Snakebird Complete

Do you remember the old snake game? The one where you are constantly moving, eating things, getting longer and trying not to run into obstacles like your own body? This is a much updated version of that which does away with the constantly moving bit and change the perspective from top view to a platformer to form the basis of an interesting and challenging puzzle game.

Your snakebirds are very cute with their funny facial expressions and they are pretty sturdy in that as long as one part of them is touching ground they won't fall. Yet I can guarantee that you will fall off ledges or tie yourself into knots at some point but not to worry, there's a handy undo button (1 step back) or reset button readily available at all times while you try get all the fruit and make your snakebird (or in some cases snakebirds) way to the exit portal.

So yes, it's a silly little game but much better (and harder) than I thought it would be.

Elden Ring: Didn't expect weak foe

[Part of my Elden Ring journal]

Despite killing Morgott the way to the tree is still blocked by... thorns. Erm. Yes, because there's nothing as solid as a wall of thorns in this world I guess? Melina suggests we travel East to get a great flame to torch these magical thorns and so after sneaking through the other half of the capital we exit there and find a grand elevator up to the snowfield of giants. This is mostly an open area where I can dash past things on my horse so that's really neat! I do beat up an ice dragon and the next Volcano Manor target: a tough whip slinging knight.

Taking a small break to report this success, Lady Tanith finally lets me meet Lord Rykard who is a gigantic lava snake. Ironically, there's a magnificent serpent slaying spear ripe for the taking just before him and so my mimic and I use it to go to town on this hapless lord. His death breaks the morale of the Volcano Manor members and they all go their separate ways.

Easiest boss fight if you pick up the weapon right before him.
Sadly, it's only this powerful in this one fight!

As for me its back to the snowfield ascent where I slay an ambusher (a samurai that aided me against Radahn) before reaching a section full of dead giants! Fortunately these are actually just dead, because there is a single "alive" giant that stands in the way and is a real pain to defeat! In the end I had to swap out my mimic summon for Latenna, an archer summon I had met earlier back at the lakes district to help here. Since she can't walk, she's basically a turret while I take aggro and she proves excellent in dispatching the giant. Just for kicks, I quickly warp back to the Southern castle and find Crucible Knight back in his boss zone after he left Volcano Manor. Using the same strategy with Latenna, this slow heavy hitter has no chance!

Dodo Peak and Loop Hero

Very repetitive games. Aren't most games this anyway?

Dodo Peak

Basically a game of snake, but here you are a momma dodo who needs to retrieve her eggs that fell out of the nest during a quake. The islands are smallish to start with as to serve as a tutorial and to introduce you to a whole slew of dangers including snakes, boulders, monkeys, and ... spike traps? What? Gems and coins are also up for grabs if you dare, and the ever present count down clock is there to pressure you into taking a misstep. Rescuing eggs hatches baby dodos that form a train behind you, and if you or any of the babies gets hit by and of the dangers - you'll need to restart the level.

Loop Hero

While it has some interesting pixel art, this is almost an idle game where you let your hero walk around a circular path mainly fighting slimes. Winning these battles awards you with either gear you can equip or cards you can play in the background (like, mountains and such) to give you instant stat boons and/or resources for camp or areas like spider nests and vampire castles to spawn different baddies to get better gear and cards. Eventually, through choice or death you'll get to the camp which you can upgrade for more card opportunities. I think this is the only permanent thing in your game, as when you set off again its back to an empty loop with slimes

Mole Rats in Space and Dog Man - Attack of the Fleas

Games for kids!

Mole Rats in Space

Made by the creator of Pandemic, this 2-4 player cooperative game has players control the titular Mole Rats in Space whose plastic figures come with functional basket backpacks that can carry the items on the board. The goal is to get all of them and have everyone make it to the escape pod while avoiding the inexplicable snake infestation. It's snakes (and ladders) in space!

You each start with a medkit that lets you survive one snake bite. Get a second bite (or fall down a chute into space) and its game over for everyone! It's also game over if a snake gets to the escape pod, because they are super crafty.

