Well this was a failed experiment

This will be a condense of my weekly review. The reasons why it doesn't work is because I keep forgetting to put a journal entry. Since some days are just uneventful and there is nothing much to report. Well I am going to still continue my daily/weekly journal but in a different form. I haven't figured that one yet. So here is stuff that happen between week 47 - 52. Overall this year has been more ups than downs

Up: 247 Down: 118

Week 52
1) Did nothing at all - Down
2) Got block from my uni - Down
3) Settle uni problems - Down
4) Had to travel 2 hours to pick idiot stepfather- Down
5) Normal Friday - Up
6) Lazy Saturday - Up
7) normal Friday - Up
8) Moving up the room - Up

Week 51
1) Back to work - Down
2) Nothing much happen - Down
3) Played lots of games - Up
4) Lots of errands - Up
5) Nothing much - Up
6) Daughter had an internship - Up
7) Lazy Sunday - Up

Week 50
1) Monday blues - Down
2) Public holiday and sleep - Up
3) Working - Up
4) Busy doing other stuff - Up
5) Double feature movie night - Up
6) Went date with wife - Up
7) Lazy Sunday - up

Week 49
1) Hany had influenza A - Down
2) Didn’t sleep checking on Hany - Down
3) Went to Ikea, Hana first field trip - Up
4) Nothing much happen - Up
5) Another good day - Up
6) Went out with the kids the whole day - Up
7) Went out with dela’s mom - Down

Week 48
1) back to work - up
2) Nothing much - up
3) Busy going left and right - Up
4) Hany’s first swimming lesson - Up
5) Normal Friday - Up
6) Went out with extended family and shopping - Up
7) Hany had a high fever - Down

Week 47
1) Not a good day for her - Down
2) Public holiday - Up
3) Kids back to school, back to work - Up
4) Outbreak at school, she was very busy - Up
5) Another busy day - Up
6) Great day with the kids - Up
7) Moms back, groceries - Up

The Meg

This movie is awesome because its batshit crazy



What is it about?
A group of explorer discover a shark that is thought to be extinct

The Good
This movie doesn't pretend to be serious and embrace the crazy which is the megaladon is here to cause a lot of chaos
The fish action is on point
This is actually to separate movies. I think the producers realized that the first scene was too short and they had to come up with a new storyline
Like the Chinese actors. Both are cute

The Bad
This is considered bad but its good.
A second bigger megaladon comes halfway in the movie
The near misses are borderline funny
Ruby Rose is underutilized
The billionaire that is in the category of dumb ways to die

The Ugly
Nothing since its a enjoyable popcorn movie

After Credits: No

Verdict: Worth watching since its a good time at the movie

Halo Combat Evolved: Anniversary Edition

This game is truly a masterpiece of it's time. Still holds up until now

Game no: 312
Genre: FPS
Platform: Xbox One (Part of the Halo Master Chief Collection)
Release Date: 2011
Factory Sealed: 176



What is it about?
The war between the humans and the covenant has reached a certain planet called Halo. There is something that lies beneath it.

What I Liked?
This game was released in 2001 and the things that they implement still holds up to date.
Rechargeable shields give you an extra boost when fighting
Interchangeable guns which means the action is non stop even when you run out of ammo
The storyline an interesting one. Just when you think you understand the game. It throws an unexpected twist in the middle which is scary and awesome at the same time.
Everyone has small bits of dialogue that is fun to hear
Vehicles that can be mounted and provide extra firepower.

What I didn't like?
Driving the Warthog. No idea why they map the driving controls to two analogue sticks. It feels very buttery
The constant feeling of lost. There are no waypoints so you are left to find the next path yourself. The problem is that the stages are massively huge and the same. So sometimes you will end up going in circles until you find the correct path.
The ending chase is impossible to do since the Warthog drives like shit.

Status: Finish the game

Fun Factor: Worth to be played with the enhance graphic and sound

Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse

One of the Spider-Man movies ever told



What is it about?
There are many universe and in each universe there is a Spider-Man. This is a story about multiple Spider-Man

The good
The animation style is a mixture of hand drawn and 3D modeling.
Action is fast and fluid and a bit on the psychedelic side. There are too many colours on the screen at once.
Writing is smart and funny and the same time.
Each of the Spider-Men provide a different perspective on the character which is fun to watch
Spider-Ham is one of the funniest characters on screen.
In the end this is a story about family and believing in yourself.

