Playing Video Games with a 3 Year Old

A few days ago my 3-year-old grandson came over and wanted to play video games with me. He loves cars and so I gave him a PS3 controller while I played a racing game on the PS4. He didn't know that he wasn't really controlling the car on the TV and enjoyed our short time together playing the game. I would tell him to hold one of the triggers down to make the car go faster. Then I would look at what he did and made sure to match his actions. We both cheered when we won the game and received a trophy for our accomplishment.

A few days later he came over and wanted to play a new game on the PS5. I sat him on my lap and gave him a 2nd controller while I controlled the game. Every so often I would tell him to press the square button and then matched his movement to coincide. The game requires the player to move the controller around and it makes me smile as my grandson mimics my actions. We gather coins and collected PlayStation artifacts in "Astro's Playroom." Since we play as a robot, my grandson calls it "the robot game." Now every time he comes over he wants to play the robot game.

"Astro's Playroom" is the free game included with all PlayStation 5 consoles. I have to say that I enjoy playing it with him. While I could easily finish the game, I wait for him to come over before trying new areas in the game. He is also getting pretty good at hitting the square button to punch the bad robots and pressing the X button to jump. I have to pay close attention to him but if I do it right, he really thinks he is playing. My favorite is when a bad robot jumps out and surprises him. He gets excited and squeals anxiously.

Unfortunately it won't take my grandson long to figure out he isn't controlling the video game and he will want to play for real. My hope is that I have given him enough training so that he will be able to pick up the game movements and not get frustrated. Until then we are having fun playing games together and plan to do a lot of that during the Thanksgiving holiday. I imagine he will take over and be better than me by Christmas.

Imagined Perks of Working at PlayStation

When people find out I work for Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) which is the part of Sony responsible for the PlayStation product, they always ask if I can get them a free console. If I know the person really well I respond with something polite like, "No but that would be nice wouldn't it?" If it is a total stranger I might respond with something a little more cheeky like, "I only get one free one per year and I keep them for myself." The real answer is that employees get a minimal discount on console hardware, especially after a new product launch like the PlayStation 5. The discount, if anything will only be around $5 to $15. Towards the middle of the console's lifespan we are given the ability to purchase refurbished machines at a significant discount but are limited in how many we can purchase.

My son had a neighbor who failed to get a PlayStation 5 pre-order and was asking if anyone knew how to get one as her son's birthday is quickly approaching. My son replied, "My Dad works at PlayStation and can't even get me a PS5." It is a true statement and I appreciate him not setting me up for failure. I have seriously looked for ways to get each of my own children PS 5's but have come up short. Looks like I have to come up with some other idea for Christmas gifts.

One of the best perks of being an employee at SIE is that we do get a discount on games. Once again we are limited to only 2 copies of the same game per year but the price has been $15 per game. I imagine the price will go up for PS5 games as the retail price for video games has also gone up. I am also limited to games published by SIE. That means I can't help you with anything from Electronic Arts or Activision. One Christmas I had a neighbor come to my house and go through whatever games I still could purchase and buy them. After that, I put a limit on how much I help others with their Christmas gifts.

There are strings attached to the perks at working for a video game company. If I purchase the disk version of a game, it comes with the barcode scratched out so I can't return the game to a store or resell it as a new game. That means when I help someone get a game, he or she also has to abide by those same rules.

Finally there are the peripherals. I don't know why but every time I play any of the "God of War" games, I completely destroy a controller. It happened with the original 3 games remastered for the PS3 and again with the latest title on the PS4. So when I purchase any "God of War" game, I also pick up another controller as I know my current one will not make it through the end of the game. We get a nice discount on controllers, headsets, and other console peripherals. Once again, we do have some restrictions on how many we can get but each color counts as a separate product. That means I may only be able to get 2 black controllers per year but I also can get 2 red ones, 2 white ones, etc.

Now if you run into me at the airport or in public you know that I can't get you a free PlayStation console. Please don't ask for one. I wonder if people who work at Ferrari get asked if they get free cars?

Video Game Review: Battlefield V

Recently I finished playing Battlefield V from Electronic Arts or EA on my PS4. I enjoyed playing both Battlefield 3 on the PS3 and Battlefield I on the PS4. Interestingly enough, you cannot rely on the ending number to figure out which game comes before others as the number one in Battlefield I refers to the World War I experience and came out after Battlefield 4.

I started playing Battlefield V several times for various research projects at work. When PlayStation Plus released Call of Duty: WWII, I became interested in the history of World War II. After completing the game, I headed back and restarted Battlefield V. While both games are fiction, they do have ties to actual events in the war and I enjoyed the historical aspects of both games.

While earlier versions of EA's Battlefield games focused on a single-player campaign, Battlefield I and Battlefield V have a relatively short campaign with an emphasis on online play. I didn't mind as I don't have as much time at home to play video games and didn't want to spend months on the same game. Battlefield V is only a 9-hour game to complete all of the campaign missions. There are 5 of them and the last one you play as a German tank commander towards the end of the war. All of the campaign battles take place in the European theater and so if you are looking for anything in the Pacific, you will have to try one of the online experiences.

