Opinion – Page 197 – Savior Gaming

Multiplayer gaming

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Playing some battlefield 1 with Torsten the last few days just for fun. We aren’t all that great at the game, probably average on a good day and one round we won best squad. We thought it was pretty cool but it made me wonder how many professional gamers started off exactly like that. Whether its an Overwatch or Call of duty style game there are always a mix of people playing seriously and others just slamming planes into shit, for example I slam them into buildings and Torsten hits trees.

This raises a question for me, should more games have dedicated ranked matches that people like me simply aren’t allowed into? Most sports games have them and honestly I never use them, hell I get stomped half the time playing random games.

This weird phenomenon happens in other games as well. Fighting, call of duty black ops, battlefield 4 the list goes on and one where me and friends play and while we aren’t exactly screwing other players over with our shenanigans we aren’t really trying to win either. Just some random thoughts. Thanks for your time and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Alien

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Before 1979, if you said the word alien people immediately thought of little green men in rubber masks or face paint with toy laser guns and tinfoil spacesuits, gliding through a construction paper cosmos in a plastic ship held up on string. This is how my dad, Duke explained it when I was a kid. Once Ridley Scott’s science-fiction horror masterpiece debuted, people never thought of extraterrestrials the same way again. Suddenly they were monsters that looked and acted in horrific ways we couldn’t imagine, and we couldn’t run or fight. Truly, in space no one could hear you scream. Alien is the story of the Nostromo, a blue class freighter on it’s way back to Earth that is lead astray by a foreign distress call on a unknown world. The crew are awoken early from hyper-sleep by the company’s order. Dallas, Ripley, Lambert, Brett, Parker, Kane, and Ash are the only crew. After a group discussion about the benefits promised to them by the Company and a private consultation Captain Dallas has with the ship’s computer, Mother, the crew decides to fatefully investigate. Dallas, Lambert, and Kane venture out into the dark wastelands, soon coming across the iconic Derelict. Inside through vascular tunnels, the only inhabitant is a large body seated at what could be a pilot’s seat; it doesn’t take long to realize it’s cause of death. A large gaping hole in it’s chest, with the bones broken outward. Near the body they discover a hole leading down into another part of the ship. Kane repels down to a peculiar sight; the ground is coated in thin blue haze that reacts when broken and large ovular mounds standing still like bulbs. Kane trips. He stares at the bulb, coming to see it’s a egg. It opens. Something slides inside. A long bony spider-like creature lashes out, breaking through Kane’s helmet, wrapping itself around his face. Dallas and Ripley argue over the health hazard Kane possesses but Ash ultimately lets them bring Kane on board. The creature will not come off without killing him and it’s blood is highly acidic, a single drop burning through almost six layers of the hull. The creature dies on it’s own and falls off; Kane awakens seemingly ok. At dinner he begins to cough, than choke and hold his chest like he’s having a heart attack, until blood splatters from the center of his chest a new creature breaks free, a long, phallic snake like creature that rushes off whilst everyone gazes in utter terror. They go looking for it with a cattle prod, thinking it’s small. Brett discovers this is not the case; the creature has grown tremendously in the span of a few hours and is violently lethal. One by one the crew is killed by the alien except for Ripley, while the truth comes out, they are expendable as long as the Company gets the creature as a weapon… the perfect organism.

As far as I’m concerned, it’s a true masterpiece. The characters feel like regular working folks we can relate to so we feel for them; the set designs and Giger designs are gorgeous and unsettling; and the Alien is both fascinating and terrifying with a look that is truly unforgettable. The movie feels truly claustrophobic, added the fact they ain’t got shit to put up any sort of fight with and the hidden threat of the Company covertly trying to make sure the alien survives. I absolutely recommend this movie to anyone who wants a good story and deep suspenseful horror. As always, thank you for checking us out, may the gaming gods bring you glory, and please stay away from large leathery eggs. Bad things happen…by the way on a final note, seriously one the greatest “you’re fucked” speeches in all of horror. Love this movie, yahl.

Star trek (reboot)

So here we are. The Star Trek reboot. I can’t lie as a huge trek fan the very idea of a reboot pissed me off. These assholes aren’t Kirk and the crew. This was blasphemy of the highest order for most fans.

