Blog Herding – The Best Blogs Of The Community (February 15, 2018)

This week brings us plenty of great blogs, though I am surprised to not see more on Monster Hunter: World. As a veteran hunter, I would love to write more about it – blog or freelance articles – but I can't rip myself away from playing it to write about it. Plus, I already wrote about it. And nobody can ever top these two pieces, here and here, by Jeff Marchiafava. Now get reading!  

Community Blogs For February 8 – February 14:

A Brief Intro to Accessible Gaming
Prince of Snark Euphoric Ennui has experienced what it is like to work for a non-profit that helps enrich lives. But he wonders if there could be more done through gaming to enrich the lives of those with disabilities. Everyone should have access to video games.

Assume Position as Overwatch
I've never experienced the ban hammer, so I can't really relate to StarterPack in this piece. But I do wonder what others have experienced. The closest I probably got to getting banned was when Capcom sent automated messages to players online in Monster Hunter (we're talking OG on PlayStation 2) not to type in swear words. The message would show up as soon as you typed a "bad word," but your word would only show as symbols, anyway. We just had fun seeing what we could and couldn't say, but only among a close trio of friends. It was completely harmless.

Monster Hunter World... 60 Hours Later
It seems like Jenniferttookewi is not enjoying World so much. I'm about 60-plus hours in myself, but as someone who began playing the series since the first installment, I'm still enjoying it (it took me about 30 hours or so to finally not be mad at some insane changes to the Monster Hunter series, but let's not go there). She's not wrong in that the series is very scripted – my group of veteran hunters hit the ground running and we know exactly where most monsters are going without using the map. But that grind for better gear is what makes it so great...or turns people off. And it does feel like a "smaller" Monster Hunter, but hopefully new quests and a G-Rank can help with that. I can't see myself plopping another 400 hours into this one, but who knows; I destroyed Barioth in Try for probably 100 hours.

Shadow of the Colossus: Wow!
Brendon Curzio writes what many already know: Shadow of the Colossus is a damn good game. But I'm just glad he beat the game, even years after release. I beat it for PS2, but then got stuck via glitch in the PS3 version, and really want to jump into the PS4 iteration. I mean, Brendon calls it "FREAKING BEAUTIFUL," in all caps.

It Has Been an Interesting Seven Years...(Attempt 2)
Trenchmace takes us on a trip through memory lane. It's a nice little read that makes me sit and think about games from yesteryear, where I was in life, what I was doing. Anywho, I too was infatuated with Halo at one point – but that seems like a lifetime ago.

Community Reviews:

Assassin's Creed: Origins
Zack Burrows takes us through just what makes the latest Assassin's Creed game so good. I've never enjoyed the games, though I did try to swashbuckle in the pirate one. Burrows writes that Origins is huge, has a mostly captivating story, and just a lot of welcome additions – including learning about Egypt.

Kirby: Battle Royale
I love Kirby, but this is not the Kirby game I want, even if Dominic Cichocki write that it's a pretty solid mashup of Mario Party and a brawler. "Overall, Battle Royale works for what it is." That's not a run-out-and-buy-it statement, but a solid one, nonetheless.

I hope you enjoy the blogs! Please contact me via my Game Informer page or on Twitter at @LouisGarcia12 with any blog news or playdate suggestions.