Opinion – Page 91 – Savior Gaming

What Nobody Really Talks About In Video Game Reviews

With Anthem coming out and Xbox VP Mike Ybaraa essentially attacking reviewers I feel obligated to talk about certain things that many people just don’t discuss or talk about so much.

My first big example is many times we are sent games well before a game comes out, I got Disgaea about 2 weeks before it came out, and there is another game I am currently working on that is under embargo for a while (meaning I can’t really discuss it at all) until almost the end of the first week of March, the 5th if you want to be exact. That means the company is having me review it before any patches are released. They send these review copies out knowing full well that is the version getting reviewed, so the argument of waiting for patches really has no merit.

The other thing most people never really discuss is reviewers, most notably smaller ones like myself or places with one or 2 people doing all the reviews are constantly in a state of working under a deadline. Sometimes we have to beat a 60 or 70-hour game in a week or two while working our regular jobs. Truthfully I don’t know a single reviewer that would change this unless it was to make this our full-time job, this isn’t a complaint. Sometimes tho, things do get missed sadly and we won’t always have time to beat those larger games 2 or 3 times. (Tho I will say this, a game like Resident Evil 2 isn’t finished until you see the story with all the characters the way it was meant to be)

Other things we don’t really discuss is the times we honestly just don’t want to play a game. Not necessarily because a game is bad, tho that happens, but just because we simply want to play something else. More than a few times I have friends have said hey Savior come and slay monsters with us or we have a war to fight and I REALLY wanted to, but I needed to get that review game done. There are plenty of perks tho.

One great example is getting to work with great companies like Kalypso Media or NIS America and Modius games. Getting to try games like Empire In Ruins, Revisited. literally as one of the first people ever that wasn’t involved in making the game was awesome. Or when Kalypso Media sent me Railway Empire PS4 Pro Vs Xbox One X (And yes both consoles) was great, it was a game I was going to buy anyway and I got to try and compare it for both systems. This isn’t something I ever would have gotten to have done otherwise.

Despite the fact that many times perfection is expected from reviewers, and yes I have gotten a few messages cursing me out from people that disagreed with reviews it really is something I wouldn’t trade for just about anything. Many of the people I have gotten to meet I only met because of gaming and reviews and some of the experiences have been great. So please, cut reviewers a little slack, we are only human. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Chris Hemsworth As Hulk Hogan

In a future that I don’t think anyone could ever have predicted, there will be a Hulk Hogan Biopic he will be played by, well Chris Hemsworth. Yes, the man that plays one of the most renowned Super Heroes of the last 20 years will now be playing one of the most renowned professional wrestlers of all time and honestly, all I could think was, who is going to play Macho Man Randy Savage? Obviously, he will have to play heavily into this biopic. Well, I have the one and only answer, and the picture is below. So enjoy, and best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Trials Rising Open Beta (PS4)

I have an odd history with the Trials games. I never played them, and never cared to play them. Sometime last year Trails fusion was given out for free on PSN so I figured hell, let’s give it a shot. The truth is I enjoyed it, loved it at times and hated it at others. The constant decisions of do I floor it and go full speed ahead or do I ease up and go slow and steady? Is this the time to front flip or backflip or not flip at all? It was a thrill I wasn’t expecting, so when Trials Rising was announced I was pretty interested.

After spending a few hours with the open beta I have to say the magic is still there, and the addition of the tandem bikes is an interesting one, I personally don’t enjoy it but I can see how many will. The issue is for me that it is still just a Trials game. If you played one you pretty much played the other. Did you like Trials Fusion, you will probably like this one and if you hated the other this probably won’t change it. Also yes there does seem to be cosmetic loot boxes tho you get them whenever you level up anyway. The full release tho is on my buy list. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Good Company (PC Preview)

Good Company is a management simulator that will be coming to early access this summer on PC. The idea is to build your first product, sell it and build up until you can hire and train new employees and grow until you are a massive industry in your own right. There is a trailer out and the game looks and sounds pretty interesting, and I hope to have more info soon. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Degrees Of Separation (PS4)

Some of you may remember me talking about this game a while back, and the guys over at Modus Games sent me a review copy, namely Geoff (seriously go check them out on Twitter) which I am always grateful for. I always like to get this admission out of the way before I review a game because I feel everyone deserves to know. That being said, let us talk about this tale of love that was sent to me appropriately on Valentine’s day.

The game is described as “an atmospheric 2D puzzle platformer”, which tells you a lot and nothing at the same time oddly enough. Sure it will tell you what the game is, but I don’t feel it truly does this game justice. You will control two characters, Ember, who is always in what can probably be best described as summer and Rime, who is always in winter. The two leave their homes and meet on a bridge, and from there they will go on a magical journey of discovery where they will get to know the world around them, each other, and how their abilities will help each other. Yes, there is more to the story, so much more which is both beautiful and for me was sad in its own way but I never want to spoil the experience for you guys.

The key aspect of this game is the puzzles. They range from simple things like using Ember to light something and move a platform to use Rime to freeze some water to walk across. Later you will get a sort of wand to create a bridge out of the area between worlds for one of the characters to walk across with the purpose of collecting scarfs which after collecting so many will allow you to access new areas. See, this is where the sad part was for me. These two characters work together and get closer and closer, but they can’t touch each other or ever truly embrace. Their worlds of summer and winter are literally keeping them apart. I don’t know if this was an intentional thing from the developers over at Moondrop games, but for me, it was a constant thread in my journey.

The puzzles were also very well done. See many are pretty straight forward while others pissed me off to no end, but they were fair. I never came across a puzzle I felt was unfair or that once I figured it out I was left wondering who would ever have thought of that. Despite the fact that I hate the phrase, this isn’t the “Dark Souls” of puzzle games and it isn’t designed for you to fail until you figure things out. It wants you to succeed and watch the story unfold and it wants you to explore.

