Tag: Horizon Zero Dawn

  • LEGO Announces Horizon Forbidden West: Tallneck Set

    LEGO Announces Horizon Forbidden West: Tallneck Set

    Wowee does this thing look awesome! Horizon Zero Dawn is a favorite among the staff here, and I think it’s safe to say when we heard rumors about this set we were cautiously optimistic. But now that has LEGO officially announced 76989 Horizon Forbidden West: Tallneck, I think our fears can be laid to rest because this set looks gorgeous. Before we move on to the pictures and other commentary, I want to point out that the title has a colon in it, Horizon Zero Dawn colon Tallneck. Maybe this is wishful thinking but maybe perhaps there are more sets on the horizon? (No pun intended). I would love to see a Horizon Zero Dawn colon Thunderjaw!

    This shot right here makes it look imposing. And since Aloy only goes up to its ankle, it really does feel tall and imposing.

    This is what the platform up top looks like.

    It has a nice oval-shaped display base.

    It even comes with a brickbuilt Watcher creature! It’s like a two-fer! I like how they shone a red LED light on the eye to fake the glow. Tricky LEGO is tricky.

    Wondering what it looks like on a shelf? This should give you an idea:

    The Tallneck measures 13.5 inches tall and 8.5 inches wide.

    If there was one thing I had to nitpick on is the lack of handholds for Aloy to grab onto. Also, we need a better picture of the Aloy minifigure! Come on, LEGO! This is the best I can do:

    Aloy Minifigure from 76989 Horizon Forbidden West: Tallneck

    You can see she’s sporting her Focus ear piece. It looks like it’s molded onto her hairpiece. No doubt that is the one proprietary element that won’t ever see the light of day in any other theme outside of Horizon Forbidden West.

    Pre-order Information 76989 Horizon Forbidden West: Tallneck

    You can’t pre-order 76989 Horizon Forbidden West: Tallneck, but you can visit the LEGO.com product page starting May 1st to place your order. The cost will be $79.99 and the set comes with 1,222 pieces.

    Click on the image or the link here, place an order, and FBTB will make a small commission. Help me pay off my student loans. Thanks!

    Man, I can’t wait.

    Official Pictures for 76989 Horizon Forbidden West: Tallneck

  • Games We’re Playing This Weekend

    Games We’re Playing This Weekend

    Well since this is a holiday weekend… sort of, we thought we’d share a list of games that will be taking up our time this week…ish. having July 4th in the middle of the week kind of screws everything up, doesn’t it? Unless you’re like Nick, and took the entire week off just to hide from meetings at work. Hopefully there will be plenty of gaming time when not spending time doing family stuff, unless said family stuff is playing games.

    Ace’s List

    Splatoon 2

    Splatoon 2 is the one game I spend most of my time on. The ranked modes are fun when you’re winning (like most things in life) and Salmon Run is always good when you want a bit of a break from the competitive side and do some friendly co-op. This might be the weekend where I can finally break into the Rank X rank. Plus, there’s the Octo Expansion which I haven’t even cracked into…

    God of War

    This is the only non-Switch game on my list. The only way I can really play this game is if I have a huge block of time where I can just spend hours and hours on one battle.  The other games on the list can easily lend itself to a short blocks of time. Not this game though. If I’m not dying and resurrecting at least 50 times in a row then it’s just not God of War to me.

    Hollow Knight

    This was a hotly-anticipated game for the Switch and while everyone wondered when Team Cherry was going to announce a release date, it’s clear that Nintendo wanted to feature it as a “download it today” announcement during their E3 Direct broadcast. I took a chance based entirely on hype and downloaded it only to be absolutely delighted with its metroidvania game play. The platforming can be a bit frustrating at times (I’m beginning to hate Crystal Peak). Boss battles are challenging and fun. The hand-drawn art is fantastic as well. Hollow Knight is the whole package and an absolute steal at just $15.00. If there is one game I will turn on before Splatoon 2, it’s this one.

    Lumines Remastered

    This one JUST came out this week. I played the original one endlessly back in the day when Lumines was a PSP launch title. I’m pretty sure there were some other iterations since then, but Lumines Remastered is the first time this title has appeared on a Nintendo system. S

    A game I won’t be playing this weekend? Pode. I wrote down my thoughts on the game in our review so I’ll just briefly recap it here. I downloaded that in hopes that the wife and I can play something together. She’s not a gamer, but we did have a lot of fun with Overcooked!. So I was hoping to find a good easy-to-pick-up-and-play co-op game. Pode is NOT it. While it is easy to pick up on the game mechanics, neither one of us just found it compelling enough to keep playing.

