Category: Game reviews

Conan Exiles (PS4)

I picked up Conan Exiles for the low price of my friend wanted someone to play with and bought it for me, so this entire venture was no risk for me. This is good because honestly, this game is the quintessential example of mixed feelings. This will become clear on why soon enough, so I will do something I rarely do. I will break this down very strictly into things I like and things I don’t.

To start, the things I like. The map is an impressive size and is full of things to do. You can explore, kill monsters and animals, mine various resources and build massive buildings or small little huts. The weapon selection is impressive as well, swords, axes, spears, throwing axes and daggers. Probably more I just forgot to mention. You have all kinds of armors and shields to go along with them, and they have various looks and styles.

You also get to choose your own religion to follow, each god with their own preferred method of worship, even a cannibal. One also does nothing for you really, simply doesn’t much care about any of you. Graphically the game is nice as well. Another great thing is that you can adjust almost any option, from experience gained to how much materials you will get from mining. And none of it messes with trophies.

Now for what I don’t like. Also, the things I don’t like, I REALLY do not like. For starters, the glitches are numerous. There is such an insane amount of lag during online multiplayer with friends. To the point, it was almost unplayable at times. I have been attacked by invisible creatures that would later show up, had entire fights with creatures I could not damage that would suddenly drop dead. Mining rocks and ores that simply wouldn’t do anything and I would need to move along only to return to the same spot 10 seconds later and be just fine.

The crafting menu is also a mess, finding anything is a pain, selecting feats is annoying and many times won’t even register until you back out and reenter the menus. Also, many times when killing things and trying to harvest them it simply didn’t work, at all.

All in all the game is one of the best survival games on PS4, but I imagine it is lacking quite a bit of content on PC. The game is also rather buggy and certainly not worth the full price tag. However, if you can pick it up for around $25, its worth the buy. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Of mice and men

of mice and men

So to start the year 2019, let’s begin with a classic: Of Mice and Men, a story most American kids nowadays are forced to read in middle school or high school English class much like Animal Farm and Lord of the flies (usually if you got a cool teacher or were an honor student).

Of Mice and Men follows two migrant workers and traveling partners and companions making there way to a much needed job during the depression. Life isn’t easy for George, the thoughtful and ill tempered of the two, who just wishes he can live a life less hard, put some roots down- but life with Lenny isn’t so easy. Lenny is a gentile giant with the mind of a child and some pretty harsh strength to match. Lenny’s curious and cumbersome nature makes life harder in a hard time but a dream George keeps telling Lenny keeps them afloat- a dream of a home and stability, and rabbits…but it’s with that sad truth George realizes some dreams are only that as he faces the hardest choice of his life after trouble comes for the last time…

Before I go onto my final verdict, I’m stating this now: this book is not for everyone. 11 year old Torsten though this book was long, drawn out and boring as shit. 25 year old Torsten found it a quick read that nearly brought a tear to his eye. It is slow paced, despite the actual minuscule size of the book but damn it hits you in the feels by the end. It is better a second time around because the foreshadowing becomes rather ominous and foreboding which I really liked and the ultimate tragedy hits harder. Overall I can’t recommend this book to everyone but if you want a great tragedy, definitely give this short but powerful book a go. May the gaming gods let you pet the rabbits…

Fallen Legion: Flames Of Rebellion

Fallen Legion: Flames of Rebellion is an action RPG, the story of magic and a grimoire, and an entire world created to tell a story. Both sides of the story technically, in two separate games.

You start out at a war and the death of an emperor. Much of how the world works is actually hidden in the menus and is easy to find. It isn’t long before you find out The kings’ daughter Octavia will take over and a talking grimoire will help. Tho it does feed on souls.

The issue is while the game looks good, the gameplay itself is rather boring. You will mostly be mashing X, Square or circle and occasionally cast a spell with the triangle button. The sad fact is, nothing in this game was fun for me. The story was pretty much the same as usual in games. An evil entity controls someone, someone tries to stop it, an empire in danger. The combat is mostly button mashing with attempts at blocking attacks with L1.

