Wait until Dark

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A lot of times, the best horror movies are the simplest ideas of all; in the convoluted age of today I can admire that more than ever. Wait until Dark is about a trio of criminals who lose a doll stuffed with a lot of heroin and it ends ups in the hands of a blind woman and her husband by total accident. The leader of the group takes advantage of the woman’s disability, invading there basement apartment, even going so far as to have one of his guys impersonate a police officer to try to buy them time to search for it. It’s up to Susie to uncover the mystery around her and survive with a cold blooded killer unseen in her midst.

Would I call Wait Until Dark a horror movie per say? No. I’d say a damn good suspense thriller, but not quite a horror movie. Strangely enough a lot of the movie and it’s tension revolves around how sweet and vulnerable Audrey Hepburn is; her charm hooks you almost immediately and from the get go your heart pounds when she’s in danger. Alan Arkin plays a good villain, charismatic and menacing. Like Misery , the entire movie pretty much takes place in a small, cramp space. The movie is filmed really well and has a solid score. If you’re interested in watching an older film and want a genuinely good thriller, I’d recommend it. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Warhammer 40k Inquisitor Martyr (Xbox one)

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hey kids, do you like Diablo? Do you like killing thousands of enemies with magic and swords? Want to try it with a guns in the 41st century in a space setting? If you said yes to all or most of these questions than Warhammer 40k Inquisitor Martyr might be for you. Just do not try to say the name three times fast, there is a reason people write and say 40k as opposed to forty thousand. Can any of you think of a longer name off the top of your head?

Insanely long name aside Warhammer from Bigben interactive ( PC version was by Neocore games) is of course of the Action RPG genre and much like Diablo will see you running around kill insane amounts if stuff to find better gear to better kill insane amounts of stuff. That is not to say this game is exactly like Diablo, far from in fact. They are just similar in style in some areas.

Graphically the game won’t win any awards, but the ship looks good and the character models are nice. My time with the ,didn’t see any major glitches or issues, so don’t expect any Mass Effect Andromeda type things happening. The voice acting was well done and I enjoyed it tho some people may feel differently as that sort of thing can be subjective at times. I also enjoyed the ever-changing maps that thankfully change constantly using prefabricated parts.

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Now for the downside, for starters I wasn’t a fan of the inventory system, that being said most inventory systems seem pretty cumbersome in these games and at this point it is just the nature of the beast. The same can be said for the very repetitive combat system. While the effect of the various skills look nice they won’t make up for the fact that at times I felt like I was simply mashing buttons while working my way through a truck load of enemies for no other reason than to get better gear. This isn’t so much an issue with Martyr as it is the genre as a whole and there isn’t anything that can be done about it to be truthful, it is just something to be aware of.

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Now the reason you are all here, should you buy this game? In all honesty I would not. I won’t tell you not to tho. It is an average game and fans of the genre will enjoy it I think. Its PC counterpart has pretty average reviews and I expect the Xbox one and PS4 will get the same. From me? 7/10 an average game that fans of the genre will probably like, but probably wait for a sale or rent it.

One final note, I played this game based off a Review copy provided by the company which I am eternally grateful for. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Some games I hate to love…

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Hi, everyone. you must be wondering why you’re looking at a picture of toast right now? Well, friend, I hate that I love toast. It leaves crumbs everywhere, gets burned easy, and people automatically think you’re high when you randomly crave 5 pieces of toast and jelly at 2 in the morning. But, I don’t care, toast is awesome. I wanted to talk about some games I hate to love- fair warning, some of these games I’ve given ass reviews for but still played for one reason or another anyway. In no particular order let’s begin with the most recent on the list…

dead by daylight 1. Dead by Daylight –

This game is no masterpiece. It frankly kinda sucks alone and even with a buddy but my friends Speedy and Artemis proved that with a fair group, there’s some fun to be had at 1 in the morning.

dark souls 2 2. Dark souls 2…oh my –

The game pisses me off but I still jump in and play it. It got me through a shitty time in life and I’m grateful, but I swear this game makes me rage in ways no other Souls game has.

alienscm  3. Aliens: Colonial Marines –

This game is and will always be stinky ass cheese, but the first time I played it, I loved it. There were friends and booze and nostalgia. Subtract all this and you get a steaming pile of dookie.

borderlands ps 4. Borderlands: The Pre-sequel –

This maybe my favorite game on this list. It’s the worst of the series I admit and there is a lot of stuff in it that makes my teeth grind but the story kept me going, and I defend the story to this day.

I hope you enjoyed my list and my the gaming gods bring you glory.

 

Monster Hunter World (PS4)

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I have a weird history with the Monster Hunter series in the past. I never loved or hated them, which is probably why I played a few. I jumped at the chance to play the Monster Hunter World Beta, but I wasn’t in any real hurry to buy the full release. After playing the beta it was simply another Monster Hunter game for me. It still is by the way, and before anyone jumps on me admittedly it is the best Monster Hunter I have played, Monster Hunter World is still Monster Hunter.