    And if I’m not playing games, I may squeeze in a LEGO set review. But I make no promises.

    Nick’s List

    My game time has been dedicated to trying to clear out my rather expansive backlog of “stuff I really need to get around to playing.” Seriously, my Steam Library has gotten to the realms of stupid, which is why I’m spending most of my time playing on my Switch, PS4, or in uplay. Priorities!

    Yeah, I have close to 1000 games on Steam, and yeah, I haven’t played more than 90% of them.

    Far Cry 5

    I’ll admit that I’m a bit late to the party on this. I’ve mostly quit chasing games, and have really soured on pre-ordering a game unless it’s a) physical and b) expected to be hard to find in some way (see… World of Warcraft Collector’s Editions, Fallout CEs, anything that’s related to Switch Hardware). But I knew I wanted to play it based on word of mouth from some friends (specifically Austin, who loved this game).

    For those who haven’t played it… it’s sort of hard to describe. The Far Cry games are all similar, but not really connected. This one is about a cult that takes over a county in Montana (despite how that sounds, not based on a true story)… and then gives speeches that all sound suspiciously like TED talks. I mean, seriously like TED talks.

    It’s an FPS available on all platforms. I’m playing it on PC, because that’s where I bought it on a good sale (and also where I own all the other Far Cry games).

    Xenoblade Chronicles 2

    My current client at work has me riding the train for about an hour and a half each day to and from their offices, and that time has turned into prime time to sit there and play my Switch in handheld mode. It tends to go all over the place when I play (I’ve done a lot of Hyrule Warriors Legends and recently dabbled in Hollow Knight, which Ace covered above)… but lately I’ve been playing some Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

    It’s a weird choice for me… I never played the first Chronicles and the only Xeno game I recall playing is the original on the PSX (and I couldn’t tell you much about it, that was 20 years ago). More than that… it’s just a hard game to wrap your head around at times. It’s got more systems than probably every other RPG released last year combined, and twelve hours in and there are still tutorial screens that pop up for me.

    Still, it’s fun and kind of goofy, and one of the best RPGs on the Switch until Octopath Traveler comes out next month.

    God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn, or Last of Us Remastered

    Let’s call this the PS4 trifecta of games that I need to go finish. They’re all tough for me to do for different reasons… not the least of which is that I tend to go through phases on what I feel like playing. Luckily, I should have a lot of extra time on vacation to devote to it, so here’s hoping I get some time to take them on

    God of War is tough to play because it’s not really a game I can play while my kids are awake. It’s a fantastic game, but not great family entertainment. More than that, though, it’s a game that just demands (and deserves) your attention, and it’s impossible to sit and play for just a little bit. By the time my kids are settled down, it’s already fairly late at night and I probably have other things to wrap up. That means my time is limited, and it’s competing with other things. Good for quick games, not great for stuff like God of War.

    Horizon Zero Dawn is similar for time, but not content. It’s a game you can’t put down, and just keep playing and playing. I want to give it hours of my time to finish, I’ve just never gotten around to it. And by now, it’s been so long that I’d probably need to start over.

    Last of Us Remastered I actually haven’t played on my PS4, despite having owned it for a long time. I played the original, and liked the story a ton (the game play could be kind of frustrating, but was overall great)… but zombies aren’t really my thing in general. I have to be in a particular mode to play this one, but I want to finish it before the sequel comes out.

    Also, if you’re curious about the videos I linked for this and Far Cry 5, Miracle of Sound makes video game-inspired music. I quite like him.

    World of Warcraft

    There’s perpetually an MMO of some sort on my rotation… I’ve always enjoyed the genre and have been playing back since the EverQuest days. World of Warcraft is what’s currently in my rotation, and I’ve been enjoying it. I’m a filthy casual in any of these games these days, so I play at my own pace. That sometimes means I play every night, and sometimes means I take a week off to do things like play Far Cry 5. Still, I’d like to get my class mounts finished before the expansion comes out in a couple of months, so it gets some time.

    Eric’s List

    Kingdom Hearts II

    After a lot of consideration and four years of trying to get through the first game, I’m finally deep, deep into the Kingdom Hearts lore, on a rapid train straight to January 29th for the release of Kingdom Hearts 3. And, honestly, while it took me a while, I finally get it. This series is cheesy, silly, and a lot of it (especially in the first game) didn’t age well.

