Back Aff Ya Spooky B****
It’s Monday again, another weekend is done and some gaming happened. I’ll be honest I’m still kind of reeling from the PlayStation announcement. I’m still buzzing. I’m desperate for every scrap of information I can get. But there’s still two very important pieces of information that we are all waiting on Sony releasing. The price and the date. We know it’s going to be holiday 2020 but does that mean October, November or December. I’d lean more towards mid November, the PS4 launched around the same time and it puts it front and centre for Christmas. Of course Microsoft have yet to announce the release date for the Xbox Series X but they will most likely launch around the same time. Secondly the price, is it going to be under £400 (not likely), is it going to be £600 (I hope not). I think the best we can hope for is somewhere in the region of £450, it’s still on the expensive side but it won’t price the majority of people out of the market in the run up to Christmas. Regardless of what happens though there is a lot to be excited about.
As for what I’ve been up to, I’ve been playing some retro stuff, namely Mario 64 and WWF No Mercy. I have an N64 but I figured it’s always good to have an emulator or two tucked away for a rainy day so I downloaded Project64 and a couple of ROMs. I never had an N64 when I was a kid but a couple of my friends did, and I took every opportunity to play theirs. No Mercy was always one of the most popular games in my group of friends. Ladder matches in particular could last an hour easily. We were living through one of the greatest eras in wrestling and getting to relive those moments on arguably the greatest wrestling game ever produced. Due to me not having the console though I never got a chance to play Mario 64. I know how important a game it is. It, along with Ocarina of Time, really set the bar for what Nintendo could do with their marquee heroes, and while I have played Ocarina to death, Mario 64 just kind of slipped through the net. I’ve only played a little bit of it and while the controls feel a little clunky compared to modern 3rd person platformers, it is a lot fun. It still has the charm it did when it launched and honestly I’ve played games in the 20 plus years since it launched that don’t look as good or play as well as Mario’s first outing in the 3rd dimension.
Death Stranding is still perplexing me. I still have no real idea what the hell is going on. I have delved a little more into the lore through the interviews and mail that Sam receives in game. But if I’m perfectly honest not a whole lot has been cleared up. I have unlocked some grenades, so I’m not going into the wilderness of the UCA (the games version of the USA) completely unarmed. What I did find quite funny is that you can restock your supply of explosives by use of the shower, and rather hysterically, the toilet. The grenades you get through using the toilet are ingeniously named EX 01 and EX 02. A little bit of toilet humour never hurt anyone.
Unlocking these grenades did provoke a noticeable reaction in me. When I was on deliveries before getting them, I would occasionally stumble across the BTs and the fear would set in a little. I was helpless against these paranormal threats. I did everything I could to avoid being caught by them, the result genuinely freaked me out. There was something that disturbed me about the figures that emerged from that viscous, black substance that covers the ground when I was grabbed by one of the floating nightmares. Something otherworldly and alien put a chill up my spine. In talking to my girlfriend about it I brought up the way that Alien: Isolation made me feel every time that the Xenomorph caught sight of me and I went and courageously cowered in a locker, the closest analogy I could think of. But, from the first time I was able to test the effects of my urine filled explosives, the fear was gone. Now while I’m on the trails between cities, when the rain begins to fall and I catch a glimpse of a rainbow hanging upside down, the feeling of trepidation has been replaced by one of general annoyance. Now I know that I can actually do something about the encounters with the BTs, all I want to do is get from point A to point B with no hassle.
So that’s it from me, I’ll be back in a few days to let you know what shenanigans I’ve been up to this week. In the meantime you can follow me on Instagram and Facebook.
Cheers
J
JayblesPlaysGames 