I meant to do a post about games I am playing during the Coronavirus but I have been working four tens for the past few weeks and I knew the announcement for the Free PS+ Games was coming soon, so I have been drafting this in head for a bit.
The April 2020 PS+ Games are Uncharted 4 and Dirt Rally 2.0. PlayStation Access accidentally revealed these last week, and now we know it was probably Nathan who did it, as he provides the narration in the video below.
I already own Uncharted 4, so I am going to wait for another bonus credit deal at GameStop and I can turn in both the Uncharted Collection and Uncharted 4 at that time.
Dirty Rally 2.0, seems to be a game that no one has taken the time to create a guide for, which seems bonkers to me. I will at least play it until I earned one trophy.
. . .
PSPrices
Uncharted 4 is typically a $19.99 game, but goes as low as $9.99.
Dirt Ralley 2.0 is typically $59.99, it is currently $39.99, so hopefully no one buys it this week! It has been as low as $17.99.
So the games together are a value of $28, at their lowest.
Our running total was $61, so another $28, makes $89, so PS Plus is definitely paying for itself.
PS Store
Uncharted 4 has quite a few items on the PlayStation store :
Harry Flynn
Orca
Knot
Katherine Marlowe
Victor Sullivan
Nathan Drake (which you may have already as it was part of the Player Appreciation package).
Sam Drake
Elena Fisher
Zoran Lazarevic
Charlie Cutter
Victor Sullivan (Hero)
Sam Drake (Hero)
Nathan Drake (Hero)
Elena Fisher (Hero)
Pack 1, $1.49 (including both brothers, Sully, and Elena)
Hero Pack $1.49, which includes Cutter and the characters from Pack 1’s hero version)
Villain Avatar Pack, $1.49
Themes
Fire, $1.99
Shipwreck, $1.99
Ink, $1.99, which I bought, as it was the only one that featured Elena.
Dirt Rally 2.0 DLC includes :
Vehicles
Subaru Impreza, $1.49
Fully Loaded Rallycross Pack, $1.99
Fully Loaded Mini Pack, $1.99
Fully Loaded Ford Pack, $1.99
Citroen C$ Rally, $1.49
Ford Fiesta Rallycross (STARD), $1.49
Sea Ibiza RX, $1.49
Renault Megane R.S. RX, $1.49
Mini Cooper SX1, $1.49
Peugeot 208 WRX, $1.99
Volkswagen Golf Kitcar, $1.49
Opel Manta 400, $1.49
Lancia Delta S4 Rallycross, $1.49
H2 RWD Double Pack, $1.99
Ford Fiesta Rallycross (MK8), $1.49
Lancia 037 Evo 2, $1.49
Porshe 911 SC RS, $1.49
SKODA Fabia Rally, $1.49
Ford RS200 Evolution, $1.99
Rnault Clio R.S. RX, $1.49
Peugeot 206 Rally, $1.49
MG Metro 6R4 Rallycross, $1.49
Seat Ibiza Kit Car, $1.99
BMW M1 Procar Rally, $1.49
Peugeot 306 Maxi, $1.99
Peugeot 205 T16 Rallycross, $1.99
Subaru Impreza (2001), $1.49
Starter Car Upgrade, $0.99
Car Variety Pack, $3.99
Opel Kadett C CT/E, $0.99
Porsche 911 RGT Rally Spec, $1.49
Audi S1 EKS RX quattro, $1.99
Ford Focus RS Rally 2007, $1.49
Ford Focus RS Rally 2001, $1.49
Ford Fiesta RXS Evo 5, $1.99
Maps
Greece Rally, $3.99
Sweden Rally, $3.99
Finland, $3.99
Monte Carlo, $3.99
Bikernieki, Latvia, $3.99
Wales, $3.99
Estering, Germany, $3.99
Killarney, International, South Africa, $3.99
Yas Marina Circuit, $3.99
Lydden Hill, UK, $3.99
Various
Colin McRae : Flat Out Pack, $9.99, which includes 40 challenging scenarios, 12 new breathtaking rally routes through Scotland, and two vehicles.
Year One Pass, $19.99
Seasons 3 & 4 Pack, $11.99
There is also a Game of the Year Edition for $59.99.
Some seem annoyed that now everyone owns the entire Uncharted franchise, minus Lost Legacy. Some predict Lost Legacy will be the free game in a few months. Almost like a movie is in the works, or something?
