Opinion – Page 138 – Savior Gaming

The Exorcist (movie)

the exorcist movie

In 1973 we got a movie that changed horror forever, traumatizing thousands because of its dark as hell themes and realistic effects that hold up remarkably well today, almost 50 years later. Directer William Friedkin (Bug ) took the terrifying book by William Peter Blatty and pulled no punches.

The Exorcist follows the demonic possession of Reagan MacNeil, a 12 year old little girl and the two priests that come together to take on the daunting task. The intro to the movie we meet Father Merrin at an archaeological excavation in the Middle East, culminating in a stare down with a freaky looking statue we get a foreboding dread he has encountered before. Across the world, Reagan is with her mother, a successful actress, as small, strange things begin to happen. Her mother doesn’t notice until a disturbing sight happens at a big party she throws, leading to sights nothing within reason can explain. Reagan turns violent, having violent seizures and physically striking at the doctors trying to help her. Enter Father Damien Karras, a priest dealing with the loss of faith after his mother’s health plummets and dies; Chris, Reagan’s mother, reaches out to Karras who inspects Reagan and comes to the dark conclusion about her possession. Can Merrin and Karras save her soul and expel the demon?

The possession sub genre hasn’t been my favorite, for every The Exorcism of Emily Rose there’s a The Devil Inside but the Exorcist is honestly the greatest and undeniable progenitor of the sub genre. The effects are damn good, even today when CGI has taken over film land. The acting is amazing and the characters are strong. I will say the movie is slow, with decent gaps between scares where we see the characters develop, but some modern audiences may frown upon that. Horror fans and film buffs alike, this is a must watch. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Is Cross Play Important?

images

The question today is simple, is cross play important? This kind of depends on how you look at it. Sony recently has been getting a lot of flack for not really being involved with it which honestly isn’t as true as it is made out. They have plenty of cross play with PC games for example DC Universe online. That isn’t to say it is great with it, but the idea that Sony is completely against it and has none is false.

The other problem is people keep throwing around the term anti consumer in reference to it, but that also isn’t true. Anti consumer is when a company’s policy is unfairly against the customer in favor of the company. Sony being against cross play is in no way unfair to anyone. You aren’t being punished or hindered from playing the games.

vgchart If you look at total consoles sold for PS4, Xbox one and the Nintendo Switch The PS4 has outsold both the Xbox and Switch, combined. To say there is some anti consumer practice going on where PlayStation 4 users are being hurt and lack people to play with is insane. There is no anti consumer practice occurring.

Companies do things to benefit themselves on a business level and to help their customers, but cross play with Xbox and Nintendo honestly doesn’t add much for Sony. They already have the biggest player base outside of PC gaming. They would simply be giving their competitor access to their customers. And when something goes wrong, they would be blamed. And as a person that owns both Xbox and PS4 I can’t help but acknowledge that I run into far more issues with people on my Xbox than my PlayStation, and I spend more time on my PS4.

Now on to the flip side of things. While I do agree and acknowledge Sony is 100% right for not embracing cross play in a wide-spread manner because truly it does not help them, and people are also ignoring that in the early days of online game play it was Sony that attempted to make cross play happen and Microsoft that said no, and it was because they had the bigger online population which nobody seems to care about or want to acknowledge, there are some games I think Sony would be smart to simply bite the bullet on and just let it happen with. Minecraft and Rocket League for example have been out for so long at this point anyone that is going to buy the games, have basically done so. While it doesn’t benefit them I don’t think ti will really hurt them to go along with it either.

Sony has outsold everyone at this point, and as such they are smart not to let their competitors simply have access to their players at every turn. Especially since most people I have personally come across and know personally legitimately don’t care and can take it or leave it. But to save face and pacify some, Sony would be smart to simply embrace cross play for some older games and see how it goes. Most people don’t care, and with older games it won’t cost them anything. And while right now they are undeniably king of the mountain, at one point so was Sega and Nintendo, being right and being smart aren’t always the same thing. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Games that made me want a Nintendo

nintendo

Yesterday I talked a bit about Games that made want an X Box and there I mentioned how I only had a Nintendo 64 and GameCube. I have friends that absolutely swear by Nintendo through thick and thin and so I wanted to talk about some games that make me want a Nintendo. In no particular order I’ll begin with the franchise I have a little experience with..

kirby 1. Kirby-

One of my favorite N64 games was Kirby 64 and to this day, I haven’t had a gaming experience so weird but epic at the same time. I’d love to replay it again. I also want to see what else the series offers in cool power combinations and imagination.

metroid 2. Metroid –

Back in the old days, I played the demo for Metroid: Prime for GameCube and fell in love with it. I always like the Giger influences of the earlier games, plus Samus was always one of my Smash Bros. favorites.

3. Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem-

I love a good horror game, and I’ve heard many tell me how much this game scared the hell out of them. I’ve heard stories about the sanity meter and how eerie the game becomes after it becomes distorted. It sounds like a game we need today.

f zero 4. F-Zero

I’m not a traditional racing fan. Cars going fast bore me. But going light speed through bright colored maps in a insanely aggressive slam-feast, hell yeah I want to play that game!

zelda 5. Legend of Zelda –

Believe it or not I never played a Zelda game in my life. I know Link, Zelda, and Ganon by name and name only. I heard rave reviews for several of the games, including Breath of the Wild. Someday I’d love to see what all the hype is about.

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

Games that made want an X Box

I’ve never had an X Box in my life. My gaming experience has solely been PlayStation with two turns at Nintendo with the 64 and GameCube. PlayStation was my old reliable, but even I have to admit, the backwards compatibility with X Box is extremely tempting and there are some games I’d like to try, or in one case dive deeper into, so lets begin the list with that particular series…

jedi academy 1. The Star Wars: Jedi Knight games-

I briefly played the sequel on GameCube, going straight for the lightsaber multiplayer levels which were fun as hell. Seriously, with solid FPS and sweet saber combat, how is this not on any Star Wars fan’s list, as with…

2. The Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic games-

These games were legendary amongst my friends and after I fell in love with the Mass Effect trilogy, the thought of Star Wars having a huge epic story like that peeked my interest hard. I’ll get to it one day.

3. Condemned: Criminal Origins-

The first game of the series, an X Box, shows up on many lists of horror greats for its freaky atmosphere and brutal melee combat. The sequel, not so much. Regardless, I always love a good horror game.

4. Gears of War series-

I can’t lie, one thing and one thing alone utterly sold me on this series: having a chainsaw bayonet on your gun. I like monsters, I like carnage, and I love any reason I can get my hands on a chainsaw. Oh and I hear the stories are solid too…

halo 5. Halo series-

The series that pretty much defined X Box. I heard one and two have great stories but then they fell to the Mutilplayer craze, but I’d still like to see what all the hype was about.

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

The Order: 1886

order 1886

I know what you maybe thinking, why the hell am I talking about one of the PS4’s original launch games. I’ve never seen a review that called 1886 a masterpiece; mainly every review I’ve seen for this game says it was a huge disappointment. I wanted to play it as long as its been out, and because I found it on a huge sale, I had my chance. Well, I only wasted 4 bucks…We follow a secret order descended from King Arthur’s court going through England in 1886 with their steampunk weapons fighting werewolves and keeping the peace.

First and foremost, the game looks and sounds great. Good thing too, because you will be doing a lot of walking around and looking at random items you find. Primarily the game is a third person cover shooter with a lot of QTEs thrown in. 3 chapters in I found myself getting pretty pissed at the monotony of the chapters. I got to fight the werewolves which was pretty lame; there A.I is pretty dimwitted. I noticed after they attack, they go right back to the original position and attack again. I can’t call this game truly terrible, but 3 chapters in I’m starting to believe the other reviews. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

“Glass” poster

glass poster This is going to be a little unusual because there is no trailer, but a poster tells alot. I’ve never been a huge M. Night Shyamalan fan but I loved Split and wanted to check out Unbreakable after the end credits scene, which I thought was merely a set up for a sequel. But a crossover? That I wasn’t expecting. I think it’s a cool idea and don’t get me wrong, I’m seriously hyped for this movie but let’s not ignore the elephant in the room: Shyamalan doesn’t have the greatest track record. The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs- all well loved and well received movies. But we also have After Earth, The Happening, and The Last AirBender which damaged his career. I’m cautiously optimistic in that regard because while I’m a huge fan of his work, I respect that he tries doing something different, especially in a world of reboots and sequels. I have my fingers crossed and I can’t wait for the trailer. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Purge

purge

Happy belated Independence Day ever one. We hope you had a lovely day before the annual Purge. Soon, we get to discover how the madness started. In 2013 I was excited as hell for the first Purge movie; I swore up and down it was going to change how we saw horror. Poor 2013 me…

In the near future, the USA is enjoying a long period of crime free living and prosperity after the New Founding Fathers took over. How is this so, you may ask? The Purge: one night a year where all crime is legal. The Sandin family are good, privileged folks living in a clean, happy suburb, safe and sound from the horrors outside- until there son let’s a poor wounded man in who’s being hunted by a group of killer yuppies. The killers offer to leave the family alone in exchange for the stranger, but can they live with themselves after?

