Games and Sick Days

I'm sick.  It sucks.  My son has been fighting off a bug for the past two weeks and in taking care of him I managed it pick it up.

But, one benefit that has come out of being sick at home all week is getting to blast through some of the new releases that have been coming out.  They're hard to keep up with.  And I got to try a mobile game that's been on my radar for awhile.  Let's go rapid fire impressions here.

Assassin's Creed: Unity
I'm playing on PS4.  I've seen tons of hate for this game online and it seems to be especially buggy.  In my experience on my console I've only had frame rate slow down a couple times in the course of over 10 hours of play.  I only hit a weird animation bug once.  Your mileage may vary.  Especially if you're playing on PC or Xbox One.  Apparently they're much worse than PS4.

I'm a huge fan of Assassin's Creed so I'm still having a lot of fun with it.  That being said, if you aren't a huge fan of the series you should avoid this one.  They've taken out a lot of cool things that were in the last few games.  There's no competitive multiplayer.  There's no ship combat.  There aren't multiple cities.  There isn't a good story.

So why am I still having fun with it?  Well, the core missions are really well designed.  Stealth finally matters in an Assassin's Creed game.  I used to be able to run in and kill and infinite number of guards because I understand the combat system.  I can't do that anymore.  The enemies are much tougher and the game is better for it.  Now, I feel like a badass when I can stealth my way through a mission.  Also, they added co-op missions which are a ton of fun.

Most people should avoid this game.  If you're a die hard fan of Assassin's Creed, like me, you might want to pick it up anyway.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
I think I'm done with Call of Duty.  I loved Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and the follow up game, Modern Warfare 2.  They were amazing.  They're some of the best shooters that have been made.  I've wanted to like the Call of Duty games they've released since then but they just don't click with me anymore.

Advanced Warfare is another Call of Duty.  Now you have mechanical exo suits to help you do things like magnetically climb walls, slow down time, go invisible, and jump really high.  They sound like cool abilities on paper, but in practice you can only do that at very specific points in the story when you are prompted it.  It was extremely disappointing for me.

I don't think there is anything wrong with the game, the problem is that it's just not a series for me anymore.  I need to stop convincing myself that I'll like the newest version of the game.  If you're a Call of Duty fan I'm sure you already know if you'll pick this one up or not.

Dragon Quest I (iOS)
I missed having a mobile RPG.  Final Fantasy I through VI spoiled me.  I got used to always having a RPG ready to go in my pocket.  While I was playing through the next few Final Fantasy games on Vita it didn't bug me, but now that I'm tackling Final Fantasy XII on PC I'm beginning to realize how much I like having a mobile RPG.

Anyway, Dragon Quest I is good.  I've never played the series before, but so far I like it.  It has a different flavor than a Final Fantasy game but the old school charm is still there.  I love the way that I never see a game over screen in Dragon Quest.  If I die I just get sent back to my home castle and I retain all my levels and items.  It's encouraging me to really explore and not worry about being under leveled the way I would in a Final Fantasy game.  The turn based combat and RPG trappings are making me very happy.  I'm going to keep picking away at this game in 5-10 minute chunks until I finish it.

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