valued as such :
BioShock Collection is typically a $60 game, but goes on sale for as low as $12 – so already PS+ pays for itself on the high end.
Sims 4 is typically a $40 game, but goes on sale for as low as $8.
Firewall Zero Hour is a $20 game, but goes on sale for as low as $10.
So let us see if we hit $45 in value just yet!
These games are combined at a value of $120 at their height, or at $30 at their lowest. The January games were combined at either $30 at their height, or $11 at their lowest, so we are already covered at the highest so I will no longer be tracking that. At the low end, we are now at $41, which is so close to $45. No matter what the games are for March 2020, the subscription will pay for itself.
A visit to PSN reveals :
The BioShock Collection has a theme we can buy for $2, so if I take to the game, I could be tempted to buy that. The Collection comes with all single player content, all DLC content, the “Columbia’s Finest” pack, Director’s Commentary (which I love!), and Imagining BioShock, featuring Ken Levine and Shawn Robertson.
Sims 4 on the other hand has so much additional content! There are three free avatars and three free themes, but the rest do cost money.
Island Living $40
Toddler Stuff $10
Discover University $40
Spa Day $20
Outdoor Retreat $20
Realm of Magic $20
Fitness Stuff $10
City Living $40
Dine Out $20
Get Together $40
Parenthood $20
Jungle Adventure $20
Cats and Dogs $40
Spooky Stuff $10
Backyard Stuff $10
Get Famous $40
Vampires $20
Seasons $40
Get to Work $40
StrangeVille $20
Deluxe Party Edition $50
Live Lavishly Bundle $60
Vintage Glamour Stuff $10
Cool Kitchen Stuff $10
Moschino Stuff Pack $10
Luxury Party Stuff $10
Bowling Night Stuff $10
Perfect Patio Stuff $10
Kids Room Stuff $10
Movie Hangout Stuff $10
Back to School Bundle $50
Bundle – City Living $50
Romantic Garden Stuff $10
Laundry Day Stuff $10
Plus Cats and Dogs Bundle $50
Deluxe Party Edition Upgrade $10
Bundle – Cats and Dogs, Parenthood $50
Bundle – Seasons, Jungle Adventure $50
Bundle – Get to Work, Dine Out, Kitchen $50
So a lot there if that is your thing.
Firewall Zero Hour also has a slew of DLC! This game also has eight free avatars but so much more at cost.
Deluxe Pack $20, comes with characters, camo skins, face paints, and weapon skins.
Digital Deluxe Edition $40, is the game plus the delux pack.
I have now downloaded all of the free items!
. . .
Most reddit reactions seem to be how most already own the BioShock Collection, which was true of the Uncharted Collection, but I do not own the BioShock Collection, so count me as being in the super excited camp.
In a bit of exciting news, PS4 users got the Earth 2 costume as free DLC!
It looks pretty great in the game.
. . .
In Lego Batman 3, I am slowly making my way through obtaining the red bricks and the Bat-Mite items (which unlock one of three character tokens in each level).
In the first Uncharted game, I got to the first real shoot out and died, and on easy, so that killed some of my buzz, but the game looks stunning on PS4!
We played Portal Knights again, unlocking some additional portals, and just having a great time in the game.
Turns out, something happened to my Lego Marvel Superheroes 1 save file, so instead of 100%, it is now at 0%, so Walker Dennis and I played the first three levels of the game, and unlocked the ability to free play as anyone we have thus unlocked during the open world. So that was annoying but these things happen. I feel no pressure, at all, to reclaim anything. Odd thing though is that Walker Dennis is not earning any of the trophies for completing each chapter, so we really should have made him the first player but I will keep monitoring that. Once we get some actual characters, I will see if we can earn some character trophies on his file to see if there is a problem with the game itself.
I got all of the trophies in Goat Simulator I feel like I am easily going to obtain.
So all in all, I am feeling pretty well.
. . .
I have to look at the trophy guides for Sims 4 and BioShock 1 to see how much I am even going to see but I really want to commit to getting 12 new Platinums this year. My second one will be for the first Life is Strange game. I am going to try to do a level of Lego Batman 3, then finish the night with another episode of Life is Strange. Which should not take too long with four episodes left to do.
I would not have imagine Spider-Man being my number one game of 2019 but it makes sense. It was practically the only game I played for all of January and most of February.
Lego Marvel Superheroes and Lego Dimensions are games that Walker Dennis will play by himself, but under my name, but it makes sense a Lego game would fill up my next two slots. I would be curious what my fourth game of the year would have been but I imagine it would just be another Lego game.
I figured I would have had Action-Adventure as my main genre, as those are the games I lean towards the most. Especially third person action adventure.
Of the 365 days of the year, I gamed 314 days, and that sounds about right. Pretty easy to imagine that there were 51 nights where I just went straight to bed.
I do not own a VR so 0 hours makes sense.
36 hours of online play, which is way higher than 2018 as I did not play any online games and made a bigger point of playing more of them in 2019. I played Dead by Daylight for 18 hours last year, so another 18 is split between For Honor and who knows what other games.
I really wish I knew which 91 games I played in 2019 were as I have a hard time imagining I played even 50. We were given 24 games through PS+, so that’s 24, then I imagine I easily played another 25 games of my own choosing, so 50, but what were the other 41 games? Of those 25, I know I tried a slew of free games, but I still find it hard to believe I played 91 different games. Would be pretty impressive, if true. But if I start questioning that stat, I probably have to question them all, and the rest seems pretty accurate.
Except for the 14 hour longest gaming streak, I am not sure how that would have even been possible. I barely get to play for an hour and a half on most week nights, and on the weekend, I cannot imagine we played more than three hours at a time. It is just too much time spent in front of the television. Shame it does not give me that date for that.
Actually, there are two numbers up there for the PS+. One states at least 24 games was given but I downloaded 34 monthly games so there are ten more games right there!
I saved up to $60 on games and DLC, with just being a PS+ subscriber, so that literally paid for itself right there.
Sunday Evenings makes as much sense as any, the evening makes perfect sense. Maybe of those missing 51 nights, none of those were Sunday nights?
12 Platinums this year! I now have 26 Platinums, as I was trying to make a bigger point of earning platinums this year. One a month, not too shabby! I already got January’s plat taken care of with Lego Marvel Superheroes 2! What a grind towards the end! Those missions are very long!
