So here's a big bump.
I purchased the Handsome Jack collection, finally. It was a bit of an annoyed purchase however. I got it for about £20 pre-owned, which was nice, but I still feel conned because there is no way to purchase The Pre-Sequel outside of the HJC. And I have played Borderlands 2 to completion about 3 times, and done all the DLC, and tried all the characters. I am 100% done with it.
Anyway, I got onto playing the Pre-Sequel, and it was nice this time to be able to play it in a good quality (I had it on PC, but had frame-rate issues when not on a lower quality).
I bought the game in order to play with my brother, but he wasn't really interested after we played for the first hour. Which is kind of a pattern that I was expecting, because he did the same thing with Borderlands 1 and 2. I'm really just buying it for myself.
I got to try out the new characters too, who are interesting, if a little unexpected (The Baroness is completely new for the Pre-Sequel, while all 5 other characters are introduced earlier in the series).
And I managed to complete the game this time, as previously I got stuck on one of the major boss-fights about 75% through the game, because Athena is not very good for reviving herself. Wilhelm however is great, because he has robot allies who can get kills for him, as well as skills to allow you to deal extra damage and better movement while knocked down.
The story got phenomenal after the 3/4 mark, in my opinion, and I'm really sad I never got to see it earlier. It's definitely worth playing for its story alone.
I also played both of its DLC. The Claptrap DLC is wacky and quite funny, while providing a fair amount of playtime. It would be worth purchasing individually, I would say. The 'Glitch' weapons are quite an interesting addition. They randomly glitch out while using them, changing the way they work, such as gaining a new element, or firing like a shotgun/sniper round and doing bonus damage.
It has some seriously tough bosses in the end-game however, which will give you quite a challenge on your own, especially if you're playing as Athena or someone unpredictable like Claptrap.
The thunderdome DLC is fun too, but small. It's nothing exceptional, besides some increasingly difficult rounds of arena combat versus foes from the base-game.
It has a few little references to events during BL1.5, and some funny dialogue moments with Axton and Gaige from Borderlands 2.
The game will challenge you, and provide maybe a few hours of play, but it's still quite lackluster compared to other DLC for the series.
The arena doesn't change locale at all, although new traps open up at times to increase difficulty, and you won't encounter any enemies you haven't seen before sadly.
But given that it's included in the Handsome Jack Collection, it's at least nice to get a chance to play.
Sadly there won't be any more DLC for the Pre-Sequel though, given 2K Australia's closure earlier this year.
I re-purchased Sleeping Dogs, in the form of the Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition for Xbox One.
I can't say I noticed significant change graphically, but the game was a lot of fun to play through again. I rarely find that to be the case with most non-sandbox games, but it was a real pleasure to replay.
I also got a chance to play some of its DLC, mainly the Nightmare in North Point one, which is weird. I probably wouldn't have wanted to pay for it when it was new on its own, since it's short, but it's a fun enough non-serious continuation. It introduces two new enemy types, but they're really boring to fight.
It's definitely worth giving a shot if you haven't done so before.
I purchased MGSV: The Phantom Pain, although may be regretting that choice, personally.
I mainly got it from hype over seeing the crazy things people were getting up to, but found myself unhappy with a stealth game (given my general lack of capability with them), as well as the bizarre story for the series, which is daunting and confusing for someone who has never played a Metal Gear game.
I may get back into it later, but it's not a priority right now.
I don't think it's a bad game, and I'm sure plenty of people would tell me the opposite. But it was an unwise purchase on my behalf.
I got back into playing Assassin's Creed: Unity recently.
Mostly out of a lack of current games to play, and out of a sort of nervous hype for AC:Syndicate.
Unfortunately, even a year on, gameplay is quite atrocious, and while I expected to find myself shouting angrily at my Assassin as he refuses to do as I command like in ever AC game, Arno takes pleasure in causing it more than any other Assassin I've played with yet.
In addition to this, the fact that the game was focussed on having me play co-op, as well as using the tie-in Initiates app for so much exploration and unlocking of bonus goodies, has left me feeling like I don't even have full access to a game I paid full price for. At the very least it's good that these aspects have supposedly been scrapped from upcoming Syndicate.
I'm also quite upset at the games sudden change in the way one acquires weapons/armour. It features a return to a shop-system, like in AC 2/Brotherhood, but unlike the former, it doesn't really leave me needing to unlock much to get the best stuff.
Instead, right from the get-go I can purchase the best items if I have enough cash, which after some cheeky saving/spending, left me with one of the best possible heavy weapons right at the beginning of the game with basically no feeling of progression as I continued.
I could have waited to complete missions and unlocked the items for free, but it really made no differene when my money had little else to go. Unlike AC2 allowing me to purchase decorations for a lovely Italian house, AC3 letting me construct my own homestead or Black Flag letting me customise my Ship in both aesthetics and capability as well as little pirate-hideaway (to a lesser extent of customisation), Unity left me with the option to purchase about 5-6 upgrades for a stuffty Cafe/Theatre where I hardly visit, which doesn't even feel like it belongs to me.
And even the act of purchasing items in Unity was made awkward. Happily I could pause at any moment in game and just purchase myself a new sword or a pistol and have it in my hands, no matter where I was. Which was certainly a bonus compared to having to craft it in AC3/4, or trecking to the shops. But the city is then full of shops anyway, because they're the only location I can refill my consumables, like medicine, bullets and weirdly bags of money (this was the most ludicrous change in the game of all, and that's saying something).
So while I have super easy access to weapons at any time, I still have to divert from my objectives to refill on berserker darts, because Arno only carries like 2 and aiming is a god awful bitch in this game.
Playing Unity has left me in a queasy anticipation for Syndicate however.
So far videos look promising for Syndicate, and the game has supposedly been under development longer by a different team.
But if it has even half the issues that Unity had, it's still going to be a sheer disappointment compared to the highlights of the AC series, AC2/Brotherhood and Black Flag.
Seeing that our Assassin Base in Syndicate will be a custom Assassin train that travels London leaves me happier, in knowing that at least the base will feel like my own, and happily won't just be in an awkward location far from the action (like Monteriggioni, the Homestead, or Cafe Theatre). But given that it's also literally a train, made up of about 5 carriages, leaves me feeling like I won't have much to customise or spend my money on.
(I sort of wrote this, then went back and re-wrote something else, and it now doesn't float very well, but here's my thoughts on the Assassin train in Syndicate)
Poll