Then poor Dirt Rally 2.0 seems to be a real head scratcher.
. . .
Here are my YouTube peeps :
Nathan with PlayStation Access :
Adam with PlayStation Grenade :
Ben with Platinum Chasers :
Ben’s video finally made it to the top of the list of results for “PS+ April 2020 Games.” Usually I have to do that search and add “Platinum Chasers,” to the search, so hopefully that means people are finding his excellent videos and he’s moving up the list.
. . .
Here is the PlayStationTrophies.org guide to Uncharted 4 :
Looking at the list, I am hoping I can at least earn one of these :
Antilog Engaged, Purchase your first FIA World Rallycross Supercar
That’s Dedication, Complete 3 Weekly Community Events
Eat my DiRT, Complete 20 Custom Events
Clown Car, Complete 50 Joker laps
CAUTION, Don’t Cut, Complete a stage without damaging your car (I doubt it though)
Qualified, Complete Your first AI Challenge
Adaptable, Complete a stage in Dry, Overcast, Rain and Wet conditions
Fine Tuned, Create and save your own tuning setup
I imagine I will at least earn Qualified and Adaptable, those would be my main goals. I am not great at racing games, or races in general, if I have learned anything from the Lego games.
. . .
There is currently a big April Spring Sale going on right now :
I bought Walker Dennis Lego Jurassic World, as the base game is $5.99, the lowest it goes, and the three DLC plus game came to $10, so that was a pretty good deal.
. . .
In Batman Arkham Asylum, I got to the point where I have to leave the Asylum, to chase down Warden Sharp. Then I got distracted by the big March sale and my new games.
Walker Dennis and I completed Lego DC Supervillains, on his account. I earned trophies like every other session, so I have to play on my own. We completed the six bonus missions, so now we have full access to the open map, so he’s excited about that.
. . .
Slender The Arrival was pretty cheap, like three dollars, and I saw there were like four trophies we could earn during the simple Prologue, so I bought it and earned those trophies. Maybe in October, I will really commit to playing the game again.
. . .
I bought Walker Dennis Lego City Undercover, and we completed the Prison Island mission, which is essentially a complete homage to Shawshank Redemption, which I really appreciated.
. . .
Walker Dennis has been at home as his school is closed until April 10 (hopefully!), and he just loves the Goat Simulator game. My wife was kind enough to buy a $20 gift card and now he has the DLC collection. I was hoping she was going to buy a $25 card and I would have gotten five dollar credit, but she outsmarted me.
I really enjoyed the MMO and the Payday DLC. Zombies is alright, I am not much of a zombie guy, and Space seems to be the one Walker Dennis really enjoys the most, and it is the one I earned the least amount of trophies in.
. . .
My wife and I have started really playing Jeopardy on the PS4, and we are having a blast. I do not forget how smart she is but I am reminded of how smart she is and also how competitive she gets. I definitely enjoy Jeopardy over the Wheel of Fortune game, but we have been playing that as well.
. . .
I treated myself to Joe Mad’s Battle Chasers Anthology, that collects the first nine issues and has a slew of extras :
The reviews state that the spine of the trade is pretty weak but I did not have any problems with my copy.
During the March sale, Battle Chasers Nigthwar was around eight dollars, so I snatched it up. I like how it purposely takes place in a different area, so you do not have to read the collection, but it helps to get to know the characters better. The game gives little hints at previous adventures. I am at Junktown, and just having my butt handed to me. Most of my team is Level 12, and I get the impression I am probably two levels below where I am. But I really wanted a RPG, so I am trying to not forget the game and come back to it as often as I can. The main town has a mission where I have to clear out all of the slime, the same city that had the spider problem, and I am clearly supposed to be level 15 for that.
I want to be at least at the level of the main threat, which I believe was level 13 for the slime, and most enemies at Junktown seem to be level 12 to 13. I have four members and I know I am supposed to recruit two more members, one I am very familiar with and the other seems to be unique to the game, as I do not believe I saw him in the comic.
. . .
I started Life is Strange : Before the Storm, and I barely started it. I downloaded the bonus episode four, and I am still in Episode 1, Chloe has gone downstairs, and I have the fourth graffiti to still do. My gaming goal is to finish an episode, getting all of the graffiti at the same time, then play Battle Chasers until I level up, and go back and forth between the two games until I earned the Platinum for Life is Strange : Before the Storm, and make serious headway into Battle Chasers Nightwar. I really just want to fill my team with all six characters, and see what clicks.
