Author: Michael Durr

Yesterday, I was able to get through the story of Yoku’s Island Express.  Nothing particularly hard, it was more sticking with the game to get to its inevitable end.  I am now sitting at 21 of 31 achievements and honestly this is where the game gets harder, the road to 100% completion.  There are several mechanisms with the in-game map which does help but showing a location on a map doesn’t mean instant success.  Furthermore, there isn’t a huge community to really make sense of all the secret doors or what you have to do to get each collectible or complete the remaining quests.

In my first session late yesterday, I did find a plethora of wickerlings and treasure chests but I realized what was left and I would lie if I wasn’t a bit overwhelmed.  I’ll try to take slow and not get to the point where it stops being fun.

Now, late last week we did have the launch of the Ultimate Game Sale which is always a nice summer event to get some games that you might have missed or perhaps a deeper discount to save your wallet some grief.  Though it does not look like they have learned their lesson on Call of Duty titles at all.  I think this is the first time in a while I’ve seen Rocket Knight on sale though so that’s probably worth the $3.  Most of these are backwards compatible so it makes this list just a little bit better in hopes of finding something to satisfy your palette.  But alas, it looks like I’m going back to Yoku, at least for this week as I get a little that pinball a little bit closer to total completion.  Enjoy.

Well, I tried to find time to go back to Broken Sword 5, but alas it never worked out like I hoped.  I am still eager to get back to the game and start the second episode.  In the meantime, I did have an amazing run with my Defect on Ascension 3 in Slay the Spire where I thought I was going to die about half a dozen times only to pull my head out and somehow keep going.

I also started a new game called Yoku’s Island Express.  It’s on Game Pass currently (but set to be removed within a week or so but I do have the physical disc as well), and I’m liking the pinball/metroidvania feel a lot.  Only problem is it’s a huge map and the other thing is the Sootlings that you must attach to the plants to spin around are incredibly hard to time correctly.  I hope it’s not my undoing because I would like to at least beat the game (not sure about 100% everything though).

Feel free to take a look at the games on sale this week.  Reminder, Panzer Elite is not available in the US, either you need to be in the UK or know your way around such things.  One can also purchase the disc, but good look in finding a copy for a reasonable price (probably set you back between 40 and 50 bucks).

Last week I did make a purchase on the 360 sales in the form of the DLC Shivering Isles for Elder Scrolls: Oblivion.  I do also have disc copies but for a game as immense as this, it might be best to have it on demand so to speak, especially when I spent only $5 for the DLC.  Only important DLC I don’t believe I have for Oblivion is Knights of Nine.  There are several what looks like cosmetic DLCs such as a Wizard’s Tower or a Thieves’ Den which I didn’t notice since I’ve dealt with the disc copy all this time.  If anybody is aware if any of these are actually worth a darn please leave a comment.  They are only a couple of bucks and if there is one that stands above the rest I’m more than willing to purchase 1 or 2 of them.  Well have a great week, hopefully you find a game or two to spend your time with.  Enjoy.

After finishing off Dear Esther’s commentary mode (and thus the game), I did start another game this past week in Broken Sword 5: The Serpent’s Curse.  It is a point and click adventure with some puzzle solving and I was able to get through the entire first episode.  There is another episode which looks shorter from what I can tell but the first did take about 4 hours to pound through.  So far, I have enjoyed the story very much and it’s pretty well made to be honest.  I just need to find time to play it because its best served in good size chunks.  I should be done with it in a couple of weeks I figure.  Yes, I am also still playing Slay the Spire.  Got two more achievements too(29/46).  The game never ends I swear.

Well, if you played Metro in the last generation, this might just be your week for sales.  A little depressing that Costume Quest is on sale this week but it’s DLC is not…again.  The game is only $2.99 but it’s DLC is still at $4.99.  Some good Fallout sales too (I don’t think the DLC has been that low before) if you don’t own the Deluxe/Game of the Year Editions.  It’s not a bad week honestly, hope you have a good one.  Enjoy.

Well, I did finish Noir Chronicles over the past week.  It went pretty fast at the end and it was one of those games when I finished the story, I finished all of the achievements too which was nice.  The same can’t be said for Dear Esther which I did finish the main story but I had to go back to get the first chapter Urn (which I missed) and now I’m going through the Director’s Commentary (about half done).  I appreciate the game for what it’s trying to do (and it is gorgeous to look at) but I just wish there was more of a point to it.  After that, I’m not sure what I’m going to play next, it could be Borderlands 3 or maybe another story-centric type game (think Plague Tale: Innocence).  Not sure just yet.

Right now, there are some Xbox One sales but unfortunately no Xbox 360 sales.  Last week, I did buy the premium edition of Batman: Arkham Knight since it was only $10 (and I  had a $5 reward to burn).  It seemed like one of those I should probably just go ahead and buy things even though I probably don’t want to dive into it just yet.

