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Battlefield 4

battlefield 4

Ah the memories.

Battlefield 4 is an epic ass multiplayer experience where you and a lot of people are dropped onto a massive map full of vehicles and breakable environments. Seriously, it’s mind blowing playing a map where you can blast the foundations of a skyscraper and watch the whole thing collapse or being on it when it does, leaping off, parachuting off with a grenade launcher into the water and jumping into a gunboat with your buddy. Even in the prison map, it is freaking awesome going into full scale war with over a dozen people, it’s freaking sweet. The weapons handle well and graphically for a 4 year old game, it looks and sounds great. I do have a couple issues though, like sometimes the matchmaking sucks- sometimes me and Savior or me and Sniper ended up all alone on a map all by ourselves and again, like Black Ops 3, I can’t give a rat’s ass about the campaign.

Overall, this is a great game to get lost in and my favorite I’ve played in the series. Definitely worth the $20 bucks and most of the DLC is free now so all the more reason. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3

black ops 3

I remember playing the original Call of Duty demo on PlayStation. It was really cool at the time, a realistic WW2 era shooter. Three console generations later, we got robots. Wtf Call of Duty.

So for the story, there are robots. You get mutilated by them and get new cyber implants so there you go. I can’t lie, I lost interest in the plot pretty damn quick, despite the Christopher Meloni voice over. It’s not excruciatingly boring but not memorable. Multiplayer is clearly the focus. Essentially your standard game modes with you and other players. The maps are pretty small but there a lot of routes to take which is nice but you get kinda bored with them quick. In general, multiplayer can be quick fun until you get wrecked by assholes who bought god-level gear or people that spam you with combat perks or just general cheap shot bullshit. But mechanically and graphically the game is solid all the same. I didn’t touch zombies at all for the same reason I avoid most zombie packs now, they all feel the same to me after a while.

This may seem like a lazy review but in a lot of ways this game feels pretty lazy. Story just feels like a tutorial to play the Multiplayer, which is fun enough to kill time quick but will piss you off when you keep getting dicked by other players and some microtransactions but it ain’t a bad time with friends. I’d recommend it for $20 or less. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Amazing Spider-man 2

electro

And of course we come to the sequel and premature end of the Amazing Spider-man series. I’m saying this right now, theatrically in 3-D this movie is freaking awesome. Without that? Eh, let’s get into that.

Picking up almost two years later, Peter and Gwen are graduating high school, Spider-man has gotten experience under his belt but the memory of Gwen’s father haunts him as well as the mysteries of his parents and the fear for Gwen’s safety. His long estranged childhood friend Harry Osborn reappears after his father passes away from a genetic disorder and the two reconnect until Harry comes face to face with the same infliction. Spider-man also finds himself put to the test when villain Electro appears after another Oscorp based accident occurs when Spider-man obsessed fan Max Dillon falls into a pit of genetically altered electric eels after being shocked- nope I ain’t making that up…oh and Sinister Six shit too…

If you really loved these movies, I’m deeply sorry you won’t get no kind of conclusion to the multiple plots left open because this movie is primarily world building fluff, sequel bait. Garfield is much better a second time around and the supporting cast does well mainly. My favorite part is Jaime Fox as Electro, accompanied by a interesting score I can’t get out of my head. The fight scenes are much cooler. My biggest problem is the amount of shit is crammed into the film which makes it feel bloated, and because this was the end of it and wasn’t continued, it feels largely pointless. Also, Rhino. Oh I don’t know what the hell made them think anything about Rhino was a good idea. I can’t tell you if Electro or the Goblin to be is supposed to be the main villain. Overall, in my opinion, it’s not a terrible Spider-man film but the overuse of universe sequel bait kills it.Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Amazing Spider-man

amazing spiderman

Well, because I O.Ded on DC for a bit, I’ve been covering miscellaneous Marvel movies like every Fantastic 4 movie and Daredevil. Today, bumming around my other job, I flipped a coin to either talk about Spider-man or Punisher. Guess who won?

The Amazing Spider-man is the 2012 reboot of the beloved wallcrawler, but in a darker, more grounded tone that tried to be more true to the comics. Essentially we get another origin story, only this time having a thread focusing on Peter’s parents and Peter’s search for answers about them, leading him to Dr. Curt Connors, his father’s old partner and soon to be Spider-man’s first enemy, the Lizard.

