Opinion – Page 147 – Savior Gaming

May the 4th be with you!

empire strikes back return of the jedi

May the fourth be with you all as we celebrate Star Wars day. For every nerd, all it takes is that opening title of “a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away.” and the thunderous John Williams score and all so legendary title to send our blood rushing and light up a smile on our faces. During our trip to Last Jedi, the crowd cheered and roared applause before the damn movie could even begin- that’s a rare thing, I can sure as hell say that. Star Wars inspired me so much as a kid; without Star Wars I don’t think I’d be the same kind of writer I am today. Dynamic characters you can’t get enough of, epic battles you can’t stop watching, and a special message: no matter how small and insignificant you seem, you can change the world. Before I leave you with links to our Star Wars collection so far, I beg every nerd to stop and remember the lessons the series has taught us, and go out to make the galaxy a better place. May the gaming gods bring you glory and may the force be with you.

Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back Return of the Jedi The Force Awakens Star Wars The Last Jedi Review (Savior) The Last Jedi (second opinion) Star wars: Rogue One

Star wars: The Clone Wars (game) Star Wars: Bounty Hunter Star Wars: Battlefront 2 Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter

Star Wars: the Clone Wars (05)

My 5 favorite movies in the MCU

I’ve been asked 1,000 times, what do I like better: Marvel or DC? I can’t pick. I love both of them for similar and different reasons. But when it comes to movies, the MCU regions supreme. Here’s 5 of my personal favorites. In no particular order let’s begin with…

1. Doctor Strange- ever since I read Dr Strange & Dr Doom: Triumph and Torment I’ve grown to love the beautiful and weird exploits of the the sorcerer supreme and I was ecstatic to hear Benedict Cumberbatch was playing him; as a Strange fan, I was really pleased and it’s mind blowing as hell in IMAX 3D.

gotg v2 2. Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2- This was a really tough pick between the first and second but the second has a deeper story and a much better villain in Ego…also Baby Groot is freakin adorable, he seriously maybe the cutest damn thing I’ve ever seen.

3. Avengers – you can’t beat the once and probably future king of superhero flicks. While Iron Man is also a phenomenal movie, as well as the underated Incredible Hulk but watching Hulk slam Loki around like a rag-doll- truly epic.

spiderman homecoming 4. Spider-man: Homecoming – Spider-man maybe the coolest, most versatile superhero out there but at the end, he’s a regular kid and Homecoming gave us that: he’s Spider-man at Homecoming. Nothing fancy, no overblown world building, and Holland’s portrayal is spot on. Plus, growing up with Batman it was great to have Michael Keaton back in a super role, and as Vulture nonetheless, one of my favorite Spidey bad guys was a huge treat.

avengers 3 5. Avengers: Infinity War – I laughed, I almost cried, and I couldn’t help thinking about the movie on a whole hours, even days after seeing it. As a nerd I freaked out in joy and I give credit, it may be my favorite of the Avengers trilogy…

I hope you all enjoyed this list, may the gaming gods bring you glory, and as a great man always said : EXCELSIOR!

5 games I Still Haven’t Beat, Yet Again.

Awhile back I did a list of 5 games I still hadn’t beat 5 Games I Never beat, But I Need To and I figure it is about time I update the list, partly because I have accomplished some of it. But I have also added to the list. So without further delay, 5 games I need to beat, again.

I really could have put any of the Phantasy Star games except 4 on here honestly, but I put 2 because why not. I love the series, the story is amazing and well done. I just never get the chance to play thru the games. I always say I will get around to it, but if I am being honest with myself I probably won’t.

Dragons Dogma is a fun game with a great story and good combat system. It is challenging and rewarding with some cool concepts. There is no reason I shouldn’t have played thru it already except that I have not, and I don’t know why.

Romancing Saga 2, that fun JRPG that lets you plau thru the ages to tackle the forces of evil. A true classic in the series. I got nothing on this one either, this game is right up my alley and I enjoy it tremendously. But I don’t find the time to get to the end.

I always enjoyed the Resident Evil story line, But the earlier games I could just not sit down and play. The tank controls and the idiotic puzzles just killed it for me. I always tell myself I will sit down and get myself thru it, and I know I need to do it. Some day I hope I can make it.

Darkest Dungeon is a fun game, I never understood why people insist it is so insanely hard tho it is harder than many games. I just always get side tracked and forget about this one. That being said its a fun game with a great art style and is a joy to play.

