Metal Gear Solid 4 is a videogame that is 80% video, 20% game. While I was expecting this going into it, nothing can prepare you for the mental exhaustion that is some of these exposition to action to emotional to exposition scenes for 30-60 minutes straight. That being said, I honestly preferred watching this game rather than playing it. I've tried MGS2+3, and I don't "get" the gameplay like everyone else does, I don't personally enjoy it. There are several sections in this game that were just plain unfun, such as the Act 3 tailing section (most boring 40 minutes of my life) and the Beast boss fights. By Act 5 I was trying to run to the end of the game as fast as possible. While there are some good elements (my personal highlight is the Microwave Corridor), I really struggled to engage with the gameplay and had my highest enjoyment when I was watching action scenes happen, as you hardly play through any.

If Dark Souls II has a million fans, I am one of them.
If Dark Souls II has 5 fans, I am one of them.
If Dark Souls II has 1 fan, I am that person.
If Dark Souls II has 0 fans, I am dead.
If the world hates Dark Souls II then I am against the entire world.
Untill my last breath, I will support Dark Souls II.

Back in early-mid 2019 when the Minecraft revival started, I never ever expected the same thing to happen to Fortnite, a game that was lambasted even more as a "cringe clickbait kids game". That's why from 2021-22 I referred to it as a 'guilty pleasure' that I never really mentioned to everyone. It was interesting, however, to see a slight bit of positivity for the game when the Dragon Ball characters were added. Fortnite Season OG was the perfect setup for getting back into internet culture, as people flocked to the game for the nostalgia (ironically, the internet started to hate on Fortnite while the Chapter 1 Map was still live). Chapter 5, to my surprise, has kept the hype train going. Ever since late October my feed has been filled with Fortnite memes. Now, with a map way better than Chapter 4, and the 3 new game modes, Fortnite is basically turning itself into a viral Roblox-esque platform. While the new modes aren't really for me, it's nice to see people not shitting on the game anymore. Peter Griffin Fortnite 10/10


Season 2 edit: Lego Fortnite has ruined the item shop. Also it's really fucking funny that they gave up on the theme immediately to have back-to-back Avatar/Star Wars collars lmao

"Given the opportunity, players will optimise the fun out of a game." - Soren Johnson

The most compelling addition compared to its predecessor is the cool new Ultrabuild/Zonai tech. Online you see awesome tanks and laser robots and Korok crucifixions, but in reality I found it much easier to just run in with my best weapon than spend 20 minutes fiddling my way into a cool Zonai contraption. To enjoy the BotW sequels' biggest addition, you have to actively choose to play Nuts And Bolts while deep down knowing a Level 4 horn fused sword would be quicker and more efficient. Plus I'm the "save it just in case" type of item hoarder, so the whole battery and Zonai currency system and one-time-use parts discouraged me from experimenting.

I really did try to engage with the Zonai building more at the beginning of the game. I spent like 10 minutes trying to build a cart once I left the sky island, only for the battery to last 10 seconds. So when the game gave me the horses that I'd tamed from Botw, you'd better believe I chose to use those instead.

The sky islands are cool until you realise the tutorial one is the biggest and most complex, and about 70% of them are just copy-paste of the same 3 ideas. Depths are also cool for the first few minutes but wear a little...empty. People praised the return of "traditional dungeons", that is until you realise they work exactly the same as the Divine Beasts but minus the unique dungeon rotation mechanics. I really can't decide if this is a complete improvement over BotW, it's flawed but still a very good game. Maybe if I had never played BotW it would be a different story for this one.

Never been a fan of the 2D Mario games, found the old ones too hard as a kid, and the endless "New" ones uninteresting. This is the first complete innovation in 17 years, and it really pays off. While it's on the easier end, it's just a pure fun platformer with a lot of cool ideas. Soundtrack wasn't as strong as most Mario games but it really picks up near the end (there are a good half-dozen that I really like).

Update: I have now played every single level, and out of all of them, only one level (the Special World Goomba one) annoyed me to any extent, which I think has to be a new record for any videogame I have played.

Despite the games reputation, I did really enjoy playing Fortnite with friends for a long time. By the end of Chapter 3 only two of us had stuck with it, and we both stopped very quickly into Chapter 4 probably due to burnout. Additionally, I found the map way less interesting than the previous two I've played, and the XP/Quests system to be the most grind-heavy and least encouraging to spend time on. Also, not a big fan of the new graphics and shading system. I know this is a constantly evolving game that has shifted its style a lot, but this chapter really lost some of the simplicity that I liked. At its core the game is still pretty fun though.

Addendum: Augments are a weird addition and it kinda sucks to pause every 4 minutes to play "would you rather"