Paranormal Activity

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In 2009, my last year in high school, my class was taken by storm by a little horror movie called Paranormal Activity. It’s a simple found footage film about a well off couple, Katie and Micah, who have weird shit going on in there house and get a camera to record it overnight. As days go on, the activity becomes more malevolent and it takes a toll on Katie and a mystery unfolds about Katie’s upbringing that can prove dangerous.

This is kind of a tricky movie to talk about. When I first saw it in 2010, it actually scared the shit out of me at the end and I will give it this, while it is a slow burn, it does do well to build suspense and does have a good pay off at the end. You get a fair sense of the characters and how they change throughout. The lack of music and opening credits and the fact the actors are convincing enough to be normal people. It does drag, the pacing is slow and there is a huge unintentionally hilarious part in the middle, and I mean laugh your ass off funny when the ghost expert guy returns. In the years, following it and the bullshit sequels and corny effects, it has lost some luster but it is a Ok horror film that is worth checking out but turn off the lights and watch it in the dark. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Farming Simulator 17 (Xbox One)

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I picked this game up on sale not long ago because I was curious, and admittedly kind of expected Harvest Moon with tractors to some extent. Don’t make that mistake. This could not be any further from that. That is not a bad thing at all by the way. There is a bit of a learning curve tho.

First thing is first, each piece of equipment does have a purpose and that is all it does. You can’t use your pick up truck to pull around huge equipment. You will also need some sort of lifting equipment to toss pallets of stuff into your truck to transport it around town. Don’t be an idiot like me and assume the store will deliver it, they don’t.

The game however is pretty fun, and you can hire workers to do much of the work if you want and have the money while you go do missions for other farmers, they do supply the equipment. This has a double benefit of getting you some money and familiarizing you with much of the stuff in the game, because if you are like me you probably have no idea what any of this stuff does.

Graphically the game is beautiful, but you can easily mess with the games physics engine. They clearly did not count on you taking large trailers in barns and attempting to empty things so the trailer goes through them, it can have some hilarious consequences. Using rocks as jumps in a truck also sends you flipping end over end and spinning while over loading a forklift and trying to do donuts is also something I recommend trying.

Another warning, the game does take a poor look on taking a trailer full of animals into the river. I was curious and it was late at night, I failed that tutorial and immediately had to restart. The game however is fun if you like simulation games, it is easy to learn and easy to control and on the Xbox mods are there, tho you don’t have a ton of space for them. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Spawn: Armageddon

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If you didn’t get enough Spawn after my combo blog on Spawn/ Spawn: origins , we’re going to talk about my favorite piece of Spawn media and was my first intro to the character. Pretty much the war between Heaven and Hell is going to fall on Earth and Spawn is in the middle with his huge array of guns, powers, signature chains, and his trusty Ax of Agony.

Right of the bat, let me be frank: this game is not special in any way shape or form but it is fun as hell. You start off pretty damn powerful and there’s a huge collection of powers and weaponry to combo and slaughter the hordes of Heaven and Hell and it goes farther than that but the enemies quickly become a threat. If you enjoy Devil May Cry, essentially the game play feels the same. The bosses are huge and epic and challenging towards the end. The story isn’t much but it’s a damn fun hack n slash game I’d recommend if you want a high energy blood and gore game. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Masked Saint (2016)

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So I am rummaging thru Netflix and I come across this movie. Now I am a sucker for a wrestling movie, I used to be one. Then I see it has Roddy Piper in. I was a huge fan. There is no way I’m not watching this movie. opening credits end with “Inspired by a true story”. I am hardly convinced. So I watch the movie. But we will get to that,but I want to share this.

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Yes for you book lovers, there is a book by Chris Whaley that the movie is based on, he also happens to be the Pastor/wrestler from the story. I have not read it, but it is something that is out there.

Now back to the movie. First, the acting is pretty good, better than I expected. I was honestly expecting some train wreck level acting like many of these style of “true story” movies have, but that isn’t the case.

The story itself is rather interesting, a retiring wrestler is injured after a shady promoter ( Piper) breaks his word and the new up and comer (The Reaper) intentionally breaks The Saints leg. When he takes over the new perish Chris discovers it is failing pretty hard as most of the people have abandoned it and it is mostly kept running due to one wealthy man and his donations that he will soon lose when he gets into a fight with him.