On my list, I have Lego Marvel Superheroes 1 and Lego Avengers, and then I squeezed five plats in-between them, before getting Lego Marvel Superheroes 2. I wanted them to be a tad closer to each other but I was pretty burnt out on Lego at that time. Walker Dennis really wants to be there with me when I play Lego Batman 3, so I am not sneaking and getting any of those free plays done as I am using that time to play other games.
Those other five games were : Batman : The Enemy Within, Late Shift, Rocket League, Murdered Soul Suspect, and One Night Stand.
I might have to purposely pick some quick (but respectable) platinums to get at the beginning of each month. I definitely have four pages of Wishlist items over at psprices, so I should be able to widdle that list down to at least three pages this year. That is my main gaming goal for 2020.
I just treated my wife to the Wheel of Fortune / Jeopardy combo for $13, down from $40! She does love a good trivia game.
That is three games right off of my wishlist already! That was nicely timed. Eight more games and I get to three pages.
We were given a pretty cool set of Avatars and a cool 2019 Wrap Up Theme, so please check out your own stats and download those free items! And please feel free to share your own achievements!
The sale ends on February 5.
Since I am obsessed with taking the lists that redditors are so nice to compile, and put those in an Excel sheet.
One game I will for sure buy, is the Return to Arkham set, just whenever it is below ten, I will buy it. It gets as cheap as $5, but I really do not want to spend $20 for it. But I will buy it next time it is even $8. I just really want it after Walker Dennis started his own Knight game under his own game. I help him with the boss fights or any really complicated section, but he has been doing a lot of it on his own.
He just started Spider-Man PS4 as well, and he is having a blast there.
Looking at the sale :
Batman : The Enemy Within is totally worth if for five dollars.
Arkham Knight at $10 and the Premium Edition is $20, both worth it.
Conan Exiles for $20 is too much.
Dead by Daylight : Special Edition, totally worth it at $15, BUT! Be prepared to spend up to $20 for buying your favorite characters.
I want Doctor Who Edge of Time, but it is a VR game. I have added it to my wishlist if it ever goes super cheap.
Ghostbusters Remastered is $18, which is too much for me, especially for a one play game.
Grand Theft Auto V is worth $15.
If I had not just bought Wheel of Fortune / Jeopardy, I would be tempted to get Hasbro Family Fun Pack – Conquest Edition, as it comes with Monopoly Plus, Risk, Urban Assault (?), Battleship and Scrabble. Which I do have that 3-in-1 Monopoly combo on my wishlist but all of those games are right up my wife’s alley! Next time, game, next time! The cheapest it has been is $12 and it is $14 right now.
Injustice 2 Legendary Edition is typically $15, and I would buy it if I was done with the first game.
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes looked super fun during PlayStation Access’s Christmas Maze, but no one would play with me, but $6 seems worth it.
So much fun!
Knack at $10 seems a bit much, but I still have to finish my copy.
Mad Max at $10 is worth it. Such a fun game!
Mafia III, I should really go back to it, not sure if $10 is worth it but I bet you would get ten dollars out of it.
PlayStation Access is huge on Outer Wilds, which is $20.
I have yet to play Rayman Legends, but I own it but five dollars, any game is worth it at that price. I am redownloading it as I type this! So I will play some of it soon.
Risk for $6 but I might as well just get it in the Hasbro pack.
I am sure I have the basic version of The Surge, but the Augmented Edition for $14 might be worth it. I did not get that far into it.
The Wolf Among Us is $5, but I (and others) suspect it will be a free game sometime before the sequel comes out.
TitanFall 2 Standard Edition is totally worth it at $8, I still have not got pass the first mission but it is definitely a quality game.
Trackmania Turbo for $10 is not bad, Walker Dennis played the heck out of that game.
Unravel Yarny Bundle is $11 and on my wishlist. I have enough active games unfortunately. But each game is essentially five dollars, so that is a good deal.
For my taste, WipEout Omega Collection is way too much at $15. I just did not take to it.
XCOM 2 is probably worth $15 to a lot of people who love the game. I did not get too far in my copy.
. . .
Once again, and I will keep typing this as often as possible, the bulk of those titles I have opinions on above, the majority came with my PS+ subscription, I would never have sampled even 75% of these games.
Gosh, there are two games right at $1.04, Defunct and SHINY – A Robotic Adventure. I do like the idea of me buying the cheapest game on the list, just to see what it is like.
Defunct as a Platinum but no PlayStationTrophies.org guide. SHINY also has a Platinum, but also no PlayStationTrophies.org guide. Dang it! At least Defunct has a PSNProfiles guide but all video, so that is also disappointing. That is the problem with these cheaper games.
whoa whoa whoa!
I was going to just move onto Adam’s Venture : Origins for $2.54 but hol’ up a minute!
With my PS+ subscription, both Defunct and SHINY are 29 cents each! For 60 cents, I can get two games! I imagine they worth at least some time, unless they are just complete garbage. I will have to do some additional research.
Looks like both games have Complete Editions that come with avatars and themes, which I do like me a theme, so that kills my buzz a bit. Metacritic for both games states that they are playable, if not each having their own short comings. I may have to think about it some more.
. . .
I am okay with missing out on the avatars and Shiny has two themes, one is constantly at $3 but the other gets as cheap as 49 cents and Defunct only has the one theme and that also gets pretty cheap, like also around 50 cents, so I am just going to buy those games for super cheap! Probably will not get the platinum for either one, unless the collectibles are pretty easy, but that is okay.
Sorry for the late post, having days off at the beginning of the year threw off my writing schedule.
The January 2020 PS Plus Games are . . . Uncharted the Nathan Drake Collection and Goat Simulator!
Games I have definitely played before as I am a huge Uncharted fan and Goat Simulator was one of the few games I had for the XBox 360. I was so confused by it but playing it now with Walker Dennis, it has been a lot of fun! I am not sure if it was the system or the controller, or the game itself, but I just felt lost with it.
I have the Uncharted Collection on physical disc, so now I am just waiting for GameStop to have another double credit deal with trade-ins so I can get some store credit.
. . .
PSP Prices states the Uncharted Collection is typically $20 and goes as low as $8.
Goat Simulator is typically $10 and goes as low as $3.
So either the games are $30 at their peak or $11 at their lowest sales. I am going to track this to find out when the Plus subscription pays for itself. We are half way there or barely a sixth of the way.
