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Far from solid but, not quite dead. Metal Gear Survive review (Warning: Spoilers)

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Oh my god, where to start with this? This review has taken longer to write than any other review that I have done simply for the fact that there doesn’t seem to be any way to review this title without addressing it’s controversial nature. Having said that, let’s just get the BS outta the way. Yes, you get charged for a second, third, or fourth save slot. Yes, you have to pay for more expedition team slots. Yes, your hunger and thirst gauges drain very quickly, almost ridiculously so. This game has problems but, it’s actually not bad, a fact that may even be it’s biggest problem. There, I said it, Metal Gear Survive is actually a pretty good game….if you like survival games. Now, onto the review. The game starts off almost feeling like an interesting spin off of the beloved Metal Gear Solid series, you get a beautiful cut scene recounting the end of the MGSV prologue known as Ground Zeroes. It is from the end of that “prologue” that the story of MG Survive begins, w
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On Metal Gear Survive and toxic fandom.

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                                                                                                                                         Hey there memory buffs, it your old pal: Ein Jakaal, welcome back to memory beats reality the place where I examine the old and how it holds up to reality . Obviously I do other things here too and today we have a tasty op ed by yours truly.    So, as you may know, Metal Gear Survive came out about a week ago and most people won’t give it a chance after the messy break-up between creator Hideo Kojima and his former employer Konami. This is not to say that some people out there (myself included) aren’t going to give it a try out of curiosity if nothing else and, I have to say (after about 20 or so hours) that it’s actually kind of fun. This experience of mine is kind of where the op ed begins.    My piece here begins with the lecture I received from a long time friend who was more than a little miffed at my decision to spend M
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"Affecting the Effect" Mass Effect: Andromeda review.

   Unless you've been living in isolation for the last few weeks, you more than likely know that Mass Effect: Andromeda recently made it's way to PC and consoles. The game has been more than a little divisive with critics and gamers alike ripping on it's abundance of bugs and facial animation issues. YouTube compilations and social media rage posts seem to gravitate toward this game but, is it as bad as many are making it out to be? Well, I have taken upon myself to ascertain the reality of these claims. Ok, were we go........                                                      78 hours later.....       Ok, um, wow.....that felt a wee bit unpolished. Let me start by saying this game has so much potential and the combat is very fun but, there are definitely some glaring issues here. Yes, the bugs exist although they are not as bad after the day one patch (a patch which was claimed wasn't gonna happen but did anyway) this still does not erase the fact
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The most important part is the ending......right?

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  This one is for all of you Mass Effect fans out there because if you're like me, then the day that you've awaited for three months finally arrived yesterday. Yes, I'm talking about the release of the long awaited and highly debated Mass Effect 3: Extended cut.   For those of you who are not familiar with the Mass Effect series here's a quick recap.  Mass Effect is a series of third person shooter/RPG hybrid games that first saw release in 2007. The release was met with critical acclaim, commercial success, and even a little controversy (courtesy of Fox News). The first game was an xbox360 console exclusive but it's sequel's saw release on the PS3 as well after BioWare was bought by EA. The games followed the adventures of Commander Shepard and his mixed crew of aliens and humans as they take to the galaxy fighting evil...or committing it, if you so chose. Along these adventures you could form friendships and alliances, make enemies, or even fall in love. T
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A memory in HD

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 Welcome to Memory beats Reality, the blog where we examine and discuss those old school gaming memories that some of us hold so dear.     In the last year or so I've noticed the rising trend of HD remakes for some of our beloved last gen titles and one recently announced at E3 has caught my attention. That, being the upcoming HD remake of Jet Set Radio (formerly released as Jet Grind Radio). Now this game was, by far, one of my all time favs on the Sega Dreamcast and I recently came by a copy of it on ebay so I decided to fire it up and see if it was still as good as I remember it.   For those of you who don't remember, Jet Set Radio chronicles the adventures of a gang of "rudies" known as the GG's who are graffiti artists and in line skaters battling other gangs for supremacy in the districts of Tokyo-to. Also the title "Jet Set Radio" seems to refer to a pirate radio station of the same name ran by DJ Professor K who periodically gives you
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