Category Archives: Archive

Blog: A Serious Note About the Holidays – 12/05/18

We’ve entered the final stretch of 2018, and while the world continues to be a nightmare-zone, the games were pretty good. I haven’t finalized the Game of the Year plans yet, but I imagine it’ll be something similar to what I did last year. But that isn’t the point of this blog. Instead, I’d like to speak a little more seriously.

The holidays are an incredibly stressful time of year for me, and I imagine it’s like that for a lot of people. You might find yourself overwhelmed or frustrated a lot in December and believe me, I get it. In my case, I hate gift giving. I’m absolutely terrible at figuring out what people want, and even worse at trying to find gifts in my price range. And that might be small potatoes compared to what other people have going on, but it still manages to stress me out.

Whatever your reasons might be, I want to just encourage people to take some time to focus on themselves. The holidays are all about selflessness and togetherness, but that shouldn’t be at the expense of your sanity and personal wellbeing.

I bring this up because I’m already feeling the weight of the holidays bearing down on me. It’s a little different this time around, but it’s still there. This is the first year since I’ve been a teenager that I haven’t had to work during the holidays. Retail kind of conditioned me to dread this time of year, and it’s hard to shake that. Even over Thanksgiving I felt this lingering pressure as if I was about to be fired for not showing up on Black Friday.

I know this might not be an issue for everyone, or maybe some of you are in situations where you can’t really afford to sit back and take a moment, but at the very least try and catch your breath. I feel like my life is moving so fast and I rarely take a moment to enjoy it. So that’s what I’m trying to do right now, and savor the moment, and relax a little bit.

I know this whole post is a little more introspective and serious than I normally shoot for with the blogs, but this feeling weighs on me every year and I felt like sharing that. It’ll be back to jokes and goofs next week, but for now I’d like to say thank you for reading, and I hope your holidays treat you and yours well.

Blog: Horse Insurance – 11/28/18

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Red Dead Redemption 2 finally allowed some of its players to try the beta version of their online modes this week, and if you’ve tried GTA Online then you probably know exactly what it is. Admittedly, I haven’t had a lot of time to play much of the online stuff, but from the hour or so that I’ve put in, it’s basically GTA Online with horses. Although that might be a little harsh.

You start out by creating a character that looks vaguely human. The customization options are pretty good, giving you a sizeable amount of choices to make a unique looking character. As you can see below, I’ve created some sort of Wild West Luigi thanks to that powerful mustache of his.

What happened next had me wishing that this wasn’t an online mode, but just another campaign for me to play through. My character was an inmate at the Sisika Prison, and today he was selected for a work detail out in the desert. Big surprise, a mysterious benefactor has hired some men to bust him out of prison so he could help solve a murder or something. I might have not been paying the best attention.

From here I did some missions that involved me finding some people, shooting them, finding some treasure, keeping it, and stealing some horses with some random folks I was matched up with. It all worked surprisingly well and matchmaking was pretty painless. It wasn’t until the end of that horse theft mission though, that I was greeted with the most hilarious thing I’ve seen in a game. I had to buy Horse Insurance for my horse. I laughed about that for a while and eventually turned the game off.

I’ve heard that progress might not carry over to the full release of the online mode, which isn’t really shocking, but considering I was already tepid on the online to begin with, this makes me wonder if I’ll put anymore real time into it. RDR2 Online seems super interesting, but familiar. I really hope it isn’t just GTA Online in The West, but I’m getting the feeling that it is. I would prefer a more cooperative, laid back online mode personally, and hopefully I’ll get that should I continue with it.

Review: Red Dead Redemption 2

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Over the course of my time with Red Dead Redemption 2, I found myself waffling between moments of awe and frustration fairly consistently. It’s a game that feels as if it suffered an identity crisis midway through development, leaving it disjointed in many areas. Yet despite this, Red Dead Redemption 2 still managed to be one of my favorite experiences of the year.

