The Surly Gaming blog

And so it begins . . .

So in a fit of boredom I decided why not do something semi productive or at least kind of adjacently productive . . .or well I could be out on streets doing crack and hookers you know! Geez!

So who am I? Well I am an opinionated 42 year old man from the UK currently residing in Southampton but originally I grew up on the mean streets of Windsor, married with 2 young uns, boys aged 8 and 17, my current gaming systems are;

Sega Megadrive

Sega Dreamcast

Atari Jaguar

Nintendo Game boy colour

Nintendo DS XL

Nintendo Wii

Nintendo Switch

PS1

PS2

PS3

PS5 (not having a PS4 in that list is intolerable to me and just reading that makes my head hurt)

XBox 360

XBox One

Xbox Series X

Evercade VS

Taito Superpocket

Gaming PC (like me getting on a bit)

C64 mini

A500 mini

Atari 2600 mini

SNES mini

AT Games Megadrive mini

Capcom arcade cabinet

So about now you maybe asking yourselves “What will you be writing about and why should I care?” Well, to that I say, you have some attitude, mister! But I will answer, I suppose, albeit somewhat grudgingly my ramblings will be somewhat confined to;

What I am playing right now

Reviews

New purchases

Games I am looking forward too or games I am really, really not

Gaming news

General musings and ramblings

Nostalgia (give me a break I’m old as balls)

Lists! (Who doesn’t love a good list?)

Sunday 15th September 2024

So what am I playing right now? More games than would be optimal if I am honest but here we go;

Dragon Quest VII PS2

Star Wars Outlaws Series X

Starfield Series X

Chronicles of Riddick Dark Athena 360

Warhammer Space Marine 360

Football Manager 2007 360

Ghost of Tsushima PS5

Turican Flashback Switch

Now obviously thats a lot, and that doesnt include the hundreds of games on the back burner that make up my pile of shame, there’s rotation happening here, of the above list what I am actively balls deep in are Dark Athena, Space Marine, Starfield (don’t judge me!) and for some reason Star Wars Outlaws

Chronicles of Riddick

I simply adore Dark Athena, I never played this the 1st time round but I did play the OG release on the original XBox and I fricking LOVED it, for me one of the very tippity top tier movie licensed games ever released. This takes me right back and gives me the nostalgia chills but beyond that it still holds up remarkably well and I am having a blast I had forgotten how viscerally satisfying the hand to hand combat is, got stuck for longer than I would like to admit the 1st time you come across a mech suit. Just been dropped into the pit, aiming to finish this one and not have it go back into the pile of shame.

Starfield

I installed this on release and was just not impressed. I mean it didn’t have as many bugs as I thought it would, but it degenerated into the aimless boredom most Bethesda RPGs fall into disturbingly early. This was a game I had against my better judgement been hyped for, and just nothing grabbed me. Story was meh, early on at least and exploring was a total drag, so into the pile of shame I went. Then I heard a rumour the game was no longer quite so bloody dull, and there was a vehicle to explore with finally, so I thought I would give it a go. So is it hood now? I mean it’s OK it’s still a Bethesda RPG and the high point for the studio to this day is Morrowind, then Fallout 3 (New Vegas was obsidian) the combat is reasonably fun, loot is OK there’s a bit of variety when exploring and the buggy thing is fun to zip about in. I will give it more of a crack this time round, but in fairness I am having fun at the mo. It’s not amazing, but it feels worth persevering with.

Space Marine

I absolutely bloody love this game so much! It boggles my mind that with the amazing lore, settings, character designs etc that we aren’t drowning in amazing Warhammer 40k games that aren’t RTS. There have been a few the original Space Hulk game on DOS the Blood Angels sequel on PS but my love here is aided by nostalgia I fear, more recently DeathWing on the P4 was decent flaws and all, it nailed the atmosphere and visuals at the very least and I enjoyed my time with it, Warhammer 40k Inquisitor was really good I loved Boltgun but this game is the gold standard and with the sequel coming I had to dust it off once again. It’s just fantastic fun. You feel like an Ultramarine. Your character has weight to him, the weapons are VERY satisfying the story is fine, but it’s the action that keeps you coming back chainsawing Orks for the Emperor. Just polishing of chapter 6 and it’s aged like fine wine, I will admit that I am biased here, whilst I don’t play Warhammer anymore the franchise still holds a fond place in my heart. I fell in love with it playing Space Crusade and Space Hulk in the early 90s and have loved it ever since, Warhammer played a huge part of my teens and I am SO pumped for Space Marine 2.

