Category: Uncategorized

Resident Evil 4

re4 It’s been 15 years since this particular legend dropped and it’s influence not only influenced the DeadSpace trilogy as well as the series leading up to the remakes of 2 and 3.

After the destruction of Raccoon City, it seems the Umbrella Corporation has finally fallen. Leon Kennedy, the once rookie cop of Resident Evil 2 ( classic) , has become a highly trained government agent on assignment in Europe- find Ashley Graham, the president’s missing daughter. Leon discovers a town overrun by a deadly cult under the influence of the Las Plagus, a mysterious parasite and masterminds Salazar and Saddler. Even with a host of new survival skills and some new weapons, can Leon save Ashley and survive the secrets of this grand conspiracy?

Resident Evil 4 took a lot of risks and made a lot of changes to gameplay and story and it was fantastic. The story is great and after completion, there’s plenty of extra modes to play which are really solid as well; Mercenaries, with a great list of characters, took weeks of my life alone. Gameplay was a humongous improvement and the game found a damn good balance between horror and action unlike Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 6 . The bosses are some of the most memorable of the series and Leon is badass hero. So where is the downside? One Word: Ashley. She’s a pain in the ass who will frequently make you want to drink, but hey, fan favorite Ada Wong returns and at least you can usually hide Ashley’s whiny ass in a dumpster. The game has aged over the years but there is still a shit load of fun to be had. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

 

American Horror Story: 1984

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Ah the 80’s, a time of hair, blow, and slasher movies. Brooke and her new friends are off to be camp counselors at Camp Redwood, which is reopening from a tragic massacre years before. Legend has it, a maintenance man called Mr Jingles snapped and brutally murdered the campers and counselors, stealing there ears as his trophies. Margret Booth, the sole survivor of Camp Redwood’s previous massacre, pledges to open the camp and launch a new legacy based off of her tragedy; Brooke is no stranger to tragedies. But secrets emerge as Mr Jingles returns and there lives won’t ever be the same.

American Horror Story: Apocalypse was a low point for most of us but I’m happy to say 1984 was pretty awesome. I love the cheese of a 80’s sitcom mixed with the exploitation of classic Friday the 13th . I like the twists and turns the series takes. The acting is really good and everyone seems to be having fun with this season. Like many of the seasons, there is a lag in pacing between the overall second and third act and while normally I’d be pissed how this is the shortest season yet with only 9 episodes, it doesn’t overstay it’s welcome. Honestly, with the host of great music and cheese it might be the most fun AHS yet. In the end, it’s a simple story but really fun season I’d definitely recommend checking out.

 

Doom: Eternal

doom eternal

Like many people around the world, these are trying and troubling times. Some cope with technology, some with diving into fantasies. I dove into Hell.

At the end of Doom , the legions of Hell have nearly taken over Earth after escaping Mars. It’s up to the badass Slayer to fight back alone against the Khan Makyr and her Hell Priests as she tries to sacrifice our world for hers. Armed to the brim with his fimilair but upgraded arsenal, new weapons and abilities the Doom slayers futures on a bloody, ultra-violent quest that pulls back to the enigmatic Doom Slayer’s origin as he faces the Khan Makyr and the Icon of Sin…

Doom: Eternal is simply phenomenal and a superior sequel to the reboot. Everything that was great from the Doom 2016 game is carried over and the patchy stuff like platforming and relevance on certain weapons is cured. Platforming is smoother and crazier. Guns that weren’t great before are amazing now with easily switched alternate fires; every weapon you acquire is needed in this game. The demons are way more intense and the variety is insane; playing this game on normal is way harder but a lot more rewarding. The music and graphics are outstanding with awesome collectibles. Eternal will likely be my favorite game this year for damn good reason that I couldn’t recommend more. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Spider-man: Far From Home

spidey ffh

Life hasn’t been easy for young Peter Parker as of late, especially after losing his friend and mentor Tony Stark during Avengers: Endgame . The pressures of being a superhero are mounting as people ask if he is Iron Man’s replacement and the one and only Nick Fury comes to him for help with a urgent matter involving gigantic elemental monsters from another dimension. Peter seriously needs a break to hang out with his friends and ask MJ out on there class trip to Europe but duty calls as Fury intervenes calling upon Spider-man and a new hero claiming to be from that other dimension: enter Mysterio.

