Games you're playing right now, and my freetime's demise

I needed a screenshot of Vince Carter for this week's Friday Five. I figured while I was there, I'd get some other screenshots for the 25th Anniversary of NBA Live retrospective and other future features. Ended up putting this together.

I've really been trying to vary myself from 2K lately... this is what my weekend looked like:

Banjo-Kazooie - love the game and characters, but can't help feel it's overrated? The hub feels cumbersome, and Clanker's Cavern nearly turned me off from the game entirely, though thankfully it picks up after that. Even though Mario 64 pretty much did the same concept and made it great, it feels a bit more aimless in Banjo.

Another Crusade - the demo technically. This is a game heavily inspired by Mario RPG and aims to be a spiritual sequel of sorts (without actually being Mario). I backed the project for $25 to get my name in the credits, though it looks like it might not reach its goal (the game should still be made regardless).



Fall Guys - a free PS+ game that plays like Fortnite meets Mario Party... I'm not joking; worth a try.

Other games that got some play were Hitman 2, Smash Ultimate, Mario Maker 2, Spryo Reignited, Star Fox 64, Paper Mario: TOK, Gears Ultimate and of course a couple matches of 2K... all in a weekend's work my friends.

I could never get into Banjo-Kazooie. I have similar feelings about Donkey Kong 64, despite how much I love the Donkey Kong Country series on SNES. When I look back at some of those N64 era platformers, I tend to have the same gripes: too much repetition as you play the same levels over and over again to collect all the required plot tokens (stars, golden bananas, jiggies). For me, they don't hold up as well as Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask.

My cousin hyped up Fall Guys a lot and I've been enjoying it so far. It's much like the American TV show Wipeout

Recently platinumed Ghost of Tsushima. Beautiful and fun game. I just wish Sony exclusives gives you something to do post-game. That has been my gripe for them for a while now.

I could never get into Banjo-Kazooie. I have similar feelings about Donkey Kong 64, despite how much I love the Donkey Kong Country series on SNES. When I look back at some of those N64 era platformers, I tend to have the same gripes: too much repetition as you play the same levels over and over again to collect all the required plot tokens (stars, golden bananas, jiggies). For me, they don't hold up as well as Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask.

Right... Mario 64 perfected it, and the more I play Banjo the more I see its flaws (I got into DK64 even less). I think I'm gonna have to give up on the game: the lair is sort of a confusing and unmemorable mess, and I just got to Grunty's Furnace Fun which is a quiz/game show with a lot of the questions being sound/picture questions varying by game file that you can't really use a guide for... ugh; I'm not walking around the game with a notebook to write down the answers.

Never played Majora's Mask; got to the Water Temple in Ocarina of Time and called it a day... really admire the game, but I pretty much had enough of it at that point.

Recently platinumed Ghost of Tsushima. Beautiful and fun game. I just wish Sony exclusives gives you something to do post-game. That has been my gripe for them for a while now.

Nice... the only two games I ever platinumed were SpongeBob Rehydrated (a much better platformer than Banjo-Kazooie and DK 64 imo) and Spyro 3, which is like the ultimate chill/nostalgia experience, and both were recently.

Ah, the Water Temple. First time going through that, I had a guide. It was a point of pride to make it through the entire game again without one on a subsequent playthrough. I'd actually say the Great Bay Temple in Majora's Mask is worse.

The only thing I know about Great Bay is it being one of my favorite Melee stages for the great rendition of Saria's Song:

First time going through that, I had a guide. It was a point of pride to make it through the entire game again without one on a subsequent playthrough.

Yeah, especially in the '90s; that was the last era you could make shit up about games and get away with it, or truly be surprised by something.

It's funny that official strategy guides are still being sold for games, considering that GameFAQs has been around forever at this point, and YouTube walkthroughs are now also a thing.

I'm having so much fun with Fall Guys, it's very casual and not to be taken seriously. There will be some fair share of cheaters but one of the good things about the game is you can just leave then play another one quickly.

Hoping it will be supported often so that it won't get stale. I like the idea of hopping on a game or two and try to see if I have a change to win.

They are coming out with new content in a season 2, with a medieval theme and I'm assuming new courses

Fall Guys is the equivalent of 2K where I could play it for like 8 hours straight and not get bored.

My next game for months and years... end of any social life

Been waiting to get my hands on this...AGAIN. Finally!

It's funny that official strategy guides are still being sold for games, considering that GameFAQs has been around forever at this point, and YouTube walkthroughs are now also a thing.

I've got some 'stuff' in my collection (Metal Gear 1,2,3,4,5 + customised ps3+gamecube in a custom made box etc) and having a paperback official strategy guides for each of the collectibles is a must for me.
You know, just to have it there...on my shelf

They are nice collectables, especially when they have world-building content.

Been waiting to get my hands on this...AGAIN. Finally!
[ Image ]

Is it just me or is the race harder this time around? But I'm enjoying this remake so far! Glad they retained the linearity of the game world while on story mode!

Andrew, exactly

Actually played that mission few hours ago. It was fun
As for the racing, Lean, I can't really say. Lately, I've been playing this type of games on easy level in order to enjoy the story, so the difficulty might differ if you're on normal.
I play with keyboard/mouse (for more accurate aiming) and it'd probably be easier to race with a gamepad.

what game is this

It's Mafia: Definitive Edition.

Oh I did switch the difficulty on easy on the mission before the race and on the race itself. Although for most of my run, I play on classic mode.

Oh I did switch the difficulty on easy on the mission before the race and on the race itself. Although for most of my run, I play on classic mode.

Did you do that before the race or after several attempts?

Besides, is there anyone in LOVE with the Metal Gear series (since the PSX)?

I've got a running gag on the NLSC Podcast where I bring up Bart vs. The Space Mutants, usually out of context. The other day I went back and played it for a while, just for a bit of fun (despite its many flaws).

Virtual Bart is my odd Simpsons game I go back to... my brother actually rebought me an SNES specifically for that game.

My cousins had the Nightmare game on Genesis so we played that a lot