In this episode we discuss three games each that surprised us in some way when we played them.

Game discussed:

• Deep Rock Galactic
• Lord of the Rings Online
• Mindustry
• SimCopter
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
• Yoshi's Story

Further reading:

• EA and Activision's $79bn games-as-a-service growth
• Emerging Trends in Games-as-a-Service (video)
• Battle passes are replacing loot boxes, but they're not necessarily a better deal
• What Fortnite’s Battle Pass gets right
• How GaaS are changing the way we play
• Call of Duty Mobile - Legends of War soft launch article
• Artwork Personalization at Netflix

We're joined by a special guest this episode! Tom last joined us back in Episode 10 to discuss MOBAs. We've talked about competitive Pokémon before too, with Marti Bennett back in episode 21. This time, we turn our attention to the trading card game.

In this episode we talk about why we think 2007 was one of the biggest, and one our favourite, years in gaming.

• Orange Box
  • You can pick up Orange Box on Steam, or mostly second-hand on Xbox 360 and PS3. The Xbox 360 version is backwards compatible on Xbox One.
• Bioshock and Uncharted
  • Bioshock is available in a remastered collection of the first three games on Xbox One, PS4, and Steam, or you can still buy the first game standalone on Steam.
  • Uncharted is available in a remastered collection of the first three games on PS4.
• Call of Duty 4
  • CoD 4 was so popular, fans petitioned for the game to be remade. Therefore, you can pick up the remastered edition on PS4, Xbox One and Steam.
• Assassin's Creed
  • Assassin's Creed Heritage Collection includes the first three main games, as well as Brotherhood and Revelations. It's available on PS3 and Xbox 360, where it is backwards compatible on Xbox One. The Director's Cut edition is available on Steam.