Ok, I'll be the first to admit. I rode the hype train when Uncharted 4 came out. I wrote about how in my last blog post how I LOVED it and thought it was the best PS4 exclusive.... when really I just liked it and think its far from PS4's best exclusive. So call me a hypocrite, it's not the first time I've let hype cloud my view of a game.... prolly wont be the last....

After letting Uncharted 4 marinate I've decided it's the worst Uncharted by a country mile. My opinion at least. I really think Neil Druckmann is sort of a pretentious douche and he cared less about giving us more Uncharted and more about giving us more "emotional" TLoU experience. Just read HIS WORDS from his Rolling Stone interview...

"I know we're going to lose some people. I know there are people on NeoGAF right now complaining about the beginning of this game. Because I read some. They hate how slow it is. They don't believe it's really a game until you get to the end of the auction and you get your gun and you start shooting at people. That, to them, is the game. I'm OK if we lose some of those people. Hopefully they're replaced with other people who are intrigued by the more conscious pacing."

Why would you be "OK" with losing some of your major fan base by slowing the game down with boring walking simulators?? Walking simulator moments in TLoU were fun and special because that world was so mysterious and intriguing. There's like 3 walking simulator moments in this game that slow down the action. And also he says "more conscious pacing" when a major complaint from many reviews is the game drags on.

And also, I really didnt like Sam. I have a few problems with Sam, actually. Firstly, we've spent 4 games with Nathan before this.... and no mention of a brother he apparently was so close to. Notta. Zero. Zip. Even Marlowe (from Drake's Deception) failed to mention him when she was revealing how much information she had on Nathan. Not even his wife Elena knew about him. He just felt so shoe-horned into the franchise for the sake of a 4th game. Secondly, his character is just so dry humored... his sarcasm gets old quick. Plus Nathan cracks all the jokes we need.... do we need two witty wise guys??

Dont get me started on all the overly used campy video game tropes. Suddenly now Nathan has always had a Batman-like rope slinging ability that we never knew about that he relies so heavily upon?? Rock sliding down gravel hills so often Nathan has to address it during the game? ("I'll be picking gravel out of my ass for weeks!") And those stupid, stupid crates. Every where there are crates. Way worse than the pallets from TLoU. Seems so below Naughty Dog.

I might get some hate for this. I love everything Naughty Dog has ever done since Crash Bandicoot. They're my favorite developer and TLoU is my favorite game of all time. But Uncharted is one of my favorites too, and I want more Uncharted and less walking simulator. That's why I think Uncharted was misdirected by Neil wanting to create another emotional experience like TLoU. Dont get me wrong, I liked Uncharted 4. But I could have loved it. It's more of a 7.5 to me than a 9.5.

I guess I'm just one of those guys Neil is OK losing on this game.

Uncharted 4 spoilers below!!!

I finished Uncharted 4 (my most anticipated game of this generation so far) in about 4 sittings. No, I didnt savor it like a steak as Troy Baker said to, I woofed that thing down like a double quarter pounder from McDonalds, and I LOVED it. I wont get into all the reasons why I love it since it's obvious.... I will however go over a couple gripes I had. Begin spoilers!

That's all! Definitely PS4's best exclusive, and one of the most enjoyable games of this gen IMO.

In other news, it's a good month to be a TMNT fan. I am very excited for Mutants in Manhattan (coming out Tuesday) and the new movie June 3rd. I am so excited for a new TMNT game unrelated to the new show that doesnt look like it's just for small children! I'm not sure how good it will be, looks like a button masher but I dont care! Day 1 purchase for me, definitely ready to kick some shell as my favorite super heroes.

As for the new movie, I cant wait either! I'm still soooo pissed the turtles look like Shrek's wearing bandannas. Like, Bebop and Rocksteady in the new movie are very true to the original cartoon, WHY CANT THE SAME BE SAID FOR THE FREAKING TURTLES?!?! Oh well, I'm still excited even if the last movie was pretty meh and the turtles look like crap. Yes, it's a good time to be a TMNT fan, even if you have temper your expectations lol.

Also for what it's worth, the new Ratchet was fantastic also!!! Until next time.... CJ3456 signing off.

