Beholder

I purchased a new game, and not like new but it's been out for awhile, but new, new, like came out last Friday new. Beholder. This game is touted as a management game, but it has a dark and depressive 1984 feel. You work for the state, they call you comrade, its like cold war Russia!

Your job to find everything out about your tenants while managing an apartment building is engrossing, your family has needs, your tenants ask you for things, the ministry calls whenever they feel like, new directives will be released making basic things like apples and jeans illegal to purchase or possess. The game is a go, go, go of non stop tasks, but they are fun, like finding the doctor a date or selling dodgy illegal canned fish from a sailor who moved into your building before he ships back out to sea.

It's like playing a soap opera with the random occurrences that seem to pop up. I got it on sale for 14.99 and it came with a free Indy title Dear Esther for free. You can get that deal until 2/2/2018. At which point I'm assuming the game will go back to 29.99. I noticed there is DLC for the game listed as available through the menu but I did not attempt to purchase it as I would assume complete means all DLC, but I could be wrong in the pay to play world we now live in.

Getting entangled in these people's lives is the most fun even if it is just to discover they make drugs or have jeans and get them evicted and hauled off by the cops! I haven't had that much fun with a new game in awhile. Try it out, you might like it!

Zoo Tycoon I hate you.

I've been suffering through Zoo Tycoon: Ultimate Animal Collection since it came to gamepass this month. I haven't touched this title since the original before all the extra animals and whatnot. I am struggling. I cannot for the life of me remember the controls but I hate the tutorial so I keep trying to just wing it. So far, so good. I haven't killed any precious animals and the zoo is making money.

They added so much its just hard to want to keep up with it. The amount of animals and research is frankly annoying. At a certain point you just wanna be like yup that's nice and walk away. The challenges aren't fun, they are a pain while I'm trying to do other things especially when you lose money on some if you don't complete them. Really? I don't think this is how the real world zoo works. If you don't play with 3 animals through an interactive exhibit we will take 500 dollars from you! Uh, no. Stop.

I load it up and immediately sigh, because I already know the crap doesn't stop, literally. I need more zoo keepers because cleaning poop is annoying. Hit clean, press A, back out do it again since you can't just zoom poop to poop you have to reload screens.

It's just kind of clunky in a sense, there is a lot of oversight and menus. Research times. It doesn't speak to my OCD, it drives me up a wall.

I'm still gonna keep at it though, even if it drives me stark raving mad in the end. It's 1500 gs, after all, and I guess ill forgive them for the unobtainable achievement for now...
 

Xbox Gamepass Titles for February

8 new titles will be hitting the Xbox Gamepass service this coming month, and 2 will be discontinued. I'm not that excited for the new games, but 7 of them are Xbox One titles which is a pretty nice bonus. I enjoyed the first Halo Wars, so I have pretty high hopes for Halo Wars 2, I have played the tutorial missions when I borrowed it from a friend but didn't get much further. The graphics were really smooth from the small amount of time I spent with it.

Additions:
Xbox One:

• Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition
• Halo Wars 2
• Letter Quest: Grimm's Journey Remastered
• NBA 2K17
• RiME
• Riptide GP: Renegade
• WWE 2K17

Xbox 360:

• Fable Anniversary

Removals:
Xbox One:

• Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
• WWE 2K16

This coming month is shaping up to be a nice Gamepass month, the 9.99 per month is worth it if you like to jump around and play all types of games(even backwards compatible ones). You can always splurge and get the 3 month at a time for 24.99 and save 5 bucks(20 over the course of the year). For the price of 2 AAA titles it gives you a large library that is constantly updated. It's better than EA access which only gives you selected EA games and DLC/purchase discounts, granted that service is much cheaper every year at 29.99. I had it for awhile but found I owned most of the games or just got sick of sports titles.

Achievement Roundup 1/16/2018

After a very long hiatus(something like 5 years!) I'm back. The last 5 years I've been off getting my life together. Job, car, family, the whole works. I'm not longer the 22 year old kid of yesteryear. I stopped gaming for awhile, I got burnt out. I put so much pressure on myself to be that "girl" that games became less fun and more work. Things finally feel good again. I play games and get happy. I get on ebay looking for deals and get excited again. I'm gonna regroup and get this back together because at the end of the day games make me happy, whether its gaming news or just playing in general. I have been still purchasing games but my backlog is insane.

