Opinion – Page 97 – Savior Gaming

10 awesome black heroes in comics, part 1

February is a huge month with Valentine’s day, my birthday, and of course Black History Month. Throughout comic history, we’ve had some truly great African American characters ranging from badasses, powerhouses, and leaders for us to look up to. So, in no particular order, here’s the first part of my shout out to these characters starting with…

1. Jon Stewart ( Green Lantern)-

Watching the classic Justice League cartoon as a kid, Stewart immediately was one of my favorites. A traumatized, stalwart Marine Corps sniper turned Lantern, he’s a man who kicks ass. My favorite stories of Blackest Night were his chapters where I became hooked. Attuned to more practical weaponry than Jordan, Gardner, or Ryner, he’s the badass human of the Corps.

blade comic 2 2. Blade-

Called the ” Daywalker” by his prey, Blade is the near perfect vampire killing machine. Half human, half vampire Blade has the strengths of the vampires without the weakness to sunlight. Famous for his epic martial arts and sword skills he strikes fear into vampire kind while silently battling his blood lust making Blade much more compelling than your average vampire hunter.

storm 3. Storm ( X men)-

For most of us, this iconic X men and weather witch needs no introduction. Ororo Munroe has a fascinating history from being worshiped as a goddess in native Kenya, a orphaned pickpocket, esteemed X men, and even married to the King of Wakanda, Black Panther, at one point. Storm has been been strong and compassionate on countless occasions. Either way, Storm is a force to be reckoned with…

cyborg unplugged 4. Cyborg-

Vic Stone, much like Blade, faces an internal fight to keep his humanity. While not struggling to refrain from becoming a monster, he struggles not to become a soulless machine. After what should have been a fatal accident, Vic became a subject of his genius father’s experiments in robotics ( and exposure to the Mother Box in some origins) becoming a living machine. With a high intellect consciously connected to the internet, a host of ever evolving cybernetic weaponry and a excited Boo yeah! Cyborg is a welcome member of the Teen Titans and JLA.

spawn comic 5. Spawn-

Here we finish part one with one of comic’s greatest anti-heroes and one of it’s darkest might I add. Al Simmons was a merc who, after being betrayed, is sent to hell and given a deal to lead hell’s army in exchange for revenge. Spawn betrays the devil and now fights everyone. With a huge host of weaponry and a unlimited supply of demonic powers, Spawn is cruel and relentless against the forces of Hell, heaven, and the wicked who stand in his way.

That was part 1 of 2 of my list and I hope you all enjoyed it. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Sylvester Stallone To Make Super Hero Movie?

Cinemablend is reporting that Sly is interested in making and staring in his own superhero movie called Samaritan. It is reportedly attached to his production company and is about a young boy that finds a missing hero that went missing after a battle a couple decades ago, which we can probably assume would be played by Sly himself. The concept is interesting and worth keeping an eye on I think. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Resident Evil Revelations 2

re rev 2

Awhile ago I talked about Resident Evil: Revelations and did a quick Resident Evil: Revelations 2 first impressions but never really got in depth on the game itself until the past few weeks. Let’s see if first impressions hold up.

Taking place between Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 6 we join series veteran Claire Redfield waking up in a abandoned prison on a desolate island with her new assistant Moira Burton, Barry’s daughter. They find themselves being watched by a sinister presence called the Overseer who has left Claire, Moira, and there team with a virus triggered by there fear as they face the wretched experiments inhabiting it. Meanwhile, Moira’s father Barry tracks her down meaning to rescue her, while meeting a strange little girl named Natalia that can sense the creatures lurking around. Can these two groups survive the clutches of the Overseer?

This game was kinda tricky to call in my opinion. I like the creepy atmosphere and eerie music, plus the fact ammo is hard to come by which is nice. I like how fluidly the switch between characters is and Moira and Natalia are good support characters but sometimes the gunning characters can feel useless without ammo, where the other 2 feel more useful. I have to say the revelation of who the Overseer is actually pissed me off and as for pacing, while shorter in theory than the first game, it feels more like a slog. In the end, it ain’t a bad game but not the greatest in the series and I highly recommend having a buddy to play with than dealing with the meh A.I. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

5 Favorite T.V. Shows

We all have favorite shows, some of them comedies some of the horror but we all have them. I know a guy that is obsessed with the news, tho he is a bit odd. These, however, are mine, tho admittedly first on the list is an entire series since it would be a bit unfair to separate them. Also, this isn’t in any order.

Yup, Star Trek. Who didn’t see this coming? Sure the show has had its ups and downs and Enterprise wasn’t always a great show but the show itself was amazing and changed the history of television forever. Also for the record, as awesome as Kirk was, Picard was the better captain.

Scrubs, which I don’t care what anyone says was the best medical show ever. Between the bromance of Turk and J.D. to the greatness that is the Janitor. The show is just good old fashioned fun.

Supernatural as you all know is one of my favorite shows and has been for a while, which is odd since I waited forever to even start watching it. You do mostly need to see the entire thing or you will be lost, but it is totally worth it.

How I Met Your Mother is another one of those shows I was a little late to the party on. By late I mean I watched it after it aired and I already knew who the mother was. Some o the running jokes alone are amazing, such as slapsgiving or what the hell does Barney do for a living? Plus the songs are great.

Married With Children, a show that wouldn’t work today. Seriously check it out. Why Married With Children Wouldn’t Work In 2019 Its a great show, and hilarious and I doubt we will ever see another show like it. Between the jokes, and the fact that many people can actually relate to the family itself it is no surprise the show was so popular and also still has a cult following today.

So that is my list, what shows do you guys got? Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

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.