Sorry it’s a few days late! I had most of this written by the 9th, but I got distracted by other creative projects.
Dabbles:
Path of Exile (Free to Play) – I’ve previously attempted to play Path of Exile on PC, but pretty much made it up to meeting the first quest givers before deciding that the game’s feel and aesthetic didn’t gel with me. This was years ago though, surely it’d be a different story on console? …nope.
ESO: High Isle (Owned) – No shade on High Isle at all, I’ve heard fantastic things and look forward to checking it out properly. I just arrived on the isle and realised I’d rather check it out when I’m in the mood for ESO.
Dragon Ball: Xenoverse (Owned) – I bought this alongside the Naruto games last month. After finishing those (more below), I jumped into Xenoverse and found it to be not quite as fun, combat-wise. Plus, it seems the game is padded with grindy object collection missions in a game where navigating the environment isn’t easy or fun.
Continued Adventures:
Forza Horizon 3 (Owned) – Jumped back in briefly to play the old Hot Wheels DLC again after the announcement of Hot Wheels DLC coming to 5.
Forza Horizon 5 (Owned) – Been getting back into FH5 in a major way for the first time since launch. Have been cleaning up achievements, keeping up with seasonal objectives, and even streaming the game every so often.
Hot Wheels Unleashed (Owned) – Still finishing up achievements, some of the last ones are pretty grindy though.
Assassin’s Creed Origins (Owned, Also on Game Pass) – Recently jumped back in to resume my playthrough from level 23, the furthest I’ve gotten on any version so far. The 60fps patch is a major improvement to game feel, I love it. More on this next month, maybe.
No Man’s Sky (Game Pass) – One of two games I played due to the Starfield preview, but I wasn’t feeling it this go-around.
Yakuza 0 (Game Pass) – Having very recently returned to Game Pass, I’ve only just touched base with my save file in this game and refamiliarized myself with things.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
The Outer Worlds
I’ve played this game a little on PC, and it’s a solid Bethesda-style open world RPG. Given that it’s made by the developers behind Fallout: New Vegas I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised by the similarities, but one unique point about this game is that instead of being set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, The Outer Worlds is a space-faring adventure set against a capitalist dystopia, which is far more to my liking.
I don’t have a huge amount to say about this title just right yet, as I’ve only finished one planet and am currently side-questing aboard the interim space-station it sends you to between worlds. But so far I’ve been struck by the fact that it’s more reminiscent of Mass Effect in some ways, especially in regards to companions and dialogue trees. It’s been a joy to learn about the lore of this game’s universe so far, and I’m excited to discover more the next time I jump into this game.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge
Another short entry, here. Mostly because the game itself is only a few hours long! That being said, it’s absolutely worth your time to check out if you’ve got Game Pass, especially with friends. I’m actually quite a stranger to the beat-’em-up genre, but this game had me feeling like I was playing a classic entry from the eighties, in all but graphical limitation. It’s not the kind of game you’ll be talking about for months to come, but it’s very much a pleasant distraction for an evening or two, and the type you don’t tend to see being made any more. Hopefully Game Pass can inspire more titles of a similar calibre.
House Flipper
I have a folder in my Steam library entitled “Meditative Games”, and if I’d caved before this game came to Game Pass and bought it there, that’s absolutely where it would reside. House Flipper, on the surface of it, could be mistaken for Chores: The Game. I mean, you start out taking jobs cleaning houses before you make enough money for your first purchase. The gameplay consists of jobs we hate doing in real life, such as cleaning the windows, sweeping the floors, painting the walls, that sort of thing. The difference between doing them in real life versus in House Flipper is that in House Flipper, it’s easy, allowing you the satisfaction of a job well done without really, well, doing anything.
It’s hard to praise this game without sounding like a slob.
As you progress through the game though, you earn enough money to begin taking on the property ladder. I’m not too far in yet, but I’ve bought a bungalow and spent what might have been an hour just cleaning it up, selling off all the irredeemable old furniture, and beginning to repaint the walls. By the time I’m done fixing it up, I’m sure selling it will be almost painful. Think of it as less chore simulator, and more Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer. Make that Happy Home Renovator, and you may be able to guess where the appeal of this game truly lies.
Owned
Naruto (Shippuden) Ultimate Ninja Storm 1, 2, 3: Full Burst and 4
That’s right, I played through all four games in a single month, baybee!
The story of Naruto is one that’s very special to me, and as such, I’ve always wanted to get into the Ultimate Ninja Storm games, which are lauded as telling the story better than the anime in some places. Unfortunately, I’ve never been much of a fighting game enthusiast, so previous attempts to do so have been met with failure. For my birthday, however, I was able to obtain the entire series on Xbox, and this time I was determined to make my way through the series.