Thats it, 5 more games I need to beat an hopefully will get around to. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Fight Club

fight club book

There’s one quote that comes to mind, made synonymous with this story: “Rule one, don’t talk about Fight Club. Rule number two, don’t talk about Fight Club.” And weirdly enough because of the movie, we do…

Fight Club is a strange story of a hapless white collar smuck who hates his boring, meaningless, empty life. The only solace he gets is wandering into support groups where he meets up screwed up Marla, a woman he is fascinated by but too meek to really engage. Until one night he meets Tyler Durden, his exact opposite. Cool, badass, mischievous, and outspoken. They come to a conclusion, start a Fight Club to make them feel alive and get out there frustrations; this soon becomes a new kind of revolution on it’s own, albeit a malevolent one. Durden is a full scale Anarchist and wants to tear the world down and our weak narrator is in the middle, trying to stop the only real friend he ever had.

Fight Club is a strange beast, it’s such a BRO story with some strong philosophic innards, enough to satisfy both demographics. I read the book as well as saw the movie. The book is written very strangely I admit, Palahnuik’s writing style takes a bit of getting used to but becomes addictive once you get immersed and the end feels more appropriate. The movie is stylish and damn near perfect but I do like the book ending better and the expansion to the characters themselves in the book. Either way, Fight Club is a messed up story that is irresistible as hell and I highly recommend it. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

fight club movie

Ant-Man and the Wasp, trailer 2

Just when my nerd adrenaline was starting to level off after Avengers: Infinity War we got a fresh new trailer for Ant-man and the Wasp ( a link to my thoughts on the last trailer here; AntMan and the Wasp trailer ). First, disclaimer, I’m not a huge Ant-Man fan when it comes to comics. That being said I love the move. Wasp’s costume is really badass and I’m thrilled to have her in the MCU. I’m also glad we get more Giant Man stuff which is always cool. As for the villain, I think Ghost’s outfit looks like a Destiny costume but I think she’ll be awesome enough to ignore that. I’m really excited for this movie and I can’t wait to see it. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Ultimate Fantastic 4: Fantastic / Doom

It’s weird to say anymore, considering how bad the movies and more recent cartoons failed and the comics ceased a few years ago, I’m a big Fantastic 4 fan. Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, and the Thing are a dysfunctional family that go on crazy ass adventures and have cool powers.

Ultimate Fantastic 4 begins all the way at the beginning with a kid named Reed Richards, a brilliant kid in a home that doesn’t understand him, except for his only friend Ben Grimm. Because of his genius, he gets recruited into a special program at the famous Baxter building, under the tutelage of Dr. Storm along with his own children Johnny and Sue. Reed is partnered with an exceptionally gifted young man named Victor Van Damme, there task: create a portal to another dimension. They pull together, explorers into a new world but what happens is beyond there comprehension. Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben are exposed to a strange energy from the other dimension; Victor seemingly disappears in the wave. The four begin to display drastic changes. Reed stretches, Sue keeps turning invisible, Johnny keeps bursting into flame, and Ben becomes a monster made of rock. They all react differently, unaware of a disgruntled Dr arranging his own plans for his old boss’s daughter; Moleman wants to mate with Sue to create the perfect being, creating horrible mole creatures in the meantime. The four must ban together, fighting the hordes of genetic experiments and take down Moleman in front of all of New York…but the Four’s troubles are just beginning. Victor is alive, left deformed and angry by the blast, living amongst a convent as he works on ways to get revenge on Richards. Enter: Dr Doom.

The first 2 volumes of Ultimate Fantastic 4 are pretty entertaining and the origin is done pretty well. While I’m not thrilled what Ultimate Doom begins as, his debut story is cool enough to enjoy. If you like Sci-Fi or wanted to try Fantastic 4, the first two volumes of Ultimate are pretty cheap and solid. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Detroit:Become Human Demo

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I first saw this movie a while back like everyone else at an E3 and thought hey this looks interesting, and pretty. I didn’t much care about the game tho. It was an interesting concept to be sure, it just didn’t seem like my kind of game. Of course when a demo came out tho, I downloaded that to give it a shot. Kind of our thing here at Savior Gaming right?

So the demo starts off with you walking into a crime scene. I was expecting to talk to a few people talk to the shooter and poof demo over. So I walk in and talk to the guy in charge, and he fills me in. A family android has gone off the deep end and killed some people and taken a girl hostage, my job as Connor, another android, is to save the girl above all else.

This is where my expectations were way off. As I wonder the apartment I must learn about what has taken place, and each new information gives me a better chance at success. From learning the androids name is Daniel to the fact that he was close to the daughter. As you piece the crime back together the situation grows more dangerous and it became time to talk to Daniel.