The movement cards are key, everyone starts with one face up and these determine how many mole rats move how many spaces, then which snakes how many spaces. Left or right is the only choice. If whatever move lands on a ladder it gets closer to the escape pod. If it lands on a chute it goes down to wherever the chute leads. You will ideally be moving snakes into the chutes that toss them out into space. After completing your card, discard it and draw another then its the next players turn.

Fun but suffers a little with replayability since the setup is always the same.

Dog Man - Attack of the Fleas

In this 2-6 cooperative game each player plays as a character from Dog Man and must work together to get items and stop the robot dinosaur (Fleas is an acronym) before it gets to its destination. Oh and then everyone has to get back to the Dog Man's base in 3 moves to party.

No character is better than the other at anything (though some start in better spots) and moves are done just by flicking a spinner then hoping you land on useful items. You spin to move the dino as well before the turn passes to the next person. It's silly and fun but I don't think you'd play this more than a few times.

Warframe: Khora and Lavos

The cat and the snake whippers.

Khora

My first recommendation is to only passively farm for this warframe as her blueprints come from Sanctuary Onslaught. You will already be doing SO for a lot of things - ranking up other frames, weapons, Tenno powers, then frames and weapons again when you forma them so just collect her as she comes. You might go crazy if you specifically only do SO for her as the drop rate is low.

The "cat warframe" is a very PG description of Khora, who does look like a cat woman and has an immortal cat as a pet (in addition to your regular pet/companion). What she actually enjoys is wrapping enemies up in wires to stun them (the cat pet also wraps enemies in wires), sometimes dangling them from the ceiling (which for some reason makes them hostile to their friends), and whipping them like the bad, bad things they are. This makes infested particularly easy, but despite my best efforts to prep her for Steel Path interception, she just keeps running out of power and has very low survivability against any SP foe with a firearm.

Lavos

"The snake" is also a misnomer for Lavos, who is acquired from the Entrati syndicate store. He is actually an alchemist that looks snake-like and has twin snakes he can whip out at enemies which restore his health. He also has a nifty speed slide, a pulsating flying drone, and a whirling AoE all of which can be imbued with almost any status you like (he can't innately summon puncture, slash or impact).

Not only does he have instant access to almost any status effect in the game, he also does all this with 0 energy! This is because his powers simply work on cool downs which probably appeals to any World of Warcraft readers. While he can be a pretty tough cookie, especially with the right weapons, I don't have a purpose for him that my firewalking Loki can't already do - outside of energy drain missions I suppose.

XCOM 2: Blacksite

[Part of the XCOM 2 story]

It seems most of the soldiers on board the Avenger are survivors from a zombie apocalypse. Zombies made by aliens. It makes sense too, as during skirmishes with ADVENT forces there are occasionally sectoids who are no longer the little creeps from before. These enhanced scum are now human height, psionically gifted and can use their powers to blast, mind control or raise the dead! Luckily killing a sectoid also nullifies whatever control is had from people. And corpses.

The sectoids aren't the only true form aliens in ADVENT's pocket. A team sent to an ADVENT blacksite to investigate what was happening to their prisoners not only found a horrible scene of mass liquification, but also had to face MEC units (robots) and Thinsnakes, who I'm told are the true form of the old Thin men.

During their infiltration (stealth is new in this game) the squad of Ex-cop Katz, hardnose Mia, old Dorothy and Adriana did a good job getting to the front door quietly - but upon being spotted by a turret were then pinned down from three directions. An officer managed to flank and kill Dorothy before the canister he was standing beside exploded, and when the remaining three pushed into the building Adriana was stabbed by an ADVENT ninja while Mia got tongued by a Thinsnake - which pulled her our of the building, constricted her, and ate her.

Makes me miss the original thin men.

Katz managed to retrieve a vial of the liquification liquid and barely escape, completing the mission, but she is now shaken from what she saw (reduced will, making her a prime target for psionics of things like the sectoids).

Banner Saga: Split the Party

[Part of my Banner Saga play through]

Trapped between the dredge and a waterfall, Rook, Ludin, Hakon and Bolverk hold off the dredge while Eyvind and Juno construct a floating land bridge for them to flee across. While it works, the chasm is huge and the menders can only maintain part of the bridge at a time resulting in many - mainly the slow, injured, old or unlucky - falling to their deaths (no named characters though).