Ok, this is a tricky one. I like that Spidey has web-shooters and we have Gwen Stacy as his love interest, not Mary Jane. I love the supporting cast, especially Emma Stone as Gwen and Rhys Ifans as Connors/ Lizard, though he is under used. I like the use of P.O.V shots when Spider-man is being Spider-man and the acrobatic stuff is pretty sweet to watch. That’s about it for me. Rest of this movie pissed me off something fierce. I do not like Andrew Garfield’s take on Peter Parker- I felt he was too whiny and kinda emo nor his take on Spider-man- I felt he trash talked too much and was a wuss when it came to fighting. I get it, he’s not a huge brawler but dammit you got insane reflexes and you’re twenty times stronger than your average guy, I don’t think you need to run from a couple muggers. Oh, and I love how he pretty much says Fuck it trying to find Uncle Ben’s killer after a five minute montage. And oh the costume. Savior won’t allow me to use the language I require to describe my dark, black hearted disdain for that costume. Lizard looks ok but I think they could have used a better design. Honestly, this movie feels like Spider-man for the YA Twilight crowd in a lot of ways. It took multiple viewings but overall I’m ok with it but I prefer the Rami trilogy much more. I haven’t seen Homecoming yet. I know the debate is out on McGuire vs Garfield as better Spidey so I recommend watching both series and deciding for yourself. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose

emily rose

Earlier today I talked about a movie that was totally crap, so I thought I would get some balance by talking about a truly underrated horror flick that actually got me and proved PG-13 could pack a punch in horror.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose follows the trial of a priest accused of aiding in the death of young Emily Rose during a exorcism gone wrong. During his accounts, we see the dark events of Emily’s possession.

Much like Salem’s Lot, it is a simple plot but it is followed through excellently. The actors are very down to earth and the use of practical effects leaned a much appreciated touch of realism VERY few films in this genre. The way Emily’s body unnaturally contort and the expressions of her face are damn effective and creepy. This movie has one of my all time favorite scares, which is a huge compliment I can’t often say. The only real flaw I can say is I didn’t like the ending personally, but that is strictly an opinion thing dealing with the subject of beliefs, so hell, to reach his own. Overall, I seriously recommend this as what I would call one of the best underrated horror films of last decade. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Wish Upon

wish upon

Savior had the misfortune of hearing me spaz out while watching this mutated cat turd of a movie. What happens when we strip the base plot of a Goosebumps book, add a shit load of trendy little ticks to be trendy for your PG-13 audience, and water down Final Destination? Cinematic Horror diarrhea.

Claire is a high school girl who stumbled upon her mother killing herself as a kid and lives a normal shitty high school existence getting bullied by the preppy popular girls and hides the shame of her dad dumpster diving for a living. Yep. Well, on a dive, her dad finds a fancy box covered in Chinese script and says “I bet my daughter would like this” and gives it to her. Well she learns that it’s a wishing box and her wishes come true, but with the price of someone’s life, and she can’t stop.

Ok, this is the second worst movie I’ve seen this year. The plot has so many logic gaps and tries being trendy so damn hard it stops being funny and will begin to piss you off. Like what American high school teaches Chinese; why the fuck is the dad so relentless about dumpster diving; how the hell can getting your hair caught in a disposal break your neck? The kills are either lame, funny, or watered down. The twist you will figure out 10 minutes in. I hated Claire after two wishes, seriously, you will root for the box after a while. The only way I’d actually recommend this is you want a movie to laugh at with friends, but don’t go past Redbox. Best wishes, may the gaming gods bring you glory, and friends don’t let friends watch Wish Upon.

Valerian and the City of 1000 Planets

valerian

Ambitious is 1 way to describe this movie. Bloated and off are others. This wasn’t easy but (sigh) let’s do this.

Valerian is a sci-fi epic about agents Valerian and Laureline that are trying to uncover a mystery involving mass alien genocide and military cover up. There’s a place called Alpha where thousands of species converge and prosper for the benefit of all. Well I just summed up all the important shit in two sentences and this movie is over 2 hours, but feels like 3.