Well it finally happened for me. The GTA PS2 trilogy re-released with trophy support. That was always going to be the only way I revisited these games, as I'll never be pulling my fat model PS2 out of the closet. Yeah I could have redownloaded them digitally last gen, (or played on another platform like iOS) but I was always holding out for a true HD remaster with trophy support. While there was a stink among fans for it being PS2 emulation, I had no problem buying the entire trilogy on a flash sale for around 18 bucks. So finally, since the age of 18, I was able to revisit these games that meant so much to me during my teenage years.

GTA 3 was my first PS2 game. I remember being blown away by the graphics and open city. This was a live, breathing city! The cars played music. Planes flew through the sky at random. The people of Liberty City would go about their day whether you contributed or not. It was amazing. To a 15 year old on the verge of getting his license in a year, and experiencing his first taste of the real world, it was like a sneak peak of what it'd be like really cruising the streets of my (small) town... ya know, without all the murder and hookers. It was after 9/11 and I was kind of getting bullied at school during that time, so sometimes switching on that console and hearing that jazzy piano play at the intro credits of the game was an escape to me. Revisiting this game as an adult brought back alot of nostalgic feelings, and I was surprised at how much easier it was than I remember... and I didnt use a single cheat code.

Next came Vice City. What can I say??? This game is my favorite game of all time. This game was released a few days after my 16th birthday, and I still have the original PS2 disc with a written letter from dad telling me happy birthday and he and mom loved me tucked in the case. I remember the day I got this game... we had a field trip that day at school and me and a girl named Krysta had been exchanging glances and smiles all day at some Kangaroo zoo or something. When I got home I immediately fired this game up and called her. We talked for probably an hour while I cruised the streets of Vice City. I remember how the sunshine glared off the other vehicles while I drove past palm trees under a perfectly blue sky. I will never forget that. And as a 29 year old man, almost 14 years later, Vice City still holds up. The 80's theme, the soundtracks, the voice acting, the missions.... it's held up so well. The whole franchise has.

Finally, we come to San Andreas. I havent had time to dive headfirst back into this game but this game holds lot of precious memories for me as well. I had a part time job at a grocery chain, and although I've never been one to do this.... I called in sick the day this game came out. By the time this game came out, I was on the front half of my senior year in high school. I got out of school, called in sick, and went to Wal-Mart, and picked this game up. Came home, popped it in, and first thing I remember was being shocked at how freely this game dropped the F word. I had never heard it in a game before! I played the game for awhile... but at this time, I was in the zenith of my teenage years. I was always running. I had a click to run with! Who had time for video games? I sold the game for 40 bucks to a friend and that was that. I was done with video games....

...not so fast my friend.

Then flash forward literally a year later. My girlfriend at the time was dominating my life. Work, and college was dominating my life. I had no time for video games. Except this ONE day off. She was at work, I was off work, no homework. I bought, and fired up San Andreas. What the hell, I was bored. I literally started at 10:00 AM and ended that night at 7:00 PM. I never stopped. That PS2 never shut off. 9 hours I played that game, and I was hooked. I was home. Grand Theft Auto, the franchise that saw me go from a bullied kid, to a cool kid with a license, to a young man who didnt have time for video games.... it was still there for me. Still there to take me away to another universe when sometimes this one isnt so kind. (The irony right?) And it still is, till this day. Those cities are still here for me to take just a little time off from the real world, if even for just a little while.

Sorry for the long winded post, and God bless you if you read it all. I wrote this post mostly for myself.... because sometimes these blogs work more as a journal than anything. But hey, if you did read this, thank you. And game on.

I dont understand the hate for this game. I dont understand why people say Aiden Pearce is a super boring character.

Personally I never bought into the hype for this game... this will sound crazy, but I've never enjoyed Ubisoft games much. In fact, the only one from last gen I enjoyed was the TMNT 2007 movie game they published. lol. So I wasnt expecting Watch Dogs to set the world on fire despite the hype. I figured this game would be a 7.5.

I just completed the game. The credits are literally rolling right now. What a game and an experience. I pretty much played the campaign only and didnt bother with too much side stuff. I enjoyed it, quite a bit. Aiden Pearce isnt the most stand out protagonist but I didnt think he was boring. I just felt like he was a bit of a broken man on a mission.

So anyway. After finishing Watch Dogs... I can say it exceeded my expectations and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Best game of the new generation so far I'd say. And definitely a better open world game than InFamous Second Son.