I used to be a huge online player but had too many negative experiences where I would go online and get continually annihilated before I could fire my first shot. Since then I haven't really bothered except in the rare case where I want to get the platinum trophy for a particular game that requires an online trophy or two. The online experience for Battlefield V looks pretty good and so you will want to look at another review to get a complete picture of the game.

I have a work associate that used to work at EA who picked me up the game for only $20. Best Buy has the game for only $18 right now and I think it is well worth the price even if you only play the single-player campaign part of the game. If you are looking for a WWII-genre game and have not yet played Battlefield V, I recommend giving it a try. 

The game has an ESRB rating of M for Mature because of violence and language. War is never pretty and one thing playing war-related video games has taught me is that I never want to fight in a real war.

A Fun Group Game

Saturday night I found myself at home with my youngest son along with my oldest daughter's husband. We probably should have been attending one of two family events happening that evening but rebelled and told our wives we didn't want to go. My youngest son suggested we find a video game that the three of us could play together. I had one that I had been wanting to play for a long time after playing it at work with some of my colleagues. The game is called Helldivers and is available for the PlayStation 4 console as well as the PS3, PS Vita, and the PC. We played it on the PS4.

We started up the game and immediately jumped into play without waiting for an update to load. That limited some functionality and so every time we completed a level, it wouldn't upload it to "Galactic Command." We didn't mind as we just wanted to spend a little time together killing time and bad guys.

The first time I played the game, it felt like being a part of the 1997 movie "Starship Troopers." You and up to 3 of your friends (if you have enough controllers) are sent to various planets with specific missions. As we just started the game, we had a number of really easy missions where we landed, cleaned out an area of bugs, robots, or cyborgs, and then got extracted. When we got that down, the missions got a bit more difficult and we had to do things like find some keys, get a black box, and then get extracted. For the most part, we kept the difficulty of missions to super easy while we got used to the top-down view of our players. As all 3 of us shared the same screen at the same time, we couldn't advance on the map unless we all moved in the same direction and stayed together. The moment one of us tried to go up while another tried to go down, scrolling stoped and we got stuck until we cooperated.

One problem that I experienced initially is that I kept losing track of which player was me. All of the characters have your name below them but I would get so caught up with one of the other players that I switched my attention to the wrong avatar and got scolded for not moving in the right direction. After about an hour of play, I figured it out and never lost track of my character again. It also took about that long for me to figure out the controls as I am more used to 1st-person views in the games I play.

I know I tell people to limit video game play to about an hour but we played for a couple and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. When my youngest son's wife returned from one of the family events for the evening, I suggested we might want to stop playing. My son pleaded that we do one more mission that would finish the planet and allow us to get some extra experience points. I gave in and it surprised him that he convinced me to play one more game so easily. Fortunately it was he who got in trouble with his wife and not me. We finished up the game and had an enjoyable evening.

Today I looked at what it would cost to buy the game today. You can get a basic version for $20 and that is well worth the price. The version I have is on disk and currently sells for $40 but we never got into any of the extra features that come with a higher purchase price. Helldivers is rated T for Teen by the ESRB because of cartoon violence with blood and gore combined with some mild language. I don't remember any language in the game other than the game's title.

My son, son-in-law, and I had a great time playing and I highly recommend it if you are looking for a family bonding activity with at least two other people. If you are by yourself, the missions are almost impossible and so you will want to partner with people online, which is also an option.

Greatest Hits Games

For anyone looking to save money on video games, there is a little trick to be aware of at this point in the console lifecycle. Both Sony and Microsoft have announced new consoles but they won't be appearing this year. In order to keep the game sales moving, there are some steep discounts on a number of really great games. While new releases are often in the $60 range, games that were best sellers a while ago can be had for $20. These are referred to as "Greatest Hits" in the PlayStation world. I'm sure Microsoft has something similar.

I have a lot of credit on my PlayStation account and so I thought I would run through the list of Greatest Hits to see if there is anything I might have missed and want to play now. I looked at what is currently available for $19.99 and have a couple of recommendations for those that have not played these games yet.

One of the best deals out there is the "Uncharted Nathan Drake Collection" available on the PS4. This includes Uncharted One, Two, and Three all for the low price of only $19.99. When the games were originally released on the PS3, they cost $60 each for a total of $180. Talk about a huge discount. All 3 games have been remastered for the higher quality sound and graphics available in the PS4 console. If you like those 3 games, Uncharted 4 is also in the Greatest Hits collection and is also only $19.99.

The second game I would like to recommend is Horizon Zero Dawn: Complete Edition. This includes the Frozen Wilds DLC that came out several months after the original game release. I enjoyed the DLC so much, I paid the $15 full-price for it. I have a lot of fond memories playing the game and highly recommend it.

