Streets of Rage (Sega Forever)

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Catching up on some Sega Forever games this week I noticed Streets of Rage. I loved this game as a kid so I loaded this bad boy up and start thinking ” please don’t be shit please don’t be shit” over and over again.  So I select my character, Axel, and start punching the hell out of some bad guys. The sound isn’t perfect, tho it wasn’t all that great originally anyway but the controls are actually more responsive on my cell phone than they ever were on the console which was very nice. Any fan of the original release would enjoy this, best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Batman: the animated series

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“I am vengeance. I am the night. I AM BATMAN!”- Kevin Conroy, portraying Batman and delivering the greatest I am speech of all time. Any 90’s nerd knows the classic opening noir with Danny Elfman’s perfect score and feels a chill when we catch that iconic image of Batman before the show begins. With four seasons, and four animated movies, Batman was edgy and dark as hell for a kid’s show. With dark, complex adult plots and extremely well acted characters the show didn’t pull punches. Whether it was the tragic two part Two-Face origin episode, or the creepy ass Mad Hatter episode to flushing out the epic story of Ras Al Ghul, we got to see the darker side of Batman’s lore come out. Not to say the show was all doom and gloom. Robin added some levity without being annoying or dragging the show down as much as Joker and Harley frequently brought on laughs without taking away from there menace. Kevin Conroy delivers a masterful voice performance as Bruce Wayne and Batman while Mark Hamill is iconic as Joker but there is too many great performances to name. I will say the suddenly artistic reset in season 4 may jar many fans, especially Joker’s appearance which is the worst of that seasons redesigns but the stories and voices remain just as good. In the end, I highly recommend the show to pretty much anyone. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Friends with Benefits (2011)

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Friends with benefits is essentially that thing everyone tries at some point that doesn’t work. You know a two friends decide they need a lil something something and help each other out and poof, someone catches feelings and wrecks the whole thing. This isn’t real life tho, so its both of them.

The movie is as you would imagine full of jokes, sexual innuendo and brief nudity. So ladies, ever wanted to see Justin’s butt here is your shot. Men knew about Mila years ago so I feel no need to mention it. But you know…her butt as well.

Another amazing and unexpected part of the movie is Woody Harrelson playing one of the best gay characters in recent movie history. He is fun and hilarious and adds quite a bit to the movie  despite having a pretty limited role.

The actual story is pretty basic. Both have rough breakups , eventually meet and become friends have a few drinks and a bad idea becomes a good idea and things escalate from there. The movie isn’t the best but it is quite good. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Fullmetal Alchemist

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The ultimate rule to alchemy is equivalent exchange, you never get anything without a price for it. There are very few times in life I see something that totally shakes my life up and changes my outlook on a genre or a art form. Fullmetal Alchemist did this for me.

Edward and Alphonse Elrich are young brothers who have seen tragedy: their father is out to war and their mother tragically dies. In an attempt to revive her with alchemy, the brothers fail and are left nearly dead. Edward without his arm and leg, and Alphonse without a body, instead his soul encased in a suit of  armor. Edward, becoming a State Alchemist after being recruited by the Flame Alchemist Roy Mustang, vows to gain the knowledge and skill to set things right, setting forth on  an a epic journey with his brother to set everything wrong, fix the wrongs of the world around them, and face the embodiments of there sins and the people in there past…

Fullmetal Alchemist is probably the most heartfelt anime I’ve ever watched, weaving touching genuinely touching moments with pure tragic times. The characters are all compelling and memorable. Alchemy is a fascinating and imaginative power. The only real flaw I can see is the ending is a bit anti climatic and while exciting and captivating, it lacks the action level of say DBZ or Bleach but I’ve been told Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is more action packed, though I haven’t watched it yet. I highly recommend this fantastic anime. May the gaming gods bring you glory and best wishes everyone.

Beauty And The Beast (2017)

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First I have to say I had very low expectations and standards for this movie. Not because I hate the actors, I don’t. They are all very talented. I also don’t hate Disney or have a strange loyalty to the old Disney movies from my childhood even tho I do love them. All I wanted was Gaston to be well done and for his song in the bar to be in the movie and fun. I got Gaston, and my bar scene. Savior was a happy camper. Because truly nobody does it like Gaston. But how was the rest of the movie?

Well honestly, it was pretty damn good. Emma Watson played Belle great which shouldn’t surprise anyone since really Belle and Hermione Granger are similar characters anyway. Both are bookworms that most people considered kind of odd that liked to do their own thing, and that is a role Emma spent half her life perfecting. And the Beast isn’t exactly some hard character either, he starts out as kind of a dick then turns out to be a pretty decent guy which Dan Stevens did well. The hardest part of that job really is something that can’t be taught and that is would Dan Stevens and Emma Watson have the right chemistry to make people believe that occurred naturally, which they did.

