March Gaming

Hello fellow gamers. This is my first post of my review series where I'll be breaking down games I'm currently playing. I’ve recently decided to give some brief thoughts on the games I’m playing on Xbox One as well as get back into achievement hunting to push for 100,000 + gamerscore. (I am already 90,080/100,000 at the time of writing this)

I used to be an achievement hunter like you.. But then I took an arrow to the knee.. AKA college/work/life and over the past couple of years I’ve played games more spread out and haven't played any games lately (besides Prey) that have really stood out. More recently I’ve had some extra time to dive deeper into some old games and new and I’ll be giving quick looks into what games I’m playing. I’ll be giving “rough scores” that represent overall how I feel about the games so far. This won't be full on reviews of the games. I’ll go further into detail about just one game in a separate post for lengthier reviews.

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Currently: 90,0080/100,000 Gamerscore

For these reviews, to keep them as quick and to the point, I’ll be formatting it like this,

Game: Title
Type: Game Genre
Rough Score: Rough rating at the time of writing.
Similar games: Games that I’ve played/tried that are similar or have similar aspects.
Why?: Why I’ve been playing it recently.
Verdict: Get it? Don’t Get it? Alternatives?

I’ll be providing screenshots I've taken from the games, some may even work as wallpapers for you fans of the games. For future posts, I may replicate some of my points if I am still playing certain games and dive a little deeper into why those games have kept my attention.

The format may change over time

As we wrap up March for our first post, I’m putting together games that I’ve been playing and are worth mentioning as well as games I’m looking forward to playing next month.

Diablo III Reaper of Souls – Ultimate Evil Edition.png

Game: Diablo III: Reaper of Souls
Type: Dungeon-Crawler Action RPG
Rough Score: 10/10
Similar games: Path of Exile, The incredible Adventures of Van Helsing
Why?:

Now that I’m achievement hunting I have all the achievements for this game except the 500 bounties and DLC ones. Recently I reached level 70 on 6 different classes for the “Dream Team” achievement and this is one that I’m probably most proud of and it helped me appreciate the game even more by playing with all the characters.
I check on Diablo III every once in a while to see what’s new, but after beating it so many times (PC, Xbox 360, and Xbox One) and friends not playing it anymore, I haven’t had a huge reason to come back to it. That doesn’t mean I didn’t love the game and still think its amazing compared to similar games. Wrapping up these achievements lately, I’m tempted to purchase the Necromancer pack and start a new character all over again! I don’t think I’ll be “done” with Diablo III for a while.

Verdict: If you’ve never played, get the game and get ready to dump some great hours into this game. Diablo set the tone for top-down dungeon crawler action rpgs and even with more recent games like Path of Exile or the Van Helsing series of games, nothing truly compares to Blizzard’s game.

The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim Special Edition (23).png

Game: Skyrim: Special Edition
Type: RPG
Rough Score: 10/10
Similar games: The Fable series of games, Fallout 4, Fallout 3, Mass Effect, Oblivion
Why?:

Recently thanks to some Steemians like @playfulfoodie and @gaming-stuff, I’ve decided to not only get back into Skyrim after a bit of a break, but I am starting to write a Skyrim Fiction to go along with my gameplay. I’ll be posting those over time as I figure out how I want to format my stories, but I hope you guys enjoy when I do.
It’s hard not for me to revisit this great game. I’ve always been a huge fan of Skyrim since it launched and even have the collector’s edition with the Alduin Dragon Statue I’m glad I got.

Verdict: I’ll be playing Skyrim for a while to come and you should be too. The game alone is amazing and provides endless hours of adventuring and questing. I prefer games like these on my console so with all the mod support on Xbox alone, you can play much more than just the Vanilla version of the game. With some small tweaks you can increase your graphics, lore, environment, and more or play the game completely different and go crazy with the various mods that alter your gameplay and story.

TERA (Open Beta).png

Game: TERA (Open Beta)
Type: MMORPG
Rough Score: 8/10
Similar games: Secret World Legends, Neverwinter, AION, Global Mu Online, WoW
Why?:

I’ve already played this game for a few months on the PC and enjoyed my time with it. When I heard about the beta I was excited to hear it was coming to console.
My last two games that were anything like this were The Secret World and I suppose AION. TSW only because it’s another faster paced MMORPG and the freemium model they're pushing. AION because of the artwork and detail of the game.
“In TERA, you aim, dodge, and time your attacks for an intense and rewarding tactical combat experience. TERA's expansive content is totally free to play, from character creation all the way to level 65 and beyond.” -source

Verdict: If it’s free, it’s for me. When the game launches, it'll be a freemium title, so what do you have to lose by checking it out? MMORPGs aren’t for everyone and this one is definitely an easy one to get into even if you’ve never played one before. For the Xbox, I was very happy with the button mapping on the controller and would rather play on my console than computer.

Tesla vs Lovecraft (2).png

Game: Tesla vs Lovecraft
Type: Twin-stick shooter
Rough Score: 7/10
Similar games: #killallzombies, Zombie Apocalypse: Never Die Alone, Geometry Wars
Why?:

When I heard there was a game with Nikola Tesla against H.P. Lovecraft, I couldn’t help but look into it. After watching the trailer that provided some quick laughs and noticing it was an aesthetically pleasing twin-stick shooter, I decided to pick up this indie title.
Being a huge fan of Geometry Wars and games like Zombie Apocalypse, what a better way to enjoy them im a game that has similar aspects from both.

Verdict: $15 for a twin-stick shooter like this that you can play solo or with a friend is worth it if you’re into the genre. I did a post on the game and have a stream up on dlive of the first part of the game if you want to check out the game more.