As a result, when they do get to solid ground once more - Bolverk decides to go his own way with his Ravens and much of the supplies. Mogun tries to stop him but is beheaded for his trouble and seeing this, his twin Hogun retires from axe swinging and returns to being mundane clansman. Rook lets them go and pushes on to Arberrang via the plains where they encounter a trio of injured horseborn (centaurs): Scathach, Ro'Ech and Derdriu. The menders heal them and the trio join Rook's "herd". Hakon doesn't like them which means they must be ok.

"Peekaboo!"

Out of nowhere a massive serpent suddenly appears and swallows Juno but Eyvind tears open its side with lightning to get her out, causing the snake to retreat. Since this monster yet poses a threat to the caravan, Juno, Eyvind and Iver depart to lure it away while urging Rook to make haste to the capital of Arberrang.

Before he can do so, governor Rugga attempts a coup against Rook but fails and gets all his allies killed while he himself runs off to safety. This fight gets the attention of another horseborn herd but luckily they only need to beat down a few of them before their leader, Canary, decides she wants to be part of Rook's herd too. There's not much he can do about it so they just push on until finally they reach the capital which already has scores of refugees outside the walls. Lucky for them, the returning Prince Ludin is the golden ticket which grants them all passage inside the city. Much like the people they lead, Rook and Oddlief celebrate this momentous occasion.

Insight: Horseborn are very fun - they move fast and can move again after a melee attack. Derdriu and Canary also have poisonous javelins which are handy against heavily armored foes. Scathach (the blue painted one) is the best of them mobility wise. As enemies, using spear wielders like Ludin and Trygvvi to bleed them is good since they can't help running around all over the place.

MGSV: Kill Count

[Part of the MGS Diary]

The boss has really pushed for a lot of changes on the base, from silver paint we use on the platforms and new "Guns of Heaven" insignias to the new directive as our world status of "heroes" to find and disarm nukes from other private forces, or PFs as I like to call them. I'm a little concerned that he spends so much time in the incomplete medical wing, but otherwise it's business as usual.

Speaking of other private forces... the "Kill Count" PF seems to be a major threat at the moment with multiple high-value contracts out against them so I've been reassigned to muster our own FOB to organize assaults against them.

Our two best soldiers volunteered to go first, with "Razor Hedge"-hog (Rank S++) barely surviving his foray on their main platforms while "Flaming B"-uffalo (S+), currently our best female combat soldier, finding far more success on their proxy sites and gaining intel about ghost platforms (zero level security challenges). Impressed by her skill, the boss has reassigned her with a special mission in Afghanistan while the rest of our troops scouted these unguarded silos. It seems they are excellent places to train our soldiers as well as harvesting much needed fuel for our expansion. Razor has argued that attacking other PFs would be a faster resource gathering method however and one I'm becoming more inclined to try to speed up base expansion.

Girls have the "distraction" attire option too...

As it is with the limited space, I've already had to start dismissing the least capable of our troops - though I suppose that could be a good thing.

-Ocelot

Insight: Heavy machine guns are ideal for FOB missions - especially the ones with high level guards - as they have a lot of ammo and decent stopping power. You can also customize them to have a silencer, but don't count on that lasting too long. Note - if you don't want to kill people, shoot their legs to incapacitate them. You will then need to fulton them before they bleed out though.

MGSV: Big Boss

[Part of the MGS Diary]

Confident with my truth it is time to get things at the base back in order, starting with the traitor who mutated the virus and who helped Eli steal Sahelanthropus - Dr. Emmerich. While Miller calls for his blood I opt to exile him instead, knowing that fools like him are prone to suicide anyway.

Funnily enough it is revealed Dr. Emmerich was also behind Skull Face's attack on our base nine years ago after tricking Miller at that time too. With his failures mounting I opt to exile him as well and take his place as base commander.

As the intel team has located Eli and Sahelanthropus, I dispatch a whole squad of Diamond Dogs to deal with him once and for all - with helicopters, D-Walkers and  ZHUK missile trucks. He kills a number of them, but is eventually brought down by random S rank tough guy soldier, Bitter Gecko.