I feel a tad bad for Calibretto as he was one of my original three with Gully and Garrison. I recruited Knolan, and he was a level higher than my party, so I sort of knew then that I was below where I should be. I believe I am close to getting Red Monika, as the notes around Junktown are referencing a red hair assassin, so that is pretty exciting.
Knolan has a group heal, and that’s sort of what I need. I am still learning the mechanics and finally understanding the merits of using the overcharge battle system, so I have my team hit once, then on their next or third turn, use an attack or heal, that uses up mana (or overcharge) points, and that, I preserve my mana for when I really need it. Which has taken me hours to finally click with the system.
A fun game, I enjoy it, besides the long time it takes to load into the game, but even if I can just load into the game, and complete a few battles on the map, those are less battles I have to do later to level up. It is a bit of a grind fest, but I am here to try for it.
Junktown is such a bigger dungeon as well, with lots of options. I have yet to find a second portal within it so that I can finally save time, as I keep having to leave, go back to the village, rest, and go back. I have committed to stop buying revive potions, as they are expensive and i might as well just die and use the 80 gold to auto return to the village and make my way back to Junktown, going through minor villains, who are not minor at all.
I do like how, with lesser enemies, I get the option to engage in the fight or just move on. If we engage, then we do not earn any xp, but do earn materials and gold.
I like the fishing mechanic as well, but I clearly need better bait and a better fishing rod.
I am clearly just in the beginning of the game, going up against my first real hurdle in it. I will get there eventually, but unlike with Arkham Asylum, I want to commit to this as I have not beaten it before.
Also, owning Nightwar, makes me less incline to purchase other games in the Spring sale. Though seeing Waking Violet for only $2.09 is pretty tempting, even if I just do a few of the puzzles, but I am resisting that urge. Plus, I have these Lego games I can be playing as well. So I really do have plenty of games to play.
Now that my wife is playing on the PS4 (she has really taken to the Switch with Mario Odyssey and Toad Treasure Tracker), I am tempted to buy a few more games for the PS4 for her and I to play, such as Uno or Trivia Pursuit Live. Uno is $4.99, and Trivia Pursuit Live is $5.99, so those are pretty good prices. We used to play Trivia Pursuit on PS3 a bunch, back in the day. Which was a Tuesday.
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.
. . .
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.
. . .
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.
. . .
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.
. . .
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.
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.
Thanks to redditor neocarleen for posting the titles with their very handy PS Store links!
This is a sale that favors indie developers and there are plenty of games for under three dollars.
I bought Real Farm and REUS as they were only 74 cents each, with a PS+ subscription.
I also bought Octodad : Dadliest Catch as it was $3.74, and I am just going to buy games on my wishlist if it is under four dollars. I had a policy of any games under five dollars but that threshold was being met to often.
Elle and Rosie looked like they had a fantastic time playing the game!
Looking into it, the game does have two player couch co-op where up to four players can play as each limb, so Walker Dennis and I may try this together, just without the giant overcoat.
. . .
11-11 Memories Retold is $7.49, which I have been interested in since reading an article about the game in GameInformer.
Dear Esther : Landmark edition is $4, and I think you would get that much out of the game. I started the Commentary Track playthrough and the first several audio files were interesting but I was pretty done with the game by that point. A great looking walking simulator.
Alphabetically, Deployment is the first under two dollar game.
Drowning is a relatively quick platinum, and probably worth the $1.49. I liked it, I wished it had an additional chapter as it was getting very interesting.
Flower is a nice enough game but $5.24 is probably too much, and I would recommend waiting until the Journey Special Edition is on sale again and get Flower and flOw that way, and it would most likely be only a dollar more.
Fractured Minds is worth the dollar, as it has a great story behind the game and a percentage of sales goes to a great cause. I wrote about it before :
I would never buy a modern day Leisure Suit Larry game, unless it got amazing reviews, but $26 seems way too much!
Life is Strange and Life is Strange : Before the Storm Complete Seasons four $4 is a great price, that is like buying four episodes and getting the fifth for free, dollar wise. I only completed the first episode of the original Life is Strange, and I really should head back in one of these days to finish it.
