(Tl; dr video companion to this article):

What was old is new again…

The eternal return spares no one

My last article was err….if nothing else, terribly honest about the “state of things”, as they seem to be, in reference to me, gaming, and the vast emptiness that creates the texture of the every day. Based on the level of psychological fatigue I was bearing when I wrote that piece, it’s a surprise it got written at all, as I seem to, as of late, have a number of low key indicators representing those that are non too dissimilar to ones I’ve had prior, involving the red flags symbolizing a depressive state, so the sapped level of energy that befalls me is no joke.

Not to say one can’t make a joke about it: as exampled above, in getting a glimpse into my own mind in meme form about the very real thoughts I have involving reality itself

It annoys me deeply I was unable to write an article yesterday, as the plan starting quite a while ago was to not miss a day, in an effort to match my impressive level of consistency this time last year, where I was knee deep into a 6 month in a row run of everyday writing. Though, looking back to exactly a year ago, where my Words of Wisdom reads as extremely low energy and in a form of barely existing, it would seem that these states of meager existence befall me on a somewhat cyclical basis. What is bizarre about thinking of the difference between then and now, not much has seemingly changed in my life…so why the stark difference between my writing output then vs now is something of a bewilderment to me, as most of everything I’m doing now was the same as back then. A muted sense of stagnation perhaps? I struggle to articulate the exact cause of it all, though I will say, the morose depravity involved with the tragic loss of Mario Kart Tour truly did a number on me, as playing the game had become one of my favorite daily activities I looked forward to everyday.

I really wish my biggest problem with Mario Kart World was simply and only the price point

Looking forward to the next couple of months, I’m reminded that this year is not yet over, and there are a few big profile games left to come out, including Belmont’s Revenge, of which I wrote on article about the demo just the other day, The Ocarina of Time remake, which I’ve I’ve also done some writing about, and GTA VI, which I’ve almost been entire quiet about, but that’s due to everyone and their mother writing about the god damn thing, so it doesn’t feel like I will have much to add to that conversation before the game launches. Even then, and this might be the echoes of a depressive episode talking here, but I’m not even sure I’m the kind of writer people would even care to read, in terms of doing a GTA VI write up, as I feel as if that is going to be dominated mostly be streamers and “shock jockeys” of sorts, in gaining attention through obnoxious and nefarious means in the matter. So it goes…

What I imagine every GTA VI Youtube video thumbail image will look like come launch day

I plum forgot Gears of War: E-Day was launching today, which is definitely a me thing and not a them thing, as Gears represents one of the big names in the Microsoft camp that usually pulls out all of the stops when it comes to making noise for an eventual launch day. I have no doubts the series has been doing well for itself in my time away, not having really touched the franchise since the third entry, but at least from my humble and insignificant frame of reference, the series has been “underground” for quite awhile now, with a sense that it wasn’t able to continually ride the wave of success it did during its original trilogy days with ye ole Cliffy B at the helm. I feel like the same could be said of the Halo franchise, of which I have more or less explicitly commented much the same sentiment with recently, during my deconstruction of Halo: Campaign Evolved, so it seems to be some weird Microsoft/Xbox related phenomenon I am seeing at work here

*Was some Microsoft/Xbox related phenomenon

In any case, due to GoW: E-Day being available to download for free for Game Pass subscribers, I was able to download the title, and give it the old college effort, as this particular entry has been doing a much better job of letting its self “be familiar” to the gaming public at large, which again, I’m not sure if that boils down to a right place, right time scenario on my part, a much better advertising strategy on their part, or having the perfect storm of design do a great job of pulling people back in on many people’s part; perhaps some partial reality from all theorized points of success aggregated into one fortune coincidence for all involved. Whatever the case may be, I have some time to kill before Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse comes out on the 15th, and I should do my best to continue to motivate myself to write, in staving off the disastrous effects related to the malfiguring corrosiveness that such a haunting depressive state will eventual exert upon me, given the chance unabated, so E-Day it is, in what looks to be a glorious rebirth of standard for the series.

Like a Phoenix from the ashes reborn…(too obvious?)

I’d say before I even comment on anything mechanically speaking, E-Day, in being a prequel and all, runs the classic risk most prequels do. Since this game takes place at the beginning of the series, in hearkening back to when humanity first encountered the Locusts, E-Day always ran the risk of doing what most prequels feel guilty of, and that’s providing an incredibly low stakes play at cheap nostalgia baiting, for the sake of a quick cash in. One always has to play it by ear, and see just how much effort goes into a given prequel before landing on said outcome, as that judgement call is certainly an easy one to make, and a damning one to assert.. However, considering the unique world Gears always come packing with, in what is this bizarre dystopian future where everything is both high tech and low tech at the same time, it always kind of felt “timeless”, in a way? Or maybe perhaps, somehow “sans time”, as if frozen and also removed from time itself, in this bizarre little dimension of its own, as the setting and what it brings to the table feel just as “non-spoiled” as it was damn near twenty years ago.

Somehow neither nostalgic nor futuristic, but as alien and distant as it is and familiar and having never left, either, all in the same moment…

It is likely for the best that the plot can be boiled down to “Enter: The Locusts”, as for all of the great set pieces of bombast littered throughout their campaigns, ridiculously hammy dialogue, and even hammier men spouting the lines (the cogs have always been very thick bois), a sense of narrative was never Gears’ strong suit. This is truly not a point of negativity I am registering against the series, as someone who is always far more fond of favoring the metaphysics of games vs anything else, I always role my eyes when a game wastes too much precious time on telling a story that is either bland, or feels totally unnecessary, and in a universe where chainsaws are regularly affixed to automatic weaponry, it feels more than appropriate that story just take a back seat to it all.

Just have the narrative end up being described as “whatever the fuck just opened up a portal to fresh hell and swallowed up a god damn building in the process”
Really saves everyone involved a lot of time

Having made it all the way through act 1, I can safely say that the series has its bloodshot eye on the ridiculously gory prize, with E-Day feeling like a proper return to form, as the classic formula doesn’t feel like it has aged a day. This is as much of a good thing for the fans of the series as it is a bad thing for the non fans: they aren’t reinventing the wheel here, so if you were never down with Gears to begin with, don’t even bother jumping in now, cause nothing has changed. For all y’all Cogs that love to roadie run and gnasher some poor meat bags till the cows come home: we are so back, my peeps.

I look forward to getting into more of the nitty-gritty of Gears of War: E-Day, in all of it’s splendiferously, over the top, gory glory, in the days yet to come.

~Pashford