Hello everyone, and welcome to day 6 of my 31/31! It’s been crazy to think that it’s already been almost a week since I’ve started this. It’s definitely proven to be more difficult than I initially anticipated as well. Today’s blog is a return of my very first blog series that I did here on GIO, back when I wasn’t even level 5 yet. The series is Replay Recap, where I go through the week’s episode of Replay, and provide a short review of the episode for those who might not have the time to go through an entire episode. The idea for this arose when I was thinking about how I love the Replay series, but how sometimes it is difficult to free up an hour for watching an episode. In addition to that, I was also thinking about how it can be frustrating sometimes when the episode you watch just isn’t that interesting. Don’t get me wrong, I love the series, and many of the episodes in there, but there are times where it just wasn’t worth the time commitment. I really hope you all enjoy this blog. I plan on doing a Replay Recap every Saturday for my 31/31. So, without further ado, here’s the Replay Recap for the week of 7/6/13:
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Today’s Replay Recap is of the game Total Overdose. The game came out in 2005 for the PS2, and is described as being an over-the-top, open world game. In this episode, Reiner, Dan, Jeff M, and Ben Reeves are hosting. When I initially saw this lineup, I knew the episode was going to have a light-hearted feel to it, especially given the foursome’s history of cracking jokes and just having a good time during replay. With Reiner’s occasional quips and jabs at Dan, Dan’s bold, energetic commentary, Jeff Marchiafava’s sarcasm, and Ben Reeves absurdist comedy, I had a feeling this would be a great episode. The opening sequence of the game did not disappoint either, with exploding confetti, and explosions of the fiery kind as well. Not only that, but we heard a classic story about bad tacos from Jeff Marchiafava. The rest of the gameplay was also pretty good, and with jokes being thrown around here and there. However, one thing I did not like about the jokes was the obvious racism behind them. If we as gamers are going to overcome stereotypes, then we should expect to do the same in our coverage of games. Fortunately, it was obvious that this was not done in any sort of mean manner, and Jeff Marchiafava called the rest out on it repeatedly throughout the episode. Unpleasant note aside, the gameplay provided some much needed laughs, especially with Dan at the sticks for much of the game. One of the very first parts of the game had Dan driving cars into oil tankers, slow-mo shooting at enemies, and hitting enemies over the head with a rake. All of this of course occurred while Dan was laughing his head off, and Ben Reeves was making as many rake-related puns as he could, many of which were fairly impressive. After a few minutes into the game, Dan was experiencing some trouble advancing. The crew then decided to give the controller over to Jeff, how displayed one of the more impressive displays of gaming that I had seen in a while. Starting from the beginning to a death by Dan, Jeff proceeded to zoom through all of the beginning parts, and then beat all 8 enemies, ending with just a sliver of health left. The group then proceeded to explore the rest of the map in the game, with all of them attempting to both pronounce and translate the names in the game, leading to some of the funniest butchering of the Spanish language that I had heard in a while. This concluded the look at the game, and led to the Replay Roulette for the week, which was Outlaw Tennis for the PS2.
After transitioning between games, the crew sat through the opening intro for Outlaw Tennis, which immediately establishes the craziness and over-the-top nature of the game. Each character is introduced, with a humorous ending occurring before a transition to the next one. The characters were all obvious stereotypes, which was immediately called out by the Game Informer staff. This was good to see, and it redeemed some of their actions from earlier in the episode. They then entered a match against one of the computer players, and lost handily despite playing on easy mode. The group was stunned to see this happen, and it was equally confusing watching the video. However, the episode was wrapping up at this point, and another episode of replay was in the books.
In conclusion, the episode was quite entertaining. Some of the jokes might be a bit cringe-worthy if you dislike that type of humor. However, I found it to be a solid episode that moved along at a surprisingly fast pace. 8.25 out of 10 for this one. With that, the Replay Recap comes to a close. Thank you all for reading, and have a great rest of the weekend!
Do you agree with the rating? Do you disagree? What did you think of the episode? Is there anything I missed or could improve upon? Please feel free to comment below, and I’ll be sure to answer as soon as possible!![]()
Today’s Replay Recap is of the game Total Overdose. The game came out in 2005 for the PS2, and is described as being an over-the-top, open world game. In this episode, Reiner, Dan, Jeff M, and Ben Reeves are hosting. When I initially saw this lineup, I knew the episode was going to have a light-hearted feel to it, especially given the foursome’s history of cracking jokes and just having a good time during replay. With Reiner’s occasional quips and jabs at Dan, Dan’s bold, energetic commentary, Jeff Marchiafava’s sarcasm, and Ben Reeves absurdist comedy, I had a feeling this would be a great episode. The opening sequence of the game did not disappoint either, with exploding confetti, and explosions of the fiery kind as well. Not only that, but we heard a classic story about bad tacos from Jeff Marchiafava. The rest of the gameplay was also pretty good, and with jokes being thrown around here and there. However, one thing I did not like about the jokes was the obvious racism behind them. If we as gamers are going to overcome stereotypes, then we should expect to do the same in our coverage of games. Fortunately, it was obvious that this was not done in any sort of mean manner, and Jeff Marchiafava called the rest out on it repeatedly throughout the episode. Unpleasant note aside, the gameplay provided some much needed laughs, especially with Dan at the sticks for much of the game. One of the very first parts of the game had Dan driving cars into oil tankers, slow-mo shooting at enemies, and hitting enemies over the head with a rake. All of this of course occurred while Dan was laughing his head off, and Ben Reeves was making as many rake-related puns as he could, many of which were fairly impressive. After a few minutes into the game, Dan was experiencing some trouble advancing. The crew then decided to give the controller over to Jeff, how displayed one of the more impressive displays of gaming that I had seen in a while. Starting from the beginning to a death by Dan, Jeff proceeded to zoom through all of the beginning parts, and then beat all 8 enemies, ending with just a sliver of health left. The group then proceeded to explore the rest of the map in the game, with all of them attempting to both pronounce and translate the names in the game, leading to some of the funniest butchering of the Spanish language that I had heard in a while. This concluded the look at the game, and led to the Replay Roulette for the week, which was Outlaw Tennis for the PS2.
After transitioning between games, the crew sat through the opening intro for Outlaw Tennis, which immediately establishes the craziness and over-the-top nature of the game. Each character is introduced, with a humorous ending occurring before a transition to the next one. The characters were all obvious stereotypes, which was immediately called out by the Game Informer staff. This was good to see, and it redeemed some of their actions from earlier in the episode. They then entered a match against one of the computer players, and lost handily despite playing on easy mode. The group was stunned to see this happen, and it was equally confusing watching the video. However, the episode was wrapping up at this point, and another episode of replay was in the books.
In conclusion, the episode was quite entertaining. Some of the jokes might be a bit cringe-worthy if you dislike that type of humor. However, I found it to be a solid episode that moved along at a surprisingly fast pace. 8.25 out of 10 for this one. With that, the Replay Recap comes to a close. Thank you all for reading, and have a great rest of the weekend!
Do you agree with the rating? Do you disagree? What did you think of the episode? Is there anything I missed or could improve upon? Please feel free to comment below, and I’ll be sure to answer as soon as possible!