The Trials games have always been about pushing you to your mental limit until you either emerge victorious or go insane, and Trials Rising is still very much that game. The big difference is that there seems to be a very “back to basics” approach with this game, stripping out some of the fluff from previous entries, namely, the trick system from Trials Fusion.
Trials Rising is pure Trials goodness. It is almost unremarkable in how safe Trials Rising plays it. As a Trials game, it’s solid, but it doesn’t bring anything particularly new or interesting to the series. Although this entry does have lootboxes, that’s a pretty big change. They’re purely cosmetic and don’t really get in your way, but they’re in there for sure.
My only really gripes with Trials Rising are in the performance aspects. Loading times can be a little long for my liking, and some parts of the game just get really chunky in terms of the framerate. For context, I’m playing the Switch version, but I’ve heard similar complaints across the board.
These small problems aside, I still enjoy Trials Rising. It’s still very fun to play despite the fact that I know that I’ll eventually hit a wall that’s gonna make me just stop playing altogether. But that’s my personal journey with all Trials games. Your mileage may vary.
Apex Legends came out a few weeks ago to immediate acclaim and success. It was more or less a surprise release that seemed to refine the battle royale genre of games, and produce something that positively builds on formula we’ve seen up till now. Despite the heaping helping of praise that’s been dumped upon Apex Legends, I don’t know that I’m entirely jazzed to play it.
For context, I’ve played an hour or two of Apex, so I’m basically the leading authority on the topic. What I played definitely led credence to a lot of the claims I had heard too. Being a Respawn game, it just feels phenomenal to play. It shakes the jankiness of PUBG and doesn’t require me to build anything à la Fortnite. Instead it most closely resembles the Blackout mode from 2018’s Call of Duty Black Ops IIII, which for context, is a very good thing, but they differ in two very key ways.
The first and most obvious difference is price point. Apex is free to play, which for reference, is cheaper than the $60 Black Ops IIII is. Free to play while not only making a game more accessible to play, also seems like the only real way a standalone battle royale game can really survive these days. It’s a smart play, and works even better when you have the potential for good cosmetics for people to buy. Which leads us into the second main difference from the genre.
Apex is charming. Both in map and character design, Apex Legends has a lot going for it. People appear to really be resonating with the characters in a way I haven’t seen since Overwatch happened. So I guess that means there’s probably a lot of porn of Apex out there, huh? But considering the characters are already pretty beloved, that opens potentially profitable avenue for skin and taunt sales. Which I’m pretty sure they’re already doing, but my point still stands. A game that combines the potential profitability of Fortnite with the characterization of Overwatch can be a dangerously profitable concoction.
I just wish that I knew what I was doing in Apex. I haven’t spent enough time with it to know the layout of the map, or what guns do what, or when to use character abilities or even just general practices I should be aware of. I want to play more of Apex, but the concept of having to adapt to a new one of these kinds of games just seems exhausting from the outside looking in. Luckily, I’ve got some friends to help motivate me and carry me through those early hurdles, but I don’t know that I’ll ever feel the battle royale fever again like I did when PUBG was released.
All things considered, I welcome our new battle royale overlord with open arms. I don’t ever see Apex Legends ever being released on phones, but who knows? I thought the same thing about PUBG, yet here we are.
I’m only a few hours into Far Cry New Dawn, but as it stands, it might just be the most average game I’ve played in a very long time. Mind you, there’s still room for this game to either blow me away, or just blow it in general, but from what I’ve seen so far it doesn’t deviate too far from the Far Cry formula.
As all Far Cry games are, Far CryNew Dawn is a looker. It’s delightfully colorful while managing to capture the natural beauty of what I imagine Montana to look like. New Dawn uses the same map from Far Cry5, but mixes in their vision of the post-apocalypse which in this case is very colorful and psychedelic. It’s a good look.