I wanted this to be epic but alas, this is a pretty generic home invasion movie that wants to have it’s cake and eat it too. It wants to be deep and thought provoking but the scope is too limited to get a feel for the purge’s impact and the commentary you get feels watered down. It wants to be a over the top, Grindhouse style movie, but the horror is jumpscares and the Gore and killings are kind of bland. I felt it was playing it too safe quite a few times. However I did care about the family and in a corny ass sort of way, I liked the cartoony villians too. A lot of pitentpot went to waste but it’s not a bad movie to see if you find it cheap or streamed. May the gaming gods bring you glory and release the beast as they say 😁.

4 super people I wish were here to save me from summer

snowglobe

It’s summer everyone, which means a lot of things around the world but there is one thing that can be said no matter where you are on this world. It’s freaking hot. Sunburn, sweat, humidity and so many sleepless nights and high electric bills but don’t worry, there are some super folks to help, starting with…’

storm 1. Storm-

if you hate the weather, why not change it? Why not have a winter wonderland in July? Why not have a week of calm, quiet rain? With help from this powerful Xmen, you can afford to lean off the sunscreen a few days. Speaking of X Men and winter…

iceman 2. Iceman-

Screw it, let’s freeze the damn planet and make a giant hockey rink! With his Omega level mutant abilities, I’m sure Iceman wouldn’t mind giving us a few snow days in August.

aquaman 3. Aquaman-

If snow and ice ain’t your thing, how about water? I’m sure he’d b glad to raise the oceans a bit and give us a planetary water park with all of the cool ocean life we can only see in a aquarium. Just a thought.

4. Mr Freeze.

I work outside, just how many of my friends have. Water and Gatorade only do so much. How about getting flash frozen? That will cool you off long term. Just let the ice thaw you out and enjoy.

I hope you enjoyed the list while trying to keep cool and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

F.E.A.R 3

fear 3

First and foremost, it is ok to laugh at the actual, F3AR title of this game, if Fant4stic wasn’t bad enough. Why its a belief replacing letters with numbers for a title makes it hip or trendy, I’ll never understand. Fear 3 is another thing I’ll understand, but let’s try. Somehow Alma is pregnant with a super psychic ghost baby and it’s up to her sons Point-Man and Paxton from the first game to stop her as she brings on the apocalypse.

If you read my review of F.E.A.R 2: Project Origin , you’ll know how hard I gave up on the story. That being said, the graphics are the best of the series and the game does have two totally different ways to play. Point-Man we get the F.E.A.R staple of Slo Mo gunplay, only this time with a badass sliding kick. As Paxton, you can shoot blasts of psychic energy and possess others. I feel while the plot is the most disposible, the game maybe the most fun of the series and I can recommend checking it out for some quick FPS fun. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Strangers: Prey at Night

strangers 2

I was skeptic when The Strangers got a sequel after a decade, even more so after Strangers 2, trailer 1 came out. Was I wrong to be nervous after a decade of waiting?

This installment picks up at a trailer park where the familiar trio of strangers murders an elderly couple and not long after, the whole park’s inhabitants while they sleep. We join a family, sending there angst y teenage daughter to boarding school. On there trip, they stay the night at there relative’s home- in the same park the strangers are lurking in, and of course the carnage ensues.

Sadly to say, I was pretty justified to be skeptical. Strangers 2, truth be told feels nothing much like the first movie. Where the first was very suspense heavy, Prey at Night goes for a more gorier, over the top approach. The characters aren’t bad for a slasher movie but Christina Hendrick’s performance is too good for this kind of movie. The son and daughter annoyed the hell out of me at times. The movie is well shot and the over the top scenes are done well. Honestly, if you want a more 80’s style horror movie done today, this isn’t a bad pick. Why I’m kind of pissed is the first movie was suspenseful and had a kind of realism to it the sequel lacks. It is worth watching whether approach you prefer. May the gaming gods bring you glory.