supermarket shriek is not the kind of game i would usually play, like, ever, i dont like these kinds of funny physics co op games, it's not that i hate them but i just don't get much out of them, even with friends, so i always avoided them and when i first saw this, funny pun aside, i didn't think much of it until i saw that it was based on and set in belfast, i've lived there a while and i was curious how it represented the city and it's culture and i'm happy to say it does really well, it's cool seeing the different parts represented in the level, from botanic to the rundown husk of east belfast and the city centre, it's all here and the game is full of references to local jokes and brands that you'd know very well if you've lived in northern ireland long enough, even the police cars are accurate, the game itself is a lot less interesting though, it's a kart racer where you and another person each steer half the car, one a screaming goat and another a person and both can be customised, but it controls kind of awkwardly and the game seems downright impossible to beat this way in co op so for many later stages i just played alone controlling the cart myself and it did work a little better this way, though the later stages are still very difficult, i'd reccomend it at least if you want to see a lesser known and seen side of irish culture or of you are super into those kinds of physics games, because this one is funny enough with that stuff, it's just not a game likely to stick with you, the physical copy is dirt cheap though at least, i only paid £3 for it sealed and i got enough out of it for that, hated the bleak ending though, felt needlessly cruel.

the next game i played was necromunda: underhive. i had less than zero experiance with this setting before this game, some people i knew were into it but it never interested me in the slightest, all i'd really seen was the very boring and agressively not for me battles with space marines and mini models that i would just have no interest in, sure some of the games seemed neat like space marine or the left 4 dead style games but never enough to play them, until i saw this, it was digital only but i did have access to ps plus and it was leaving it so i figured i'd at least try and see if it was for me, and it both was and wasn't. i'll start off by saying i didn't finish it, while i enjoyed it a lot for a bit a combination that it was much too complicated and obtuse for me as it's far more complex than the likes of persona 5 tactica or valkira chronicles (the latter being much closer to what it actually plays like) which are the kind of games i was more used to playing left me very alienated after a few levels and the fact the narritve switched from a cool group of all women punk warriors, to some chav guys just killed it for me, it's well made and there's so much depth here with its mechanics, plus a cool roguelike multiplayer mode, that you can really sink a lot of time in if you like it, but there just wasn't enough here that appealed to me to make me stick with it to the end of it's pretty long campaign. the things that did interest me though were cool and i would give this specific setting another chance in another game sometime, i think a hack and slash in this world could be really fun.

the last game i played was the most interesting for me, but not really because of the game itself. XDefient is a big ubisoft multi-series crossover hero shooter in the style of call of duty and it went through one hell of a dev cycle, having been delayed tons of times and honestly shocking me that it even came out, especially in the wake of other free ubisoft projects like the division: heartland being cancelled. the finished product is not as interesting as it's weird dev cycle though but i did still play a bunch of it just because this really reeked of "DOA GAAS game" and that's so my thing, i had to be there for it. the game itself plays fine i guess, the hero's are all generic OC's with no personality or lines, you get 3 a class but i'm not sure why it even gives you the choice since they play the same, i guess just to sell more skins, but it does hurt the game big time, a hero shooters appeal is in its heroes and it's telling that they even had to use OC's since these games (outside of splinter cell and watch dogs) lack characters that almost anyone would have cared about, i mean do you remember anyone from the division or ghost recon? can you even name any of the past few far cry games protags? overwatch this is not, nor is it RE;VERSE, it's not even battleborn (i loved battleborn) but i'm being a little too negative here, they're just excuses for abilities and the abilities are actually fun to use, wallhacks, fire drones, shields, invisability and healing, more standard than most hero shooters but they're cool enough, especially the wallhacks which i usually mained, they're honestly maybe a little too good sometimes, most players in every game were running the wallhacks which is maybe a sign of some imbalance, but it's fun so whatever. those are kind of all that set it apart though, it's a COD style shooter, its free, it has some reference maps almost none of which you'll remember from their original games like the plane from the division 2 (which i mostly remember from an old E3 demo) or new york from the first div but there are some really solid maps like the theme park, the zoo or the cyberpunky NYC level even though i don't know where many of them are actually from. it had some bad connection issues day one which rendered it unplayable for me for almost the whole day. i'm really struggling to find much to say about it, it's just not that interesting beyond being "ubisoft crossover shooter". if you want a free COD style game, you could do a lot worse and like, i am very much not this games target demo anyway, i like neither shooters or ubisoft games, i mostly just find DOA GAAS games fun novelties.