Metal Gear vs Walker Gear

The scrap is returned to base but Eli is nowhere to be found. I can only hope he died and burned in the wreckage because kids like that only grow up one way. They become snakes.

Insight: While the ZHUK missile salvo is cool, it is the fast firing auto cannon that really can tear Sahelanthropus apart - especially if aimed at his weak spots: the pod type things on his back, the shoulder ball, his core when he lifts his sword and his face. Destroying these all do bonus damage and stun the robot for a little while.

MGSV: A Real Snake

[Part of the MGS Diary]

I awaken to a squad of Diamond Dogs administering the snake anti-venom to save my life. Quiet is nowhere to be found. According to the crew, she broke her silence on the radio to direct the rescue chopper through the storm - activating the English strain of the virus. A tape recorded message she left behind indicates her plan to eliminate the threat she now carries, and she is never seen again.

The snake anti-venom has another side effect though - one that restores my memories. I am not the original Big Boss... that was Jack Bauer back at the hospital! Ocelot, who knew this whole time, explains that I am his secret "phantom" whom the world knows about while he works from the shadows.

Was I just a doppelganger?

Shaken by this, I decide to challenge myself on a few more missions to prove to myself that I am Big Boss - sometimes deploying with just my knife and fultons, and other times requiring total stealth to complete a task. In one of these sorties D-Dog is killed by an enemy gunship, and with Quiet gone I am forced to use D-Walker in a battle against a left over Skulls unit.

Turns out its speed and mounted gatling gun make for the perfect weapon against those freaks. It is only when I standing over their corpses than I confirm to myself that I am no phantom. I am... Big Boss!

Insight: In the subsistence mission where you need to take out a tank convoy, you can fulton them out. In "total stealth" ops, you only fail if the enemy sees -you-. Feel free to nuke everything from orbit and call for air support from a far.

MGSV: Russian Rematch

[Part of the MGS Diary]

Going after Eli is delayed as there is another outbreak of Code Talker's virus in the base, this time a mutated strain that has no cure. I am forced to personally go in and execute all of my own infected staff before torching the quarantine platform for good measure.

Quiet also opts to go AWOL at this time, and Code Talker reveals it is because she too has the virus - the English strain - but doesn't spread it out of choice simply by staying silent. I go after her where we relive our initial duel, but this time she has no chance since I bring a tank which her sniper rifle cannot damage.

Can't shoot through tank armor.

She is defeated but falls into the hands of the very rapey Russians, and so I give chase to rescue her again from some ruins. While she doesn't really need help from her squad of captors, we are in for a hell of a fight when the Russians attack in full force. Both badly injured, we manage to exfiltrate during a sandstorm... and then I get bitten by a venomous snake. Shit.

Insight: Quiet can one hit kill you in the rematch, so you'll need to rocket her location to force her to move which will give you an opening to get into the tank. If you have D-Dog with you, you can then whistle from inside the tank which normally makes Quiet fire and reveal her location.

MGSV: Fortune and Glory

[Part of the MGS Diary]

Our previous victory has really brought the money pouring in, with jobs paying almost double from before and clients as high-profile as the CIA. Diamond Dog strike teams are now deploying and dying all across the globe for glory!

I continue to focus on Africa and Afghanistan though, mainly to clean up the numerous puppet soldiers the Skulls left behind. At the same time the Russians and the other private forces are upping their game in trying to kill me, setting traps and sending their heaviest armored men and machines after me.

With Quiet by my side and our newly developed wormhole fulton abduction device that can steal tanks, they still have no chance. Miller, who I am beginning to suspect is the worst base commander ever, then reports the child soldiers I previously brought onto the base have escaped - mainly thanks to Eli who also managed to steal Sahelanthropus!

You seriously left the keys for the giant robot just lying around?

Insight: For zombies, puppet soldiers are close to harmless. You can tranq or melee them down (a few times) or toss a sleep grenade to capture them.

MGSV: Sahelanthropus

[Part of the MGS Diary]

With his Skulls defeated, Quiet and I systematically fight our way against his more mundane troops into the ruined castle that is Skull Face's base. Unfortunately he apprehends me at the helipad and forces me to listen to his evil villain monologue about releasing an English strain of the virus while riding a jeep to his virus deployment platform: the metal gear Sahelanthropus.

