I feel like I'm slowly getting somewhere in Rogue Legacy. My men/women are always useless, have next to no health and are born with very little money, but things are starting to improve. For one, I now don't have to give all my cash to the git that guards the entrance to the castle, and I've got a few bits of gear. And a double jump! Wow!
Rogue Legacy feels ideal for how I play games. A single life currently doesn't last more than a few minutes, meaning I can get through a handful of these attempts to gain money and upgrades in each relatively short gaming session. Maybe in a year I'll have got enough cash to upgrade my character so much I can survive for long enough to beat one of the bosses I've briefly been exposed to.
Aside from Mortal Kombat X there's nothing new that's intrigued me enough to sit down with it, and the answer to times such as these is simple: get the Nintendo 64 out and play WrestleMania 2000.
No Mercy is an equally good option - although I still think the questionable framerate ruins it on occasion - but it astounds me there hasn't been a set of wrestling games this good for almost 15 years. That's ludicrous. The SmackDown series had some solid entries, as have the 'WWE' branding of titles, but now someone, somewhere needs to reignite this genre.
It comes down to what I've said for close to a decade: a good wrestling game has to be worked. Screw playing it for the sake of competition. See how the match itself comes together. Listen to the (fake) crowd. If someone hits a move that's worthy of the finish… let it be the finish! Those that don't understand wrestling will, understandably, read that and think I've gone insane, but it's the best, and most satisfying way, to experience anything that has the words pro-wrestling slapped on it.
After all, this is what happens when you tune in to WWE television each week. A prime example of this was the recent WrestleMania 31. The fan in me wasn't interested in seeing Randy Orton go over Seth Rollins, but as soon as he hit that ridiculous RKO? Forget about it. Let the man get the pin.
These type of games have the huge advantage of aping something that's a beast unto itself. Trying to mix that in is just going to yield positive results.
I know what you're thinking. Wah, Steve likes a game. Wah, this is obviously a work. Wah, I wah wah wah wah wond-er. Well, it's true. I do like The Consequence. DLC it may be, but it's not just thrown out to mop up whatever cash value is left next to the Evil Within. Instead, it complements the main game near-perfectly, while also standing on its own two feet. As your attorney I advise you pick up both it and its prequel, The Assignment, and get them played this weekend.
And if you haven't played The Evil Within yet – what are you doing?
I have so many games to play, dozens, but the thought of starting one of them gives me heartburn, so I just play Destiny instead.
I love Destiny. I didn’t when I started playing it again a few months ago, but it really has hooked me. Once you start to understand what you’re doing, rather than simply completing your daily chores, it’s brilliant. The combat is consistently satisfying, so it’s hard to pull myself away from it.
Other games force me to care about their story, learn new mechanics, and actually pay attention. With Destiny I can jump on for an hour each night while listening to music or podcasts and just shoot stuff.
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