I have to admit, Falcon’s Cap suit looks pretty badass in real life. With the exception of WandaVision, I’m actually kind of excited for this show on the account of Zemo’s return. While I love Falcon and Soldier, Zemo is one of my favorite Cap villains. So far the show looks pretty awesome and it’ll be fun to see. May the gaming gods bring you glory.
Alien: Covenant (Audiobook)
Of all the Alien stories I could have chosen in my dip into audiobooks, I decided to dive into the novelization of Alien: Covenant by Alan Dean Foster, who is a veteran of novelizing the Alien series. I always wanted to know if the Alien series could translate successfully into the written word and I’m happy to say that where I was hugely let down by Alien: Isolation (audiobook) , the audiobook for Covenant soared. Foster not only brought the story to life but fixed a lot of what was wrong with the movie. In my review, I said a huge problem was the lack of character development and the awkward pacing caused by the content crunched into the timeframe. Another bonus of the different medium is having the extra info and characterization explains some of the seemingly dumber moments rational. Foster also knew to touch up some of the dumber moments like the blood sliding and the “questionable” dialogue during the David/ Walter flute scene. The performance is extremely well done and adds a lot of atmosphere to the story and characters. Overall, I really enjoyed the book, more than the movie in fact and I’d recommend checking the book out if the movie let you down. May the gaming gods bring you glory.
The new Mass Effect teaser
While Andromeda was a huge letdown, I’ll never deny my love of the Mass Effect trilogy. The feelings I have are mixed at best. The possibility of another great Mass Effect warms my heart but will it be a continuation of the trilogy? A Andromeda sequel? Something new? Time will tell but it’s coming. May the gaming gods bring you glory.
WandaVision trailer 2
Of the 3 Disney+ exclusive MCU shows, WandaVision is the one I’m waiting for the most. After everything we’ve seen, it’s basically the closest the MCU will get to the House of M and frankly I’m glad to see Scarlet Witch get some much needed attention. The show looks interesting and I’m can’t wait for it. May the gaming gods bring you glory.
Space Invaders Forever (PS4 Review)
As always at first I want to give a huge shout out the my friends over at Taito for hooking me up with a copy of Space Invaders Forever. This is actually one of the first games I played as a kid, sitting on my dad’s lap and his old Intelivision. Yes in one way or another me and Taito go back a couple years.
Over it’s life Space Invaders as a series as made a few dollars, in fact around 500 million of them and has according to legend even caused a small spike in crime and a coin shortage in the very late 70’s and early 80’s in Japan.
As you can see, this as bit to live up to in terms of quality. So some of you may be asking how do you mess up or even improve a simple concept as aliens moving back and forth across a screen towards the Earth as you collect various power ups and shoot them?
Well I don’t know how you screw this up and neither does Taito. What they decided to do was give us three games with some sexy graphics, add new game varients such as one that lets you and up to 3 friends try to beat levels as fast as possible or that combine Space Invaders with Arkanoid and give you a new way to play.
It never hurts to mention Taito makes retro games for the lack of a better term, and just makes them modern. If you somehow hate the very concept of space invaders this won’t change your mind, but if you have never played it or loved the older versions this one is the best I have played. The sound and graphics are top notch and bring the series to a new level, but they haven’t done anything to reinvent the wheel that will make long time fans shake their heads and ask why like so many have, but they have given us options that change the game in fresh new ways.
This one was a blast to play and the platinum is challenging but very much reasonable to get, one I may shoot for. As far as retro games go this one is a 9/10 for me. Best wishes and may the gaming gods being you glory.
Evil Dead: The Game 2021 teaser
Dude, long live Ash in this game I’m pretty stoked for. Evil Dead is a series like no other and honestly its been a while since we got a game based on the iconic horror comedy series. Just hearing a small trace of Bruce Campbell’s voice was enough to get me ready to get my boomstick and kick some Deadite ass. May the gaming gods bring you glory.
Alien: Isolation (audiobook)
So if you’ve been following us for awhile, you’ll know how much of a Alien fan I am. My first dip into Audible was Alien: River of Pain (audio drama) and while it was a fun experience, as a writer I was curious how a novel would read. I chose the novelization of Isolation, curious how the terrifying game translated into literature. For a brief synopsis, check out my review of Alien: Isolation because this is strictly on the book experience. So did it live up to the game?
I’m sorry to say the game excels at being a gem of claustrophobic sci-fi horror while the book spends too much time on side plots and putting too much emphasis on Amanda Ripley’s abandonment issues and sulking nature on her life without Ripley. While I had no issue finding out about Amanda’s drunken step dad, her mom thwarting a mutiny at her last job, or the succession of bullshit and deception Amanda had to go through before that meeting Samuels, I did take issue with how much the book lingers on this and how little I feel was put into the actual story from the game. A few times I felt promise of the game’s terror but it’s either wiped away by a overly long flashback or Amanda starts an internal pity party instead of being truly scared as she was in the game. Also. I didn’t much threat from the Alien but more so the Working Joes. Another vital thing that bothered me was how every chapter ended with a audio log or transcript from the game that were frequently jarring at times. In the end, I just say play the game for a more intense, fulfilling Alien experience. May the gaming gods bring you glory.
Per Aspera Review (PC)
As always with these things, I’d like to give a huge shout out and thank you to our friends over at Raw Fury for letting us check out a copy of this early. I would also like to introduce you to a long time friend of me and @torstenvblog not just at Savior Gaming, but in the real world. He has been with us from day one, he has streamed with us and now he will occasionally be guest writing with us. So without further comment from me, here he goes.
