AggroCast — Reviewer Wellness Check-In For Mr. Hartgrave [Episode Ten]

TRANSCRIPTION

Raymond Bruels: Welcome to the AggroCast. This is Ray Bruels with David Hades Becker. And today we also have special guest the Mr. Hartgrave. He has returned despite all of the abuse that we have leveled upon him over the last few months. Today’s topic is the reviews that we’ve had Frank do and discussing some of the games that he’s covered for us and his thoughts on those games and what it’s been like working with Aggrogamer.

Frank Hartgrave: Yeah, kind of a little behind the scenes here. That’s pretty cool. Yeah, I know that the people that have watched the Aggrogamer reviews really like them. And I’m trying to convince more people to watch those reviews. And that’s why we’re airing this on my YouTube channel as well to try to get that traffic over there. These Marvel Strike Force nerds are so goddamn resistant to entertainment. It’s ridiculous. It’s like they’re addicted to a predatory mobile game and can’t see the fucking forest for the trees.

David Hades Becker: It’s almost like we did a podcast about this before, didn’t we?

RB: We did cover this topic, yeah.

FH: I’m trying to drag them over to… Like, I can be so much more entertaining and valuable as a video personality YouTuber. I don’t know what the fuck you want to call me, but this Marvel Strike Force thing is really tip of the iceberg. I can talk about that shit because it’s what I’ve been doing for five years, But I think we’ve been making some really quality stuff. And yeah, thanks for having me on to talk about it.

RB: It has definitely been a learning experience for me because when we did the first one, I had no idea how to edit video. But I said, OK, I’ll learn how to do it. And I downloaded DaVinci Resolve. And you made it entertaining for me as I was trying to bash my head against the screen because you were just funny. Your quips and your one-liners and you know looking at the screen and trying and and kind of talking to breaking that fourth wall and talking to the watcher is really entertaining and and that has only progressed as we’ve been doing it because as I’ve been editing there are times that I feel like I’m having conversations with you. You’re like hey Ray do do editor things and that’s When I’m sitting there trying to figure out how to do something or I’m trying to get just the right cut I know that you’re there at least in spirit to to either tell me to go fuck myself and keep me enthused or or to rally my spirits and you know, I know that you’re in my corner.

DHB: We’re just to judge you from the future.

FH: Well, it’s interesting because yeah we don’t we don’t work in an office together and we don’t really have like long calls about how we want the review to go. So when I’m just shooting the review, I’ll just kind of have that one sided meeting where I kind of tell you what the plan is, at least in my mind. And I’m always open to whatever you want to do. I don’t give a shit. I shoot this stuff. And then what I want to, I’ve worked with a couple of editors before and my instruction is just whatever’s funny. You can do whatever the fuck you want with what I give you. As long as it’s funny, then put it in. I don’t have any ego or whatever. And I don’t like to stifle people’s creativity either if you have like a really good idea like today you threw something at me And I was like, yeah, great. That sounds wonderful. I don’t you know, once it once it kind of like I did my part like here it is. I there’s my part. I captured the game footage. I did my little review, I have to give up control at that point and I’m just happy to see what happens.

RB: Yeah, I’ve been running under two rules that over the last three reviews that we’ve done that I have learned. One whatever is funny always trumps you you’ve said that from day one and two don’t make you look like an asshole. That was the…

FH: Like an asshole sometimes. I’m not like an asshole and if you can avoid that that that’d be good. Well, and for me, it’s impossible if it’s funny then and then the asshole things stands.

RB: Well, and for me you said that and I’m like, but no, it’s funny. It’s not you being an asshole. It’s you being funny. So…

FH: Perfect.

DHB: But it is being genuine, which is what I know I’ve always, that was the only thing I always put out there when I’m handing over reviews. I want that genuine aspect to it all. I don’t want somebody to be like, oh, I’m vamping this up because I’m worried about what the publisher is going to think, what the developer is going to think. I want to put out the honest stuff that that’s why I’m handing these over to you. And I really appreciate that.

FH: No problem.

RB: Even some of the conversations that David and I have had regarding games, it’s like Frank is ready for a new game. What do you have? And he’s like, OK, let me look through. Oh, this looks terrible. I’m like, I don’t know. Frank might be into it.

