Category: monsters

Aliens: Fireteam Elite

Gotta start by thanking Savior for playing through the game with me because, honestly, like most multiplayer games, who your crew is means a whole world of difference. Firetam Elite is essentially an online horde shooter in the Alien universe. There’s 4 chapters, 3 missions each to play through. You pick a class, pick up consumable buffs like shock grids, sentry guns, and proximity mines and jump into action with 2 other players. Is there a story? Barely. You’re a colonial marine tasked with killing xenos- that’s it in a nutshell.

I highly recommend having at least 1 battle buddy if you’re going to play this game. Solo, the gameplay isn’t too engaging. As for any online multiplayer, we’ve played with cool people and a couple that made things way harder than they had any right to be; if you can’t find someone, the game fills the slot with an Alpha, which mostly means you’re pulling extra weight and better not die. With a buddy, the game is pretty fun at times, but not full-price fun. We had it as a PS+ freebie and neither of us had any desire to get the Pathogen DLC.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with the game, just nothing spectacular. The highlight for me was the iconic scenery that harkened back to Alien and Prometheus. I will say the ending of the final mission does the Queen Alien a massive disservice, even more the finale of Aliens: Colonial Marines. There is a nice sprinkling of Working Joes (a nice nod to Alien: Isolation ) and prequel monsters, but the Aliens themselves don’t really spark much terror.

In the end, Fireteam Elite isn’t bad if you and a friend want a pretty quick game to burn through or you’re a diehard Alien fan like I am, but there’s nothing great either. It’s one of the most average games I can think of. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Hogwarts Legacy

The dream of many has come true: you’ve been accepted into the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Set nearly a century before the Boy who Lived would enter its walls, we play as a newly discovered prodigy first setting foot into the school while a goblin revolution looms in the background.

As a kid into my young adult years, I loved the world of Harry Potter. I found the lore and worldbuilding fascinating while not really being too invested in Harry himself. While the personal politics of J.K. Rowling have soured my taste for Potter, I was curious if all the hype around the project was warranted.

First, I will say the game excels at bringing Hogwarts to life. The castle is a breathtaking marvel to explore; fans of the books and movie are in for one hell of a treat. It was really cool to make friends, each with their own interesting sidequests, and actually attend classes. There is a vast landscape outside of the castle into Hogsmeade village, the Forbidden Forest, and more. For a while, I had a blast exploring all I could. The game offers a lot of character customization options and there are plenty of spells to learn- including the Unforgivable Curses (you can bet your ass I learned those puppies). The game has plenty of Wizarding World fan service…

However, this game gets incredibly stale and becomes a slog once the wonder wears off. Combat essentially boils down to Arkham-lite; the Unforgivable Curses break the game if you want to cruise through the last third of it. The main story is meh. The friend questlines are more interesting than the main game’s. One huge issue I had is that the game is overly stuffed with fetch quests and scavenger hunts for pointless collectables. Given the vast bestiary and enemy pool they could have drawn from, enemy types are pretty limited. There isn’t much Hogwarts life at Hogwarts Legacy- classes, dueling club, races all end quickly enough. You can pick your house, but it has no weight to the story or how the characters react to you. After the first ten hours, I felt like I was merely grinding to finish the story.

In the end, Hogwarts Legacy isn’t terrible but far from what it could’ve been. Potter-heads will love it, but the casual gamer will pick up on the bloat and repetitive nature of the game. I bought it for $25, which I’d say is a fair price for the fun I got out of it. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (sn1)

During an exploration on the moon, a strange object was found. A space dumpster. Inside the long sealed empress of evil, Rita Repulsa, is unleashed to conquer Earth. Zordon, an ancient alien wizard, and his trusty robot servant Alpha 5 spring into action. Zordon has Alpha find five teenagers with attitude from the nearby city of Angel Grove. Jason, Zack, Trini, Billy, and Kimberly were chosen to become the Power Rangers, the only heroes mighty enough to stop the forces of evil…

If you grew up as a 90’s kid as Savior and I did, this show is peak nostaglia as you can get. Fighting, monsters, a colorful giant robot fighting said giant monsters- what else can any kid ask for? Hell, I was a Power Ranger for Halloween the years I wasn’t Batman. The first season with the classic 6 rangers is lightning in a bottle. The core 6 had good chemistry and for the first 60-episode season, it is it cool seeing the characters grow. For example, Billy starts as a weak, stereotypical nerd who gradually becomes the team’s tech wizard as well as a competent, confident fighter. The show’s structure is aligned with self-contained episodes but the multi-part arcs are some of the show’s highlights. The evil Green Ranger arc that introduces the legendary Tommy into the group is still awesome all these years later. The original Zords are iconic: the Mastodon, Triceratops, Pterodactyl, Sabre-Tooth Tiger, Tyrannosaurus, and the Dragon Zord. The theme is one of my all-time favorites and I still smile each time I hear it; the music all around kicks ass.