As you walk out the door Daniel takes a shot at you, but the injury isn’t severe. From here this can play out in many ways. For me I slowly made my way closer, gaining his trust and lying about the gun I had found earlier. I reminded him that this little girl was his friend and they were close and she had done nothing wrong. He just wanted to live after all and I was his only chance. This is when he let his guard down and I took the chance to put a bullet in his dead, freeing the girl and ending the stand-off.

After playing thru you get to see a flow chart of all how things have played out for you and the different paths that can happen, and there are plenty. After playing a few more times I noticed a few pieces of evidence I have missed and could have done differently and I have to admit, after playing the demo I have gone from uninterested in the game, to I will eventually buy this one. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Ultimates

the ultimates

Since we still aren’t totally done with the Marvel haul for the year as far as cinema goes, let’s talk about the Ultimates, the book that kick-started Marvel’s Ultimate universe as well as influenced some key factors of the MCU, while also giving us movies like Amazing Spider-man and Fant4stic as well as an entertaining but watered down animated adapation called Ultimate Avengers.

Ultimates begins in WW2 as the war seems to be coming to a head. Captain Steve Rodgers faces off against a seemingly unkillable Nazi that has been feeding them really advanced alien tech. Seemingly, Cap defeats him but appears to have died saving us from a deadly missile. He survived but finds himself frozen, kept alive by the serum in his blood. Pretty much, the end of Captain America: the First Avenger Awake, walking amongst us, he is hit with the conclusion that Nazi dude still ain’t dead and ain’t even human to begin with. Nick Fury, head of S.H.I.E.L.D searches out the mysterious Iron Man, delusional protester “Thor”, disgruntled scientist Hank Pym and his way more awesome mutant wife Janet, as well as recruiting agents Black Widow and Hawkeye, fickle aid from the mutant duo Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, and lovers gone cold Betty Ross and a sedated and tortured Bruce Banner. They hardly make a team though. Between the disastrous ego of Pym, Banner’s inner demon coming to almost be a bigger threat than the aliens, and Fury’s secrets, can these rejects come together and beat an old evil?

While I’m not a huge Ultimate fan as I stated in my My thoughts: DC New 52 vs Marvel Ultimate post, I do like a lot of the changes made to some characters. I like that Thor hangs out with hippies, I like the dark, creepy tone of Banner/ Hulk, and while I hate Pym’s character from a standpoint, I love watching him get his ass kicked. Giant Man is a piece of shit in this story but it leads to one of my favorite Cap 1 liners “Get big,” before he beats him into the ground at full size. Cap is a full on action movie hero, not quite the super goodie as before. Aesthetically, you’ll see a lot of where the MCU got inspiration in modernizing the looks of a lot of there characters. It’s an entertaining story and the characters are good but a flaw I felt was that the final boss fight was almost anti-climatic compared to other events in the story. If you are new to Marvel, this is a good place to jump in but remember, this isn’t classic Marvel. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Chappelle’s Show

chappelle's show

In all my years I can say I never encountered anything like Chappelle’s Show: a a sketch show that made you nearly piss yourself laughing but somehow changed the way I thought about comedy. Dave Chappelle got his own show, I didn’t think twice as a kid. Suddenly I kept hearing half my 6th grade class greeting each other with “I’m Rick James bitch!”. Sadly I didn’t get into it until after Chappelle’s Show ended but I’ve been in love with the show ever since. Tyrone The crackhead, Charlie Murphy’s True Hollywood Stories, and that crazy ass ride with Wayne Brady are classics but certain sketches like the family with the strange last name and the PopCopy skit are a hell of a lot more cleaver than people give them credit for. In fact, I quote the PopCopy sketch at least once a day at my other job. Chappelle found a way to do racial comedy that was outrageous but not mean spirited and as I got older, I appreciated that. When days get bad Chappelle’s Show reruns make me laugh my ass off even though I’ve seen them 100 times by now. If you haven’t seen it, I seriously recommend it. May the gaming gods bring you glory, and I end this review with a quote from Chappelle ” Remember, you graduated from Kindergarten and don’t have to take shit from no one.”

Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom final trailer

I loved Jurassic Park as a kid; all these years later it still holds up. I was shocked how good Jurassic World was; it was a better, healthier sequel than the actual damn sequels. When I heard World was getting a sequel, I got a little skeptical. I do like the small return to a horror aesthetic, and the creatures look great as always. I’m not really sold on the emphasis on it being about military use dinosaurs but I’d still see what the movie has. May the gaming gods bring you glory.