Uncharted Collection has no DLC whereas Goat Simulator has a slew of DLC!
There is a DLC Bundle that is typically $20 or goes on sale as low as $5, which I am definitely tracking as that is a good deal for all of the DLC.
The Bundle includes :
Goatz (Zombies)
MMO Simulator
Payday
Waste of Space
So five dollars is pretty good for all of that content. I would never spend $20 for it. I am a very patient gamer.
. . .
Here are my three subreddits’ opinions on the games. Seems like most are upset that if you wanted the Uncharted Collection, you would have owned it by now, which I agree but I am also a guy who wants God of War and Horizon Zero Dawn, as well as Witcher 3, but will probably never buy those games for myself, not at least, not in the near future.
Trophies are not earned on Explorer mode, which is the easiest difficulty.
Reading the titles, I like how the naming convention is kept through to Uncharted 4, A Thief’s End. The titles are either Drake or Thief related. Or Golden Abyss related. I was tempted to get a vita for like $133 through Amazon but then I was given roughly that amount for Christmas but that particular one was sold and the next inexpensive one was around $200, which is way too much for me to spend. Maybe Christmas 2020, but I doubt it.
. . .
I have been very tempted to start Uncharted 1 and 2, on Easy mode, just to relive the adventure, and just have a very chill time with the games.
In the meantime, I have been playing a slew of games over the holiday! Just bouncing all over the place!
With the announcement of the games, I started Uncharted 4!
I was having a real blast, I think I am on chapter six? They are at the auction, I know that at least.
. . .
My beautiful wife got me Injustice : Gods Among Us Ultimate Edition, Amazing Spider-Man 2, and TMNT : Mutants in Manhattan. I have plans to play Mutants in Manhattan next.
Injustice is the first game, so once I beat the story mode with that game, I will probably trade it in for the 2nd one as that is the one I want, and I only want it for the sweet Ninja Turtles, so I can wait on that. It is not a bad game, I am trying to learn the button combos but I do end up just button smashing or doing the five combos I am comfortable with. I am also playing on Super Easy mode, as the trophies unlock with that mode and I am no good at fighting games.
. . .
Walker Dennis and I have really been enjoying Amazing Spider-Man 2. He is playing it on Human (Easy) mode and I am playing it on Super Hero (hard) mode. I am doing the boss fights for him but I am very impress with how much of the game he is able to do on his own. When I am playing his file, I am definitely dreading doing these fights on Super Hero mode. The Black Cat one was hard until I saw a video where a guy kept just dodge attacking her, and that really helped. But there is a Kingpin fight that I am already dreading. Walker Dennis is on his way to fighting the Green Goblin and I just completed the Black Cat fight, and on my way to Kraven.
The only problem with the game, is that the Web Threads DLC is no longer available. Sony Support tried to unlock it for me, as I really want it and seven dollars is a pretty good price for it. They told me to ask Activision but I cannot get into the Chat Queue with them, or I can, and then I miss it as it goes from 24 individuals ahead of me to it being my turn and I have missed it in the five minutes I did not check my phone. So that has been rather irritating.
. . .
My wife was also very generous and got me a PS Store Gift Card and the first game I bought was Lego Batman 3 Deluxe Edition and Walker Dennis and I are having a huge blast with the game. I was being a bit of a pill about not buying people until we had a million studs to buy the x2 multiplier, which is my usual policy with Lego games. Then he bought a slew of people and then I put a stop to that until we could buy the x4 multiplier. Then he had a play date and I had enough time to get enough studs to buy the x6 multiplier and now we have money galore! We have also stopped playing for a bit but that is okay. We completed the entire story and have to do free play for levels four and on. The game is super fun and I could not pass up the deluxe edition for nine dollars.
I really need to get back into Lego Marvel Superheroes 2, but free play has been feeling like a chore, as I keep having so many levels to redo. I think I have 11 left, as the game has 20 levels, so I am finally on the other side of it. They are very long levels it feels like. I just rather play all of these other games but once I settle down and sample these games, I will get back to it.
. . .
Anodyne was a dollar game during the Holiday sale. I bought and got to the first cave and I have no idea what to do next. I have walked all around it and found two cards and unlocked the doors I have found but now I am not sure what to do. I have to watch a walkthrough. I got the one trophy for finding the mop (the main weapon of the game), so at least I was able to do that.
. . .
I also saw in the Holiday sale, 2064 : Read Only Memories, and was reminded we were given that as a free game way back in October 2018, the same month we were given Friday the 13th : The Game and The Bridge.
I got through the Prologue and some of the first chapter, it is an interest point and click game for sure, and it has a charm about it.
. . .
So that is what I have been up too. I keep thinking about what the next big game sale is going to be, but honestly, I have plenty of games to play that I do not need any more, which is super fun to be able to type.
I set up Walker Dennis with a PSN profile, so now his trophies will be permanent, as he really wanted to play Portal Knights under his own account, so I had to create a yahoo account for him. It is a real shame he had to lose all of his other trophies but we will just play those games again and scoop up some easy ones for him.
I completely forgot that we also got Walker Dennis the Fantastic Beasts pack! We got two chapters in, and then I bought Lego Batman 3, so we have four more chapters to go! I know there is a secret STAR Labs from the Flash television series, we just have to find it.
We also watched the movie and it was a pretty decent time. I just felt disconnected but I am glad we watched it as the game probably would not have felt complete without the original reference. It was fun watching it and trying to anticipate what would be adapted.
Unofficially, of course. Though, one of these times, I really should donate to Wikipedia, with how much I rely on them.
We are bound to watch a movie in January so that we can get our 2020 Cinemark Souvenir Cups. Walker Dennis would get one of him for the first film but then go back to getting his kids combo that includes a very small drink. But we like having a third one for when we take a guest, most likely, one of our nephews.
January
The Grudge is having another go in the theaters. John Cho is in it so that’s one thing it has going for it.
Kristen Stewart continues her comeback with Underwater.
The Informer has Clive Owen coming back to films! I thought about that guy a bunch this year. He apparently has been making two movies a year for a while but I have not had any of those bring them to my attention. He was apparently in the show, The Knick, with Chris Sullivan, so I really want to watch that show now.
Whatever happened to Rupert Everett? I liked him in a slew of things!
