The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly - 2022 Gaming Edition

Just like I have never done an Eyes To The Future for gaming, I'm never done a Year In Review.

So... refresher.

THE GOOD is my favorite game of the year.

THE BAD is my least favorite game of the year.

THE UGLY is my surprise of the year.

THE UNFORGIVEN is my biggest disappointment of the year.

So...

Let's get to it.

2022 was the year I FINALLY got my hands on a Playstation 5, and it changed quite a bit of my gaming. But I still played the hell out of my Switch. Because I'm a Nintendo guy. So what games came out ahead... or behind?

THE GOOD of 2022 was a bit difficult. Because I got my PS5 this year, there are a few games I played and finished quickly and a few games I started and haven't finished yet. But I can still pick what stands out. All that said... THE GOOD for 2022 is... Pokémon Legend Arceus! As much as I love playing Pokémon Violet, the groundwork for Violet was set in Legends Arceus. But... it was a completely different Pokémon experience, a different goal. And a truly single player experience(trading isn't necessary at all to complete the Pokedex). I want more of these games.

Honorable Mentions: Pokémon Scarlet/Violet, God of War Ragnarok(I haven't got far, but love it), Persona 5 Royal on Switch(because of course)

THE BAD of 2022 is really easy for me. Really easy. THE BAD is... Tiny Tina's Wonderlands. I love the Borderlands series. I LOOOOOOVE the Borderlands series. And yes, there is a disclaimer for the game that it was difficult to make because of Covid. And I get it. Doesn't change the fact that it was horrible. A Horrible Horrible game. Great idea. Great Concept. But... so much missing.

THE UGLY of 2022 was a bit difficult. There were some firsts... some retro ideas... some special things going on. Was there any that stood out? And... yes... THE UGLY is... Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shedder's Revenge! I grew up playing TMNT Turtles In Time with my younger brother and my Dad. We loved that game. But there was nothing for DECADES to follow it up with. Until this year. And it plays like a dream! Smooth combat, easy to pick up. Graphic are both modern and retro. So much damn fun. And... as an UGLY Part 2, Konami also released the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cowabunga Collection, which is a collection of ALL of the old TMNT games I played growing up(and some I never got to). It was a great year to be a Turtles Fan!!!

Honorable Mentions: Kirby and the Forgotten Land(first fully 3D Kirby Game!)

Disney Dreamlight Valley(Disney meets Harvest Moon... it's been great)

And now... THE UNFORGIVEN of 2022. And this one is going to be weird. Because it is for a game that I LIKE. THE UNFORGIVEN is... Gotham Knights. Being able to play as Jason Todd/Red Hood has been great. And 4 characters with 4 different playstyles. Something for different players. But...... Gotham Knights was made by WB Montreal, the studio responsible for Batman Arkham Origins. Origins was NOT a bad game. But... it felt empty. An open world that was empty. Gotham Knights feels the same way. All of Gotham is open to you, but it still feels kind of empty. But... it is the empty. So... why does it feel that way? I have went into the same warehouse to take down different groups of thugs about 2 dozen times. And there are about another 2 dozen locations that are like this. Meaning that while Gotham is large... the game doesn't really use about 95% of it. The boss fights are great... the rest of it... is too repetitive. So... if you can avoid it. I was so happy to have played as Jason Todd finally. He plays just like he should. But... damn. That is it.

There is my first Year In Review for video games.

What did you think? Any you've played that was awesome?

Comment and Share.

Until next time...

Eyes To The Future - 2023 Video Games Edition

It has come to my attention that I have never done a Year In Preview post for Video Games. So... I need to!

So here is the FIRST Eyes To The Future for Video Games. Keep in mind that all of these dates are subject change. And some have yet to have an announced release date.

Ready?

Persona 3 Portable - Jan 19th: Being re-released for Modern Consoles, Persona 3 was my first Persona game, which means I have special connection to this one.

Persona 4 The Golden - Jan 19th: Just like P3P, this is a re-release for Modern Consoles. I'm excited for both P3P and P4G.

Spongebob Squarepants The Cosmic Shake - Jan 23rd: Spongbob and Bubble-Patrick traversing through portals. Plenty of Bikini Bottom Platforming. And the last SpongeBob game I played was pretty damned good.

Forspoken - Jan 24th: A Magic spell based open world badassery game from a NEW Studio, made from former programmers and designers from Square Enix that worked on Final Fantasy 15. It'll be awesome! Hopefully!

Hogwart's Legacy - Feb 10th: An Almost Free choice single player RPG in the Harry Potter Universe? Yes I want to play it.

