How Open World Games Helped Me Deal with Grief.

By Sam Coles: 

Hello, it has been a while since I have written anything on this blog. “Where have you been”? I hear you cry, well the last year or so have been emotional and trying within my life from heartbreak with both grief and love as well just my mind having a burnout. I want to just briefly want to talk about how I dealt with it and how video games (Specifically open world games) helped me through grief, with the worlds I escaped to as well the community that helped.  

What transpired these events? Well last year was a year of loss for me, my dog passed away, lost the woman who I thought loved me and then finally and most tragic my mother lost her life. For the first time in my life, I felt lost and scared within a metaphorical tunnel of darkness with no light to guide me. I was on my own, as my mother was the person I talked to the most in my family, as she would happily talk to me about anything even video games as she did like them. She could never get to grips of the 3D realm of games, as should could quite get the concept of three-dimensional movement, however she would always enjoy watching me play the story driven games, she especially loved watching Red Dead Redemption as she was a huge fan of westerns.  

When all of this transpired, I was having a bit of a mental breakdown, I didn’t really want to finish games and all passion for the medium was sucked out of me as if my soul was drained. I became an empty husk of a person, not really talking to anyone I almost completely shut down.  

However, I did find solace in the form of Death Stranding as that game is all about loss and reconnecting with life again. I was sent the game in the height of the Covid lockdown in 2020, when Kojima Productions themselves sent me the game. At first, I didn’t really get the game and its themes, but when the series of unfortunate events began to take place, I started to the relate with the game more. For starters the main protagonist Sam “Porter” Bridges does like to be touched, I was the exact same when everything fell apart, the whole idea of reconnecting wasn’t really an idea I really wanted to do, similar to Sam in the story I was content of being on my own. When eventually that would change, I would venture out in the world establishing connections with people I had not seen in years, similar to how Sam reconnects communities in the game. It opened my eyes, and got my mojo back for games again however the only type of game I can really get through at the moment are open world games. 

Why open world? Well, they are what I like to call virtual holidays these days, as they are very much equal to the real-world counterpart. However, you can explore fantasy realms, from the frost laden mountains of Skyrim to neon lit and rain-soaked streets of Night City in Cyberpunk 2077. Not only that you can live history through a virtual scope from the Dane and Anglo-Saxon conflict of 9th century England in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, to the bamboo of forest in Feudal Japan in Ghost of Tsushima. These types of games helped me forget a lot of the darkness that once plagued my mind, as sometimes I didn’t really do any of the main objectives or quests, I would just turn the heads up display off and explore at my own pace with no goal in mind to see what unfolds within these worlds.   

I got back into finishing games, although some of these games would take me up to 60-70 hours to beat (looking at you Assassin’s Creed Valhalla), but honest I didn’t mind as I could just zone out and explore and enjoy the stories they produced. As much ire Far Cry gets these days, Far Cry 6 was a game that really helped me relax and I know that sounds like an oxymoron with how over the top the game is. However, it’s the moments when you are not engaged in combat, where you are just driving across the Cuban inspired region of Yara as you take in the beautiful jungles, lush beaches and densely populated towns and cities. Far Cry 6 was the first game I finished in a long time, and I took a sigh of relief after with how much I enjoyed the adventure. It’s these sorts of experiences that made me smile again with video games, because they revealed to me how beautiful they can be and I could be wide eyed when I was in awe with their beauty.  

My mother used to love watching these types of games, as she admired the beauty and hard work the developers put in with how much detail there is. Playing through games such as Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Ghost Recon Wildlands, Cyberpunk 2077 and Death Stranding at the moment, I can almost feel my mother’s soul leaning on my shoulders watching the game with me, as she explores these worlds with me, and that she is always with me.  

Black Widow Review - One more mission for Natasha Romanov.