First and foremost, I’m a huge Mysterio fan and they did him super justice in this movie. Despite fans knowing the twist, this movie does a pretty good job at subverting expectations, leading to probably my favorite finale in a Spider-man movie. Tom Holland is pretty solid as Spidey and thankfully the side characters are pretty solid. The only issue I have is how a lot of the story beats repeat from Spider-man: Homecoming and as well as some from Spider- man 2 and the Amazing Spider-man with the responsibility story line but it does it well. The end credits cameo is great and I got a huge kick out of it. In the end, it’s a damn good MCU movie but is far from perfect. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Original Sin

gotg og sin

The Guardians of the Galaxy, the cosmos greatest gang of misfits, have been countless adventures as well as ups and downs. During the The Thanos Imperative they beat the Mad Titan Thanos and sealed the Cancerverse at the cost of losing Star-Lord, Drax, and Nova. Drax returned from the dead and miraculously Star-Lord and Thanos found there way out of the Cancerverse, but not Nova. After Guardians of the Galaxy: Guardians Disassembled  Gamora corners Star-Lord for answers, recounting the horrors of the dimension where death is extinguished as the three heroes clashed against Thanos and the unstoppable Revengers for the Cosmic Cube and the hope for escape. Meanwhile, Flash Thompson has lost control of Venom as the Symbiote is loose on the ship, taking them to there homeworld as Captain Marvel delivers news of there next big problem: the new Spartax election.

This book is a prime example of why I love the Guardians. Quill’s recount of the Cancerverse is pretty harrowing there is a heavy emotional weight to it, while Venom’s story is comical and has some cool lore in it; between the 2 stories there is some cool action throughout. The book, unlike Imperative, flows nicely and feels like a nice easy read for it. I’d definitely pick it up, especially after reading Thanos Imperative and a few stories before it. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

 

30 Days of Night: Bloodsucker Tales (Dead Billy Dead)

30 days 4

With vampires going back towards there former glory and away from the Twilight school of thought and Morbius getting his own movie, I wanted to dive deeper into the 30 Days of Night series, starting with this side story away from the original trilogy ( 30 days of night , 30 Days of Night: Dark Days , and 30 Days of Night: Return to Barrow )

Billy is a asshole, a low life and a burden to the people he loved. One night he gets into a brawl with a psycho who bites him and the madness begins. Billy seemingly can’t die as he is mistakenly shot by a cop but the new powers developing seem connected to vampires. Desperate, he seeks help from his ex girlfriend while fleeing the cops and seeking help from a power hungry Dr Saxton, who has sick plans for Billy. Is there redemption for the creep after becoming a monster?

While nothing spectacular or groundbreaking, this is a solid vampire story. While reading it, I felt more than tad of influence from the Morbius comics only full R rated. Billy isn’t a bad character to follow but I have to admit Saxton was a more interesting villain and a pretty sick one at that. The art is pretty common to the series, blurry and bloody, so however you felt about the others is pretty much how you’ll feel about this. In the end it’s a pretty solid book but not really special. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Scary Movie 3

scary movie 3

So do you guys remember the year 2000? Well, Torsten does, and he also remembers when people loved the hell out of the first Scary Movie , making fun of the smash successes Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) . Well by 2003 the The Ring and Signs (2002) took the horror climate by storm and as well as everyone losing there shit when Eminem stared in 8 Mile. So by now Cindy Campbell is dealing as a mysterious videotape, the world is being invaded by aliens and it’s up to Cindy and a wannabe white rapper to find the connection between “horrors”

While a lot of the humor holds up decently well, I must admit this movie makes me feel old as hell. The movie is pretty simple in it’s humor but has a fun guilty pleasure vibe, despite being Pg-13. Leslie Nielson is legendary as the president and his scenes, while very few, make me laugh my ass off almost 20 years later. It’s a solid parody that is dated as hell but if you at least old enough to drink, you may get a good laugh. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Why I fell out of favor as a Marvel fan.

snowflake_safespace  While Marvel reigns supreme at the box office, may have had it with there latest comic debacle in there attempt to prove how inclusive they are. Enter Snowflake and Safespace, two of Marvel’s latest new heroes as part of a new team of teen heroes and while none of the other heroes sound much better, these two are supposed to be non-binary twins. While I believe everyone deserves a hero and their are should be more varied, original heroes to break the barriers, I couldn’t take any of this seriously. The names alone are mockeries of the people they are trying to represent. I finally felt my last bubble of hope in Marvel comics deflate after the past few years. Before I begin, I just want to say there maybe a hot button topic or two here and while I applaud Marvel’s push for inclusion, I can’t say I approve how they go about it which is part of the few reasons they fell out of my favor.