The Bad
Nothing much. The story hit all the points and the action never stop

The Ugly
Nothing

After credits: Two. The last credit is super entertaining. The actual credits is also a fun easter eggs of multiple Spider-man from around the Spider-Verse. Look closely and you can see the PS4 Spider-Man

Verdict: One of my best movies of the year.

Forza Horizon 4 Fortune Island

The best racing game just got better

Game no: 311
Genre: Racing
Platform: Xbox One
Release Date: 2018





What is it about?
Forza Horizon 4 got their first DLC in a the form of an island has a new set a challanges

What I liked?
The whole map is built for more exploration with off road vehicles.
There are 10 treasure locations that can be obtain by solving clues. Each of the chest will get you 1 million credits and a a couple of new cars
Thunder plays an important role in the racers now. They will bloc your path when racing
Same gameplay as Forza 4
More drift sections which is awesome

What I didn't liked?
The game can be finished in less than 8 hours. Since there are not many things to do.

Status: Finish all 10 treasures and finish all the racers

Fun Factor: A new Forza game is fun. Now waiting for the last DLC next year

Super Smash Bros Ultimate

One of the best Smash Bros game

Game no: 310
Genre: Fighting
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Release date: 2018





What is it about?
Video game characters from all different games come together to fight each other out silly.

What I liked?
All the 74 characters that plays differently and there is a favorite for everyone. I usually play as a random character since everyone plays uniquely.
The stages provides hazard and interactive roadblocks that adds a certain level of chaos while fighting
There is no need to get the smash ball since there is an option to fill your smash meter by fighting
Classic mode provide custom challenges and custom boss fights for each characters.
8 player smash
The songs (there are more than 1000+ tracks)

What I didn't liked?
World of light. The single player mode doesn't provide any incentive to continue on. The reason is because of....
The spirits mode. Its basically augments your character based on their picture.It's not really that fun since the cpu players keeps on hammering you time and time again. Most of the spirits that you have are not that effective with what you need to fight against

Status: Got all of the characters and enjoying multiplayer with my kids

Fun Factor: It's a fun game if it's played with a friend. Single player is not my cup of tea.    

Gears of War Ultimate Edition

This game does not aged well.

Game no: 309
Genre: Shooter
Platform: Xbox One
Release Date: 2015



What is it about?
In the not so distant future, locust came and invade the land. It's up to the gears to stop them (I actually don't understand the story that much)

What I liked?
The satisfying feeling of firing a weapon and killing the locust
The sniper rifle
The story is somewhat serviceable

What I didn't liked?
The old school game play of run stop drop and shoot. This game is design to make each fight is a tedious repetition. You go to one area and repeat the same process over and over again. I don't understand how is this fun now. The reason I played it is just because I want to see what is the story all about. It's been a while since I've played it

Status: Finish the game on casual

Verdict: Play if you want to see what is it about. But other than that, its not memorable 

Forza Horizon 4

One of the best racing games I've played in a while. First game on the Xbox One

Game: 308
Genre: Racing
Platform: Xbox One
Released Date: 2018





What is it about?
The Horizon festival is going to the UK with more cars, racers and challenges.

What I liked?
Starting the game you are greeted with an intro of all the different type of seasons and racers.
Starting the Horizon festival with one car and slowly making your way to bigger and better events
This game rewards you not by winning the game but participating in the events. Whether you win or lose, you will level up to gain more credits and perks.
There are 2 different perks you can get which is Wheelspin and Super Wheelspin. Basically is like getting loot but you can't win it buy paying money for it. Loots that you can win are In-game credits, emote (winning poses), Car Horns (there is a Windows shutdown horn) and of course cars. Legendary cars are harder to get but the feeling of getting something rare is awesome
There are more than 450 cars form more than 100+ manufactures. There are also rare Forza Edition cars that only can be obtain via wheelspin.
There are custom tracks that the community design that provides a good way to earn a lot of credits

Other things to do besides race:
There are story missions that range from a stunt race set, a British documentary, a Super car rental spot and a gaming blogger to name a few. You get to drive cool cars for each mission which are too expensive to own.
There are around 200 boards around the map that gives you influence and fast travel. There are mostly like a treasure hunt.
You can buy property all around UK. The cheapest house is 200,000cr and the most expensive house is the Edinburgh castle which is around 15,000,000cr.
Another cool thing is the barn find which gives you exclusive rare cars.