By Sam Coles: 

Scarlette Johansson has been in many roles over the years since she was a young teenager, but I would argue that she didn’t really explode onto the scene until she played the femme fatale spy and assassin Black Widow in 2010 in Iron Man 2. Fast forward 11 years she is playing her for the last time in the aptly named film Black Widow, where we get some background about her childhood and how she found herself to turn into the hero she became where she was taken in by The Avengers. Is the film any good? Yes, but let’s talk about it in more detail. 

Black Widow takes places directly after the events of Captain America: Civil War, where Natasha Romanov is on the run from the American government because she aided Steve Rogers (Captain America) when he decided to do operations off the grid as well as assaulting the King of Wakanda (Black Panther). So she does what she knows best from her past as a Russian spy, goes into hiding. It’s not long that she finds out the program that she was indoctrinated in The Widow Program is still going, where thousands of orphaned females are being brainwashed to become assassins to stir the political soup across the globe. She goes on a journey to find her family, to help take down The Widow Program.  

Once again Scarlette Johansson is fantastic as the mysterious and ambiguous assassin Black Widow, what I like about her performance is that she doesn’t have to convey her feelings through meaningless exposition. She can shoot a glance and you get a general understanding of how she is feeling and what her motivation is, this can be anger, joy or overwhelming emotions of sadness she does have a decent amount of flexibility as an actress. Some would argue that she is flat or monotone, but that is the entire point of the character of Black Widow as she is not supposed to let emotions get in the way of the job, which makes the times when her emotions do get the better of her more captivating.  

The supporting cast playing Natasha’s family is excellent too, especially David Harbour playing the Red Guardian. Every scene he is on screen is hilarious, it is a classic brutish character where he thinks with violence first then asks questions the next day after. I was grinning ear to ear when he was on screen, which segways onto the humour which was on point and didn’t feel forced. Natasha’s sister constantly ridicules her for a “poser” landing, as she thinks she chooses style over practicality it is perfect sibling rivalry in inappropriate situations. The film knows when to be serious and can get emotional in parts, however as I have discussed it knows when to change out the sad mask with a laughing one to add levity to the film.  

Now onto the reason most watch Marvel films, the action! Is it any good? Yes it is, as they tend to do most of it practically where they can add a sense of believability and brutality to the fights. The car chases are fast, frantic and over the top where it puts some modern Bond films to shame, where you see cars flip through the air and motorcyclists using car bonnets as spring boards. It had me on the edge of my seat the action sequences, as a lot of the fights in this film compared to other Marvel films were really bone crunching in parts, which made question the 12+ age rating.  

Overall, I think Black Widow was a good film, it gave us a more of an insight into Natasha Romanov’s backstory as a child and it is a fine end to Scarlette Johansson’s performance of the character. Not only that it was great to be back in a cinema watching films again, always a plus. A film I recommend you go and see.  

Doom Eternal - A ballet of blood and guts!

By Sam Coles: 

I’m back! Sorry for the hiatus from writing about video games, I just needed to step back for a bit to find my passion for games again. I just got burnt out because I was playing games because I had to, not because I wanted to. Anyway, what a great way to comeback by me talking about the gory and over the top gameplay of Doom Eternal! Let’s rip and tear until it is done, thanks for the support!  

If you know me in person or on social media (*cough* Instagram *cough* @bristoliangamer) you would know that I love a good story in video games, however sometimes I just want a thin layer of context to outline my upcoming blood bath and chaos. Now onto the subject Doom Eternal, a recent impulse buy which I picked up for just over £8, anyway I just want to talk about it for a few paragraphs. Just to preface I haven’t finished the game at present, so this will be more of an initial thought instead of a review, let’s get into it!  

Doom Eternal’s story has more story than I expected for a Doom game as it goes into the Doom Slayer’s background more, as it was outlined in the 2016 reboot, he is not really a space marine like he was in the old games but more of an immortal and godlike warrior. Anyway, after the events of the 2016 reboot Hell’s armies have reached Earth, and the Doom Slayer has somehow acquired a super fortress that orbits the Earth. The Doom Slayer gets various distress signals from Earth, where he then grabs his shotgun in anger and prepares to rip and tear. The story of course is not needlessly complex as Doom is an action film in video game form, but as I have said before you do get to witness the Slayer’s background in more depth but it doesn’t get in the way of the carnage.  

