There are times I say weird shit on YouTube. Right off the bat, the clay-mated figures caught my eye. Why I decided to share this is for the simple fact I truly don’t know what I was seeing. I was getting a heavy Twin Peaks meets Jacobs Ladder vibe. I can’t say I’m expecting this to be a comedy but I can say it strangely caught my interest. May the gaming gods bring you glory.
Author: torstenvblog
Writer of the strange and everything; lover of horror, literature, comics, and the alien is my spirit animal
Captain Marvel trailer 2
After Captain Marvel trailer 1 I was pretty excited but I have to say now I’m pumped up ten fold. Seeing her red and blue costume in full, kicking ass in space was pretty damn sweet. We finally get to see the Skrull which look better than I thought they would. It’s good to have Sam Jackson back in the MCU once again. With the Avengers 4 trailer coming soon, the timing was perfect and the hype was real. May the gaming gods bring you glory.
Infamous 2
Infamous left off with Cole standing over Kessler, enlightened that a dark future was coming. The Beast was coming and Cole was going to fail against it. Infamous 2 begins right after the first leaves off, with the foretold Beast invading Empire City and Cole faces off against him, failing miserably and the city does fall. Cole and Zeke fall back to the Cajun town of New Marais so Cole can heal and grow his shattered powers to new heights he has yet to achieve. Monsters emerge from the Bayou, the gangs are fighting over the streets, a hate filled politician with a dark secret is fueling the hate against Conduits, and Cole finds himself facing bigger, harder choices that go beyond New Marais, but the future of man and Conduits. The Beast is coming…
Infamous 2, like many sequels, kicks up the crazy factor up 10 fold. Cole’s electric powers from the first return, now with multiple options to each attack, a cool new set of melee attacks, faster travel, and the ability to splice your powers with icey Kuo or firey Nix making a epic ton of options. The story maintains good quality and once again there is a lot of replay-ability. While the Beast wasn’t as interesting or as challenging as Kessler in the first, Bertrand makes up for it as a interesting villain. One huge issue I have is even on hardest difficulty, the Beast is too easy. A smaller issue I have is with all the attack options, having to stop the game to open a menu to readjust everything can be cumbersome but you get used to it. The game is epic as hell as the first one and definitely worth playing. May the gaming gods bring you glory.
Infamous
We all have the ability to be special, and we all have the ability to ride our paths towards good or evil. Infamous took this very much to heart and made one of the few games where I could be a real superhero or the ultimate outlaw. The choice comes down to you.
Cole Mcgraph was your average guy living in Empire City: he was a bike messenger, he had a girlfriend Trish and a best friend Zeke…until he delivered the wrong package. The Ray Sphere. He accidentally triggers it, starting a cataclysmic event that would lay part of Empire City in ruin, many dead, and Cole changed. He discovers the power to control electricity. Empire City becomes quarantined by the feds and hell breaks loose amongst the gangs that emerge under the First Sons and there leader, Kessler. As Cole learns to control his power, and fights for survival, will he become a symbol of hope or dread?
For those who played the game, you’ll know how much I over simplified some pretty good plot points. Either way you play, there is a good story that is very much worth 2 playthroughs. That’s where Infamous shines, depending on how good or evil you become, you’re the side effects to your powers change, even getting a special ability based on your karma (evil was my favorite). Much of the gameplay is divided into parkour and third person shooting and flows pretty easy between the two, as the game progresses you do start feeling almost god like which is awesome, especially if you go evil. For the good story and fun gameplay, there are some peeves I have with it. Cole can die easy as hell in the beginning and not being able to touch water is annoying as hell; another aspect I found irritating as hell in the beginning was the parkour which felt clunky but thankfully other abilities you get throughout the game make traveling more fun and way faster. The score varies from bland to epic and the voice acting is solid. In the end, if you want to play a different kind of superhero game that tries to be special, Infamous is well worth a try. May the gaming gods bring you glory.
