Video Game

Accounting+ (2017)

Accounting Plus

Accounting+ (2017)

Publisher: Crows Crows Crows

Platform: PS4

Blurb:

“The player is introduced in a small basement office by two accountants (William Pugh and Dominik Johann) through a phone call as a candidate for a new “virtual reality accounting” experiment, which supposedly increases efficiency in accounting…”

Review:

I had no idea what this was when I started. My husband told me that he wanted to watch me play because, at one point, I had wanted to be an accountant. I’m reasonably certain that this was not an accurate depiction of accounting, but who’s to say.

I played using PSVR, something I’ve used a few times but don’t use too often. The controls were pretty good, though I did have issues grabbing stuff sometimes. It autocorrected where my hands were pretty well, but it did have to do it often because it kept losing track. Not sure if that’s a me problem or a game problem.

I was able to beat it in one session, so it was pretty short; in my experience, most VR games are. Unfortunately, I found an Easter egg on my first try, and because I took the red pill, I skipped some parts of the game. No idea how much, though. Since the game is already mildly confusing, jumping back into the main game and having no idea what was going on wasn’t that different.

The puzzles were easy, and I thought the game was pretty funny. If you can play it and don’t have an issue with dark humor, I’d recommend it.

3.5/5

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No Man’s Sky (2016)

 

No Man’s Sky (2016)

Publisher:

Hello Games

Developer:

Hello Games

Platform:

PS4 & PC & XBONE

About:

No Man’s Sky is an action-adventure survival game developed and published by the indie studio Hello Games. It was released worldwide for PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows in August 2016, and for Xbox One in July 2018. The game is built around four pillars: exploration, survival, combat, and trading. Players are free to perform within the entirety of a procedurally generated deterministic open world universe, which includes over 18 quintillion planets. Through the game’s procedural generation system, planets have their own ecosystems with unique forms of flora and fauna, and various sentient alien species may engage the player in combat or trade within planetary systems. Players advance in the game by mining for resources to power and improve their spacecraft, tools, and spacesuit for survival, buying and selling resources using credits earned by documenting flora and fauna, and otherwise seeking out the mystery around the Atlas, an entity at the center of the universe.[i]

Review:

I was lucky enough not to find out about No Man’s Sky until the day it came out on PS4. Through another great break I watched Twitch videos instead of reading reviews. I loved what I saw and my husband ended up getting it for me for our anniversary. I spent almost 70 hours playing before I got distracted and moved on. I then bought it again on PC right after Next came out. Over 100 hours later and I still love it.

There is always something new to see or do. Lately, they’ve been adding amazing new content with Abyss and Visions. There are weekly quests in case you’ve finished the main story, or if you feel like taking a break from exploring.

After a while it can feel monotonous or like a job, but I’ve found that happens with a lot with open world games. Changing your play style can help, I’ve also found it to be a great game to just chill out too. I generally catch up on podcasts while I play.

No Man’s Sky is like nothing I’ve ever played before. Every time I play I see something new. The worlds are similar but never the same and with all the new additions things are even more unique. Thankfully they’ve made it easy to take screenshots which has given me all kinds of awesome wallpapers.

I’ve found it relatively easy to jump back in after a long absence, which is nice to know considering how often they keep adding stuff. When I take a break I know it will be there and basically be a new game when I go back, but still have what I love the most, exploration.

5/5

[i] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Man’s_Sky

Overcooked


Overcooked

Publisher:

Team17

Developer:

Ghost Town Games

Platform:

Switch

About:

A cooking simulation game.

Review:

My husband and I played this together on our date nights. It was a test of our relationship and I’m proud to say we handily beat it. There were some tense moments, sliding around on the ice level sent me over the edge several times, but ultimately we prevailed and three starred every level.

We do have the DLC left to beat, but we’re planning on getting to that at Christmas break. For now, I would highly recommend this game for those looking for a timed cooking simulation to play with friends or solo.

Levels are difficult, but also fun. Worlds are short so it’s not going to be a massive time sink for anyone, even if you are three starring everything. The game mechanics are simple to understand and don’t take too long to master. It’s the puzzle of the levels themselves that will really test you.

Excellent fun, and I’m really looking forward to playing the sequel.