The seasons 
There are 4 seasons in the map, each season which is Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter provides different environment for the tracks. They also offer different seasonal races.

What I didn't liked?
The grind... The racers provide a small amount of credit. You need to buy the VIP pass just to earn double the amount. The good thing about the game is that there is no micro transaction so everything needs to be earn by in game.
Some racers you can't beat unless you have a faster car than the opponent. Which cost more credits. The good thing about that is you earn a lot of cars from the wheelspin. So hopefully you can get lucky

Status: Played the game, finish all the racers and the seasonal events. Since the game constantly changes every week. The seasonal tracks is a reason to come back and play. The Fortune Island expansion just come out, so now I am playing that...

Verdict: One of the best racing games I've played in a long while. The reason I borrowed a friends Xbox and got Gamepass to play it. Game of year is going to be hard on me.

Bumblebee

The first 5 mins is worth the ticket price



What is it about?
The origin story on how the first Autobot landed on Earth

The Good
Generation 1 transformers designs. The fight at the beginning was spectacular
Less robot action but more heart to heart
The human characters really show emotion with Bumblebee

The Bad
The humans are quite dumb in this movie.
John Cena character only shine at the end of the movie
Optimus only screen time is less than 5 minutes
The final fight scene was too chaotic

The Ugly
They didn't show the 80s vibe that much. Grated  it was almost close to the 90s

After Credits: Yes and it's sets up for a future movie

Verdict: After years of getting violated by Micheal Bay. It's great to see something that is less but has more substance 

Aquaman

Finally, a laid back superhero who is awesome



What is it about?
Arthur Curry who was born from both worlds needs to unite the nations in order to prevent an all out war.

What's good?
There are small action set pieces that convey the pace of the movie
Jason Momoa was born to play the role.
The water scene are amazing to watch. The fight scene choreograph stupendously
The bad guy motivation is easy enough to understand.
The flashback scene are handle well and it given throughout the whole movie
The end fight scene is bonkers
The story feels more like a treasure hunting chase
His final costume is awesome

What's bad?
The main bad guy is forgettable as well as the 2nd bad guy is also ok.
The movie is 20 mins to long.

The Ugly
Nothing much

After credits: Yes, but if you are not a fan of the comic, you'll probably can skip it

Verdict: One of the best superhero movies of this year and there are a lot of good ones

Ralph breaks the Internet

It’s a very well made sequel 

What is it about?

Ralph needs to save his best friend with the help of the internet. 

The Good
The story is a fun take on the Internet 

There are multiple cameos of video game characters as well as internet websites

Avatar representation is cute 

Love the Disney Princesses 

The Bad 

Less game representation 

The main characters from the first movie are not represented well

The Ugly

NothingAfter Credits: Yes. One after the main credits and the other after the end credits. That one is awesome

Verdict: A good sequel. Worth watching once 

Arrival

Finally after 2 years got to see this movie



What is it about?
Aliens land to earth and humans needs to establish the first contact

The Good
Closely lay all the plot points that intersects in the end

The Bad
Time travel sucks
Wish we could learn more

The Ugly
Nothing

After Credits: No

Verdict: A good sci fi movie

Hotel Artemis

A run down version of the Continental



What is it about?
A hotel that treats criminal when their hurt in a dangerous future

The Good
The movie is easy enough to understand
The characters are lively enough
The backstory is provided in chucks but in the end it follows through

The Bad
Not that much over the top action. All the action is grounded
Batista is a weakling in the movie

The Ugly
Ending sucks

After Credits: Yes, 5 seconds

Verdict: A good brain shutdown movie

Christopher Robin

What happens when you grow up




What is it about?
What happens to the 100 acre woods when Christoper Robin grew up