The idea is still the same as always, kill stuff, get new gear, kill more stuff repeat. This isn’t a bad thing, its what the series is. It is why the fan base plays the game and it looks and plays better than it ever has before. The game is stunningly beautiful and the controls are more fluid than they have ever been. Tho seeing creatures disappear inside of rocks and stuff just to smack the hell out of me when the lunge or spin out will always piss me off. Don’t worry tho, its not a bug it’s a feature.  There are some things most reviews I have seen don’t mention, so those are what I will focus on. The game is grind heavy, and I do mean HEAVY. You can spend hours just farming for items to build weapons and armor you need to make equipment you need at the higher level hunts. So if you are easily discouraged or simply hate that sort of thing, this may not be for you.

While there is a story to Monster Hunter World, its very basic and isn’t why most people play the game. If you are looking for a well written in depth story, you probably won’t consider this to be it. It isn’t bad by the way, but its really only about 30 hours or so and doesn’t exactly have a ton of twist and turns. It is almost like a tutorial to introduce you to the mechanics and ease you into why people play the monster hunter series, which is to hunt huge monsters with huge weapons and create characters capable of killing them.

Monster Hunter World is the most approachable game in the series, but it isn’t exactly approachable for casual players. That isn’t to say the game us hard or impossible but it does take some getting used to and practice. You aren’t likely to have success picking random hunts and mashing buttons while picking armor and weapons you think look cool. I have a friend that tries that and keeps asking me to help him kill stuff, then fails the hunt when stuff one shot kill him. He gets a pissed and I tell him why he dies then he doesn’t listen anyway, and it makes me laugh. Anyway, for me the game isn’t worth $60, but the $20 on a sweet sale I found makes it worth it. I know others that spent $60 and never looked back. This game is one of those games that is worth different to different people specifically because of what it is. I won’t say to buy it or not, but if you can rent or play with a friend if you have never experienced the Monster Hunter series before because it is vastly different than what most people have played. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Planetside 2 (PS4)

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So me and @torstenvblog have been trying to find a game to play recently, and with Dead by Daylight being free this month on PSN we started there, and well you can read to see how that went. We then said let’s try Planetside 2, which me and Torsten actually have conflicting opinions on. See he hates it and used some, colorful, terms to describe it. Full disclosure he died, a lot and often.

On the other hand there is me, I also died quite a bit to be 100% honest but unlike him I got better as time went on. The game has some huge maps, that for a free game look pretty damn good. Admittedly Warframe is still the pinnacle of free games in my opinion, in case you are looking for a bench mark. Planetside 2 also comes nowhere near that mark. The looks and sounds however are nothing to sneeze at however.

The controls function just fine as well, and in out time playing I never really had any issues that I would consider game breaking or even annoying. The layout is pretty standard, so really its hard to mess up and the aiming speed is always going to be subjective to how goo or bad it is, so tasters choice there.

The game however isn’t great and suffers from some flaws. First, it gives you no real guidance on what you should be doing. You pick a faction, but it doesn’t really tell you anything about them. I googled them prior which seems to be your only option. The game then tosses you right in with no explanation on how to even get into battle or how to really even find one. I wouldn’t call it hard to figure out, but I’ve been paying games longer than many of my readers have been alive and I mean that in a very literal way. One of my first memories is of sitting with my dad playing asteroids on Intellivision and thinking the NES was the greatest thing to ever be invented because the graphics were amazing. @torstenvblog was a bit more confused than I was, he is also a bit younger and a bit less experienced. To say its a huge problem would be an exaggeration, to say it is not a problem or could not be a problem would be a lie.

The game however with some practice and time is quite a bit of fun. I found myself using a jet pack to maneuver up a mountain to sneak around the side of a base to take a location or fighting with 5 or 6 other guys up a mountain path trying to push our way to a building wishing our idiot air support would fly over and hit something. There are long bouts of nothingness on huge maps followed by intense moments of fighting and that is where the game is very hit or miss. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Dead by Daylight

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This review may not but long, but there isn’t a huge abundance of material to work with here. Before Friday The 13th: The Game, this was the big horror movie simulator. A group of people thrown onto a map having to escape from a deranged maniac who wants them dead.There’s not really much of a story, except that the killers are sacrificing these teens to the Entity and to fully register them as dead, they must be placed in these contraptions. The killers look cool, from a wretched Hag, to a face wearing Hillbilly and the survivors are your normal, young horror movie fodder. There’s no NPCs, it’s completely multiplayer.

Savior and I took this puppy out for a test drive; about an hour later we simultaneously blurted out “fuck this game”  and Savior deleted it. What hit us first was how long it took for us to really start the game. Unless you have a group of 5, a game between you and your friends won’t last long. We had matches that literally lasted 2 minutes. Being the killer was fun, I admit because compared to everyone else, you felt like a god on the map. Some teleport. Some have higher senses and some have traps and all have weapons of some kind. As a survivor you sneak, run, and “hide”- I put this in quotations because you get these closets to hide in that any killer with a brain would check. There’s perks but they don’t really come too much into play as a survivor. If that killer gets you, you’re totally screwed. Unless you’re really skilled or lucky with a dumb killer, the second that killer catches you you’re dead friend. As a survivor you have to fix 5 generators hidden on the map which are a pain in the ass because if you aren’t good at quick hitting buttons you’re  screwed, it makes noise and draws on longer. You have no defenses what so ever. Out of 10 games we played, we only saw 1 where a survivor lived. Honestly, we began laughing at a lot of scenes that should have terrified us; watching it is like a gory Benny Hill skit.