Doom Eternal takes the foundation of the 2016 reboot and amplifies it to 11, with its combat and level design with a bigger focus on platforming and advance movement. Let’s start off with the basic arsenal, Doom Eternal ditches the pistol which was about as effective as harsh language and instead starts you off with a pump action shotgun. What I like about this is that it is a useful weapon throughout the game, as it is effective against certain enemies with its two attachments the grenade launcher and rapid-fire mods. Not only that we have the same Doom staples return, such as the Super Shotgun with an awesome grapple hook aptly named the “Meat hook”, the assault rifle, the plasma gun, minigun, rocket launcher and chainsaw. However, there are new toys to play with such as the shoulder mounted flamethrower (I will explain it later), the Doom Sword (yes really) and the Unmaker making its return from Doom 64.  

The variety of weapons is almost overwhelming, but as I said earlier, they all have their uses and don’t get thrown to the side as you progress as they all have secondary fire modes and mods. It has been a while since I have played a shooter, where all the weapons are useful throughout the entirety of a campaign, it just goes to show that id Software are still kings when it comes to first person shooter design.  

Now let’s discuss the current mechanics they expanded as well as new ones they have included, starting with “Glory Kills”. The Glory Kill system was already fast and I thought to myself “They can’t possibly make it faster”, but they did. Glory Kills are extremely quick in Doom Eternal and you can unlock a perk that makes you rip and tear demons in two faster, which is absurd and ludicrous in a good way. You are basically an R rated version of the Flash, where you turn your enemies inside out as you speed past them. The chainsaw also makes a glorious return, where it functions the same as it did in Doom (2016). The chainsaw is how you keep your ammo supply plentiful, but this time you don’t need to collect fuel to kill cannon fodder enemies as it is constantly on a cool down when used. However, you do need fuel to kill bigger and more fearsome enemies if you want to do some meat-based gardening.   

What is new to the table are the shoulder mounted weapons, let’s start off with the flamethrower. This will not only set your enemies ablaze, but it is also a gameplay benefit because once flames make contact with the demons they start to bleed shards of armor. How does this work logically? It doesn’t make any bit of logistical sense, just roll with it as we are killing demons from Hell on the planet Mars so realism is the last thing to think of when it comes to a Doom game. Not only that you have a shoulder mounted grenade launcher, where you can fire different elemental grenades, such ice and incendiary, which is great for stopping certain enemies in their tracks.  

Now onto the more contentious part of Doom Eternal and that is the platforming sections, and what do I think of them? I think they are fine; the controls are so tight and responsive they were a nice reprieve from the combat that can be somewhat relentless at times and it gives you the chance to soak in the dark and oppressive atmosphere. Could one argue there are too many platforming sections? Well yes, but I don’t think they are as atrocious as some on the internet would lead you to believe, it’s not like Half-Life where you basically have no feet and have to interpret the ledge.  

Visually this is a much better looking game compared to Doom (2016), yes, it is more colourful and lacks the dark art style from Doom (2016) but Doom (minus 3) always was had a colourful art style and contrasted well with the brutal violence. Not only that the game runs buttery smooth even on an old school Xbox One, which is rather impressive as the arenas that you fight in are huge with dense enemy counts. The soundtrack once again by Mick Gordon is part of the experience, mixing techno, with heavy metal and of course his heavy metal choir which adds to the violence and chaos.  

Overall Doom Eternal so far is a fun but challenging experience, the game doesn’t hold your hand during combat and kicks you in the gonads if you make a slight mistake. The visuals, gunplay, soundtrack and gory and over the top violence is a fantastic experience for new or old Doom fans.