Thoughts and such by Joshua Tong
I’m replaying Halo: Combat Evolved because it’s a great game and I haven’t played it in ages. The game holds up incredibly well, mostly because a lot of what it does has since become standard. The dual-stick controls that Halo codified have become standard in everything from Stray to God of War. A limited weapon loadout that you can swap on the fly with… Continue reading Combat Evolved Unevolved
Oh wow, I somehow fell out of the habit of doing my Top Nine Movies, probably on account of, y’know, the pandemic. So we’re bringing it back, but this time it’s not just movies. It’s nine things I really enjoyed this year. Some of which are movies, others, well, you’ll see. As ever, it’s nine… Continue reading Nine Things From 2022
I am, a full seven years after its release, diving into Arkham Knight, the sequel to the great Arkham Asylum and Arkham City Batman games. I enjoyed the other two a lot, the combat was snappy and the overall fantasy of "you get to be Batman" was executed excellently. The games stuck in my mind… Continue reading Leaving Stones Unturned
So I started playing Kerbal Space Program again, that game with robust rocketry physics where you launch rockets and try and orbit planets, land on moons, and do other space program stuff. It’s a great game, one that has me reading Wikipedia articles on orbital mechanics, taking note of delta-v calculations, and reassessing whether I… Continue reading But Why Rockets?
I’ve been using PlayStation Plus’ new game-subscription-thing service to play a bunch of games I missed when they first came out, games like Celeste (a truly excellent platformer) and John Wick Hex. There are also a bunch of older PS2 games and, because I’m Star Wars trash, I’ve been playing some older Star Wars games.… Continue reading Changing Schema
Stray is a game with a very simple conceit: You play as a cat. The game’s delightful; I’ve only scratched the surface and can’t wait to really dive into it and see what awaits me. In the meantime, the surface is lovely. As a cat you explore the ruins of a city, solving puzzles by… Continue reading Play As A Cat
I never finished Breath of The Wild. I know, that feels heretical to say. It’s an excellent game, one that I've enjoyed tremendously and even wrote about on this blog a bunch. And yet, I never fought Ganon, beat the game, and found out how it ended. There is something of a reason for it.… Continue reading Back To The Wild
If one’s good, two’s probably great. That’s the general idea of more is better and a particularly notable line from The Social Network. But that doesn’t really work past a certain point, as our current shared existence in this late-stage capitalism hellscape makes all too clear. Too much of a good thing isn’t always great, and that translates… Continue reading Too Much
As I play through Fallout 4 I’m plagued by a nagging question. It’s not "where is my son?", the question the game’s story wants you to ask (I’ve thoroughly lost the plot), instead I’m left asking myself "Is this game any good?" And I’m not so sure it is. The gameplay is perfectly fine, though… Continue reading Okay, But Is It Good?
I started playing Spider-Man: Miles Morales recently, in-between outs of Horizon Forbidden West (80+ hours and 75% done!). It’s great so far; I mean, it’s more Spider-Man and that was a game I really liked. It’s fun to play as Miles and I’m enjoying his arc (and I look forward to seeing where it goes).… Continue reading Spidey’s Kicks
Essays, Not Rants! 