FH: Now it’s going down. It being unpleasant, I think, is part of it. I think that helps me be entertaining. Because I mean, that’s kind of the, if I think about what’s going on with Marvel Strike Force, which is my main content, of course, is I’m being very, I’m being tortured. And people enjoy that. I don’t think, some people are like, oh, like it when you’re happy I’m like really because my fucking views don’t show that my views go up the more agitated I am right now on my channel the thing that gives me the best views are is a thumbnail where I write the words total bullshit and that kind of indicates what tone we’re going for and then that one just heats up like everyone’s like oh Mr. Hartgrave is fucking pissed or knocked out of sort in some way we want to watch that that’s. That’s…

DHB: Well, I think I might have a few more lined up to pass over to you, but we’ll see about that.

FH: I’ll do it.

RB: I don’t know. I heard there was something about Gollum.

DHB: Oh, don’t get me started on Gollum. I should have handed that one over. That one is, oh, that one is not good.

RB: Yeah, this is a non Lord of the Rings zone.

FH: Yeah, I’m not in. Well, did you see the thing though? I actually literally have a life-size cardboard stand up of Christopher Lee as Saruman in this studio.

RB: Oh, wow.

FH: And it’s been here. I’ve had that I’ve transported that from Alaska. And while I’m sitting here, because the whole the big thing is everyone’s jumping over the Lord of the Rings predatory mobile game. And they’re like, Mr. Hargrave, are you going to go cover that? And I’m like, Fuck, no, I don’t like Lord of the Rings. But while I’m saying that I’m literally staring at a life size cut out of Saruman, I just like Christopher Lee.

RB: Oh, yeah.

FH: Is it? Which is always fun to explain to people. They’re like, Oh, Lord of the Rings. I’m like, fuck You’re like, but but you always stand up. I’m like, I just like Christopher Lee.

RB: Hell, we could do a whole podcast just on Christopher Lee. That dude was awesome.

FH: That’s a great subject. Yeah, absolutely.

DHB: Noted.

RB: Yeah. Actor spy, you know, one of the best horror icons of the hammer era.

FH: The goddamn dragon man.

RB: Yeah, we’ve actually done three reviews. The one I want, I need to finish, which was Amanda, the Adventurer. But the first one we did, that was the virtual game. Kill It With… Kill It With Fire.

FH: That was fun? Yeah. It’s only getting more painful from there, right?

DHB: Right.

RB: Oh, yeah. Yeah. The spiral spiral goes from there.

FH: As I keep trying to get more ambitious, I’m like, let me film more shit, because I don’t have an outlet for this when it’s Marvel Strike Force. When it’s Marvel Strike Force, I’m stuck doing camera in room, game footage. I don’t do, like I used to really push what I could do with Marvel Strike Force, but it wasn’t appreciated by this community. This Marvel Strike Force community didn’t give a shit. And no, and I know like the people that like me gave a shit. The people that like me love the Zemo stuff. They love it when I, you know, cloned myself and there was like three of me on the screen or whatever the fuck I was doing, and whatever green screen crazy shit I was doing or acting or whatnot. My hardcore fans like that. Fuck, I had one shot to make a video with MobileGamer. I didn’t know that was gonna be my only shot, but I gave it over to Zemo and it was Zemo and MobileGamer doing fucking goofball shit. And that used to be like my creative outlet. But what works for Marvel Strike Force is the most boring shit, tier list. Tell us who to unlock who to build all this kind of boring shit. They all I know so it’s something I can do for this you know community that gave me this platform that put me in this space. But my god is it ever not you know what I want to be doing really or what you know what I want to be known for but you don’t really get to pick what you’re known for is the problem.

RB: So how is the AEW channel going?

FH: As far as second channels go let’s just say really well I have no idea. It’s not horrible. Like I’ve looked at other small wrestling channels and they are dog shit. Like no views. Like literally zero views so I think our best video on there’s like at 200 views. That’s better than zero and you know it’s near the main channel so it’s really hard to compare these things. The ceiling for wrestling content on YouTube is so much higher than the ceiling on Marvel Strike Force content. If I make the best Marvel Strike Force, the most compelling Marvel Strike Force video, known to man, and I probably need to quit, what I need to do is quit and make that video. That video, Mr. Hartgrave quits Marvel Strike Force, max views, max views 40,000. Now if I the most mundane shitty wrestling video but somehow the algorithm picks up 400,000 views. So you know you do the math like what what should I be doing right like I gotta take a shot at it.

