Jon Reviews Rocket League and Dying Light, and Cody reviews Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes. Plus: Jon’s thoughts on the science-fiction short story Flowers for Algernon, and Cody raves and rants about a couple sci-fi movies—both good and bad.

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Show Notes:

• Jon and Cody talk about the most ridiculous technical difficulties ever, including ones that shouldn’t even exist
• Jon discusses his new-ish passion for reading books, and how he basically hates himself for not really reading books when he was young
  • “Man. Books are really good.” -Quote of the episode
  • Jon explains his thoughts on short stories, including profound observations like “short stories are usually short”
  • Jon found a list of the 100 greatest science fiction short stories ever written, including Flowers for Algernon, written in 1958 by Daniel Keyes
• Speaking of science fiction, Cody talks about a classic sci-fi film that he recently watched for the second time: the Stanley Kubrick classic 2001: A Space Odyssey
  • Cody explains how you have to kind of be “conditioned” to watch a movie like 2001, and Jon talks about his experience viewing it
• Jon got a free PS4 game with his PlayStation Plus subscription this month, which is normal; what’s less normal is that it’s a brand-new game, Rocket League
  • Jon explains that Rocket League is basically cars playing soccer, and Cody can’t understand the appeal
  • Jon talks about how Rocket League could actually help improve the popularity of international futbol / soccer in the United States if it becomes popular enough, and he usually sees over 100,000 people playing online
  • Cody explains the popularity of the game by bringing up an essay by Tom Wolfe on the birth of the demolition derby (Clean Fun at Riverhead, for those interested in reading it), but discredits himself by comparing soccer to hockey
• Jon also has been playing Dying Light by Techland, the Polish video game developer that created Dead Island
  • Jon explains that Dying Light is a first-person zombie survival game, but it’s not a shooter (technically, it’s an open-world first person survival horror video game); instead, you’re helping citizens on the island survive the zombie apocalypse
  • The city where the game takes place is incredible, and the game gives incentives to not actually fight, which Jon thinks is awesome
  • Jon explains how skills are unlocked and how the “talent tree” works, plus why he thinks it (and the story) is cool, despite his and Cody’s general fatigue over too many zombies these days
• Cody mentions that he’s played all the Metal Gear Solid games other than Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, which puts him at a perceived disadvantage to getting the most out of Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes
  • He beat the game in under 3 hours, but had less than a 10 percent completion rate with the game, so he doesn’t think it’s a big of a ripoff as the initial press around the game suggested
  • Cody explains how the storyline “makes sense” on its own and actually doesn’t require a ton of knowledge about the Metal Gear Solid series to enjoy
  • Cody explains his theory about why he thinks Big Boss is the actual “main character” of the Metal Gear Solid series
  • Hear Cody compare Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes to past entries in the series, including how it’s evolved to “keep up with the times” and mirror current trends in video games, e.g. first-person shooter healing damage and a minimal HUD
  • Kiefer Sutherland makes his debut as the “new voice of Snake” in this game, and Cody discusses how he feels the new voice could have huge implications for the whole Metal Gear Solid series
  • Jon asks the burning question: can you “jump in” to the series with Metal Gear Solid V, considering the series’ elaborate storylines?
• Cody and Jon discuss the new Fantastic Four movie, which got terrible reviews, so both of them refuse to see it
  • Cody explains why he specifically will avoid any Fantastic Four production with a sub-par villain