Josh Harnett is even coming back to films with Inherit the Viper.
Dolittle may be the movie we actually end up watching in the theater, begrudgingly. I was not a huge fan of Eddie Murphy’s franchise, only having seen the first one, but it looks like they are putting money in this one with a giant all star voice cast. Robert Downey Jr. is Dr. Dolittle, the veterinarian who talks to animals, and can understand what they say back. The voice cast includes Emma Thompson, Rami Malek (coming a long way from Until Dawn!), John Cena, Kumail Nanjiani, Octavia Spencer, Tom Holland, Craig Robinson, Ralph Fiennes, Selena Gomez, and Marion Cotillard.
Will Smith continues his quest to reclaim the love of the people with the the concluding chapter of the now Bad Boys trilogy, along with Martin Lawrence. Which I appreciate him trying to bring back his 90s fun era as his attempts at Oscar gold has left me cold.
For Sebastian Stan fans, The Last Full Measure comes to theaters, sounds like a very interesting story involving William H. Pitsenbarger.
Stan portrays an investigator looking into a Medal of Honor request for Pitsenbarger. The film also has Peter Fonda in it, and I did not even realized he died back in August 2019.
Charlie Hunnam will be in Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen. Hugh Grant is in it too!
On my birthday, we get another attempt at making Gretel & Hansel into a movie.
February
I was going to give Birds of Prey a hard pass but Mary Elizabeth Winstead as The Huntress intrigues me.
So that is something the film has going for it. As Ali Wong is in the film along with Ewan McGregor as The Black Mask.
This really is the year of the comback! Alicia Silverstone is back, ya’ll! In The Lodge, a horror film.
Probably the definition of someone trying to reclaim their 90s cred, Jim Carrey in Sonic the Hedgehog! If I watch it, it will be for James Marsden and for the (hopefully) ten minutes we get in Mobius.
I am reminded that horror movies come out in February so that the BluRay will be available by Halloween. Fantasy Island is getting a horror film adaption that until right this moment as I type this, I was thinking about the Love Boat. I have never seen an episode of Fantasy Island so I have no connection to this.
Community’s Jim Rash is co-directing a film, Downhill, a remake of a Swedish film, Force Majeure. It stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus and WIll Ferrell.
Hey, Valiant Comics actually got Bloodshot made into a movie, starring Vin Diesal. Good for those guys!
Maybe the first legitimate movie I am actually interested in. Call of the Wild, a CGI-Animated adaption of Jack London novel. The voice cast is pretty stunning with Harrison Ford, Dan Stevens, Karen Gillan, and Bradley Whitford! Which reminds me, I still have that final season of Legion to watch.
It has been enough years (I guess?) so we are getting another adaption of Emma, this time with Anya Taylor-Joy. Are we going to get New Mutants this year?
The Boy is getting a sequel, this time with Katie Holmes.
I am a sucker for The Invisible Man, so I am excited about this new movie! Elizabeth Moss, who is enjoying an amazing career post-West Wing, is the gal who is being tormented by Oliver Mansour Jackson-Cohen’s the Invisible Man.
Wendy, a re-imagining of Peter Pan, is coming out at the end of February (along with Invisible Man), so that should interest my wife as she’s a huge Peter Pan fan. Seems like a very dark take on the characters.
March
I saw a trailer for Disney Pixar’s Onward, it looks cute with two demon sons wishing their father back to life but only get him from the waist down. Tom Holland may be lending his voice to too many animated films. Probably watch this with Walker Dennis but I would be okay with passing on it.
Ben Affleck will be in a sports drama, The Way Back. It is a re-team with Director Gavin O’Connor, which reminds me that I did want to watch The Accountant.
My Spy, starring Dave Bautista, Kristen Schall, and Dr. Ken Jeong, is the first kids’ movie I would be tempted to see. It looked silly and over the top, but in a good way.
A Quiet Place is getting a sequel, which might prompt me to finally getting around to watching the first movie.
Looks like the Riverdale cast has started making side movies! KJ Apa (Archie) is portraying Jeremy Camp in I Still Believe.
Britt Robertson (who I know from Under the Dome but she’s been in loads of things now), is portraying his first wife. His parents are played by Gary Sinise and Shania Twain. The story is what he based his song, I Still Believe, about.
Thanks to JeremyCampMusic for hosting the video!
Disney’s continuing quest to turn all of their animated feature films into real films, continues with Mulan’s release. Probably another one of these I will not watch until it is on Disney+.
April
Peter Rabbit 2 comes out and the first one was not horrible. Probably catch it whenever it becomes available to stream. Rose Byrne and Domhnall Gleeson are back, and that is all I care about.
Lookie lookie, we have New Mutants set for April! I cannot find a movie poster with the new date on it so I will believe it when I see it. I also still need to watch The Dark Phoenix Saga, I know it is not good but I should still watch it. Like Fallout 76, it feels weird not experiencing something in one of my favorite franchises.
We are getting the 25th Bond film, No Time to Die, such a great Bondy title! I still have to watch Spectre.
Trolls World Tour will be a definite movie we watch in the theater. I have to remember that Cinemark does Discount Tuesdays where movies are actually properly price, so we should try to take advantage of that more in the coming year.
The Secret Garden is getting another remake that maybe someone asked for?
May
Black Widow is hopefully a movie we watch in theaters. For whatever reason, we missed out on Captain Marvel, we kept missing times or the weekend got away from us. But I would like to watch it.
Tom Hanks wrote and stars in Greyhound, a war film based on a book.
The Personal History of David Copperfield has 12th Doctor, Peter Capaldi in it.
We get yet another animated origin story of Scooby Doo, titled Scoob! This was a trailer before Frozen 2 and Walker Dennis really wants to watch it. I wish it was just a feature length animated film and not an origin story but I am sure it will be decent.
Chris Rock developed a story that is being turned into the ninth installment of the Saw franchise, The Organ Donor. I thought we were done with that series?
Fast & Furious 9 is happening, I will be skipping that, I still have not seen one of these films.
Spongebob will have a trilogy of films come this summer.
Artemis Fowl, directed by Kenneth Branagh is coming out, I have heard of the book series but do not know anything specifically about it.
June
Wonder Woman kicks off the month!
Candyman pulls a Halloween and is making a direct sequel to the original film, and Tony Todd is back in the role as well! Which reminds me, I still have to watch that new Halloween film. Plus, I should play more Dead by Daylight, I feel like I am constantly reminded of how I made so many purchases in that game, and have not played in a while.