The game also doesn’t do so well on Metacritic either for the PS4 or Vita versions. The game is just not well received and with good reason. Yes, it has its fans, but I wouldn’t count on you being one. Thankfully it is free this month on PSN, so feel free to try it and tell me what you think. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Knights of Pen and Paper 2 Deluxe Edition (PS4)

Full disclosure here I never played the first Knights of Pen and Paper tho there is a bundle that gets you both of these games. I walked into this having no idea what to expect, but I bought it anyway because it looked like D&D as a pixel RPG. To be 100% honest, that is what this is. See that guy sitting at the table? He is the dungeon master. Those people are your characters. Essentially unless you buy a new table, which is something you can actually do, they all have some sort of effect, you will sit here and go about your adventure.

As you travel the background will change and the enemies will appear behind the dungeon master as he tells the story and you go on the quest and travel the world. The battle system is typical turn-based and each time you level up you will get points to put into skills of the characters you created.

The characters you create are more or less based on what you chose, you can choose a dwarf, human or elf and give them certain personalities such as being a cheerleader or such. The whole thing is pretty interesting.

The story isn’t bad but is actually quite silly, the tutorial even gets interrupted when someone realizes that 2nd edition and 1st edition characters can’t mix. This is a recurring theme and the humor is the selling point of the game. For  D&D fans and old-school RPG fans, this one is worth the buy. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

God of War 2

gow 2

I admit I didn’t play God of War first but started with the second game first. Among the kids in school, God of War was a favorite and I admit I didn’t get the hype at first. 10 minutes into playing the second game I understood..

Kratos, now the god of war, finds his city under attack by the colossus and his powers mysteriously drained. Zeus grants him the Blade of Olympus, the weapon Zeus used to cease the war against the titans; but to access it’s full power, Kratos needs to drain his godly power into the blade. seeing no other choice. Kratos does, slays the colossus but is laid crippled until Zeus appears, revealing the colossus was his doing and it was his plan to  kill Kratos because of his constant defiance of Olympus. Kratos is sent to hell where the titan Gaia makes contact with him, telling him of the Sisters of Fate, who can help him rewrite history itself, along the way Kratos will find the depths of Zeus’s cruelty and the secrets of the god king…

God of war 2 cranks up the epic level in almost every way but I admit there are some flaws. While I enjoy the sequel’s story more as well  better graphics and more epic set pieces, the final twist at the end kind of bummed me out. The new weapons are sweet but not  as cool as the set in the first game and I felt a little bit too overpowered at times. I still have to say, the game is fun as hell and looks amazing and definitely a great sequel I recommend. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Game Dev Tycoon — Gaming with Noobs

Hello everyone and a late Merry Christmas to all. Hope the holidays were wonderful to all. Today we will be talking about another tycoon game called Game Dev Tycoon released August 29 2013 by developer and publisher GreenHeart Games. In this game which the title says it all you get to start your own development […]

via Game Dev Tycoon — Gaming with Noobs

Silent Night, Bloody Night

bloody night

Let me start off by saying a special thank you to Savior and his family for taking me in during the holidays, I love all you guys. The holidays are about love, togetherness and good will onto others; they’re probably not meant to watch shitty, free public domain Christmas horror movies that aren’t about Christmas. Sorry Savior.

Disclaimer: this is not a review of Silent Night, Deadly Night. No killer dressed as Santa. No abuse of kid by tyrannical nuns. No “Garbage Day” ( high five to those of you who get the reference). Truth be told, and I quote Savior himself ” I don’t think the damn people that wrote this fucking movie know what it’s about.” The basic gist is there is a house where a guy died ( he was accidentally burned to death but it was no accident) and his grandson decades later goes to sell it, but there’s a killer killing people involved with the sale because I guess it was a mental asylum at some point and this dude’s mom was wrongful killed by the inmates who killed the rich owners and took over as the movers and shakers of this town. Sound like a mess, eh? It is.

Silent Night, Bloody Night is a dumpster fire. The plot and story for this movie are damn confusing to where it’s nonsensical at times. The actors seem unmotivated to where I swore they were drugged on some heavy ass downers. There is some ok atmosphere and music and random gore that made us laugh. This movie made Savior salty as hell and I got some cheap laughs as we asked WTF was going on. As I mentioned earlier, it’s public domain- hell, we watched it on YouTube for free on perfect quality so if you and your friends, family, or pets want to get drunk and watch a movie, this is a good pick. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Marvel’s Spider-man (PS4)

spidey ps4

It’s been a long time coming, but Marvel finally gave us a epic game again. Batman: Arkham Asylum , Batman: Arkham City and Batman: Arkham Knight changed superhero games forever and made DC the king of superhero games for nearly a decade but I’m happy to say Marvel came back with a vengeance.