RB: Yeah.

FH: Wrestling content is just ridiculous. Um as far as the amount of people consuming it on YouTube as opposed to Marvel Strike Force, which is um on average a good video for me is like maybe 7,000 to 10,000 views is doing really, really good. Whereas, yeah, if you were doing wrestling videos, 10,000 views is on the low end, basically. But if you’re doing it daily, I would rather do that daily than anything else because I do consume a lot of wrestling content and whatnot. Or these reviews. For these reviews that we’re doing, those are gonna be hard to break through. But on stuff like that, I mean, that’s what can get you millions of views. It’s where you’re doing something really kind of work.

RB: I’ve got a pitch for you. An October Halloween Zemo versus Hartgrave wrestling match.

FH: Oh shit.

DHB: Oh yeah.

RB: That way, both channels, you get both groups.

FH: Well, it’s true. This was what I used to say. I used to say there used to be a little bit of a challenge going on, that if we hit 10,000 subscribers, which at the time didn’t seem seem like a far away goal. And I would do the wrestling match but the thing is about that is I wouldn’t I would have to really do it and what I did was I did this cup design where it’s you know me fighting a Zemo Hulk thing and I said you know now if we sell enough of these cups maybe I’ll do it. I kind of pushed it off and I was hoping no one would noticed or call me on my bullshit? Yeah, maybe 20,000 subscribers. What do you think? 20,000 subscribers. We arranged the… I’ve had people offer to help me with it. It could happen.

RB: It could happen. That would be awesome. We get we get Gordon a war and Stephen Strange, Stephen Strange involved and we come up with some posters for the match. And…

FH: Yeah, it’s definitely on possibility, I suppose. I feel like it’s something I would jump to do if I was doing this full-time and not in like a part-time capacity, which people don’t know about me so much. They think I’m, I mean, look around, this looks like a man that’s doing this full-time, but what I’m doing is I’m taking all of the revenue and putting it into studio upgrades. I donate a lot as well. We do a lot of charity stuff too, but I’m not paying my rent with this stuff. So I can afford to upgrade desks and lightings and throw monitors around and all kinds of stuff.

RB: And then the screen behind you just lit up.

FH: Yeah.

RB: What’s going on with that screen back there? Oh, it’s cycling through things.

FH: Yeah, yeah, I got all the thumbnails that I do for Addicted to Marvel Strike Force that take me way more time than I should ever spend on thumbnails for Marvel Strike Force. And just kind of reusing them back there as a little screen saver.

RB: That’s pretty sweet.

FH: A little added production value. We’re always adding needless production value on this channel. I have no idea why.

RB: Well, and as you can tell that I have done nothing with my office, it’s a terrible mess. David doesn’t even have his camera on. So,

DHB: Yeah, exactly. I’m sitting in a black void right now. You’d see nothing right now. It’s just complete darkness where I’m at.

FH: And it’s as it should be. If you’re Hades, you know…

DHB: Exactly. Well then I have Cerberus barking downstairs at me and he’s just upset and I’m like, okay, I’m fine. I’m gonna hide even further into my cave.

RB: So you did the VR game first with us. What was that like trying to record and play the VR game for the review?

FH: Well, VR is something that I’ve been into for a long time. I think me and the family got into it during quarantine, during lockdown. Back in 2020, we were approaching Christmas and we were feeling like failures as parents because we were in, no one knew what was going on, you know, the longevity of COVID. My wife kind of did know she has a doctorate in microbiology, so she was trying to school us on it and be like, guys, we’re not going anywhere. No, seriously, guys, we’re not going anywhere for a very long goddamn time. And so it kind of dawned on us that, yeah, we’re not going anywhere. So we said, all right, one of the kids really wanted VR. So we did up VR. It’s actually the computer that I’m running everything off of today. It’s a very powerful computer that you need to run VR right so I ended up turning up and when they lost interest because my kids lost interest in VR way before I did. I I’m still kind of into it I like doing it. I do have a threshold on it like if you do so many hours of VR you kind of get VR fatigue and get kind of dizzy and stuff. I don’t know you. Kind of kind of get into VR shape. So I was a little daunted taking on a VR game, not being in any kind of VR shape whatsoever. But I played it pretty pretty hardcore for a few days where I would do like an hour a day every day for I don’t know how many video clips ended up sending over like six of them or something to get through the whole game or most of the game. I gave up at a certain point I was like fuck it I can’t. I can’t do anyways it’s a good game. But then I wonder what I’m like I always get to this like point with doing these things where I start wondering well how many people are gonna watch this is this? Is This worth the effort I’m putting in. Boy I’m investing a lot of time in doing this thing and then I got to fight through that and finish.