When Chris is invited to a wrestling event by a friend, coincidentally his former employees event, he prevents The Reaper from injuring his friend which gets him an invite back into the ring. Trust me, leaving the ring is not easy, and it never truly leaves your system. On the way home however he puts his mask on to stop a woman of the night from being mugged, and that is when things truly start to change.

I won’t get into too much more detail. The movie is however worth watching and unsurprisingly the wrestling segments are pretty well done. They don’t give away anything you honestly can’t google, but they don’t treat people like they are stupid either. We all know in 2018 the stuff is scripted and they don’t hide that and I appreciated that. So go give the saint a watch, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Deadpool: the game

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Well, because my luck sucks, we weren’t able to see Deadpool 2 but if you’re like us and your local movie theater randomly shuts down and you lose the Savior- mobile, and you need a decent Deadpool fix, let’s talk about the bittersweet experience that is the video game.

We join Wade in an adventure to kill generally evil bad guy Mr. Sinister, coming across some beloved X Men characters like Wolverine, Rogue, and Psylocke (as well as a funny ass cameo from Gambit during a dream sequence.), a few X Force favorites like Cable and Domino and of course fighting a list D level villains like Archlight and Vertigo. Get ready for hilarity, action, and utter insanity as we slay our way to Sinister.

Ok, let’s cover the sweet of this bittersweet equation. This is one of the funniest games I’ve ever played and this Nolan North is phenomenal doing the voice of Deadpool. If you love the character and X men lore, because you will get a hell of a lot of cameos and fan service like the Island of Genosha and going on a killing spree inside of a Sentinel boot. There is a shit load of great fan service in the game. Ready for the bitter part? The game is laughably short, but not a good laughable. You can easily finish this game on hardest difficulty in about 4-6 hours easy. It’s really linear. The gameplay is fair, not great but not horrible. I can’t say there is a huge amount of replay value in it, I bailed out of my second play through. I think the game is worth playing but $20 maybe pushing it if you aren’t a Deadpool or avid X men fan. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Overcrowd (PC)

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So the other day I tossed out on Twitter I need more indy games and movies to check out, and I get a follow from the guy that codes a game called Overcrowd. His name is Alastair and him and his girlfriend, whom has a PhD in molecular genetics, Sarah are creating this game. Together they make up SquarePlay Games. I was a bit surprised by this one, simply because of what it is. The concept seems pretty silly on the surface, maybe because I don’t frequent the subway system. I will let their video explain it however since I can not do it justice.

See, if I had tried to explain this, it would sound silly. However what you get is a deep and engrossing game with a lot to do and managing. The building aspect is only one part as you must also make sure your workers are happy so they can in turn keep commuters happy. Rats, garbage or even blood will quickly turn what should be a happy commuter into a miserable one.

I love covering indy games when I can find them, and the ones I have come across always make me look forward to what is to come. A couple even hold a special place in my heart for various reasons. one because it is a throw back to an old game I loved as a child ( that write-up is coming in the next few days), others because I love the work they are putting into it. And now this one, simply because the originality behind it alone makes me confident it will be amazing. You can see more on Squareplay Games there or here. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Fallout 76 reveal trailer!

 

Awhile ago, I realized I’m a huge Bethesda fanboy. Fallout 3 was one of my favorite games of last generation, and while I was disappointed a bit by Fallout 4 , it’s still one of the funnest shooters I’ve played this generation. In the almost 3 years since Fallout 4, I’ve heard plenty of rumors on the next Fallout game: a Fallout New Vegas sequel, a Fallout online game to match Elder Scrolls Online , and even the idea of a Fallout game set in New Orleans ( which I would go nuts over.) So what can we expect from the trailer so far? I don’t know except: War, war never changes but enjoy the trailer and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Shoppe Keep (PS4)

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Shoppe Keep on the PlayStation 4 is one of those games I saw that seemed interesting but I wasn’t sure on, so I looked up some reviews and noticed there actually weren’t very many of them. The few I did find complained about some very odd things, like having to read the tutorial. Seriously am I the only on that remembers instruction booklets? They were a tutorial you had to read, at one point most tutorials were read. So I couldn’t accept that as a valid complaint. Another I saw was that the cursor speed was to quick, which you can change in-game anyway, so again another complaint that seemed odd to me. Why complain about something you have the option to easily change?