Seeing the events that set the stage for 2010’s Red Dead Redemption was and still is an enticing proposition. That’s one of the most impressive things to me about Red Dead Redemption 2, how even though I had a pretty strong idea of how things were going to shake out, it still managed to surprise me and keep me engaged.

Which is good considering that the actual playing of Red Dead Redemption 2 can feel like a chore at times, leaving you to contend with some overly cumbersome systems. For instance, instead of just having your weapons with you at all times, you only carry your pistols by default and anything else will have to selected as you’re getting off of your horse. This led to me forgetting my good guns all the time, or even weirder, the game just arbitrarily deciding which guns my character decided to roll out with.

And that’s kind of the most frustrating thing about Red Dead Redemption 2, it doesn’t tell you a lot of things. Simple stuff, like how selling versus donating items works, or why some of your actions get you in trouble with the law as opposed to others. A lot of the game is nebulous and requires you to learn about and discover the inner workings of these systems on your own, but sometimes I just wanted some clarity.

Meanwhile, other systems just tend to be a hassle and seem overly complex in an effort to maintain whatever the Red Dead version of realism is. For example, the “cores” system is a needless complication to the concept of health and stamina bars, making the player have to worry about recharge rates as well as the overall status of the meter. The idea is that eating food recharges your cores which effects how fast your meters recharge, which inherently isn’t a bad system, but the cumbersome inventory management you have to engage with to eat the food makes it more of a chore than it needs to be.

But all of that is overshadowed by the incredible world that Rockstar has built for you to explore. Red Dead Redemption 2 presents a vast, detailed and diverse landscape for you to spend time in, whether it’s doing side missions, going hunting or finding one of the seemingly endless weird secrets that are tucked away. On top of that it’s also incredible to look at. The game is drop dead gorgeous, which explains why my launch PS4 sounds like an airplane in mid flight the entire time I’m playing. The music is mostly subtle and understated, chiming in at just the right moments in a long ride or adding to the tension as you walk into an abandoned home.

Even more impressive might be the mission design. While most of the main missions boil down to you riding your horse somewhere, shooting stuff, and then riding back, but it’s the side stuff and random encounters that really make things special. Every side mission, random encounter, home invasion, and stagecoach robbery were unique and offered something different. Even things that I expected to be more filler-type content like collecting debts and hunting animals, all had some unique angle and backstory to them. Hell, even when one of your fellow gang members asks to go fishing with you, it still manages to be interesting and rewarding.

And that’s the big shadow that Red Dead Redemption 2 casts, and the thing that makes me look past every grievance I have with it. The game is impressive and consistently left me in awe no matter what corner of its world I was poking in. I know that feeling is fleeting and won’t be the same when I revisit it in the future, but for the entirety of all of my play sessions I was enthralled and impressed.

But there’s a big caveat to all of this, and that’s if you can handle the pace of the game. You have to get used to the fact that you can’t hurry the game along and rush through it. Everything is slower and more deliberate, and you better believe you’re gonna watch that drawer opening animation for the thousandth time.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is a game that goes against the grain of modern video games in a way that might drive you insane. I’ve struggled with control issues, bad tutorialization, and slow paced gameplay, and I understand the many impulses to put the game down and walk away. Yet despite all of that, Red Dead Redemption 2 presented me with a great story with memorable characters in a living world that I am happy I got to experience and will happily do again whenever a PC version gets released.

Blog: Traveling – 11/21/18

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So uh, I’m gonna be going out of town for Thanksgiving which means this post isn’t really gonna be anything substantial. But in lieu of anything that was planned or thought out, here’s just some current events going on here at The Bonus World.

I was invited to play Mario Party 4 with some friends of mine. It was filmed and you can watch it here if you like. And should you be so inclined, you can see the rest of their stuff on their YouTube channel.

