Top 5 Games 2017

I actually thought about not making this list, mostly because they tend to piss people off. So I made it anyway. A few things to point out tho, 1. to make this list, I had to have personally played the game. Don’t expect a Nintendo Switch game. I sadly do not own one, and have never used one. 2. A couple games on this list came out prior to 2017, but released on a new console in 2017. I counted it. and 3. These actually are in order from 5 down to 1.

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Resident Evil 7 was visually impressive, told a great story and was creepy as hell. Its only real downfall was it was short, and honestly I was fine with that. Creeping through this place in first person was great while it lasted and after Resident Evil 6 restored my faith in the franchise.

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Cities Skylines is the first of the games that came out prior to 2017 nut released on PS4 this year and reminded me that a city building game can be fun and addictive. From building that first piece of road and deciding where to build homes, commercial and industrial zones, to setting taxes and even when and where to build monuments and schools the game was fun.

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I knew The Evil Within  2 would be good. Magnificent even. I loved the first one, so why not the second? I however was not prepared for how amazing The Evil Within 2 would be. Right from the start it doesn’t shy away from doing things many games wouldn’t but it also had no issue using what wasn’t there to make the environment scary.

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The other game on the list that was out prior to this year, it came out this year on the PS4. Elite Dangerous can only be described as a space simulator. The game takes place in a life sized version of our galaxy ( yes you can with the right permits visit Earth) The game itself is huge, and you can easily sink hundreds if not thousands of hours into it, in fact many people have. The game however doesn’t care about you. You aren’t a chosen one or special. You are just one person in the galaxy doing what you want to do, and I never had so much fun in space.

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This for me is without a doubt game of the year. Persona 5 is a master piece of gaming, graphically beautiful, the story is superbly done and the sound it absolutely stunning. The characters feel almost like real teenagers at times and Japan itself is full of things to do and people to see with shops, hangouts and restaurants. With around 100 hours in I still haven’t seen it all.

And that is my list, best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

 

The Last Jedi (second opinion)

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For Savior’s birthday, he had a dream: he wanted to see a debut of a Star Wars movie and well, dreams come true. I have thing if anyone hasn’t noticed that I don’t include the episodes in the title, frankly I save that for the ugh films in the series, and by the title of this blog, this is one of the greats.

Directly after Awakens, the Resistance is in some pretty deep shit as the First Order barrels down on them. The bulk of both sides find themselves at all out war in space and the Resistance forces are dying off quickly and with Leia out of commission, against the will of her replacement and time ticking down before all will be lost, its up to Finn, Poe, BB-8, and a technician named Rose to carry out a secret mission to save the Resistance. We also join Rey as she finds a very gruff and broken Luke Skywalker in his self imposed isolation. Through time and persistence he agrees to teach her the ways of the force, but also why the Jedi deserve to be gone. In this journey as Rey’s power grows she begins forming a connection with the last person she would have ever expected…Kylo Ren, who is still dealing with the conflict of light and dark burning inside him, and with that comes the horrible truth of why Ben Solo turned to the dark side.

The Last Jedi was a movie that took chances and I have a lot of respect for that. It makes us ask a lot of questions about what we knew before as well as answers many of what we were left with in Awakens. There is a lot of bold choices and may I say this maybe the darkest Star Wars movie to date, but it was balanced with some funny moments. Luke and Leia were amazing, R.I.P Carrie Fischer, and Rey and Kylo stepped up there game a lot but overall the performances were great. It is a beautiful movie visually as well and holy shit there is a lot of really epic scenes. One scene in particular near the end maybe in my top 3 favorite Star Wars fights. There are pacing issues with the Finn and Rose side plot and sometimes the movie did feel longer than it should have but overall since I rated the others, I’ll give it a solid A. Here are links for the rest of my reviews for the series I’ve covered and may the force be with you.

Star Wars  The Empire Strikes Back   Return of the Jedi   The Force Awakens

Star wars: Rogue One

Star Wars The Last Jedi Review (Savior)

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Tonight for my birthday me and @torstenvblog went to see The Last Jedi. Honestly it was a combination birthday gift, Savior Gaming outing and Dream of seeing a numbered Star Wars movie thing. Honestly we made a trip out of it. Hit the mall for some good old fashioned loitering got some pizza then hit the movie. So without further delay here is my spoiler free review.

First the movie starts off strong, the opening scene gets right to the action to suck you in. From there the movie shifts perspectives quite a bit. There are multiple stories going on that include one between Rey and Luke, Finn and a new character and one with Leia and Poe. While there is a lot going on it all comes together nicely and I never really felt that it was to much or hard to follow. I would have liked more back story on what Luke was doing all these years but there is enough to paint a pretty good picture and Kylo has mostly lost that whiny emo attitude from the last movie and has really come into his own quite a bit.