It’s also just fun to play. Far Cry has always been a fun series to me that’s controlled well and offered a satisfying, albeit repetitive gameplay loop, and New Dawn is no different in that regard. Being built on the bones of Far Cry5, New Dawn is basically identical in terms of progression and mechanics.
What isn’t grabbing me right off the bat is basically everything else. Maybe it’s because Far Cry as a series is starting to feel stale, and in my opinion, has been on a slightly downward slope since Far Cry4 was released. I don’t think the games are bad, but I do think they need a more meaningful shakeup than what Far Cry 5 introduced to the series. That stagnation is represented here as well.
Far CryNew Dawn feels like it’s just more of the same except with a more colorful makeover. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing considering this a $40 release, but I genuinely believe that if Ubisoft tries to release a full priced Far Cry game without making some more dramatic changes, they’re going to have some serious problems.
At the moment, I’m enjoying Far Cry New Dawn and not expecting it to surprise me in any real way. It’s basically gaming junk food in that it’s a fun indulgence, but probably wont leave you satisfied at all.
I have no earthly idea what cosmic events led to the creation of ART SQOOL, but I am sure glad that it exists despite not being able to comprehend or understand it in any way. ART SQOOL is a game, I think? I have no clue. It might actually just be an elaborate prank now that I think about it.
You’re a student at a university and you’re tasked with completing the illustration assignments that a mysterious voice gives you. The assignments that I’ve played have all revolved around me using the aesthetically pleasing UI to draw something and submit it for approval. Your tools are incredibly limited at first, but as you explore the level you’ll find more colors and tools to use.
That stuff is fine and all, but let’s talk about just how bizarre this game is. ART SQOOL borders on nightmarish at times, with it’s purposefully hideous art, and a soundtrack that I bet could make you sick if you listened to it long enough. And I kind of love it for being so fucking weird.
I haven’t gotten terribly far in ART SQOOL, but I am certainly eager to put some more time into it. The game itself isn’t great, and the style is off-putting at best, but there’s definitely something here that’s keeping me interested for the time being. Only time will tell if that curiosity will be enough for me to stomach through the rest of the game, but we’ll see.
After a week of careful code-breaking, decrypting and other jokes about complex preorder charts, I was able to install and play the Anthem beta (demo? Who knows anymore?) and see what this game is really all about. At least that’s what I thought until I got in there.
It’s really hard to talk about Anthem and not constantly compare it to other loot shooters like Destiny and The Division, but I’ll try to keep it at a minimum and just say that Anthem fails on a fundamental level when juxtaposed with the others. Destiny and The Division, while they have their faults, they at least have combat that feels good. Anthem lacks any impact when it comes to combat. You’re just chipping away at health bars using your really unrewarding gun-play.
As for that Bioware charm that some people were hoping to see, this demo (beta?) didn’t really leave me with the impression that you’d actually be having any meaningful interactions with NPCs. The story seems like it could be interesting, but I barely was able to follow what was going on. Take that for what it’s worth.
I only spent enough time with the demo to use one of the suits, but it left me thinking they were easily the most fascinating things in Anthem. You get to fly around in an Iron Man-like fashion, which had a weight to it that felt pretty good. What was less fun was having to manage the overly aggressive overheating meter tied to your boosters. You have to constantly find some source of water to fly through or land in to literally cool your jets. Conceptually it’s a neat idea, but in practice it’s just tedious and keeps you from having too much fun. Also the suit I used had an ultimate ability which allows you to lock on to multiple targets, and fire some badass shoulder missiles at them.
I don’t know if Anthem is going to take the world by storm or not. Hell, I don’t even know if people are going to take to it considering how utterly average it feels combined with the fact that The Division 2 releases in a month or so. But who knows? Maybe the Anthem beta showed off some of the more underwhelming aspects of the full product, maybe it has a really compelling story. I only know one thing for sure, and it’s that we have the technology to make a badass Iron Man game, and for some reason we aren’t.