For a nice change of pace, the main villain gives us a life to the next boss fight. :P

Unfortunately for him, the giant robot goes crazy - killing his men and his fire monster. It is up to me and D-Horse, and a few Diamond Dog helicopters to bring it down using as many rockets as is needed. I also make use of the many abandoned tanks and APCs but Sahelanthropus simply uses his rust gas attack to nullify those. D-Horse is also killed in the battle.

Once we bring down the metal giant, Miller and I find Skull Face pinned by debris. After destroying his vials of disease, we take turns to dismember him slowly as revenge for what he did nine years ago. We then return to base victorious, with Sahelanthropus in tow - much to Dr. Emmerich's delight.

Insight: Call for air support if/when your chopper gets carved out of the sky. Also I chose D-Horse for this fight for mobility purposes. Unlike last time, Sahelanthropus is super agile now - running and jumping after you.

MGSV: Code Talker

[Part of the MGS Diary]

I see the skull snipers shop at the same place Quiet gets her outfits...

Getting past the Skull sniper team is a bit scary, but keeping low in the river and climbing up the side of the waterfall gets us to the lonesome mansion guarded by the regular variety of easily dispachable goons.

Inside is the old Indian "Code Talker" who reveals the virus Skull Face forced him to make is triggered by language. He also knows how to make a cure so we extract him by chopper on the double. The Skulls are onto us though, and destroy the chopper using a rusting fog that causes us to crash at an airport.

It is here that Quiet and I crush them and their zombie puppets from the rooftops, then call in a new chopper to get ourselves and Code Talker back to base. Within two days, he has cured everyone of this strain - and better yet, can tell us exactly where to find Skull Face himself.

Insight: Rooftops are your best bet when fighting the Skulls as they seem to have problems with ladders.

MGSV: Child Soldiers

[Part of the MGS Diary]

Apart from the deadly mysterious disease, the other thing I absolutely hate about Africa are the child soldiers, mainly because I'm not allowed to kill them thanks to Miller's stupid code so taking down their leader was going to be tough.

An enemy is an enemy, regardless of age!

Thankfully Quiet armed with a tranq rifle made this more achievable, and surprisingly their leader - a white kid named Eli - is a decent fighter, much like the random wandering Mother Base soldiers I occasionally have to bring back. As per Miller's request abduct him and his crew. Eli is not happy at all and requires consecutive beat downs to keep him in line.

While Eli kept us busy the intel team finally got a lead to someone who knows more about the virus, and so our next job was to find this "Code Talker" - hiding deep in the African jungle. It's strange that there are so few guards on the way in... and I soon realize it's because he's guarded by Skulls!

Insight: If you want to fulton the kids to get them off the map / prevent them from waking up, load them in a vehicle and fulton it out. Use a Diamond Dogs vehicle if you want to make it easier, as they self fulton when you request a new vehicle.

MGSV: The Intruders

[Part of the MGS Diary]

Not long after the escape, Miller reports that an enemy force has taken over one of the platforms at Mother Base. Ocelot has an easy time getting rid of them, but to prevent more attacks like this construction of a Forward Operating Base commences (more platforms in another ocean) to take the heat.

I like that you can play as other characters too!

I am told that from there, not only can we be raided - we can also raid other merc FOBs (quasi-PVP). I opt to ignore that option for now seeing as there's so much work available in Africa and Afghanistan.

Unfortunately a worse intruder makes its way to Mother Base - an epidemic much like what I saw at the Devil's House. Staff members begin to die left an right, in numbers so high that I almost regret dismissing all those low ranked soldiers prior. And by dismiss I actually mean "turned into shark bait".

As we don't have any clues to what's causing it, I leave Miller and Ocelot to sort it out while Quiet and I return to doing missions. Someone needs to keep the resources coming in right?

Insight: Weed out troublemakers and low level staff as they occupy slots better people can use. You can just put them in the waiting room, which will spill out into the FOB/other platforms as you make them, if you don't want to dismiss them.