I’ve written a review for Red Dead Redemption 2 that’ll go live on Thanksgiving (11/22/18). Yeah, I figured for how much I’ve talked about that game on the site, as well as how much of my time it has already occupied, it deserved a review. I still have so much more to say about that game, but the review should cover my main feelings on it. Look out for that.

The Messenger is a game you should play. So far, The Messenger is like a love letter to the Nintendo era Ninja Gaiden games, and I’m onboard for that. I don’t know how far I am into that game, but I’ve heard for months that something happens halfway through it that is mind-blowing. So we’ll see. Otherwise, it’s a great action game with badass music and possibly one of my favorite shopkeepers in a game, ever. More on that in the future I’m sure.

Lastly, I have some games I need to give away. The harvest from being a Humble Monthly subscriber has been bountiful. Overwhelmingly bountiful. To the point where I have codes for games I already have and/or will never play. I need to figure out a good way to give those babies out.

Anyway, that’s this weeks very rushed blog post. If you’re in the US, happy Thanksgiving. If you aren’t, treat yourself to something greasy and American just for the hell of it.

Blog: Wake Me Up Cefore You Go-Go – 11/14/18

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What may seem like an unfortunate typo in the title of this blog, is actually some of the most clever wordplay ever used in the history of words. Don’t try and deny it. There’s this game that’s actually called Cefore that I’ve been dipping in and out of between sessions of Red Dead Redemption 2, and it’s been a real nice palette cleanser.

Cefore is a physics-based puzzle game that tasks you with harvesting these big blue blocks that are scattered across level. To move these blocks you’ll utilize your arsenal of tools to either directly impact the blocks or the obstacles around them. Is the blue block on top of a tall stone pillar? Well some dynamite will certainly send it tumbling to the ground. Is the block in a hole? Perhaps using a hot air balloon will solve that problem.

I haven’t played too much of Cefore yet, but from what little I have it seems like a neat little experience. The controls are a little weird and restarting a level isn’t as quick as I would like, but these are minor inconveniences at best. So far I’m enjoying my time with it as it provides a decent challenge while allowing me the freedom to solve things the way I like. I personally choose the most explosions.

Blog: Best in The West – 11/07/18

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This one is gonna be a short one folks, I really don’t have much of anything else to talk about outside of one particularly massive cowboy-themed game. That’s right, I’m talking about Red Dead Redemption 2 once again.

At this point I’ve completed all the chapters of the story and am currently sweeping up the seemingly endless amount of side activities. I’m suffering from Breath of The Wild syndrome with this game, which is to say that I’m just picking a direction and going. While you’re not always rewarded in the same way Zelda did, Red Dead Redemption 2 does a pretty good job of getting you out into the world and sightseeing.

Sometimes there’s an animal that needs hunting, or a stranger that needs shooting, or just some weird cabin where some fucked up stuff went down. Red Dead Redemption 2 manages to exist in the space where it can be enormous without feeling bloated and that’s no small task.

Take a look at Assassin’s Creed Odyssey for instance. It also boasted a gigantic world with lots to explore and see, but ultimately handed out experiences in a checklist format. It felt more like crossing items off of a shopping list than just organically discovering something.

Maybe that’s what I like so much about Red Dead Redemption 2, the fact that once I learned to embrace the “walking through molasses” pace of the game, I found it rewarding to just get lost in the vast expanse. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go wander in the woods and try not to get my ass chomped off by a bobcat.

Blog: YeeHalloween – 10/31/18

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A big howdy to all of my buckaroos out there, it’s the spookiest time of the year and somehow cowboys are involved. But you knew that already, hell, the entire world knows it judging by the over 700 million dollars Red Dead Redemption 2 made in its opening weekend. While I agree with the vast majority of critics that the game is exceedingly well made, it feels weird heaping this amount of praise on it in lieu of the information around Rockstar Game’s labor practices.

I feel that it should be mentioned to remind players of what was given to make Red Dead Redemption 2 such a colossal game. While I wholeheartedly believe that people in the games industry need protections from abusive work environments, you can see the fruit of that labor in every inch of the game itself.

