Pixelated Sausage - Attack the Backlog

It's not entirely me, but my overall meh-ness on Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales is partially due to my being burnt out on Spider-Man games. It doesn't help that Miles Morales is just another Spider-Man game, for better and worse, but I can't deny my blame in this outcome. While I was genuinely excited to play Miles Morales, it's clear my heart was trying to trick my brain into thinking things would be different this time--they weren't--so when I realized Miles Morales was just morales of the same, it was game over. It's not (all) you, Miles Morales, it's (mostly) me.

I was excited to finally play Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales as I was deep into my MCU (and live-action Spider-Man) rewatch, but that excitement quickly disappeared as I remembered exactly why I liked but didn't love Marvel's Spider-Man: it was just another Spider-Man game. This shouldn't come as a surprise, but Miles Morales is yet another Spider-Man game, for better or worse. There's nothing wrong with this, but it's clear at this point I'm just not much of a Spider-Man game fan anymore. Maybe one day I'll see the light again, but one thing's for sure, Miles Morales will not be the game to do it.

You may be asking yourself, "Why on earth did you decide to play Riders Republic of all the thousands of games you own?" The answer is simple: I love Downhill Domination and I'm always looking for games that scratch that itch; first there was Descenders and now there's Riders Republic. Let's not kid ourselves here, Riders Republic is no Downhill Domination, but it does scratch that itch--the mountain biking events specifically--and sometimes a bit of scratching is good enough, even if the itch comes back immediately after stopping. If only Sony would remake Downhill Domination and turn me back into the PlayStation fanboy I once was...

The hell of my own making is finally over. After seven longs nights of streaming and over twenty hours of playing, my story with golf has ended and I can finally move on with my life. I don't say this lightly, but I genuinely believe like I wasted my time playing this game; not in the playing it all part, but in the playing it to completion when I should have said "no more" way sooner. If I can take away anything positive from this bit of backlogging, it should be this: Attack the Backlog is about attacking my backlog, not finishing it, so when a game isn't clicking, move on. Will I follow this advice in the future, or keep on keeping on? Only time will tell, but all signs point to my dumb ass keeping on like I always do.

Things have taken a turn for the worse. While I was indifferent last episode, I am indifferent no more. I hate this game. I hate everything about it--okay, that's a bit of a stretch, but I really don't like a lot of it. What I thought was going to be a pleasant surprise is instead and wave of sand in my eyes (from hitting a lot of balls out of the bunker). Both the golfing and the story disappoint and boy oh boy is there a lot of the latter and not enough of the former, but who's really to blame? Is it my fault for expecting a more even split, or is it the developer's fault for making the game the way it is? You can come to your own conclusions, but I'll split the blame and call it a day...except this isn't the end of my journey; nay, there's still one more episode until we can say, "Golf Story...good day!"

I didn't know what to play after Kena: Bridge of Spirits. I perused the various short lists I created and, when I got to my Switch, one game popped out at me: Golf Story. I had always been interested in Golf Story ever since it first came out to overall glowing reviews, but me and the Switch haven't had the best relationship, so, like many Switch games, I never got around to playing it. Fast-forward to now and things have finally changed. It shouldn't be a surprise, but there is a lot of story in Golf Story and the quality of that story is a, "Your mileage will vary," affair, but there's golf to be played as well and, if you want to know how I feel about either or both (so far), you best listen to this here first episode in my playthrough of Golf Story for the Nintendo Switch.

Things got a little rocky at the end. An annoying boss followed by another annoying boss almost soured the whole experience. Thankfully, the good of Kena greatly outweighs what little bad is there, so not much love was lost. There are things to nitpick and little ways they could have improved this or that, but what's there is a solid experience that doesn't overstay its welcome and leaves me excited to see what Ember Lab does next. If you want a fun adventure with a well-told story and beautiful art, you'll get that and more with Kena: Bridge of Spirits.

Kena: Bridge if Spirits is a game I've been wanting to play ever since it was announced. I was so excited for it, I bought it on PlayStation 4. But as we all know, there is only so much time and we can only play one game at a time, so Kena ended up where 99% of my games end up: the backlog. Then, when I had the time and had the desire, a curveball appeared: Kena was announced for Xbox. "What?" I somehow got it into my head that Kena was a console exclusive. I was wrong. So with this news I waited, waited for the Xbox release to finally arrive and, well, here we are; was it worth the wait? Watch or listen to find out. (It's not like the title gives the answer away or anything...)

The title says it all. While Destiny 2 may have been a great game at launch and may still be great for those who went along for the ride these last seven years, it is not great for new players. If you're coming to Destiny 2 fresh--or in my case, after not playing for somewhere between six and seven years--you will be met with the same opening tutorial that was there from day one, but everything after that is a confusing mess of, "What should I do next? What's that thing there? What are all these menus?" and so on. There may be worse examples out there, but Destiny 2 is easily one of the worst games at onboarding new players I've played in years, maybe ever.

"Oh how I wish this was a 'regular' game," Marc said, enjoying their time in Disney Speedstorm. "Why did this have to be one of the most free-to-play games I've ever played?" 'Tis a tale as old as time. The tale of a game getting in its own way by forcing a bunch of nonsense down your throat when all you want to do is pay once--excluding future DLC, of course--and play forever (or until you get bored and want something new to play). If Disney Speedstorm was such a game, I'd wholeheartedly recommend it; however, as it is, I can only say give it a shot, I guess, since it's free (and actually really good when you're playing), but just know you won't be able to avoid the excessive free-to-play trappings that make up the skeleton, muscles, and skin of Disney Speedstorm.