On the Level Podcast

If it's 'OK' is it any good? Can you wring excitement from a 5/10 or are you just passing the time? How much stock do we put into reviews and review aggregates?

It's time to find out on this perfectly acceptable, middle of the road episode...

Today's popular games are tomorrow's fish and chip wrappings (does that analogy mean anything to anyone these days?). That's not entirely fair, but we do seem to be seeing games that hit BIG for short amounts of time.

What gives? Who makes it happen? Are we now seeing the gaming equivalent of fidget spinners and loom bands? Yes, basically.

Lots to catch up this week! Our thoughts on RE2 now that we've both done it, Harry has a moment on KH3, everyone plays Apex, the Metro/Epic situation, Pete might be back, Inside Xbox, dull Super Bowl trailers and McNuggets. So very many McNuggets.

Pull up a bucket and let's get stuck in...

Think you know what 'Science Fiction' is? We did. Turns out we absolutely don't, but there are certainly plenty of video games it. Or maybe there aren't.

Anyway, we more or less have it cracked by the end of it. Or maybe we don't.

The title does exactly what it says on the tin.

This week it's all about mods. From tiny little cosmetic tweaks, brand new games, new modes, levels, characters even jobs!

And, of course, big, jiggly... jiggly bits.

So it's out with the old and in with the new. Or, at the very least, the new old thing.

Holy Moly 2019 starts a bit strong, doesn't it?

Even if we end up in a barren desert of releases after the first 3 months this year is already an embarrassment of riches! AND Shenmue 3!!

Oh, sorry, there's a bit more: ...and Shenmue 3 is not coming out in 2019.

2018. It certainly was a 12 month period, wasn't it? We take a look back over the year in gaming and see if it was really all it was cracked up to be. Time to exclaim repeatedly "Jesus! That was THIS year??" a lot.

What's 3 hours long and is kinda disappointing despite the hype? Watching Batman & Robin one and a half times? The Eurovision song contest? Yep. And also the Video Game Awards.

As Harry so eloquently put it it's the video game equivalent of a rolled up sock temptingly tucked into your paramour's boxers... you can have fun, but not as much as you were expecting.

"We were so wrong" to quote from Prometheus (ironically, almost, as we didn't get a whisper of Aliens)...

By the time you listen to this the VGATGAs will have been and gone and all our predictions will have been for nothing. The good news is that we barely got anything right. Still good news; the awards didn't get in the way of us discussing games and series that change on a dime.

"We were so wrong..." to quote Dr. Elizabeth Shaw (ironic, given that we didn't get a lick of Aliens during the night) regarding the TGAVGAs.

But hey-ho. We may be well out of date and waaaaaay off target with our TGA predictions but we had fun. And that's the important thing!

We also shot the breeze about games and series that suddenly change on a dime, so the evening wasn't a total waste!