Author Archives: Jeanette

Video Game Monsters That Scare Me

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I am someone who’s grown up watching horror films and I would say I don’t scare easy. I tend to look at movies with a filmmaker’s perspective and appreciate the work it took to bring them to life.

Horror video games are a completely different story, particularly the ones that completely immerse the player within a life-like environment. The atmosphere aside, I get especially terrified when coming face to face with certain video game creatures. Below is my list of monsters I’d rather run from or avoid encounters with than engage in combat.

1) Banshees (Mass Effect 3) – Long-limbed mutant aliens with a distinctive scream, Banshees are one of the most formidable adversaries present in Mass Effect 3. They are capable of teleporting toward you in short bursts and will kill you instantly if they catch you. The downside of Mass Effect 3 is that it is impossible to completely avoid encounters with these creatures. You are forced into a close-quarters fight with one near the end of the game. Even more scary is facing both Banshees and Phantoms – human adversaries who are equally deadly at close range – in the hardest difficulty of multiplayer skirmishes.

2) Deathclaws (Fallout series) – A creature that I had zero knowledge of until very late into my first playthrough of Fallout 3, Deathclaws are large reptilian demonic-looking monsters with long talons. I was too scared to move for several minutes when I first saw one. I have since tried to avoid encounters with the creatures when possible. I am even too chicken to venture into most areas where large groups of Deathclaws can be found.

3) Revenants (Resident Evil: Revelations 2) – Most genetically-engineered monsters in the Resident Evil series are the stuff of nightmares. But those created by a sadistic scientist in Revelations 2 are in a league of their own. For starters, there are the Revenants – creatures comprised of two or more humans that have been stitched together to create a downright terrifying monstrosity. Even more disturbing than their appearance is the way they move – slow jerky movements when standing upright or insanely fast when on all fours. Revenants are so scary that I’m glad they only exist in a video game.

4) Glasps (Resident Evil: Revelations 2) – Like Revenants, Glasps are insect-like monsters that I wouldn’t want to see in the real world. What makes them so scary is that they’re virtually invisible to the naked eye. The only way you can tell they’re close is that they emit a chemical that causes distorted vision in their intended victim. The closer they are, the worse the distortion is. There have been times where I’ve gotten turned around and mistaken where the creature is coming from, which resulted in me running straight at it. Suffice to say, the way they kill you if you let them get too close is not pretty.

5) Mirelurk Queens (Fallout 4) – When I played Fallout 4 for the first time, I did so with very little inkling on what to expect. This game differed from the previous titles in the series in many ways – updated graphics, a central character who actually spoke rather than mutely engaged in conversations, and brand new monsters to combat. The latter worked against me when I encountered an enormous creature known as the Mirelurk Queen. I had gotten used to human-sized Mirelurks – mutant crab-like creatures — in previous Fallout games and didn’t view them as much of a threat anymore. The Queen, however, is ten times bigger and can spit acid at you. During my first battle against said creature, I hid in a stairwell where the Queen couldn’t easily get at me and just sporadically poked my head out to take shots at it.

6) Wendigos (Until Dawn) – It should be noted that I’ve never actually played Until Dawn, but simply watching YouTube videos of someone else’s playthrough got me terrified of Wendigos. The monsters featured in Until Dawn are former humans who fell victim to a curse centered around a remote area in the mountains and turned into banshee-like monsters. Wendigos are particularly vicious and scary. The means to dealing with them is to stand perfectly still – which can be achieved by holding the console controller steady — so they can’t see you. Funny side note – I made the mistake of watching Until Dawn on YouTube one night before bed. When one of the Wendigos unexpectedly jumped out through a trapdoor, I went from barely being able to keep my eyes open to being wide awake.

7) Rams (Dead Island) – Dead Island is a very intense game where you’re trapped on an isle largely populated by zombies. The majority of these zombies are quite deadly and you encounter variants of the creature that possess their own unique forms of attack. The zombies that scare me the most in Dead Island are the Rams – hulking brutes wrapped in strait-jackets that will charge at you and kick you to death if they catch you out in the open. My general tactic is to climb on something – such as a car – to stay out of their reach. During the final segment of the game, however, you are forced to venture through a prison compound where the Rams are out in droves. Extreme caution or running past them is highly advised.

There are many other video game monsters I’d prefer not to tangle with, but the ones on this list really stand out. If you want to share about a game-specific creature you’ve found terrifying, please share in the comments below.