Anyway, I will add to this should we get any Xbox 360 sales but I’m going to guess that the 360 sales are probably on the way out with all of the announcements on the new systems lately.  My major source of frustration was that they halted production on the Xbox One X.  I have two Xbox One’s, the regular (Forza Blue edition) and then a Xbox One X, and I was just hoping that I could replace it if it broke down.  Hopefully that won’t happen anytime soon for either model.  The good news is that the new system will support backwards compatibility on all existing 360/OG BC titles and all Xbox One titles (except for those that are Kinect only).

I guess in the meantime I need to figure out the next step for this site.  I would like it to be a review site, but that means I need to start reviewing more (and not just for my old friend Gino on Upcomingdiscs.com).  But that will come and I’m certainly not abandoning this site anytime soon.  So enjoy, and take care.

Well, I am progressing through Noir Chronicles, I’m close to 2/3rds done with the game and basically just taking my time.  I have all of the speed achievements and now just need to finish the game to get the rest.  I did actually start something new but I think I picked the game in a moment of weakness.  It’s called Dear Esther and for those who haven’t played it, it’s a walking simulator.  Which I don’t mind, but the story is odd and not in an interesting way either.  I will put in the time to finish it (though the achievements require 2 playthroughs which I didn’t realize when I started it), but it might take a little bit as I get kinda bored of it after only one chapter usually.

We do have some sales this week, but honestly not very much. I kinda wish that ArcaniA was on the BC list as I already purchased it on a previous sale.  But unfortunately that is not the case.  Lego Batman 2, I played through when it was put on BC and was certainly one of the better Lego games, right up there with the Harry Potters which still stand out in my mind as the best.  Destroy All Humans, remember there is going to be a remastered version on the Xbox One coming out so if you care about achievements (or enhanced graphics), you might want to hold off.  Anyway, that’s it for me this week.  Enjoy.

Hello there, in the boring world known as my gaming I completed the game Spider Solitaire F.  Yes, that silly solitaire game.  100 games of solitaire and let’s move on to something else like Artifex Mundi games.  Noir Chronicles I am slowly moving through, it’s not that I don’t enjoy it but as previously mentioned it takes me more time than what seems like the average to complete.  I will probably look for something else to play at the same time since I usually play 2 to 3 games at once but at this point I’m not sure exactly what that will be.  I will also be writing a review for the recent release by ClassicFlix for Abbott and Costello’s Africa Screams on Blu-ray.  I have a deep personal attachment to that movie and I hope to share it with the readers by this Friday (that’s the target anyway).

On the plus side this week, we do actually have a fair amount of sales.  We have lots of Tom Clancy, Mega Man and Lost Planet.  And I always have a smile when I see Asura’s Wrath which was one of the most underrated games on the Xbox 360.  Interestingly enough I traded away Super Street Fighter IV this week for a blu-ray, so I guess I could get it back pretty quickly if I wanted digitally.  Anyway, have a good week or at least try to.  Enjoy.

So in the aftermath of Lego NinjaGo, I was kinda all over the place gaming wise last week.  I got in some Slay the Spire, got 2 miscellaneous achievements, played some solitaire, and then on the 4th of July decided to use my Game Pass to play Fractured Minds.  It’s a game about mental health and having lived through a lot of mental health issues and seeing far too much through friends and loved ones, I was able to grasp a lot of what they were trying to accomplish.  The problem was that it took roughly 40 minutes of my time and I will never touch it again.  Far too short, but I appreciate the effort.

I also started playing Noir Chronicles: City of Crime which for those who don’t know is an Artifex Mundi game (Hidden objects/Puzzle Solving).  I used to play a lot of these type games on the computer but grab them when I can on Xbox cheaply.  I can’t beat them in the time that most people can but I still usually beat them and it keeps my mind active as well.

Well, we do have some sales today.  Many of those games were the retail games of their respective DLC that was on sale last week like Dead Space, Mass Effect and so forth.  Always happy to see Alice on here as people always forget that it includes the original (via downloadable free DLC) as well.  Anyway, please be sure to have a good week and try to take it easy if you are working remotely from home.  This might sound like a weird concept but I’ve been working roughly about 20% more than when I was at the “office”.  It’s very easy to fall into this pit of workaholic and despair.  I’ll try to climb out in the next few days, enjoy.

* – Incorrectly priced at the time of this article, should be $3.74.  

Sometimes when you get a full head of steam, you just keep on going.  I finished Lego Ninjago.  Yes I know, I had only finished a couple of the areas of gold bricks.  But I just methodically took down each level and kept going.  The only part where I had a real pause was the Docks race which as it turns out gives everybody pause.  Took me about 30-40 times (3 separate sessions) before I got it and then I beat it by 2 full seconds.  After that, it went fairly easy.  But it’s another completion in the books which feels nice since I really haven’t done much of that this year.

Here are the Xbox Sales for this week.  It looks like a good list, sure there are repeats but anytime we can get some DLC on sale, it’s a huge positive. I will certainly have to check what DLC’s I do have especially when it comes to Dead Space and Mass Effect to see if I can grab one more at really reasonable prices.  Anyway, please have a great week and I will try to do the same.  Maybe I’ll find my next game.  Enjoy.