I’m gonna cut to the chase here and say that you should probably play Pikuniku. If you’ve followed this site in any capacity at all, you’d probably know that I have a weakness for stylish, physics based games. These kinds of games speak to me on a core level, and Pikuniku is the latest game to add to the list.
Pikuniku is a a game where you play as a horrible monster that’s terrorized the land for ages. Or at least, that’s what you’re led to believe until it’s revealed that you’re actually an adorable physics blob that helps the people of this land overthrow their capitalist overlord named Mr. Sunshine. That’s not a goof or anything, that’s literally the plot.
On your way to defeat Mr. Sunshine, you’ll partake in light puzzle solving and platforming challenges. Pikuniku is never a hard game, just an occasionally frustrating one. There are a handful of moments that ask a little more precision of you than the game can deliver, but these are so infrequent that they’re barely an issue.
There’s a ton of fun to be had in Pikuniku as well as some pretty funny writing. The denizens of the world are all a bunch of hapless dimwits, who are always spouting off some delightful nonsense. For instance, early in the game there’s a guy who owns a shop that was dedicated to selling merchandise based on the legend of the evil monster you apparently were supposed to be. But since you’re a totally chill dude, his business is in the dumps, and no one wants to buy his scary monster t-shirts anymore. He never gets over it and will always remind you of how you ruined him.
Pikuniku is an enjoyable experience that consistently adds new mechanics into the mix to keep the game fresh throughout it’s two to three hour campaign. I never felt bored with Pikuniku and was constantly charmed by it’s adorable art style and whimsical soundtrack. Also, it’s currently free for anyone with Twitch Prime until February 28th, so hop on that and play Pikuniku.
Like a lot of people, I do my best to avoid ever having to open iTunes, but unfortunately a situation arose in which I had no choice. After the absurd amount of time it took to boot up, the several update notifications, and me needing to refresh my login credentials, I was finally face to face with my music library. A library that I’d been building on since my teenage years and oddly enough, hadn’t outgrown.
So I thought it would be a fun trip down memory lane to just highlight a few of the artists that influenced me in some way or another. To prepare, you’ll have to transport back in time, to the distant year of 2007(-ish). This isn’t a comprehensive list at all, rather it’s just to give you an idea of what 2007 Ari was and probably is still into.
BRAND NEW
I loved Brand New back in the day. I say loved because in 2017, shortly after they released what would be their final album, the lead singer was accused of, and ultimately admitted to, being a creep earlier in his career. I won’t go into it, but because of this, I no longer know how to feel about my former love for the band.
But up until this news came out, I thought the world of Brand New and the music they produced. I appreciated how they evolved and drastically changed their style from album to album, layering in more effects driven and experimental elements as time went on. It felt as if their music was growing up with me, and each album served as a bookmark in my life that I can distinctly remember where I was and how I felt when they were released.
Despite the gross revelations about the lead singer, I still can’t help but hold a special place in my heart for the music of the band as a whole. I just can’t listen to them with the frequency or the fervor in which I used to.
MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA
I remember hearing some buzz about Manchester Orchestra back in the day, wondering what was so special about this orchestra that the bands I listened to were going on tour with them. Turns out, they’re a band; A really good one at that.
I’ll admit that I kind of lost the thread on the band as time has gone on, but that doesn’t diminish how I felt about them back in the day. Early albums like Mean Everything to Nothing and Simple Math remain my favorites, with most of their newer work not connecting for me. To my knowledge, they’re still out there making music. That alone makes me happy.
THRICE
In the same vein of Brand New, I think what I appreciate most about Thrice is that they were always evolving. Early on, they were churning out some real gut punching, face-melting music that was loud and angry and would get any teenager ready to write some hardcore shit on MySpace. As time passed, they stopped screaming as much and started belting out some real heavy and heartfelt stuff.
Eventually the band split, and the lead singer, Dustin Kensrue, went on to make some music that focused more on faith and God that was pretty good. But I recently learned that they came back together at some point in the last few years and are putting out new music again. Shamefully, I still haven’t listened to any of it yet.