The Good
The story shows a good chunk of what happens when Christoper Robin leaves
The character between Robin and his family is very well written
Pooh and friends really light up the movie
The third act is fast paced and exciting to watch

The Bad
They don't really explain why Pooh is magical
There was not many scene with Pooh and friends
It would be interesting to see the interaction with Pooh and friends with Christoper's family

The Ugly
Nothing much

After Credits: Yes, but doesn't move the storyline

Verdict: A feel good movie but really not for young children

Fantastic Beast The Crimes of Grindlewald

Another 2 years another Harry Potter-ish movie



What is it about?
The continuation of the 2nd out 5 part of the Fantastic Beast series

The Good
The parts with the Fantastic Beast is exciting to watch
Dumbledore and Newt are the most compelling characters
Lots of cool magical spells 

The Bad
The story is long and boring with a lot of exposition
There are not that many Fantastic Beast in the movie
This is a long movie without any payout.
The action scene are few and far between 

The Ugly
They end the movie abruptly but we do know that the 3rd movie won't conclude the movie.

After Credits: No

Verdict: A watch if you want more Wizarding World movies

Red Dead Redemption II

Games are wasting your time but this one takes it the a whole new level

Genre: Action
Platform: PS4

Released Date: 2018

What is it about?

The year is 1899 and outlaws are a dying breed. You play as Arthur Morgan as you try to salvage what it's left of your gang and your outlaw life.

This game is...

- beautiful to look at. At the first start of the game you can see the physics of the snow and everything has minute details all over it. This game is really a testament of what you can do with the time and resources given.

- Everything you see in the world you can interact with. Everything has it's own animation to skinning an animal, shooting a gun or riding your hours. Everything must be done as realistically as possible. 

- Is not a game but more of an art piece on how to make an immersive western simulator.

- Not fun at all... The reasons are stated as below

Why is it not fun

- Everything moves at a snails pace from opening the drawer taking something from the shelf. Every is animated perfectly and Rockstar wants you to see him opening a drawer with 6 second animations

- The controls are not responsive and cluttered. There are a lot of button inputs you need to memorize which doesn't help since there are no tutorials or button prompts on what you are supposed to do. This game except you to understand the mechanic of the game but the slow animation provides complicated controls which makes you accidentally press the wrong button. That in turn will cause you Wanted meter to rise and everything will just be a not fun mess

- Unlike GTA 5 which has fun objectives to do, their objectives seems more like a chore than something you really want to do. I didn't want to spend a good 40 minutes to travel from point A to point B only to fetch someone back to camp.

- Speaking travelling, a horse is fickle to control and you need to be in range of your whistle. If your horse die you need to steal or walk to camp which is miles away. Man its not fun at all

- Shooting involves you cleaning a gun for better aims. Some bad guys takes 5-6 hits before going down.  

- Movement is slow and clunky   

Rockstar forgot what makes an open world game fun. Sure there are some realism involve but it doesn't need to be to real. Breath of Wild has the same mechanics as Red Dead but it makes it fun when you don't need to worry about the horse kick you in the nuts. Going from place to place needs to be fun and not like a chore. The funny thing is this game gets 10/10 and 97 on metacritic.

Status: Played around 10 plus hours in chapter 2. Decided this is not worth my time

Fun Factor: If you want the real cowboy experience I say go for it. If not there are other ways to spend your tine. This is not one of them 

Up and down week

It turns out my wife depression keeps on coming and going. Sometimes she is ok, sometimes she is not. But she did tell me that she doesn't get physically sick. She is more expressive but her mental state is like a timebomb. 