We saw a trailer for Pixar’s other movie, Soul, but I am not sure if we are going to watch it in theaters, I do like the idea of the film though and it promises to have jazz music in it, so I like that. Tina Fey co-wrote it, so it should be funny.
Judd Apatow is back with King of Staten Island, that stars and is co-written by Pete Davidson. He was just starting SNL when I gave up on the long running sketch comedy series. Heck, I used to at least know who was hosting it but I have given up on that too. Do people even talk about SNL sketches? I was told about the Batman sketch and even that was years old.
So funny!
Thanks to Saturday Night Light for hosting the video. Thanksgiving 2017, so two years ago, and I only heard about it a few months back when Arkham Knight was the free PS+ game.
Ton Gun’s sequel, Maverick, finally becomes a real thing after years of hearing about it. Looks pretty legit with Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm (also making movies again?), and Ed Harris joining the cast. I imagine the plot is Miles Teller (out from movie jail) is the new maverick and Tom Cruise as to get him to focus his energy and dial back his bad boy ways.
In the Heights, is this year’s musical! I have not heard about it before but I hope there are some good songs in it. Jimmy Smits, Stephanie Beatriz (who we heard sing in Lego Movie 2), and Lin-Manuel Miranda are in smaller roles, by judging how their names are listed on the Wikipedia page. I still have not seen La La Land outside of watching three songs from it. This post is mostly about movies I was excited about but did not go out of my way to watch.
July
Minions gets a sequel, The Rise of Gru, which should deal with his twin brother, right? At least it should be acknowledged. Thankfully, Walker Dennis is not despicably into this franchise, I think he likes it enough but he seems to be a bigger fan of Illumination’s other properties.
Ryan Reynolds has a science fiction comedy, Free Guy, coming out. It sounds super fun! Reynolds is a NPC in a GTA/Fortnite mashup of a game, and becomes aware that he is in a video game. Which is a very fun premise. What would that world be, just an open world first person shooter? Is there a game like that? So Fortnite but in a more city like local but still with the countdown and the parachutes?
Ghostbusters : Afterlife, the movie, if we do not watch any other movies this year, we will watch this one, for sure! Probably buy the souvenir cups and popcorn bowl too. I am committed to this!
The Purge gets a fifth film! Five more and they overtake Saw, if I am counting right. The concept fascinates me but I need an origin story as I have so many questions about how it all got set up and what the infrastructure must have been like to get it started. Have they dealt with that yet? Even if it takes place in a comic or novel, I would totally read that.
Christopher Nolan is back with Tenet, and he did bring Michael Caine along for the ride! “Action thriller” seems to be the only description of the plot. RPatts getting some pre-Bat-time. Kenneth Branagh is having a banner year with directing a film and featuring in another one.
Bob’s Burgers is getting a film! Fun series, I only seen the first season and maybe some of the second? I just barely have time for the shows I do watch.
Disney ride, Jungle Cruise, gets a film starring Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt (who must have really impressed someone with her Captain Marvel audition), and Paul Giamatti.
We’re getting a Marvel Morbius movie?! I have been wanting one of these since Marvel has made movies and we have had Octobers! Missed ropportunity to have it be in October as even the BluRay will not be available by then. Jared Leto as Marbius kills my buzz but maybe he will be better in this role? 11th Doctor, Matt Smith, plays a friend in it! I cannot find a legit image that does not look like an artist rendering of what he should look like. Unless the above is legit, then we are off to a good start.
I get Sony has to do something with the Spider-franchise but I am really hoping this is at least watchable. I just wish Disney had all of the characters but then we would not get a Morbius movie. Then again, we are getting Blade, imagine that crossover? I am now!
August
Respect, Jennifer Hudson as Aretha Franklin. This is dumb, and I am sure someone had the conversation, but I wished it was spelled R-E-S-P-E-C-T, which I get is longer and the hyphens are distracting, but it is probably more fun than they are hoping for.
I completely forgot to expect Bill & Ted Face the Music! I am smiling just typing that! William Sadler is back as The Grim Reaper, so that is amazing. I really wished they did this while George Carlin was still alive. Amy Stoch is back as Bill’s step-mother and Hal Landon Jr. is back as Ted’s father.
Let Him Go is a drama with Kevin Costner and Diane Lane, so someone really wanted more of them together after not getting it from Man of Steel, and I am right there with them! Thomas Bezucha, who directed Family Stone, directs this film. The pair have to save their grandson from an off-the-grid family.
September
Video game franchise, Monster Hunter, gets a film starring Resident Evil’s Milla Jovovich.
The Conjuring gets its eighth film in the franchise, which I am happy that Patrick Wilson keeps getting continued work.
The Kingsman gets a prequel with The King’s Man, another franchise I have nothing to do with.
Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse gets a film adaption, the origin story of John Clark, a recurring character in Jack Ryan stories. They have to do something while Amazon has the Jack Ryan rights.
Sopranos prequel film, The Main Saints of Newark comes to theaters, with David Chase co-writing.
Edgar Wright is back with Last Night in Soho, starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Matt Smith, and Terence Stamp.
Aaron Sorkin is writing and directing, The Trial of the Chicago 7, based off of the true events of the riots that took place during the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
and not the Chicago White Sox like I originally thought it was going to be about before clicking the link for more information. Seems like a very interesting case and I have not heard anything about it before hand.
Apparently the story has been adapted a couple times already. The film stars Sacha Baron Cohen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Thomas Middleditch, William Hurt, Frank Langella, and Michael Keaton. So I will eventually watch this. I am sure it will also get Oscar buzz around it.
October
Now we get the real reason why Morbius is not the October movie from Sony’s Spider-Thinktank! Venom 2 is a thing, were we even expecting it? Walker Dennis sure did take to the first one so he might be able to watch the second one in the theater. Woody Harrelson is in it so we must be getting Venom vs. Carnage, which should look better as two black characters fighting each other was not pleasant on the eyes.
That poster may not be legit, but it looks pretty cool.
Tom Hanks’ second movie, BIOS, it is a science fiction film that also features Skeet Ulrich.