    Luckily, Kingdom Hearts II is a lot better. I’m only about an hour into this one, still playing as Roxas, and it is weird. I’ve always felt like sequels live in this strange place where they always have to get a little…strange (see Guardian 2 or even Empire Strike Back), and KH2 is no exception. I keep asking myself “where’s the Disney / Final Fantasy stuff?”, but then I realize, I really don’t care. This story is off the rails, super weird, and I’m loving every minute of it. I can’t wait to see where it all ends up, and I’ll be squeezing as much time as I can into playing through.

    The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ (Nintendo Switch)

    I’ve been playing Binding of Isaac since the original (2011, wow!), and having it on the Switch is absolutely incredible. I turn on a podcast, jump in my bed, and play for a 30 minute session. I love it, it’s seriously become tradition at this point. Having just gotten a new job, resulting in me being way too busy, I’m looking forward to relaxing, turning the brain off, and playing through a couple rounds of this game.

  • Games I’ve Been Playing Over the Holidays

    Games I’ve Been Playing Over the Holidays

    Ace and I shared a lot of experiences over the holidays, despite being in completely different parts of the country. We had time off, we spent time with the kids, we were both dying of some sort of plague, and we both spent a lot of our free time playing a lot of video games. Seriously, though, I questioned what power I offended with the cough and fever that has knocked me down the past week.

    Luckily, I own several devices that let me play games on my back and out of one bloodshot eye, so I was able to maximize my unproductive time. This one will be all over, and shine a light on just how much of a video game problem I have, but hey, you should know what I’m like when I start writing by now!

    Also, sorry Xbox One fans… I own one, but won’t be featuring any titles here. I don’t think I’ve spun up a game on it in the last six months, and not much that’s enticed me to go back at it.

    Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and its DLC (Switch)

    I was a bit late to the Switch game, waiting for the library to develop out a little bit before I dropped money on the console. Maybe it was a mistake, maybe not… but what I saw of Super Mario Odyssey, along with the release of titles like Golf Story and Stardew Valley made it clear it was time to pick one of the consoles up.

    When I picked it up, I bought Breath of the Wild (like pretty much everyone else with a Switch)… and played it for a bit. It didn’t grab me right away. Despite what a very vocal segment of the internet says, it’s not the best Zelda game ever (that’s A Link to the Past in my book), and not even the best game on the system (see my next entry for that). But it is an excellent game that will eventually get its hooks into you.

    For me, the problem was that the start of the game is slow and kind of painful, and the underlying mechanics of how weapons work and break needs a few more passes of refinement to make it work a bit better. Durability is an interesting constraint mechanic, but other games have done it far better (the Fallout series, for example). The mechanic in this game makes it so you never want to use your best stuff… you almost hate getting it because you’re going to hoard it unless you absolutely need to use it. I don’t think it ruins the game, but I think it could have taken some tweaking time.

    When that gets mixed to your 3 hearts, stamina meter that makes no sense (he’s the hero of legend, but he tires out faster than my fat and old self), and weapons that break because a leaf fell off a tree three miles away… the game frustrates you at first. Play through that, and to the first Divine Beast, though, and you get a game that still has me playing it months later.

    Super Mario Odyssey (Switch)

    I’m far more of a 2D mario player. I wasn’t a huge fan of Super Mario 64 (I spent most of my time on that console with Smash Bros., GoldenEye, and Ocarina of Time), but I quite liked Sunshine on the GameCube in spite of all of its weirdness. After that, I skipped the Wii and WiiU entirely, only owning a portable Nintendo console and not playing much on it. My time with the mustached plumber has always been on the 2D side… dating back to the original on the NES (I still own my combo cartridge with Super Mario Bros. / Duck Hunt).

    I hold Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World as two of the best games of all time… not just Mario games but all games. Those are probably two spots on my personal top 10. Super Mario Odyssey won’t ever displace those in my heart, but you can just see the reverence and spirit of those games, and all other Mario titles, running through it. And unlike the frustration I saw with Breath of the Wild at first, Mario hits the ground running and rewards you for playing right out of the gate. At the same time, though, it never feels like you aren’t actually working for them… it’s just tied into the game at every level.