Week 45
1) she was not feeling well - Down
2) Lazy Tuesday, deepavali- Up
3) Is not a good day for her - Down
4) She’s busy and I’m free - Up
5) Busy day for the kids - Up
6) Lazy Saturday- Up
7) Dance for Kindness, She had a terrible episode - Down

Up: 214 Down: 102

I decided that you only live once

Rather than dwell about things I can't control like my masters (which technically I can) and other stuff. I decided to take things one day at a time. Any Up day is considered a good day. I finally manage to post my GPD after going around town looking for the exact screwdriver to remove the battery from the unit (it turns out that the battery is 500g of the weight)

Week 44
1) Gpd postage denied, battery taken out success - Up
2) Post the gpd - Down
3) Went to school for a long meeting. Achieved nothing - Down
4) Wife was tired, did nothing much - Up
5) Going for wedding rehearsal and family dinner - Up
6) Actual wedding, tiring but fun - Up7) Lazy Sunday - Up 

Up: 209 Down: 99

Lots of drama... and my GPD died

This week was supposed to be a new week of work. But we got a call from the school saying that my 7 year old got kicked and teased until she cried. My wife was livid. We went to the school and try to confront the principle. The principle told us in passing it was not a big deal (for another kid). My wife told that kids parents and then my wife got yelled at at the principles. The thing is my wife got a lot of repent anger stored up. She then suddenly burst into her angry mode (which I hate to be at the receiving end of). After that they all cool down and things we back to normal. The boy was suspended for 1 week.

Other than that, my Win 2 experience a faulty LCD ribbon. When checking online, the installation looks extremely complicated. It's still under warranty so it's off to china

Week 43
1) Back to work - Up
2) Hany got kick, wife got screamed, she went mental - Down
3) Another day nothing to show for - Down
4) Went and run lots of errands - Down
5) Tiring day - Down
6) Gpd win 2 died - Down 7) Awesome Sunday - Up 

Up: 204 Down: 97

My masters in going nowhere

This week is about my masters. I think its becoming harder and harder to concentrate. I don't have any excuses for it but I don't have any urgency to do it. My wife is not helping me by giving me a pep talk. Which rarely works. Besides that my beautiful Hany is turning 7. We spend 1000 for her party and got gifts more than the amount. All in all I say it was a good deal

Week 42
1) Still can't do work, im so screwed - Down
2) Didn’t do much of anything - Down
3) Today was a bad day for her (next morning) - Down
4) She didn't went to work - Down
5) Hospital appointment - Up
6) Hany birthday party - Up
7) Hangout with brother in law and his new wife - Up

Up: 202 Down: 92

My brother in law is getting married

Well this week the whole family needs to prepare for my brother in law wedding. We had to book a flight to Kelantan and it was a horrible trip. My brother is not a good host. It was the worse homecoming in a while. I broke my glasses. At least the wedding went ok

Week 41
1) Back to school - Up
2) No water at home - Down
3) School holiday - Up
4) Back to school - Up
5) Flight from hell - Down
6) Brother in law got married, actual brother broke my glasses - Up
7) Went home, terrible trip - Down

Up: 199 Down: 88

I'm a couple weeks behind... Let's get started

This week was not a good week for my wife. I sympathize not understanding depression but I am trying my best just to be there with her despite all my own issues. It's ok, so far I am still hanging

 Week 40

1) Kids are sick - Down
2) Heavy rain - Down
3) She spend crying all night - Down
4) More crying, not a good day - Down
5) Her mood was still shitty - Down
6) Went to see her doctor - Down
7) Lazy Sunday - Up

Up: 195 Down: 85

Super Mario Party

Another Switch must buy 

Game no: 307
Genre: Board (Party Minigame) 
Platform: Nintendo Switch 
Released Date: 2018

What is it about?
Mario and friends are having a having a board game minigame party

What I liked?
- Out of the 80 minigames, more than 65 are considered fun. The motion controls are a hit and a miss though
'- There are a lot of modes to choose from such as, board game, tag team board game, mini game party mode and a single player mode
- Each character has their own unique dice which provide a certain element of strategy to the game
- Getting a ally will land you in more dice roll. It seems that there is no limit on how many ally you can have in a game
- Playing multiplayer with actual people is fun and hectic. You can't tell who will win unless there are already 3 stars ahead of you

What I didn't liked?
- The motion control games are very hard to get it right. 
- The interactive things on the board are not as robust as previous mario party
- Rumble minigames 
- The fact that this game loses appeal once you completed everything. There are stickers and such but you are not missing anything 

Status: Finish the game with all boards and characters 

Fun Factor: An excellent party game for the Switch.