RB: Well I’m talking about a lot of time and investment that leads us right into the second one which was Sherlock…

FH: The Awakening and there was a massive fail on my behalf to things re reigned in. Yeah.

RB: Because that was eight hours of just gameplay footage. I got to see a really great game and how you play games.

FH: Yeah, I I didn’t set out to beat that game. They’re all supposed to be like kind of like brief videos, I guess. But then like like Burn It With Fire. I guess I left a little bit of that game uncovered, but it was a short game. Most VR experiences are pretty short. So that wasn’t a big deal. But then Sherlock Holmes, I was like, let me just play a little bit, get some highlights and then I’ll give some impressions of it and we’re out. You know, uh, the, the last one didn’t hit like a ton of views or anything. I think it got like 500. So I’m like, you know, I don’t need to go crazy about this, but then I got to one point of the game, which is in the video where like my whole opinion of this chat, I think I definitely messaged you that day. I’m like, oh shit, I got to finish this thing. I got to, I got to do it justice. Cause now it’s like a good game and I don’t want to be short with it. I don’t I want to be authentic with it. I don’t want to be like, oh, this is just a shitty because the first half of the game I did not like the first like two hours. Which I thought was going to be the whole review. Like, I’m just going to bag on this game. And then it got really good. And I’m like, oh, shit, now I got to finish this game.

RB: Two hours of table staring.

FH: Yeah. Thankfully, I cheated and I looked I got a walk through and that made it actually possible just to solve all the puzzle because this is an adventure game. So most of the time you’re gonna spend on it if you’re gonna play it for like 20 hours or whatever, would be trying to figure things out yourself. But I just kinda, I figure a lot of reviewers do that. I don’t know what game reviewers do. I am not a professional at all.

DHB: But usually we’re all sent reviewing guides that give little tips and hints and all that stuff to be like, if you get stuck at this point so you can continue forward, here’s what you do here. Here’s how you do this. And here’s this little shortcut here.

FH: They want you to get through the game.

DHB: Yeah.

FH: And like Kill It With Fire actually had a debug menu where I could just unlock all the content which is exactly what I should have done. It’s not what I did. I started playing it like a jabroni. But what I should have done is use the debug menu and then I could have been done with that video in about an hour or two, instead of the six hours or whatever to play through the it was a fun game.

DHB: But you played through it like a normal game or would though, and that’s the important thing.

RB: Well and you don’t pull punches when you’re talking about stuff in the game, so that gives a very real sense of playing through the game and the shit that you see and some of your responses on the screen to what you’re playing through.

FH: Yeah absolutely, and with the Sherlock game I think the first half of that where its very negative. I would have probably not played more unless I was doing the review I probably would have been like, alright, this is not for me. I’m gonna load it up I would have got stuck at that point. I would have missed a really cool experience though so that’s why I like putting that video out there because it’s definitely a game where you could write it off. Maybe seen it initially or whatever. So I that’s why I thought it’s like it was almost on a mission with you on that I’m like we have to show people how cool this game is so that maybe they will go experience it because normally I would not play a game like that. I wouldn’t do that and one a lot of things I tried on my channel to kind of promote people to go check out VR because I thought it was really transformative I think it’s so cool to play VR and a lot of people are like, oh, it’s too expensive. It’s literally like 200 bucks for 200 bucks. Maybe two hundred and forty dollars you can go be in Resident Evil 4 . And be inside of Resident Evil. I don’t know how else I can better sell VR to anyone than telling you that for a mere $240, you can be inside of the iconic Resident Evil 4 , which is probably one of the coolest things I’ve done in VR. And you don’t need any special hardware or computer. You can do that with a Quest 2, which is basically a right in the box VR system. It’s not as expansive as PC VR, which I also have which I would you know, if you’re gonna be a VR connoisseur you might want to do that and kind of get into Half-Life Alex which you cannot do on the on the Quest 2. But I think for a lot of people just playing Resident Evil 4 and VR would be extremely eye-opening to what VR is that’s one of the coolest experiences that I’ve had with it for sure.

