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Red Dragon (book)

Being a horror fan for my whole life, I’m almost ashamed to say I have no connections to Dr. Hannibal Lector. I’ve never seen the movies and only few months ago started reading the books. So after finishing the first story to introduce the legendary killer, are the stories worth the hype?

Will Graham was a talented FBI Investigator who had been pushed to the brink of his sanity by prominent psychologist turned killer Hannibal Lector. Graham never felt the same and was hesitant when his old friend and colleague Jack Crawford comes to him begging for help with a new case. There’s a new killer who violently slays whole families. Cunning as well as savage, Graham is at a loss, resorting to ask help from his old nemesis for advice, unaware Lector and this new foe deemed the “Tooth Fairy” may be connected. Can Graham stop this brutal killer before he falls victim to the madmen?

I really didn’t know what to expect and about half way through I was pretty damn engaged in this book. Thomas Harris is fantastic at putting you in the killer’s shoes and once we start seeing the story from their perspective, I was hooked in. Graham himself is a good protagonist I enjoyed following who seemed mentally burned out throughout the story and I could feel his frustration and obsession growing. As for Lector- he ain’t in there much. He is involved in the story but this far from his story so don’t go in looking for a lot of him. The story is paced really well but I feel like the ending fumbles. Red Dragon is pretty self contained which I liked (yes, I’m now currently reading Lambs). In the end, I enjoyed this story as a good psychological crime thriller I’d definitely recommend. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Aliens: Fireteam reveal trailer

As a Alien fanboy, I bet you want me to be excited for this new game in the Aliens universe. Truth be told, I’m not. I wanted another horror game, not another action shooter. The graphics look fine but I’m not really impressed at the look of the Aliens. Maybe it will be good and slay those awful memories of that game we don’t speak of, but I’m not holding my breath. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Marvel Aliens #1 trailer

Well, I guess it really ends an era of Dark Horse’s Aliens comics. How do I feel about the Alien debut in the Marvel Universe? Eh. The art looks nice but will we get the gritty, lore filled stories we deserve or simply just cash grabs? Time will tell. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Green Lantern: Earth One (V2)

Image result for green lantern earth one vol 2

A few years have passed since the events of Green Lantern: Earth One(V 1) and the Green Lantern Corp is struggling to maintain order. Beside ridding the universe of the Manhunters, a new power emerges from a old threat when new, yellow lanterns appear. Proclaimed saviors armed with power rings far stronger than those of the Green Lanterns, it isn’t long before the last Guardian emerges as their creator, offering amends for follies and offering to adopt the Green Lanterns under his stronger new regime. The offer causes discourse amongst the Green Lanterns and a divide. If things weren’t dire as it were, Earth’s first contact with alien life has gone terribly wrong as it appears Earth attacks them war is on the horizon where Jordan discovers the Yellow Lanterns at the scene. Can Hal Jordan stop the oncoming war as well as refuse a greater power?

I loved the first volume of this Earth One series and awaited the second hungrily. While not quite as good as the first, the second book goes into some interesting directions I really liked. I really liked the design of the Yellow Lanterns and how they were portrayed as well as the questions around power they present. Hal’s story is continued pretty well and I like how his story plays out. I wish Jon Stewart was a bit more flushed out and he joined the Green side at the end. The art continues to be gritty but colorful. The only minor complaints I have is how the plots are juggled, getting a bit hard to follow at times and the lack of construct play in this series- the Lantern’s basically pretty much rely on forcefields and lasers which seems kind of bland after a while. In the end this is a damn good follow up to the first book and I’m pretty excited to see what Book 3 could be. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Anthem

Anthem, the game that collapsed whatever reputation EA had after the failure of Mass Effect Andromeda and Star Wars Battlefront 2 (EA) . I’m going to do this review a bit differently than my usually format because frankly, I didn’t finish this game but holy crap was it a struggle to get as far as I did. Another thing to keep in mind is I’m reviewing this game in 2021, well after it’s release because I’m sure we all heard about the lackluster shape it was released in but I was curious to see if EA and Bioware reworked it.

Well, for one, the game is stable in my experience which I was grateful because this is a always online game. I experienced some minor frame rate drops but nothing that killed my game. During about 6 hours, I had 2 crashes but I can’t be entirely sure if it was necessarily the game’s fault.

