My youngest daughter joined me for Try-It Tuesday on my Youtube channel this week. We played Disney’s FROZEN FREE FALL, a two-player puzzle game available for PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC, that promised to turn our living room into an “epic puzzle matching battle.”
Play it free on PS4! Click here for more info
Think head-to-head Bejeweled or competitive Candy Crush, with each player’s game board taking up about 1/2 of the TV screen. After you make crystal combos, characters throw snowballs at each other — or water balloons if you choose the summer environment instead of winter — and additional combos can result in a block or a dodge.
The game is free to play, so long as you only want to be either young Anna or young Kristoff. Grown Anna, Elsa, Olaf, Marshmallow or any other characters, require in-game purchases. Single-player mode also available, with 195 free levels.
~ J.L. Hilton
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And I’ve romanced both of them in Fallout 4. It really is the basic difference between Rose’s raider romeo Gage and Fiona’s mayoral main-squeeze Hancock.
In August, I finally played DISHONORED 2, the 2016 sequel to Dishonored, developed by Arkane Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. I livestreamed my entire playthrough, which is archived on my Youtube channel.
I chose to play as Empress Emily Kaldwin, rather than her father, Royal Protector Corvo Attano, the protagonist of the first Dishonored. High chaos, all the way, which meant less stealth, more killing, and many, many more bloodflies.
I enjoyed the original game and absolutely loved add-ons Knife of Dunwall and Brigmore Witches. Given the return of Delilah as Emily’s antagonist (or aunt-agonist?), and the upcoming return of Billie Lurk and Daud in the standalone Death of the Outsider, those “add-ons” should have been considered the sequel, and DISHONORED 2 should really be Dishonored 3.
I love the Dishonored franchise and DISHONORED 2 is not a bad video game, in general, but for me it fell a little flat.
I imagine it’s incredibly difficult to design a game that may be played with — or without — a plethora of possible power combinations, so my hat is off to the folks at Arkane Studios for their hard work. But I had a really tough time getting into this game and almost ditched it after the second level (or third level, if you count the tutorial), if not for my viewers promising it would improve.
It did get better, though the levels still felt uneven and lacked a sense of progression from “engaging and instructive” to “intense and challenging.” DISHONORED 2 was all over the place. Too short, too long, too difficult, too boring, too little, too much.
There’s an awful sense of urgency yet so many sidetracks. The empire’s fallen! Emily’s “WANTED!” posters are plastered everywhere! Guards attack her on sight! Now… stop to collect useless bonecharms, recover a body for a tattooed gangster, rob black markets, loot a sculptor’s flat, visit dad’s birthplace, and steal bath salts.
Lots and lots of bath salts. It became such a running joke that I did a bath salts giveaway for my viewers.
I felt kinda “meh” about Corvo in Dishonored, but I really disliked grown Emily. So disappointing, after all she’d been through as a child, to see her become an indifferent ruler, smoking a hookah with her secret lover, self-absorbed as any other noble in Dunwall or Karnaca.
Her desire to retake the throne seemed, to me, to have nothing to do with concern for her subjects and everything to do with entitlement. Abuse of power is one of the main themes of the franchise, after all, but it might have been nice to see more growth, as a person and as an empress, throughout the course of the game.
Favorite mission: “A Crack in the Slab.” Returning to the present, after altering time, to see Stilton Manor, Meagan with her arm again, and the Dust District a better place for the miners.
Least favorite mission: “Death to the Empress.” After learning so much about Delilah, I didn’t want to kill her, but the nonlethal option seemed to be glitched, so I had to kill her to end the game.
Despite my frustrations, I don’t regret playing DISHONORED 2. I’m looking forward to the next game, Death of the Outsider.
~ J.L. Hilton
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I played the free demo of PREY, the first-person shooter and sci-fi survival horror game developed by Arkane Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. The game was released in May 2017 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
I’m not usually a fan of horror games, but I enjoyed PREY. It seemed more creepy than horrifying, more atmospheric than outright gory, but it may ramp up with further play, I don’t know.
PREY delivers jump scares via alien “mimics” who can take the form of innocuous items like coffee cups and trash cans. There’s also an element of crafting, breaking down various bits of trash to create new items, though I didn’t explore this much in the demo.
The controls and game mechanics are similar to the Dishonored games (also by Arkane Studios), which involve a lot of stealth, climbing, jumping, reading in-game content, and somewhat clunky first-person combat.
PREY is rated “M” for mature audiences, due to blood, language, use of alcohol, and violence.
~ J.L. Hilton
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This week we meet Delsin Rowe in inFAMOUS SECOND SON, the 2014 action-adventure game by Sucker Punch.
While I’m not usually a fan of cutscenes, third-person perspective or games that rely heavily on climbing/jumping mechanics, for some reason it works for me in this franchise. I thoroughly enjoyed the original inFAMOUS and I still miss Cole.
Players might recognize Delsin’s voice actor, Troy Baker, from BioShock Infinite, Metal Gear Solid V, Last of Us, and about a billion other things.
Rated “T” for teens, with blood, drug references, language, sexual themes, and violence. Don’t know how this one ended up with a “T” but Skyrim has an “M.”
~ J.L. Hilton
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Next month, I return to Dunwall with Dishonored 2, streamed via Youtube and Playstation Network.
I’m giving away an official Bethesda Softworks Dishonored 78-card tarot deck during my first stream August 2, 2017. This is the original promotional deck, offered with pre-orders of the first Dishonored game in 2012.
Subscribe to my channel JEWELSMITH and click the bell icon to be notified when I begin the stream, or you can follow me on Twitter and Facebook for updates.
Viewers who comment “A Game of Nancy” in the chatroom during the Wednesday livestream will be entered in a random drawing. The winner will be announced in the comments section of the Youtube video after the end of the livestream and must contact me within 48 hours to claim the prize or another winner will be chosen. No purchase necessary, free shipping to anywhere in the world.
Only one entry per person, regardless of how many times you say “A Game of Nancy” during the livestream.
Back in 2014, when I used this photo of Joe Manganiello to create my version of dark elf Teldryn Sero from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, I had no idea the actor/director/producer was “a lifelong D&D enthusiast.”
Joe will be participating in Stream of Annihilation in Seattle, June 2&3, streamed 10am-10pm PT on Twitch.
My husband and daughters got me chocolate and a Dibella statue for Mother’s Day. Well, it’s not actually a Dibella statue, it’s an Aphrodite statue by Veronese Design, but close enough.
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