RB: So are you saying that we need to do some kind of review for VR Resident Evil?

FH: Absolutely. I can’t wait to play Resident Evil 7 and 8 someday in VR. I’ve never played Resident Evil 7 because that was the one that came out on VR, yeah.

DHB: I’ve done Resident Evil 7 in VR. That is, that was when my eyes got opened to it, to have good VR. And that was on the PS VR, not even like any of the higher end PC ones. Yeah, I was like, okay, this is apparently way different that I remember back in the like the late 90s early 2000s It was just like make the virtual boy and all that shit was coming out.

FH: Yeah. Yeah.

DHB: Yeah, exactly.

FH: Well, yeah, that’s a new old four was really cool too because like I played that game so many times from outside.

RB: Yeah.

FH: Being inside of it It’s like this special kind of nostalgia that you really need to experience if you have it like it’s really something else to be inside of this game that I’m so familiar with. But now you can just like walk over to that little area that you’ve only seen before. You can crouch down, you can look at, it’s just so weird.

RB: Now I’m wanting to see it.

FH: You gotta check it out, you gotta do it. Every grown dork needs to go do this. It’s like your duty to go be inside Resident Evil 4 . If you’ve ever played Resident Evil 4 , it’s just a really cool experience.

DHB: I can agree with that, 100%.

FH: I love video games at all. I don’t know why you’re skipping that one. Well, I keep wanting to review Resident Evil 6 . I started playing Resident Evil 6 . I don’t have any footage captured, though, unfortunately. I’ve been playing it on my Steam Deck, but I don’t know. I could probably do some kind of, maybe we just need to do a podcast about Resident Evil 6 . Everybody should play through it or something. Because the initial reaction to Resident Evil 6 was, this is the drizzling shits. This is the worst Resident Evil. Fuck Resident Evil. Resident Evil is dead. Resident Evil 6 has killed the franchise. I get a Steam Deck. One of the first things I get is Resident Evil 6 because it’s on sale like the day I get the Steam Deck for like six bucks. And I’m like, I’ve played it a little bit before, I did not like it on console. For some reason the moment I have it on a handheld device, I’m like, this is the greatest Resident Evil ever. Maybe not that, but it felt so much better and more right on a portable console than trying to play it on like, you know, a high end TV or something like, I don’t know, something felt off about it, but as like a portable, digestible, short little experience, it’s such a better game. But now I’m doing the Resident Evil 6 podcast.

RB: Well, and so the third one that we’re that we’ve had you review, which the review should come out before this podcast goes out. So we can we could technically talk about it. Amanda the Adventurer.

FH: This is like spoilers So if you’re watching this on addicted to Marvel Strike Force and Raymond has failed to get it out by Monday Then you’re getting a little preview of what this video is and yeah, I haven’t talked about it. I’ve been coy I’ve been like I did another one. I won’t tell you but even if I say Amanda the Adventurer I mean people have Google now so they can just Google it up. I thought it was gonna be a VR game. And it wasn’t.

DHB: It was an Edutainment game.

FH: Kind of. Yeah.

RB: Yeah, I think that I had got my wires crossed when I was talking to David, because I thought it was the VR game, because we we had a couple of VR possibilities. And then he was like, but I got this one. And I’m like, OK, I’ll just see what Frank says. If he tells me, go fuck myself. Then I know that’s that he’s on board.

FH: Well, if you send me the game, I’m going to I’ll do it. I don’t I’m not gonna I don’t think I’m gonna say no. I don’t know what you would have to send me for me to be like nah I’m not doing like even if it’s the worst thing. I’m like, alright, that’ll probably be good for the content.

DHB: There are some games out there. I’ve had solicited to be that I’m like, no, that’s not good content, like I’ve had the entirety of like the Leisure Suit Larry remasters thrown at me and I’m like…

FH: You know what I do it though because I remember those games I totally remember Leisure Suit Larry I remember wanting to play them as a kid. And then I remember actually playing a couple and not wanting to do that ever again. But I think there’s interesting content in that, though. It’s a weird little piece of computer game history, for sure.

