Punching Bag on Pages

Videogames Worth Playing

First, I'd like to recommend three specific gamers on YouTube. I love them all so much. Please go check out Tobuscus (Toby), Pewdiepie (If you're a gamer, you've heard of him), and VanossGaming.

Toby, Felix, and Evan are incredibly funny, and they are pretty awesome gamers. I encourage you to watch Toby freak out with Slenderman or narrate Happy Wheels. You must go check out Pewds play, well, anything. He graces every game with his own style, and you will not regret joining the Bro Army. Evan and his buddies play minecraft, gta 5, prop hunt, hide and seek, and much more. I couldn't stop laughing while watching his videos.

Now back to the task at hand. I play on the PlayStation platform, just because I've owned one from my childhood to now, and it seems pointless to change. I absolutely love the system, so much so that I still have my PS2 along with my PS3 and PS4.

I grew up playing Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Sly Cooper, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, Ratchet & Clank, Grand Theft Auto (Vice City and San Andreas mostly), etcetera. If you're looking for some good ol' throwbacks (at least, to me they are) go get those games.

Within the past few years I've gotten into the Assassin's Creed Franchise, which I'm in love with. I don't care if there are bugs, I don't care if there is similar story lines from one game to the next, blah, blah, blah. I care about the well layered characters, complex time periods, and overall fun I have helping innocents and killing assholes. I love architecture, history, fiction, and gaming. Assassin's Creed is a beautiful combination.

Upon playing the first game in the series, you meet Altair. Now, I played this a while back, and I did get quite bored after a while. It felt like I was doing the same dang thing over and over again (I like to do side missions and not just memories). I like a bit of diversity, and I didn't quite find it outside of the memory sequences. I didn't finish it, and skipped on to the second game.

Ezio Auditore is in my Top 5 Favorite Videogame Characters (if not the top), and wow, his story his amazing. Everything Ezio felt in his life, I felt. It was quite an adventurous ride with him through Assassin's Creed II, Brotherhood, and Revelations. He is well developed, has the heart of a true assassin, and is loyal to his brotherhood. He and the accompanying plot line continued to interest me, and I've played them all twice.

Suprisingly (I don't know if it was just me), I couldn't really get into Assassin's Creed III. I was super excited for the revolution, holding that tomahawk, and just exploring the colonies. But I couldn't exactly follow the plot line and it kind of dragged on for me. I may go back to it, only because fellow gamers absolutely raved about it, but I wasn't able to finish it. I also skipped over Black Flag, because I wasn't much of a pirate person.

I did get my fair share of ship control in Rogue, and that amount was enough for me. One of the best feelings in the world is your crew cheering for you when you return to the ship. I treated the Morrigan as my baby, and sailed it through the seas. Harpooning became frustrating after a while, but I mainly stuck to renovating multiple areas, killing a bunch of people (taking over other ships, woo hoo!), and the memories. As any true Assassin (like myself) can agree, the concept of betraying the brotherhood scared me. But I was highly intrigued to find out why a person named Shay Cormac (who is so sexy) would become a Templar. Turns out, it was for a good reason. Hate me all you want, but I would turn against the brotherhood too, in that situation. If you've already played Rogue, you know what I'm talking about. The Brotherhood wasn't even following its own tenets! Stay your blade from the flesh of an innocent (broken), hide in plain sight (broken), and never compromise the Brotherhood (fucking broke that one too, would you look at that?). What the Assassins did was horrible- Altair and Ezio would be incredibly ashamed. Shay, as weird as it may be, was more of an Assassin and more loyal to the Brotherhood than Achilles and fucking Liam were! Okay, heated rant... don't take this the wrong way, because Rogue was freaking amazing. Play it. Oh and they way it ties into Unity is brilliant.

Unity, unity, unity. It's the bloody French Revolution! The guillotine, Robespierre, riots, blood everywhere, filth, thievery, murder, treason... what a great time. If you can get over a couple of bugs here and there (not creepy-crawly bugs, the game bugs/glitches) you'll be fine. Some gamers just massacred (ha, assassin pun) Ubisoft for it, but no game is perfect. In order to make a game without that many bugs you need time, but they had limited time to get the game out to the public.

I hadn't finished Rogue when I was first tempted by my new PS4 and Unity that I had just gotten for Christmas. So I played the opening scene where young Arno and Elise are playing in Versailles. Then BOOM, giant catastrophe. I was like "Whoa, whoa, whoa. I better stop now, I already hit something major." I then turned it off and finished Rogue. The ending of Rogue just unfortunately (but beautifully) ties right into Unity. And, so far so good. I love Arno, find Elise a bit annoying (although any woman coming in between me and a favored fictional man will not be on my good side automatically), and the story line is great. I heard the ending is a whirlwind of crazy shit, so I'll update with that when I get to it.

There is SO MUCH to do besides memories, and I LOVE THAT. There are murder mysteries, social club missions, assassin missions, co-op missions (which I don't have friends who play around here really, so I do the co-ops solo instead), and more. Unlike previous Assassin's Creed games, there is full customization of the character. Like for Ezio you'd just upgrade to the next best thing for armor. But with Arno, the next best thing comes in about five/six different styles. You can also gain the other master assassin's outfits (I got Ezio's, which I squealed with joy over, and I'm trying to get Shay's Templar outfit now), change colors of your ensamble, and the weapons are pretty cool. I am having a lot of fun with Unity. I just finished getting all of Arno's master Assassin attire for a complete outfit! I squealed with joy.

Another game I have loved is Dishonored. You play as Corvo Attano, the main bodyguard for the Empress of the Isles, Emily. When Emily's mother is murdered (not a spoiler) and Emily is kidnapped, Corvo is framed for both of their murders. He (you) then become an assassin to track down the people who have turned against you, and get Emily back. It's quite the intense game. Dishonored challenged me, surprised me, and interested me to the end. I played it for hours nonstop, and finished it within a week last summer. I played it again recently. I liked how every decision (that you actually get to make) has a consequence. I was hyperventilating trying to make some of the decisions, like who to kill and stuff like that. You can get through the game pretty peacefully without killing anyone, you can kill a few, or just slaughter. There is a major plot twist, which I didn't expect. Right before it I was like "I wouldn't do that Corvo..." because I speculated that something would happen. AND IT DID. I was screaming with rage afterward, and had vengeance like no other (haha). I highly recommend this game.

Damn, The Last of Us got me good. I can not give this game enough praise. It was beautifully developed, the graphics were incredible, and the two main characters (Joel and Ellie) are so amazing. I immediately fell in love with Joel and Ellie, because Joel is so kind hearted and Ellie is so badass. They have two heartbreaking stories, and you truly feel for them. I loved every second of this game because it creeped me out, challenged me, warmed my heart, broke my heart, made me scream with joy, and made me scream with anger (I get intense with videogames, if you couldn't gather that already). So go play it, like now. People without a PlayStation platform are seriously missing out. One of my favorite games of all time.

I plan on playing Thief and Skyrim. Also,Tom Clancy's: The Division. I'm so fucking excited for it, by the way. I've been waiting since October of 2014, and it won't be released until March of 2016. Can you sense my emotional distress?