When the hell will Hollywood learn to leave well enough alone? As a general horror movie, it looks ok but I got way too many Halloween (2018) vibes from the trailer, actually when the plot seemed revealed it seemed like a copy/paste job if you ask me. I wasn’t expecting much but I really wish we’d leave that poor family alone. May the gaming gods bring you glory.
Category: Uncategorized
Ghost of Tsushima
Jin Sakai was a loyal samurai to his family’s traditionalist ways, putting honor and the safety of his people first. Then came the Mongols, spreading death and mayhem across the peaceful and beautiful island of Tsushima. Jin comes face to face with the Kahn leading them, a cunning and brutal warrior that kidnaps Jinn’s uncle and leaves him for dead. Nursed by a thief named Yuna, Jinn has to face impossible odds with few allies, becoming a folk hero to the people and demon to the Mongols and criminals of the land. But at what cost?
Short version: Ghost is one of the best games I’ve ever played. No that’s not an understatement and I even gave myself a month to let it simmer after finishing the main story before making the statement. Gameplay is incredibly simple and complex at the same time and full of variety when it comes to approaching scenarios. Graphics and music are incredible and may I say this game goes all out immersing you in the game; the wind guides you to your objectives; I played the game in full Japanese with English sub but I also recommend going full Japanese black and white for the classic Jediaki style. Story and characters are at the forefront and while the story is fantastic, the characters keep you invested, and by the end, there are a lot of gray areas to be explored and even the side missions have interesting characters and stories all their own. I’m even impressed to say I only had one minor glitch my entire run with a huge main story and days worth of cool sides to do. In the end, Ghost is a phenomenal game made with love and I can’t recommend it enough. May the gaming gods bring you glory.
Batman: Earth One (V1)
With The Batman finally hitting theaters soon, I thought I’d visit a series that seems to have been a big inspiration for the movie. While I was against this rendition at first, even damn near hating it at first, I cooled off and gave it a fresh chance. Was I wrong or simply proved right?
A new figure has emerged in the dismal city of Gotham, overrun with mob violence and crime on every street. This figure we know as the Batman, Bruce Wayne but far from the legendary detective and badass. Batman is a brawler in a costume with a lot of anger and not much else. His longtime guardian, butler, and trainer Alfred warn him he’s on the path to suicide as a nonlethal soldier in an impractical costume that relies on brute force instead of guns or weapons. Looking for revenge for his parents’s murders, the rising bat follows a train of clues, running parallel to broken detective Jim Gordan and superstar Harvey Bullock that bring him to the corrupt and sadistic mayor of Gotham: Oswald Cobblepot.
So I was pretty wrong in this case. After years and years of perfect Batman, this was a pretty refreshing if not really flawed look at Batman. I mean REALLY flawed. Alfred was a huge standout in this book; I love how he harbors resentment for Bruce and he’s bitter being strung along by duty and his own morality but he’s tired and he’s watching someone he ultimately cares about toss his life away fighting a war he isn’t even trying to win. I do love Penquin in this book and Colin Farrel is a spot on in The Batman so far as the Earth One version. I will saythe story itself is pretty standard and runs awfully close to Batman: Year One and Batman Begins so there is nothing really special there. While I love the reversing arcs of Gordan and Bullock, Gordan does come off as a sap in this book who just gave up which bugs me but at the end he sees the light a bit. The book ends with a nice cliff hanger that teases Riddler as the next big foe. In the end, it’s definitely a good Bat story that delivers on the characters and meh on the story but well worth looking into. May the gaming gods bring you glory.
Falcon and the Winter Soldier
Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes, both best friends of the now former Captain America are having a rough time adjusting to the world since Thanos and the blip. Sam refused the mantle of Captain America, leading the government to choose military darling John Walker as his successor; Bucky is trying to heal after decades of trauma as the Winter Soldier trying to make amends. Things go South when a radical terrorist cell called the Flag Smashers rises, armed and formed by rogue super soldiers. Its up to Sam and Bucky to uncover the mystery of these new super soldiers as well as uncover sins of the past if they plan on making a better future.
This one is tricky. The first few episodes didn’t grab me at first and it wasn’t until the later half I really got invested in. The action scenes are well done and overall the actors did a great job. US Agent was always one of my favorite Caps so I was happy to see him debuted in the MCU; I also loved Isiah Bradley from the comics as well and I loved his story arc in this as well. Baron Zemo’s return maybe my favorite in the show, he’s way more clever and has way more character than he did in Civil War. Sam’s Cap outfit at the end is spot on and looks really badass. There are some problems though. I felt like the pace of the show was somehow slow, despite the fact there wasn’t much down time. I also respect the themes the show was addressing but I feel a few times it got heavy handed and preachy. In the earlier episodes, some of the banter felt forced and while I loved Sam and Bucky til this point, I found them pretty unlikable for the first few episodes. In the end, the show was fine- maybe would have been better as a movie instead- but still worth watching. May the gaming gods bring you glory.