Star Wars Outlaws

So low expectation city, but I did feel the need to give this one a go, I did enjoy Fallen Order and Survivor, so I have ignored the noise and taken the plunge. I am a bit early on still on the 1st proper world and have just been in Space for the 1st time, and well, it’s ok. It’s not great, certainly not amazing, but it’s ok it’s lots of fun zipping around on your speeder bike the blaster effects are good and graphically it’s pretty good and theres a really good Star Wars atmosphere walking tound the cities. However it does feel a little bit hollow and half baked though, not a fan of the animations for stealth takedowns and it feels like the game is going to rely far too much on stealth and it is already starting to feel a bit repetitive in that area especially considering the stealth sections are the least gun parts of the game. Still, it’s not run me off. It’s not obnoxiously bad, and despite my gripes, I am still having fun with it, so I will persevere.

Wel if you’ve made it this far thanks I guess, although this is probably a sign that you need some sort of hobby or intervention in your life reading the ramblings of a hairy old (barely)functioning alcoholic who plays video games to hold off the crushing weight of the futility of existence.

Well that’s yer lot so sod off and if you’re (un)lucky I will post something again.

Monday 16th September 2024

Later than normal day at work, I didn’t actually get much gaming done today. Got home fully intent on tearing the front room apart as I discovered late last night that I had misplaced the dongle for my PS5 pulse headphones doohickey. Now, in moving everything around, my wife somehow bamboozled me into moving everything in the room around and frustratingly I can’t even reply moan as it now looks a lot better and my capcom arcade dealy much easier to use, damn her!!! And to make matters worse it resulted in me actually finding the dongle, so there’s that.

Eventually, I did get a game on, but rather sensibly, I think I decided against any of the 8 games I have been actively playing to dig out Rise of the Ronin from the pile of shame, this was a game which I started, enjoyed but got distracted by something shiny Stellarblade I think (fantastic game I did actually finish that one). I do really like this game I had just unlocked the glider and camera before my distraction, sadly my time away means that I have forgotten everything about this game and the rhythm of the combat and after doing well when I started on it I spent an hour wondering around the countryside getting beaten like a red headed stepchild by everyone I encountered, I did eventually start to get into a groove, I think I may actually add this to the list of games I’m playing, I love samurai games and am enjoying the exploration and setting not as haw dropping as Ghost of Tsushima but fun so far. Right I’m knackered now, so I’m off to have a shot of whisky before bed, and then I am going to get back on the Star Wars horse tomorrow.

Tuesday 24th September 2024

Ugh well now I remember why a blog has never happened before. . .I am bloody scrap at posting regularly which is why my social media is such a wasteland.

So what have I been playing? Would love to say I have been persevering with all the games I mentioned previously but no sadly not, there’s a combination of reasons including being distracted by other shiny things, so to break it down;

Star Wars Outlaws – Nothing wrong with it although Kay Vess is distractingly ugly. No its OK and there are bits I like it’s just not gripping me. . .back in the pile of shame you go.

Starfield. . .bad Bethesda BAD! Go to your room and think about what you have done! What did they do you ask, they made an expansive RPG in space with hundreds of planets and made it boring, not bad but boring in anything other than short doses.

Riddick – Still playing and it’s still marvelous.

Football manager 2007 – This is a dip in and out game where I manage my beloved Aston Villa

Space Marine – New game will be mine soon, so you bet your arse I am still playing this big beautiful bastard of a game! At chaper 10 at the mo I’m taking my time

DQ8 – Paused at the mo but will be coming back I love this game but Visions of mana will be mine soon.

Ghost of Tsushima – Paused, will come back soon.

