We’re back from Extra Life! Having recovered from our 26-hour gaming marathon, we discuss Red Dead Redemption 2, Fallout 76, Tetris Effect, Mario Odyssey, and Into the Breach! We also review the nominees for the 2018 Game Awards!
games
Extra Life 2018 Marathon Highlights
Capturing some of my favourite highlights from our Extra Life 2018 marathon, including the Punch-Out #tysonchallenge, rookie chefs burning down the kitchen in Overcooked 2, Jackbox Party Pack 5 and its freestyle rap mini game, NBA Street V3 dunk contests with Princess Peach, Jenna playing the best Overwatch of her life, and so much more! Thanks again to everyone involved and we’ll do this again next year!
Kickstart Guide to Tetris Effect
Tetris Effect isn’t designed to be the most competitive or eSports ready version of the game. With the way that the game goes out of its way to obstruct your field of view for the sake of looking cool, it’s generally meant to be more about being absorbed into the vibe that the puzzle, music, and visuals create in unison. However, I understand that none of that matters when you’ve failed the final Journey mission for the hundredth time, or you fall well short of your friends on the leaderboards.
Though the core game is decades old, there’s still much to learn about this classic block-stacking game, especially if you’re unfamiliar with the modern Tetris ruleset. Maybe these tips will come in handy with whatever obstacles the game throws at you!
Tetris Effect Review
[NOTE: I did not play the game in VR at the time of writing, so I don’t touch on it or factor it into my current opinion of the game]
Tetris is the closest thing we have to gaming perfection. Universal appeal, easy to learn, difficult to master, and inherently designed in such a way that you’ll never win, but you can always do better. Feel free to make a case for any other game, but Tetris being the highest selling game of all-time with no signs of slowing down decades into its never-ending lifespan is a testament to its greatness.
How do you reinvent gaming’s equivalent of the wheel? If you’re Tetsuya Mizuguchi – most famous for his work on trippy games such as Rez and Lumines – you change the context of what the Tetris experience is through flashy visuals, modern electronic music, and VR support. I can’t speak to the VR side of the game, but the sheer act of playing the block-staking action in Tetris Effect becomes less about exercising your brain and more about being absorbed in the feeling that the entire experience creates.
Tetris Effect – Journey Mode Playthrough
Tetris is a timeless classic, but a new coat of paint by Rez and Lumines visionary Tetsuya Mizuguchi goes a long way towards transforming it from an intense mental exercise to a euphoric trip through time and space. In this set of videos, I complete the main campaign mode, along with an attempt at taking on the endless marathon! Full review forthcoming!
Tetris – Mystery Mode – 1989 Level
What starts out looking like classic Tetris quickly goes off the rails as the game tries everything in its power to mess you up! This is quite possibly the apex of the Tetris Effect experience!
Extra Life 2018 – All of the Boss Rush Mini Games in One Playlist!
Keeping up with the tradition of playing a game show at the end of each Boss Rush episode, we played a number of Boss Rush Mini games in between actual video games. Can you identify celebrities based on their gaming exploits? Do you know how popular these gaming-related hashtags really are? Can you tell a video game movie’s Rotten Tomatoes score based on the critics’ consensus? And how controversial are these gaming opinions? Play along and let me know how well you did!
Punch-Out – #tysonchallenge Take 2
The Punch-Out #tysonchallenge battle continues! I make some decent strides, but this battle isn’t over until Mr. Dream is knocked out once and for all! Your move, Double Jump!
Buy the NES Classic Now From Amazon.com
The Making of and Post-Mortem of Our Extra Life 25-Hour Marathon
For years, I’ve batted around the idea of putting together an Extra Life marathon. It always seemed like a cool way of partaking in an activity I loved while making a positive impact on the world. After sitting on the sidelines for many years, I finally decided to give it a shot while bringing my friends and family with me.
So glad we did it! We raised a lot of money for a wonderful cause and had a great time doing it. My body might still be reeling from the stress and adverse effects from all of the work that went into it, which culminated in a day of virtually no sleep. But it was all worth it in the end.
Right now, I’m itching to write down a bunch of the behind-the-scenes stuff that made the show what it was. Join me as I peel back the curtain a little bit on our Extra Life marathon!
Shantae: 1/2 Genie Hero
Finally getting around to a game I’ve been eyeing for quite some time. Let’s play Shantae: 1/2 Genie Hero! Apologies for the abrupt end, but I was really enjoying this one so far!
Buy Shantae: 1/2 Genie Hero Now From Amazon.com
In Third Person 