Frustrated Video Game Guy

Welcome.

I’m just going to put this out there right off the bat; a guy who still collects action figures well into his mid-thirties, still watches (and ENJOYS, no less than in his youth) his old animated DVDs, and loves music is, naturally, going to be a video gamer too.

I never said that he’d be a GOOD gamer. (If I were any angrier, and slightly nerdier, about my video games…wait; that YouTube channel was taken).

The days when Video Games consisted of Super Mario (“…3” will always be the best; #changemymind), Duck Hunt (“MOST dogs go to Heaven; the animated, cartoon Duck Hunt dog who consistently *laughs* at people can go straight to HELL!”), Mega Man, or the Capcom “Disney Afternoon…” games are now behind me; as are the days of stealing away to a friend’s house to play “Sonic…” or “Super Mario World,” depending on which friend I had scheduled the Playdate with.

Hmmm; “Favorite NES Games From My Childhood…”

…Maybe another time.

TODAY was meant to be about what “gaming” looks for me NOW as an “Adult Gamer.”

“HIDDEN CITY…”

Not until there was “Windows 10” did I start going out of my way to download games to play on PC. I can’t even remember what the initial “hook” was about the barrage of ads for “Hidden City…” that eventually made it my first PC game that hadn’t come preinstalled. Maybe it was what the graphics looked like at least for the constant ads.

Anyway, here we are.

“Hidden City” tests my eyesight, patience, critical thinking, and…bank account…to their limits. The premise of “Hidden City” is to find hidden objects in separate locations; hidden objects that, naturally, get harder to find WITHOUT the help of tools as the levels progress.

The hook is that the game only offers so FEW of these “helpful tools” for free. To restock…hello, “Windows Store;” I’ll see you again in a couple of days for more “rubies” (in-game currency).

Part of the trick of “Hidden City…” is that offers objects/items if you go as far as logging in on consecutive days. Some days, I will just log in long enough to record the log and claim my reward; okay, as long as I’m here, what’s the harm in playing ONE level…?

The burden: More than once, “Hidden City…” has not just frozen to the point of logging out and logging back in; no, more than once, I was in the middle of Hidden City when my desktop would spontaneously power off without warning. I can’t think of any other culprit. Then again, that hasn’t happened in a while. Another burden with ALL “G5” games on this machine is whether or not they’ll even launch at all on the first, second, third…try.

WORDPLAY

More “G5” gaming goodness; and more defense of “I’m testing my brain!”

Wordplay plays out a lot like “Scrabble” in that I have a handful of letters; and a screen full of blank spaces to fit these combinations of certain letters. And what ISN’T in the puzzle at least gives me some “Star” points as a consolation.

As with all “G5” games in my experience, “Wordplay” insists on convincing me to launch it EVERY DAY at least for a second to reward me for doing so/”punish” me for not…

Burden: My PC is now over ten years old (and is pretty full with music); it may or may not always launch a game without lagging/quitting after the first couple of attempts. That, plus “Wordplay” won’t even launch unless I have started my VPN in the background anymore. (Attempting to play it without it on results on a promised “update” that I “MUST download” to continue to play; an “update” that does not exist in the Microsoft APP store and, therefore, means that I must updated the game with the VPN switched on and it doesn’t recognize it without it).

MICROSOFT SOLITAIRE COLLECTION

Nothing tests a person’s logic and reasoning like five games of cards in sequence. This is about me trying to do the daily challenges; and on the days that I miss, I try to catch back up the next day…

Burden: Playing more than FIVE games of cards can get tedious (hence to try to knock out EACH ONE EACH DAY). That, and the “Expert” and “Hard” games live up to their titles and leave me tearing at my hair and screaming at…a nonsentient computer monitor. That; and it can be rather slow to recognize that I’m connected to the internet.

So far; so good. I mean, every single “Microsoft” computer game so far “tests my mind and reasoning.” (The “Duck Hunt” dog only used to test my patience as I intentionally waited for the ducks to fly passed; then my marksmanship on that “snickering” mutt!)

“Hello, Mr. PS4; and sorry for the swear words at…”

WWE 2K20

There are rumors out there to THIS DAY about what a broken mess “WWE 2K20” was.