That’s why it’s so weird to talk about Read Dead Redemption 2 and highlight the incredible amount of detail that’s on display in it. We know what it took to get a game that big and diverse to exist. I guess if I wanted to put a neat little bow on this train of thought, I’d simply say this: I really like Red Dead Redemption 2 thus far, and I’m extremely grateful for the amount of work that went into it.

So with all that being said, Red Dead Redemption 2 is a phenomenal game that very occasionally drives me insane. There is so much to highlight that I won’t even try to cover it here, but the thing I’d most like to emphasize is the world Rockstar has created. Every nook and cranny of the map seems meticulously planned and constructed in a way to either set you up for an interesting encounter, or let you fill in the blanks and construct a narrative about what has happened.

An example of the latter would be the time I came across a run down shack in the woods. Inside were several bunks of beds lining the walls each with a long decomposed corpse lying in it. At the far end of the room was an ornate desk with empty potion bottles strewn about. There was another corpse sitting in a chair wearing what looked like some sort of religious garb. To me, it looked like I’d entered the final resting place of a cult that had “ascended” and passed on. I don’t know for sure that was the case, but in my mind this was the home of cowboy Heaven’s Gate.

It’s little details like this that fill the world of Red Dead Redemption 2 that make me so eager to spend more time with it. Everything else seems to take a backseat to just inhabiting this space for me. The world itself doesn’t seem to exist in service of my character, but rather it exists despite him. And that’s the aspect of Red Dead that I love so much, this feeling of not being the center of attention and that inserting yourself into every situation is a good way to get gunned down.

It took me some time to adjust to the overall pace that Red Dead Redemption 2 operates at, but I’m glad I did because this game is something truly special. Special in the way that the house that gives out full sized candy bars on Halloween is special. And that’s the Halloween tie in. We did it.

Blog: Off-Week – 10/24/18

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So here’s the thing, I didn’t really prepare much of anything to write about this week and I don’t quite feel like phoning it in more than I already am. But there is a reason for all of this, something I’m sure I’ve spoken about before. I just haven’t really played anything of note since last week.

Well, that isn’t entirely true. I did play some Call of Duty Black Ops IIII which was a lot of fun for the few hours I spent with it, but it didn’t leave me wanting to return to it in a meaningful way. Like, it’s fun in the way that Call of Duty always has been, but it didn’t manage to grab me the way the older games did. I know exactly why that is too.

The simple answer is that I don’t have the time or the desire to really get into Black Ops IIII. It’s a really fun experience that I wouldn’t mind dipping into from time to time, but the military shooter genre itself isn’t really doing it for me the way it did ten years ago. I have plenty of good memories of playing these types of games from the past, but these days I find myself wanting a more insular and solitary experience.

It’s why games like Super Smash Bros Ultimate and Fallout 76 are doing absolutely nothing for me. It’s because I just want to play a game by myself, and experience it at my own pace. I almost made the mistake of buying the latest Jackbox Party Pack because I wanted to play the game where you make robots rap battle, but then I remembered that I’d never get the chance to actually play it.

More to the point though, I think the real reason I haven’t played anything this week is because of what is arguably the biggest release of the year being so close to being out. With Red Dead Redemption 2 mere days away, I’ve found it hard to want to play anything but that. It’s one of the first times in a long while that I’ve felt this “hype” for a game that’s demolished my will to touch anything else. I’m sure by next week I’ll post something about Red Dead Redemption 2 and title it in a ridiculous fashion. Something like, “Yeehalloween” or some shit.

Blog: The Bloated Assassin – 10/17/18

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For many years, I’ve heard people clamoring for the Assassin’s Creed franchise to take a break and find its footing once more. In 2016, Ubisoft decided it was finally time to pump the brakes and try to reinvigorate the tried and true formula they’d used for so long. The result was the critically acclaimed Assassin’s Creed Origins. Fast forward, and we’re face to face with the second game built on this new foundation, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.