The LIMBO and INSIDE Bundle is $9, which might be a tad high, it all depends on if you want to view getting LIMBO for free and I am not sure if INSIDE is a nine dollar game. I enjoyed INSIDE much more than LIMBO, and INSIDE is nearly a two hour game, and such an interesting adventure, but nine dollars? That part I am not sure about.
Mafia III Season Pass is $15, adding three additional chapters to the game. If I took to Mafia III, I might consider it worth it, but I did not get that far into it before getting distracted by other games. I should try to get back into it.
Ninjin : Clash of Carrots is $4, and I definitely bought it for under two before, so you should probably wait for that price to come down again.
Oustlast 2, I got as a PS+ game in November 2019. I did not take to it, but I know people love the franchise so $8 for a horror game people like, might be up your alley.
Overcooked was a PS+ game in May 2019. It was fun, but I am not sure if it was $6.79 worth of fun. Maybe if you had a friend to play with, it is probably a lot more enjoyable.
If the Oxenfree Bundle : Game + Dynamic Theme + Avatars was under $5.59, I would jump at the chance, as the game looks super interesting. I am just buying way too many games, but I also love a deal.
Everything I see anything regarding Persona 5, I feel like people should know that Personal 5 R is coming out and they should wait for that.
Elle of PlayStation Access fame is a huge fan of Return of the Obra Dinn, and that game is $15, which is a tad steep for me.
Rogue Aces was a PS+ game in February 2019. I also did not take to this game, so $5.84 seems high to me.
Slender : The Arrival was used during PlayStation Access’s Christmas Maze, and it looked interesting and $5 is probably the perfect price, and that is at 50% off.
Now that I know games can and will eventually drop to 75%, I am super willing to wait until that happens. Plus, I did not really get a feel for what the game was like, but it was super fun to watch!
We were given Sonic Mania as one of the PS+ June 2019 titles, and I was tempted to get the Encore DLC then, and now that it is $3, I am tempted to get it again.
I have Surgeon Simulator A&E + I Am Bread combo on my wishlist, and $7 for two games seems like a deal, but after seeing gameplay of I Am Bread, I am pretty hesitant to purchase it. It may not be my type of game.
The Bridge was a PS+ title in October 2018. I did not get that far into the puzzles, but I definitely would type that I got $2 worth out of it.
Nathan of PlayStation Access said The Swapper was a good game, so I added it to my wishlist, and $4.49 sounds good, and that is at 70% off. I am willing to wait for a bit to see if it comes down anymore.
Rob of PlayStation Access talked so highly of Thomas Was Alone, that I added that game to my wishlist as well. $4.99 is a good price, and that is at 50%, so I wonder if it will ever drop to 70%?
I clearly adore the PlayStation Access team. I could not work in a game that Dave recommended.
Uncanny Valley is a very interesting game that we got back in January 2018 as a PS+ title. It requires multiple playthroughs to 100% the game, so I bet I got $5.19 out of it.
People absolutely rave about Undertale, and $12.74 is probably reasonably priced, but that is also at 15%. It will eventually get to 50%. I can be a very patient gamer.
If I were to ever buy Unravel, it would be as the combo bundle.
We also were given What Remains of Edith Finch as a PS+, way back in May 2019, and I definitely got $8 worth of entertainment out of it. Such an amazing experience!
Yooka-Laylee gets a lot of love too, and that game is $10 at 75%.
. . .
I should state that next week, we find out what the February 2020 PS+ games are, so you may want to hold off on any purchases from this deal and the Games Under $20 deal, though one would imagine none of the games on either list would be named as one of the titles, but that is also why I do not buy more than five dollar games towards the end of the month.
. . .
I did not take to Defunct, so I would save your 23 cents for that game. I read it was like playing a Sonic game, but I did not get vibe from it. Well, besides that the main character rolls around, but I did not take to the game mechanics. If the game was all downhill, that may be fun and then it added anti-gravity to the game and after earning a few trophies, I felt like I had played enough.
. . .
Shiny – A Robotic Adventure I would highly recommend, and especially at 23 cents! It is a platform game, and besides Level 12, I enjoyed it a bunch. I stayed up way too late one night and just knocked out all 21 levels, which was highly irresponsible as I was the worst the next day.
I was told on reddit that some of the trophies have glitches and I can confirm that. I collected everything in Level 3, and did not die once, and I did not earn the trophy for Not Dying in a Level. So that was disappointing. Another gripe I have about the game, was once you replay a level, all of the collectibles come back. I was really hoping only the collectibles I had not collected would be present, which is probably a bit much to ask for.
