the Andrew Bailey

Information Super-highway Vaporwave

Screenshot of a human Alpha destroying a Shroud base.

Grey Goo

Grey Goo is a real time strategy game that sneaked out in 2015 from Petroglyph. I hadn't heard of them, so I looked those guys up. Former Westwood Studios people that needed somewhere to go after EA shut them down, so they founded Petroglyph. I haven't played any of the Red Alert series, so I can't tell if this is a spiritual successor.

Screenshot of Darksiders 2, showing Death mowing down demons with scythes

Darksiders 2

Do you remember Darksiders? I remember having a lot of fun playing Darksiders. What about Darksiders 2? I have that one. In fact, it's been on my "I want to play this for Halloween" list for years. I've recently played through and finished it. I know that it's nowhere near October, and I'm way behind on everything, but better late than never, right? I know it's been a while since I've done one of these, so let's blow off the dust, and see what I remember from the original.

Screenshot of Halo Wars 2, showing a Banished army attacking a Banished base

Halo Wars 2

When I heard that Halo Wars got a sequel, I wondered who wanted it. The first one didn't set the world on fire, and it wasn't sophisticated enough to get a sizeable cult following. Since Ensemble shut down, Microsoft chose Creative Assembly, the people behind the Total War series, to create this. By and large, Halo Wars 2 received the same mediocre welcome. It wasn't until Halo Infinite that anyone realized that this was meant to be a prequel of sorts.

The Stanley Parable 2 announcement convention

The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe

This is a blog post about a game named The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe. This is an expanded version of The Stanley Parable. It's a story about a man named Stanley, and what happens when he is left all alone in an office building, with only a voice in his head to keep him company. There are certainly many offices like that since the world changed forever. The aesthetics hit almost too close to reality for this blogger.

Screenshot of you at the table with a dictator.

Far Cry 4

Far Cry 4 is a very short game. This walking simulator is very pretty, though it only contains about 2 rooms that you can thoroughly examine. I'm surprised that it was marketed as a bombastic shooter like its prequels. I wish I could jump off the railing and go explore the mountains I saw, but I couldn't. What a shame. (I even tried that stupid crouch jump thing from Half-Life, but you can't crouch in this game.) Unlike some other examples of this genre, you actually get to see and interact with other people.

UNSC forces attacking another UNSC base

Halo Wars

I continue to enjoy my free Xbox Game Pass trial. Halo Wars is a Halo-based real time strategy game. However, since this was made in the dark days where 360 was heavily pushed, this was designed with controllers in mind. In some way, it's a miracle that this was even released on PC, unlike every other Halo game at the time. Although Halo was originally conceived as an RTS, this has no relation to it.

Screenshot of Spartan Strike, trying to hold off the Covenant and Prometheans.

Halo: Spartan Assault and Strike

Recently, I stumbled across a 3 month free trial of Xbox Game Pass. Being an occasional penny pinching miser, I signed up. You know what that means: more Halo! So let's dig into the top down twin stick Halo shooters.