So I sat down and watched what I KNEW was going to be an abomination. Few minutes in all i’m thinking is oh great another Romulan this time named Nero. This already sucks. Oh yay birth of Kirk. Who gives a damn.

Then Sabotage by the beastie boys hits. This is ok. Few minutes later we are in a bar and Kirk utters one of my favorite lines in the movie. “Well,not only” in reference to being told she thought he only had sex with farm animals.

This is one of those times I will admit I was wrong. The movie is great. Simple as that. The story is great, the explanation behind the reboot is theoretically sound as far as a movie explanation goes. Visually it is beautiful and the acting is great. While I don’t suggest going into this movie expecting the usual Star Trek movie it absolutely does the series justice. As always thanks for your time and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Dishonored

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Somewhere, some when said “hey guys, you ever wonder what it’d be like if Assassin’s Creed and Bioshock had a steampunk baby?” Bethesda named this baby Dishonored. set in the steampunk land of Dunwall, we play as Corvo, the royal bodyguard to Empress Caldwell and her daughter Emily. After returning from a journey to find the cure to a hideous rat plaque, the Queen is murdered before Corvo’s eyes by men with mysterious powers, Emily taken, and Corvo framed by a corrupt Lord regent. Imprisoned for years, Corvo is broken free by a group of loyalists led by Haddlock and the fight to save Emily and the Empire begins, all while being haunted by a otherworldly figure called the Outsider that grants Corvo dark powers, but at what price?

The plot is pretty straight forward with a pretty predictable twist at the end. The world we find ourselves in was my favorite part; I enjoyed the fancy ornate mansions of fine dressed sophisticates and the dingy sewers full of plagued weepers. The gameplay is fun and full of opportunity, you have full reign to mix and match weapons and powers as well as gameplay approach. The games does reward you far more for going the full stealth, no kill approach which screw that noise. If you have the patience for that, all the power to you friend. If you feel like being a kill happy nutbag, there are consequences as you will find the end of the game will get ridiculously harder than if you try to be a fine nonlethal soul. Overall the game is fun with multiple playthroughs but a stale plot and as always may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Medieval Life (Mobile)

I don’t expect much from free games, that is even more true on mobile devices. But this one is just, well bad if I am being honest. There is very little to do, fighting is nothing more than tapping a button as a bar moves in hopes that your bar is higher than theirs. You buy a new weapon as you level up which allows your bar to go higher and you collect money by killing monsters and selling what I can only assume is their bodies. Earning experience is slow, a couple for each kill and more when you buy furniture for your house, and no that is not a joke. I would advise you to avoid this game. As always thanks for your time, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

H.R. Giger : master of nightmares

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Since I was a little kid, age 2 if not mistaken, I’ve been haunted by a special monster. A monster both beautiful and terrifying in it’s design and symbolism, “A perfect organism.” Hans Reudi (Rudolf) Giger was a famous Swiss painter born February 5th, 1940 and passed away March 2014; on a personal note I wept when I woke up to the text he passed away. His designs are a thing of legend, the most famous and well known being those for the horror classic Alien. His art mainly revolves around the sexual and bio-mechanical often fused as is the Xenomorph design. Influences of his work can be seen in classic video games like Contra and Metroid

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he created a radical design for Batman: Forever’s Batmobile that was toned down for the film but still feels like his work.

He designed the creature for the 1995 film Species as well as was commissioned by Korn frontman Jonathan Davis to create a custom microphone that is very Alien-esque. Before starting my Alien reviews I just wanted to give a huge shout out to a artist many of us know but never really gave credit to and changed the way I saw art, monsters, and the human body. You are missed, Giger.

Star Trek Nemesis

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Before Tom Hardy was Bane or Venom, he was Shinzon, a Remon that managed to take over the Romulan Empire. The last of the Star Trek movies before the reboot is thought by many to be the worst. Tho I think most of them forget that the motion picture exist. As far as acting goes this is one of the best, as are the visuals.

The story itself is a bit weird. It is quickly revealed that Shinzon is in fact a clone of Picard made by the Romulans and isn’t a Remon at all.