The movie is far from perfect, and I am still not sure how I feel about the sudden influx of comedy into Star Wars tho it was pretty funny. I also didn’t care for the fact that much of the movie felt like it was longer than it needed to be simply for the sake of being there. Certain scenes felt like they were there just to add some time and didn’t really do much. This was more of a personal preference and didn’t take away from the film, but it just may bother some people. All in all the movie was fun and well done and for me was the best Star Wars since the original trilogy. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

 

5 Games I Want in 2018

20017 was a great year for gaming, and 2018 is looking to be no slouch itself. The following list is just 5 games I am looking forward to supposedly coming in 2018 that I can wait to play, and of course in no particular order.

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Look anyone that follows the blog knew Kingdom Hearts 3 was going to be on this list. People have been waiting forever and supposedly we are getting it next year, tho like everyone else I have my doubts. Will the quest of Sora continue? Your guess is as good as mine.

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Far Cry 5, Sadly it was pushed a little bit but still supposed to be 2018. But in todays world of radical religious people how can you not want a game that lets you save a city from a few? Plus far cry is always fun.  More on this here Far Cry 5

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Of all the games on the list this is the one I am most excited for and most concerned about. The concept is great. You and a friend each control a person and attempt to survive and leave an area. Could be fun. might also be horrible.

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Kingdom Come Deliverance for me is great because I get to run around with a sword and stab stuff in  world that reacts to what I do and that is always a good time to me. The story seems exciting, the world imaginative and graphically it looks beautiful. You can also see more on that here. Kingdom Come Deliverance

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Come on, like this wasn’t going to make the list. The first game was amazing, one of the best looking and most fun games of the last generation. The story was also top notch and made westerns cool again for the first time in decades. Fine the trailer here. Red Dead Redemption 2 trailer

I know guys, short list, let me know In the comments what games you are looking forward to. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

 

ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL – Trailer — Paperback Cinema

About a month ago, I posted that I was surprised to see retailers were accepting pre-orders for the novelization of Alita: Battle Angel because there had been next to nothing about the movie that had been revealed up to that point. Suffice it to say, I was a little more than surprised to see an official […]

via ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL – Trailer — Paperback Cinema

Titan Fall 2 (PS4)

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I had never really put to much thought into Titan Fall 2 honestly. It looked like just a standard shooter with some giant robots. I mean that sounds fun enough really, I just didn’t want to spend money on it. A few weeks ago Torsten brought it up and I said it looked good enough. Fast forward a bit and he shows up at my place with an early Birthday/Christmas gift. Two copies of Titan Fall 2. Obviously one for me and one for him.

You guys won’t believe this, or hey maybe you will. A fast paced shooter that involves huge robots, is a hell of a lot of fun. The game looks nice and the controls are fluid and responsive. Whether running across walls or sliding across the road gunning people down while launching a grappling hook onto the side of a Titan to escape you never feel like you are out of control or limited in what you can do. You are encouraged to keep moving. The Titans however, control mostly like you would think but are still maneuverable enough to make battles strategic and fun. Each Titan also has their own strengths and weaknesses.

The game is far from perfect obviously, the match making is horrible and time consuming some nights and its usually easiest to just let the game pick whatever it wants to send you to. But regardless it is fun and easy to pick up, but challenging to master. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Force Awakens

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Thank the force we got a course correction for Star Wars after an ass load of (shiver) at the prequels. Yes, in many ways Awakens is a soft remake of the original classic but in no way a shot for shot remake.

After the fall of the Empire, a much more cruel force has started overtaking the galaxy in there wake. They call themselves the First Order and immediately we notice there dedication to the former Empire with the reinstatement of Stormtroopers equipped heavier and trained to exterminate Jedi, led by a figure in black named Kylo Ren tasked with killing off the Resistance led by a much older Leia. During an attack on Jakku, one stormtrooper sees the evil of Ren and the order first hand and decides to escape with a pilot named Poe they captured, crashing back on Jakku alone, finding a young woman named Rey who found Poe’s droid BB-8, who’s carrying plans for a new devastating weapon. Now named Finn, him and Rey journey to find the Resistance to return BB-8, coming across Han Solo who takes them to Leia as we see it was not truly a happy ever after in the years after Jedi. Luke had tried rebuilding the Jedi but there own son Ben Solo, Kylo Ren, had turned to the dark side much like his grandfather had, breaking Luke as well Han and Leia’s marriage. Finn and Rey are scared as hell, especially Rey who keeps having feelings she can’t explain, doing things she can’t explain, and having visions when she gets to touch the lightsaber that once belonged to both Anakin and Luke.  But the question remains, where did Luke Skywalker go?

