PixlBit

It's a shark racing game. Get in your custom shark and race underground waterways. It's a spin off of the well known series Dungeon Inquisitor which is a totally unrelated mystery, walking simulator. Who thought this was a good idea?

Fire Shark: I got to stage 6 today. I’m learning what various pickups do and the right strategy. You pick up some weird energy weapons. One is a chain of green energy and another is fiery lightning. Then there are lightning bolt symbols on the ground which, when picked up, build a meter on the side of the screen. I don’t know what happens when you fill it, whether it’s some superpower or just an extra life, but I think it’s best to get as many of them as possible. They’re usually hidden under destructible buildings and turrets.

V-Rally 4: I needed to clear some space on my hard drive. I discovered the sort button in the Xbox One library and sorted by file size. V-Rally 4 was a Games with Gold freebie a week or so ago. It’s a rally racing game. It’s pretty much a sim racer and not an arcade racer. I figured I’d be playing it for 20 minutes and out, but I got into it for longer. The races take place all over the world and are all incredibly detailed and realistic. I raced in Japan, Malaysia, American West, Siberia, and somewhere in South America. You can buy different cars for different races. I liked the buggies best because they handle better, and the tracks are much wider and full of gigantic jumps. I wanted to do all the buggy races available and did so. I imagine more open up, but you have to play the other races, I think. I did some with a regular rally car, but the tracks are narrow, and I crashed a lot. That’s what you get with a sim racer, controls are very sensitive, and the action is realistic, no room for errors. I moved on.

Minecraft Dungeons: I needed four achievements for a Game Pass quest, so I dug in deep. I beat the Highblock Halls twice and the Pumpkin Pasture once. I tried several times to beat the last story level, Obsidian Pinnacle but kept dying. I’m several levels over the suggested level now, so it’s getting easier, but near the boss, it does get scrappy. There are hordes of fast-moving enemies boosted by enchanters. You need to use all your extra items and skills to get through it. I stopped once I got the Game Pass quest because I needed a break. It’s got some pretty good action in it.  

Warhammer 40K: Inquisitor – Martyr: My friend Mark has been playing this for a while now. I’ve been watching at times. It’s an isometric action rpg like a Diablo in the Warhammer universe. What makes me laugh is the ridiculously formal and pompous dialog and names for various tech. One of your first goals is to activate a “cogitator”. It’s just a terminal where you read some information. I think it’s a weird type of computer. I don’t know where this kind of language comes from, but it’s hilarious to me. I love funny, long or archaic words, so I’m going to be giggling all the way through this game. I only had time to create my assassin character (you get four to choose from), watch the opening cut scene and get to the first cogitator (giggle).