The stories are true; especially now that its last round of updates was LAST March (2020).

Let’s just say that my absolute favorite created character, a macho man created in “my” likeness (and escorted dutifully to the ring by a gorgeous ring diva and custom created character in “Kelly Kelly’s” likeness) has a “Red Health Bar Glitch;” meaning that “I” start each and every match with 33% of not only my anticipated health but stamina/energy too. This is true if “I’m” about to punch “The Miz’s” smug smirk off of his face (again) or punch Bo Dalla’s lights out; it’s ALSO true if I find “myself” across the ring from the likes of Braun Strowman, John Cena, Bret Hart, Hulk Hogan, or (Heaven Forbid) The Undertaker.

Hey, after creating characters, I usually just play “…Universe” mode; that’s what editing matches are for before starting the night’s match card (or the nuclear option to simulate my own victory in the background. Hey, even a CAW [Create-a-Wrestler] coming close to Kelly-Kelly’s likeness only deserves to be with WINNERS. You’re welcome, champ; if ONLY I were ACTUALLY living so vicariously through you)…

For me, the “WWE2k…” franchise was always about creating custom characters, movesets, and entrances; then throwing them into “…Universe” Mode. “…2k20” just happens to be (to date) the latest game in the franchise (even if it DOES remain a buggy mess).

THE BURDEN: …Where do I even begin…?

Create-a-Finisher and Create-a-Story were removed several games ago; which means that, beyond the rivalries happening in the ring or at ringside are scripted IN MY HEAD after the match is over.

The game is STILL broken, be it my favorite Custom Superstar’s health bar or the fact that trying to create certain matches causes the game to force-quite back to the xmb screen (well OVER a year after the FINAL update for the game was even offered).

The game may have THE “largest” roster to date; but it still means that I only have a handful of superstars that I’m consistently interested in playing as before resorting to my own created characters.

The controls on “…2k20” were changed again. It can be a button-masher; and MAY be responsible for me having to replace a controller. Unless, of course that was because of…

MORTAL KOMBAT 11

MK11 provided a great story mode and several packs of DLC characters to keep the action going.

Revolving “Tower” modes to Konquer, and the prizes awaiting at the end of each week, keep the game playable. THAT is where you can find me now that story modes have been beaten.

THE BURDEN: This game can be a button-masher as well; especially trying to execute a FATALITY/Brutality (even though the “Fatalities” are a lot easier to perform; and, if I wanted to, every single character has at least ONE of the same Brutalities in the form of an uppercut).

A lot of these Challenge Towers (especially the “Expert” or even “Hard”) have resulted in a lot of screaming/legit tears/swearing/stomped controllers/etc.

It has a tendency to deliver the “possible damaged data” screen projected over the first few frames of the credits; though this threat has never happened. It just IS a little bit finnicky about when it likes to be turned off safely.

Being Mortal Kombat 11 means that it can be a bit bloody/gory; it’s kind of part of its draw if you’re into that.

ROCKBAND 4.

…Yes; hand me my microphone; I’ve got this!

The Burden: My “instrument” is my own voice. Who am I going to blame if I fail out at a song? It’s not like I can blame the guitar or drums!

There’s a HUGE DLC library (…and I’ve downloaded a lot of it). That can get pretty costly pretty quickly.

I love my 80s pop/rock, 90s pop, and 90s country. That means that there are quite a few “newer” tracks in the game that I tend to avoid.

LIFE IS STRANGE

This game series tends to have a great story mode to play out (Especially the first game where the character seems to have the power to alter time in certain situations).

There are plenty of side options to change the outcome of the game/relationships with those around you.

There’s even a “photo” mode for snapping pictures to collect.

THE BURDEN: These games traditionally are split into five chapters; five chapters that do NOT all come at the same time. The time waiting can seem few and far between.

It can seem tricky to find where some of the photos are in the first game…

Come to think about it, I haven’t played “Life Is Strange” in a long time. Maybe one of these days, I’ll change that again. ..

Well, those are some of the games that I’m prone to playing these days. What are some of YOURS…?