I am Mog Anarchy, and I like to play games. Whether they are old, new, retro, modern, online, offline, console, computer, critically acclaimed or notoriously bad. Here on my blog, I rant about, review, trash talk, praise and generally talk about all of my favourite and least-favourite games. I also write my own guides on how to accomplish tricky tasks, show off my creative endeavors and challenge myself with crazy in-game tasks. I also have a bunch of gaming merchandise which I am glad to show off. So drop me a comment, I love hearing your questions, criticisms, comments and general gaming discussions. :)
Skyrim is an amazing game - that's something 99% of humanity can agree on. And modded Skyrim is even better. Vanilla Skyrim only has so much to offer - and I like it so much I want it to last as long as possible - hence why I use a lot of different mods. As far as mods go, we can divide them into several specific categories.
Immersion mods (mods that increase the overall immersion of Skyrim) (e.g. Frostfall)
Item mods (Mods that add new recipes, weapons and collectables) (e.g. Ingredients of Tamriel)
Sound and graphics mods (mods that improve the graphics and ambient sounds of Skyrim) (e.g. Enhanced Blood Textures)
Quest mods (mods that add new quests) (e.g. Helgen Reborn)
House mods (mods that add new player homes) (e.g. Haven Bag)
World mods (mods that add whole new world's to explore) (e.g. Falskaar)
Mechanics mods (mods that alter Skyrim’s mechanics) (e.g. Hunterborn)
Stupid mods
And the stupid mods are aplenty - naked character mods, silly weapons mods, downright out of place mods - and the most ridiculous, pointless and stupid mod I've ever found. The sexy Lockpick mod.
As you can see; this mod alters the standard Lockpick mini game - changing the keyhole into a woman's vagina and anus. As you do. What's even weirder is the fact she will orgasm upon success and scream in pain when you fail. What the actual fuck. If you ever find someone using this mod - smash their PC, tie them up and lock them in a dark cupboard for several days to reflect upon their life choices. At least change the standard Lockpick tools into gigantic purple dildos. Jeez, some people.
Gardenscapes is a free-to-play match-3 style app available for Android and IOS devices - but unlike the usual slew of Bejeweled clones or multiple Candy Crush Saga spin-offs - Gardenscapes also features an RPG-style story mode which involves restoring a run-down botanical gardens back to its former glory.
As you complete the match-3 levels, you will be rewarded with stars - these stars can then be used to complete various tasks within the garden, such as planting trees and flowers, repairing fences and fountains and building new features such as a tree house and spring. Part-way through the game, you will also adopt a dog, which you can name (I named mine Rufus) who will create chaos within the garden and provide you with other things to build, such as a kennel. For such a simple concept, Gardenscapes is actually filled to the brim with content - throughout the game you interact mainly with Austin, your butler - but as you progress, you will meet and unlock more characters who can be recruited to complete tasks within your garden. There is also a Facebook-style newsfeed app where you can read conversations between them - the posts between Austin and his parents are particularly amusing. Unlike many match-3 games, each coloured piece is unique - made up of fruits, acorns, droplets of water and flowers - and Shelly (who is red-green colour-blind, remember) assures me she has no problems distinguishing between colours like she has done in similar games. Of course, the game is not without issues. As with many free-to-play apps, you CAN use real money to purchase in-game coins, which can be traded for lives, boosters or be used to speed up tasks taking place within the garden. You are rewarded with these coins simply by playing the game, but it's a paltry amount. For each level you complete, you'll receive 50-75 coins - but it costs 900 to refill your lives and even more to buy boosters. Once you pass level 60, the levels begin to become unforgiving - whether you can pass the level or not will be determined in your first few moves, and quite often, it's based on luck - hopefully you can start a level with the means to create bombs and rainbow blasters in your first few moves. The game can also be linked with Facebook - to IN THEORY send and receive lives between your real-life friends - well I'm calling this feature out right now - it DOESN'T WORK. Shelly and I were constantly asking for and sending each other lives - the requests for help sent, but the actual lives we sent each other were lost in cyberspace. I think out of the dozens she sent me, I only received about two of them. Also, unlike Candy Crush Saga, Bejeweled Stars and similar games, you can't see your friends' progress - and overly competitive people like Shelly enjoy this feature. You also can't replay levels - so if there was a level you particularly enjoyed - too bad, you only get to play it once. I'm not sure why this feature isn't included - even if they allowed replaying of levels but didn't reward you with the paltry amount of coins they do initially. I enjoyed Gardenscapes initially, for the first few days I played it - before the levels began to become unforgiving and downright frustrating. I can't help but think it's fallen into the typical trap of trying to squeeze real money out of players just so they can continue progressing through the game - and I'm only onto the 3rd area of the garden - there's a greyed-out area you can scroll across that's 3 times bigger than the area I've already unlocked - so clearly this game is pretty beasty. The Facebook-esque newsfeed also has several greyed-out profiles of characters I can potentially unlock in the future - if I can ever get past fucking level 77.