Hey, Murder on the Orient Express is getting a sequel! Death on the Nile, also written by Agatha Christie. Kenneth Branagh is back as the director and star of the film. So Sir Branagh is directed two films in one year and stars in two films as well, that has to be a record for director/actor, right? Along for the ride is Gal Gadot, Letita Wright (Shuri from the Marvel films), Armie Hammer, Annette Bening, and Russell Brand. These movies have quite the cast and I really do want to watch MotOE.
The 1990 masterpiece, Witches, is getting a remake! This time by Robert Zemeckis, so I am not sure if this is going to be a CGI film like his previous ones or a proper live action film. Cast is shaping up to be a delight with Anne Hathaway, Octavia Spencer, Stanley Tucci, and Chris Rock. The film promises to be closer to the book version, which typical of remakes.
As referenced above, Halloween Kills is the sequel to the 2018’s Halloween sequel to the original movie. Seems like a giant cast but Michael definitely needs to kill people so a larger cast lets that happen. I really need to see that 2018 one. Jamie Lee Curtis and Judy Greer are back, and Anthony Michael Hall is in this too! This marks the 12th installment for the franchise.
GI Joe’s Snake eyes gets his own spin off! I have yet to watch any of these films, and not necessarily going to break that tradition with this one. Now, if there was a new Ninja Turtles and/or He-Man movie, along with Ghostbusters, then my trinity of cartoons would be complete!
We get two musicals this year with Everybody’s Talking about Jamie, which will be the comedy one. I have not heard of this one either.
November
Can Marvel strike Guardians gold a second time with Eternals? So many question marks with this film, including, what is this even going to be? Is this going to work as an origin story for the Marvel Universe? A second option? Still, that cast and it being a Marvel movie, should mean success. Black Widow could be the more action heavy movie and this one being the more thought-provoking film, though I am not sure if Marvel has one of those just yet. Angelia Jolie, Kumail Nanjiani, Salma Hayek, and Kit Harington, please come on into the Marvel Universe!
Clifford the Big Red Dog gets the live action adaption treatment. Hopefully they do not lean into the Curious George disaster walking tropes, which Clifford is not known for but I can only imagine they are going to attempt to give the big ol’ dog an origin story. Will Walker Dennis want to see it? I doubt it,
There is no link but Netflix is making a movie (for theaters?) titled “Red Notice” directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber who also directed We are Millers and Dodgeball. So it has to be a comedy. The cast is pretty great with Dwayne Johnson, Gal Gadot, and Ryan Reynolds.
Ben Affleck’s second film, Deep Water, based on the psychological thriller book.
Maybe the first movie I watch with Walker Dennis and I watch due to my wife’s disinterest in the big monster genre, but who knows, she might want to watch it. My big caution about the film is the percentage of dumb humans to actual monster content as I would want the split to be 95/5 monster to humans. Dumb humans can set up who the characters are for 15 minutes, then the next hour could just be the monsters fighting, as humans seek shelter but I also don’t care if any of the humans live. Which is my biggest gripe with the Aliens vs. Predators films as it is like 30/70 with the humans taking most of the film’s running time. Plus, there are so many humans in this film! Dreamboat Alexander Skarsgard, Millie Bobby Brown, and Kyle Chandler, so maybe they will not take up too much time either. Plus, these are not any two no-name monsters, this is Godzilla vs. King Kong, so this should be presented like the once every 40 years match-up that it is! Can you actually believe the last time they fought was in 1962?! Way too long!
Disney’s official 59th animated feature film, Raya and the Last Dragon comes out. Raya is searching for, you guessed it, the last dragon. We have managed to watch the last several Disney films in the theater, so I imagine this one will get seen as well.
Will Smith, chasing that Oscar gold, stars in King Richard, a film about Venus and Serena Williams’ father, Richard. I guess he’s the most important part of those two’s career? I guess a movie from their perspective or from their point of view, could be a tad larger in scope so focusing on someone managing both daughters is the way to go.
December
Sylvester Stallone has a film, Samaritan, kicking the month off.
We are trying our hands with another Dune movie. The film should cover the first half of the novel, so hopefully we get the second film. The film stars Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Daddy Stellan Skarsgard, Dave Bautista, Zendaya, Jason Momoa, and Javier Bardem. The original film came out in 1984 and the book in 1965.
As this post takes some time to write, I legit was thinking that it has been a while since Steven Spielberg released a film and wondering if he was retired. Turns out, he has been directing West Side Story! We are getting three musicals this year! That should fill up the Golden Globes Musical or Comedy category! I have also not seen Ready Player One, or it turns out, several other Spielberg films. It looks like a cast of relatively unknowns, but I bet it launches several careers. The original film came out in 1961, and like most remakes, is supposed to be closer to the original Broadway source.
Even Coming to America is getting a sequel! Coming 2 America, get it? That’s fun. The original film came out in 1988. Plot seems a little dicey with Eddie Murphy’s character realizing he had a child (a son) he did not know about, like how he claimed Scary Spice’s daughter was not his, and now has to make six movies a year to pay off that child support. Silly Eddie Murphy! Arsenio Hall is back for this as is James Earl Jones. Leslie Jones and Wesley Snipes joins the cast.
We are supposed to get Uncharted this year, but for some reason, I am very doubtful of it. The lack of a Wikipedia page, Mark Wahlberg as a young Sully, no movie posters even being made by fans, Tom Holland as an even younger Nathan Drake, I’ll see if Travis Knight sticks around. I would love an epic Uncharted film, it would have to be at least three hours long, right? Hopefully we get a new Uncharted game, heck, even if it was shorter one like Lost Legacy, that would work for me! Which I still have to play Uncharted 4 and Lost Legacy, I will one of these months soon. Probably once I have Lego Marvel Superheroes 2 completed, or out of my system, whichever one happens first.
Good grief! We are getting a live action / animated combo of a thing to bring Tom and Jerry to modern audiences! Repeat my complaint already about too many humans above in Godzilla vs. Kong, but even more so here! Colin Jost is in movies now?! At least Dr. Ken Jeong is in it. Oh, and it is being directed by Tim “Fantastic Four” Story. At least it is during December, when we need a kids movie. Probably be a hard pass for it.
The Croods finally get a sequel to their 2013 film, which I also have no interest in watching. Hopefully the Cinemark Dollar Summer Movie program offers the first movie, or this will have to be another pass for old dad.
Tom Hanks’ third film, News of the World helps close out the year. Takes place after the American Civil War, he is tasked with bringing an orphan daugther to her next living kin. It is based on a novel.
