Still not done with Shadow of War. I did finish the Branor DLC, but had to postpone my run of the second DLC, Blade of Galadriel, due to a project I want to really get off the ground. I still played it a bit, and I was a bit disappointed at how same-y it feels to the base game. There’s not much difference between Talion and Eltariel, except a few moves. They did make recruiting some orcs more interesting than the “press B to dominate”, so that’s nice. You get proper missions where you help these orcs out, which I think is much better and the orcs feel more unique compared to all the orcs I faced as Talion since they relied on RNG for everything, including their personalities.

But as I have a ton of shots in my bag to keep me posting for at least a century. And since I really, really loved the Baranor DLC, here’s another shot that I found pretty cool. The photo mode is really awesome in this game and I hope that you enjoy the pic I chose for Screenshot Sunday #51, as well as my super duper secret project that I will look to complete as soon as possible.

Soon, the fort shall know the power of Chadanor

The century mark has been reached, with Screenshot Sunday #50 already here. I’m still on Shadow of War but I finally got done with the base game. A mixed experience overall, even if I lean towards a more positive outlook, despite how repetitive the game got rather fast. Hopefully, I can share why I feel that way in a review soon. But now, I’m tackling the better of the two expansions, The Desolation of Mordor, taking up arms as Baranor (or as I like to call him, Chadanor) and taking over a fort. The cool thing is how the gameplay is vastly different than that of the base game. Chadanor is mortal, unlike Talion, so if you die, it’s game over, with the DLC having a roguelike feel to it as you do keep your abilities upon death. I’m still early in the DLC, but so far, so good. And since it’s not that long, it won’t overstay its welcome or make me bored like the later parts of the base game did.

Here’s a nice pic of how to scout the enemy fortress in Middle-Earth as a mere human.

Death from above!

I don’t believe in daylight saying. And I’m not saying this as an excuse to make it look like I posted this on a Sunday and that I didn’t forget because I ended up eating a giant pizza while watching season 2 of Reacher (great show btw). I’m just saying…

Anyway, last week was quite productive. Finally got an SSD (two in fact) for the first time, after using an HDD for everything for about 14 years give or take. I will leave you with these screencaps of my live reactions to using an SSD for the first time as I installed Windows 11, its updates, and all the funky jazz one installs when you clean install a PC. But I also played some cool “new” games. Still going through Shadow of War, but I found the time to start the Battlefield 3 campaign and revisit Crysis, the original. I also played a Cat Lady game… it has cats and cards and stuff. Very nice thing to just chill out with.

But my Screenshot Sunday #49 post will be from Shadow of War as I have a ton of cool shots from it, so I’m gonna milk it while I play it. I will say that the game feels a bit bloated when compared to Shadow of Mordor. It’s as if they could have easily just removed two forts from the game and it would have cut out the unnecessary fluff and made the game progression more focused. I love the new levels, they each feel unique (wish orks that inhabit them were also unique), but this is a game of its time. It’s not as bad as Mad Max when it comes to open-world pointless grind, as the Nemesis system does make it “fresh”. Still, sometimes less is more, ya know?

Anyway, here’s a cool shot coming to you post-live through the power of the Shadow of War photo mode and me uploading it on Imgur’s website.
Enjoy.

The Bright Lord is your master!

As I’ve been playing and am immensely enjoying my return to Shadow of War. Thus the shot for Screenshot Sunday #48 will come from my adventures in Middle-Earth. I simply love the photo mode that the game comes with. It’s probably the most robust one I’ve had the pleasure to use yet. The range you can free fly with your camera is insane, offering a great way to capture some nice scenic shots. I would only say one issue is present—no day/night/weather cycle toggle. If it had that, then it would probably be the perfect photo mode, with no flaws. I’ll probs talk a bit more about the game next time, as I want to save some text for the next few shots, haha, as there are a ton I have in my inventory.

Anyway, my gushing about this photo mode aside, here’s one of my fav shots from the early game.
Enjoy.

