It shouldn’t be shocking to me, the desire of some people to hurt others. But while we all saw what’s happening in Ukraine as inevitable, it’s no less awful or upsetting.

Stay strong Ukraine. I wish we were doing more to help.

But on to more trivial things. What am I playing at the moment?

Forza Horizon 5 (Xbox Series X) – I’ve loved the series since the first Forza game and while this is another great game, it doesn’t feel like any improvement on Forza Horizon 4.

Elden Ring (Xbox Series X) – Took a punt. Had some credit with MS after being refunded for the awful Battlefield 2042 and it’s pretty good! I’m not, I’m pretty poor at it but I’m enjoying the experience. And yeah, it looks pretty.

Cyberpunk 2047 (PS5) – Had it on PS4 since release and gave it very little time. When the PS5 upgrade was released I decided to get back in and I’m glad I did. Feels like a much more solid experience.

Wii Sports (Wii U) – Having picked up a Wii U a couple of weeks ago, it felt like a good opportunity to introduce my 5 year old daughter to this. Bowling is still a blast!

Rock Band 2 (PS3) – I’ve always been a Guitar Hero fan until Guitar Hero Live (which I ended up leaving by a skip when I moved home a year or so ago) and somehow never picked up a Rock Band game. Loving these now having eventually managed to pick up a fully working guitar controller.

Warzone (Xbox Series X / One X) – Still a blast with some mates. Still irritating and broken in many ways.

Microsoft Solitaire Collection (Windows 10 / Android) – I’m not sure what got me back into this, probably the chance of getting a few more achievements.

What has bothered me for little reason in gaming this week?

Television adverts for video games are rarely noteworthy, but this week the advert for Horizon Forbidden West really irritated me. I adored the first of the series, and at the time the graphics blew me away. Now, a few years and graphical improvements later, a pretty low budget animated offering is out there pushing the game with the those wonderful words “Not actual gameplay” splashed across the bottom of the screen. I just don’t understand it. We have players able to make really quite impressive cuts of their gameplay to chuck all over Reddit and Twitter, but the marketeers and devs don’t feel showing how the game really looks is worth it? We all know it’s not all about how a game looks, and you obviously won’t get the feel of a game from any ad, but I’m interested to see the game I’m being asked to invest in, it’s not a blind date. Or at least it shouldn’t be.

As usual, I’m interested in your thoughts on anything I’ve mentioned here or in any previous posts. More from me soon hopefully. Until then, keep playing, stay safe and don’t be crap to each other.