The real thing I loved about this, however, was the couch co-op. Yes, you can play this by yourself, and you are free to do so. I started that way and had some fun. However, when my friend joined me is when we had some fun. She isn’t a gamer, I just said hey Casey I need some help come play a game so she did. She had no issue picking it up and I really didn’t have to explain much to her. It was great to have someone else to help figure out the puzzles and I truly believe this is the best way to experience the game.

The one big gripe I have about this game is there is a quick travel system. The issue is I found it on accident and until that point, I had no idea. While we were trying to figure out one puzzle I got a little to close to a little object, in the picture below it looks like stacked rocks with orange arrows for guidance. When I hit circle I turned into a butterfly to follow the paths to places I have collected the scarfs.

All that being said, the real question comes down to the one simple question, should you spend your hard earned money on this game? Truth be told, I don’t like puzzle games. I never would have bought this game truth be told, but I asked for the review copy because Geoff is a good guy and Modus games are quickly becoming one of my favorite companies. They haven’t let me down yet and I have enjoyed everything of theirs I have played. The day will come when I will sadly have to say hey this game sucks don’t buy it, but today is not that day. The story is nice and I quickly became attached to them, I never came across any glitches and the graphics and sound matched what they were trying to tell. This game is Savior approved, 9/10 one of the best puzzle games I have played.

Aquaman Sequal and The Trench Spin-off

For those fans of Aquaman, and judging by the fact that it is the highest grossing DC movie of all time there are a lot of you, it will come as no surprise it is getting a sequel. It, however, is also getting a spin-off, a horror movie called The Trench. This seems like a perfect fit considering what the Trench was in the movie and what it was used for. Rottentomatoes has more details, but honestly, I am assuming The Trench will be a prequel to Aquaman considering the events of the actual movie and that it is thought none of the main characters will be in it. I am actually really excited to see how it plays out, best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay

suicide squad h2p

Suicide Squad was one of the movies said to break the DCEU; Savior and I are perfect examples of polarizing opinions on the movie ( ( second opinion) Suicide Squad ). Well, I’m happy to say DC gave us a animated option if you weren’t a fan of the live action…

We see Task Force X, the Suicide Squad, at work again under the command of Amanda Waller. After a successful mission, Waller gets some hard news- she has a terminal illness. She assembles a new crew consisting of Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, Copperhead, Bronze Tiger, and Killer Frost to obtain a mystical card that automatically grants whoever holds it at death free access into Heaven. If tensions weren’t high enough with such a despicable, volatile team but they are being hunted down by a gang of super-powered freaks led by a desperate Reverse Flash while the card is in the immortal, cruel hands of Vandal Savage. Can Task Force X pull themselves together and survive this road trip from hell?

Admittedly, after about 20 minutes in I wish this was the movie we got on screen. Instead of the neon mess we got in live action, Hell to Pay goes for a more Grindhouse style that is much more fitting. It’s way bloodier, a lot more dark humored, and much more grounded which was damn welcome. Savage and Reverse Flash are much better villains to face the squad, which may I add the squad’s load-out is much more fitting. The voice acting and score are really well done and while there are some pacing issues here and there, it’s a cool movie I recommend. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Ma trailer

Like most trailers I showcase, I found his while browsing through YouTube. I have to say, I really like the movie’s premise and it hit’s home on both fronts for me. We’ve all been young and had our parents up our ass and wish we had a place to party. Octavia Spencer is perfect and has a great motherly vibe to her that would make her a great horror villain. I’m surprised to say I think this is definitely something to look into. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Ice Wars Comic-Con

This weekend I helped out my good friends at Geek Gizmos (go check out their Twitter that I am trying to get them to use more) and I have to say, it was a really odd weekend, in a good way. I got to meet Tony Atlus and talk to him for a bit and weirdly, watch him use one of our replica toy Master Swords to have a sword fight with 2 small children. They stabbed him with lightsabers and he died. He was a pretty cool guy and in better shape than most 20-year-olds even at over age 60.

Another cool meeting was former New York Ranger Chris Kotsopoulos, as a huge hockey getting to stand around Sunday morning before everything started and just listen to his old stories and chat about how the sport has changed and even stayed the same was great. He told me what it was like to see Wayne Gretzky on the ice, or how he and the guys would go out drinking the night before then have to get up the next day for morning skate take a nap and till manage to play a game.

Two more people I got to meet but sadly didn’t get to talk to as much as I would have liked was Andrew “The Reinforcer” Anderson, a professional wrestler and appeared in Gotham and was involved in The Wrestler. He was a fun guy to be around and getting a guy that appeared in a DC show playfully hit his friend with Thor’s hammer was pretty fun in its own right. I also got a good laugh at him asking a group of guys “Hey you like wrestling?” and when they said yes yelling” Then what the fuck are you doing get to my table!” with a big laugh. The group spent about 20 minutes with him and got some pictures taken. The other was Jessica Felice of Take Out and All American Girl, two things I admit I had never seen but she was a sweetheart and very friendly. She even swung by our booth just to say hey and introduce herself.

The experience was great, and getting to hang out with my old bosses and friends from my days at Gamestop was great. So if you need any geek products like this Destiny Ghost.

or maybe a Hand Made Wand.

Go check out Geek-gizmos.com Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Also full disclosure, Geek Gizmos does NOT pay me in any way for this, they are just some friends with some cool stuff I thought you guys may enjoy.

Dragon Quest XI Nintendo Switch

No there isn’t something wrong, yes it says Dragon Quest XI for the Switch and there is an 8-bit graphics picture. Why? Well because now confirmed for a worldwide release and will have the ability to switch the graphics to an 8-bit look. For more info check out The Verge. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.