Kirby's Return To Dreamland Deluxe - Feb 24th: Yet another Re-Release from the Wii/Wii-U era, but I really love Kirby! And they are adding a new copy ability to it! I can't wait.

Octopath Traveler 2 - Feb 24th: Octopath Traveler was a unique story driven turn based RPG. Pick any one of the 8 Characters as a main, and experience all 8 stories, or as many as you want to. A sequel is deserved.

Skull and Bones - Mar 9th: Pirates... pirating. With pirates.

Star Wars Jedi Survivor - Mar 17th: Sequel to Jedi Fallen Order, which was AMAZING. The Star Wars action oriented games are always top shelf.

Resident Evil 4 Remake - Mar 24th: RE4 is finally getting the Remake treatment. And RE4 was my favorite of the series. Now... make Ashley get OUT OF THE GODDAMNED WAY!!!!

Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection - Apr 14th: The portable Grid Based RPG series is getting the Legacy Collection Treatment! I've only played the first 2 games in the series, but I love Mega Man almost as much as Kirby. So... of course I'm getting it.

The Legend Of Zelda Tears Of The Kingdom - May 12th: Sequel to Breath Of The Wild, my favorite current Switch game. This is my most anticipated game for 2023.

Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League - May 26th: Rocksteady is putting out this Suicide Squad gane in the Arkham Universe. And it is Kevin Conroy's finally voice work as Batman. I'm in.

Street Fighter 6 - Jun 2nd: I love the Street Fighter series. But it took me a bit to get a feel for SF5. This one looks amazing. So we will see how this one works out.

Diablo 4 - Jun 6th: The 4th Installment of one of my favorite franchises. After fixing the Marketplace BS, 3 became my favorite in the series, with the Nephalem Rifts being some of the most fun I've had in Diablo. So... don't let me down.

Final Fantasy 16 - Jun 22nd: The First M Rated Final Fantasy game. Are we getting too realistic? I admit, FF15 was wonky to me. Open world without being open world? But gave me one of my favorite FF boss battles in fighting that GIANT ADAMANTOISE! I'm ready for this one.

TBA Release Dates

AEW Fight Forever: AEW will finally put out their first video game. And to be honest, I'm not a huge fan of their wrestling product so far. But... they are going through Jakks for this game, highlighting bring back some of the simulation that I loved in the N64 titles, like No Mercy. We will see how it works out. Plus... Owen Hart will be in it.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth: The Second Part of the FF7 Remake series. I'm excited to see what changes in this installment. And I hope we get Vincent in this one.

Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster Collection: Being released for Switch and Playstation, Square Enix is putting out this collection in the Spring. The first 6 Final Fantasy games in one collection. Including my favorite game in the ENTIRE franchise, Final Fantasy V! I'm in.

Spider-Man 2: Sequel to Sony's VERY succesful and AMAZING Spider-Man game. More Miles Morales... and it looks like Venom is playing a huge part. I just hope he is playable!!!

Robocop Rogue City: A 1st Person shooter when you get to play AS Robocop! That sounds so cool to me! So of course I'm going to attempt this one.

WWE 2K23: While this hasn't been 100% announced, we already know it is coming. And 2K22 was a HUGE improvement over 2K20. I wonder what the odds are that we get a Cody Rhodes special edition?

There you go everyone. My first ever preview post for Video Games. Is there one I should add? Any you are looking forward to?

Comment and share this thing!

Until next time...

Eyes to the Future - 2023 Edition

To go with End of the Year... we also need to look toward 2023.

Remember that everything here will have a tentative release date. All subject to change.

So... let's do it.

M3GAN - Jan 6th: A Killer Robot Doll with the protocol to protect her little girl owner. What not to love?

House Party - Jan 13th: The Original House Party movies were so much fun. Let's see if this one stacks up.

Plane - Jan 13th: Gerard Butler in a plane crash action movie. I'm in.

Missing - Jan 20th: Teenager using the internet to find her missing parents. Looks interesting.

Knock at the Cabin - Feb 3rd: M. Night Shyamalan adapting one of the best horror novels of the last 10 years. Dave Batista, Rupert Grint, Jonathan Groff.

Winnie the Pooh: Blood & Honey - Feb 15th: Do I need to explain?

Ant-Man & The Wasp in Quantumania - Feb 17th: We finally, fully get introduced to the new big bad, Kang the Conqueror. And of course Paul Rudd is still here.

Cocaine Bear - Feb 24th: Based on a TRUE story about a bear that became the single greatest predator in animal kingdom history.

