Mortal Kombat X

I've always been terrible at fighting games. I know this, all of my friends I play against know this. Why i thought it would be a good idea to buy MKX, I have no idea. It was an impulse buy while I was in Target one night with my fiance' and her cousin. Now that I've had it for just over a week, and have had a chance to sit down and actually play it pretty extensively, I am no longer terrible. Now i'm just bad.

With all of that being said, I have thoroughly enjoyed this game so far. It is deliciously brutal. All of the fatalities I have seen are completely ridiculous and over-the-top. Kicking a guys head off, and then shooting 3 arrows through it before it lands on the ground. What? Spitting acid on ones head so all the skin burns off, and them splitting the skull in two? Completely ridiculous.

What I have loved about this game so far is how easy it has been to learn how to play. Most of the combo's you can do don't require a lot of memorization to make you feel like you're kicking total ass. I can successfully beat the story mode from start to finish on hard mode, and Prior to MKX the last fighting game I played was 15 minutes of Super Smash Bros, a month ago. I haven't owned a fighting game since Mortal Kombat on Sega, so this is all very new to me.

Speaking strictly on the one-player modes that I have participated in (Beating the story, Kombat Towers, and Challenge Towers), I really enjoy playing this game. The different single player modes at least give me enough of a variety that I don't feel like I need to play anything else at the moment. That is a good thing, considering i'd be getting my ass handed to me online by Scorpion (who is apparently a far and away fan favorite).With that being said, Lets move on to the complaints.

I'd like to see more characters added THAT YOU DON'T HAVE TO PAY FOR, but that's the day and age we live in now. The Krypt is annoying as hell. I like that there are a ton of unlockables, but I hate having to waste my time running through a krypt in first person to unlock them. Some of the characters seem pretty bland in comparison to their older counterparts. Jax's Daughter Jacqueline, Sonya and Johnny Cages Daughter, Cassie Cage. Kenshi's Son, Takashi Takeda. all 3 are new characters that are introduced, and all of them were boring for me. I do like Kung-Jin (Descendant of Kung-Lao), though. Maybe its the fact that he uses a bow and arrow as his weapon of choice, or maybe it's that he was the character that I finally became decent with. I dunno, but I liked him. His fatalities are brutal, but they don't seem to be nearly as over the top as some of the others.

All of the staple characters are still there, for the most part. Lui Kang, Kung Lao, Johnny Cage, SOnya Blade, Kano, Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Reptial, Raiden, Kitanna, Melina, and a few others. The random characters from previous games are missing, however. Cyrax being one of my favorites from back in the day, he's gone. Smoke isn't currently available. Rain is IN the story mode, but isn't playable yet either. I imagine they'll be added later as part of Paid DLC. I know for sure Goro can be purchased, as well as Predator (seriously, wtf?), and a few others.

With all of the complaints and praise written above, I feel like I have gotten my money out of it already. I know, however, that I have only explored roughly a fraction of what the game has to offer and that makes me happy with the purchase. I'd rate it a solid 8 out of 10, even with my gripes of the DLC.

Parenting Disclaimer: #1, you CAN play this while taking care of an infant because it has a pause function for fights as well as cut scenes in story mode. #2 this is NOT a video game for children. It is VERY gross at times and will most definitely cause some nightmares if you aren't careful with young ones.

The Last Of Us. from a single male adult to a father and husband

Since this is my first post in a LONG time, I feel like I should give a little bit of backstory on myself before I make my post about The Last Of Us.  I am a soon to be father of my first Son.  His name is Thanos Alyxander Macon.  He’ll be here in roughly 1 month (march 13^th 2015 is his due date).  With that being said, I feel like my entire thought process on basically everything has shifted from a single bachelor into a loving Husband and Father.  This blog is going to be mostly posts about my thought process on being the best dad I can be, and my thoughts throughout the rest of the time this blog is active.  I’m going to post about things that Lauren and I are doing, I’m going to continue to post reviews on what I feel like posting about, and sometimes I’m just going to rant for no reason what-so-ever. 

Now that all of the introduction is out of the way, let’s talk about The Last Of Us!  For those of you who have not played this game, this post is going to contain spoilers.  Don’t read past the following tag if you intend on playing the game and don’t want any of the story ruined for you.  (including the ending).