Game Spotlight — Don’t Starve

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Though I wrote in a blogpost back in January that I might take up streaming on a regular basis, it is a theory that worked better on paper than it did in real life. I work a full-time job and I am in the process of writing a story. I have other activities that take up a lot of my time. And I lack a good PC that will let me play the more graphics-laden immersive games I like, such as Mass Effect Andromeda, Fallout 4, Subnautica, and several upcoming titles.

During a vacation from work, I decided to broadcast a streaming session. I sent out a notification to several Discord channels I’ve been following and started an hour-long broadcast on August 15. The game I picked was a popular title I’d favored for a while – Don’t Starve. To make it easier on myself, I tweaked the game settings to lessen the amount of monsters encountered and increase my odds of survival.

The one thing that surprised me was that several of my viewers had never played this game and had no idea what it was about. Some of them did express interest in trying it themselves based on what they saw.

For those unfamiliar with this title, Don’t Starve is a game that focuses on base building, harvesting resources, crafting items needed to survive, and fending off monster attacks. I try my best at it, but I think the longest I’ve made it is 80 to 90 days. I haven’t really mastered making it through the winter or summer, but the game can be modified to remove those seasons entirely.

Don’t Starve is a very complex and layered game that can be difficult to master, but quite rewarding when you figure it out. For starters, you can pick from one of fifteen characters from the base game and DLC – each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Initially, you only start with one – all the others can be unlocked depending on time spent playing the game or if certain conditions are met. My personal favorites are Webber, a humanoid spider who can live amongst the normal spiders without fear of attack, and WX-78, a robot that can upgrade its stats by chowing down on gears.

Each playthrough of Don’t Starve generally starts you out near a forest grove unless you’re playing the Shipwrecked DLC – but more on that later. Constructing an axe to chop down trees and a pickaxe to mine stone is a must early on since one of the things you’ll want right away is a permanent campsite. But it’s generally good to wait until you find an ideal location for your base before you hunker down.

The thing about Don’t Starve is that the land you find yourself inhabiting has a number of different environments to explore, such as forests, deserts, swamps, and prairies. Each of these environments or biomes contains their own unique harvestables or food sources you’ll need for long-term survival. Finding a base location that’s close to many of them will really help out in the long run.

Some of the early structures you’ll want for your settlement are farm plots to plant seeds and an icebox to keep food from spoiling too quickly. It also helps to construct armor and a suitable weapon to lessen the damage you take from inevitable monster attacks. The rest, you’ll have to discover for yourself.

And for those who do master the base game and are looking for an additional challenge, the Shipwrecked DLC offers a radically different adventure. In this scenario, you must construct a sailing vessel to move from island to island in search of resources to survive. Shipwrecked offers a whole new set of obstacles and dangers to overcome and feels like a completely separate game from Don’t Starve.

There is also another DLC called Hamlet due out this December. I don’t know many details, but Hamlet will bring a village into the mix where goods can be traded. I don’t know if this add-on will make the game easier, but I look forward to finding out.

I hope you all enjoyed this article and that Don’t Starve sounds like a game you might be interested in. Whatever your feelings, be sure to share them in the comments below.

First Impressions of Life is Strange: Before the Storm

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Warning: There are spoilers in this article.

In spite of the fact that Life is Strange: Before the Storm was released in August of 2017, it took me almost a year to get through the game in its entirety. I played a bit of it in November, then essentially let it sit on a shelf before getting back to and finishing it in June. I can’t say why I procrastinated so much, but the game was quite the experience when I finally got around to it.

I was delighted to dive back into the world of Arcadia Bay and see younger versions of the characters I’d fallen in love with in the first Life is Strange game. And it was nice to finally get introduced to Rachel Amber, the murder victim I was disappointed didn’t get any screen time in a game that included a character with time travel powers.

The central figure of Life is Strange: Before the Storm is Chloe, the angry-at-the-world punk with a heart of gold I found so endearing in the first game. Chloe is at a point in her life where she is still coping with the loss of her father, the childhood friend, Max, she was so close with has stopped writing, and she sees her mom’s new boyfriend as an intruder in both their lives.

Rachel comes into Chloe’s life at a point when the latter really needs a friend to carry her through a dark period. What makes their budding friendship so intriguing is that Chloe and Rachel are polar opposites – or at least that’s how it seems to be at the start of the game. Right off the bat, Rachel is perceived as a straight-laced honor student whose life must be perfect since she comes from a loving household and her father is the D.A. But her association with Chloe as the game progresses reveals that Rachel has a dark side.