Video games can be expensive and so looking for great deals like this is one way to keep the costs down. I highly recommend these games and the price makes them almost too good a deal to pass up if you haven't played them yet. If you have, there are a number of other games in the Greatest Hits collection you might want to consider.

Video Game Review: Red Dead Redemption 2

Last week I finally finished Red Dead Redemption 2 and so I thought I would provide a review of the game. It is a long one so plan to spend close to 100 hours if you want to finish it. I completed all of the story missions including the 3 epilogues. There are still a few side quests that I can go back and do but my son wanted to play the game and so it is time for me to move onto something else.

As I have stated in the past, I really enjoyed playing Red Dead Redemption on my PS3. I anxiously awaited the sequel when it was announced. Once it released I contacted one of my close friends who used to work at Rockstar Games and had him help me get a copy for $20. Then I patiently waited as it took an hour or so to copy all of the information from the 2 provided discs to my PlayStation 4. Fortunately I still have a PS3 on my boat and practiced guitar with Rocksmith 2014. Plan to have something else to do during the loading time or you will be bored.

The game started out well as I relearned all of the controls. Many people refer to the beginning of the game as a horse and snow simulator. I didn't mind it at all as I love the snow. Once I got familiar with the game, I sort of got frustrated as I felt forced to do tasks go against my style of play. If I was to give myself one piece of advice it would be to make your own choices and not feel like you owe anything to anyone else in the game. Once I figured that out, I started enjoying the game more.

Rockstar spent a lot of money creating the game and they did a phenomenal job. There are still areas that feel a lot more polished than others. The last few sections of the main part of the game really kept my attention and I wished that more of the game had the same level of finish.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is really 3 games in one. There is the main part of the game where you play as Arthur Morgan. In the Epilogues you change characters and play as John Marston who is the main character in the original Red Dead Redemption. That means RDR2 is a prequel to RDR. Then there is an online portion of the game where you create your own character and perform separate missions using the same map as RDR. All sections of the game combine to create high-value if you are looking for a video game set in the late 1800's.

I played the game knowing I would be doing a review and so I looked for a number of elements so I could comment on them. Firstly the game is rated "M" for Mature and says it includes violence, strong language, drug use, nudity, and sexual situations. I know that some parents are concerned about nudity and the only that I saw during the game was in paintings found in an art gallery. In other words, I wouldn't worry about it in this game. As for the rest of the content, yep, it is all there.

There is a lot of content for a $60 video game. Right now, that price has dropped to $35 and is well worth it at that price. If I didn't have a friend in the industry that got me the game at a nice discount, I would have gladly paid the original asking price. I highly recommend the game for young adults but would be a cautious parent getting this for a teen.

Video Games for Christmas

Yesterday I posted my Christmas list for 2018 and so I thought I would follow it up with a list of games that might make good gifts. Normally I include video games that I would like to play during the Christmas break and have done so at the end of October. Now I am a bit more realistic. I won't be trying to play a lot of games. Instead I will probably just play Red Dead Redemption II. I loved the first one and know that this one will be equally awesome. At least that is what all my coworkers are telling me as they play the game. If you have someone on your Christmas list that loves playing video games and they don't yet have this one, get it. They will love you for it.

There are a number of other video games that I can also recommend should your video game junkie be a bit to young for a game with an ESRB rating of M for Mature. In case you missed one of my earlier blog posts, Horizon Zero Dawn is a great game that can be picked up for $20. That includes the extra DLC.

At the end of October, I recommended Fallout 76. When I made that recommendation, I thought it was an open-world-action-adventure-campaign game. Now I discovered it is a multi-player-online game. While that would have interested me a decade ago, it is not the type of game I play now. It does have me thinking about picking up a copy of Fallout 4 though. I can get a digital download of that for around $22 and so I may do that as soon as I am done with my current game.

One more game I would recommend is the remastered version of The Last of Us. It started out as a PS3 game and then Naughty Dog remastered it for the PS4. I have yet to play it and so my recommendation comes from coworkers telling me I need to play it as well as an hour or two of watching my son play. I am told it has one of the best stories of any video game. You can pick up a copy for only $20. Part 2 will be released in the near future and so I want to be ready to play that when it becomes available.

There are a lot of really great video games available for this version of consoles (PS4 or XBox One) and so you should not have a shortage of ideas. Simply figure out what kind of games the person on your Christmas list likes to play and do a bit of searching. It shouldn't take long to find something with good reviews. Just be sure to stay away from the bad games as there are a lot of those as well.

Video Game Review: Far Cry 5

I am a big fan of the Far Cry series of games from Ubisoft. I have played Far Cry 3 on the PS3 and really enjoyed Far Cry 4 on the PS4. Last night I finished up Far Cry 5 and so I thought I would write a review.

I enjoyed the other Far Cry games and so I paid full-price for the game. That means I didn't wait for one of my contacts in the video game industry to get me a deal. It is one of the only games I have ever done that with and that should show how excited I was to play the game. Now that I have finished the game, I can say the price is worth it.