Turrican Flashback – Dipping in and out, I love these games, great for a few hours of hard as nails shooting fun.

Shiny things that have distracted me;

Dragon Age Inquisition (Series X) – Been intrigued by what I have seen of Veil Guard and have had this game for years time to finally play it! Enjoying it so far feels oddly like a MMO when traversing the areas but not in a bad way as such.

Hammerwatch (Switch) – These kind of games do something to me! I love twin stick shooters ever since the days of SmashTV, this game is scarily addictive.

UFO Robot Grendizer (Series X) – Robots? Great! Anime? Great! This game? Well it’s fine it’s a basic game aimed at younger players but it’s colourful and fun enough and I’m playing as Grendizer for God’s sake I will put up with a lot for source material I love and this is very inoffensive.

Ordering Space Marine 2 on Thursday, so I have it for the weekend, and I am SO pumped! It looks amazing, and the 1st game is doing a great job of psyching me up! I am looking forward to getting Visions of Mana as well, I can’t wait to get this latest entry into the mana series I have been a big fan of the other entries so high hopes for this game. Cautiously optimistic for Veil Guard, but not day 1 excited. One game I am VERY excited for is Dragon Ball Sparking, I love Dragon Ball me and my son are watching through DBZ right now, which is fantastic, I love that he is into Dragon Ball, this game will be played a LOT in this house, the little pisher manages.to kick my arse every time when we play Fighter Z.

Right that’s yer lot sod off.

Wednesday 25th September 2024

Sony State of Meh 2024 . . .

Just a quick one after going through the state of play announcement . . . meh. There’s some good, bad and meh here, sadly the good is rarely great.

The Good

Lunar – So I am SUPER excited for Lunar remastered. There had better be a physical release! I missed out on Lunar back in the day as I don’t think there was a PAL release shut up and take my money.

Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1 & 2 – I LOVE this series and have been banging on about how it needs to come back, hopefully this will be part of that. I may buy this, I own this whole series on the PS1 and PS2 and I have already pre ordered the Legacy of Kain and Soul Reaver on the Evercade so we will see.

Ghost of Yutei – A sequel to Ghost of Tsushima you say? Sign me up and take my money, the last game was a visually stunning masterpiece I finished on PS4 and have recently been replaying the directors cut on the PS5, please don’t break my heart and be shit!

Dino Crisis and Legacy of Kain on PS Plus – I own and love these both so thumbs up

Fantasia Neo Dimension – Coming from one of the godfathers of the JRPG Hironobu Sakaguchi? Stop right there I am in. Now if Sakaguchis involvement wasn’t enough the game looks gorgeous with hand crafted dioramas for environments this looks spectacular

.

Stellar blade DLC – So not bothered about the photo mode but I loved this game and played the absolute shit out of it so the Nier Automata crossover has me intrigued.

Dragon Age Veil Guard (of War) – I am intrigued by this game and it’s god of war esque combat and traversal approach. I won’t say I’m excited for this one but I will probably be getting it for curiosity if nothing else.

Shredders Revenge DLC – Free DLC to a bloody fantastic game you say? Oh go on then.

ArcheAge chronicles – This looks interesting depending on how souls like this is I may get it, I know this isn’t a popular opinion but Dark Souls, Bloodbourne and Elden ring just aren’t for me I suck at them, normal difficulty is my default.

The bad

Horizon Zero Dawn remastered – Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely LOVED the original, I played the shit out of it and loved every minute and got the Special Edition of the sequel. HOWEVER. Sony, you just need to stop with the damn remasters. I was happy to a degree to see Days Gone is coming, but that’s mainly because, for me, it was one of the best games of its kind and top 5 of the last gen and I thought it was criminaly overlooked. This, like a lot, Sonys recent remasters feels pointless and is just there so they can show off the PS5 Pros “Power”. Stop it.

So this is madness. The price point on this console is ridiculous and feels like the launch of the PS3. DAMMIT SONY!! I’m supposed to like you! Why do you make this so bloody hard!? The anniversary edition looks so bloody sexy it just galls me that they are being so damn greedy with the price. I will buy one when it’s cheaper but not anytime soon.

The meh. . .

