Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel and Handsome Collection Review

This is the latest review ever. In fact, it's so late that it is not only the latest review ever, but also a sort of late review of a new game, too. :/

I bought Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel as soon as it was available for pre-order, and we picked it up the day it came out. We started playing, but didn't make much progress and then forgot for a while. Both my husband and I tend to play games in stretches and this is one we play together so it just seemed like neither of us was in the mood to play at the same time. Hence the delay. It also starts slow, but having played through three games now, it's obvious that you can't really tell how a Borderlands game is until around level 20, when it begins to pick up and feel less repetitive.

I loved the first Borderlands game. We played three times all the way through, including all the DLC, and there would be random nights even after that we would start over with new characters just to play for a bit. Borderlands 2 was better in many ways, although not as fun in others. The story in the sequel was far superior (was there a story in the first one, really?) and the Tiny Tina DLC was the best ever. Plus there was more from Torgue, Handsome Jack, and Tiny Tina. The final few missions were better overall, but we got a little sick of the endless raid bosses. They lose their impact and fun when every mission has one. Crawmerax is still a bigger achievement than any of the ones from the second game.

But I digress. So I've had this forever, but really only started playing in earnest about a month ago. Then I just was slow at writing this and the Handsome Collection came out for Xbox One. My husband wasn't sure it was worth buying, since really, we have Borderlands 2 and TPS and hadn't even FINISHED TPS yet. But one of my favorite things about Borderlands is its multiplayer, so when our friends got an Xbox One, we jumped on board and got the HC (already had the One).

Game of Thrones Video Game Episode 3 Review

As I recently said, I have consistently been happy with Telltale Games although I've seen sort of a downhill trend these past few months. With that in mind, I went into Game of Thrones Episode 3 unsure how I would feel about it. I'm reading the books now and I feel like I am immersed in these characters' lives so much because we are also rewatching all the seasons before Sunday. It couldn't have come at a better time!

In Episode 3, I do feel as if choices are playing a bigger role. There are certain events that I don't know how they would turn out if I hadn't done certain things in previous episodes. Telltale does make a big deal about how important choice is, but in the last few games they've made, it seems like choices only let you feel like they matter. In the end, the game tends to be the same for most people, but I feel like that may not be the case in Game of Thrones. There are simply too many events with too many choices. I could be wrong, though.

A Nongamer Tries Gaming with Gone Home

What is a gamer? To me, my husband is a gamer. Boxy is a gamer. I, however, am not, although both Boxy and my husband are working to change that.

When I was younger I enjoyed Mario Brothers on the NES, Sonic on my Sega GameGear, and a few other games like Tetris. My all-time favorite game growing up was called Dragon Crystal, which I had for my GameGear. I remember refusing to put that game down no matter where we were or what was going on. From what I am told, Dragon Crystal was an RPG (role-playing game). I have no clue; I just know I was addicted and couldn't get enough.

Sadly, that was where my love of video games came to halt. Things like Prodigy message boards (I think I am dating myself now) started to take up my time, and then there was AIM, and eventually leaving the house to hang out at Perkins - a diner - with friends. I just lost interest in gaming. I was almost positive I would never pick up another controller again because what was the point? Right?

Then I met my husband. He played entirely too much EverQuest or, as it became known to many, NeverRest. He also played World Of Warcraft, which actually proved to be a good thing when our first child was born. Since he was still up at 2:30 am for the middle of the night feeding, this meant more time for me to sleep! Thank you, gaming gods!

Game of Thrones (Telltale Games) Episode 2 Review

I love Telltale Games. As far as I'm concerned, they haven't made a bad game since The Walking Dead and I even loved the Law and Order game. So of course I will enjoy their take on Game of Thrones, a combination of one of my favorite developers and one of my favorite shows.

Game of Thrones follows the Forrester family, a minor family in the grand scheme of Westeros. Without giving much away, the first episode was INSANE. Given the characters you were dealing with, I guess it shouldn't have been surprising in the end, but it still was. So I've been anxiously waiting for Episode 2.

I have an Xbox, though, so since my season pass in on that system, I had to wait an extra day. I spent it replaying Episode 1.

Life is Strange: Video Game Review (Episode #1)

Sometimes a game comes out and you just know it's a good fit. As soon as I saw the trailer for this game, I could tell it was something I would enjoy. I'm a big fan of Telltale Games and the episodic format, plus I enjoy storytelling and narrative games, such as Heavy Rain and Gone Home.

Life is Strange is a multi-platform episodic game from Dontnod Entertainment and Square Enix that just came out, and it's beautifully refreshing. This is definitely a different kind of game, relying far more on narrative than action, but it's incredibly immersive in just a few hours.