Metal Hellsinger

This game has been an absolute delight. It’s a rhythm-based first-person shooter where you play a demon-like creature wrecking havoc though the circles of hell in search of her lost voice. The rhythm-based part means that you’re supposed to shoot (or otherwise hit) enemies, reload your weapons, jump and dash to the beat of the music. This is not only great fun, it’s also built into the mechanics. Following the rhythm helps build up the fury level, and two good things happen when it gets high: you deal more damage, and you get to hear more elements of the music arrangements.

Darksiders, my new obsession

I am here today to divulge, in gratuitous detail, my unexpected obsession with Darksiders. Although I’ve known of this franchise a long while, and even sought out soundtracks and the like in the past, it has only been now, with Darksiders Genesis, that I found myself attracted to the setting and the characters, thanks to the amazing bromance between the protagonists, War and Strife, who can be played together in coop multiplayer.

Warning: spoilers abound.

A No Humans AU

During my many years in the Mass Effect fandom, I’ve seen many fanfiction authors embrace the “No Reapers AU”, where AU stands for Alternate Universe, marking a departure from canon large enough to affect the entire setting. This may be done for a number of different reasons. The author may dislike the notion of the Reapers and the save-the-world narrative framework; they might want to distance themselves from themes such as indoctrination or ignore the existence of factions like Cerberus; from Shepard as the protagonist and their tired hero’s journey; last but definitely not least, this might be the means to keep favorite characters, like Saren and Nihlus, alive past the timeline of the first game. This comes at the price of effectively deleting much of the official content and usually requires supplementing it with much of one’s own world-building.

Needless to say, all sorts of AUs are possible and “No Reapers” is only an example.

Well, lately I’ve been thinking about a “No Humans AU”.

A New Home for Themed Challenges and Halls of Fame – Redux

Five years after I wrote a post with the same title, announcing the move of the community archives of recorded Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer games from their original abode on the Bioware Social Network forums (that were being shut down at the time) to a dedicated website at www.prestaciouschallenges.com, I made my old dream come true and turned those archives into an online database accessible through a website of my own making at mehof.smehur.com.

This project has taken me over half a year (and counting) of daily work, fueled in equal parts by the intractable passion for programming and the undying fandom zeal, and laced with so much fun that I’m sure to remember it fondly forever. I’m so very glad and proud that it’s finally live (although it’s still not 100% done).

Destiny 2: Beyond Light

I’ve been playing Destiny 2 on a daily basis for over a year now. Needless to say, I mostly find it enjoyable. Its environments are incredibly beautiful, the movement is smooth and the combat satisfying. For the most part, it’s a rather brainless, easy game; a far cry from ME3MP, which I found (and still find) difficult and stressful, or Rocket League, with its constant pressure to get good or get lost. The challenging parts of Destiny 2 are neatly segregated away so you must opt into them if challenge is what you desire. Otherwise it’s a safe and relaxing experience that many find repetitive and boring; but I like it.

The Turian Year

My long-time gaming buddies, ex-Clusum and The Techno Turian, have started this weird, nerdy and awesome project of weekly posting a video of a Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer solo match with turian characters wielding each of the 68 different weapons in the game. That’s one weapon a week, for 68 weeks. I noted that this would make for more than a year of weekly solos; but later I realized that it would make for almost exactly one year on the turian homeworld, Palaven. Palaven’s year lasts 1.2 Earth years, which happens to be around 62 weeks. That’s just too much of a coincidence to ignore! What my friends are actually doing is celebrating The Turian Year. Watch it unfold here!

Image: Palaven, from Mass Effect Codex