    The primary rule when they designed the game seemed to be if you see something and think “I wonder if I can…” then you absolutely can and the game will reward you with something for it. It’s covered in charm and style, and is so tightly designed that it’s just a joy to play at every stage and step. More than that, there’s so much variety and differences between the different stages, you are constantly seeing new stuff. In short, this is the game that justifies having a Switch, and the game that made me fall in love with Nintendo again.

    Horizon Zero Dawn (PS4)

    I purchased Horizon Zero Dawn immediately when it came out, and put a whole ton of time into it… but never finished the main story. I still haven’t, even getting some time off to play it. The problem is that the game is a wonderful mixture of addictive and beautiful… it’s an open-world game that doesn’t have you repeating the same thing over and over, and does enough to mix it up with enough to look at that you simply want to do every single quest that’s available.

    It’s a stunning game with a good (but sometimes weird) story, that ultimately boils down to you fighting robot dinosaurs. It wasn’t a game that invented much new, but it took everything and just polished and assembled it into something more than the sum of its parts. If you own a PS4, you should absolutely have the system… and if you don’t, it’s a game worthy of getting the console for (plus there are a lot of other great titles to help justify that purchase).

    Overwatch (PC)

    Sad reality of how I got into Overwatch… I purchased the PC Collector’s Edition of the game because I wanted the minipet in World of Warcraft, and a store near me had it on sale for a deep discount. Technically, I still play World of Warcraft (but didn’t feel like putting it on the list), but Overwatch has become a staple of my gaming time every week.

    It’s certainly not a perfect game… the loot box thing is frustrating, and they are the ones who sort of opened that particular floodgate into the mainstream. At the same time, the game itself is still good without ever playing that game, unlike festering piles of garbage that were Shadow of War and Battlefront 2 – ruined by loot box mechanics. But it’s fun and fast, and the type of game that I can pop in for 10 or 20 minutes and get a few rounds in.

    Metroid: Samus Returns (3DS)

    I had Metroid: Samus Returns for awhile but just hadn’t had the inkling or chance to play it until recently. If you are a fan of the classics on the NES or SNES, this is a game you’re going to immediately recognize and enjoy. It’s actually harder than either of those two, or I’ve just gotten old and don’t remember how to play games like this.

    This is a remake of a Game Boy game that I know I played as a kid but really don’t remember. My Game Boy was mostly Tetris, Super Mario Land, and the Final Fantasy Legends / Final Fantasy Adventure games. It’s also kind of an odd duck in the series, in that it’s probably the least remembered, but it’s so crucial to setting up the story of one of my other favorite games of all time, Super Metroid. The whole plot of this is what sets up everything in the SNES game… yet far fewer people have played it than who played the NES and SNES titles.

    Still, it’s a very solid 3DS platformer, and looks gorgeous in 2D or 3D (I almost always just opt for 2D)… plus gets some solid game play updates that make it feel a lot more modern and fresh than most classic Gameboy titles.

    The Legend of Zelda (NES Classic and 3DS Virtual Console)

    I didn’t get a Classic NES when it first came out… honestly I didn’t even really try to get one. I have a stack of Raspberry PIs and many adapters sitting around. Also, my wife still has the NES from her childhood in surprisingly good working condition, and I own this game (sadly its not my gold original). Yet I had the opportunity to get one from a friend who was eyeing one of my sealed LEGO sets I was looking to get rid of, and we made a trade.

    It was my playing Breath of the Wild, and feeding an insidious affliction of Amiiboitus (not fatal, but expensive and sometimes frustrating), that got me playing some of the older titles. I played this when I wasn’t much older than my daughter, in the days when hints came in the form of friends during recess, Nintendo Power magazines, or 1-900 number calls and several weeks of lost allowances and yelling from your parents. It turns out the many, many, many hours I spent playing this game as a child left an impression, and I still know my way around most of the dungeons and where a lot of the secrets are.

    NES-era games are known for being punishingly hard, and having put on a few decades since this came out hasn’t made me any better at it… but they were also fun and surprisingly deep in their complexity. I don’t remember what I ate for lunch two days ago, but I can still hum out the entire opening theme song for this and remember the letter and at least three hidden heart containers are once you find some bombs.

    Bejeweled (iPad)

    This is a bonus review that my daughter wanted to include. I’ve been trying to find a game she can play and enjoy without getting frustrated (she’s five). She loves playing games, but at her age, that usually means that I have to sit there and help her every couple of minutes (which means I can’t play whatever I’m trying to play). This game, however, she just latched on to and has a lot of fun playing it without getting upset.

    Her official review? It’s Super Awesome!