SAY ANYTHING
This is a weird one for me, because it’s one of the bands that’s very existence carries so much baggage for me, and also I don’t think they ever had more than one good album. But I will say that Say Anything was a band that an ex of mine introduced me to, and we bonded over. There were lots of sing-alongs while we were driving around in my 91′ Saturn.
The lead singer doesn’t sing, but rather melodically speaks and makes edgy jokes that only a teenager in 2007 would have really appreciated. But hey, they knocked it out of the park with their album …Is a Real Boy and the eventual re-release with extra music, …Was a Real Boy, and I have some good memories associated with them. Too bad every album after those are just head-scratchingly bad.
YELLOWCARD
Yellowcard was so damn awesome and I don’t care what anyone has to say about that. They were a band that was consistently releasing better and better albums all throughout my time in high school, and more importantly, taught me that even violins can rock. And Paper Walls is their best album. Fight me.
METRIC
Like most things I did in high school, I listened to Metric because a girl I had a crush on was super into them. We never actually ended up dating, or having extensive conversations, but I did get a rad new band to listen to out of it.
In my opinion, Metric is a band that has one of the strangest arcs ever. The first albums of theirs that I listened to featured songs that fluctuated between coffee house music mixed with beat poetry, to driving pop-punk-esque singles. Later on they released an album called Fantasies, which is easily the most digestible and listenable music they’ve ever made. It’s filled with catchy pop-rock tracks that heavily lean on synth leads.
Now they’re kind of dipping back into the stuff that first got me interested in them, trying some more experimental stuff once again. It’s been fun to watch them grow in popularity, especially around the time they had music featured in movies like Twilight and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Also I should mention that I was super into the lead singer, Emily Haines… kinda still am.
TAKING BACK SUNDAY
And rounding out this trip through my iPod Nano of yesteryear is Taking Back Sunday. I remember having intense disagreements with a close friend of mine over which band was better, Taking Back Sunday or Brand New. Turns out, they were both really good and we were idiots.
To my knowledge, Taking Back Sunday is still out there making music. The last time I heard some it, I felt it lacked the punchiness of their older work. I’m all for bands changing it up over time, but I never got the impression that they were trying to evolve their style, rather just trying to recreate what worked in the past. Maybe I’m off base with that, but it doesn’t change the fact that their music still gets regular play in my car.
There’s way more to tell about the music I used to bump on a regular basis that I might get around to one day, but for now, this is a good and broad look at some of the more popular acts I followed back in the day.
On the last day of the winter sale EA was running, a friend of mine decided to pick up the poorly titled, Battlefield 1. This was great timing considering our friend group has been looking for something new to play, and this seemed like a cheap way to get us all together once again. Despite me having some of my most memorable online experiences with previous Battlefield entries, upon jumping back into action I quickly realized that I think I actually hate the Battlefield games.
Battlefield, like most other competitive shooters, lives and dies by the quality of their maps. The things I like about a multiplayer map is when it’s designed in such a way that every play style is viable on it, but can always be countered. A sniper should be as effective and vulnerable as the player running laps around the map with a shotgun. I know that’s easier said than done, but my point is that I value not making someone feel bad for playing the way they want to.
However in Battlefield, the matches I end up playing are usually swayed by air superiority and effective sniping, whereas everything else never feels as important or effective. I’ve never felt quite as useless as when I pick a shotgun in one of these grand battles that Battlefield operates in. I’m not great at sniping and even worse at driving in these games, but they seem to be the only real way to make a difference in any given match.
When I compare Battlefield to something like the Call of Duty series, I find I have more fun with the latter because it favors faster gameplay in more tightly constructed environments. That isn’t a qualitative statement as much as it’s a preferential one. I like getting back into the action fast and being able to see my enemy (for the most part) before I’m dispatched and ultimately reborn, cursed to endure that cycle until the timer runs out. Both games can be eternally frustrating, but I have much more fun with Call of Duty than Battlefield for this and other reasons.