Scream 6 - Mar 10th: The sequel of this new age run of Scream movies. Making Wes Craven proud.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods - Mar 17th: I loved the first Shazam movie. Like Big in spandex. And this one looks to be pretty good.

John Wick Chapter 4 - Mar 24th: 4th Chapter in Keanu Reeves action movie second wind. And the best damn action series in DECADES. I'm in.

Dungeons & Dragons Honor Among Thieves - Mar 31st: The last attempt at a D&D movie was TERRIBLE. But this looks like medieval Guardians of the Galaxy. So it gives me hope.

The Super Mario Bros Movie - Apr 7th: DON'T LET ME DOWN ILLUMINATION! DON'T LET ME DOWN ILLUMINATION! DON'T LET ME DOWN ILLUMINATION!!!

Renfield - Apr 14th: Movie about Dracula's closest henchman. And Nic Cage is playing Dracula. What else you need to know?

Evil Dead Rise - Apr 21st: It is not an Evil Dead with Bruce Campbell, sadly. But I did like the uber-horror remake. I don't think this is a sequel of that. But I'm giving it a chance anyway.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 - May 5th: The last go round for this team. The last MCU film for new DC Film co-head James Gunn. And the debut of Will Poulter's Adam Warlock. It'll be awesome.

The Little Mermaid - Mar 26th: All of the Live Action remakes of Disney classics have at least been good. There is NO reason this one can't be too.

Spider-Man Across The Spider-Verse(Part 1?) - Jun 2nd: Into the Spider-Verse was a master class in animation. And this one will be focused around my favorite non-Peter Parker Spidey... Miguel O'Hara aka Spider-Man 2099.

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts - Jun 9th: I loved the Beast Wars cartoon... and Michael Bay is nowhere near the director's chair. This MIGHT have potential.

The Flash - Jun 16th: Who knows if this is really going to release. But if it does, I will be there.

Oppenheimer - Jul 21st: Christopher Nolan biopic on the man who invented the Atomic Bomb. Nolan + Biopic + Cillian Murphy = Epic Idea.

The Marvels - Jul 28th: I liked Captain Marvel. I liked Ms. Marvel. And this is a chance for them to share the screen.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle: Mutant Mayhem - Aug 4th: CG Animated TMNT film from Seth Rogen. No Michael Bay. So hopefully it gives new breath to the big screen Turtles.

Gran Turismo - Aug 8th: Yes... a video game movie. But we have had some good ones come out. This has a chance to be great. But it also has a chance to be terrible. We will see.

Blue Beetle - Aug 18th: It's the Space Bug movie!!! No... DC's young superhero is getting a chance to shine!

Equalizer 3 - Sept 1st: Denzel Washington's John Wick series. Renaissance to his action career. And we are finally getting a third.

Expendables 4 - Sept 22nd: Speaking of Action... the 4th installment of the mindless action series. But... not everyone is coming back to this one. A new crop is being introduced with some of the old school ass kickers.

Kraven the Hunter - Oct 6th: Here is a chance for Sony to let me down again with they Spider-Verse sub universe. BUT Aaron Taylor-Johnson is an EXTREMELY underrated actor. I at least want to see his performance.

Dune Part 2 - Nov 3rd: I was looking forward to an amazing version of the Dune story, and Part 1 was phenomenal to me. Part 2 is the meat of the story, and because of that, this is most anticipated movie of the year.

Wish - Nov 22nd: Took Disney forever to make a movie about there most iconic song, When You Wish Upon A Star. And it is Pixar. So you know it'll be epic.

Wonka - Dec 15th: An origin story for Willy Wonka, starring Timothy Chalamet. I'm still skeptical. But... it is Willy Wonka. It is Chalamet. So I shouldn't be...?

Ghostbusters Firehouse(official title?) - Dec 20th: I saw this listed for this date, but I don't think it is true. Either way... a sequel to the greatest Legacyquel of all time? I'm already there.

Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom - Dec 25th: Seems like most of the DC stuff is muddled. But we are finally getting the sequel to Aquaman. I thought the first one was epic. Hope this one is too.

Salem's Lot - TBA: This remake is supposed to come out in 2023, and I'm excited... sorta. The Pet Semetary remake was horrible. But Gary Dauberman is writing and directing this remake. And his writing credits have been HUGE in the horror genre, writing for the Annabelle series, The Nun, and BOTH Chapters of the IT Remake(and you KNOW I loved those). And he did say was focusing on making Vampires terrifying again. Please do.

And... that is my list for 2023. Are there any that you thought I should add?

Comment and share this thing.

Until next time...

Don't forget...