Hellsing Ultimate

Hellsing ult

It’s been awhile but I’m finally back with part three of my best and worst of vampires thread. Let’s face it, if you caught my last two parts you can probably guess what part three and four of the worst will be. It’s quite obvious really. But the best parts likely aren’t. So I’m here to talk a little bit about my favorite interpretation of Dracula ever, Alucard. Specifically Hellsing Ultimate; I’ve never actually watched the first anime but I’ve been told by many that Ultimate,  which follows the manga more closely than the first, is far superior. So Hellsing Ultimate is the story of the Hellsing Organization led by Integra Windgates Hellsing, descendant of the famous Van Helsing continuing to keep Great Britain safe from the creatures of the night. Her personal guard and secret weapon is Alucard, a very powerful, ancient vampire that has served the Helsings for ages back. Occasionally killing lesser vampires and fighting the never ending grudge with rival and nemesis Alexander Anderson, a catholic priest with grand regenerative abilities from a rival organization.  Alucard, known for being cruel and ruthless, takes pity on a dying police woman named Seras Victoria and turns her into vampire instead of letting her die. We follow Alucard and the rest of the Hellsing Organization as a devastating plot unfolds involving Nazi vampires, a over militarized Vatican, an android and treason from within themselves.

Holy shit this anime is crazy but so incredible it has to be seen. Crispin Freeman as Alucard steals the show for me. In fact, the main characters are all deep and well developed. This series avoids a lot of modern day vampire tropes which is refreshing: Alucard DOES NOT fall in love wit either female lead nor is a “sensitive monster”, the female leads are strong, ground, thoughtful women- not damsels in distress, and Alucard isn’t creepy or brooding. He’s a fucking pimp but isn’t Bela Lagosi. I love that Hellsing Ultimate pulls no punches dealing with religious, sexual, political, or historical subject matter but keeps an elegance to it. Instead of standard 30 minute episodes, there is only 10 but each is like a mini movie which is cool. Definitely check out Hellsing Ultimate if you like Dracula, vampires, crazy shit, or bloody anime. As always thank you for reading and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Metroid Retro Review

Metroid

I played this game long ago as a kid, and I have to say I always thought it was an overrated game. As an adult, that opinion hasn’t changed. The graphics while nice for their time basically look like a color swaps of other areas and the enemies seemed lazy and the story uninteresting to me. I will however say it was more fun than I remember. I honestly can’t say much about it that has not been said, and many people feel the game and series are amazing while other like me simply do not get it. Get out there and try it for yourself, and may the gaming gods guide you to glory.

Tales from the Borderlands

tales borderlands

The last Borderlands game before we finally get 3 and it’s from TellTale Games, king of point-and- click adventures with stories that keep you hooked. At first I was pretty against the idea of a different kind of Borderlands game but after the first twenty minutes I was hooked. Tales takes place after 2 and we follow our main characters Rhys- a Hyperion stooge with a cybernetic arm and eye looking to make it big along with his friend Vaughn and there stolen Loader Bot, and Fiona- a wanted con woman looking for a big score with her little sister Sasha. These characters all meld together along with others from the series as they venture to battle more bandits, and assemble a robot that will help them find the Vault of the Traveler, unlocking more of the universe then they could possibly imagine. Holy shit was this a fun way to get a platinum trophy. Because of it being Borderlands it’s a story full of the series trademark outrageous humor and sad drama. Towards the end, I freaked out with nerdgasmic glee at how epic it was. A few times the game felt a little slow but I could never call it boring. The characters were memorable while all the cameos were pretty welcome; at the end of the third episode there a freaking awesome 2 on 2 fight leading into the beginning in the Pre-sequel. Overall, Tales from the Borderlands is a great addition to the series and as I said, it’s a fun, easy way to get a platinum trophy. As always, thank you for reading and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Square Enix News

ff30th anna

There has been some interesting things from Square Enix in the last 24 hours, some of the highlights are for example..well have a picture.

ff9

Yup that is a picture of Final Fantasy 9. And as of today you can buy it on PlayStation 4. Yea no lead up, no announcement nothing. Its on sale for just under $17 but soon enough will return soon enough to the very awkward and weird price of $20.99.

Other news in the realm of who the hell would want that, but it is an option. Final fantasy..well wine.

IfritRouge and ShinaBlanc will lead you to where you can purchase these bad boys ( Full Disclosure we do NOT get paid if you buy any)

Other news released is that Noctis will be joining the fighters of Final Fantasy Dissidia which should be interesting to see him and Cloud or Squall go at it.