What follows is the usual Star Trek shtick where the evil romulans and Shinzon attempt to destroy the earth and Picard and crew must stop them. Now the movie itself isn’t bad its simply all been done before. By all means watch it to finish out the movies, but don’t start here. Or maybe do, maybe if you start with Nemesis you will think its a better movie. As always thanks for your time, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Wolfenstein: The new Order

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Over the past few years Bethesda has become my favorite gaming company with juggernauts like Fallout and Elder Scrolls to more modern hits like Dishonored and Evil Within. Last Year my favorite title was the Doom remake, so when I found Wolfenstein: The New Order for $20 at a PSN sale, I jumped at it enthusiastically. In many ways I wasn’t disappointed. Wolfenstein takes place in a alternate history where Nazi Germany won WW2 and took over the world and we play as J. D. Blazkowicz as he works with a underground rebellion to overthrow them. First I have to say I loved how the game’s upgrading system and trophies were linked to fun and pretty easy mini challenges that gave you perks once unlocked, I actually had every stealth perk which is highly usually considering I’m almost the run-and-gun type. Like Dishonored and Evil Within, there are multiple ways to approach a situation with it’s own set of pros and cons. Another huge pro I give the game is the intensity of it. Much of the story is surprisingly suspenseful and many times I felt I was our protagonist. A small issue I have is how much the game increasingly relies on a laser cutter that doubles as a laser rifle, I upgraded it all the way and the damn thing keeps dying out and charging stations are either few and far between or the charge time can kill you. I warn you now, you will die a lot and will be replaying a lot of the game again and again to pass a tricky ass part. Other small grips are sometimes you get lost; boss battles can be a pain in the ass, and the enemies can be frustrating but in the end it’s a pretty awesome game that will keep you occupied and interested if you want a FPS that ain’t your humdrum C.O.D or Battlefield. Overall, give new order a try because I bet New Colossus will be a hell of a ride.

Elite Dangerous, My Time Exploring

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My time exploring honest took far longer than I would have liked. Not that I have anything against exploring, just only expected it not to take as long. What I thought would be a few days traveling to the center of the galaxy and back took almost a month. Scanning and jumping gets old quick but the sights are great. Found a system with five stars in it for example.

I can’t lie, there were times I simply didn’t give a damn about scanning. over 50 thousand light years is an insanely long trip to make and at times I felt almost like the rest of the game would never exist for me again. With all that said I got home with what felt like very little money, tho it was 70 million credits. That sounds like a lot but admittedly it won’t even buy you a mid range ship and I imagine you could make far more doing almost anything else in the same time it takes to travel that distance and scan hundreds of systems.

Suffice it to say it will be awhile before making another such journey but everyone should travel at least a few thousand light years from the bubble just for the experience. As always thanks for your time, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Doom

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You ever miss the time when shooters weren’t about online multiplayer and didn’t give a rat’s ass about realistic physics or stories that try way too hard to be deep or relevant? Hell you remember when games used to be fun? Well, doom is for you. A epic, jacked up, silent protagonist who isn’t whiny or troubled, he just hates demons and has some severe anger management issues. You play as “Doomguy”, a dude who wakes from cryo sleep on Mars after a portal to hell is opened and demons are running free. This game is epic, disgustingly bloody, and fast paced old fashioned fun. The campaign is the highlight of the experience for a refreshing change in modern gaming while the multiplayer takes a backseat. The controls are simple. I really enjoyed the game’s weapon upgrading system, not only can you choose a secondary fire for your favorite guns but can even level up multiple secondary fires for each if you find the upgrading stations to do so, creating some wickedly pimped out death machines ( how sexy is it to have a shotgun that can unload a full catche of ammo at once or become a grenade launcher?) The soundtrack is retro 90’s metal based for a blast to the past. If you really want to have a negative, it’s in the multiplayer which feels like a Black Ops 3 knockoff with more platforming and random demonic power ups scattered through. I’ve encountered some glitches in it and a few too many shitty spawn points. If you want an amazing single player challenge or just craving a old school FPS experience than I highly recommend the game I lovingly would call best of 2016 in my book, and may the gaming gods be with you.