I have to say the only real flaw I have with this movie is that it does feel very much like the classic film but I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. I hated what Star Wars had become after the prequels, remasters, and overabundance of cartoons, comics, games, and shit that never captured the feeling right. Awakens does for me. I love where the old characters stand as well as got invested in the new characters. I love the darker feeling, but that Finn, Poe, and Han added some levity. The movie is a good blend of practical and CGI unlike the prequels and thank god we didn’t get a over embellished, super fast, over choreographed lightsaber duel at the end. Kylo Ren feels similar to Darth Vader but I like his lack of composure and his depth, plus I love his lightsaber. Overall, I thought it was a great movie that put the series back on track and in regards to the originals I give it a A-. May the force be with you all.

XBox One X Review

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So I know I am a bit late on this compared to everyone else, but in my defense I did get mine later. I also wanted to spend a bit more time with it. First let me get this out of the way, some of what I say is going to sound like I am bashing it. I am not. The real question on buying an Xbox isn’t should you or shouldn’t you, it is which model do you buy. It is a great system.

My first experience with the One X honestly was waiting for a massively long fucking update. It wasn’t big.  Just took forever. I didn’t count how long, I just did other stuff, it was at least 45 minutes tho. I know this sounds like “hey savior your internet must suck”. It wasn’t my internet. I have downloaded other stuff on my PS4 pro and the One X that is much bigger and went much faster. That initial update is just insanely slow. I have known others that had the same issue. Don’t panic if you buy one, the most powerful system ever just does that.

That being said, the games with the enhancements are beautiful. Now I have mentioned this before but for new people I do have to mention, I do own a 40 inch 4k HDR compatible television. This system is pretty much designed to run on this thing and it shows. The frame rate is also much more stable in many games. Elite Dangerous for example  is a game I have plenty of experience with across both Xbox and PS4. The game on PS4 pro looked much better than on standard Xbox. The One X shows up with the 4k patch and I will admit,it looks far better on the One X.

All that being said, here is the part that is going to sound like I am bashing the One X. The system is made for a very small amount of people that own a television it is designed for and some estimates say at least 80% of Americans don’t even own one currently. Admittedly that number gets smaller every month as more people make the switch as more companies are making the switch.  The price difference between a One X and the One S is quite significant, the performance between the two without the right television however is not.  The question isn’t should you buy an Xbox, the Xbox is a great system. The question is which one,and in my humble opinion, without a 4k television that supports HDR, the One  X is simply a waste of money. With one tho, with one it truly is a sight to behold. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Return of the Jedi

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Jedi blew my mind and to this day this remains my favorite trilogy ender and damn you whoever was responsible for adding in all the bullshit that killed this movie in the remaster.

Again, not too much longer after Empire, the rebels are in a really crappy place. Jabba got Han Solo by means of ridiculously overrated bounty hunter Boba Fett at the end of Empire, the Empire is building a second Death Star with Vader’s master the Emperor overseeing it’s construction personally, and after getting his hand chopped off by Vader, his faith in his mentors crushed by Vader’s revelation he is indeed Anakin Skywalker, and his lightsaber gone, Luke is M.I.A to finish his training to become a Jedi. Leia and Lando try rescuing Han but to no avail and suddenly all of Han’s friends are caught in Jabba’s grasp. Suddenly, a somber Luke arrives all in black with a new lightsaber and his powers great, to save the day. Before reuniting with the rebels, he returns to Yoda who dies of old age before telling him to become a Jedi he must confront Vader and that there is another Skywalker- his twin sister Leia. As the rebels begin a finally assault on the second Death Star led by Lando, it’s up to our heroes to destroy the shield to it on Endor, banning together with the Ewoks, as Luke gives himself to Vader and a final clash to save his father and save the galaxy…

Ok, so I seriously have to say the versions ratings are going to split hard on this.

Pre 97: A-

Post  97: C

Overall, the characters again are done very well again, with great music and truly epic battles that lead into a satisfying conclusion. Originally I got teary eyed watching Vader’s final moments with Luke. This being said, the remaster fucked up the immersion a lot with some really ridiculous CGI scenes like a goofy musical number in Jabba’s palace or the Scarlac’s stupid CGI beak. On top of that they try really hard at the end to wrap the whole saga up with views of places you don’t even hear about in the original trilogy and even edited out Anakin’s original force ghost at the end with his prequel actor Hayden Christensen (shiver). Also they substitute the jubilant celebration music at the end for something less memorable and more somber. AND TO REALLY PISS ME OFF, because it helped so much at the end of Revenge of the Sith, Darth Vader once again bellows NOOOO before throwing the Emperor. I loved the original and damn Luke’s debut with the emerald green lightsaber was amazing but try not to watch the newer version if you can help it. May the force be with you and let the gaming gods bring you glory.