ghost recon: wildlands
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despite my general disinterest for open world checklist games GR:W really sucked me in. this is mostly due to the incredible world design. it has the standard every-conceivable-biome-packed-into-a-20-km²-area open world design but the detail and transitions between biomes make the world feel truly believable. i have spent hours flying around the world in a helicopter, forsaking fast travel, because exploring and opening the map up is so rewarding visually. it's quite astounding. the gunplay is fine and improves as you acquire new guns and components. many of the most effective guns are only available by spending real world money — which is kind of rotten — but there are still way more guns than anyone would ever need attainable just by playing through the game. it does have a mercenaries: playground of destruction "deck of 52" feel to it but locating, drawing out, and eliminating the targets is usually tedious and unrewarding. to this end i have mostly spent my in game time traversing the map, collecting new guns and components, taking down enemy camps and bases, and ignoring the story missions almost completely. i have found the game to be extremely enjoyable when played like this


efootball PES 2021 season update
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it's been a few years since i played a football game. PES 21 seems about the same as previous versions which is more than adequate since PES plays so well. the controls are extremely responsive as per usual and despite my hiatus i was back to whipping the ball around the pitch using manual passing within a few matches. the game looks great from a distance and like a disaster up close. i've turned off replays for this reason. i'm looking forward to loading up a community-constructed edit file with real teams, kits, and leagues and starting up a new master league run


middle earth: shadow of war
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not a fan of the melee combat but i do like "sneaking" around (stealth in this game is a joke) and making the AI units fight each other while i dart around out of reach and shoot arrows at foes. the nemesis system seems to be at least good as advertised and probably better. it's one of those rare things that lives up to the hype. it's such an integral part of the game that sometimes i think all the traversal and combat mechanics were designed solely as a way to engage with the nemesis system. the weapon and armor upgrade/customization system seems weak and half-baked, the controls are maybe 75% accurate to what i intend to do at any given moment, and the melee-auto-combat-by-numbers is boring. i'm still enjoying this game quite a bit despite its flaws