The year ends with a third Ben Affleck movie, Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel, that reteams him with life mate, Matt Damon, who along with Affleck, co-wrote the film. That’s fun. Adam Drive is also in it, no other information is available.
. . .
It looks like Affleck and Tom Hanks have three movies out this year. No Christian Bale or Hugh Jackman (has anyone seen him in a while?) He’s doing Broadway and world tours, good for him!
By my count, 11 films, I am legit interested in watching, that seems like a decent enough movie going experience. As Walker Dennis gets older, it will be more fun to take him to more films.
Of course, other movies might crop up but these are the ones I could manage any opinions on.
. . .
I wish you a Happy New Year! Make Good Decisions!
2020 is going to bring us the Summer Olympics and a Presidential Election. Who are the Democrats going to put up? It does not look like anyone is leading nor does it look like any of them can do it. Which seriously, how come no one is ever being groomed to be the ideal candidate? We did not get anyone during Obama’s re-election nor did we get anyone for George W. Bush, nor Clinton before him. It really cannot be that hard but I also understand no one would really want that job.
The Summer Olympics will be held in Toyko, Japan, so they should be glorious! Nasa is supposed to launch an exploratory mission to Mars. Liberia is going to agree to stop cutting down their trees and Norway is going to pay them to not do it.
In fiction, Arno Stark, Iron Man 2020, is supposed to become a thing.
Turtles in Time’s Neon Night Riders takes place in this year.
The company that makes the robots in I, Robot, forms. Godzilla : Final Wars takes place in 2020. Hugh Jackman’s Real Steel also takes place this year.
Of course, SeaLab 2020. The events of Harry Potter : The Golden Child take place. Dark Angel’s second half of Season One and the first half of Season Two.
The 11th Doctor two parter, The Hungry Earth / Cold Blood.
Glee’s series finale.
Robot House from Fallout is born on June 25, 2020.
For December 2019, just in time for the holidays, we are getting Titanfall 2 and Monster Energy Supercross!
Titanfall 2 on October 28, 2016 (my sister’s birthday). Ben of Platinum Chasers fame said in the below video that its inclusion makes sense as their latest game, Star Wars Jedi : Fallen Order, just came out. I am not that familiar with Titanfall 2, as I just learned that Apex Legends takes place within the Titanfall universe.
Monster Energy Supercross is a BMX game that I bet Walker Dennis and I will enjoy playing together. The third game in the series is set to come out sometime next year.
Titanfall 2’s Standard Edition is $19.99 (and will most likely be the version we get). It gets as low as $5.99.
Monster Energy Supercross – The Official Videogame Standard Edition is $39.99 (and will most likely be the version we get). It gets as low as $11.99.
So at their highest value, $60, and at their lowest value, $18. Which is not horrible nor the worst for the subscription, as long as I have been tracking
. . .
PlayStation Store
Both games have a slew of side content!
Titanfall 2
This game has three pages of content!
There is a free SHAREfactory theme that I have just downloaded.
There is an Ultimate Edition for $30.
Add-Ons
Badlands Flatline $5
Ion Prime $5
MRVN EPG $5
Legion Prime $5
Ronin Prime $5
Masterwork G2A5 $5
Phantom Archer $5
Headhunter Alternator $5
Northstar Prime $5
Tone Prime $5
Purple Fade $5
hantom Longbow-DMR $5
Nitro Scorch Pack $5
Sky R-97 $5
Lead Farmer Spitfire $5
Heat Sink Volt $5
Blue Fade Flatline $5
Masterwork Sidewinder SMR $5
Crimson Fury CAR $5
Fury Mastiff $5
RSPN Customs X-55 Devotion $5
Purple Fade R-97 $5
Crimson Fury R-201 Carbine $5
Masterwork Kraber-AP Sniper $5
8-Bit LG-97 Thunderbolt $5
Mochi Hemlok BF-R $5
Colony Reborn Scorch Art Pack $4
Monarch’s Reign Cailsign Pack $2
Monarch’s Reign Tone Art Pack $4
Colony Reborn Ronin Art Pack $4
Monarch’s Reign Ronin Art Pack $4
Scorch Art Pack 1 $4
Monarch’s Reign Ion Art Pack $4
Colony Reborn Northstar Art Pack $4
Colony Reborn Ion Art Pack $4
Monarch’s Reign Northstar Art Pack $4
Ion Art Pack 1 $4
Frontier Patriot R-201 Carbine $5
Tone Art Pack 1 $4
Masterwork R-6P Softball $5
Badlands EVA-8 Auto $5
Colony Reborn Tone Art Pack $4
Angel City Camo Pack $3
Legion Art Pack 1 $4
Aqua Fade B3 Wingman $5
Crimson Fury SA-3 Mozambique $5
Heat Sink L-STAR $5
Monarch’s Reign Legion Art Pack $4
Colony Reborn Callsign Pack $2
Underground R-201 Carbine $5
Monarch’s Reign Scorch Art Pack $4
Blue Fade R-101 Carbine $5
Colony Reborn Camo Pack $3
Northstar Art Pack 1 $4
Colony Reborn Legion Art Pack $4
Angel City Callsign Pack $2
Masterwork D-2 Double Take $5
Ronin Art Pack 1 $4
Heat Sink EM-4 Cold War $5
There is a Colony Reborn Bundle for $25.
A Monarch’s Reign Bundle for $25.
A Battlefield 1 and Titanfall 2 Ultimate Bundle for $60.
A Elite Weapon Warpaint Bundle that has no price.
An Operation Endeavor Warpaint Bundle for $20.
An Angel City’s Most Wanted Bundle for $25.
There is a Deluxe Edition Content for $10.
A Jump Start Pack for $7.
Typing all of that, the Ultimate Edition cannot include all of the art items, right? It does not but it comes with 500 tokens to unlock more items that it does not come with but it does come with a slew of items.
I might as well type all that it includes to save you, dear reader, an additional click :
Base game, Deluxe Edition content (Scorch & Ion Prime Titans, Decluxe Edition Warpaint for 6 Titans, Deluxe Edition Camo for all Titans, Pilots & Weapons, Deluxe Edition Nose Arts for 6 Titans, Deluxe Edition Callsign), Jump Start content (All Titans unlocked, all Pilot tacticals unlocked, 500 tokens to unlock loadouts, cosmetics and gear, 10 2x XP tokens), and the Underground R-201 Carbine Warpaint.