. . .
Walker Dennis keeps just getting better at Spider-Man PS4. He just completed Act 2 and I am highly impressed with how much he is able to accomplish on his own.
I am currently stuck on the Kingpin fight of Amazing Spider-Man 2, and regretting playing on Super Hard mode. I have seen videos where I am supposed to take out the goons prior to taking on the Kingpin, I just have to commit to doing it. I already know that the upcoming Electro and Green Goblin fights were nearly impossible on Easy, so I am dreading playing those as well on Super Hard. I am definitely never attempting anything beyond Normal as my first playthrough. And now, I am sort of in a position of not wanting to replay hours of the game on Normal and having to recollect those comic books again. Especially the flying ones. So I am mostly disappointed in myself.
I have been making a point of playing a level of Lego Batman 3 first, collecting the red brick and the character token for Bat-Mite in each level. I believe I am currently on level seven? That sounds about right. I love how fast the levels are and how they made it so you could skip segments if you have a character like Man of Steel Superman who can fly ahead and do whatever it requires for that section to be completed. I also miss how the Lego games used to let you pick a subsection of the level to play, and to tell you where the collectibles were in each mission. Lego Dimensions must have been the transition game that handed off different mechanics to the next generation of games.
. . .
I have also become super obsessed with Nolan North’s Definitely Playthrough of Uncharted and I am currently watching his playthrough of Uncharted 2. Troy Baker. I absolutely love the theme song for the show, done by Droid Bishop. I started Uncharted 1 and I got to Chapter 3.
. . .
My wife and I also played one game of Wheel of Fortune. I really wish Pat and Vanna were paid for their likenesses in the game, as the stand-ins make the game feel very cheap, and the game costs a decent amount of change. The game itself is pretty good, as is the presentation, but it is a real shame the game was not properly licensed. We have yet to try Jeopardy.
. . .
Rayman Legends is on the Games Under $20 sale and I finally gave it a try. Such a fun platformer! Playing this and Shiny brought back so many great memories of how much I enjoy playing a good platformer. Rayman Legends just looks great too, it has this really great classic feel to it and the levels are not unforgiving nor all that long. I was playing a level of Lego Batman 3, followed by Rayman Legends, then whatever the main game of the night was going to be.
Then, of course, I bought all of these games, and then I have been too tired to stay up and have not played any of them.
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.
I played Titanfall 2 and Monster Energy Supercross, the two games provided by the PS Plus Subscription Program!
Between the two, I probably enjoyed Titanfall 2 over Monster Energy Supercross, but if I was going to go back to one of them, to try to get better at it, I might choose Monster Energy Supercross. Titanfall 2, I gave two nights, and Monster Energy Supercross, I gave one night. I liked customizing my character’s outfit and bike, and there is a brand company called, Thor, that I really want to suit my character in, just for comic reasons.
I am not much of a guy who likes playing in first person mode, I just feel disconnected, and in this game particularly, it makes me feel like I am always crouching. I kept trying to jump to see if I was deeper in the ground than I was, but I was on solid footing.
. . .
What I really enjoyed playing was most of my older games!
Under Trophy Adviser over at psprofiles, I kept having two trophies, the same one, listed for Hitman : First Season and Hitman 2. Which happened as you can play all of Hitman First Season within Hitman 2. Even if you do not own Hitman 2 properly, the demo is good enough.
Hitman reminded me very much of Sniper Elite 4, it is all stealth, until you are ready to attack, then it is about killing or completing your objective.
I completed the tutorial / prologue in Hitman, then I did the exact same thing in Hitman 2 for 1’s prologue. So I earned nine trophies in the first game, then I followed that up by earning the exact same trophies in Hitman 2.
I had such a great time and I am extremely tempted to try the Paris mission. I tried it for maybe 15 minutes and immediately realized there was a difficulty spike from prologue to first mission, or at least, the training wheels definitely came off. But I am tempted to go back to the game(s).
I am also tempted to watch the Hitman film but it is not available on any of our subscription services, which seems bonkers to me! Like, seriously, Hulu, Netflix, Vudu (with their free movies with commercials option), Amazon Prime, philo, and I knew it was not on Disney+, none of them had it. Amazon and Vudu wanted to rent it to me for like three dollars, but I am not doing that. Heck, even Roku’s own video library did not have the film.
