Chamberlain and Chance

It is a tale of two open worlds this week. Alex, thanks to the once in a blue moon occurrence of a first party Nintendo title going on sale, is finally playing Breath of the Wild. He is having a fine, almost meditative time with it. In contrast, Chamberlain played about five hours of Forspoken, because someone had to, and had very little if any fun with it. At least he had a remake of a PSP JRPG to fall back on. Chance is also playing Breath of the Wild, for the fifth or sixth time (he has lost count), eagerly awaiting the opportunity to give Nintendo an extra $10 for the sequel.  

This week, Chamberlain tried to do a nice thing. He tried to buy Chance a game that he really liked, Hi Fi Rush, so that Chance would give it a try. Things did not go as planned. Instead of shooting robots to the beat of life he shot noobs in Overwatch and werewolves in Resident Evil VII. Alex did play Hi Fi Rush, and liked what he played, but the call of another Persona 5 playthrough was too strong. Chamberlain revisited the Xbox 360 era with Evil West, a game that feels like an escapee from a time of no DLC, linear shooters, and excessive violence.

Only good games this week! Chance and Alex have enjoyed the return of space horror, proving that the only thing that can top Dead Space is, well, better Dead Space. Aesthetic issues with the final suit aside, it is everything that a remake should be, raising the bar for even the upcoming Resident Evil 4 remake. Chamberlain choice bright and bouncy over dark and slimy, playing through Hi-Fi Rush. This is the happiest he has been about a game in a long time. His enthusiasm is almost hard to believe.  

Much to everyone's surprise and relief, it looks like EA as not screwed up the Dead Space remake. More on that next week, but Chance and Alex have already put down their hard earned money. Content with the opposite experience, Chamberlain played The Calisto Protocol, and in spite of it looking pretty good and the combat not being as bad as you have heard, the game is boring, and not scary, and he does not recommend it. Chance got a head start on horror remakes by playing Resident Evil 2 remake again, and it was a good time in spite of there not being an infinite ammo magnum. And Alex is playing Persona 5. Again. Because he bought it. Again. For the third time.

Chamberlain meant to have a first hand report on The Calisto Protocol this week. He got as far as installing it before opting for an over priced remake of an old PS2 game: Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance II. It's still good, especially if you can't see very well. Chance played, and walked away from, Horizon Forbidden West. Last time it was for Elden Ring, this time is because the game is just easy to walk away from. And Alex can confirm that The Last Of Us on HBO is worth your time even if playing The Last Of Us 2 for a second time isn't.

We welcome 2023 with a special, bonus sized episode! There is much to catch up on: Chance joined Chamberlain in appreciating the mediocrity of Gotham Knights before taking no pleasure at all in Psychonauts 2. Alex will forgive him. Eventually. Chamberlain took a tour of little games with High on Life (it turns out you can have too many dick jokes), Sword of the Vagrant and Astro Aqua Kitty. And Alex shied away from Midnight Suns for Chained Echoes. 

Truly, the great void of the interwebs has it out for us. We will attempt to defy the hive mind again next week.

Not to be outdone by Geoff Keighley and his insufferable fashion choices (and the show's lackluster security), Chamberlain, Chance and Alex bring your their picks for the best games of 2022. No ads, no trailers, no WORLD PREMIERS, just three guys who play a lot of video games gushing about their favorites. And then Chance talks about Overwatch.

An early congratulations to Alex who is getting married next week! In honor of his nuptials, and Christmas, we will me taking next week off.

Apologies for a slightly distracted episode. The Game Awards are on as we speak and Chamberlain is having a very difficult time dividing his attention. He turned his nose up at Bayonetta 3 this week (for not being as good as God of War, among other glaring issues) and has wrapped himself up in Eastward, a game that could not be more A Link to the Past if it tried. Alex is slowing learning Midnight Suns, the best Marvel anything to arrive in, well, quite some time, so long as you have the stomach for crushing defeat. And Chance has played Overwatch and edited Overwatch videos. And he has done it well, as new entries in Chance's hate mail bag without a doubt prove.

Happy Game Awards! 

Caution listeners! This week is full of God of War Ragnarök spoilers! Nothing is off limits, so if you have not played it yet (and you have a way to do so) what have you been doing these last three weeks? The days after finishing a potential game of the year are always difficult to fill. Chamberlain chose violence, specifically, violence in very bad games. He played Gungrave G.O.R.E., enjoyed it, and is making no apologies. Alex had the audacity to play another very good, albeit entirely different game: Pentiment. Apparently he likes to read. And Chance? He played Overwatch 2. Even better, he beat up PC players, so Chance's hate mail bag make a triumphant return.