MGSV: A Quiet Devil

[Part of the MGS Diary]

While developing D-Walkers, Dr. Emmerich gives us a lead that Skull Face is up to something in the wide open plains of Africa (as he was shipping walker gears there) so we naturally start accepting missions from there too. While the good doctor is quite the blabber mouth, Quiet doesn't break her silence and soon freaks out the men so much that they want her off base.

I take Ocelot's suggestion to take her on missions with me and she quickly proves to be a valuable asset, easily taking down heavy Skulls infantry and capturing guard posts single handedly making her my favorite companion.

We soon find a lead to Skull Face's operation at "the devil's house", a remote facility filled with people dying from an unknown disease. Skull Face himself makes an appearance here, but once again retreats upon spotting me - instructing his pet fire monster to deal with me instead.

Hello again you flaming bastard.

His fire balls easily destroy my first extraction chopper so I follow Jack Bauer's example from the hospital and stun the enemy by exploding the nearby water towers. I also put him on a fulton balloon just to further delay his recovery while Quiet and I escape on chopper number two.

Insight: If you aren't bringing D-Horse, bring a jeep to cut down travel time.

MGSV: D-Walkers

[Part of the MGS Diary]

With Quiet no longer guarding the pass, I had a clear shot to get to one of Skull Face's scientists working out of a major encampment in Afghanistan. Getting past all the patrolling guards, helicopter, and walker gears (mini-robot weapon platforms) was easy thanks to D-Dog.

Getting out with cripple, Dr. Emmerich, was also pretty easy thanks to the spare walker gear he had in the lab as it moves fast and is able to carry him while firing its gatling gun. Obviously the Dr. likes his robots too much though, for his giant metal gear creation - "Sahelanthropus" came to stop us outside the camp.

Complete with crotch cannon!

Fortunately the big guy is pretty slow and easily distracted by helicopters so it doesn't take much effort to escape from him. It does try jump for us as we fly off, but a sustained burst from the door gun severely damages to robot, sending it crashing back down into the ground. Back at base, Emmerich agrees to develop walker gears for the Diamond Dogs and gives them a predictable code name: D-Walkers.

Insight: If he doesn't see you Sahelathropus will go for your chopper. Use this to bait him away before calling in the real extraction point.

MGSV: D-Dog Duel

[Part of the MGS Diary]

It would be awhile before I encountered Skull Face's troops again, during which time one of the animals I previously fultoned out has grown to become a really useful ally under Ocelot's training - D-Dog!  

This one eyed mutt has a great nose for detecting medicinal herbs, wild life hunt targets, mines, and enemies - making it very difficult for anyone to get the drop on me, with one exception being the female sniper known as Quiet - who is accurate, able to turn near invisible and is as fast as the Skull soldiers from before.

Our duel in the ruins is a long one, and one I only win thanks to D-Dogs nose and a sandstorm. When she's finally KO'ed, Miller pleads with me to kill her but Ocelot asks that I capture her instead. Since she's easy on the eyes I take Ocelot's advice.

We make a good team too!

On the chopper she inexplicably frees herself from her cuffs and helps shoot down an enemy MiG by sniping the pilot - saving our lives. She then quietly goes to a cell on the rapidly expanding "Mother Base". The little oil rig is now looking more like a giant Hydra with the multiple platforms in place.

Insight: It costs money each time you deploy into the field. How much varies based on what you are bringing with you.

MGSV: Skull Face

[Part of the MGS Diary]

A job involving the theft of a powerful Russian rocket launcher at some ruins goes sideways when the Skulls arrive to block off my escape, with their leader "Skull Face" having a grand introduction in the middle of a sandstorm. As expected from the melodramatic ass hat vanishes, leaving his enhanced soldiers to finish me off.

Doesn't even have the courtesy to talk in my direction.

They also seem to have made the remaining Russian troops into zombie puppets. This is good because they both the puppets and the Skulls don't know to take cover and are easily put down using the rocket launcher I was stealing. Pity we had to sell it afterwards.

As a result of this encounter, I now prioritize the development of grenade launchers and rocket launchers - both of which I carry onto the field as they are useful against all types of infantry and the ever increasing array of armored vehicles I'm finding in the field.

Insight: Other useful upgrades are the pistol, fulton, armor and grenades (especially sleep). The helicopter upgrades are handy too if you like calling for air support.