Game reviews / Final impressions

I've been thinking about game reviews a lot lately.  I like reading reviews of games to help me decide if I want to buy it or not.  Then I usually watch some YouTube videos of gameplay, but never the beginning of the game.  Sometimes what I read and what I see don't add up.  And it makes me wonder how much of the game the reviewer actually played. 

If a game takes about 60 hours to play did the reviewer actually play the whole game before they wrote their review?  Probably not.  They've got a lot of other things to do . . . and other games to play.  They probably played enough to get the gist of the game but that's not the whole picture.

But you can't always trust what you see on a YouTube video either as the whole picture.  Unless the player is commenting about everything they are experiencing (story, game mechanics, art design, impressions, etc.) they're not giving a whole picture either.  Yes, they might oh and ah at things, or yell and cuss at times, but there's more to that if you want to get the whole essence of a game.

Since I'm finishing a lot more games than before maybe I could write a review of the games that I've finished and you can compare the review I write with the gameplay videos I make.  These won't be professional level reviews, just my impressions on how things went.  I figure I could stick to some basic categories and talk about those things that may or may not influence you playing a game.

I'm thinking about the following categories:

story
characters
game mechanics
art design
overall impressions

What do you think about those categories?  Do you think there should be more things that I cover?  Less?  I haven't decided if I will give out a final score/rating for the games.  I don't know if it would be on a 5 or 10 point scale.  Or maybe 100.  Who knows.  Just throwing out ideas now.  Let me know what you think.

7 Days to Die . . . and die . . . and die again

I finally played some 7 Days to Die the other night.  But only because Dead by Daylight wouldn't start a game.  I really need to get back in to playing more PC games.

I've watched a ton of videos in this game so I know pretty much what to expect.  But that all went out of the window as soon as I heard my first zombie.  That's fucking scary.  There's a sense of panic of 'where are they' and 'what the hell do I kill them with' and a whole lot of flight or fight endorphins.  Once you survive that first fight you feel like you can do anything . . . until night comes.

I was able to find a decent home to hide up in until daylight.  It wasn't great, but at least it was something.  Unfortunately after making everything I could until I ran out of resources I still had several hours until dawn to wait.  It was scary sitting there was nothing to do to take my mind off of the zombies that I could hear outside even through I wasn't sensed.

I most of gotten a little cocky because on day #2 I ventured out a little further away from the house . . . and got myself killed.  I was foolish and thought I could handle anything.  I was wrong. I was able to retrieve my backpack after I spawned so all was not lost.

The next day and night were all about gathering resources and working on building things or repairing the house I was in.  I thought things were going very well.  Right up until day #4.  Then I died again.  I had so many things on my 'to do' list that I completely forgot about checking my health and hydration.  I died from my own stupidity.

Obviously I don't think I would do well by myself in a zombie apocalypse.  I need someone else to divvy up the responsibility so I don't have to do everything.  Also, it would be great to have someone watch my back while I'm out and about collecting stuff.  A battle buddy would always be welcome.

I'm not giving up on the game, but I have a feeling that it will be slow going for me.  And with a lot of deaths.  And I mean A LOT.  But I'm not worried.  This game makes it fun to die.  And I feel like I always learn something when I come back to life.  I wonder how many deaths until I'm a genius.

December 2016 and beyond YouTube plans

I figured I should probably share my plans for the month here so you know what to expect on my YouTube channel.  Hopefully you're reading this and will go over there and check out some of my videos.

My plan for December is mostly finish up a couple of games I'm playing or at least get further along in them.  First up is Far Cry Classic.  I started that in November but got stuck part way through and was having a really hard time in the game.  I ended up playing Call of Duty Classic more so that game got finished but I'm still working on Far Cry Classic.  Since I've figured out the swapping guns issue and brightness (or lack thereof) issue I'm sure I can finish up the game this month.

I've also go some videos for dlc missions for Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens.  I've got those filmed already so I've just got to edit them and get them posted.  I'd also like to make more progress in Lego Harry Potter (yrs. 1-4) even thought I know I won't finish it this month.

I don't know if I can finish this game, but I'd like to get a few more videos from Halo: Combat Evolved up on my channel.  We'll have to see.  Maybe even some more Rayman Origins if I've feeling particular psychotic.

My plan is to finish or get more videos posted for as many Xbox (360 and One) as I can because I have a plan for 2017 which is just around the corner.  It will be here before you know it.  It doesn't help that I've been extremely sick the last couple of days and haven't had the chance to post anything.  I'm feeling better so maybe I can make up for lost time.

My plan for 2017 is to make it "The Year of the PlayStation".  Even though I will continue to play Xbox games, I think I want to focus on playing more PlayStation games.  They may be old.  They may be new.  They may be whatever.  I figure I have a PlayStation Plus or PlayStation Now membership (or whatever it's called) so I might as well use it.  I haven't logged in to my PlayStation account for months so this should be interesting.

Some of the current PlayStation games I'm already in the midst of will continue and hopefully finish sometime next year.  Those games are Psychonauts, Dark Cloud, and Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits.  I've already started recording a couple other PlayStation games and hopefully I'll be able to get those started and finished next year.  I don't want to tell you what those are as I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise.

There are a couple of Xbox games that I will be playing as well next year.  I told you I wouldn't stop playing those games.  A friend of mine suggested 3 different games and I've committed to playing them all.  Those will come up periodically throughout the year so keep on eye on what they are.  I've already started playing one of them and I guess if you're nosey you could check my achievements.  Unfortunately I don't think I've picked up any achievements in that game yet.  Almost though.

If you know of any PlayStation games (I, II, or III) that you'd like me to play, let me know in the comments.  I'm open to suggestions and if I don't have the game I just might have to go out and do some bargain hunting for a copy.  I love shopping for video games.