Actually, there are two films, one in 2007 and the other in 2015, so I may have to check again, as I am not sure which one was unavailable to me. It was definitely the 2015 one that I was able to find through Roku’s handy search option. Handy in that it functions, unhandy that it rarely produces the results I want.
. . .
I also gave Detroit Become a try. Connor died in the first mission and I did not even have the thought to restart the game, so I am only playing as Kara and Marcus right now. I believe I am starting Chapter Five of 32 (or some high number like that), I completed Marcus and his painting owner being confronted by Leo, the painter’s son, who is clearly on drugs.
I did that last night and I already feel like I may want a break. Which is probably just because the game is structured into chapters, so it feels like a good jumping off point.
. . .
I started the Journey Collector’s Edition. I got through flOw, not really enjoying myself at all. Maybe at first but then I kept trying to just get to the credits, and it took a while. So, like flower, I am done with that game. One playthrough was enough.
It really did feel like a company’s first game. I still do not quite get the trophy, flOw, that one can earn in Flower, besides just being a callback to the earlier game, but one earns it by going through a cave in flower, and there were no caves that I could see in flOw.
. . .
Journey, on the other hand, was a really fun experience! I ended up meeting two other players, neither of whom wanted to sit still for 20 seconds to help me get that one specific trophy, but that was okay. The game did not feel that long, once I completed it.
I do like the idea of playing and completing a game within an hour, it just feels fulfilling and gives me that sense of accomplishment.
. . .
We got Walker a Lego Advent Calendar this year, so I am seeing new Legos all the time, and I have been tempted to get back into the Lego Marvel Superheroes 2 game, at least complete the DLC. So my plan is to play the DLC, do it again for the Free Roam, complete a main map objective, my current one is to find the frozen SHIELD agents and I have two more of those to find somewhere on the main snowy New York hub, and then complete a main mission in free roam, collecting all of the minikits, obtaining the hidden character, and saving Stan Lee. That is my plan for the rest of the month.
I suspect Santa is the 24th item in the set, but Walker Dennis really wants him earlier.
. . .
The Ghostbusters Afterlife trailer was released!
Thanks to Sony Pictures Entertainment for hosting it!
It looks amazing and is immediately a must watch situation! It just feels like a legit movie. My buddy, Greg, pointed out that with Paul Rudd’s character’s comment about how there has been no ghost sightings in 30 years, it completely erased the 2016 film or at least, placed it into a much larger Ghostbusters multiverse. Which I would be all for if that means we can get more The Real Ghostbusters content!
That moment when they are watching news footage from the 80s films, is all I wanted from the 2016 film. Simply acknowledge the origins, say something about no ghost sightings in 25 years, maybe even take place in Chicago, to explain away why the origins cannot be present for this film, plus why the technology has to be built from the ground up.
It is going to take a while to get to July 10, 2020, but once we get there, it is on! Well, a week after that!
Walker Dennis is already wanting a Ghostbuster cake for his seventh birthday next year and whatever Lego Ghostbusters house comes out of this film. Which, now I am not even sure if we will get a firehouse but we better! They probably will make rerelease one just for the funs.
. . .
Wonder Woman 1984’s trailer also came out!
Thanks to Warner Bros. Pictures for hosting it!
Gal Gadot is like, beautifully cast as Wonder Woman! And sure, Chris Pine as Steve Trevor is clearly some wish fulfillment but it will be great to get him back in the film!
That wonderful song you hear under the trailer is a remix of New Order’s Blue Monday.
Thanks to neworder for hosting their own video!
The original version’s video is a tad too trippy for me!
This film comes out a month earlier from Ghostbusters, June 5, 2020.
A month earlier than that, is Black Widow releasing on May 1.
Which reminds me, I have to start prepping my 2020 in Film post.
I keep trying to figure out which trailer I like the most of the three but I cannot commit to the full thought. Like, of the three, I really am most excited to watch Ghostbusters, as I really want a stellar Ghostbusters film. Black Widow and Wonder Woman 1984, are going to be amazing.
So I would rank them as : Ghostbusters > Black Widow > Wonder Woman
Sadly, Wonder Woman loses points because I am dumb and cannot let go how much of a shame it is that DC cannot keep a cinematic universe moving correctly. Well, at least this film works inside of a larger universe, even if that larger universe is probably (and rightfully) not going to be leaned into too much, if at all.
