Crash Bandicoot remastered

crash 1

Did you guys know bandicoots were real animals? No, I was as shocked as you probably are. This is a actual bandicoot.

Faure Island

Adorable, right? Anyway let’s talk about Crash Bandicoot, one of PlayStation’s most beloved mascots.

Experimented on by the nefarious Dr Neo Cortex, Crash escapes and goes about his adventure through forests, ancient ruins, and the lair of Cortex himself. Crash Bandicoot is a perfect example of an old school platformer, easy to learn but hard as hell to master. I spent entire days stuck on levels, holding my breath when the levels started getting crazy. While Crash can fall from a an insane height, without the help of the Aku-Aku masks a single hit instantly kills you which adds a lot of tension, combined with the fact you have a limited number of lives. While the game kicks your ass pretty hard, it is fair which I appreciated. Collecting 100 Wumpa fruits grants you a extra life; the game grants you Aku-Aku masks if you die too many times so you can take an extra hit or two. Graphically, the game looks damn good on PS4 and the controls are fluid as ever. If you ever need an old school throwback game, the first Crash Bandicoot game as part of the N Sane Trilogy is well worth the play through. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Bid Wars Pawn Empire (Mobile)

Bid Wars Pawn Empire is a mobile game from Tapps Games and the idea is simple. You bid on a storage unit and sell the contents in your store. Use that money to upgrade your store and vehicle so you can carry and buy more things to sell. The problem is that is really all there is to the game and it gets boring pretty fast.

You will quickly be running into the same items fast and going through the same motions over and over again. The game is fun at first, but it didn’t take long for me to lose interest. Best wishes an may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Idiocracy (2006)

Idiocracy is the movie about a guy that is average in every possible way that is subject to an Army experiment gone 100% wrong. When the man in charge gets arrested for trying to run a prostitution ring the base is shut down and the project is lost, for about 500 years.

When Joe Bauers (Luke Wilson) wakes up with his fellow experiment victim, Rite (Maya Rudolph) he discovers a world where being completely average would make you the smartest person on Earth.

This seen kind of explains it all really. Brawndo is basically Gatorade by the way. The entire movie actually comes across as sort of a warning. It was funny in 2006 when I first saw it, but now it seems like more of a warning. The performances are great and the movie is hilariously funny but not in the traditional laugh out loud funny.

Most of the funny parts of the movie come from recognizing that many of these people are kind of realistic but in a greatly exaggerated way. Nobody is actually this stupid, but we all know that guy that just doesn’t get it.

The movie is well written and if you have Hulu is worth checking out this cult classic. It is far from perfect obviously, but it is thought-provoking and interesting and one of those hidden gems. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Stones: The Eternal Instrument

stones

Here we get book two of Billy Kraser’s “Earth’s Instruments” trilogy, the first being Sticks:A tool in Time . Once again, we get a brief but hilariously absurd look at stones, things we pretty much have been in contact with since we were born. There’s nothing informational here and you won’t learn any new facts but I found myself once again laughing that the book exists as the author intended. While the humor isn’t for everyone, some people will get a good laugh at a decent price and I do recommend checking it out on Amazon.

Also, I just want to take a second to put Billy’s Go Fund Me link below. Besides being a humor writer, Billy Kraser is also a friend and supporter of Saviorgaming and is raising money for his new project so some help would always be appreciated. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

https://www.gofundme.com/6oioxh4

 

Please Stand With Hong Kong — The Dark Hound

The autonomy of Hong Kong, my home, is under threat by China as a result of the introduction of the Extradition Bill and the Election Reform Package amongst others. We may no longer be as free as we always had following China’s intrusions into our autonomy. We may no longer express ourselves, we may no […]

via Please Stand With Hong Kong — The Dark Hound

For those that aren’t aware, there are some bad things happening to protestors in Hong Kong right now, Which my friend over at The Dar Hound was kind enough to share info about. The picture I used was from a news report I saw about how some of the protestors were waving American flags and singing the American national anthem. See while America has its problems, and there are many, at one time it was a symbol of freedom for the world and for many it still is that symbol even if it is debatable that it is just a symbol as opposed to a reality.

I try to avoid political talk on my blog because that isn’t why you are all here. This is a place where we can worship the gaming gods. But when a friend of Savior Gaming asks us to share info about serious stuff in their home country, I feel obligated to do it. I wish him and his homeland the best possible outcome, and may the gaming gods bring Hong Kong glory.

The Thing

the thing

Awhile back in my list of 5 horror remakes I loved and during our Halloween special ( Our Favorites, Day 18, The Thing ) I briefly talked about this superior remake from horror master John Carpenter. Beside the cold and isolation and the basic premise, this movie stands completely on it’s own merit.

We begin with a stranger sight, a armed helicopter chasing down a husky through the Arctic tundra. Why would anyone go the trouble you wonder? The guys chased the dog to American outpost where there chopper exploded, leaving the dog with them. They decide to lock it in the kennel with the other dogs and they investigate the other outpost, led by pilot McCreedy. It becomes apparent they found something deadly; they had found a large craft buried under the ice and a lot of dead bodies. Back at there camp, the dog transforms into a horrible monstrosity. The alien is a microscopic organism that takes in the bodies and traits of whatever it comes into contact with, recalling its traits as a defense mechanism. Alone in the middle of frozen nowhere, tensions rise as everyone has to wonder not only can they kill the Thing but who is the Thing?

The Thing is a rare and perfect blend of body horror and suspense. The originality of the creature’s designs steal the show and are things I have rarely seen matched. Kurt Russel as always is awesome as McCreedy but the rest of the cast does a great job. The music is very fitting and well used. What is really cool is rewatching the movie for hidden details, trying to pinpoint  when people were taken by the Thing. Some may not like the unclear ending or that there isn’t a true sequel other than the PS2 game but I love it. In the end, it is one of the best remakes ever and must watch for horror fans. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Thing From Another World

thing 1950

There are rare times I approve of remakes; especially when it comes to ones that seem so close together. As a kid, I remember watching the classic black and white Thing with my parents and later, in high school I wrote a paper on how this movie related to the Cold War.

A reporter visits a isolated Air Force outpost in the far reaches of Alaska. A scientist comes to them requesting aid in investing a strange crash up north. The men go to investigate, finding some large and round buried beneath the ice. They uncover what appears to be a man with what appears to be a flying saucer. The take the frozen man back to the outpost, where it thaws and goes on a rampage, a monster from another world…

As far as old horror movies go, the classic Thing holds up decently well. There is some good atmosphere and music. James Arnes as the creature is pretty effective and he is pretty physically threatening as a big, lumbering creature. The characters are pretty standard for the times with a love story tacked on that doesn’t really add to anything. The movie is definitely a product of its time; there’s no blood, language, and the creature’s origin is really goofy when you find out it’s a “Space Vegetable”. In the end, it’s a decent old time horror movie that deserves a watch. May the gaming gods bring you glory.