VR announcements, I have zero interest in VR

Pal World meh

Fortnite meh

Monster Hunter meh

Another Sonic game meh

Anything else I forgot to list MEH!

So actually you may look at that and say well you listed a lot of good and hardly any bad so what’d the problem? Well I suppose the thing of it is I mentioned a lot of good and that’s true but of all the good I mentioned the only ones that have me truly excited are Lunar, Fantasia Neo Dimension and Ghost of Yutei. Everything was fine enough but not exciting, I guess I was hoping for something more exciting, like a Dragon Quest 12 announcement or some new game that would knock my socks all the way off. Instead, what we got is a lot of things that were nice or not interesting to me at all and a focus on their ridiculously priced console that DOESN’T HAVE A DISK DRIVE AS STANDARD!

So this wasn’t a bad state of play, but the bits that were great weren’t enough to elevate it to exciting, and the bad or meh moments dragged it down for me.

Ok going to end on a rant, stop remastering modern games when there are so many classics unplayable today! This is for all Game companies now don’t be coming at me with your shiny new remasters of games that have barely been out when I still can’t play Terranigma without an emulator, you fucks.

Catch you later.

Tuesday 1st October 2024

Haven’t posted for a few days due to the fact that I have been busy splattering hordes of Xeno filth for the glory of the Emperor! Yes, I have Space Marine II, and it’s is spectacularly glorious! I love everything about this game. It’s an improvement on the 1st game in every conceivable way. Everything has been knocked out of the park, from the visuals to the story to the combat and mission structure, I want to marry this game and have it carry my babies. You fight a Carnifex in the tutorial missionary fucking CARNIFEX.

This game is as close to perfect as it gets. This is going to be one of those games I finish and immediately start again. I can feel it. I may even be tempted to play this online, and with my hatred of online multiplayer and other people in general, that is a high compliment indeed.

SM2 isn’t alone though there were 2 other pick ups, one was a total shot in the dark the other much less so.

Visions of Mana PS5

Bit of a no brainer, had a quick bosh through the opening couple of hours and well it’s a Mana game, you will likely already know if you are going to like it or not, me? I love this series, and 1st impressions were good, nice visuals and score, I like the character models, and it feels good, but to be fair, it’s not had much of a look in at all.

Outcast: A new beginning Series X

Well this came out of nowhere! Very low expectations for this one after my last experiences.

So Outcast was a 3rd person Adventure game on the PC from the early late 90s and for it’s time it was really bloody good, there was a remaster released on console in 2017 and that game is the poster child for “sometimes it’s best to leave the past in the past” I love retro gaming and I adore PC games from the 90s that’s my childhood right there, I found the remaster unplayable on Xbox this made me sad.

So then I saw this on sale on Amazon for 14 dollary-doos and fresh with that payday buzz I took the plunge and holy fuck I am glad I did. This is a great game, it’s a sequel to the original and it’s just a blast to play, the storys seems good if nothing new and the structure of the game is really open a lot is left up to you as to how you approach the main quest. It sbeen msde by a Belgian studio reminds me of Elex 2, and with the deep affection I have for Pirahna Bytes, that is a big compliment as adore that sadly departed studio and both Elex games, it got a bit of that euro jank to it but in a good way. You have a jet pack, an energy shield, and a blaster, zipping around with your jet pack is great fun. The whole world so far is open with no loading screens and it’s surprisingly gorgeous. The fact that I have played this at all with Space Marine 2 in the house is amazing. I would heartily recommend this game based on my early experience.

Also Fuck Amazon! Fuck them right in the ass I had expected to be able to be gushing about the Legacy of Kain and Bitmap Brothers 2 collections which I has pre ordered but the fucker didn’t deliver them and are now saying they are out of stock goddammit.

So it was comfort food today and that means pizza W.A.S.P, Nightwish and Sacred 2, one of my all time favourite ARPGs I own it on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 I had never played it on my PS3 before so stuck that on and book 5 hours had disappeared on me. Games like thisntake me back to my personal golden age of PC gaming I to them.

Anyway I have to dash and kill in the name of the Emperor so catch you later.