Though I was glad to delve into a story revolving around Chloe and Rachel, it was also tragic to see them dream of a future they’d both ultimately be denied. While it’s nice to see them find some degree of happiness by the end of Life of Strange: Before the Storm, such a thing is marred by the knowledge that their lives are cut short with the next chronological game in the series.

The story is also a bit soured by the knowledge that Rachel will have broken all of her promises to Chloe by the time of her demise. I would have liked to see a bit more of their story to get a sense of what led to this betrayal.

On the contrary, one of the things I like best about Before the Storm is that it looks to have multiple endings. It is a game that I can see myself playing through at least half a dozen times to see the various conclusions.

The game also has a side story revolving around Max after she and her family have moved away from Arcadia Bay. I have yet to delve into this part of Before the Storm. But it is a storyline I will explore in the coming days.

I know there is a Life is Strange 2 in production that will feature a completely new story, location, and set of characters. It was nice that the characters of the original game were given a bit of a send-off, and I hope that those introduced in the sequel will be equally as likable and endearing.

Video Games I Really Don’t Like

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I am selective when it comes to games I play as I’ve stated in a previous blogpost. That doesn’t stop me from giving a certain title a chance. For the most part, I thoroughly enjoy whatever game I decide to delve into. But there is the occasional title that doesn’t hold my interest and is permanently shelved after so long.

Below is my list of ten video games that didn’t make the grade.

1) SimCity 2013 – I have long been a fan of simulation games made by Maxis and have gotten hours of enjoyment from such titles as Sim Theme Park, SimTower, and The Sims. I went into 2013’s SimCity with high expectations, only to be sorely disappointed within a few days. My main dislike is that the game cannot be played solo – at least not easily. SimCity 2013 is an online multiplayer game that forces you to rely on other players around the globe for aid. Any attempt to build all the necessary structures to get your city thriving, such as housing, businesses, and power plants, is a lot more difficult on your own. I may have been able to accomplish this as a single player, but the game didn’t intrigue me enough to want to find out if I could.

2) Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City – I am a huge fan of the Resident Evil game series. But as with all franchises that have multiple titles to their name, there is certain to be one or two bad apples in the bunch. For me, that was Operation Raccoon City – and not just because it explored a what-if scenario that took place in the early days of the series and gave you the option to kill series veterans Leon and Claire before their stories even really got started. Like SimCity 2013, Operation Raccoon City is a game that isn’t meant to be played solo. For each mission, you can select one of six characters with a unique skillset. In the event that you don’t have any buddies playing as one of the other characters accompanying you on this mission, your teammates are instead controlled by an A.I. that isn’t the least bit helpful when it counts. What I hate most about Operation Raccoon City is that the toughest monsters will only focus on a player-controlled character. If you’re playing solo, you will inevitably get rushed by a powerful creature you have very little chance of surviving against at the end of some missions.

3) Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – The Transformers live action film series isn’t exactly stellar. Even more so when it comes to the video games. Revenge of the Fallen is one game title that I wish I hadn’t wasted my money on. Aside from running in circles on most levels to complete your objective, the controls are needlessly complicated when it comes to combat. The first Transformers game allowed you to switch from robot to vehicle and back with the push of a button. Revenge of the Fallen made you hold down one button to stay in vehicle mode, hold down another to drive or fly, use the mouse to steer, use a third button to lock onto a target, and press a fourth one to fire. This necessity really got annoying very quickly.

4) Battle Cats – Battle Cats is a title that I inadvertently got into when I purchased an Android device specifically for a chance to play Plants vs. Zombies 2. Even if the device hadn’t broken down in less than a year with the loss of all my game data, I still would have come to see Battle Cats as a piece of garbage. It has a simple enough premise where you select cats with varying abilities and strengths to combat an army comprised of a variety of creatures and take out their base. Battle Cats is free to download, but I believe you have to throw a lot of money at it if you want to have the best units at your disposal. Otherwise, you have no hope of beating the later levels.

Note: I last played Battle Cats three to four years ago, and current YouTube videos I’ve watched show that some improvements have made the game less of a cash grab.

5) EverQuest – EverQuest is an online multiplayer game I only started playing because a guy I was dating was very much into it. I was given a copy of the base game and all its expansions to install on my computer, but I never found it that engaging. After the breakup, my interest waned to the point that I just uninstalled the games and never looked back. You would think that a fantasy role-playing game with hundreds of monsters to fight would be right up my alley, but EverQuest was simply too boring for me.