Hello everyone I’m Jonathan and this is my review of Per Áspera.
Now I went into this thinking it was just your average city builder but boy was I wrong if you have ever played Frost Punk and I have then you will feel right at home with this game since the difficulty level even on easy is a challenge.
Now before I start I will say the only criticism I found with the game was not having an actual tutorial system and instead sending you on a blind playthrough of the campaign.
Now it offers campaign mode for the story and sand box which is so you can go crazy building stuff.
Now onto campaign mode which is where I have spent most of my time engrossed in a story that honestly keeps you wanting more as well as keeps you on your toes, you play as AMI a system AI tasked with terraforming mars so that you can bring humans onto the planet, now this is where the game immediately peaked my interest I’m not controlling some builder or humans no I’m a program designed with feelings to try and handle this mission to the best of my knowledge and I for one feel the dev team knocked it out of the park.
If you have ever played Frost Punk you know the game limits resources and nodes are random well the devs took that and did the same here you place your mines on nodes that immediately show you how much they have available to produce for you which means every move you make starts to become critical to the survival of your mission so far the area I started in has a great amount of nodes but I am also playing on easy so I can enjoy the story, you also are granted a tech tree as you progress so you can better your technology which trust me you will need it as power is the biggest issue you will find one issue I saw during this was the game doesn’t hold your hand so mistakes will be made as you progress and everytime you need to make new buildings no hints as to what goes first so it’s all dependent on you and how fast you can react and build since resources are limited until you have a medium sized landing zone or rather area of control.
I don’t wanna get into the story itself I admit I didn’t finish the campaign I don’t like spoiling stuff for people who might wanna buy there games but yes this game is definitely worth a shot if your a fan of city builder games as I call them this one really takes it to new levels and a story that honestly keeps you on edge of what’s gonna happen next so far I give this game a solid 8 out of 10 and that’s only because I wish they had done a tutorial even if small so players don’t go in blind but the game is enjoyable and definitely one to play thank you all for stopping by enjoy and game on.
Below I’ve included some pics I took.
Alien: River of Pain (audio drama)
So this is a first for Saviorgaming as this is the first time I’m reviewing a audio drama via Audible, which is a pretty awesome service. I do plan on reviewing them in the near future so tune in for that. For my first full Audible experience, of course I’d pick a story from the Alien universe.
River of Pain runs in tandem with Aliens , following the downfall of the colony Hadley’s Hope as well as introducing us to Newt before we meet her in Aliens. Following Ripley’s disappearance and her encounter with the creature from LV-426, the Weyland-Yutani Corporation renamed the planet Acheron and began terraforming the planet with it’s flagship colony, Hadley’s Hope. The Colonial Marines offer protection and order for the civilians but there is friction between there new head, Brackett, and the science division of Wey-Yu. The company’s influence is strong. The Jordan family, surveyors, get an opportunity from the company to discover the last undiscovered area of the planet, and the crashed derelict the crew of the Nostromo had found decades before…
As far as a Alien story goes, River of Pain is pretty fitting and is a nice prologue to Aliens. I have to say I’m impressed and loved the movie grade sound effects; the voice acting is really fitting and well done and after the first chapter it was easy to get into. While there is some retread from the movie, it doesn’t feel like padding and thankfully most of the material is fresh. The complaints I have are small like the title “River of Pain” is pretty pointless and starting the story with Newt’s birth was just weird. In the end, if you love the Alien series, this is a cool experience I’d recommend checking out. May the gaming gods bring you glory.
Planet Coaster Console Edition (PS4)
As always, a huge shoutout to the people over at Frontier for hooking me up with a review copy of this one. I have waited many years to play this one but I never really had the chance. That all changed though when they announced the console version.
For those that don’t know the idea here is to build a fully functional and profitable amusement park. You will do this by creating paths, building rides, hiring and firing staff and even setting prices for tickets, food and drinks and even a quick way to skip through lines faster.
Graphically the game is beautiful. From lighting, down to the explosions. Yes I did say explosions. More on that later however. The lighting changes as the day goes on with shadows from trees and umbrellas moving appropriately. It is very well done and it isn’t often I say this, it felt good to turn them off. I mean that as a compliment by the way since I once spent about 10 minutes messing tables so the shade would look right on paths.
I won’t talk about the story because bluntly there really isn’t one and nobody should expect one. That being said if you enjoy the idea of micro managing the building options you are going to be in heaven. Don’t panic, there are easily hundreds of pre-made options to choose from. There is no lack of coasters , shops and rides. But the things you can design are nothing short of amazing. Beautiful coasters, entire malls and shopping districts, piece by pain steaking piece.
All of that means very little if the game doesn’t function well though and many times PC games don’t come over to console very well. Truth be told while the controls aren’t perfect and I can see where a mouse would make building a bit more precise I didn’t have any issues. Frontier honestly really managed to nail the controls here, which in recent years thankfully is something many have managed to do successfully.
As for my final score here, I have to say I was ready for this to be a complete wreck. Which there is actually a trophy for doing by the way. Build a coaster, and create a coaster that involves around 300 guest I believe it was. Yes, your coasters aren’t automatically successful. You need to worry about gravity, will they make them sick? Do they even enjoy it? Do you even care to finish it and instead want to launch them up into the air? Not that anyone would do that. Anyway, this game is aa 9/10 for me. Any fan of this type of game really needs to give this one a go, and buy the DLC, it adds some cool rides and such. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.
Savior Gaming 