A Head Full of Ghosts
How many of us have found ourselves losing ourselves in a over the top paranormal reality show? I think most of us have at one time or another, whether we genuinely believe or as a guilty pleasure. Well for Merry Barret, that was her childhood. When her older, sweetheart sister Marjorie starts acting out in some outlandish and disturbing way, the family finds itself pariahs of the neighborhood and focus of a hot new show based on her “possession”. The Barrets were average though financially struggling middle- class family and while the show seems to help that problem, the family begins disintegrating under the pressures of religion, mental illness, and repressed trauma as Merry Barret recounts the story of what really happened on the infamous shows years after, leaving us to wonder if what was really real?
This is the first book I’ve read by Tremblay and what I’ve seen to be his most popular. I don’t say this much but this book actually made me feel something really deep and I got to give Paul Tremblay credit for that. Merry Barret is a really sympathetic main character you really do feel for as the story goes on; her family I related to but I hated them because of Merry and her plight. I like the approach the story takes, leaving quite a bit of ambiguity at play. While not an outrageous ghost story, this is a very tense and tragic story of how mental illness and greed can destroy a family. I won’t recommend if you want something flashy and gory but I highly recommend it as a quick psychological horror drama. May the gaming gods bring you glory.
Wandavision
The picturesque town of Westview just got a new whacky couple comes to town, Wanda and Vision. As we join the newlywed Avengers in their shenanigans, all may not be as it seems. A suspicious neighbor, an impossible pregnancy, and reality-bending to Wanda’s shattering psyche as we discover how far Wanda will go to hide the pain of her losses and the true depth of her mysterious powers as she becomes the fabled Scarlet Witch.
Fun Fact, Wanda was my first big Marvel crush as a kid and seeing her in full costume at the end was a huge treat. Wandavision is a great character study of Wanda Maximoff and a look at a shattered woman coping with a life of loss and tragedy. Olsen, Bettany, and Hahn steal the show as Wanda, Vision, and Agatha. I loved Agatha as a villain and I can’t wait to see more of her in the MCU. I loved the visuals and how well the sitcom spoofs were done. Going in I didn’t know what to expect but I can say Wandavision is a unique way to begin the 4th phase of the MCU and I can’t wait to catch up with the Scarlet Witch in Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. May the gaming gods bring you glory.
Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness trailer 1
Staying all the way to the end of Spider-man: No Way Home was well worth the wait for the first look at the Master of the Mystic Art’s return. As to be expected it looks beautiful and I’m happy to see Wanda and Mordo’s return; Scarlet Witch’s new outfit looks badass and I’m glad they finally gave her a real costume. I’ve seriously been waiting for this movie and I’m ultra pumped for it. May the gaming gods bring you glory.
The Batman trailer 3
Ok, I know I’m a bit to later on this trailer but holy shit I’m excited for this movie. I love the way Pattinson carries himself so far as the Dark Knight, and I really like what I’ve seen of Riddler and Catwoman so far as well. Visually I love the style and I’m glad it’s coming soon. May the gaming god bring you glory.
X trailer 1
I always have to give it to A24, they always manage to find a way to spark my curiosity. My first thought was this looks like Texas Chainsaw Massacre meets a cheesy 70’s porno. This movie’s trailer is pretty much the first thing I’ve seen for the year 2022 that made me kind of excited. May the gaming gods bring you glory.
Marvel’s Avengers (game)
It’s been a while, hasn’t it, folks? Well, Torsten’s tales are for another post but for now: new year, and let’s start talking soul-crushing boredom. That’s right, let’s talk about the Avengers game.
Kamala Khan is a normal girl and super fan of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes: Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, and the Hulk. During a grand expo on A-Day, celebrating the heroes, they are called into action during an attack that presumes Cap dead, injures hundreds, and unleashes the Terrigen Mists which causes an outbreak of people to get superpowers, becoming Inhumans, including Kamala herself. With the Avengers disbanded, an organization called AIM has risen to fix the Inhuman problem by any means necessary. Kamala, desperate, sets out to reunite the Avengers and beat the sinister head of AIM.
Ok, whatever you heard about this game is basically true. This game is a bland, boring slog. The game starts off promising but damn it gets repetitive fast. Hell, two out of three of the game’s bosses are in the opening hour pretty much. Most of the game is a out of date beatum up that doesn’t even feel right; Hulk and Iron Man feel nerfed hard while Black Panther feels damn near unstoppable; Hawkeye and Spider-man feel like absolute jokes. After two hours in, you pretty much saw what the game has to offer in terms of gameplay all around. As for the characters, the only one I actually liked was Kamala, everyone else feels like dimestore MCU knockoffs. The gear you get throughout the game doesn’t affect your appearance, the costumes are basically microtransactions that this game goes out of it’s way to try to sell you. In the end, unless you find it ultra cheap like I did and even that’s a stretch, don’t waste your money. May the gaming gods bring you glory.
Savior Gaming 