Are you not ENTERTAINED!

As, promised, here’s my Halo: The Master Chief Collection review. I’ll port the review for each individual entry here in the coming days, but I thought why not start with the whole thing, kinda give you an idea of what you’ll be getting into when you buy this amazing series. Hope you guys enjoy the read, and stay after the credits, there’s a surprise waiting for you.

Permission to leave Xbox, Phil.

For what purpose Master Chief?

To bring Halo back to the PC community!

...

Permission granted.

Finally, the highly praised Halo franchise has released some of its best entries on PC, neatly assembled in one juicy collection. As someone who grew up only listening to how Halo is great and Master Chief is a super-chad, after playing it, I can say, without a doubt, both statements are correct.

While the title does say The Master Chief Collection, we also get two spin-offs: ODST and Reach, with the latter being my personal favourite in terms of story. Many seem to dislike it because of how bland Noble Team is. Personally, that never bothered me. They never were the focal point of the story. It was always the planet itself, Reach. Noble Team is nothing more than a surrogate pair of eyes for us to witness humanities struggle against overwhelming odds first-hand and the horrors enacted by the Covenant upon the inhabitants of Reach. As for ODST, it was ok. It takes place during Halo 2, but nothing from its story was particularly memorable. Some quirky moments and funny dialogue, but nothing more than that.

Still, the title clearly says—The Master Chief Collection, so let's get back to his escapades. I may get some flak for this, but Halo: Combat Evolved has the worst story, if you can even call it that. There was barely anything. It felt more like a concept. Don't get me wrong, Halo 4 is right next to it, but I still consider Halo: Combat Evolved worse. But then...BAM! Halo 2. We get more lore about this universe, more epic cutscenes, more chad one-liners, and characters actually have some personality. And it is here that Master Chief actually became a chad, with subsequent entries continuing to expand the legend that is Sierra-117. So, even with a few blemishes, I immensely enjoyed this sci-fi space epic; From witnessing the glassing of Reach, helping a friend go out with a bang, to detonating a nuke above Earth like a true chad, there was never a lack of memorable moments.

Halo is jam-packed with epic set pieces and memorable moments throughout its sometimes cheesy, but overall fun campaign

But what about the gameplay?

Well, it's simply fantastic, and this much is true for every Halo game. Each entry improves upon its predecessor, refining the gameplay, but at the same time, staying true to that familiar gameplay loop set in stone by Halo: Combat Evolved. Personally, I have Halo 3 as my top pick. It's the culmination of Bungie's trilogy, and its greatness and epicness during gameplay are still unrivalled by any previous or subsequent Halo games.

But, where are my manners; I have yet to speak about the gunplay itself. So let's fix that, shall we—it's an FPS game where you shoot, throw grenades and drive vehicles. But the driving controls are unusual. Rather than driving, I dunno, like in 99.9% of games, with movement keys, Bungie said: "We don't do that here", and instead, your mouse is the steering wheel. Tricky at first, but once you get the hang of it, you'll be drifting on the surface of halo rings like the great Colin McRae.

Each new entry does try to up the ante, spicing up the gameplay, just ever so slightly. Halo 2 has Chief dual wield smaller weapons, which he seemingly forgot how to do in Halo 4 after his cryo-sleep. With Halo 3 came one-time use equipment; Useless overall, but they do look neat in the promotional CGI trailer. However, soon after, an unfathomable evil shook the very heavens, as long and fierce wars were waged over its place in the Halo-verse, with many brave souls lost in the process. Just speaking its name aloud invokes thousand years of bad luck upon your no scope 360 trick shots. I am, of course, talking about sprinting. This putrid thing first reared its ugly head in Halo: Reach, but only as an armour ability. It wasn't until Halo 4 that it finally infected Master Chief, becoming his innate ability. Truly a sad day for Halo fans all over the galaxy. But then again, he was often seen sprinting in cutscenes...