Last but not least, we have a new game announcement. I will link the video below, enjoy, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Borderlands: The Pre-sequel

borderlands ps

What was Borderlands missing? How about Borderlands…IN SPACE! for the third game in the series we are lead into space to recount the downfall of the Vault Hunters and the rise of one of gaming’s greatest recent villains, Handsome Jack. For once we already know our characters we play as: Wilhelm the Enforcer (Jack’s cyborg bodyguard from 2), Athena the Gladiator (General Knox’s Atlas assassin from 1’s DLC), Nischa the Lawbringer ( Jack’s future girlfriend and tyrannical sheriff of Lynchwood in 2) and Claptrap (formerly the ninja-assassin Claptrap of 1’s DLC). Like with 2, there are two extra characters with the DLC. In essence, of the three FPS games, Pre-sequel is the shortest story and game wise. I redboxed it when it first came out, and avoided most of the side quests, I got half way through the game in less than six hours. The strongest pro of the game is the story. Jack is likable but we understand how his good motives turn dark and how the heroes we thought were good are just as guilty for the events of Pandora’s decline as Jack is. I love that by the end no one feels completely good or evil. The newest mechanic is the Zero Gravity and oxygen need. I’m fine with the oxygen completely, and I like the joke they make about Claptrap not needing air. The Zero Gravity both helps and hurts the game. Its a fun new challenge bouncing around the moon shooting at space bandits with your new lasers, but at the same time it becomes harder to find your way around and sometimes this gets really annoying. Probably the biggest flaw I got with this game is the side missions aren’t that great. 2 skillfully made them feel natural and a lot of them were funny as hell so we didn’t mind doing them; Pre-sequel has some like this but there is a lot of them that feel like busy work. Overall I liked the game and recommend it if you played the others but don’t let it be your first impression of the series. As always, thank you for reading and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Gradius Retro Review

gradius

I have to admit, until this week I had never played this game. This side scrolling shooter is pretty, fun and damn was it hard. This game is like Australia, everything in it either wants you dead or can kill you on accident and it comes from every possible direction.There honestly isn’t much to the game and that is really the beauty of it. You simply fly around collect power ups kill everything you can and try not to die. While there are better games out there today, I do wish I had experienced this years ago. Thanks for reading and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Borderlands 2

boderlands 2

This really is no place for a hero; I love Shortchange Hero by The Heavy, seriously awesome song. Borderlands 2 is one of the best games I’ve ever played. Set five years after the fall of the Atlas Corporation and the first Vault was open, the sequel begins with 4 new Vault Hunters being commissioned and betrayed by maniacal head of the Hyperion Corporation, Handsome Jack. Our new heroes are Axton the commando, Maya the Siren, Salvador the Gunzerker, and Zero the assassin. Together they must journey to Sanctuary, where most of the lovable characters we came to know and love from the first game, rejoining the old Vault Hunters and rebelling against Jack before he can reach another vault and unleash the devastating power of the Warrior on Pandora. Borderlands 2 masterfully improves on everything that was great about the first game and expanding on it. The gameplay is just as fun but now every character is amazingly OP ; every character is fun and funny but this is a much darker story. A few scenes hit me square in the heart while others made me nearly piss myself in laughter. I’m happy to say the game has a hell of a lot of replay value- I’m on my sixth play through and not bored yet- and both great solo or with friends. If you never played it, pick it up today. You’ll fall in love with the residents of  Pandora and there badassness. Thank you as always and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Punch Out Retro review

punch out

Depending on when you played this game it was either Mike Tyson’s Punch Out or Punch Out featuring Mr. Dream. But to most people it has always simply been Punch Out. One of the original games of memorize this pattern then strike when you can, and to this day I know very few people that have completed it. Now most gamers would add they are one of those few. And hell you guys will never know if I lie or not. Truth is, I am not one of those few. Tyson/Dream always kicked the ever loving crap out of me. The game is fun, tho the controls have always pissed me off to no end. The game is still fun and challenging all these years later and whether you are revisiting or just looking for a history lesson from gaming you can not go wrong here. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Borderlands

borderlands

There really is no rest for the wicked when you’re a Vault-Hunter. Borderlands is a fun first shooter, open world RPG revolving around four strangers searching for a legendary alien vault on planet Pandora: Mordecai the hunter, Lilith the Siren, Roland the soldier, and Brick the Beserker. Each character has there own play style and special talents. For example Roland is a expert with a assault rifle and shotgun that can deploy a turret that can upgraded to fire rockets as well as attach an elemental damage onto the gunfire. All four characters are fun but they don’t really have an identity. The game is fun but repetitive and man the final boss sucks. I had a lot of fun gathering loot in the form of guns, shields, grenade mods, and class mods and leveling up. The downside of leveling up is that it drags a bit. Borderlands has some of the best DLC I’ve ever played and in it comes more of the crass humor the series becomes known for. If you ant a heads up to be a epic badass, choose Lilith, who becomes OP as hell real quick (a tip from Torsten V). In the end, Borderlands is fun but kinda meh but with some decent humor and a cool intro cutscene. Cage the Elephant anyone?

Retro Review Exitebike

excitebike

Excitebike is one of the first NES games I ever played. I remember thinking how amazing it was and how cool it looked, then I discovered that you could use your back tire to knock other riders off their bike and it was game over. I lost races and precious time off laps just knocking people over. Having released the same  year I was born obviously my experience came a few years later, tho i imagine it was fun from day 1. and 32 years later later and the same experience was still fun. Sure graphically it is no longer impressive and the controls by todays standard are stiff and unresponsive but damn was it a throw back to the days games were simply fun. I greatly suggest everyone go back and try it, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.