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Games Beaten

-Strider (PS4) (PS+)

Eschewing levels in favor a loosely connected world, this Strider takes the Metroidvania plunge and is mostly successful, if unremarkable. Controlling your character feels great, especially as his repertoire increases. The world holds plenty of secrets but I never felt compelled to find them (other than health upgrades). Despite its structure, you're never left wondering where to go, so it plays like a pretty breezy action game. It can't touch the greats of the genre, but it was a fun 8 hours.

-Destiny (PS4)

Finishing the story doesn't carry a lot of weight with this sort of game—I'll still be playing this for a long time—but I have to draw the "beaten" line somewhere. Destiny is a fun game. The feel of the gunplay is excellent and the act of playing is satisfying. The nature of the game can make it a little repetitive but playing with friends alleviates most tedium. It's very pretty, has good music, and decent variety in what you can do. Having to go online to dig into the story is disappointing though. Still, the game has legs and will continue to provide me many hours of fun. Looking forward to what else Bungie might do.

Games Bought

April was an even slower month than March. Success! I bought Max Payne 3 (PS3) because I've always been interested in its story and it was less than $5. Score! I already owned a couple of the PS+ games, so even that list was smaller for me. Aaru's Awakening (PS3/PS4) looks cool, as does Tower of Guns (PS3/PS4)—a procedurally generated arcadey FPS—though I wish it had co-op. I don't know a thing about Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna) (PS4) or MonsterBag (Vita) and let's be honest, I'll probably never get around to trying them out. But they were FREE!

Now Playing -- There are a bunch this month

-Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors (DS)

This game consumed most of my time in April. The story and characters are just so good! I got to the end and died with a knife in my back, so I started the game again. You can then skip through any dialogue you've already seen and make different choices. I've gone through the game four times now, seeing new content and a new ending each time. Working on getting the best or true ending right now. It's completely engrossing.

These characters are surprisingly well developed. Well, except for the one that dies in the first few minutes 

-Destiny (PS4)

Just made it to level 28 last night. Playing with my older brother and another friend who have been through it all before and they've been fast tracking me through everything. It's been a ton of fun 

-Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Wii U)

We didn't touch this game for most of the month because my wife got back into Dragon Age: Inquisition and I was playing 999, but we picked it back up the other night and made it to 5-3. World 5 is some sort of fruit factory but it's surprisingly dark. There are grinders and meat cleavers everywhere.

-Velocity 2X (Vita) (PS+)

I'm on level...18, I think? Of 50. It's a great 2D action game.

-Super Smash Bros (Wii U)

Took some time to play the single-player events. Played more than 30 of them and still not done!

-Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (PSP)

Doing some serious farming. I need some rare items for crafting that the game is very stingy about giving out.