In theory, I should love Battlefield. These grand scaled battles that occupy various forms of combat simultaneously, a large player count and destructible environments should be a slam dunk for me, but it always ends up leaving me feeling more frustrated than satisfied. If only there was some sort of shooter on the market that was able to blend the fast and frenetic action of Call of Duty with the scale and scope of Battlefield. Oh wait, it’s called Titanfall 2, the game I was thinking about is Titanfall 2, and it’s phenomenal and didn’t deserve to be buried the way it was when Battlefield 1 came out.
I’ve been toiling away in the Nintendo mines lately, chipping away at some of my ever expanding backlog when I came to the incredibly rare and never before talked about realization that those folks at Nintendo know how to make fun games. This may come as a surprise to some of you, but I’m serious. I think they might be onto something.
In all seriousness, I’ve been grinding my way through some Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and am having the most fun I’ve had with that series in ages. I know a lot of people didn’t like the concept of having to unlock most of the 7000 characters in the game, but it’s kind of kept me on the hook longer than I expected. I don’t know what will happen when I unlock everyone, but for the moment it’s enough motivation to keep me coming back.
Speaking of getting them all, I’ve also been playing Pokemon: Let’s Go Pikachu and am having a similar experience to Smash Bros. Ultimate. I’ve never been a huge Pokemon guy, but this game is so darn delightful that I can’t help but be charmed by it. I think my favorite part about it might be all the bullshit they’ve cut from the Pokemon formula. Random encounters are gone now that you can see all the little critters rustling around in the bushes, swapping Pokemon in and out of your party is no longer something you need to return to a town for, and all your little Poke-pals get experience just for being there after a battle. Although I guess I don’t know for sure if these are new changes to the series, but they’re new to me. The game thus far is a low stress experience and I hope it remains that way.
2019 seems like it could be a big year for Nintendo with upcoming titles like Animal Crossing and Metroid Prime 4, and I can’t wait to see how it pans out. Like tons of people my age, I grew up with Nintendo, and after seeing the disappointment that was the Wii U, it’s nice to see them back on top with the Switch and it’s lineup of fantastic first party games, as well as overwhelming indie support.
Who’s got two thumbs and was so wrapped up in the holidays that they forgot to write an actual post? This guy. Yeah, I really goofed it up this time and lost track of the days, so we’re gonna have to make due with something light this week.
I guess the thing I’ll talk about is my experience with buying a new TV. After over a decade of rocking with the same TV, I decided it was high time that I upgraded and joined the modern era with one that has more than 1 HDMI input among other things. I was interested in a 4K display, but didn’t really consider it too hard until I saw how cheap they had become.
I picked up an Insignia 43 inch Fire TV because it was affordable, pretty, and was still in stock. After fumbling around with the settings and getting the display to a place I liked, I thought it was high time to test out the 4K and HDR capabilities in earnest. It was then I realized that all of my hardware is incapable of doing that.
See, I have a regular launch PS4, that sounds like it’s taking a trip to Mars every time I play something, as well as a GTX 970 in my computer which in all fairness is a great graphics card, but not so great at doing anything in 4K. I booted up NBA 2K19 and while it was absolutely stunning to look at, it felt less like watching a game on TV and more like watching a low frame rate GIF.
But it isn’t all doom and gloom, because I loaded up Red Dead Redemption 2, and despite the PS4 not being super powerful, the HDR capabilities of the console really made the game look new all over again. I sat there slack-jawed at how impressive everything looked. You might be wondering why this is such a big deal to me, so maybe it would help if I mentioned that my last TV only output at 720p. So literally everything I put on this TV looks fucking fabulous.
One day I’ll get a graphics card and a console that can fully take advantage of the TV, but as it stands I’m very happy with my purchase, even if it has made me fully aware of how obsolete my other hardware is becoming. Also, Happy New Year. Probably should’ve led with that.
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The Bonus World 