Alice In Wonderland (2010)
I’d like to take a quick moment to talk about a hero of mine, Tim Burton. The man gave us some genuine creepy, funny, and heartfelt movies throughout the years. When I heard he was doing a version of Lewis Carroll’s classic, and Johnny Depp was going to play the Mad Hatter- a actor I used to love by the way- this movie quickly became one of my eagerly anticipated. As many would say, Burton’s quality has nosedived over the years, so where does Alice lie?
Alice was a little girl with a sunny smile and strange dreams. Ten years later, she’s nineteen and depressed after losing her father. Life is dull and kind of crappy; her mom wants her to be ladylike, she’s getting pushed into a marriage with a boring snob, and her sister’s perfect marriage is a lie. The snob proposes to her but she runs away, tripping down the rabbit hole into Wonderland. Sadly, Wonderland is not such a safe place for Alice, full of beasts and the tyranny of the big headed Red Queen. A prophecy unfolds around Alice told to her by a smoking caterpillar that she would be the one to free Wonderland and restore the throne to the White Queen, but she refuses and is confused why everyone acts like they know her. Were her dreams dreams after all?
Many blame the decline of Burton’s quality on this movie and in some ways, I see that. Burton’s tropes are heavy as hell in here: Johnny Deep and Helena Bonham Carter, the dark, goth pallet to the color, and everyone is super pale. Oddly enough, he doesn’t make so much of a WTF story here as you’d imagine and the source material demands but the story feels like a simple epic with Alice characters tacked on. I really like the score and visually the CGI is cool to look at. Depp as the Hatter stands out but mostly the characters are on the verge of flat. In the end the movie isn’t bad and worth watching but it isn’t Burton’s best. May the gaming gods bring you glory.
Alien: Blackout trademarked
I can’t say there’s many games I’m looking forward to many games in the near future but when it was announced Fox trademarked “Alien: Blackout”, a new game somewhere in the Alien universe. While I highly doubt it’s going to be set after Alien: Covenant , I personally think it would freshen up the Xenomorph in games if we saw some aspects of the prequels involved like the black ooze and the mutations they bring. I wouldn’t be angry if the Neomorph made another appearance in the series. Another thing that would be awesome if some of the Kenner toy designs made an appearance as a new means of enemy types.
Essentially what I want from Blackout is nothing from Aliens: Colonial Marines ; I want a game with challenging, varied Aliens, a good story, and a some good action. While I love Alien: Isolation I do think the next step would be to show how intense a gun fight with a Alien can be. We have a long wait ahead but I can’t wait to see we get. May the gaming gods bring you glory.
Rick and Morty season 3
After the sad conclusion to Rick and Morty, season 2 Rick found himself incarcerated for his countless crimes against time, space, reality, and even versions of him and his grandson Morty. Meanwhile, Beth and Jerry’s marriage crumbled as well as Beth’s concept of her own existence, leaving Summer to try finding refuge with some new ” questionable” friends and Morty becomes too aware of how much he can’t remember…oh and Rick turned himself into a pickle to escape family consoling. PIckle Rick!
Season 3 continues the trend of being outrageously funny and deep at the same time, which will always be the show’s greatest strength. This season I really started to feel for Beth, especially during FroopyLand. There’s a few episodes that are slow but for the most part I laughed my ass off the whole way, especially the Pickle Rick episode. If you loved Rick and Morty, season 1 and 2, you’ll love the 3rd but I do recommend starting from the beginning because there is continuity to the show. May the gaming gods bring you glory.
Blade Runner
By now, everyone that reads this blog knows I’m a huge Alien fan and I was a pretty big fan of Prometheus , also from Ridley Scott ( Alien: Covenant not so much). I always wanted to venture into the film many have called Scott’s greatest sci-fi piece and what many have called one of the greatest sci-fi movies of our time, Blade Runner.
