Unchart Me Daddy

Uncharted is basically what you get when Sony makes sweet sweet love to Indiana Jones. Filled with a bunch of conveniently placed climbable objects and hiding spots, it's quite the adventure.

What makes Uncharted good? The writing is above average, providing some good hearty chuckles once in a while, as well as some good story. The gameplay is what you'd expect, jump around, find shit, shoot people when ya need to.

What's the bad parts? Well, not much if you like adventure games. For those of you who the concept of Uncharted isn't super appealing, you may struggle a bit to want to play. The major thing that would be considered bad is that the controls can be a bit clunky. Let's say you're trying to hide behind a sniper, but you need to leave cover for a quick bit to pick up a bit more ammo. You exit cover, run over to the gun, and then press the cover button again. Unfortunately, this can sometimes contain you rolling around looking like an idiot while you take tons of bullets. This doesnt happen super often however, but when it does pop up it can range from mildly annoying to mildly infuriating.

Overall, Uncharted is an 8.5/10 in my book. Great writing, fun game, but wasnt the most intriguing until about the end, and the uncommon control kink can kill a few times too many.

Brick Breaker Breaks Me

I'm sure a lot of you have seen, heard of, or are aware of the existence of the style of game where you have a paddle, a ball, and break bricks of various colors with various power-ups. In fact, a good portion of you should know what I'm talking about, as there's been a recent resurgence of this style with a weird modern twist. Since there's a lot of those games, I'll try and be as specific as I possibly can. The title of this game is simply "Brick Breaker", sold on the PS4, Xbox 1, and the PC. I have found a link to the game I'm talking about on steam, so here it is: https://store.steampowered.com/app/539290/Brick_Breaker/
I imagine a lot of you probably haven't heard of this variation unless you really enjoy this style of game, you have PS Now, or something like that. That's probably because this version kinda sucks. A lot. Let me tell you why.

When you start up the game, the first thing you're going to notice is how god damn loud the game is. Naturally, you're going to go into the settings to turn down the sound. But wait, you can't do that, you can only turn it off. Same goes for sound effects and the voices that declare combos and speed. Luckily, if you're fortunate enough to be a PC user, you can use a sound mixer and turn down the application sound via that. But if you're a console user, you're fucked. Sure, you can turn your TV down, but still, why the fuck should I have to do something like that? I don't want to have to edit the sound outside the program, I shouldn't be forced to do that. That's a real upsetting lack of options. Already, you can tell the game isn't the most amazing game ever.

Since you're most likely playing a game like this on your own, you'll be faced with two options: survival and arcade. Arcade is a traditional set of levels that you can beat whenever you want, in order of course. Survival is just arcade, but all in a row. So, not much originality, and not much you can do if you're stuck on a seemingly impossible level. The paddle speed is quite fast compared to versions I've played before, not sure if it's normally this fast and I've just been playing child versions or something, but still, weirdly sensitive.

There are 2 other factors in the game other than the usual "ball bounce and break brick, move paddle", the combo and the speed. Combo is really not a factor or anything, it's just how long you can have the ball bounce without you needing to hit it with the paddle. Speed increases with how long the ball is still alive, going up to a max speed of x10. Which is really fuckin' fast. Normally, this isn't much of a problem. Most times, you have a reasonable gap in between the paddle and the area where the bricks are. Not in this game. The bricks are fucking forcing themselves upon your paddle, rubbing their bricky-ass bodies up against your poor paddle. This is an absolute mess when you're trying to deal with a x10 speed ball. Once again, this is based on my past experiences playing these types of games, so maybe this is the norm. Still, I'm more than quite certain that this is not the norm.

Now, as I am friendless, and wouldn't dare force anyone else to play this game with me, there is a multiplayer mode that I have not explored. From the bit I've seen in trailer videos, it looks similar to ice hockey, but with a brick wall that you have to destroy to score on the opponent. This actually seems like not that bad of a concept, and I might have a poor willing soul play this with me one day, possibly boosting the rating. I will edit this post with that new information if I ever do such a thing.

But, as of right now, this game is just a 4/10. It's not unplayable. It's certainly not good, however. Lack of options, sensitivity, and other factors make this game not that fun. Still, it's fun enough to be a good time killer, or if you're a masochist.

Boss Monster Is A Boss-Ass Game

Boss Monster has climbed high in my list of favorite games, almost outranking games such as Twilight Imperium IV. I'm here to tell you why you should or shouldn't buy and play this game, because it definitely is not for everyone.

Boss Monster is a card-based strategy game, focused around the nostalgic feel of retro video games. The theme is this: You and some other bosses are having a competition on who can make the best dungeon. If you can acquire 10 souls, you win. On the opposite hand, if you acquire 5 wounds, you lose. Most heroes count as just one soul/wound, but as the game progresses, you'll encounter the epic heroes, who count as two souls/wounds. You utilize the strategy of your available rooms and spells to try and win, either by killing heroes or wounding opponents.

For those of you who love strategical games, or card games, or even just like the premise, I can almost guarantee this is a good game for you. If you enjoy the base game, try out some expansions! I myself haven't personally played any expansions yet (mainly due to financial limitations), but I'm sure they're probably at the very least decent.

Some flaws to this game are the fact that as it may seem simple, it's a lot of stuff to handle on your first play. You really aren't aware of how limited your resources are, and how weak you are in comparison to the heroes early game. There also is a slight lack of advanced cards, making some of the level up abilities unfortunately useless. And, if you aren't a fan of this type of strategy, you probably aren't going to enjoy the game all that much.

Overall, this game is a solid 9/10. If you don't like strategy, this game most likely isn't for you, but that's ok, there are plenty of other games out there. But for those who do enjoy this time of game, I highly recommend giving this game a shot, it's one of the best out there.