As with the other games in the series, there are a number of areas to liberate and each one helps segment the game so you know how much is left to do. Once you have completed all of the main story missions in one area, you have the option of moving on to the next area or continuing to finish all of the side missions. These missions include looking for objects, hunting special animals, and clearing out bad-guy strongholds. The last story mission for each of the areas is a boss battle. In Far Cry 5 there are 3 areas with an additional boss battle at the end.

I enjoyed the game but with so many new games coming out, I opted to finish the game quickly instead of trying to do every single thing. Towards the end, things got a bit repetitive and I stopped enjoying it as much as the other games in the series. If I was to rank all 3 Far Cry games I have played, I would say that 4 is my favorite with 5 being a solid second place and 3 being last. That being said, I enjoyed them all and recommend them to anyone looking for a solid action-adventure game that runs between 30 to 40 hours. Far Cry 5 has a lot of downloadable content (DLC) should you enjoy it and want to spend more time playing.

Far Cry 5 has an ESRB rating of M for mature. There is no nudity in the game and so the rating is due to strong language and violence. There are a lot of torture-death images and some parents might not want their teenagers to see such graphic depictions. I would probably let those 16 or older play it, but you may disagree.

Video Game Review: King Oddball

I am always looking for games to play on my PS Vita during my weekly flights between Salt Lake and San Francisco. I started playing Spy Hunter but quickly lost interest. PlayStation Plus offered King Oddball free for PS3, PS4, and PS Vita last month. I downloaded it to both my Vita and PS4 and started playing it on the PS4 in my office right before heading to the airport to catch my flight home. Let's just say that the game is very addicting and I had to rush to the airport even though I knew I could play it on my Vita while on the go.

The game is available on almost every platform possible. It is very similar to the Angry Birds series in that you have an object you lob at tanks and army men in an effort to destroy them. Each puzzle lasts a few minutes at most and then you move around the map faced with increasingly complex scenarios. There are a few areas on the map where you have additional challenges such as tossing grenades instead of rocks or trying to win with at least one remaining piece of ammunition. Then when you complete the game there is the secret game.

King Oddball kept me entertained for a month's worth of airplane flights and is great for someone looking to be entertained during a bus, plane, train, or ferry commute (don't play it while driving). You can get it for your phone or tablet and so you don't require a PlayStation device to enjoy the game.

King Oddball is rated E 10+, meaning it is suitable for anyone over the age of 10. Why not everyone? The fantasy violence. Tanks explode and little army men go poof. I got the game for free as part of my PlayStation plus subscription and it is worth every penny.

Video Game Review: XBLAZE Lost : Memories

After a month or so of playing XBLAZE Lost: Memories, I finished the game on my PlayStation Vita this morning while waiting for service to be completed on my car. I mostly finished the game last night on the flight from San Francisco to Salt Lake City but had to watch the credits and final scene after the credits.

This is really the first time I have ever played a Japanese visual novel and I have to say it was kind of strange. It felt like I played 3 different games all nested within each other. The first game consisted of a well-drawn story where you mostly just watched events unfold between a group of teenagers that also fought magical bad guys. Then you had another story of two sisters in a completely different universe trying to unlock the secrets of their mother's death and father's experiments. Once again, you mostly just watch the events unfold similarly to a movie. Then the third game is a clunky 8-bit graphics treasure hunt with quizzes that sort of ties everything together.

While the game kept me entertained over the past month or so of flights, I can't say that I really enjoyed it. At least not to the extent that I have enjoyed some of the Telltale games where it feels like you have more control over the choices you can make. Towards the finale of XBLAZE, you do have to make a number of choices, some of which take you down a dead-end and you have to go back and redo them in order to finish. The fact that it came at the conclusion of the game confused me and I almost stopped playing the game prematurely. The thing that kept me going was knowing I only had two more trophies in order to Platinum the game and it would be a shame to get that close and not complete it.

In addition to the trophies, I continued playing the game because the dialog is entirely in Japanese with English subtitles. I spend a lot of time in Japan and am always trying to improve my language skills. By the end of the game I had a better comprehension of a handful of more Japanese phrases. I wouldn't recommend this as the only tool for learning the language as you won't pick up much unless you have a foundation to build upon.

XBLAZE Lost: Memories has an ESRB rating of M for Maturity because of Violence, Language, and Brief Nudity. The brief nudity isn't anything beyond well-drawn cartoon characters in skimpy swimsuits but I wouldn't recommend this game for anyone under the age of 18. It is available for the PS Vita, PS3, and Windows PC platform. I got the game in a bundle of PS Vita games I purchased for $5 and so I didn't pay much for it.

Unless you love Japanese visual novels or are looking to brush up on your Japanese language skills, I would not buy the game. If someone gives you a copy of the game and you are interested in a cultural lesson then go ahead and play it. Hopefully this has been helpful.