Today I’m counting down the hardest side-scrolling Sonic games from the Mega Drive era - games released between 1991 and 1994 - and we’re obviously discounting Sonic Spinball, Mean Bean Machine and Sonic 3D Blast. We’re going from the easiest to the hardest, let’s begin the countdown!
5 - Sonic The Hedgehog 3
Considering that Sonic The Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles were meant to played together, using the lock-on cartridge - it seems obvious that Sonic 3 is piss easy - it's designed to be the first half of a bigger overall game, thus, easier levels. Sonic 3 introduced a whole array of new items, including the elemental shields - the fire one making you impervious to fire-based enemies, especially the fiery rockets on most bosses, the electric shield, that attracts rings, and the bubble shield - which allows underwater breathing. These shields also deflect projectiles and are as common as muck in the grand scheme of things, some of them being placed on the most direct route through the level - you can also easily acquire them from the checkpoint bonus levels quite easily. Although all of the levels end with a boss - a sub-boss in Act 1 and Dr Robotnik in Act 2, the majority of the sub-bosses are pathetically weak and Dr Robotnik proves more annoying than actually difficult. The Blue Sphere special stage is also the 2nd easiest Chaos Emerald stage in my opinion, the only thing being frustrating about them is the fact you actually have to FIND the giant rings, rather than the 50-rings method. Oh, and the final thing that cements my opinion that Sonic 3 is the easiest game? YOU HAVE RINGS WHEN YOU FIGHT THE FINAL BOSS!
4 - Sonic CD
Now Sonic CD is a strange one here at number 4. But you need to bear in mind, we’re comparing Sonic CD to the other Sonic side-scrolling platformers on the Mega Drive, and it’s the odd one out as it uses an entirely different engine and is full of unique mechanics that aren’t present in any other Sonic game, before or since. Sonic CD’s difficulty curve is all over the place - and it’s all down to the ability to warp between different time periods. As a general rule, the past is easier and the future is harder - the past tends to have less enemies and obstacles, while the future is full of badniks and traps. The first few levels are quite easy - a lot of them I breezed through by practically just holding right and the odd jump. The bosses however are all a pain in the arse - every single one has some weird puzzle you need to solve before you even work out how you’re supposed to start causing damage - the strangest of all being the treadmill boss.. The last two levels are a combination of bouncy floor that rockets you to the top of the level, electrocuting mechanisms in the background and having to traverse a factory-style maze as a mini, baby Sonic.