Halo has a wide variety of boys on offer

Sprinting polemics aside, I love how Halo effortlessly creates a heterogeneous battlefield. Encounters pit you against a group comprised of unique enemy units, each with different strengths, weaknesses and mannerisms. We have bird boys, smol boys, wort boys, bug boys, hairy boys, chunky boys, etc. And while headshots mean instant death, some enemy units must be first stripped bare; hairy boys have armour, wort boys have shields, etc. Do note—each protection is weaker against different ammo. For example, wort boy shields are strong against human bullets but weak to plasma-based weapons. But, I will let you in on a little secret—all enemies and shields are weak to rockets to the face.

While massacring half of the known universe is fun, sometimes we need to stop, take a breath and admire the scenery. And this is where Halo got me. Halo isn't like that hot chick who doesn't know she's hot. Halo knows and wants your gaze. So, while Halo: Combat Evolved has inner beauty and Halo 4 is entirely flat, the others were a succulent journey for the senses; From the Covenant and its many species, the mysterious biomes of the halo rings and the burning cities of Reach, all the way to Johnson and his clean-shaven chin that accentuates his magnificent moustache, the Halo universe is beaming with beauty to behold.

After an arduous year, LASO has been conquered and the fight finished...for now

Yet, visual beauty can't work solo. Its age-old accomplice—music, plays a vital role in immersing the player within the games universe. Sadly, this is where a crucial issue occurred, as how does one rate perfection?

Also, Keith David...Mmmm, you can be my Arbiter any day ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°).

But, besides Keith David making my knees weak with his stern, thick and firm voice, sound effects in Halo play a crucial role in perceiving one's surroundings. Being informed about various things during the chaotic fights is paramount for success—possible grenade explosion, what weapons the enemy is firing, etc. All produce distinct sound effects, which in turn help you avoid and instead inflict death upon the enemy.

And with that said, I think it's pretty clear how I feel about Halo. Thus, I'll finish by answering three quintessential questions any buyer may ponder about:

Where is Halo? -On Steam.

Who is Halo? -The big green dude.

Why is Halo? -Yes.

To all who made it this far, if you seek even more divine knowledge, then follow the faith preached in the Gospel of Sv. Prolivije. All members receive free dental care and 2 weeks of paid vacation.

Post-Credits Delight

Since it’s Sunday, you know what that means—Screenshot Sunday! We’ve reached #47, and since I already blasted you with some Halo goodness today (and a few weeks ago), I’ll go a different route this time. What do you say to a nice evening of laughs and drink on the outskirts of Roma in Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood. I’m sure you guys will enjoy the wine I brought!

'Tis a fine day for a bottle of wine, or two, with your 𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘤𝘪 in the outskirts of Roma

Hmmm, I promised to “port” my Halo reviews here last week…

I’ll try to do it this week, pinky promise. I was a bit busy last week. Even managed to complete two games, wooo. The games in question are Emily is Away <3 and Heal. One I was disappointed in, feeling as if I wasted my time, and Heal was actually a pretty fun game, albeit a step down in terms of narrative from the devs previous games (The Distraint series).

Anyway, for Screenshot Sunday #46 I shall once again, post a cute shot from Halo, building that non-existent hype for my upcoming review ports. It’s from Halo: Reach probably my favorite story-wise. I just love the tone and feelings it left me with. It did help that it was my first game in the series, and that I knew nothing about the planet, the universe or the first game. The ending hit 10x harder, but I am glad it did.

Please, Emile, close the door, you're letting all the plasma bullets in

Until next week (probably sooner, as I gotta pump out those Halo reviews of mine, and there’s 7 in total).

Ok, so

I will try to freshen up the event a bit soon but will stay committed to the weekly schedule. It’s hard to give up on a pet project like this, so I will instead try to fix what is bothering me instead of scrapping the whole thing.

So, for Screenshot Sunday #45 I leave you with a fine shot from Halo 3.