Video Game Review: God of War 3 Remastered

Last week I finally finished God of War 3 Remastered on the PS4. The game began life on the PlayStation 3 as a continuation in the God of War games. I played both God of War and God of War 2 on my PS3 this summer and found them to be very entertaining. As the original 2 games were developed for the PS2 and later remastered for the PS3, I found it fitting that I played the 3rd volume as a remaster as well.

As I have stated before, I have spent time in the offices of Santa Monica Studios and while I don't work for the studio, I want to make sure that I disclose that I do have friends that work there and occasionally visit them. However I still try to remain as objective as possible in my video game reviews.

God of War 3 is a continuation of the first 2 games and the game play is very similar. The 3rd title does contain a bit more refinement and the graphics on the PS4 are just amazing. You continue to fight against the Gods of Olympus and sometimes enlist the help of the titans while other times fighting against them. There are a few new weapons to master and a bunch of new puzzles to solve.

Several of my gaming co-workers told me to avoid playing the same video game franchise one after another. That is great advice. I'm not sure I would have found the game nearly as enjoyable if I jumped from 1 to 2 and then to 3. By throwing other games into the mix, I found it to be a lot of fun going back to the series. Now I am excited to play the upcoming God of War 4.

God of War 3 is rated M for mature and it deserves this rating. While there isn't any strong language, there is some nudity and a lot of graphic violence. The nudity is along the same lines as that found in the first 2 games but not encountered until much later in the game. As for the violence, you run around beating people, sometimes ripping them apart. I wouldn't recommend eating while playing the game. I also wouldn't recommend the game for anyone under the age of 18. This is not a kids' game.

God of War 3 Remastered has been out for a while now and you can purchase it for around $20. It took me about 12 hours of play time to get through the game and so that works out to be a great value. While the previous 2 games are of a similar length, I felt like I got through it very quickly.

Video Game Review: Sniper Ghost Warrior 2

Back in April I finished the Sniper: Ghost Warrior and wrote a review. I've had the second version for several months now and finally got around to playing it last week as I wanted a quick game to get through before the Thanksgiving holiday. The two games are very similar in that you are a US Marine sniper sent on a number of missions. Some of them involve sneaking around without getting caught while others require you to shoot people from a very long distance.

As I have mentioned before, I enjoy playing first-person shooters and so I had fun playing this game from City Interactive. As with the first version of this game, it is not a triple-A title and so don't expect a lengthy story or overly complex action. The maps are fairly simple and the 6 or so hours it takes to play the game feel about right for this title. They did do a great job on the scenery and the only glitch I noticed in the game engine is when it saves your progress to disk. That didn't interfere with the game play though. You should be able to find this for a very inexpensive price. I played it on my PlayStation 3 and most of those games can be found in the $5 bin at Walmart or Best Buy.

The game has an ESRB rating of M for Mature due to graphic violence and strong language. I played it alone on my boat and so nobody got offended by the language. However if I had tried to play this at home, headphones would probably have been a requirement. I recommend this game to any young adult that enjoys first-person shooter games and needs an inexpensive Christmas present. I paid next to nothing for my copy and would not recommend paying more than $7 for the game.

Video Games I have Been Playing

I am stuck at the airport yet again and so I thought I would add to my blog seeing as I have sort of neglected it over the past couple of months. I tried to think of an interesting topic and reread the last video game review I wrote. Since then I have completed some really great titles and so I thought I would write about what I have been playing. None of the games are very new and so including multiple games may help you select a very inexpensive game worth looking at if you have not already played it.

When I finished playing Sniper, I had a number of games to choose from. While Sniper played well, I wanted something a little more mainstream and popular. There are a number of PlayStation exclusives in my library and so I wanted to get through a few of them before sequels arrive on the PlayStation 4. I selected God of War as the next game. I had heard a lot of good things about it and have a copy of the remastered version for PlayStation 3. It originally released on the PlayStation 2 in 2005 and has been around for a very long time. I have to note that I do have a copy for the PS2 as well.

I must confess that I have actually been to Santa Monica studios where they originally developed the God of War series. It is a great place to visit and the people that work there are awesome. Therefore I am probably not an impartial judge of their game and can't really write an unbiased review. What I can do is say that I really enjoyed the game. There are certain games that you cannot put down once you start playing them. I often found myself playing late into the evening when I should have been sleeping.

I enjoyed playing God of War but it is not a title I would recommend for children or teenagers. There is a lot of nudity and violence. The nudity is animated and cartoonish but I would not have wanted my son playing this game back when he was a teenager. Regarding the violence, at one point you have to BBQ a captured soldier. Even though it is just a video game, I thought that to be a bit over the top.

I finished God of War and thought about playing the sequel. Instead I chose to play a different sequel from another PlayStation exclusive: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. I provided a review of the first Uncharted game and want to complete 2 and 3 before starting 4. Of the first 3 games in the series, the second one is my youngest son's favorite. Once again I have to excuse myself from trying to write an unbiased review for this game. I love all things about the Uncharted series and own copies of the first 3 games for both the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 consoles as well as Golden Abyss for the Vita. I also have a copy of Uncharted 4 still in the plastic waiting for me to finish the other titles before I play it.