The game takes place years after Peter Parker was fatefully bitten by the radioactive spider. Here we see Parker working for Octavious Industries, a upcoming scientific company lead by Parker’s mentor and dear friend, Otto Octavious, who is working on a series of cybernetic prosthesis.  Aunt May works side by side with Martin Li, founder of F.E.A.S.T, a philanthropic organization dedicated to helping the homeless. Parker and Mary Jane Watson have split up and there relationship strained but find there paths crossing as MJ becomes an investigative reporter for the Daily Bugle. Norman Osborn has become mayor while his son Harry is “away in Europe”. After bringing down Kingpin, Wilson Fisk, a new villain appears, leading Spider-man to fight the sinister 6 lead by one of his greatest adversaries and fallen idol, testing everything he stands for along side Mary Jane and young Miles Morales. Enter Doc Ock…

This maybe my favorite version of Spider-man. While I adore Spider-man and Spider- man 2 as well as Spider-man: Homecoming and Spider-man: the animated series , the game’s story gives me pieces of what I love about all of those titles with a great story of it’s own. The story is a perfect blend of lightheartedness and pathos with a hell of a lot of Spidey’s villains. Combat flows beautifully ans while it takes time to get used to it, when you do you feel like an absolute badass with a huge mix of attacks, gadgets, and environmental aids. Web Swinging is truly flawless, quick and smooth, you’ll find yourself having a blast swing through New York visiting real and fictional landmarks. The game offers a lot to do and about 90% is fun as hell. For the Marvel fans, there’s plenty of famous landmarks to visit, plenty of Spidey’s iconic costumes to acquire, villains to fight. The only complaints I have are that boss fights are too easy and the stealth sections with  MJ and Miles while not horrible, do break the immersion for me at times. In the end, Spider-man is the best game I’ve played all year and I highly recommend it. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

download (2)

 

Surviving Mars (PS4)

So during the sale on PSN I picked up Surviving Mars on PS4. I loved it on Xbox. Surviving Mars (Xbox One) So I really wanted to see how it stacked up, and this time I had all the DLC. If you want to know about the actual game please feel free to see my Xbox review. The game is pretty much identical, even the looks are quite comparable.

The DLC is also quite nice, giving you more options on what to build, songs on the radio. The DLC also adds a lot of great things and the tutorial is pretty nice. There is a small issue, in fact, this will be the first time I ever say to buy a game but to avoid a certain console. Do not buy it on the PS4. The game runs great, in fact, I really enjoy it. I did not, however, enjoy having to restart the game every time I wanted to play. See when I try to load a game, it would simply crash the game and I would have to restart it. This is apparently quite a common issue. While there are some workarounds the game has been out long enough this shouldn’t be necessary and while I love Paradox and their games, this one on the PS4 is best avoided. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

God of War

gow 1 Anger is a powerful thing, and very few characters in gaming are as brutal and angry as Kratos. The first game in this epic series follows Kratos on his violent quest for revenge against Ares, the God of War.

Incredibly strong with white ashen skin, Kratos was a fierce spartan warrior on his way back to Athens. After a battle at sea, he receives word from Athena, the only god he mildly trusts that the time has come: Ares has gone too far and must be brought down. The gods of Olympus can’t actively aid Kratos but they offer a sample of there powers and Athena tells Kratos of the fabled Pandora’s Box, which contains a power great enough to slay a god. Ares used Kratos, leading to the ultimate tragedy that drove Kratos so if its the last thing Kratos does, he will stop at nothing to kill Ares…

God of War is a hell of a game that started a brutal legacy. Gameplay is simple but awesome hack n slash. Besides Kratos’s signature blades are reliable with a great reach and combo options but on top of that you get storm powers from Poseidon, summons dead souls from Hades, throw lightning bolts from Zeus as well as other gifts. There is some puzzle solving and platforming which is fun but Hades part of Pandora’s temple is notoriously a pain in the ass as well as the pillars out of hell. Kratos is a cold character but once you understand why he’s on this quest and his reason for hating Ares, you do feel sympathy for Kratos and he has some deep moments of sorrow. The character designs are really cool but I must admit some of the graphics and some mechanics didn’t age well over the years. The gameplay can also be monotonous after a while and is only really challenging after the harder difficulties. In the end, the original God of War is a really cool game that deserves some love but it’s not timeless and it’s a product of its time, still well worth playing. May the gaming gods bring you glory.