Bioshock Infinte - Working on it.

Max Payne 3 - Great game but kind of lost interest after buying new games. Will finish.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 - I cant stand not completing this lame ass campaign. I feel like I just need to. I really have no idea what the hell is going on with the story because frankly I dont care. Will finish, probably.

RAGE - Lost interest pretty early. Seemed ok, but kind of bland. Sick of FPS's. Probably wont finish.

Mass Effect 2 - Just feel like I dont have the time to dedicate myself to this game and play it the way it should be. To explore the world thoroughly and what not. From what I played it was great, but probably wont finish. 

Starhawk, Saints the Third, Ratchet and Clank All 4 One, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, LBP2, Dead Nation - All PS Plus downloads, probably wont finish a single one.

Enslaved - Seemed good but slow as hell. Everytime you turn a corner the camera pans arounds to show you the next arena you're gonna be playing in. Annoying. Wont finish.

BF3 - Campaign sucked, wont finish.

Demon Souls - I'm a noob and it's too difficult. Wont finish.

There ya have it. Games I own I need to finish. Some I will, some I just cant make myself. I used to be sure to complete every game but damn, it's hard to sometimes. 

I dunno what it is about the game, I cant get into it! At first I really enjoyed Columbia, before I had to draw my first gun... the world was very interesting to me. Then I started gun fights and I lost it. It doesnt seem as realized as Rapture IMO. I'm gonna keep playing it, but damn, kinda disappointed so far.

In other news, just bought Community Season 4 today and the original Batman movie on Blu Ray. Oh, and started Telltale's Walking Dead game and I LOVE it. 

Till next time, this is CJ3456 signing off....

Derp. 

WTF are they thinking? That's the least appealing interpretation of Donatello I've ever seen. Hell, that goes for all the turtles in their upcoming game. I get they're trying to go for a more realistic look but geesh, they all look like Voldermort wearing a friggin head band. 

I'm dissapointed. Finally a NEW TMNT game in HD that can make the turtles look like they did in the old movies and we get.... this. 

That's right. That little 8 or 9 year old handheld that Sony doesnt really support anymore. Why you ask? It was cheap, and I used to have one but sold it, but kept all my games for it. I also got the system and 5 games for 110 bucks. Not bad I thought. From a system standpoint, I dont think it's aged well. But from a games stand point, I really like the PSP. 

You might wonder why I didnt just drop the extra cash and get the Vita. Well, bascially, that's because I didnt want to drop the extra cash. Waiting on a price drop and hell, I got quite a few PSP games anyway. 

Oh yeah, also as you see from the pic, I got Bioshock Infinite. Looking forward to sinking my teeth into that one!

Until next time folks, this is CJ3456 signing off. 

Poor, poor BF3. Seems gamers are demanding perfection from the game, as evident by amount of criticism the game is receiving about it's graphics and gameplay from the beta. Maybe EA is to blame for hyping BF3 as a COD alternative... but I'm so tired of the BF3 vs MW3 argument. I raise my glass to BF3, and wish the game much luck. I had hopes that the MOH reboot would be a worthy adversary to COD, but of course, we all know how that ended... so here's hoping BF3 will do better.

If gamers really want a change from COD, they'll stop criticising BF3 for not being just like COD. You may think Activision is evil, yada, yada, but you should either acknowledge they own one of the funnest and most casual shooters out there, or do something about it and get your shooter fix from BF3 this winter. I personally plan on buying both... but I hate to see BF3 getting ripped to bits for no other reason than it's not COD.

Sorry if this sounds like I'm on a soap box, I dont mean to be. lol.

Cant wait for this game. Resistance is a very special franchise to me... I couldnt get enough of Resistance Fall of Man, and I couldnt get enough Resistance 2. Resistance 3 is easily my most anticipated game of the year and now I have less than a MONTH to own it! Cant wait for MW3, BF3, Uncharted 3, and a few others... but I've been waiting for Resistance 3 ever since I whitnessed Nathan Hale eat a bullet in Resistance 2.

There's something about the Resistance universe that I'm fascinated by... and I'm thrilled the game seems to be going back to it's roots. A more dark atomosphere with a sense of hopelessness. Game is going to be wicked.

CAN NOT WAIT!