glb

Miles.

Anyone else buzzing for Thursday already? Cold night under floodlights between two sides with a rich history but at different points of progression. Plus there’s plenty of needle going into the game. Feels set up for a decent night.

Wordle 213 5/6 Got there in the end.

“With an owl!”

Genuinely stunned he’s cleared to play again. Obviously very happy he is though, and should be a good fit for Brentford even if just having him in training elevates those around him. Thank goodness that dark day last summer has turned into a positive.

Ooh, currently following the lead to takedown Fia.

Same, Leanne. Same.

Does the dog call anyone a cunt in the new episodes?

Yeah, that’s a ludicrous postponement. Since when have injuries been cause for a game not going ahead? Not having Arsenal moaning over Liverpool’s false positives now, bunch of fannies.

He’s such a quim. I respected him as a player because he’s just the sort of needly, snide twat you want in grudge matches, and he was a decent defender with it. Sky now trying to pass him off as some sort of footballing intelligentsia is embarrassing and so reductive to their already pretty insipid coverage. Surprised he doesn’t have constant whiplash the amount of times he changes position on topics depending on the club involved, and he can be incredibly deflective and one-eyed when it suits. The faux-banter with Carragher is woeful too. How Carragher is even in TV after gobbing out his car at some fans is another mystery altogether. Ex-players shouldn’t automatically be front of the queue for punditry roles.

Yeah the level designs offer all sorts of ingenious ways to take out targets. The variety of them is really pleasing too, mixing scope and scale with more concentrated maps. As a trilogy of games think it was the most consistently enjoyable series of the last gen, evolving enough with each iteration but never losing the thrill of the core mechanics. The post-release input by the developers is gold standard too.

Fortress 3 (aka The Fortress) - 1/5 (screener) Bruce Willis has ‘starred’ in three of these films. Three! He looks disinterested for the most part, and grumpy the rest of the time. This jungle-set action romp is 1h38m long but made Return of the King feel short. There’s a nice lady that warns a main character about insect bites in the jungle. A few scenes later she’s dressed like Lara Croft and doesn’t apply any extra insect repellent. None! Cryptocurrency gets a mention, I think it is the main plot but by that point I was questioning the point of my own existence. Ends on a cliffhanger. Guess I’ll be watching part 4 in a year or so. Fuck. (#36/1000)

Posted in the Abandoned Games thread but having given up on this I went back for one last fling, and have turned if not 180 on the game, at least in the right direction. Unlocking a slab (Nexus) was crucial in this turnaround. And the doing so being so enjoyable I killed the same Visionary two more times to level up the slab. Will go back for the final upgrade. Now playing with level 3 Nexus and level 2 Aether (fluked an upgrade while killing Julianna) and feel almost overpowered. Also found a nail gun with explosive nails, which does the job. It had a lower ammo capacity but a trinket fixed that problem. Have unlocked a few more leads and I’m getting a sense of the puzzle pieces that need to be slotted together. Not convinced the game is quite as smart as it thinks it is, but what was a frustrating experience has become a fun one. I know my feelings for it have grown because I was thinking about my next loop during work. If you’re playing this and feeling a sense of frustration, the tip that turned the tide for me was to follow an arsenal lead, rather than a Visionary one. Can’t guarantee this will help but in my case I got a better feel for the game’s mechanics. Should also add that the maps feel incredibly well designed. Uncovering more each run now and things are slotting together nicely. So yeah, while this isn’t quite as amazing as some reviews made out, and it’s certainly no Prey, feel it is a very enjoyable shooter with a lovely design in both how it looks and now feels to play.

Wait a damn minute, Colt! Okay, inspired by @Jamie John’s buy only 12 games in a year thread, I felt a pang of guilt abandoning a £50 purchase. Watched one of those ‘things I wish I’d known before playing’ vids and followed the tip to follow an arsenal lead instead of the main ‘missions’. And that finally led me to getting the Nexus slab, and a pretty potent pistol, both of which completely changed the combat for me. Now have shift and aether, preferring the latter, and a selection of decent guns. Still think the game is flawed in places but put a few more hours in and now I’m in its rhythms it’s much more enjoyable on the whole. The semi-regular menu crashes 45-minutes into a progressive loop can get in the sea though.

Played alright until the final third, then played like Arsenal. Still feels like a tie that if we score first we’ll have no dramas. Getting a shot on target will be nice.