Recent Stuff 10: Toothpaste

-GAMES-

Just Cause 1 & 2: With both Mad Max and Just Cause 3 out within months from one another, I figured now would be an appropriate time to play Just Cause 1 & 2 for the first time. Yup, never played them. When it comes to video game sequels and franchises, I'm the kind of guy that likes to compare, and while I likely won't play Mad Max right away, I just don't feel comfortable jumping into Just Cause 3 without some firsthand knowledge.

The original plan was to play Just Cause 1 just a tiny bit, then go full in on the second game. However, that all changed when I played around two hours of the first game. For some reason, even though it wasn't clicking with me, I just wanted to keep playing to see how it all turns out. And, well, the rest can be read in the review. I spent a week on the game, might as well write one for it, right?

I've yet to play Just Cause 2 beyond the opening mission, and I probably won't pick it up again until mid/late September. Maybe. The only reason I tried it out was to make sure it was functioning well, because when my used copy arrived in the mail, the disc was scratched to hell, despite the online seller saying it hardly had any. Worried, I thought I could at least try to install the game, but it always stopped at 40% with an error message popping up. Frustrated and feeling I had nothing to lose at this point, I decided to do a trick I never tried before: clean the disc with toothpaste.

Rubbed the paste on in straight lines with a stack of toilet paper, let it sit for 20-some minutes, washed it off, dried the disc, plopped it back in the machine, installed....... and it went all the way to 100%. Never thought it would actually work. Edit: the method I did was to only use standard paste, as gel or or other types won't do any good. Also, pretty please don't get upset if you actually try to use this trick, based on my success with it, and it doesn't work for you and/or it damages your system. I simply took a risk.

Chicken Run: I thought it would be cute to do a Metal Gear-related review on the day MGSV:TPP comes out (Sept. 1st), and after some thinking, I went for Chicken Run. Plus, it would also double as a Dreamcast review, an annual, personal tradition I try to keep up every September. Picking this game was a horrible mistake.

The game arrived on the 26th, which gave me a few nights to mess with it and write a review, but after the third night, I REALLY started having regrets. However, it was way too late to start anything else up in time, which made it more frustrating when I realized a PS4 digital game called Volume was released a week before. Apparently, it's also heavily inspired by the older Metal Gear Solid titles. Argh, missed opportunity! Not wanting to feel defeated, I went ahead with the Chicken Run review, and you can see the finished product here.

Not much else played since my last blog entry. I did a little bit of Zombie Army Trilogy again on the 31st to nab an online-related trophy, just in case it would be hard to get later on. Afterwards, did a brief session of Ground Zeroes to get reacquainted with the controls so it won't feel like I'll stumble through The Phantom Pain's opening parts. Hopefully... Not to mention, I'm trying really, really hard to avoid spoilers for the game, which is SURPRISINGLY hard. I go into comment sections for unrelated YouTube videos, and people are just flatout talking about MGSV. This is gonna be rough for the next few days.

Oh, by the way, there was a literal last second update done to Ground Zeroes, at least for the PS4, that placed an additional option on the menu screen. It's a transfer option that loads your saved data to PSN, so you can transfer it over to TPP.

-MOVIES-

Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation: FINALLY got to see it two weeks ago. It's a fun spy movie with all types of stuff going on. Though, after thinking about the movie afterwards, it did feel kinda like it was repeating the plot of Ghost Protocol, albeit with different results. I still think Ghost Protocol is the better experience, but I'll have to rewatch it to be sure. Still, Rogue Nation, for being the fifth in a movie franchise, is impressive.

SPOILERS(??) (also, nothing else after this)

I don't really consider this a spoiler, but that's there just in case. I'm really surprised no one who has watched the movie brought up a very specific piece of dialogue uttered towards the end of the film. When I first heard it, I was stunned, and the woman a few rows in front of me couldn't stop giggling, too. Basically, there are these people in a room, and when one tries to leave, another guy tries to get him to stay, and makes a compelling argument. Which makes it all the more astonishing that he ends his speech with, and I'm paraphrasing, "Sir, Ethan Hunt is the living manifestation of destiny!"

I... I mean, did Tom Cruise write that line himself? Is he going to turn into a superhero and save the whole world in the next film? Whew.

That's it. See ya.