As with God of War, I really enjoyed playing Uncharted 2. However I found it much easier to put down in the evenings and didn't try to continue playing late into the night. One reason for that is that Uncharted is divided into nice chapters that serve as great stopping points while God of War just keeps going in one long epic video game. When I would get to the end of a chapter, I looked at my watch and decide if I had time for another one or should head to bed. Don't get me wrong, I would have preferred continuing to play, I just found it easier to break away from the game.

As I mentioned, my youngest son really loves Uncharted 2 and took offense when I told him that it had a similar story to Uncharted 1. He scolded me and said they have different characters, different environments, and are nothing alike. I actually beg to differ. You run through a series of trials where you solve puzzles, kill bad guys, and ultimately lead the main bad guy to a special power that can be used to create immortal soldiers. Looking back on both games, you would have been better off sitting on a beach in the Caribbean or Hawaii. After all, the bad guys aren't smart enough to get to the supernatural power on their own.

Both God of War and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves are fairly old titles and can be found rather inexpensively. A quick Internet search revealed that you can purchase each of them used for less than $10.  Considering their original selling price and how much fun I had playing them, they are real bargains. I played both on my PlayStation 3 even though Uncharted 2 is also available for the PlayStation 4. I just have a PlayStation 3 on my boat and that is where I play most of my video games. Soon I will replace it with a PlayStation 4 but until then I am trying to get through a huge backlog of PS3 games.

Video Game Review: Sniper: Ghost Warrior

Several years ago I started playing Sniper: Ghost Warrior from City Interactive. Somebody gave me the game for free and I played it for about an hour. I put it on the shelf and never got around to playing it again until recently. I felt the need to find a short game that I could complete in a few hours and so I picked it up again as it has an average completion time of five or six hours.

I am a fan of first-person shooters and so I had a lot of fun playing the game. One thing about a sniper-type game is that you can take your time and methodically move through it. You don't win points by rushing through the missions although there are times when you do need to hustle. I only have an hour or so in the evenings a couple of days a week and so it took me about two weeks to run through all of the missions. The first ones take a bit more time while the ones towards the end seem to go quickly. It is almost as if they wanted to make a ten-hour game and decided to cut it by four hours just to get it out.

Sniper is not a triple-A title and so I would not pay more than $15 for it. Especially since it released in 2010. Should you find the game to be a lot of fun, there is Sniper 2 and Sniper 3 also available. I have a copy of Sniper 2 that I picked up super cheap but have yet to break the plastic cover on the game.

Sniper is rated Mature (M) for violence and strong language. Some of the kill scenes are rather graphic. Fortunately you have the option to skip watching them in slow-motion. I would not recommend the game for young teenagers or children but think older teenagers and adults might enjoy it. I played it on my PlayStation 3 but the game is available for the X-Box 360 and PC.

Video Game Review: Uncharted: Golden Abyss

I have to begin this video game review with the disclaimer that I am a huge fan of Naughty Dog's Uncharted series of games. I have versions 1, 2, and 3 for the PS3 as well as the remastered versions of them for the PS4. When Uncharted 4 is released in April I will get a copy of that too. Now for a small confession. I have only ever finished Uncharted 1. I started it on the PS3 and never went back to it. I was finally able to run through the whole game on the PS4 during Christmas. I found it to be a lot of fun and so when I started using my PlayStation Vita to kill time at airports, the first game I played was Uncharted: Golden Abyss.

Golden Abyss has the usual characters from Uncharted such as Nathan Drake and Victor Sullivan (Sully) but also introduces a new female character for the story: Marisa Chase. While Naughty Dog is the game developer for all of the other Uncharted games, Bend Studio created this title for the Vita. Both studios are part of Sony PlayStation's World-Wide Studios and so everything is kept in the family. Golden Abyss was a release title for the handheld console and so it serves two purposes: providing a game at launch and showing off the features of the new console. Some of the guys at work feel like the Vita-specific controls detract from the game. Fortunately the developer exercised wisdom and provided dual controls for most everything. If you are familiar with the larger console titles, you will have no trouble controlling the game on the Vita.

One major difference with Golden Abyss over Uncharted 1, 2, or 3 is that the chapters are a lot shorter. However there are more of them. That is great as sometimes you often don't have as much uninterrupted time on a mobile console as you might on one connected to the television in your living room.

I found the game to be a lot of fun and it helped me while away the time when my flight was delayed by several hours one evening. Now comes the question: would I recommend it? That depends. If you already own a PlayStation Vita, then I recommend you purchase this game if you have not already done so. If you don't then I am not sure it is good enough to recommend purchasing one. I have a very specific use for my Vita but realize that not everyone needs to entertain themselves while waiting for flights on Thursday evenings. The game is rated T for Teen because of violence and strong language.