I can’t recommend the game series purely as a way to enjoy the story to anyone unfamiliar with Naruto for a few reason, but primarily, it’s due to the first game in the series. Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm lays down the fundamentals for the fighting aspects of the series, but unfortunately, it doesn’t care all that much about presenting the storyline in a memorable or meaningful way. Not only that, but key story missions have to be unlocked by grinding your way through repetitive side-missions, usually consisting of the same handful of minigames repeated at increasing difficulties. This entry does feature Konoha as a fully 3D open world, which may be novel for a while, but when this was dropped for future titles I didn’t find myself missing it all that much.
The second and third entries are very alike. The combat is further refined, and some of the most important battles in the storyline feature unique quirks and impressive, over-the-top animated sequences by way of quick-time events, the likes of which were previously reserved for only a handful of moments in the first game. It really feels like they took the best parts of Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm and made them a much larger focus for these games. That being said, some of the aforementioned boss fight quirks were more frustrating than fun; Deidara felt finnicky to face off against, and Hakuzu was outright rage-inducing. It’s also worth mentioning that the third game ended in an alternate manner to the story, likely in order to create a more satisfying finale in terms of the game’s plot, or maybe because the anime or manga hadn’t yet got that far in its storytelling and they had to invent their own.
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 gets its own paragraph, mostly because I was disappointed to find that a lot of the original CGI cutscenes had been relegated to simple slideshows of screenshots with some after-effects and voice-over to tell the story of the anime. As someone who was a big fan of the way 2 and 3 adapted the story into full in-game CGI cutscenes, this was sad to see, although those were still there for the most important moments. On reflection, having finished the game, I do concede that 4 has the most complete, true-to-anime retelling of the story, with very little being overlooked, and this may be due to the ability to rely on the anime itself for a lot of the cutscenes.
All-in-all, these games were a bloody fantastic way for me to re-experience one of my favourite stories of all time, and I’m chuffed that they exist. If anything, they’ve got me moping about the fact that Bleach didn’t receive similar treatment – and no, Brave Souls does not count.
Free to Play
Fortnite
A quick paragraph about Fortnite, since it gave monthly Crew subscribers access to Save The World mode. I wasn’t expecting STW to be quite as involved as it is, though in hindsight I shouldn’t be surprised as it’s what Fortnite was originally intended to be anyway. For those unaware, Save The World is a base-building, tower defence style game, akin to something like Orcs Must Die. It’s not thrilling, but it’s decent. It’s certainly novel to see how the game was originally intended to play. And, most importantly of all, it gives Battle Pass XP!
Fall Guys
Fall Guys finally arrived on Xbox, and it brought along all its jumping beans with it! I’ve played a bunch of this via PS+ on PS4, but it’s nice to finally have a version of the game that I don’t require a subscription to play.
The amount of content they’ve added since I last played a few years ago adds the variety that was sorely needed to the game. There are now way more courses that can randomly be chosen between rounds. Not only that, but they’re also frequently adding new events and limited time modes; in just the first month since launch, there’s already been a Halo tie-in event and LTM, and an Assassin’s Creed one.
Wowowowowooo!
Betas
Overwatch 2
Hi. Longtime Overwatch player here. As in, 2017 was basically the year I played Overwatch every night. Despite all this, I’ve been very lukewarm about Overwatch 2 since its announcement, and I still harbour many of the doubts I’ve held since that… rather long ago now day. What has reignited my interest in the game is the recent revelations about the battle pass system and the 11-week update cycle, which should be great if they pull it off right.
Since I got into the beta, though, what’s the gameplay like? Well, it’s great! It’s also Overwatch. As in, it feels like I’ve just missed a couple of updates. I’ve yet to play Junker Queen, but Sojourn is a lot of fun. I’ve had a lot of fun playing my old favourites and interrupted ults with hooks and sleep darts. Less barriers are appreciated, but less CC leaves some heroes feeling neutered, like Cassidy. I’m playing on a controller for this beta, so that’s a bit of an adjustment – we’ll see how it runs on my PC at launch. So yeah, it’s good stuff, and I’m excited for launch, but in no world is Overwatch 2 a sequel. Especially not when they’re replacing the original game with it!
Oh, and I didn’t pay for entry, I got lucky with a sign-up. I don’t know if they’ve clarified it yet, but the 2000 currency they give you in that bundle currently has no associated value with it. As in, they could still change how much real world money that currency is worth up until launch. It feels like an oversight at best, a scam at worst. Would not recommend.
In Summary
In summary, this month has done a lot to remind me that I can beat games, so long as I don’t get hung up on trying to 100% them all the time and giving up halfway. I got about an average of 200 Gamerscore per Naruto game. Those games are fun, but am I going to stick around looking for each and every collectible? Am I ‘eck! Maybe if I really miss those games someday.
Gamerscore as of June 10th: 32,405
Gamerscore as of July 12th: 35,165
32 Bit Brain 