4/5

Splatoon 2

My 10 Year Anniversary present from my husband

Splatoon 2

Publisher:

Nintendo

Developer:

Takaya Imamura

Platform:

Switch

About:

Splatoon 2 is a team-based third-person shooter video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the sequel to the 2015 Wii U title Splatoon, and is playable by up to eight players in online four-versus-four matches.

Review:

This has been my most anticipated game in a long while. The original Splatoon was a huge surprise and I ended up loving it. I’m not sure if I’ve ever been so competitive while playing something online but I was literally screaming curse words at the TV.

At this point I’ve put in sixty plus hours in Splatoon 2 and I haven’t even ventured into the story mode. I spent the majority of my time playing Turf Wars then I discovered Salmon Run and things got obsessive. Salmon Run is not available at all times, which can be annoying, but I also think I ended up playing more because of it. For a while each time it was available I would login to play and get the two big bonuses. While playing Salmon Run you don’t level up, but you can make a killing money wise.

Turf Wars will always have my heart, though. I’ve really enjoyed the new maps and I wish some of the old maps that are available weren’t. I’m looking at you Moray Towers. The new weapons have been fun to try out, but the aerospray is and will always be my default weapon. It’s weaker than a lot of the other weapons, but it just lays down so much ink. I haven’t unlocked the gold aerospray yet, but I’m looking forward to it.

I’ve played Ranked Mode a few times and each time I do horrible. I don’t have the time or patience right now to really dedicate to getting good so I steer clear of it, for now. One day the kids will pretty much take care of themselves, so come Splatoon 4 or 5 I’m going to fuck some shit up!

So far the only part of Splatoon 2 that I dislike is the matchmaking. I would like to be able to team up with friends easier during Splatfests. Why do I need to have four people to do that? During regular Turf Wars you can check your friend list and join whoever is available, which is perfect. It’s also difficult to join friends in Salmon Run, they have to create a room and you join that way. Basically there’s too much planning and communication involved in playing together.

I’ve played docked and handheld, I’ve used joycons and the pro controller, and my preferred combo is docked with the Splatoon pro controller. My husband prefers using the joycons separate because he’s able to use the motion controls to turn. When I’m able to get into the groove I have a blast playing. When I’m not able to, I still have a blast playing, I just feel like a huge burden on my team.

I really love this game, I love the colors, I love the game play, I love everything! The fact that I still have story mode to beat makes me so happy because it means even after so many hours I’m nowhere near done.

4.5/5

Lego City Undercover

Lego City Undercover

Publisher:

Nintendo

Developer:

TT Games

Platform:

Switch, Wii U, PS4, & XBOX One

Plot:

Play as Chase McCain, a police officer who’s been tasked with going undercover to hunt down the notorious – and recently escaped – criminal Rex Fury.

Review:

I played Lego City Undercover years ago on the Wii U, I liked it, but didn’t beat it because I got distracted by something else. When I saw that it was being released on the Switch I was excited to play it again and snatched it up.

At this point I’ve beat the story one and a half times, this is due to me getting my own Switch and no longer using my husbands. There is so much stuff left for me to do that I’m honestly nowhere near one hundred percent but I feel like I’ve definitely gotten my monies worth.

The story is funny and entertaining, the controls are intuitive, and getting to basically play Grand Theft Auto with Lego is pretty awesome. I’ve been able to play in docked and handheld mode and had no problems either way, though I do prefer playing docked.

I’m not the sort of person that notices dropped frame rate or how many frames per second so I can’t speak to any of that, but I have ended up experiencing a few glitches. A couple times I got my character stuck and was unable to get him unstuck so I had to exit without saving and ended up having to restart levels which was frustrating. I also experienced some issues with summoning a helicopter involving the game freezing and me again having to reboot. While it’s disappointing to have those bugs in the game all and all I believe I only had it happen four times and considering I’ve played thirty-five hours plus I’m alright.

I really enjoy Lego games, but this game stands out for me. It’s not an established franchise, Lego City Undercover is its own thing. It creates a fun and interesting world that I’d love to see again. It’s low pressure but you can decide the difficulty, do you want to just complete the story mode and be done? Or do you want to one hundred percent the entire thing? I have no issues playing this around my kids either, which means I can play it more.

Really hope we get another installment in this series, though, I do believe there’s a 3DS game, but what I’d really like is another console release. I should probably look into that 3DS game.

Anyway, would definitely recommend this game to someone who already likes Lego games and is looking for something light and fun.

4/5