This weekend my girlfriend Chloë and I drove from Bristol to Norfolk for a friend’s wedding (that’s about 4-5 hours each way, in case you were wondering). On the long drive home after celebrating, dancing and the consumption of much alcohol, I let my mind wander as Chloë napped and settled on some topics that would be interesting to explore in a blog post or two.

First, though, let’s look back on some of the stuff that went down this past week:

• Destiny 2 got a reveal trailer and a release date (September 8), showing off some story cinematics and campaign gameplay. I’ve played a grand total of about 5 minutes of Destiny, so I’m far from qualified to talk about it at length; however, I will say that there is no such thing as too much Nathan Fillion. Bungie seems to be putting more focus on narrative this time around, after the original Destiny was heavily criticised on release for its bare-bones campaign (it has been fleshed out since then with some highly-praised DLC). There will be an early-access beta out soon which will help determine how far Destiny has moved on from the first title, and while there are a few games this year I would pick up before giving Destiny 2 a shot, I’m interested to see what the game looks like.
• There were a couple of new releases last week: The Surge, which seems like Dark Souls with robots, and Injustice 2, the DC fighting game which may be the only realm in which Robin could conceivably beat up Superman. I haven’t played either game but each seems to have received fairly positive reviews, particularly Injustice 2. I’m unlikely to spend any money on the game, but I have wasted some time watching the special finishing move for every character on YouTube (credit to IGN):

What I’ve Been Reading This Week

• Shelby at Falcon Game Reviews has a new entry in a story they’re working on, and it makes for an engaging read. I’m excited to see what comes next.
• The Well-Red Mage saw Alien: Covenant recently and their review goes into incredible detail about what the film tries to do, and ultimately how successful it is. I’d recommend reading it even if you’re a wimp like me who won’t actually see the film ’cause it’s too scary.
• Kim at Later Levels is revelling in the copper-coloured glory that is the hair of Aloy, the robot-dinosaur-ass-kicking protagonist in Horizon: Zero Dawn.

What To Look Out For This Week And Beyond

• I’m finishing my second article on Mass Effect: Andromeda in the next couple of days, in which I skew positive and look at where the game succeeds. I’ve been through some of Andromeda’s problems in another post, but there’s plenty to like about the game as well.
• I saw Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 last week, and ever since I’ve been mulling over some of the best uses of songs as the score to a movie. I’ll look at some of the best and worst examples, and debate the value of a traditional score vs licensed music.

On to another week, then. I’m excited to share my thoughts with everyone and see what they have to say themselves. ‘Til next time.

Happy gaming,

Scott