The first few hours, the experience is pretty mind-blowing. Flight and exploration is spectacular; the first time diving into the water and jetting back up into the sky was pretty nuts. The Storm Javelin, which focuses on elemental damage, is pretty awesome and by far my favorite as the stand out of the 4 available Javelins. With good/ great class attacks with solid gunplay, combat feels pretty good.

I bet you are waiting for me to say Anthem is a great game you should try? Well, no. The first few hours you basically get a pretty good picture of what the game has to offer and it ain’t much. Essentially I felt like I was playing Destiny 2’s most repetitive missions. Having to load into the Javelin between missions gets really annoying, especially when an average mission is about 2-3 minutes but you’re going to spend an equal amount of time in loading screens and walking around getting missions. takes more time than actually playing. The enemies are bland and I couldn’t give an eighth of a shit about the story because I wasn’t convinced the game did either. The guns are pretty standard and don’t really look different so it’s pretty clearly a numbers game when it comes to loot. The raids aren’t special and don’t offer much epic loot. I waited and kept playing, getting about 10 hours in before coming to the conclusion nothing was changing and I couldn’t really bring myself to finish the game.

In the end, I’m sad to say skipping Anthem isn’t a bad idea. It looks, sounds, and plays great but it’s painfully shallow and undercooked. There are way better sci fi looter shooters out there. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Mortal Kombat 2021 trailer

So here’s my surprise of the day. When I found out a new MK movie was coming out, I was skeptical but hopeful. Off the bat, I have to say I love the character designs. Sub-zero steals the show for me and at the end, seeing Scorpion and Sub-zero face off was badass. I’m unexpectedly hopeful. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Cruella trailer 1

First, I have to say I’m really glad to see Emma Stone back in the spotlight. She sounds and looks like Cruella Deville which is really cool. Surprising I dug this trailer and kinda forgot it was supposed to be the origin of a Disney villain. Either way, the movie looks pretty decent and I hope the best for it. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

JLA Snyder Cut trailer 2

Ok, I’m nervous as hell for this movie but also painfully optimistic here. Do I think it’s perfect? Hell no. Do I even think it’s a step in the right direction- to be determined but can’t be worse than the other version. I want a good Justice League movie and this looks more promising than before, so cross my fingers and hope. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Green Lantern: The Animated series

It’s no secret the Green Lantern movie is one of the most hated superhero movie of all time and with some pretty damn good reasons. I didn’t have much faith in the animated series when it debuted on Cartoon Network around the same time, more than likely to cash in on the movie. I’ve never been a fan of this kind of CGI animation style, especially as I got older, but I decided to give the series a chance, a decade after the awful movie.

Wow. Just wow. My surprise at this show is pretty damn unmeasurable. First of all, I have to stay the best part is the writing. In the series entirety, there are 2 main storylines that are well executed, both with fantastic endgames that have some pretty deep impact. I cared about the characters. Essentially we follow Hal Jordan, Killowog, Razor- a Red Lantern turned good, and AYE- their ship’s A.I turned into sentient Lantern. The show has a good blend of classic style sci-fi adventure, epic fights, emotional moments and dark themes at times but with humor that works. Pretty much this series has everything I pretty much wanted from a Green Lantern anything. The voice acting is really good with some really cool cameos sprinkled through. The show has sadly 2 things that bugged me but the first I can’t really really pin on them. The show teases some really awesome characters and story threads: Sinestro’s dark turn, Krona ( Green Lantern: Brightest Day ), a Black Lantern symbol, and Alan Scott. I can’t tell you how much I would’ve loved to see these stories unfold and see Jon Stewart, the Alpha Lanterns, Dr. Polaris, and Hector Hammond as well. The overall story ends well on its own but it does leave you wanting at least another season. The other mild complaint I have is some of the character designs look wonky because of the animation style, namely Atrocitus and Larfleeze who looked really off in my opinion. In the end, the show is a great piece of Green Lantern that’s short but sweet I recommend to DC fans. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Mass Effect Legendary trailer

Savior and I finally got what we’ve wanted for ages, and we’re glad to say the classic Mass Effect trilogy is getting it’s remaster. It’s stunning. I’m not ashamed to say I shed a tear when I saw this trailer and I’m sure I speak for thousands of fans when I say I can’t wait. May the gaming gods bring you glory.