In the gritty, neon future of 2019 ( no comment) we have expanded to other worlds and the Tyrell Corporation has designed these sophisticated, nearly human androids called Replicants. Special officers, called Blade Runners, are dispatched to locate and exterminate the Replicants run amok. Deckard is a burnt out Blade Runner who wants out of the job but is given a last job, hunt down a gang of murderous Replicants lead by the enigmatic and deranged Roy Batty. In his hunt for the four, he comes in contact with a Replicant woman who tests all he knows about what he thinks is real..
I’m going to say this now, this is definitely an acquired taste. Visually it holds up really, really damn good and is simply one of the most beautiful movies to look at I’ve ever watched. It’s a very slow movie and I admit, you better pay attention or you will be lost. Harrison Ford is great as Deckard, who isn’t a super detective in any sense, feeling like a real person in a deeply personal situation. Rutger Hauer stole the show for me as Batty, being creepy but sympathetic, and delivering a truly beautiful monologue at the end. I love the movie but I get why some won’t, but I say it deserves a try. May the gaming gods bring you glory.
Green Lanterns rebirth: Rage Planet
Over the past few years I’ve been watching how DC’s rebirth has been going and finally I took my first step in with the newest Green Lanterns series, following the adventures of new Green Lanterns, Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz.
Baz, a troubled, arrogant young Muslim found himself in deep trouble with the government only to be rescued by the fabled Green Lantern ring; Cruz is a young woman who had fallen victim to depression, anxiety, and Agoraphobia after a tragedy befell her. Both are assigned to protect Earth by legendary Lantern Hal Jordan, but when he notices the friction between the duo, he assigns them the same power battery, forcing them to work together. What could go wrong? A exiled, fugitive Guardian finds his way to Earth searching for Jordan, finding his way to Baz’s family with a powerful weapon that can potentially dwarf the Green Lantern’s ring. But this event gets swept aside when the Corp’s nemesis and Red Lantern leader Atrocitus plans to unleash Red Dawn on the Earth, infecting the world with rage. Can these rookies work together, get a grip on there powers, and stop the rage?
Rage Planet is a good start for DC rebirth as well as for a Green Lantern or comic fan. Baz and Cruz are solid characters I found relate-able, especially Cruz who struck a note with me. Atrocitus has some awesome moments and some depth to him that makes him one of my favorite Lantern characters. It’s a good start up story and I’d say its well worth a read for fans and readers new to comics. May the gaming gods bring you glory.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 first impressions
As is customary, I’m starting this semi review with a shout out to my friend Autobot who played what I did. Always awesome dude.
First things first, there isn’t a campaign which brought on a lot of rolled eyes and angry fans. This is strictly multiplayer. Essentially the game boils down to three major game types: the pretty common, fast paced, multiplayer modes COD is famous for by now, the zombie stuff people love, and the battle royale shit because well…Fortnite. We didn’t touch zombies, hence why I call this a semi-review, but I played a good half a dozen matches or so in the other two- enough for a good feel.
For the standard multiplayer, much of it feels like it did in Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 without the wall running and the super slide. The guns handle nice and it’s easy to die, but this time there is a med injector feature much like Battlefield: Bad Company in which adds a little spice to the matches. The maps are a little wider than my previous experience and a little strategy can go a long way but ultimately it comes down to reflexes and the guns you’re packing. They pulled back on the specials from 3, now if a player uses them it doesn’t feel as game breaking, and thank god they ditched those pain in the ass wheels from 3.
Battle Royale plays almost exactly how Fortnite does. There’s a pre-game screw off, you jump off onto a island that looks pretty much like a twin to Fortnite’s and let the games begin. I always liked the concept of Fortnite but never liked the actual gun play but I have to admit I personally believe COD fixes the problem. Matches are challenging but the gameplay is crisp and well done in COD fashion. I think the storm bubble could close in faster but it’s not a huge complaint.
From what I played, I can say there is a surprising amount of fun to the game but not $60 worth. 30 I would think about it but I can’t evade a empty feeling with it and I’m sure Activision will beat more maps and such out of us with DLC and such. May the gaming gods bring us glory.
Savior Gaming 