The biggest surprise for me tho was how close to the original they kept it while changing it enough to be its own thing. All the major scenes you would want are still very much there and they took the time to make them as accurate as they realistically could which was nice. As a person that liked the original but never loved it, this remake that I admittedly wanted very little from surpassed even my most optimistic expectation. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

 

Knights of Sidonia

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You ever wish John Carpenter’s Thing was mixed with space mechs or J.J. Abrams Star Trek was creepier? Well, here you go. Sidonia is the last bit of humanity left, a militarized colony in space, struggling to battle the Guana- giant, fleshy space creatures that cause mass devastation. Sidonia’s main defense are the Knights, mechanized suits of weaponized armor. Upon the brink of destruction, a young man emerges with an uncanny gift to pilot, but will that be enough to save him and humanity from the threats inside and out?

My feelings here are pretty mixed. Regardless, the show looks beautiful. My problem is I was truly invested in season 1, addicted even. There was intrigue, danger, creepy shit, and messed up political scheming going down. After the first season though, two fell flat for me. I couldn’t really dig the direction the story was going in; in lames terms it blew its load too soon, pardon the expression. If you watch season 1, its a fast, exciting, and creepy space adventure. After that- meh. May the gaming gods bring you glory and best wishes everyone.

Elite Dangerous: My Journey Home

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As some of you may be aware I made the epic or maybe horrible choice not long ago to travel to Colonia in one day. It took just under 14 hours. More on that trip here. Elite Dangerous: Colonia

The journey home I was a bit more methodical about and took my time, and even visited some of new stations they added along the way such as the one shown in the picture inside of a nebula, hence the red lighting. From Colonia to there I made about 30 million in exploration money. Could have done better but I am trying to combine making some cash with getting home in a decent amount of time.

Now like most explorers are prone to doing I chose to land on a random moon to take my SRV out for a spin, break up the travel a bit, find some new materials and such. Tho while streaming and chatting with a friends I sort of messed up a bit and landed hard, LIke real hard, my shields failed instantly and my hull dropped to 28%. So i drove around a bit, found some stuff and went back to that station for repairs before heading back out on my journey home. Probably not my best move. Anyway the journey continues, best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Another

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“What happened in Class 3 twenty six years ago?” is the question that drives this strange, tragic and creepy anime. The story follows a class of kids that have the misfortune of being in a cursed class. Every year, if there is a Extra involved in there class, people in the class and there families begin dying. To counteract this, the school pretends a unlucky kid doesn’t exist as part of a tradition. New kid Koichi isn’t aware of this and acknowledges pale, one eyed girl Mei and so begins the curse and the fear who will go next as these kids try to discover how to break the curse.

I’m going to say this anime stole my heart with it’s creepy atmospheric tension, engaging and likable characters and great dialogue as part of a fascinating mystery. I binge watched the hell out of the short 12 episode series. For those new to anime and love a good psychological horror mystery or want a good quick anime to binge watch, I highly recommend Another. May the gaming gods bring you glory and best wishes everyone.

Warframe (Ps4)

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Warframe is one of those free games on PlayStation everyone said hey savior play, sp I downloaded it and then didn’t touch it for months. Then they kept saying hey join us. Then I found other stuff to play and again I got messages on Facebook from friends. So I broke down and played it. I now regret waiting so long. The idea is actually pretty simple. You awaken as someone attempts to force you into helping them and you fight back. What follows is the typical MMO stuff. Kill stuff and you grind for new gear and items and do various missions. Unlike the others I have played tho, you are essentially a ninja. My character for example shoots people with arrows throws knives and stabs people with a sword. A friend has a shotgun that basically staple guns people to walls and another guy I gamed with for awhile could create this bubble that we could shoot out of but people could not shoot into. The different frames all have different abilities.

There are all sorts of things to collect and power up that you can equip on your frames and weapons, which actually seems to be the best way to power yourself up and make a massive difference in the game. At the price of “free” it is a must play game, best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Tokyo Ghoul (season 1)

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In many ways I consider Tokyo Ghoul the spiritual successor to Deadman Wonderland but there’s a beautiful sense of madness, beauty, and pathos to this story. Keneke is a quiet bookworm all alone in the world except for his best friend. Until he meets a beautiful girl who enjoys the same literature he does, but all is not what it seems. She is a ghoul, a flesh eating beast that is resilient and powerful and wants to eat Keneke. Through the accident the beast is dead but by a twist of fate, her organs were accidentally transplanted into him and suddenly he isn’t the same, left with the mind of a human and the stomach of a ghoul. Suddenly Keneke is thrust into a dark underbelly of monsters and a relentless task force meant to slay his kind, but he must wonder what really makes a monster…

This is one of my favorites artiscally, while gory, there is a breathtaking amount of vibrant color mixed with a lot of gothic and noir elements. Also I’m in love with the opening credits and the song Unravel. The characters are really good and the world itself is pretty fascinating. I will warn you, this is a very violent and towards the end of the season, very disturbing show so if you get sick around blood and torture, this isn’t for you. I do recommend this to anime and horror fans alike. May the gaming gods bring you glory and best wishes everyone.