PixlBit

I think Red Box might have removed a lot of its video game services. It was only ever a handful of AAA titles anyway ... as Justin is now saying as I type this. Anyway, I'm using GameFly to do something I haven't done in a LONG time: specifically keeping a game out just to beat it (The Last of Us 2). But now I'm enjoying it enough I might just buy it anyway and have them send me Crash Team Racing or Control. We'll see. 

Also, damn, I miss EGM so much too and remember Dan Hsu and Seanbaby and those comics with the dudes in black garb I cannot remember the name of (though I think one of them was named after Dan "Shoe" Hsu). Such great times. Trying to find this exchange between you and Hsu on Twitter. You have a link to it? 

SPLIT SECOND

God, I want NFS: Burnout. I don't agree with "I'll buy one but not the other." I'll shell ALL the money out. 

I also check the list only after I get a certain amount of trophies. I actually checked Sonic Forces cause I felt I was getting a trophy for EVERYTHING ... then I looked and I was only 15% done and there were tons of 0.03% rarity trophies. Damn, Sonic Forces. But I also wonder if there are some cases in which trophies are not hard to get, there just isn't more than 0.03% of the population willing to play a certain game enough. 

Here's an idea: Anime Wrestling Mutant League Football 2021: Pandemic Edition. Only on Steam. 

Justin, do you realize how many of my emotional issues could be solved by being an asexual? You lucky dog. You lucky, lucky dog ... 

Skyblazer looks so cool. Still remember that Game Grumps series wondering why the hell I never heard of it. On the note Angelo brings up, I miss developers having to be creative due to limitations in general. The PS5 hype where they talk about developers basically being able to do whatever the fuck they want actually made it sound less exciting to me? Mostly cause to me it sounds like that will cause them all to try to do the same thing. But I loved the diversity of that PS5 reveal lineup so I'm hoping I'm wrong about that. 

I think I might just buy the new Shantae ... depending on price. 

Yonder looks awesome. 

The first one has a different hit box than 2 or 3 for some reason, but they're all pretty tough. I got stuck on the tiger level in 3, unless I beat that one, in which case I got stuck on the next stage probably. Even though I have zero nostalgia for the actual series, it definitely reminded me how challenging platformers could be in good and bad ways (often simultaneously with the good and badness). 

Spyro might actually be what I'm needing to play right now. Seems like a good distraction. 

Yeah, I really liked the first one, mainly for the story. We'll see if I'm in the right headspace for TLOU 2. Either I'll love how dark it is, or I'll need a distraction like Crash Team Racing instead, which is next in my Q. We'll see. 

You do get to upgrade your cycle, so maybe it gets better but I sent it back and am receiving TLOU 2 soon. 

The only reason I kept Days Gone is cause other people told me it gets better, but the whole point of me having GameFly is to see if a game grabs *me*, and there's just too much to play for me to keep going on a game I'm not really enjoying. Also, they mentioned the STORY being the best part, so I can watch YouTube clips if I ever get the urge.

I'm very close to doing that for Horizon, but I'm torn cause I actually really like Horizon's gameplay too. It's just some of the bosses take too damn long and I'd rather not be repeating the same tactics for an hour (I'm sure I'm going in with the wrong equipment, but I think some of it could be better explained). 

That is the best free cereal toy I've ever received.

I'm not sure what the development cycles looked like, but Tomb Raider was released a couple months before The Last of Us in 2013, so I think both dev teams just had the same brutal ideas at the same time, kind of like how the Dredd remake and The Raid: Redemption are so similar but there's really no way to prove either production team was seeing what the other was doing. 

And having played Horizon: Zero Dawn, I don't get a TLOU vibe at all, but that may be since the game is so extremely colorful and TLOU intentionally looks muddy. I think Aloy had some dad issues but there was also a lot of focus on religion and corporations and such that I felt was less of a TLOU theme overall. I still haven't actually FINISHED Horizon though. 

And I played the Uncharted series pretty much straight through from 1-4 and Lost Legacy, so yes you see the saminess after a while for sure. Same with Yakuza. I really should play those kinds of games on a more spread out basis, cause they can be tiresome when you play them like that. I feel you there. 

See, but of the games you listed that I've played like God of War and the first couple stages of Evil Within 2, they were still very much their own games with their own style, gameplay, etc. I don't mind if games share some themes in common, but Days Gone reminds me of TLOU in the gameplay, visuals, and overall feel of it. That's what I don't like, but I've heard it comes into its own so I'm going to give it a bit more of a chance. 

And man, Uncharted 4 is great. I see why people who don't love heavily story driven games don't like stuff like it, but I loved it. 

I'm just still impressed by the Doom clone made for Chex cereal. Now that's 90s!