A Tale of Two Rocksmiths

We were cleaning out the storage closets at work today and I managed to pick up a number of old PlayStation 3 games. One of them happened to be the original version of Rocksmith. I have the 2014 version for both the PS3 and the PS4. Why both copies? Well one is for my house where I have an acoustic guitar retrofitted with a pick-up. The other is for my boat where I have a super inexpensive electric guitar. Fortunately the copy I picked up today runs on the PS3 which is the console I have on my boat and where I am this evening. So tonight I loaded it up to see how it plays.

I have only been playing Rocksmith for the past month and am not very good at the guitar yet. My method of learning is to spend at least an hour a day with Rocksmith as my teacher. I am also sure to do scales as that has been instrumental in helping with my technique. While some may argue that you shouldn't use Rocksmith as your only teacher, I don't have the luxury of a regular schedule that would allow me to take lessons. It is a video game or nothing and I want to learn to play the guitar and so my options are somewhat limited.

While the interface between Rocksmith on the PS3 and PS4 is exactly the same, there is one difference: the PS4 version feels more accurate. While that may be a function of the different guitars I am using, the PS4 version just feels smoother, faster, and a bit more polished.

My only complaint with Rocksmith 2014 is that it doesn't provide enough direction for a beginning guitar player. After playing the original Rocksmith this evening, I now know why: there was only one path to follow and that got fixed in the 2014 version. With the original Rocksmith, the game assumes that you are a beginning guitar player and the instruction is very linear. This can be incredibly boring if you already know how to play the guitar and just want to improve. In fact, my hope was that there would be a larger catalog of songs to chose from and that I would be able to switch between the two games. Nope, Original Rocksmith starts with a single Rolling Stones song that you have to play correctly enough before you are presented with a 2nd song. Rocksmith 2014 starts off with about 70 songs to choose from, many of which are recognizable. Of course there is a huge catalog of other songs that you can purchase and add to your music library.

One nice thing about going back to the beginning of the Original Rocksmith is that I was able to see how well an hour a day of practice is helping my guitar-playing skill. I played with over 95% accuracy of the first song and that was a huge ego boost. While the calluses on my fingers tell me I am getting better, it is difficult to see until I went back and compared myself to when I was a true beginner. I guess the video game is doing its job and I am actually learning to play the guitar.

On that note, I think I am done typing this evening and plan to play one or two more songs on my guitar before heading to bed. Success really helps motivate one to practice.

Some Video Games are too Long

I have a bunch of video games I picked up for $1 and I am trying to get through a number of them. One of them is L.A. Noire from Rockstar Games. I bought it because a friend of mine used to work at Rockstar and got me a t-shirt for this game and I felt obligated to play it. Now I can't wait for the game to be done. This is disappointing because one of my favorite games is Red Dead Redemption from the same publisher and it uses the same game engine.

L.A. Noire is set in 1950's Los Angeles and you are a police detective back from being a marine in World War II. You get to run around trying to solve various crimes by looking for clues and questioning people. One of the unique things about the game is that you have to decide if the person is telling the truth, you doubt their answer, or they are lying. If you accuse them of lying then you need to have evidence to back it up. At first it was interesting and fun. However now the game just keeps going and going. I only have 3 more crimes to solve and then I will be done. If I wasn't so close to the end, I would stop playing the game now, never to pick it up again.

Today I was thinking about why I love Red Dead Redemption so much but hate this game. They are both open world where you can roam anywhere you want. Both have you go off on missions only to interrupt you with other tasks. In RDR you may have to kill an animal or shoot an outlaw. In LAN, you get to respond to street crimes. RDR is much more enjoyable because they are small tasks on the way to larger ones. In LAN you often drive minutes out of your way just to shoot a couple of thugs robbing a bowling alley. Then you have to drive all the way back to where you were heading and in some cases, it is just around the corner from where you were before you got sidetracked. The game tries to make it up to you by sending you past notable Los Angeles tourist sites. While they may be interesting, they are not nearly as fun as killing a Grizzly bear with a knife or rescuing a maiden in distress.

As I try to finish L.A. Noire, I have decided that I just want to get through it and finish the game. I don't care about doing all of the side missions nor do I care about any of the other trophies. That is too bad because if Rockstar released a remastered version of Red Dead Redemption for the PS4, I would totally buy a copy.

L.A. Noire is rated M for mature because of gruesome scenes, strong language, violence, and a number of nude murder victims. Remember that I do work for a video game company and while I try to be unbiased, may not seem so to others. I really did enjoy Red Dead Redemption but can't recommend L.A. Noire even though I only paid $1 for it. I am playing it on my PS3 and just want it to be over.

Video Game Review: Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

I had a goal to finish one video game over the Christmas break and was successfully able to complete Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. It is the first in a series of PlayStation exclusive games and really set the bar high for action adventure games. I have versions of the game for both the PS3 and the PS4. I understand that they went so far as to rerecord the music to higher standards for the remastered version on the PS4 and so I played that over Christmas. I had started the game on the PS3 several years ago but never had the time to finish it. I got all the way to chapter 7 and thought I was getting close to the end. Little did I know that there are 22 chapters and was really just getting started.