So I bought the game and read the tutorial. This doesn’t take long, maybe 10 minutes. The cursor speed really is to damn quick, but that is a simple matter of pausing the game and changing it. The game itself is quite simple, set up a shop, buy supplies like potions, wait for some adventurers to come and buy them, and repeat. As you gain more money and the days go buy better items and sell them for a bigger profit. As you gain levels you can unlock new abilities to make people steal less or unlock new heroes to come in and shop.

You also have to set your own prices, but be careful, set them too high and people either won’t buy or they will just steal them. 4 of my first 7 just stole stuff and ran. You can chase them down and kill them to get your stuff back tho, but I got the hang of that after losing a lot of money in merchandise.

The game is interesting but has its faults, the graphics aren’t bad and it doesn’t explain certain things to well, like how to get rid of dead bodies, which you can sweep away with a broom weirdly. The game also gets very repetitive so unless you are into sim games, probably won’t like this one very much. It is a fun little game tho, best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Spawn/ Spawn: origins

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So it was officially announced that Jaime Fox will be playing Al Simmons/ Spawn in the reboot, which I’m totally pumped for. Spawn was a groundbreaking character in the 90’s, ultra-violent, bloody, dark almost Grindhouse type anti hero which no one really saw before. In the 90’s, during the height of Spawn’s popularity we got a live action movie, sure to be full of blood, gore, mayhem and dark ass themes right? It’s pg-13. Enough said.

In the movie, Al Simmons is a former marine turned assassin for the government, turned to doing some maybe not nice shit for his boss named Jason Wynn. Al has a loving family, his wife Wanda and daughter  Cyan and best friend Terry always has his back. During a mission, Wynn betrays Simmons with his assassin, burning him alive. Al ends up in hell, given a deal by the devil: become the hell-spawn and lead the armies of hell and in return he can avenge his death. Al agrees, being sent back to Earth months after his death, deformed and registered dead. In pain, Al is haunted by the Clown, a demonic henchmen who taunts the newly knighted Spawn and makes sure he keeps his end up. As it turns out, Wynn plays a part of a plot to bring Armageddon to Earth. As the story plays out, Al understands he is being toyed with and decides to fight back against the devil and Clown and save the family he lost, but can he master his new abilities and defeat the hordes of hell?

So much like the comparison I made with Superman: Earth One and Man of Steel , I can for the Spawn movie and the Spawn origins, volume 1. You get the same basic premise but there are some key differences. The comic is much bloodier and much darker themed- there’s a issue where Spawn brutality kills a pedophile ice cream man. The writing is meh, but there is a better sense of pathos in Spawn and a more threatening presence to Clown/ Violator. While not my favorite, I recommend checking out the comic before the movie. The movie has alright acting from Spawn and Clown but Michael Sheen kinda sucks as Jason Wynn. The movie is royally destroyed by the pg-13 rating and really lame effects on top of a lukewarm script at best BUT the actors gave it there best with what they had. So to summarize, read Spawn origins collection vol 1 if you want a good intro to Spawn, watch the movie if you like B movies. I hope the reboot gives us something legendary to remember. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

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The Bucket List (2007)

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I waited a long time to see The Bucket List, not for any real reason, I love Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. I consider both to be two of the most talented performers of my life time. I just never got around to watching them. I regret that decision.

The story as most of you know by now is Jack and Morgan both play characters that discover they are dying of terminal cancers. Morgan plays a hardworking mechanic that has spent his life doing right by his family he started when he was young, he also happens to be brilliant. Jack has been married four times, but his true love has always been his work. He is a very rich man, a very rich man that happens to won the hospital.

Due to a very strict no exceptions two in a room policy Jack and Morgan end up sharing a room and striking up a very unexpected friendship. Thanks to a philosophy class in college Morgan writes out a bucket list, as in things he wants to do before he kicks the bucket. With them both dying, and Jack being a very rich man, they decide to go and live that bucket list.

The movie is simply great, it mixes a nice amount of comedy in with what is a serious movie of two men facing their mortality and it really makes you ask yourself, if you could know when you would die, would you want to know or do you think it would taint the time you have left? and if you did know what would you do with that time? would you spend it with family, or try to check everything off your own personal bucket list? do you even have your own personal bucket list?

For me this movie is bitter-sweet, as you pretty much know the ending, or do we really? I won’t spoil it even tho the movie is over 10 years old as I think for this one the ending is actually special, unlike most movies it may be the most special part of all. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.