3 - Sonic The Hedgehog 2
Now Sonic 2 is actually both mine and Shelly's favourite Sonic game - I played it to death as a kid, and continue to do so as an adult on a regular basis. To me, in between the jump from Sonic 1 to Sonic 2, the introduction of the spin-dash move and using checkpoints to access the special stages rather than at the end of the level made the game appear easier straightaway. Sonic 2 is very easy up until around Hill Top Zone, where it finally gains a few teeth and they continue sprouting right up until the very end of the game. While Sonic 1's stages all had 3 acts as standard, only one stage in Sonic 2 does, while two only have the one - potentially allowing for more variety in stages. Sonic 2's special stages are easy, if you play as Tails or Sonic alone - letting the CPU control Tails is frustrating as hell, as he just loves crashing into the damn bombs. Alternatively, having a 2nd player control Tails makes these special stages insultingly easy, providing they're a skilled player. Speaking of Tails, both the CPU and a 2nd player makes boss stages easier - allowing for Tails to kick the shit out of Robotnik while Sonic sits back and watches. The combination of Metropolis Zone and Wing Fortress Zone makes the end of the game pretty difficult - and couple that with a double boss on the final stage that kicked my arse over and over as a kid due to the lack of rings - Sonic 2 is a decent contender here.
2 - Sonic The Hedgehog
Like many first installments, and retro games in general; the original Sonic The Hedgehog has a somewhat unforgiving difficulty once it gets going. Green Hill Zone is a little warm-up, which is hastily followed by Marble Zone; a level filled with spikes and lava, Spring Yard Zone, a level filled with enemies who chase you and tons of instant death drops, Labyrinth Zone, which is a fucking UNDERWATER MAZE, Star Light Zone,, actually an easy level, but it's filled with unkillable enemies and Scrap Brain Zone, a level that contains NO checkpoints and also has an act that is a Labyrinth Zone clone, ANOTHER UNDERWATER MAZE. I'm surprised that the final boss is actually pretty easy. You have no rings, of course, but as final bosses go, the only easier one is Sonic The Hedgehog 3's. The special stage is also unforgiving as fuck, constantly spinning around with trippy coloured backgrounds to give you motion sickness as you repeatedly fall into pit after pit after pit.
1 - Sonic & Knuckles
And finally we have Sonic & Knuckles - the overall hardest Sonic game released on the Mega Drive. As I previously explained, Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles were designed to be one game - so it's not surprising that Sonic & Knuckles started half-way up the difficulty curve, where Sonic 3 left off after Launch Base Zone. Right from the beginning, Sonic & Knuckles' first stage, Mushroom Hill Zone is about as difficult as the likes of Casino Night Zone and Spring Yard Zone and it continues building a steep difficulty curve right up until the insanely difficult final boss. The final stage, Death Egg Zone even forces you to traverse the level UPSIDE-DOWN, effectively reversing your controls! While Sonic & Knuckles is lacking in underwater levels, it certainly makes up for it with tons of timed sections, tough platforming, levels that are built like damn mazes and bosses which to find their weak spot is a bloody puzzle.
Now, I don't normally go for Christmas specials or festive menus at fast food restaurants, but after seeing the advert for Subway’s Festive Feast, I knew I had to try it.
Firstly, I love Subway - I'm a big fan of sandwiches in general, and everyone knows sandwiches taste better if someone else makes them for you. My usual order from Subway is an Italian BMT on hearty Italian bread, cheese, cucumber, lettuce and mayonnaise. Cold - never toasted. So, today I ordered my Festive Feast with the same additions - and I omitted the rancid cranberry sauce.
The Festive Feast comes with turkey slices, streaky bacon and sausages. The turkey was lovely and juicy, the bacon was super crispy - but the sausages were a bit naff. Sausages should ALWAYS be warm in sandwiches - when they're cold, they just taste like congealed lard.
Obviously turkey is the key component of a Christmas dinner - and the sausage and bacon makes up the pigs in blankets. But what's missing? Something turkey should never be without? STUFFING! If this sandwich came with a touch of stuffing and less lardy sausages, it would be a million times nicer.
If I order another this December, I should try it toasted - see how that changes the taste of the meat, omit the cheese, because that just didn't work whatsoever and sneak in some stuffing in a tupperware.
It's time for my twelfth monthly Arcade Block! As I've previously explained; for a fee of $20 CANADIAN per month, Arcade Block will send you a lovely box of gaming merchandise, including a T-shirt. Shipping costs vary, depending on where you live, and larger T-shirt sizes cost a few $ extra - overall, my boxes including shipping, work out at about £24. This one was shipped on the 25th of October and arrived on the 8th of November.