One nice thing about action adventure video games is that you get to run through a number of different activities. Sometimes you are shooting at bad guys while other times you are solving puzzles. Sometimes you try to do both without getting killed in the process. It was a lot of fun over the break to come home from skiing and spend an hour or so getting deeper into the game. Sometimes it was painful for those around me to watch as I struggled to climb around various parts of the game only to fall and have to restart that section. My son kept wanting to take the controller and get me through certain areas. Then I would breeze through other parts of the game that had him stuck for hours. It probably would have been much more enjoyable for him to jump from precarious ledge to ledge while he let me shoot bad guys. We could have worked together to complete the game in half the time.

The original Uncharted game was a breakthrough in many areas and really opened a new genre of video games. It was followed up by Uncharted 2 and Uncharted 3 which continued to build on a solid foundation. Then other games like Tomb Raider evolved the genre so that I am eagerly anticipating the release of Uncharted 4 later this year. Unfortunately that means that Uncharted is not as much fun as these other games and I have to admit that it got rather tiring at times. Several of my co-workers that are avid video game players have yet to finish the game because they lost interest. Given the choice of Uncharted or Tomb Raider, I would recommend the later.

That being said, Tomb Raider is one game and if you purchase the remastered version of Uncharted, you get Uncharted 1, 2 and 3. I have yet to play 2 or 3, but judging from comments made by those who have, I am in for a lot of fun. I'll give them a try over the next 3 months and be sure to provide a review for each of them.

Uncharted is rated T for violence and strong language. It definitely has a lot of both and so if you are sensitive to them, I would recommend a different game. However if you like a good tropical action adventure game, Uncharted is well worth your time. If you are a budget shopper you can get Uncharted on the PS3 very inexpensively. The Uncharted Collection for the PS4 won't be so kind to your wallet.

I have to remind the reader that I work for a video game company that may or may not be involved with any of the 4 games listed in this review.

So Many Games, So Little Time

I am working from my home in Utah this week as it is the Thanksgiving week and I figured I would abstain from adding to the chaos in the airports this time of the year. With all of my recent travel it feels kind of strange to be home for such an extended period of time. Normally I don't play video games at home but as I find myself with a lot more time here I have turned on my consoles every now and then. It is a great way to stay awake when I am tired.

I only have a PS3 on my boat in California while I have both a PS3 and a PS4 at home. That has opened up a number of games for me this week. Here are some of the games I will be playing this week:

1. Star Wars Battlefront - I preordered a copy and it arrived while I was in Japan last week. Since I have been home I have gone through several training missions. If you are a fan of the Star Wars movies, then you will love this game.

2. The Order: 1886 - I was given a copy of this game when it came out yet have never found the time to play it. I understand that it should only take 4 to 6 hours to complete and look forward to finally being able to dedicate that much time to it.

3. The Uncharted Collection - I have all three Uncharted games for the PlayStation 3 but only ever played the first game. My sons have played both the 2nd and 3rd games and said they are awesome. I enjoyed Tomb Raider a lot and look forward to a very similar game. I want to get all 3 Uncharted games completed before Uncharted 4 comes out next year so I am ready for it.

Now for the standard disclaimer: I have connections in the video game industry that allow me to get really cheap copies of all these games. In fact I may even work for one of the companies that creates the games mentioned in this post.

Video Game Review: Tomb Raider

The guys at work love to recommend new games for me to play and so when I finished "The Walking Dead: Season One," they were quick to recommend a new one. One of them even brought in his PS3 copy of "Tomb Raider" and let me borrow it for a few weeks. So I guess that is my first disclaimer about this review, I didn't purchase the game, I just borrowed it. That being said, I did enjoy it enough that I probably would have purchased the game if I had known it was going to be so fun.

Early versions of the Tomb Raider video game used a disproportional physical representation of Laura Croft, the protagonist. The 2013 version of the game treats her with much more respect.

I jumped into the game on a Monday evening while staying on my sailboat in the San Francisco Bay and found it difficult to find a stopping point for the evening. It is not that they don't exist, I just could have easily kept playing all night long. Considering I have to get up at 4am on Mondays to catch a flight to the Bay Area, that says a lot about the game as I was incredibly tired. I then faced a similar dilemma the next two nights I played. It really is that good of a game. The thing I appreciated most is the variety of game play. Sometimes you are looking for things, other times you are battling bad guys, then you get to move to a different part of the game. It all blends together well and I never felt like I was doing the same thing over and over again. Tomb Raider is not the first Square Enix game that I have played. I completed Thief earlier this year and found that game to be a lot of fun, but now feel Tomb Raider is much better.  It took me about 20 hours to complete the game.

Tomb Raider has an ESRB rating of M for mature because of violence and strong language. I would recommend the game to young adults looking for an action-adventure game that is well done. Oh and my final disclaimer is that I work for a large video game company that might be associated with one or more of the products listed in this review.