Recent reviews by Sirius (S)(L)

Disney Dreamlight Valley (DDV) – a game that whisks you away into a magical land where you can bond with your some of your favorite Disney characters (and meet some new ones), grind for hours or like me hundreds of hours, and question your life choices. Here’s the lowdown:

* The Magical Plot That Almost Sticks the Landing:
From the moment you press start, you're sucked into a storyline so engaging you'll feel like Mickey himself is nudging you to uncover the mystery. Just beware – the ending might leave you feeling like you opened a treasure chest full of expired coupons.

* Looks and UI - A Biome Bonanza:
Visually, DDV is like a Disney fever dream. The UI connects seamlessly with the different biomes, making you feel like you’ve stepped right into a Pixar masterpiece. It's got that "new Disney" vibe, so I binge-watched a few of the latest movies on Disney+ just to understand some of the characters.

* Collection Chaos:
The game is littered with tiny collections that scream, "Gotta catch 'em all!" Rewards are mostly storyline snippets and snapshots from the films. Be prepared for the ultimate grindfest, especially if you're chasing the "Thorn Cleaner" achievement. After 300 hours, you might still be asking, "Is this my life now?"

* Story Quests vs. Friend Quests - The Showdown:
While story quests are fun, they tend to get overshadowed by friend quests that are about as exciting as watching paint dry. Nothing says "adventure" like fetching Goofy’s lost socks or something like that.

* The Living, Breathing DDV World:
DDV is dynamic and ever-growing, so expansions are something to look forward to.

* Overall Enjoyment:
To truly savor DDV, take it easy. Seriously, don’t try to rush through it like it’s the last day of your Disney+ subscription. Enjoy the cutesy customization options, world decorating, and pretend you’re the ultimate Disney architect. Sure, character choices are limited, but that just means you'll bond more deeply with your digital pals.

If your idea of fun includes running errands for virtual villagers, decorating to your heart's content, fishing for virtual trout, mining digital gems, harvesting imaginary crops, and taking selfies with animated icons, then buddy, you’ve found your dream game. So, yes, I do recommend this game.

A magical and open world rendition that Harry Potter would eventually experience in the timeline, about 100 years later. Something many of us have wished we could experience from the moment we started reading or viewing the Harry Potter series. I do highly recommend this game to every Harry Potter fan! It is magical on so many levels and I have no regrets of the 175 hours I’ve spent exploring that amazing fantasy world.

If there were any negative aspects to this game, it would perhaps be that some elements are a bit repetitive and that there is not much of any replay potential, so be prepared for that. Oh … and finding out that you suck at flying on the broomstick, just as much as I did. Regarding the choice of using unforgivable curses, there is no morality system and no consequences for being evil in the game … just do it, without hesitation or regret. These curses are insanely strong against trolls and immediately take them out of the fight.

Microsoft Flight Simulator (MSFS) is my nomination of 2020's “Game of the Year Award”, and now my nomination of 2022's "Labor of Love Award". It’s an instant classic, even for a title that is one of the longest-running PC video game series of all time! I have experienced real life flight training, so many years ago, and to some degree it was inspired by this flight simulator. One of my first “games” was the release in 1980, by subLOGIC, of a version of Flight Simulator for the TRS-80 Model I. Flight Simulator was licensed to Microsoft, in 1982 for the IBM PC, and marketed as Microsoft Flight Simulator 1.00. That was 40 years ago, and the 40th Anniversary Edition update continues to add amazing features to an already incredible game.

Sometimes a product comes along that changes everything about its genre. MSFS is groundbreaking as much as it breathtaking. In a year of shelter-in-place and lockdown, MSFS is an escape, a truly immersive environment to be explored, literally the entire world in your hands with amazing graphics! From pilot with or without autopilot (essentially a passenger), from inside the aircraft or viewed from a chase plane, to flying a remote camera drone. Day or night, with real time and real-life traffic and weather to enhance the realism, and beautiful realistic 3D modeled cities and landmarks to become the “prey” to be “hunted”. All while learning and experiencing what it is to be a pilot, from IFR to VFR and from single-engine light aircraft to the world's prominent passenger jets.

I don’t wish to sugar coat that everything is sunshine and rainbows with MSFS at this stage of development. Among its many flaws are that it is not easy to install, to configure, or to learn. That the better your flight controls are, the more likely you will enjoy it. Performance and crashes seem to crop up and affect people randomly. The AI created scenery is not perfect and can appear from blurred and flat to giant and blocky landscaping in areas. Those looking for challenges and goals rather than a pure sandbox might be disappointed. Still, with some rough edges, it is hard to image anything better. And, the future is promising, as witnessed by the various patches and two world updates thus far.

So, go take Cessna 152 or ICON A5, for example, and explore our world. Find your home, the city you were born in, watch Giraffes wandering Blue Nile in Africa, land in the Forbidden City in China, fly under the Golden Gate Bridge, see the Pyramids of Giza, never thought you would visit Dubai or Hong Kong, never dreamed you could see Mount Everest or Mount Fuji, indulge your curiosity about Stonehenge or the Sydney Opera House, you can fly into a hurricane or up into space. Literally thousands of amazing places to explore. Ultimately, I absolutely recommend MSFS, as it is phenomenal!

Recommending against getting or installing this game, primarily due to the "Trojan Horse" reported and blocked by my Norton anti-virus on the CDPRO.BIN file installed with the game (file reported to be from 9 years and 9 months ago). Even if a false warning, first impressions are of a quite dated game (released 17 years ago) and not worth the effort or the risk.

Best way to summarize my review of this game: It is my favorite! Do know you must give it time, a lot of time to experience all it has to offer ... big learning curve ... a bit of pay to win is true, so don't be surprised or complain ... amazing graphics and a lot of fun ... seems to be developing and expanding wonderfully, even with a few issues here and there.

Update 11/25/2021: After thousands of more hours playing, Black Desert is my "Labor of Love" (and, thus nominated for 2021 awards), the vast majority of that time is AFK, mind you. Over the years, I've maxed out weapons and able to defend against surprise attacks. I've explored other characters, tried more of the other open world adventures like sailing and updating my ship, updated to a Dream mount and now building up the luxury Manor as residence. The developers continue to add new quests and enhancements that keeps this my "go to game" for enjoying my free time.