Years ago, around the time Marvel’s popularity was skyrocketing because of the first phase of the MCU, they started transplanting many of there iconic characters like making Falcon the new Captain America, making Jane Foster Lady Thor, or Kamela Khan becoming the new Ms. Marvel after Carol Danvers assumed the persona of Captain Marvell. While a lot of these changes didn’t bother me, things like 2 factions of X men existing in the same universe and Kitty Pryde, Agent Venom, and the Thing joining Guardians of the Galaxy was a bit hard to swallow; Kitty becoming Starlord makes no sense to me. Some complained about the change of beloved characters but for the most part I was was able to see it making sense.

Around the same time, reading multiple series, I couldn’t help getting irked at the lack of solo stories, meaning there was a overabundance of Events going on. I recall them dropping one after another and it becoming too much of a hassle to follow. Something I give DC, there recent comics still include a huge catalog of solo stories for it’s characters. What also didn’t help was how Marvel’s multiverses ended up colliding in two many versions of the same character existing on the same plane; good luck being a casual and trying to talk about Spider-man and not knowing which Spidey you are following. now I know what you may be thinking, ‘ Torsten, why not wait til you can get the graphic novel and read it all at once’. Well, that would be a good point if not for the price tags. Since the MCU took off, the size of most solo Marvel graphic novels have shrunk as the prizes rise, especially for the Event books which declined in quality. Civil War II was not well received; Secret Empire angered many at it’s plot twist of Captain America being a Hydra agent all along. By the time Snowflake and Safespace came into play, my enthusiasm was far from healthy and I just shook my head, remembering the once amazing work from Marvel, which inspired myself as well as countless others. Someday I hope to call myself a current Marvel fan and call myself a true believer once more, but for now the present is bleak as the $ overrides creative wealth. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Cabin in the Woods

cabin in the woods

If you caught our Halloween special this past year, you would’ve caught my entry Our favorites, Day 23: Cabin in the Woods . Hell, I’ll go as far as to call this one of my favorite horror movies and it’s certainly something you sure as hell don’t see everyday. Essentially we begin with a tale as old as time: a group of college friends head out to a cabin in the woods for a weekend, only to discover a basement of random relics and it just so happens they waken the undead family that previously owned it. Sounds cliche as hell, right? I’m not going to spoil anything because there is a serious joy to watching this movie’s clever plot unfold and I highly recommend going in blind if you possibly can. While clever and full of some pretty sweet kills and a collection of awesome horrors, the movie is equally funny and quotable. The actors are great and the friends have good chemistry. Honestly, there’s a lot I can say and while I know the movie is getting up there in years, it’s best to just dive in and see what you find. May the gaming gods bring you glory…and please don’t press the big red button.

American Horror Story: Apocalypse

ahs 8

We have a penchant for dark humor here at Saviorgaming and while being cooped up at home during the Corona Pandemic, I figured it’s as good as time as any to catch up on my American Horror Story, and of course I left off on Apocalypse, the 8th season. While the show has been pretty divisive over the years, pretty much everyone I talked to hates this season; how can a horror show botch the end of days?

The day has come and the world has ended in nuclear hellfire as many have predicted. A secret collective of the world’s wealth, brains, and most influential known as the Cooperative have gathered people deemed genetically suitable of repopulating the world at a series of outposts. Outpost 3 is strict and divided between the elite and the workers. A emissary of the Cooperative arrives through the wastes to evaluate the outpost for a sure chance at life; this emissary, Michael Langdon, is not what he appears to be. When the familiar witches of American Horror Story: Coven arrive, we learn the nature of Michael as the Antichrist, but can these powerful ladies stop the devil?

Well, first and foremost I’m going to answer the question I left off with: yes, I would say Apocalypse is the worst AHS. What kills this season is mostly the narrative and how it’s structured. Acting as the Glass of the series, it’s a follow up and sequel season to both Coven and the original American Horror Story that is messily put together for the most part; most of the season is one long backtrack while the opening episodes feel like a edgy YA dystopian knockoff. The show gets better as it goes but it does feel too little, too late by the end. Another thing I have to add is the effects are really crappy and fake at some points and what we get of the wastelands isn’t at all impressive. And the final thing that bugged me was how the same actors were playing so many roles at the same time; Sarah Paulson plays  4 different characters in this season alone. Despite the negatives, it was nice to see the witches from Coven reunite and the music is really solid. Honestly, if you are a die hard fan I’d recommend skipping this season unless you want a meh story and some unintentional laughs. Be safe and may the gaming gods bring you glory.