Dead by Daylight maybe fun for a little bit if you have a good group of friends, now would be the chance now that its free on PSN this month, but you’ll get bored quick even then. The objective never changes, whether its ranked or not. If it’s you and a solitary buddy, I wouldn’t waste my time. My the gaming gods bring you glory.

Euro Truck Simulator 2

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This game in theory, is dumb as hell. Hey let’s make you drive a truck, following actual European traffic laws, while delivering goods, for no other reason than to buy better stuff than to do it again. Seriously, tell me in theory this game shouldn’t be garbage.  However, the game is actually quite fun and amazing. I don’t know how or why. But it is. The game is exactly what I described, and it isn’t even graphically amazing. It is simply relaxing to just drive your truck around.

Here are some issues tho I had with it. I have never been to Europe. So I don’t really understand their traffic laws. That being said, I am 100% positive no cop on earth is going to nail me only for speeding while I am driving down the wrong side of the highway. Not to mention some times my trailer would hit shit and get stuck on stuff that doesn’t seem to exist at all.

The game tho is weirdly fun and is aside from backing up a damn trailer is quite simplistic, but is just fun and relaxing, and I do appreciate the ability to stick music into the sound folder and play music on the radio. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Mimic

mimic

Before Guillermo Del Toro became a huge name in film with the HellBoy movies, Pan’s Labyrinth, Pacific Rim and The Shape of Water, we got Mimic. And no, not the Mimics from the Souls game.

Mimic begins with 2 scientists tasked with killing a terrible epidemic. Their solution is to kill the spreaders, by genetically creating cockroaches to kill off the carrier insects that spread the disease; after a generation, the insects would die and life would go on. Years later, then scientist responsible comes across massive versions of her work, which leads her and her husband to search them out. But unexplained disappearances suggest there creations have evolved to be more than they bargained for, evolving into hideous humanoid creatures under the subway…

This particular review is going to be pretty subjective. I know a lot of people that love this movie as a 90’s cult classic and back in the day, the effects were solid. I don’t have that nostalgia however. I never saw it until a week ago and I ain’t really a fan. The characters are pretty forgettable, the effects haven’t aged very good, and I couldn’t help feeling like it was a poor man’s Alien . While some set pieces and creature designs are very Giger- inspired and hell, you have Charles S Dutton via Alien 3  the script doesn’t have the suspense or characters to hold it up. The movie ain’t terrible, but unless you are nostalgic or curious, I can’t really recommend it. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

No Man’s Sky Next

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Oh No Man’s Sky, we meet again. By now you all know the history with this game and Hello Games. We aren’t going to waste much time on that but will just dive into the game itself.

The basics haven’t changed. You will spend a ton of time wandering around collecting various minerals simply finding stuff to build or discover. This hasn’t changed and basically never will. Nobody however expected it to I hope. It’s also quite fun, and now the base building is important enough to be worth it and even is easy enough to teleport around to make it worth it. And most importantly, we have true multiplayer. Your friends can now join you and help build an awesome base, fight pirates or simply just wander aimlessly. The game as a few of my friends out it, is finally fun. Now I enjoyed the day one version but admittedly it had its issues, many of which are now fixed. That being said, its Hello Games.

Yup there is a but coming. The game has an issue. While playing with friends, I am bopping around my new base and boom, I am disconnected. No big deal it happens. The issue is this happens a lot, and while I don’t know if it’s an issue on PC I can confirm it happens on both Xbox and PS4 and it happens a lot. I am talking double ten plus an hour at times a lot. It isn’t truly a deal breaker but I can’t lie it has driven me away from the game at times. It also does seem to me an issues on some planets more than others for me as well. I have a base I built that I essentially can’t go near because I get tossed from my game constantly, but if I am anywhere else in the solar system I can play just fine it seems. This may just be a coincidence tho.

The game is fun, and I am having more fun than ever playing with friends, but damn this new issue may keep me away. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

 

Guts And Glory (PS4)

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Guts and Glory is a PC game and recently popped up on PS4 surprisingly. I say surprisingly because the game is pretty messed up. The game is all about getting your character through obstacle courses. Some times in a park, or a small city or maybe in a sort of camp ground. The courses are made up of spinning saw blades, flying arrows, cannon balls and other assorted things to kill you. I’ve been shot in the head with arrows, been blown to pieces by landmines and even had my head blown off with a cannon ball.

The game has its issues, for example the controls aren’t very good. The are kind of clunky, and the games physics can be wonky to say the least. The game does have one big thing going for it tho. The game is fun. That is it, the game is just dumb fun. For $15 if you like a semi gory type game that serves no real purpose, this game may be for you. If not, should probably skip this one. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.