6) Command & Conquer – I’ve stated in a previous blogpost that I am a huge fan of the Command & Conquer franchise. My love of the series got me to buy a collector’s edition that included every title in the franchise. When it comes to the very first game, I have to say it’s not that great. The maps are too small and you don’t get very many units to work with for each mission. On some levels, I kept losing all of my soldiers and was unable to complete the objective. On others, I would explore the entire map without finding the means to advance. I don’t know if I was missing something obvious or if the game was just bugged, but after a while, I permanently shelved the first Command & Conquer.

7) Fallout 1 & 2 – The Fallout franchise is something I got into after seeing gameplay footage of the third game. It is also a series where the first two games are a radical departure from their role-playing, 3-D open world successors. I tried giving Fallout 1 & 2 a shot, but there was something about the 2D turn-based gameplay that I didn’t find engaging enough to stick with.

8) Title I can’t remember – In general, I have a very good memory, but there is one poorly-made video game I’ve played whose title I can’t remember. What I do recall is that it was a single player game influenced by Norse mythology and which alternated between village building and combat. This particular title kicked off with the lead character having a vision of battling a fearsome-looking dragon alongside three other combatants. What irritated me the most about the game was the combat missions. Of the four fighters you have at your disposal, three are good at close combat while the fourth – an archer – can only attack from a distance. Every single time the archer got rushed by the creatures I was fighting, she would refuse to back up so she could keep dealing damage.

9) Lost Planet 3 – The Lost Planet series is one I’ve never played but had always been interested in checking out. I have no clue how the third game compares to the rest of the series. But Lost Planet 3’s story wasn’t engaging enough to make me want to play the game all the way through to the end. I don’t know what I expected, but it felt like the plot was taking too long to get going. After almost thirty minutes of very little happening, I abandoned the game in favor of something more exciting. Maybe someday, I’ll actually dive back into it, but it’s earned a spot on the shelf for now.

10) Ahriman’s Prophecy – Ahriman’s Prophecy is a prequel to a fantasy adventure series called Aveyond that I’ve become a huge fan of. The prequel is also a title that differs from its successors. Instead of featuring turn-based gameplay like every other game in the series, Ahriman’s Prophecy features real-time combat. You really have to act quickly to take out the enemy units before they kill you. I wasn’t always successful at winning a fight. Eventually, I just gave up trying.

One of the things I like about the video game market is that there is no shortage of titles to pick from. Unfortunately, this means that there will be games that may look or sound good but ultimately fall flat for the player.

I hope you all enjoyed this list of video games I dislike. If you would like to tell of games you personally didn’t enjoy or simply comment on one of the titles listed here, please leave feedback below.

Random Moments in Gaming

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While video game programmers put a lot of work into making their creation suitable for the public, there are very few games that are perfect upon release. There are some titles that can present you with an developmental oversight that not many gamers come across. Or you can create a situation within the game that is unique to you.

I’d like to share my list of WTF moments I’ve either encountered or instigated in some of the games I’ve played. Each entry will feature the game title and a subtitle summing up the situation.

1) Far Cry 3’s The driver must really hate these guys – When it comes to first-person shooters or role-playing games, I am someone who prefers stealth or killing from a distance. In the case of Far Cry 3, this approach allowed me to see something extremely unexpected and funny. I was positioned on a cliff overlooking a beach, and there were a couple enemy soldiers patrolling the area between me and my objective. I was ready to take them down with a bow and arrow when I saw a jeep – being driven by their comrades, I might add – turn the corner and start driving through. I quickly chose to bide my time and wait for the vehicle to pass by. What I didn’t expect was for the two guys on foot to get run over and killed instantly. To make it even more hysterical, the car didn’t even slow down or deviate from its path. Of all the moments that made the list, this is the only one I could easily build a story around.

2) Skyrim’s Because I literally didn’t see the bridge – Generally, I am a very observant person – a trait that’s served me well in my everyday life and in video games. That doesn’t stop my keen eye from occasionally failing me. One of my biggest blunders occurred when I wandered into Sovngarde, the mystical realm in the fantasy adventure game of Skyrim, for the final fight of the game. It should have been impossible to miss the giant bridge leading to a temple in the center of the map. I somehow developed tunnel vision when I got to this stage and ended up walking off the edge of a waterfall in an attempt to get to the building.