WordPress has been trying to inform me that “Ghostbusters” is a misspelled word, so I had to add it to the dictionary. Silly WordPress.
If I had twenty more dollars in my PlayStation Wallet, I would get so many more games!
I bought the following items :
Thanks to PlayStation for hosting the launch trailer!
I bought Ninjin : Clash of Carrots for a dollar,
Thanks to Dead by Daylight for hosting their own trailer for the DLC.
Dead by Daylight : A Nightmare on Elm Street Chapter for four dollars. Walker Dennis has really been taken by the idea of Jason vs. Freddy, that he has talked about it so much that now I want to play as Freddy.
Thanks again to PlayStation for hosting this video as well.
I also bought the Journey : Collector’s Edition for five dollars. I had three other games I was going to choose from but once I found out that the Collector’s Edition comes with Flower (that I already owned) and flOw, I could not pass it up. Plus, it is rarely under five dollars.
The other games, and if I can be gifted a PSN card prior to December 23, when this sale ends, I wanted this games :
RESOGUN $4
PaRappa The Rapper Remastered $4.49
Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture $4.99
So three more games for nearly $15 sounds like one heck of a deal! But I definitely do not have the time to play five new games so I can, and probably should, just let the other games pass until the next amazing sale, but gosh, it would be nice to just get the games now and have a pretty fun backlog to eventually work my way towards.
I want to be impulsive and just get all of the games and treat myself but then I get in my own way and think better of it. I have a few weeks to think about it, and maybe get at least one more game.
. . .
I have played the first four levels of Ninjin, and it is pretty fun. I need to get Walker Dennis to be my partner, and I bet it is more fun with a second player.
The other book is a prequel to Built This Community, titled, Need for Rabbit Blood, that does not have a handy link on Amazon but you can copies from third party distributers here :
Both books have quite a charm to them, if you like stories involving small town communities and the politics that come with those.
I just keep thinking about legacies and how she did what I want to do and at least wrote a novel so her name lives on. One of her final wishes is to have a memorial bench in her favorite park, which is an idea I may want to look into for myself. I just really want to be remembered. At least I have our son, and this blog, so he has something to look at to see what my silly thoughts were on various topics. I know it is one of my motivations to start a podcast, just to leave some content in the world.
I am going to miss her a lot and regret not reaching out more often, which is classic me. If people would be cool if a five minute phone conversation, I would probably reach out more but I do okay with texts but I can do more.
. . .
On a lighter note, the trailer for Black Widow’s movie has come out!
Thanks to Marvel Entertainment for hosting the video!
May 1, 2020 seems like forever from now!
I love that she has two hero costumes and David Harbour as Red Guardian looks amazing!
. . .
It has been a while since Comixology has updated their Free Comics section. I suspect they have quietly stopped providing free comics. Which is a real shame.
. . .
Lastly, the free games for December have been released!
I spent the other night splaying Ninjin, and last night I played a bit of Titanfall 2. I did the training and I am in the middle of the first mission. I have BT Prime and was doing well enough with the L1 attack but then too many opponents came up and it was after midnight, so I went to bed to try to handle it even better.
Which is another issue I have with the end of the Year sale.
I was thinking of making a game rotation of Titanfall 2, Monster Energy Supercross, Ninjin, flOw, and Journey; and that seems like plenty of games.
I had committed to playing the 2019 PS+ Games I had not gotten around to.
Walker Dennis and I really were taken by Portal Knights, it really is a Minecraft like game, with more emphasis on the adventure story but there is a creative realm we have not explored yet. We have visited the first three worlds and a Christmas world, and just arrived at the fourth world. I am not sure if we completed everything on those four worlds but I did not see any more Orange mission markers, so we moved onto the next one. Though there is a trophy for completing everything in the first world, and I did not earn that one so there must be other things to do. He really likes to make tunnels and really took to the second world which is a desert planet.
I completed the first course of four races in Amplitude. It is a rhythm game where we pilot a spaceship along musical tracks. It was fun and I earned three trophies but I probably will not go back to it anytime soon.
Fallen Legion : Flames of Rebellion is a fun RPG style game where an interesting battle mechanic where it is turn based but instead of top down, it looks like a side scroller, and each of the action buttons is an individual’s attack button. We have a group of three fighters (Square, X, Circle) with the mage having triangle and arrow keys for his moveset. The story is pretty interesting, I visited the first four hubs and I might actually try to get back to it again.