RB: Yeah, because I played those around the time that I was doing BBSes. And I downloaded the original Wolfenstein and Duke Nukem from a BBS. And they were done by Apogee and I remember shanking Nazis in Duke Nukem, no Wolfenstein shanking Nazis and then killing Hitler in all of his pixeled glory. So that was, yeah, I remember Leisure Suit Larry on floppy floppy disk.

FH: good times, good times and floppy disk and the confirmation codes, you got to look in the manual for him. It’s good stuff.

RB: But Amanda the Explorer, or Amanda, Amanda the Explorer. Because it is kind of a riff on Dora the Explorer. But Amanda the Adventurer, it has been really interesting and entertaining, as I’ve been putting this review together from your footage and content. Just how, because I think at one point you summed up the fact that it’s in a contained space, but it is, it does a lot with that contained space.

FH: It does. It would be a really great VR title. And I would totally play it again in VR because I think the fear would be so much higher. It would be such a creepier game in VR. It’s a really good example of how elevated that experience can be. I mean, I’m only speaking from having a lot of experience playing with VR games, but I could kind of tell when I was playing this because I’m pretty much distanced from it. If you’re on the outside of it, you’re not inside of it. So it’s only as immersive as you kind of let it be. So it didn’t really get to me that much. Watching some of the game has moments where it’s a little unsettling. But all that would be so much more heightened inside VR. It would be a really good. It’s a shame that it wasn’t VR. I’m sure they’ll do it. It feels like it’s developed for VR. Or just, like, that wouldn’t happen.

DHB: Well, anything that takes place in a first-person view can technically be in a VR space. It just takes the extra work to make that happen.

FH: Well, it’s weird, because it has a lot of, like, it feels like a lot of the games that are in VR. It’s one room, and you interact with a lot of objects in the room, and all the objects have, like, a little physics thing to them. You turn things around or whatever. It would all just translate brilliantly to VR.

DHB: Well, if the developers are listening to this are watching this, hint.

FH: I try not to say that too much. I had to stop myself so many times when doing the review from being like, this should be VR. I didn’t want to hammer that every, I wanted to say it every minute, but I was like, that is the worst video I could possibly make, because you can’t go play it in VR. So what, I’m just going to sit here and say, this game should be VR. And that’s my review of the game. Like, nah, I have to do the job. But I’ll say it now. I’ll see how that motherfucker should be VR. It’s a missed opportunity. It would be so much more freaky.

RB: So we have given you some games that have not been mainstream titles.

FH: Yeah, you guys sent me some really weird stuff.

RB: And are you good with that weird stuff overall?

FH: Well, that’s all good I think it’s it’s I mean it’s kind of becoming part of the joke of the videos is like, alright guys What do I get today? Do I get to play like some you know? Is this gonna be a Harry Potter or Amanda the Explorer? Okay, I mean Sherlock Holmes was close. I have heard of the Sherlock Holmes games and that is kind of a I don’t know. I guess it’s not a big budget. It was a studio like out of the Ukraine, right?

RB: Yeah.

DHB: Well, they also they’re the same one that did the Sunken City games Fogwares has done a few games I think they did the original one back in 2007 so this was a remaster you keep the studio up and floating while the war is going on well and…

RB: And this was the second Sherlock game that they had done. Because the first one actually had a combat mechanic that you didn’t really get to see in Sherlock the Awakened Which I thought I thought that yeah. I thought that was really interesting because I know at one point during the review You had mentioned like there was no real combat it was all a lot of table looking and a lot of clues hunting and that sort of thing. I think the closest you got to it with the awakened was when you were in Louisiana the Bayou and you were having to shoot the bodies out of the trees.

FH: Yeah, yeah to get away from the alligators. I don’t think that made the final cut of the video that whole alligator section. Which is wise because there was so much gameplay. I played the whole damn game and so I loved the montage you did but yeah, we didn’t lose the I meant to play some of it on Twitch, but the timing just didn’t work out. Because that kind of stuff would have been cool for Twitch the the whole alligator section, which is really cool it’s a really cool game like that might not have… I hope that the video was intriguing enough that people would if they saw Sherlock Holmes game, especially this one and on sale or whatever or I don’t know where you find how you find video games anymore or maybe you seek it out now that you hear about it like watch it or whatever you again. It’s worth it it’s worth going through all of the puzzles and whatnot if you don’t like that kind of stuff. Because I don’t like that kind of stuff I like my video games a little more immediate. I think Resident Evil puzzles are about as much as I can really tolerate on a normal basis. I don’t think I normally turn to walkthroughs and just like give me the fucking code. I’ll go and search around for it. For this one, I was like, just give me the fucking code. So I can open the thing up. So I was a little bit like that with Amanda as well. I did not hunt down all the hunting down. Some of that shit was cryptic as hell to hunt down all the secrets. And Amanda, the explorer would have taken… I if I need to be a child with unlimited time or something to do that. So I did look at all that shit.