3) Skyrim’s Magic-user turned creepy stalker – One mission in Skyrim entailed that I sneak into a library, grab a magic scroll, and get out by any means necessary. This proved difficult when a sorceress and two guardsmen entered the library the instant I grabbed the scroll. I was determined to try to get out undetected and spent some time sneaking my way past the patrolling guards. I thought I was home free when I turned into the entryway. I was surprised to see the sorceress seated between me and the door, but I quickly backed away into the shadows. Thankfully, she didn’t see me even though the movement made her get up and wander into the library. However, she did see one of the guards, which worked in my favor thanks to a wacky game glitch. For whatever reason, she started dogging the poor guard as he moved back and forth across the room and repeatedly said to him, “You need to leave.”

4) PUBG’s Yes, I am this easy to kill – I have only been playing the online multiplayer deathmatch game, Player Unknown Battlegrounds (PUBG) for about two months and am still very much an amateur. My general tactic is to sneak my way through the match and avoid conflict as much as possible. There are two things that need to be said so that the following anecdote makes sense. First, any player can get a speed boost by finding and consuming energy drinks or painkillers. Second, I am not very good at paying attention to my surroundings. That being said, I was running through an open field and was feeling fortunate because no one was shooting at me. The next thing I know, another player with a speed boost sprinted up behind me and beat me to death with a frying pan before I could react.

5) Fallout: New Vegas’ A deathclaw’s hidden weakness – Ever since I started playing the Fallout series, I have been terrified of deathclaws – the deadliest creatures in the game. I am scared to face just one of them, let alone a horde. In Fallout: New Vegas, one mission entailed that I clear out a quarry that had been taken over by 7-10 of these monsters. After several failed attempts to take them out without getting killed, I inadvertently discovered a game exploit that worked in my favor. They were virtually unable to get near me if I climbed onto one of the boulders spread throughout the quarry before they saw me. The one time I attempted this tactic after being spotted, the deathclaws easily followed me up there. One thing’s for sure – it’s funny watching them run in circles while I slowly gun them down.

6) Resident Evil Revelations 2’s Boss forfeits the fight (spoiler alert) – RE Revelations 2 isn’t the best game in the series, but it is more suspenseful and horrific than most of the recent entries. The game has a variety of different monsters that are hard to put down. Especially Neil, the traitorous human rights employee who sold out his co-workers for genetic experimentation. Unfortunately for him, Neil is in turn betrayed by the person who put him up to this and is transformed into a formidable hulking creature. I faced a bit of a problem trying to defeat him on the medium difficulty setting for the game. After getting killed by Neil several times, I decided to switch tactics and I ran underneath an overhang on the eastern edge of the map to avoid one of his jump attacks. Oddly, this resulted in Neil flat out disappearing and my playable character, Moira, speaking a line of dialogue that signified the end of the fight. I couldn’t immediately comprehend what happened, so I reloaded the game from the last savepoint and started the battle over. I was pleasantly surprised when the same thing occurred when I ducked underneath the eastern overhang. I don’t know if this exploit would work for everyone, but it is an easy way to bypass a tough fight.

7) Dead Island’s Being cautious just bit me in the ass – In addition to the zombie populace in Dead Island, you must also contend with criminals who will fight you for needed resources. At some point in the game, I ventured into the stockroom of a distribution company in search of food. I’d fought my way through a horde of zombies to get here, and I had to eliminate the criminals shooting at me before I could enter the stockroom. I thought I was perfectly safe firing from the cover of the entryway. I had only one hoodlum left to take out when I suddenly heard a noise behind me. I turned just in time to see one of the exploding zombies had crept up on me unnoticed. It blew up a second later and took me down with it.

I’m sure there are other games where I’ve either done something or witnessed something unexpected. I have other WTF moments in previous blogposts – referenced below – I’ve written. For now, here are the scenarios I remember that really stand out. I hope to collect many more good anecdotes from future games that I can write about.

I hope you all enjoyed this article. If so, be sure to tune in next month for my list of the worst games I’ve played.

For more of my video game follies, check out the following blogposts.

http://deadwoodwriters.org/2018/01/05/first-impressions-of-not-a-hero-and-end-of-zoe/

http://deadwoodwriters.org/2017/06/05/first-experience-with-mass-effect-andromeda/

http://deadwoodwriters.org/2017/02/05/the-top-ten-things-i-love-about-the-mass-effect-series/

http://deadwoodwriters.org/2016/07/05/fallout-4-wtf-moments/

http://deadwoodwriters.org/2016/06/05/fallout-3-wtf-moments/