***SPOILER WARNING***

This game was intense.  I have never felt as strong of a reaction as I did with the beginning of this game.  During the opening Scene, you are playing as the main characters Daughter, Sarah.  Some kind of event happens and there is a massive panic that ensues.  As you are trying to get as far away as possible, you seem mass chaos through the streets.  The events that follow pulled at my heart strings so much that I actually had to put down the controller and walk away for a little bit before I continued. 

Here’s a clip of the entire intro sequence:

The first time I played through the first part of the game, I was still living in AL and lauren and I were just starting our relationship together.  Even then it was a tough intro to get through.  I had no real idea what it would feel like to lose a child at that point, but I could definitely feel the anger, the sadness, the frustration.  All of the emotions that were put into that scene.   It was a very powerful setup for the events that follow later in the game. 

The second time I played through the intro, even knowing what was coming, it was still extremely tough for me to want to continue playing.  Knowing that Thane is almost here, I kept thinking what I would have done if that had been and him in a catastrophic event like that.  All I felt was overwhelming sadness and pure rage.  I couldn’t even imagine what would go through my mind in that moment if I lost my son. 

Throughout the rest of the game I found myself pushing for Joel to save Elle at all costs.  I didn’t much care what else was going on or who was harmed throughout the process, I just wanted to make sure that Elle lived through the game.  This is what made the ending for me so much more real.  You don’t actually get to make any real decisions in this game, Unlike The Walking Dead, or Mass Effect.  But I felt myself sympathizing with all of Joel’s decisions more so than I have before with any other game I have played.  The ending was exceptional.  The final sequence has you in a hospital (after you’ve basically travelled the entire continent looking for a place to cure the disease) and Elle has been prepped for surgery.  The infection is in her brain, and in order for them to understand how it hasn’t killed her, they are planning on harvesting her brain in order to create an antidote for it.  I was furious (as was Joel).  I had killed so many people trying to get to this point because I felt like she was destined to save the world.  I figured all they’d do is run some tests and take her blood to create a cure and then we would be on our way to live a nice quiet life (happily ever after, as is the case in most games). However you find out that after all of this time they plan on killing her in order to save the rest of the dying world.    

I found myself angry.  After all that you go through to get to this point, being shot, being impaled, almost being infected numerous times, potentially being cannibalized.  Everything that you go through ultimately is going to end with her being killed for a “chance” at a cure.  Nope.  Joel snaps.  And that’s when you take over playing him.  You go through the entire hospital to find Elle, killing everyone in your path.  Once you grab her you take off running and try your damnedest to escape.  As you make it into the parking deck, you’re confronted by the girl who sends you on this errand from the very beginning.  She holds you at gunpoint and pleads that “one life isn’t worth damning the rest of the world.”  At this point, you have no control over the game you’re just watching the final sequences.  I wanted so bad for joel to take Elle.  He does.  He shoots the marlene in the gut and takes one of the few cars left that are functioning.  Puts Elle in the back and turns around.  He approaches marlene while she’s laying on the ground.  She pleads “let me live.  Don’t let it end this way, Joel!”  Joel responds with “ I can’t do that marlene.  I can’t have you coming after her.” And shoots her in the head. 

The final sequence has Joel and Elle walking through the forest back to Tommy’s town.  Elle stops you and asks what happened.  (she was sedated, so she doesn’t know.)  Joel flat out lies to her.  “the fireflies were gone.  It was over-run with infected and scavengers.”  Elle responds “tell me that’s the truth, Joel.  Tell me all the fireflies had gone and I’ll believe you.”  Joel pauses and thinks for a minute, and then says “it’s true.”  Elle replies with “Ok.” And the screen fades to black.

I don’t know how I would have responded in that situation, because we don’t live in any kind of post- apocalyptic world, But I do know that I would do anything to protect my son and my family.  This is why I was torn about the ending.  Lying to Elle at the end to ensure that she doesn’t pursue the fireflies anymore was a surprise.  I don’t know if I would have done anything different in that situation, and ultimately I felt like the ending hit home with me as a result.  Being unsure of how I would proceed because I know what would have been right, versus what would have been right specifically for my family, It just makes it interesting to think about.  Well done, Naughty Dog.  I can’t wait for another. J

  

New Beginnings!

This is the first blog post on my blog after resurrecting it.  From here on out, I'll update every now and then with my thoughts on whatever is on my mind at that particular moment in time.  The first update I'm going to do is my change as a gamer from a single guy, into a father and husband.  It should be a titillating read.

Stay tuned. :)