Games I have been into lately: Forza Motorsport 7 and Forza Horizon 3.

Yesterday was sort of productive but its my first day back, I've forgotten the focus I used to have, but we are knocking the rust off still.

Achievements Earned: 8 across 3 Titles

 

Forza Motorsports 7

 

Bronze Collector for 10g

 

Age of Empires: Castle Siege (UWP)

 

Over the Walls for 40g

Castellan for 25g

 

Zoo Tycoon: Ultimate Animal Collection

 

Everyone's got to Start Somewhere for 10g

If You Build Them for 10g

Staffing Up for 5g

Research Warrant for 5g

Phase One Complete for 5g

 

 

Total Gamerscore Earned: 110g

 

 

 

New Completion List!

Retail Completions XBOX 360:
Avatar: TLA: TBE
EA Sports Fight Night 3
MLB 2K6
NBA 2K6
Madden NFL 06
Night at the Museum 2
You Don't Know Jack
College Hoops 2K6
NHL 2K6
Retail Completions XBOX ONE:
Nutjitsu
Monopoly Plus
The Wolf Among Us
Forza Horizon 2 Present Fast & Furious


 Arcade Completions:
Galaga
Harm's Way
Pac-Man CE DX
The Walking Dead

WP7 Completions:
Beards & Beaks
Butterfly
COLLAPSE!
Doodle God
Fruit Ninja
Kinectimals
Monopoly
Crackdown 2: Project Sunburst

Games For Windows Live Completions:
Fallout 3

Kinect Fun Labs Completions:
Kinect Me
Web Based and Windows 8:
Wordament (Web)
Microsoft Mahjong (Win 8)
Microsoft Solitaire Collection (Win 8)

 Total Completions: 30

Borderlands 2, and the dlc gravytrain....

I recieved the Bordlerands 2 collector's edition game and guide for christmas. I never played the first borderlands and wasnt quite sure what to expect. I must say i am in love with this game. I even shelled out the 29.99 for the season pass on the dlc. The 2k super sale which is going on right now allowed me to pick up the mechromancer dlc for 50% off. At 400 msp it is a steal. I have yet to play co-op as my first attempt was ill fated and i recieved a disk unreadable error because someone was using Gaige. It booted me from my own game. The achievements are creative and aren't incredibly out there like some games. Some are story driven others are rare random monster spawn. It is a good mix. I'm really far behind on the curve as i haven't completed 1 playthrough or started the dlc(the next one drops on the 15th). The SHiFt system and extra golden keys is really awesome, even though i am just hoarding them for when i get to some of the higher levels and really need an equipment boost to propel myself forward through the storyline.

I find myself sitting down to play and getting up off the couch thinking it has only been 5 minutes, only to look at a clock and find that is has been closer to 5 or more hours. I love games like this, the ones that engross you so far in that you forget about anything else. I haven't had that feeling since i sank about 300 hours into Skyrim(and i am still nowhere near done). Overall this is my favorite game purchase in quite sometime. If you haven't yet pick it up even if you didnt play the first. It is a good mix of shooter and rpg that just leaves you wanting more and more.

70k and counting...

Tonight I finally managed to hit 70,000. I am starting to feel burnt out, not by gaming but by managing my collection of games(retro and current generation) as well as my comics and working a 40 hour week. I'm also looking at picking up a second job to pay down some bills faster and free up more money for my hobbies.

I'm excited by 70k, but I'm not ecstatic in all honesty I would have liked to already have hit 75k or even 100k but life has prevented that from happening as of late. My days off seem to be taken over by chores, bills or errands despite having every intention of not leaving the house or doing anything and actually just gaming.

I plan on setting aside more time to actually game and really make a dent in the deficit between me and 100k. I bought some new stuff and have been trying to go through backlog and at least get more achievements than I already had in the backlog games but I tend to bounce around and don't really find myself sitting through them for long periods of time.

In other news, I have finally joined Xbox America. I have been a lazy bum and pretty much effectively forgot the site existed and was finally reminded about it the other day and joined. I currently sit at 75th in Missouri and 4,757th in the nation according to the site. Maybe this will give me the inspiration I need to keep going and keep gaming. If nothing else I at least have an exciting 3rd and 4th quarter worth of game releases to look forward to this year.