I played the franchise for the first time in 2020. It was an amazing experience even if Combat Evolved felt dated (mainly the level design). Also, bc I am crazy I played it in story order, which meant I played Halo: Reach first, which was the pinnacle of Bungie’s game design, and then went backward basically. I also stopped playing Halo 2 mid-way as Halo 3: ODST takes place in between 2 and 3.

Anyway, back to 3 specifically, it held the best moments for me, epicness-wise. It was a great conclusion to the trilogy, with the last mission really being special. I even left this one as my last LASO to beat to get the achievement for completing all Halo games on LASO difficulty. That ending sequence was the perfect way to wrap up my amazing journey with the whole Master Chief Collection.

And I should post more of my (awesome) game reviews here, not just the cool shots I take. So, I’m gonna try to post all my reviews for the series here soon, as it was quite an undertaking (and will only be surpassed by the current secret pet project I am working on).

Cheers until next week. Hopefully, I have some new goodies for all of you who enjoy what I do (no matter how small the number may be).

So, I’m thinking of sunsetting Screenshot Sunday, after posting this one (or maybe the next), #44. I like this little project of mine, but I guess it can get hard trying to pick one screenshot out of 1000+ shots I took (usually this happens with big open world games) and trying to write something in the post itself. The second part specifically limits me when it comes to posting more shots from the same game, as, what would I say about it, again, haha. So, I’m now trying to think of a way that would fix that and satisfy my need to post all of my shots in one compact format, while also not clogging the activity feed. I think maybe a monthly edition could be done, as I believe it would let me accumulate a lot more screenshots, and since I use Imgur for posting my shots, I can then also create game specific albums with my shots, instead of posting them one-by-one.

Gonna test some html code to see how this weird thing I imagined will look in the next week (or two), and then try to debut the new version as soon as possible. I do think I’ll be “archiving” my previous posts when I debut this new format, and thus anyone who commented on them, I believe those comments will sadly be lost, and I’m sorry for that. I wish you could just hide the posts from your page and others, since what I have in mind conflicts with this design of the BLAEO website.

So, for the (possibly) final Screenshot Sunday, #44 I’ll opt to go with a cool shot I took during my time last year with Assassin’s Creed Valhalla when I got a 1 month for 1$ offer from Ubisoft to use their Uplay Subscription Service. The game is really something else when it comes to visuals, as the world is quite stunning to look at and fun to explore as a result of so many unique places to see.

While this week I’ve not played much of anything (most just idling Poker Night at the Inventory until I hit a Straight Flush for the last achievement), I did get more into Tekken 8 PvP, despite being a bit hesitant due to my noob status. But, I managed to climb some ranks, get to almost 100k Tekken Power (whatever that is), and reached a pretty decent rank, Assailant (2nd tier of the yellow rank). I chose Lee for my main, despite him being quite a tough character to learn. I wasn’t aware of that going in, since I just liked his positive vibes (which we can all use more of) and him saying “C’mon” sounds like MJ’s “Shamon!”.

Thus, for my Screenshot Sunday #43 pick, here is my custom skin for Lee, given his default in-game skin is quite bland. This is a slight edit on his alter-ego, Violet, that was present in one of the previous games. Instead of my sexy mask, he is supposed to have aviator glasses. But I like the mask (with the Batman skin charcoal paint around the eyes) more, it just gives me more mysterious (and sexy) vibes.

Another week, another Screenshot Sunday; this time it’s #42. I’m finally finished Assassin’s Creed III and just completed playing the first DLC episode. I was a bit underwhelmed by the whole thing, if I’m honest. It just feels a bit mid. The wolf stealth powers are super OP, but I didn’t really enjoy the mission design as it didn’t experiment with this new power at all. It felt like a typical AC 3 mission. I hope that Episode 2 improves the mission design. Anyway, the shot is a very touching moment in the game (the epilogue), and I really feel like Ubisoft needs to actually finish the stories of these great characters, like they did with Ezio, instead of ending it just as things get good.

Legacy