Like many show’s there’s some dull episodes here and there. Because of the use of Japanese footage, there is quite a bit of repetition to the Ranger and Zord scenes. This show looks goofy and over the top, but to a charming degree. A couple of times in the first season, plotlines do repeat, just slightly altered. As a kid I remember thinking Bulk and Skull, the comic relief bullies, were annoying, and they are, but they grew on me. Rita is a goofball villain with a shrill voice and neither her or her lackeys are competent, but damn if it isn’t funny.

In the end, Power Rangers is a fun, goofy, kids show but it’s still plenty of fun. Whether you’re riffing it with friends, or getting hyped whenever you hear “It’s Morphin Time!”, the first season of Power Rangers is a good, light-hearted time in our dreary world I recommend. May the power protect you.

God of War: Ragnarok

Winter has fallen since Baldur was slain. Kratos and Atreus struggle to evade Freya’s fury and fear the wrath of Odin. Odin comes, accompanied by an enraged, grieving Thor, looking for peace. After an awesome battle between the former god of war and the god of thunder, the duo finds themselves on a new journey, uncovering Odin’s cruelty, Loki’s destiny, and testing the strained relationship of Father and son…

Being the very first game I played on my PS5, I was blown away. Ragnorak is easily the best game in the series. The story and voice work are S-tier. Kratos and Atreus are incredibly developed. I was pleasantly surprised by how fun Atreus was to play and how invested I got in his story. Kratos vs Thor is nothing short of legendary. I loved the game’s depiction of Odin, Thor, and Heimdall. Visually, the game is breathtaking. The music is powerful. My only real complaint is that the Norse saga is basically closed now and where the GOW series is going, I don’t know, but I wish we got a little more in Norse myth. In the end, GOW 5 is an incredible sequel and easily one of the best games on Ps5 I can’t recommend enough. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Silent Hill F demo

My hype for Silent Hill’s latest entry is officially through the roof after watching the latest gameplay demo. I adore the imagery. The scarecrows are a creepy ass enemy design. I love the environment. The combat looks fair- you aren’t a soldier or superhero, but at least you can reasonably defend yourself (it’s all I ask in my horror games). I’m already saving money to hopefully get it near release. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Predator: Badlands trailer 2

Wow…this movie is starting to look pretty badass. I love the direction I see it going in. I think Badlands looks like a cool way to expand the Predator mythos. The monsters and fauna look cool and I can’t wait to see a young, fledgling Predator face off against them. I like Elle Fanning so far and how it looks like a weird buddy journey with her and the Predator. In the end I’m super hyped. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Zombie (aka Zombi 2 aka Zombie Flesh Eaters)

Ann’s father has disappeared while on vacation. Along with Peter, a journalist, and two vacationers, they bum a ride from, they set off to a tropical island to find them. This island has been ravaged by death. A plague or something more supernatural, maybe both. The dead have begun to walk, and they are hungry.

Zombie (or whichever title you prefer) is one of Lucio Fulci’s most well-known works. The Beyond is my favorite, but Zombie was my first. I’ve heard it said the movie is a knockoff of Romero’s Dawn of the Dead , but I disagree. Zombie doesn’t hold a candle to Dawn’s memorable characters, good acting, or the sheer scope of the film. What Zombie does have is nightmarish zombie effects and top-notch gore. The zombies are well-detailed and absolutely gross to look at. I do really like the movie’s theme. The story and characters are meh; the dubbing isn’t as good as I’d like it to be. The slow pace kills the movie. When things happen, the movie is great, but a lot of it feels like the main characters wandering around. My favorite moment will always be the zombie fighting the shark at the bottom of the ocean. In the end, there’s definitely better Fulci films and zombie films all around, but this is a solid horror with great effects, blood, and some absurdity that’s worth checking out. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Resident Evil 9 overview

So if you wanted a lil extra to go with the pretty awesome reveal we got, here we get a bit of a dive into it with the people actually making it. While we don’t get anything super new or groundbreaking, it’s still cool having the devs set the stage and talk about why Leon isn’t the MC as well as give us an idea of what we can look forward to. I love that you can switch between 1st and 3rd person at will. I’m ultra pumped still. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Cronos: The New Dawn gameplay overview

Lately I’ve been keeping a special eye on Cronos, which looks to satisfy my craving for survival horror games in the vane of Dead Space and Resident Evil. It was cool to get a lil bit of clarity on what the game’s going to be like firsthand. What sold me is how the monster’s will rebuild themselves off of the corpses of there own kind. I’m excited to see what Bloober Team has in store for us. May the gaming gods bring you glory.