Best thing Valerian has going for it is how beautifully detailed the worlds are and how much there is to see. Other than that, this movie is a mess. The casting of Valerian and Laureline, Dane Dehaan and Cara Delevingne, ain’t right and they have shit to no chemistry to pull off the romantic tension. Dehaan a lot of times kinda feels like bargain bin Chris Pine Capt. Kirk and Delevingne seems like a pretty droid at times with flat deliveries. Clive Owen plays military bad guy 101, enough said. Rhianna gives the movie’s best performance but she ain’t really in this for long. As I said, this thing feels longer than it is and it shouldn’t because something is always happening. Seriously with the pair getting thrown into predicaments and all the side plots, I forgot what the hell the movie was about twice- I’m not exaggerating. Honestly, I felt like was watching someone trying to cram a whole RPG into a 2 and a half hour movie and wasn’t taking no on trimming it down. I can’t recommend this unless you are a HUGE science fiction buff. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Daredevil

daredevil movie

Before he was the Bat, he was Devil in a movie that people liked when it first came out but soured in time. It did get Ben Affleck with Jennifer Garner, so that’s something.

Daredevil is the story of Matt Murdock,, the man without fear. Blinded by chemicals as a young boy in a accident after seeing something that broke his heart, he quickly learned he had something more, his other senses were raised to superhuman sharpness. While his father fought his way to redemption, Matt learned to perfect his new skills and learned to fight like his dad. Like every hero to be though, his father is beaten to death in a alley for not throwing a fight and the pain drives Matt to grow up to become a attorney by day who’s falling in love with a beautiful, mysterious woman named Elektra and the costumed vigilante Daredevil at night, hunting the Kingpin of crime in Hell’s Kitchen and his assassin Bullseye.

I’m getting this out of the way, yes, the Netflix series is WAY better than the movie but people crap on the movie more than they should. 14 years later, I still enjoy it. I can’t in no way proclaim to be a fan of the comics; I never read any. There’s some pretty badass moments and in a pre Nolan- Batman world, I liked how it was a dark superhero movie that had a little camp in it. I thought Affleck did fine as Murdock and Daredevil. I think the late and great Michael Clarke Duncan was great as Kingpin. Jennifer Garner was fine as Elektra but there’s a couple of times she drops the ball with the line delivery and WTF is with the outfit at the end. Collin Farell as Bullseye is probably the weakest link, he ain’t really got much personality and just kills shit in cool ways. Actually, I take that back, the weakest link is the damn playground scene. Oh my god that was cheesy as fuck. Overall, it’s not a masterpiece but it’s got some cool stuff in it so I’d recommend it a pre owned or crap bin price. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Prey (day 1 preview)

prey preview

So after a bit of stupidity and some going around in circles, I scored my holiday Black Friday loot: Prey. A game I’ve been drooling over since I first watched the first gameplay trailers. I put maybe an hour into it and I have to say I got hooked, so since I’ve gotten hammered by the question how is it by people I know, I thought I’d just discuss my first impressions.

Essentially you are Morgan Yu (you can be male or female, I picked female for a Ripley vibe.) an employee taking part of a weird alien experiment on a space station, and the subjects escaped, multiplied, and have taken over. It’s about all I know so far.

First, visually this game is breathtaking to behold. Second, I get a heavy Dishonored feel for a lot of the game which is cool, beside some aesthetic similarities, the game is heavily about choices how you approach obstacles. Moving feels as quick and fluid as in Doom. My favorite thing so far was fighting the Mimics so far. Tricky bastards move strangely, kinda like spiders but can sway like liquid or retreat and take another shape. Two at once can be a hassle to deal with without a gun. I really love the unknowing when it comes to these things, makes for a better immersion. I can’t really say anything bad yet but I’m damn excited to keep going. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Darksiders 2 (so far)

darksiders 2

I have a lot of friends who love these games with a passion and are craving a third. I get why, I do, but I’m not here to kiss this game’s ass. And no, I didn’t play the first Darksiders game, but I wanted to see what the hype was about.

Darksiders 2 follows Death this time as he tries to free his brother War who is facing war crimes. It’s about now I should mention I’m not finished playing it so I’m not totally sure what the hell is going on but I can tell you my fair impressions from about 8 hours of playing.

So far, I can say I love the art style and epic setting. For a game about Death, everything is very colorful and fantastic, a welcome change from what I originally expected. I feel a lot of nostalgia from the gameplay; combat feels much like God of War with the agility of Bloodborne, with platforming that reminds me of the PS2 Prince of Persia games. There’s some pretty awesome shit in here, but there’s some things in here that bug the living hell out of me like no mini map and sometimes I find the controls can be a little slow at crucial moments but I can’t say I have any huge complaints. I have a lot of fun but I also get really frustrated with it so I’m totally down the middle with this game. May the gaming gods bring you glory, and best wishes.