Blog Herding – The Best Blogs Of The Community (November 5, 2015)

This week we have some reviews of the community's Super Mario Maker levels (give them all a try if you can), some creative writing challenge responses, and of course, talk of Fallout 4. Guys and gals, Fallout 4 is happening soon. I expect many blogs on traversing the wasteland with your doggy.

Community Blogs For October 29 – November 4:

November Game Challenge: Week One (Open Worlds Abound)
I'm not sure how Rebekah Lang has time to not only keep up with gaming each month to continue her challenge, but then to also write about it. This month she pontificates on the effect Fallout 4 and the next Tomb Raider game will have on her gaming habits. It's a good move to play the latter first; the wasteland can end up sucking players in for hours upon hours of running from Radscorpions. I mean, that's what I do, anyway.

The Action (A) Virus. How Resident Evil Can Find The Cure To Its Imminent Infection.
GerardoExber never stops writing, and it may be because he's a zombie, shackled to his one true calling: writing blogs and sucking on brains. Or at least he's blogging about Resident Evil's brain-eaters in this blog – specifically a recap of what the series was and what it's become. Most fans would agree that the main entries in the series have gotten away from what Resident Evil is all about, but there's hope coming our way...or maybe that's a Nemesis.  

Why I Loved Halo 5's Story And How It Redeemed Halo 4
Dimitri Gedevanishvili has an unpopular opinion. A quick browse of Halo 5 reviews from video game journalists seems to bring up a pattern: Master Chief's latest game has a bad story. But not for Dimitri. Not only does he like the latest video game juggernaut's story, but he even thinks it redeems Halo 4's tale. Agree? Disagree?

Freedom Wars Difficulty
Gamemaniac3434 was driven crazy by Freedom Wars. It's a love/hate situation. And throughout a lengthy blog, you can really see our blogger was dealing with a lot of turmoil in his joy of the game. I'm a Monster Hunter addict (like, over 1,000 hours into a series where I've slain a flying sabretooth cat into extinction, making it wish it could program itself out of the game), so most of his frustrations sound inviting to me.

Guess That Game (November 2015)...
Firedude3663 is back with another guessing game. I was pretty sure I knew the answer straight way, but I was one sequel off. Oops, that might have been a hint. Good luck!

Community Reviews:

Review: Dragon Ball Z Extreme Butoden. The Same Old Yet Twisted DBZ Experience.
GerardoExber breaks down the latest Dragon Ball Z fighting game. It's not quite as revered as a Super Saiyan, not useless like a human warrior, but settles somewhere along the lines of Namekian. If that didn't make sense to you, then this might not be the game for you – even with the solid 7 out of 10. For someone like me, I'll stick to rewatching Frieza and Goku's four-hour long battle for the umpteenth time on Namek (something I may or may not have done the night before writing this week's Blog Herding).

Writing Challenge Responses:

Community Writing Challenge: My Ideal World – Video Games Crossover Scenario
GerardoExber is back again this week with another community challenge response to our latest oddball question: What would video game heroes do in our world? It was a tough challenge for Gerardo, but he instantly jumps onto some wild ideas, like Link running into Kratos in one of Earth's forests. Long story short, let's hope for Europe's sake that this never happens. The blog only gets more creative from there.

Community Writing Challenge: Games Meet Reality
GreenePanda21 also chooses multiple characters in her blog for this week's challenge. Super Mario's Rosalina, one of her favorite characters, would become an instant hit in the science community. Things then quickly get dark with the Villager from Animal Crossing and the fear tactics he'd use to rise prominently to a positon of power. From what I've gathered this week, our bloggers find that many of our beloved gaming characters are sociopaths.

Community Writing Challenge:

Have you ever felt bad as the hero, or agreed with the antagonist of a video game? Write about a time you've encountered this – or how you haven't because the games you play maybe don't have compelling characters with shades of gray. One character who instantly comes to mind is Joel from The Last of Us. Hero, or bane of humanity?

Community Playdate:

So we have something a little special this week. I played though some Super Mario Maker levels, so I'm going to share some thoughts and highlight some members who were kind enough to share their creations. Look for an upcoming playdate for The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes.

Pestulio007's Assault on Bowser's Airship: FF1E-0000-00B7-CB3E

What really makes this level stand apart is that unlike many levels that go for brutal difficulty, this one goes for fun. The highlight of it is easily the epic battle of fireball tossing with Bowser. Just a good ol' bit of Super Mario fun.

GreenePanda21's Ike's Big Journey: AA3F-0000-0072-9F2E

Wow. This is one epic level. The old-school aesthetic does it justice in the sense that you can expect some hardcore platforming – but nothing so difficult as to lead to smashed gamepads. Out of all three submitted by GreenePanda, I liked her Ike level best. It just felt like an NES platformer fit for a hero of Ike's stature. Since I only asked for one level each I won't write about Marko Kart 9 (6C74-0000-00A6-89B5) and Splatoon Boss Battle (7B50-0000-0092-9758), but they're both worth your time. And I was able to beat all of them, though they pose a stiff challenge.  

SnakePlissken722's The Black Pearl: 40B6-0000-0044-72E3

This is a lengthy level, and one full of nostalgia thanks to one of my favorite Super Mario staples: the airship. However, when I came within a whisker of completion only to fail, I wasn't sure I wanted to go through it again having played perfectly up to that point. But I persisted. It was worth it to add to the completion percentage and give our blogger a shiny star for a job well done.

Louis Garcia's Kirby's Revenge: A5A7-0000-005E-190A

This is my personal favorite that I've made because it stars Kirby. There's a way to cheat and finish the level right away, but doing it properly proves what we've all already known: Kirby is a stone-cold killer. This is also only the second level I've made, so go easy on any reviews; it's not the best of this bunch.

I hope you enjoy the blogs! Please contact me via my Game Informer page or on Twitter at @LouisGarcia12 with any blog news or playdate suggestions.