A Strategy Guide for your Strategy Guides
This week, The Daily Crate published an article of mine, Why This Grown Ass Adult Still Plays LEGO Games.” Since I have a lot of LEGOs on the brain thanks to writing that sucker, I decided that this week’s One-a-Wednesday cover of the week should be for my absolute favorite LEGO game thus far, LEGO Marvel Super Heroes.
If you like LEGO games, please do yourself a great service and pick this one up yesterday.
It isn’t just about smoke powers…
I have barely touched the story in inFAMOUS Second Son. I may have done 3 or 4 story missions after reaching Seattle. I’ve been spending hours on clearing Seattle of the DUP in the various side missions available.
Clearing out the feds reminds me of taking down the Borgia towers in Assassin’s Creed 2: Brotherhood. That was easily my favorite part of the game, as rooting out the Borgia commanders was always enjoyable and then I could buy more vendors and get rich, rich, rich. I’m not able to get rich by clearing out the DUP in inFAMOUS, but doing so shows all of the blast shards, it makes people happy, and well, it’s really, really fun. It seems like a lot of mindless shooting most of the time, but sometimes that’s all you really want to do. Maybe it’s because your arsenal isn’t just simply shooting? I have more fun with the creative kills than anything else, almost like Bulletstorm.
One benefit to clearing out so many districts so early on is I’ve maxed out all of my available weaponry. I’m also already a level four in karma, one level away from maxing that out as well. I like being super powerful early on so the story isn’t as much of a potential drag, particularly with boss fights.
Each time I do max out what I have available, then I dive back into a story mission, which almost always unlocks a new ability. Then it’s back into clearing out another district! Hooray!
It also makes me want to go back and finish my Evil playthrough of the first game. Then again, all of the Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls talk makes me want to replay Diablo 3 a few dozen more times. One thing at at time…that’s how the stack of shame got started in the first place.
I was looking forward to South Park: The Stick of Truth since it was first announced, and my excitement for it was only enhanced when I saw a live demo at San Diego Comic Con in 2012. I was honestly afraid that it wouldn’t live up to the hype, especially after my disappointment with BioShock Infinite. Ten minutes into the game, I knew I was going to love it. That love never wavered for a minute.
I reviewed the game in full for Action Trip. Here’s a snippet of my thoughts:
Ten minutes into playing South Park: The Stick of Truth, I’m looking over my class selection which includes a Jew and wondering why I thought I could give my character any other name besides “Douchebag.” This is South Park; of course I’m going to be called Douchebag. That’s me, Douchebag the Jew. My character is wielding a shepherd’s crook and wearing a yarmulke. Kids are yelling more f-bombs than I think I heard in Spec Ops: The Line, if that’s possible. Cartman is teaching me how to “cast spells” a/k/a fart on dummies.This is South Park, and if you get offended easily, just walk away now. Like the TV show, this game isn’t, and never will be for you. And that’s just the start of how wonderful this game is.
When I finished South Park: The Stick of Truth, I was honestly sad it was over. I usually get to a point in games, no matter the length, where I’m ready for it to be over already and I never got there with this one. I put off the final battles for so long, making sure I really and truly completed every last available side quest.
The game had its problems, such as responsiveness with some of the controls, but it never took away from my enjoyment. I said in 2012 that this would be the game of the year whenever it released, and two years later, I’m still holding that claim.
The strategy guide, however, definitely was a perk only Nintendo Power subscribers could pick up.
Crazy thing is I never used it for help with any of those games. It really wasn’t that well done of a guide since they smashed in as much information as possible and neglecting detail. I suppose it would be great for speedrunners, but not for those who are playing these games for the first time.
I’m still happy to have it.
As I’m sure you’ve read me saying numerous of times, I’m on a weekly podcast with a few other SGR writers, The EvilCast. Just ignore the fact that we’re a podcast on a website that isn’t exactly functional anymore. That isn’t the point. The point is that the four of us still get together on a weekly basis to yell at one another over the week’s gaming industry news. If that isn’t a sign of BFFs, I’m not sure what is.
In addition to the EvilCast, I participated in two other podcasts last week. I’m still exhausted.
The first podcast of the week was the Power Button podcast with MattG (occasional writer here) and Blake. We discussed games we find ourselves binging on, whether it’s during severe downtime or just for pleasure. I’m sure all of you know which games I talked about the most.
Next up was the Furious Fourcast with Scott Grill, Max Parker, and Jen Bosier. Topic of the week–defending the dudebro. Over the last couple of years, Jen and I have noticed several negative nancies slamming the “dudebro” games for whatever reason. What’s worse is that many of them are bashing games they haven’t even played and know nothing about. And of course there are some who disdain the dudebro because it doesn’t appeal to their artistic sentiments. That’s fine, but to each their own, and we set out to discuss why we love the dudebro so much.
I had a lot of fun podcasting with these folks, but damn that was hard on this introvert. Plus, it really cut into my gaming time. I only had time to finally nail down that platinum trophy in The LEGO Movie Videogame!
Give these episodes a listen, and if you like them, subscribe to their podcasts. These guys put out great content for your ears each week.