I still have Hitman : First Season and Detroit : Become Human to sample, so my game rotation is going to be Titanfall 2, Monster Energy Supercross, flOw, Journey, then Hitman, and Detroit. So I really do not need more games taking up my time.
Games I regret not spending more time with? Sniper Elite 4, Dead by Daylight (especially as I have Freddy now to play with), Lego Marvel Superheroes 2, Mad Max, and maybe a few more trophies in Beyond : Two Souls, but I am ready to move on from that game. I will eventually work my way back to Mad Max, but I think I have made up my mind on not buying those three extra games. I just had to write it all out for me to see I probably should not do it.
Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture and RESOGUN have been free games through PS+ so I know it is safe to buy those two, and that I will not be getting them for free anytime soon. PaRappa The Rapper Remastered may be a free game but the chances of that might be slim, right?
I may move up Hitman and Detroit, as I do want to at least have played the first mission/chapter of each one prior to 2020. It has been fun to play a new game a night, and I have been able to play every night, which has been nice too.
All of this and I may get TMNT : Mutants in Manhattan, Amazing Spider-Man 2, and Injustice 2 : Legendary Edition for Christmas (my only game requests as two of those are physical only games, and Injustice 2 has TMNT in it as well). Maybe I will get only one of those, and I would be happy with any of them.
The only games my wife has bought me that I still have not gotten around to, at least attempting, is Uncharted 4 (which I can now that I have played 3), Lost Legacy (which I will after 4), and Life is Strange : Before the Storm, as I am waiting to finish the first game for that.
I imagine we will probably get Uncharted 4 for free in 2020, along with Witcher 3, and Horizon Zero Dawn. Those would be three big games for 2020.
Witcher 3 prior to April, when Cyberpunk 2077 comes out.
Uncharted 4 sometime before May, when The Last of Us 2 comes out.
Horizon Zero Dawn at the beginning of a quarter when memberships are to be renewed, would be my best guess for that title.
Looking at the few titles coming out in 2020, I am not crazy hyped for any of them at this point.
The Last of Us 2 would be nice but it would have to come way down, to like $30 before I am tempted by it.
If they had a third person mode to Cyberpunk 2077, that would get my interest. But still, it would have to come down in price. As Outer Worlds patched in a third person mode yet? I need someone to tell me when that happens.
One of my problems with Titanfall 2 is that I feel so short in that game, and it bugs me. It does not seem to be much difference from standing and crouching. Anyone else have that problem with first person modes?
Final Fantasy VII Remake would also have to be $30 and I am still willing to wait until the complete saga is out and getting that remastered version, which I may be tempted to spend $60 for that. Is there word of that even happening?
Marvel’s Avengers, might be a game I am willing to pay for during this next calendar year, but I need more characters added to that roster, and I would not want to buy them one at a time, so I may have to wait until the Collector’s Edition comes out.
The Dark Pictures Anthology : Little Hope is slated to come out next year and I will buy it but for $20, no reason for me to preorder it. Especially once the Curator’s Cut has been recently released for everyone. I was slightly concern if it was never released, like Until Dawn’s preorder DLC.
So five games that I am interested in and mostly Avengers and Little Hope are the only ones I can see myself actually buying.
I keep wanting to type it as “New Hope” but it is Little Hope. Which makes more sense for a horror game.
Are there PS4 games that can come out to die in with Avengers? It would be nice if they could remaster the PS3 Captain America game, as I always wanted to play it but my PS3 died and I missed out on that game, Fallout : New Vegas, and Batman Arkham Origins. Remaster all of those, please! But also release them on PS4 and PS5!
Little Hope’s PS+ game would have to be The Inpatient VR title. It did not happen with Man of Medan but it has to happen eventually right? Well, not until they start adding VR titles to the monthly games.
I sincerely hope that is the plan going forward. 2 free PS4 games, 1 free PS5 game, and 1 VR game, at least for the end of 2020 (as there will not be that many games for the PS5) and maybe the bulk of 2021? Then 2022, for some anniversary or something, 2 PS4 games, 2 PS5 games, and one VR title? That would be my personal goal for Sony.
Though I do not plan on seeking out a PS5 until at least Christmas 2021 unless it goes on a crazy great sale for 2020 but I cannot imagine it being $300. I would have to at least get the 1TB as I need as much of that now as I can get with the PS4.
