Okay, who the hell let the weekend out again? You know what it does! It runs in like a freaking whirlwind of regret and makes me feel like time is passing at least 3x as fast as it should be.

So how have you guys been this week? Played any good games?

Before we get into this proper I wanted to give a little something back, so here’s a chance to win a £10 gift card for Steam. This will let you add £10 (or your countries equivalent) to your Steam wallet. All you have to do is leave a comment below and I’ll pick a random winner before next weekends Weekend Whammy. If you also bother to comment what you’ve been playing, reading or watching this week along with your opinions you’ll be entered twice. Got it? Cool. I’ll contact the winner directly via the comments below.

This week I got out two reviews, the first being for Generation Zero, an intriguing little open-world co-op shooter from a small team at Avalanche Studios. 1980s Swedish setting immediately gave Generation Zero a good start, as did the wonderfully designed robots stomping around the environment. Sadly, though, there were a bunch of gameplay problems and technical issues that left it feeling weak. Still, as I said in my review I’d like to see a sequel because I think there’s a lot of potential there.

Ultimately, I never particularly enjoyed either stealth or combat. The focus on evading certain enemies and only taking them on once you have a plan is admirable and something I’d like to see more games do. Yet, Generation Zero doesn’t pull it off. Both stealth and gunplay feel clumsy, awkward, like they were designed on paper but Avalanche didn’t have the methods to pull it off.

Generation Zero Review

The second review was for Tropico 6, the latest entry in the city-building series with a sense of humour. To be honest, I’m still actually playing and enjoying the game which is a good compliment. It has its fair share of problems but ultimately I had a blast with it.

In terms of upcoming reviews I’ll be covering Weedcraft Inc. which is a strategy game where you build a marijuana empire, either going legal or sticking to shady back-street deals. It’s a cool idea, but so far the gameplay isn’t wowing me. There’s fun to be had in growing crops, targeting certain groups of people with the right strain of weed and generally eeking out as much cash as you can, but I’m not sure it has the depth to keep me playing. We’ll see how high I am on Weedcraft Inc. in the full review.

That brings me to the question of what else I’ll be reviewing. Money is incredibly tight right now, so I need to be selective. I’m definitely planning on covering Days Gone. I’m hoping I can snag review code for the new Mortal Kombat. As a massive fan of the series I really want to do a review, so maybe I’ll need to sell off a few random family members. As for the new Anno game, while it looks very interesting and is right up my alley I have no experience with the series, so unless Ubisoft suddenly start talking to me again I doubt I’ll be covering it. Finally, I’m thinking about doing a review of Ghost Giant for PS VR. What do you think?

You might have noticed that I didn’t post up Patch Notes this week, which is a shame considering some interesting news and game announcements came out. I’ll make up for it this week, though.

Spoilers for season two of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

I did, however, finish watching the second season of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina on Netflix. I continue to love the quirky styling and tone of the show, though I do have problems with some of its writing. Like many shows today it attempts to tap into the LGBQT market, and the SJW one as well, by showing how progressive it is. Like most shows that attempt this, though, without it coming naturally to the story and character it comes across as forced. In season 2 there’s a focus on Susie becoming a boy named Theo, plus a heavy overarching plot line about female repression. Neither are bad story ideas, but the show fails to say anything interesting about either topic. “look how sexist this all is!” is about the extent of its commentary. This also effects Sabrina herself who often gets portrayed as being too strong. She never seems to be in real danger, even when having to go up against Satan himself. I felt like the writers were so intent on making Sabrina strong that they forgot that a good hero needs to have true struggles.

And speaking of Satan, man was he a let-down. He was not at all intimidating, and his power was…well, underwhelming. He did nothing that other characters wouldn’t be able to do, and I can’t figure out how he managed to get Lillith to serve him. He doesn’t seem to have much raw strength or magical power. Why the hell do all the witches and warlocks follow him? Maybe he just had an excellent marketing campaign. Regardless, his appearance and defeat felt anti-climatic.

Still, I did enjoy the show overall. Sabrina remains immensely likeable and I like her sort of smug attitude. Ambrose got a good plot line this season, too. He’s fantastically acted. Plus the trio of Harvey, Roz and Theo got some cool moments as well.

Spoilers for Sabrina over.

I wrapped up reading Bloody Rose, and my final verdict is that it’s a great book, though the ending didn’t quite have the impact I was hoping for. I’ve moved on to The Prince of Thorns which is a hell of an interesting read. Lead character Jorg is a prince, and quite frankly a psychopath that is almost devoid of empathy. He’s cold, ruthless and only 14-years-old. He isn’t even an anti-hero since it’s impossible to root for him as such. He’s a monster in many regards, yet that’s also what makes the book so fascinating. He’s on a quest for revenge with his band of ruffians, and nothing is going to get in his way. Burning villages, murder, rape and other atrocities are not below him or his band of “brothers.” You don’t want Jorg to succeed, and yet it’s hard not to become wrapped up in his story. I’ve finished the first book in the trilogy and would recommend it, but only to a niche audience who are able to be engaged in following a wholly horrible person. It’s sort of like watching American Psycho or even Wolf of Wolf Street. You know these are terrible people, but you watch anyway.

One other thing I want to mention about The Prince of Thorns is the setting. It’s a fantasy book so swords and magic abound, but it also takes place in our world years and years after something happened. It’s not postapocalyptic because the world has recovered, there’s greenery everywhere and loads of people, but remnants of the old world remain and play a role in parts of the story. It’s very cool to have the mixture of sci-fi and fantasy.

Right, that’s it for now. As always if you feel like supporting the site you can donate a few pennies using the Paypal button below.

Take care!

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