gamesandtings

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Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

Listen, the game just turned 10 years old now and I’m about to celebrate 30 years with the series – and it’s still as enjoyable as it has always been.

You can find how I first fell in love with Super Mario Kart here.

I’ve also written about playing with a gaming group, sacrificing our Monday evenings and our mental health to partake in collective group mania. It’s the longest lasting gaming community I’ve ever been a part of; singularly dedicated to one game and it’s still deeply rewarding/frustrating/triggering [circle what’s applicable after each race].

I think why we love Mario Kart so much as its one of the few things left where adults are permitted to swear at the top of their lungs. Otherwise, you’d be filmed, shamed and memed on Tik Tok or something..

Helldivers 2

I don’t have many games that justify the re-purchase of my PS5 and so I’ve come back to Helldivers to grind my way to more War Medals and unlocks that don’t do much so far.

It certainly scratches the itch Left 4 Dead left behind – where you’re transported to familiar territories dealing with familiar enemies, aiming to survive and extract. It certainly doesn’t have the character of the Left 4 Dead games, with soldiers purposefully left faceless to serve its tone. It just makes it harder for me to want to stay playing though – something about hearing “Ellis” over and over again

The shooting does feel great, especially with the PS5’s reactive triggers letting you know the weight of the weapons you’re using as well as the fact you’re nearing the end of your magazine.

What felt like a slow grind to level up is actually tied to your difficulty setting which may be obvious to so many but seeing my progress bars filling up has finally felt like the game isn’t as much as a grind as it first appeared.

The community is largely great – I mean they’re carrying me through all of this to be honest, I don’t have the knowledge or the firepower unlocked to truly navigate against the terminators so tenks to them all.

Dota 2

I’m still on this, I’m not proud as I’m really not enjoying the crop of teammates I’ve been given.

Feels like I’m babysitting Ukrainians and Russians that were too annoying to serve in the Ukraine. Thank God I’m muted.

Street Fighter 6

I get pretty overwhelmed at the prospect of playing Street Fighter online. I’m knowledge enough to stop button mashing but not good enough to actually learn the bloody combos to compete online.

Set it up with my nephew so I can finally teach him how to play properly – specifically with an arcade stick and made him practice the very, very basics. That is how to fireball, hurricane kick and most importantly, dragon punch. It’s a common theme with those closest to me, I made my GF sit in training mode on Super Street Fighter 4 until she could shoryukened, whilst holidaying in New York – which she finally fugging did. You can’t be a part of the Stomp Out Crew and not know how to dragon punch, not on my watch.

Akuma is out and he looks incredibly menacing – I want to get back on this. Especially with Season 2 being announced. Bipson is back and he looks fugging mean. Muted reactions to the rest – seems like they’re covering Mai up her Ibrahims though.