RB: So what you’re saying is you don’t want to do the remastered MYST.

FH: Oh my god. Once again, you know, I remember that I remember MYST I remember thinking this is gonna be great Then I remember playing MYST and it wasn’t so great. So either there’s probably is material in it. Maybe not all adventure or what do you call them adventure games? I guess is what they’re called.

RB: Yeah. Well, that’s really David looking at the void that is David’s icon to see what he has to toss your way next.

FH: Or maybe all adventure games. Maybe that’s what’s funny. Torturing me with adventure games is funny.

DHB: All adventure games going forward, got it. Anything that has serious puzzles, that’s all I’m going to give you. Get ready for Matcho. That one’s going to come your way now.

FH: What you guys should try to do is give me games that would get YouTube clicks.

RB: Well, David was actually teasing about that earlier when we were talking.

DHB: I may have a few in the works right now. I can’t really speak about, but I think one of them will work really well for your second channel.

FH: That sounds great.

DHB: So I’m working on some of that to get you something a little more mainstream, it’s not torture you so much because the torture works best when you have a couple of reprieves. You’re like okay everything’s fine now then then we hit you again right in the gut that’s the best part well.

FH: I think it’d be funny if you could get me a wrestling game that isn’t AEW: Fight Forever.

DHB: Noted. I will work on that one.

RB: There’s got to be a VR wrestling game out there.

DHB: I think there’s a JCW one out there. i’m gonna get you some juggalo wrestling out there.

FH: I’m down with the clown. So yeah, there’s actually a pretty cool VR game. I forget what it’s called. It’s like Gord or something. I forget what it’s called exactly, but it is like a like barbarian fight simulator. That’s probably the closest to wrestling. It’s actually pretty great and violent. Like, you can just rip people’s heads off and stuff and kind of get into hand-to-hand altercations. That one’s pretty fucked up. Pretty interesting. I don’t like playing VR games, though, where I swing my hands because I always end up really close to a wall and just fracturing my hand on the wall, because I get into it. I just believe I’m in there and I’m just fighting for my life and just bam, knocking holes in the wall. And I just redid everything around here. I’m gonna put my head right through that television back there, it’s bad news. That’s one thing my studio is not equipped for anymore is VR, so I don’t know what I’m gonna do if I get another VR. I’m sure I’ll work it out, but I did put a massive desk right in the middle of the studio now, so that’s a bit of a problem.

DHB: Alright, so God of Rock is on the list now. That’s a VR title where you’re, it’s kind of like Beat Saber, but you’re fighting off zombie hordes instead of hitting notes.

FH: That sounds awesome. I’m a big rhythm game fan. I got so into Rock Band for so many years, me and my wife actually entered a Rock Band tournament and won. We got into it.

RB: Wow, congrats.

FH: Yeah, absolutely.

DHB: I did the same thing back in, I think it was 2008 or 2009, and the only reason I won was that they added in performance as well. I was playing They Say by Scars on Broadway. The person that I was going up against had to quit because I turned around, and this song memorized so well. I played with my back to the screen. And the guy’s like what the hell’s going on like he freaked out just missed every other note and I was able to play just perfectly the entire time on like expert got it destroyed.

FH: My friend used to be able to do that with Free Bird, the Free Bird song so well that he could not look at the screen while he did it. I was like you bastard.

RB: See and I have no sense of timing or rhythm or pattern recognition so I can’t I can’t do any of that. Whereas my partner loves DDR and does all that DDR stuff and loved Rock Band and I I’m terrible. We went to Super Nintendo World at Universal and there was a game that we had to play and David hit. The first time first shot and it took me like three freaking times to actually get past it.

DHB: Yeah, that was pretty funny.

RB: Yeah, and you got that recorded. Thanks, David.

