This post marks the end of the unofficial hiatus. I had an exam on Monday, so everything was dropped while I hit the books. Or perhaps more accurately, the RCPath cancer datasets. For those of you not pathologically acquainted, the datasets are essentially manuals explaining how to handle specimens from all the main cancer types, from receiving and fixing the tissue through to taking blocks, all to provide the most useful information for patients and clinicians. The staging of melanoma and minimum dataset items are cemented into my mind. But enough of pathology for now.

Twitter and what not

Well, almost enough. I’ve been working on a side project Twitter pathology based account. The idea was to collect content reflecting fun and interesting aspects of pathology, but it is starting to morph into an educational account. Social media, for all its flaws, is a fantastic resource for knowledge sharing and case consultations. If you’re intrigued, check out Pathology Out of Context on Twitter. It’s not all fun and games though. Oh wait…

Titanfall 2

There are still some games knocking around on Ordinary Decent Gamer. On a recommendation I started playing Titanfall 2. Admittedly it’s not a game I would’ve thought of picking up as I haven’t played the original, and I haven’t played much at all recently. Multiplayer-only games hold little appeal to me these days. But seeing Titanfall 2 in action piqued my interest sufficiently to give it a go. And I did. And I completed it in a relatively short period of time. It’s not a long game by any measure at around five to seven hours for a playthrough, but there is plenty of content packed into that time.

Sort-of spoilers, so heads up

The story has you starting as a grunt in the Militia, and receiving a field promotion to pilot when your commanding officer is killed in the field. Becoming a pilot gives you access to a Titan, an intelligent bipedal tank which can utilise a whole variety of weapons and abilities. Most of the story revolves around the interaction between the pilot and his Titan, BT-7274. The voice actors are great, and you start to feel the rapport between BT and the pilot, Cooper. And along the way you fight a bunch of colourful characters from the IMC, the evil baddie corporation. A lot of this feels like setup for playable character models in the multiplayer mode, but it makes for some enjoyable boss battles.

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As you progress through the game, there are new Titan loadouts to find, including gattling guns and rocket launchers. Each loadout provides a particular shield and several attack modes. I found myself utilising a few different loadouts throughout, depending on the enemies facing me. And everywhere you go on foot, you’re tripping over new guns and grenades. It’s hard to keep track of what each one does, but thankfully you get a little label explaining what each of them does. You’ll find yourself switching out weapons frequently as ammo for your favourite isn’t always available. Some of them are great, like the Mastiff automatic shotgun and the Doubletake double barrel sniper rifle. Some, like the magnetic grenade launcher, suck. Maybe I’m using it wrong, but I just cannot warm to it.

A big part of the game is wall running, and you can have fantastic fun with this. The moment where you run along a wall, drop down into a slide underneath a door and take out multiple enemies will have you feeling legendary. Right before you get mobbed by a bunch of guys sending you back to the last checkpoint. Thankfully, that’s not that far away. And getting thrown across great distances by BT the Titan is another cool touch.

Overall there are some great set pieces, and fragments of story here and there, but I didn’t feel invested in the Militia’s struggle against the IMC. Having said that, it’s a very fun game, and if you enjoy fast paced shooters like DOOM then Titanfall 2 is worth trying out.