Which I am sure all of this makes sense once we start playing the game.
So I am not sure if it is worth spending two dollars more for the Add-Ons that total $13, just to save a few clicks as we still have to click download for the individual DLCs.
Anyone else want to spell “Energy” as “Engery” which, of course, is not right, but I seem to keep wanting to spell it that way.
. . .
December is an awkward month for PS+ Subscription. Sony will never agree (nor the publishers most likely) to release a super popular game this month as that would cut into sales of physical gifts for the holidays. On the other hand, for those buying a new PS4, and getting a free trial of either 14 days of three months, one would think they would want to show off the PS+ Subscription Service to show how great it can be, instead of having the person look into the previous year’s offerings to see the value. That may be what the games in March are traditionally popular games to get people to resubscribe after their initial three months are up.
I say all of this as my favorite subbreddits are not too pleased with the offerings. Titanfall 2 has been steeply discounted over the years and Supercross seems like free advertisement.
That’s right, I have added PS4Deals to my subscriptions as it was the only way to find out what free themes were being offered and various other deals.
. . .
Here are my usual peeps on their thoughts :
Elle of PlayStation Access :
Adam of PlayStation Grenade :
Ben of Platinum Chasers :
Thanks to Ben for explaining all of the Death Stranding Supercross jokes / comments I was reading on the above subreddit threads as I could not imagine how Monster Energy drinks could make it into Death Stranding but they are definitely there!
. . .
Here are the trophy guides from PlayStation Trophies :
Seems like I should not have to work too hard to get at least my first trophies in these games.
. . .
In Mad Max, I have finally taken out all of the Top Dogs and I am slowly working on building all of the Archangels and completing Death Races. The Maximum Air trophy keeps eluding me, which is starting to really irritate me.
. . .
I did put a pin in that game as Elle mentioned Path of Exile in this video :
Which she had me at “free game.” After attempting Nioh, I really like the idea of playing a character with dual swords so hopefully my Duelist gets those soon.
The game can be pretty intense with the communities that have been created surrounding the game. Forbes has a pretty detailed three part introduction to the game :
So interesting how Forbes has a dedicated video game writer team.
I just started my game last night so I am pretty much just walking around the opening shore line and have visited the first town and then my first waypoint, then I had to turn off the game.
My plans are to turn him into a Slayer.
It is a lot of information to take in and the menu is very busy but I am committed to playing until I complete Act 1 of 10, and then I am probably going to put it away until I am reminded of it again.
. . .
Then I will probably jump back into Mad Max, try to get all of those Death Races completed, I know I am not getting the Platinum in this game as already two races are beyond me to earn the Legendary speed so I am only committed to finishing these races.
I can see me attempting Titanfall 2’s campaign, that I hear is excellent. Everyone states the multiplayer trophies are super easy, two of them are just doing things and one of them is winning the match so hopefully my team can carry me through. Supercross, I will have to read the trophy guide and play the game but I might do it like I did Horizon Chase Turbo and commit to tracks or cups, or however they break up the races.
. . .
Looking at the list of games, some of them really stand out as being pretty good :
For Honor (February 2019)
What Remains of Edith Finch (May 2019)
Sonic Mania (June 2019)
Sniper Elite 4 (August 2019)
Batman : Arkham Knight (September 2019)
The Last of Us Remastered (October 2019)
I really should make a bigger point of playing HItman : First Season and Detroit : Become Human.
So those would be my Top Six Free Games of 2019! I enjoyed playing the other ones but those stood out to me. So I would say six stellar games that I really took too (well, Sonic Mania might be the sixth game on that list), for $40, is not a bad bundle.
. . .
Have a Happy and Super Safe Thanksgiving Day, Ya’ll! Enjoy those Black Friday deals as well! Make Good Decisions!
I am beyond excited and just hearing Brian and Rob’s voices is amazing!
Player FM did not notify me of new episodes of my podcasts for a week and a half, so I am now crazy behind on all of my podcasts, including two episodes of Turtle Soup (209 and 210) so I have a lot to catch up on but I might have to resurrect my policy of listening to the X-Cast twice prior to moving on to another podcast.
I am mostly upset about the lack of notification for Turtle Soup, I may have to seek out whoever is Player FM’s direct competitor who is not iTunes.
I miss Brian and Rob so much and I am glad they are enjoying Jonathan Hickman’s run on the titles! I may have to start collecting the trades, just out of thanks. I was already thinking of getting Gerry Duggan’s Marauders title for that sweet Kitty Pryde and Lockheed content.
Comic Book Queers Legacy finally got some X-Competition!
I have seen the first two episodes and they are amazing! The songs are great.
At first, I was trying to align the second season with the first season but I am pretty sure it is a completely different timeline, which is pretty fun!
I am already planning on rewatching season two immediately after I finish it and then, of course, do a marathon of all of the entire series!
Season One had ten episodes, ten minutes each, and Season Two has six episodes, twenty minutes each, so you can definitely sample the series without it being a giant time commitment. Please please, if you are going to give the series a chance, give it until the third episode of the first season as it has one of my favorite songs from the series.
. . .
I finally got the V8 in Mad Max! It does not seem that much different from the V6, but I suspect I need to upgrade the engines and maybe the tires and everything else before seeing it become the beast mode (do people still use that term?) that I suspect it should be.
I completed Act III and I earned the trophy for completing a race in an Archangel. I wanted to go back to the previous three races I have completed, for the “complete every race in the required Archangel” and “blow up one car in each Archangel” trophies but I am so scrap for scraps that I have to get a surplus of scraps again before all of that is possible. So my magic number will be 5,000 scraps and then I will start working towards those races. Races are so easy once you destroy the competition with the Thunderpoon. So I was looking forward to that before I realized how scrap poor I was.
My next story mission is to free Hope’s daughter, Glory. It seems Max has married Hope in his mind but physically, he is still being rather rude to her. I have no idea what Act IV is going to be like but I am going to stick to that path until I get the 5000 scrap and then I will busy myself with those races. I know which ones I have completed at least once, as it has a handy gas tank icon next to the Death Race icon. But I want to use that icon to mean that I have completed the race in the correct car so now I have to do those races again.
Shadow and Flame with Magik 