July 2018 Progress

An open world action-adventure TPS. This is what would happen if you mix a cliche action movie directed by Michael Bay with Grand Theft Auto.

I love how much freedom this game gives you. You want to kill a soldier, but how do you do it? You can just shoot them, right? But why shoot when you can use your grappling hook to attach a soldier to a gas canister and then watch as he flies all over the place? Why bother with guns at all when you can attach a soldier to the roof to turn them into a punching bag? Or tether them to a car and then take them on a tour? There are so many ways to kill an enemy, so many locations so explore, so much stuff to blow up. The world is your sandbox and you're free to do anything you want.
But the voice acting… Oh god, the voice acting… It's so bad and hilarious enough to make you feel like you're watching an 80s action movie. Almost everyone talks with a weird, overemphasized foreign accent and most people use those cool-sounding foreign words that you don't understand. Seriously, listen for yourself. I still chuckle every time an enemy throws a cheesy, generic one-liner at me.

Just Cause 2 is easily one of the best sandbox games ever made. If you're looking for a game where you can have fun blowing everything up and coming up with spectacular ways to kill enemies, or want to experience a cliche 80s action movie in game form, this is for you.

A visual novel, set in a IM chat client resembling AOL Instant Messenger.

This game will literally take you back to the 2000's days. Days when everyone used Windows XP, YouTube and Facebook were starting out, YTMND was at it's height of popularity and playing Flash games was the best thing you could do on an IT class. I loved the nostalgia trip and it's a shame that those early Internet days won't be coming back.
The story is pretty good. It feels like you're talking to real people in the 2000s, however there are a couple issues. To spoil as little as possible, I'll say that there's a certain part that has you do something. At first it'll look like it's possible to do that, but later the game will make it harder and harder until eventually the game forces you to fail that part. This is something I really hate in games - if there's a part that forces the player to fail, don't make it look like it's possible to succeed. That makes people restart and try again multiple times for nothing. If you've beaten this game, then I'm talking about Chapter 3, when you have to talk to Emily and Evelyn at the same time and respond to them within a time limit.
Also, if you make one small mistake during a playthrough, you'll be met with an ending where one of the characters will rage at you over that insignificant flub. You can get the same ending for screwing up big time, but for a small slipup? Come on. If you've beaten this game, I'm talking about lying to Emily and Evelyn. One small lie is enough to piss them off and get them to break up with you. And there's no way to calm them down.

Emily is Away Too a decent visual novel, great for anyone growing up in the 2000's Internet. I recommend playing the free prequel first before buying.

An open-world action adventure game. I've written about the previous game, Saints Row: The Third in my previous post.

The game is very similiar to SR:TT. Screwing around in SR:TT's Steelport was fun, but SR IV takes it to the next level with superpowers. The game gives you more ways to mess with enemies: you can now throw them around like ragdolls, freeze them, shrink them or set them on fire just by violating their personal space. Just like The Third, there's tons of things to do and you won't get bored of the game for quite a while.

Saints Row IV is just as good as The Third, if not better. Definitely play if you like the previous Saints Row games. If you're new to Saints Row though, I highly recommend playing The Third first, as it's difficult to go back to The Third after getting used to IV's superpowers. Pick up the Game of the Century Edition, as the DLCs add new missions, weapons and outfits.

A detective action-adventure game.

This is probably the best detective game ever made. The story, facial animations and voice acting are all top-notch. Team Bondi did an excellent job on recreating the 1947's Los Angeles - the cars, the outfits people wear, the buildings, the advertisements, the radio… It feels like you really are in the 40's. Gameplay is solid as well - you get to interrogate witnesses and suspects, search crime scenes for clues, chase after suspects both on foot and in a car and you get to use your pistol as well.

L.A. Noire is great and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good detective game.