In another place, at another time, I could see myself getting really into Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and its massive world and wide variety of systems. There is seriously a ridiculous amount of things to do in this game, from taking down outposts, to hunting mercenaries in a stripped-down Shadow of Mordor fashion, to recruiting people to sail with you on your ship and sending them on missions. Those three things alone are concepts you could build full games off of, but in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, they’re optional missions.

That isn’t entirely true though. See, while these side activities didn’t seem particularly mandatory for me to engage with, it became apparent that I will have to spend time with them if I want to progress through the game. I recently got to a point where I was informed that the man I was to assassinate in the story, was about a level 12. This was an issue, cause I was a lowly level 9 assassin, incapable of stabbing through a loaf of bread, let alone a man. Then I realized what made Assassin’s Creed Odyssey such a lengthy experience. Aside from being genuinely huge, it also requires a certain amount of grinding to be able to progress, which for me is a bummer.

Just look at the estimated completion times in this thing!

On top of all of that bloat, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is just a little rough around the edges in general. There’s this weirdness with the combat in that it feels a little loose and unwieldy at times, from animations not lining up right, or the camera moving around in less than helpful ways when you’re trying to parry attacks. There was a moment where I was trying to hand in a quest, but the person who I was to talk to was fighting a wolf. Upon defeating the beast, he turned his aggression towards me and just attacked. So I retaliated in the only way I knew how, and kicked him off the side of a mountain. It was funny, but I could have used the experience instead.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is a dense game that’s going to take a long time for you to get through. Even though it’s bloated and slowly paced, and even though it’s clunky at times, I’m still having fun with it. There are times when you’re stalking your prey through a compound, and everything just works and flows in a way that makes you feel like a competent assassin.

Blog: Run it Back Cowboy – 10/10/18

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With the sequel on the horizon, I figured it was now or never for me to revisit Red Dead Redemption and bask once more, in its glory. Hypothetically, this all should’ve gone off without any issues, but of course that wouldn’t be the case. Somehow, I had misplaced the power-brick for my Xbox 360, which was kind of a problem because I was pretty sure consoles needed electricity to operate. Luckily my local GameStop had one for six dollars, and it was smooth sailing from there.

Except for the fact that Red Dead Redemption didn’t age as gracefully as you might think. It’s still a phenomenal game, but the rough edges are a little more apparent, 8 years later. The thing that jumped out at me immediately was the consistent frame-rate dips. Like I mentioned, I’m playing this on my original Xbox 360 Elite, and the there have been plenty of instances where the entire game gets really sluggish. At most, it was an inconvenience

Something that definitely was a constant source of aggravation, was riding the horses. I don’t think any video game has really done horseback riding particularly well, and Red Dead Redemption is no exception. I’ve expressed in the past how a certain horse in The Witcher 3 is a hassle to ride, and I share most of the same frustrations with them as I do all of the horses in Red Dead. It’s just clunky and inelegant to ride these bad boys, and you have to do a lot of it.

But I did learn something new about Red Dead Redemption that I had never known before, which is that you can fast travel from just about anywhere and not just at stagecoaches. This was a fucking revelation for me. A random tutorial popped up and told me to use my campfire to travel somewhere, and it blew my goddamned mind. And you have unlimited campfires. That is insane and most definitely has made this impromptu play session much more tolerable.

There are a ton of little grievances I have with Red Dead Redemption, but as a package, it still stands as a monumental game. The story that it tells is (mostly) captivating and incredibly well told, and the characters are memorable and very well acted. The world itself is perfectly constructed to suit the setting and hammers home the feeling of isolation you’d imagine having when riding alone through the desert. While I’m happy I decided to revisit the game, it’s mostly just to distract me from the fact that we’re still a few weeks away from Red Dead Redemption 2.