DHB: It’s up on the YouTube as well as it’s there forever for everybody to see.

RB: Yay my embarrassment.

FH: It’s a more beautiful playlist where we just embarrassed right?

RB: Thanks guys.

FH: What you need.

DHB: Third channel? Here we go.

FH: Perfect.

RB: Wow. All right friendship. That’s what…

FH: Raymond plays rhythm games.

ALL: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

RB: Yeah. You want to you want to see somebody aggroed? I’ll start smashing the guitar into the walls and shit because I can’t do it. Well, for for our podcast, we are coming up on the 40 minute mark. So Mark, we’re going to we’re going to have to wrap this one down. If not, I’m going to be editing a video review as well as a podcast forever.

FH: So that’s my secret. I just don’t edit anything.

RB: Yeah, but you’re far more funnier than we are so that’s why we brought you back because we’re like we need Frank to be here to up our game because if not, we’re just two chuckle heads talking into mics and nobody wants to listen to that.

DHB: Exactly. We’re just trying to steal all the secrets.

FH: I’m happy to help out. I’ve really enjoyed doing the reviews. Looking forward to doing more of them and Yeah, one of these days, I’m going to play a good game. Like something I actually want to do. I don’t know.

RB: We’re going to shock you at some point. You’re going to be like, wait, what?

FH: I mean, I play Marvel Strike Force. How high is my bar? Like, it’s the games I played so far were great. What am I saying? They’re all better than Marvel Strike Force, so it’s a win.

DHB: Resident Evil 6 remastered, but only the console version got it.

RB: Wow.

FH: Oh, man. You know, I want to rep for that game. I think that game got a bad rap. I don’t because I play Resident Evil 5 and I don’t understand what is worse about Resident Evil 6 than Resident Evil 5 . If you’re not going to dis on Resident Evil 5 , then I don’t know why you hate Resident Evil 6 so much. I think…

DHB: it was it was it was because there was more of the action and less of the horror. It was like you could watch kind of like the Fast and the Furious movies as they get further and further. They get more furious than fast. And you watch how they get shittier and shittier. It’s kind of like Resident Evil. It had like the amazing Resident Evil 4 horror stuff. Then Resident Evil 5 ends with you punching a boulder. And then Resident Evil 6 is like, fuck it, we’re just going all action, nonstop.

FH: I don’t know. I think it’s medium, because I think it really improves on the handheld. Everybody’s got to try it on Steam Deck, you got to get a VR, you got to the Steam, I’m really sounding ableist, is how we’re like. I don’t know. I don’t know. These things will become more available over time, I assume.

RB: They don’t even make Steam decks anymore, do they? I think they do.

DHB: Yeah, they still make Steam decks. It’s the one that was the bridge between your PC and your TV. It’s kind of like a Steam TV-type thing. They don’t make those anymore. I got one of those for like $1. So we’re just trying to liquidate. I’m like, OK, here’s a dollar.

RB: Well, Frank, I truly appreciate that you are willing to hop on and talk to us this evening. And we promise we will get you a game that is one that you’ve heard of to do a review. But I also want to bring you in, because at one point I had pitched possibly doing a podcast episode about Monster Squad, which I still say is one of the best horror movies of the 90s. And we’ve got a bunch of different ideas like that that we really hey Frank. What do you think of this?

FH: Yeah, that sounds great I’ll have to rewatch Monster Squad. I’m sure I saw it because I used to work in a video store and I watched everything in there. So I’m sure I saw it at some point, but I remember some of the stuff from I know what movie you’re talking about.

RB: You’re like Wolfman’s got Nards. I was like, that’s it. Okay, you remember that.

FH: That was like on the trailer and that the trailer for Monster Squad was on every video that I watched. So I know that part really well.

RB: Okay we’ll have to maybe even just do it like a movie a movie watch so we all get caught up and then we can talk about it.

FH: That sounds perfect.

RB: Great well thank you again Frank and we’ll have you back in the not-too-distant future after we’ve terrorized you with a few more reviews.

FH: Perfect. Looking forward to the torture.

RB: This has been the AggroCast. We’ll catch you next time.

Thank you for listening to the Aggrocast Resurrected, the official podcast of AggroGamer. For more gaming news and reviews, please check us out at aggrogamer.com. If you enjoyed today’s content, follow and subscribe to get notifications of our next episodes.