Friday, December 6, 2019

​​Pistol Whip (SteamVR)

Step one, put on the VR Headset. Step two, pick up the touch controllers. Step 3 start Pistol Whip. Step 4 become John Wick.  

This is a VR rhythm game where you are propelled through a level with pistol(s) in hand shooting enemies and dodging bullets to the beat of the music.  You are constantly in motion and the action never stops until the song has ended or you get hit by 3 bullets.  After my first hour of playing I was drenched in sweat and the next day I was sore all over, but it was worth it.  I've been trying to use VR as an exercise replacement recently and this game along with Beat Saber is a decent workout.  

There are around 10 stages that have 3 difficulties and I started on normal and I was able to finish each level and it was a good challenge, then I cranked it up to hard and lasted about 20 seconds.  There are a ton more enemies at that difficulty which I actually like since it made me feel more like John Wick and thankfully the game has a no fail mode like Rock band so I turned that on since it only affects your score which I really don't care about that. The game is a blast and is perfect for parties as each stage last 2-3 minutes and watching another person dodge and shoot makes for some good times.  There are more stages planned with the next one releasing next week.  

Verdict:  Buy  

Darksiders Genesis

I really like the Darksiders games and each one has been a different experience.  Darksiders 1 was like a hardcore Zelda with great puzzles and intense combat, the second was more combat focused like the old God of War games, but with a ton of loot, and the 3rd felt like Dark souls.  

The latest game is somewhat like Diablo with it's isometric camera and combat, but it doesn't have a ton of weapon and armor drops.  It actually feels more like the Lara Croft isometric games that came out a couple of years ago.  If you play solo you can switch between two characters, Strife and War, and each one has their own abilities and combat styles that you will have to switch between regularly.  It has couch and online co-op which is nice.

I've only put in an hour so far and I like it, the combat is quick and fluid and I like the art style. One nice feature that I wish more games had is that you can increase the font size which is nice when you are playing at 4K as some text is just too small, Outer Worlds are you listening?

I do have a couple of gripes.  I really don't like the voice for Strife as it doesn't seem to fit the character for me, War is awesome though.  The map is awful as I had a hard time finding my character and since there are a ton of secrets and hidden paths you need to use it a lot so hopefully I just missed something or they will patch it.    

Mitch bought the game on Stadia and so far he has had an excellent experience with the platform and I'll have to take his word on that as I was not a founder and somehow I don't trust google to keep it going for more than a couple of years.  

Verdict:  Buy

Halo Reach

Since I have game pass I gave it a quick try on PC and it had an issue where the audio sounded muted and it really ruined the experience so I'll give it another they fix that issue.  Other than that the game looked and controlled fine so I'm excited to try it as it's one of two Halo games that I have never finished.