Reviews – Page 35 – Savior Gaming

How I Met Your Father Impressions

How I Met Your Father is a spin off of one of my favorite shows of all time, How I Met Your Mother. So clearly going into this I had low expectations it would be something I enjoy but very high hopes.

It’s a fine line to walk honestly, you need enough of a connection to make people coming back to say hey this is familiar enough to make me want to watch but new enough so they don’t say hey this is a rip off cash grab.

You also need it to be just be a copy and paste because let’s be honest here, if How I Met Your Mother came out in 2022, it would have gotten destroyed. It’s been off the air since 2014 and already Barney Stinson would probably be canceled as a rapist and Robin as being abusive to Ted. And don’t even get me started on Marshal and Lily. Even towards the end the show was acknowledging how messed up the group was.

Honestly that was half the charm of the original and much of that is missing here. Most of us knew a toned down version of all the people from HIMYM. One of the characters from HIMYF however is a very rich British guy (Charlie) that ran away to be with another character ( Valentina) and a third (Sid) legitimately owns the bar they all hang out at.

The main character,Sophie, (Hillary Duff) is equally as unrelatable, while she struggles with dating in the world of Tinder and hangs out with her friends she mostly whines about turning 30 and not knowing what to do with her life, even tho she already has a career.

That’s not to say the show isn’t entertaining, the show is actually quite entertaining. It has it’s laughs and I enjoy that the first episode they out right tell you that’s how she met the father even tho they never tell you which character it is. Some of the characters also live in the same apartment from the original that they got off an older married couple (clearly meaning Lily and Marshal)

The show is by no means bad, it just lacks much of the character of the original. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Monarch PS4 Review

As first with these things, huge shout out to NIS America for tossing me a review copy of this one. Always love working with those guys and this is no exception.

Right out the gate I was a bit nervous about this one, I had never really heard of it and knew next to nothing about it. It looked interesting tho if not a bit cliche. Japanese school gets locked down by magical powers nobody understands and the students try to figure it out.

This turns out to be a huge over simplification of the story. You will start out taking a small quiz if sorts, there are no wrong answers and they simply help build your characters ego based on the 7 deadly sins. This will change during the game anyway based on battles and choices you make as well as other quizzes. I started out with high lust and 0 envy but quickly passed list with wrath and built up a bit of envy.

The battle system is a tactical turn based of sorts and it is really well done, there are some random difficulty spikes. There isn’t anything we haven’t seen here before, and if you don’t mind some grinding it isn’t to bad. Your spirit however acts as experience and money to buy items.

Leveling up with spirit is done by buying or leveling up new skills for each character and won’t happen automatically. This is both good and bad because if the main protagonist goes down it is game over so you can focus mostly on him if you want or be more balanced about it which is what I chose.

Graphically the game is nice, and the story is definitely more adult than I was expecting. As you attempt to take down the walls stopping people from leaving the school you will notice that students are dying and the game isn’t shying away from the how and why.

This game is definitely worth checking out for fans if the genre, and I actually got a very big Persona vibe from it and with very good reason as it is made by former Shin Megami developers. My only real complaint is that some of the puzzles will have you reaching for a guide to figure out, as some of them make little to no sense. It is still easily an 8/10 game and one of the first must plays of 2022 for me. Best wishes and may the gaming gods being you glory.

Thoughts on Peacemaker

Like most people, I had no idea who Peacemaker was until John Cena was chosen to play the part. Honestly when it comes to the comic version I still know almost nothing about him. Having looked him up he doesn’t have any super powers and is basically just a guy that is insanely skilled and talented. In fact one iteration has him as a diplomat that wants peace so much he starts just killing people.

That brings us to the show, where Peacemaker aka the guy with the best opening in comic book show and movie history possibly is pretty much a dark comedy. His best friend is an eagle, names Eagly because why would a guy like Peacemaker have a sense of humor. He is being used by Amanda Waller once again this time for Project Butterfly.

I won’t go to deep into the story so I don’t spoil it on you guys though I honestly love this show. I didn’t expect that I would but seeing John Cena dance around in his underwear after finally getting laid after being in jail for years only to almost get killed and steal important objects, which he decided we’re vinyl albums is amazing.

His watching his friendship with fellow characters Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) and especially Adebayo (Danielle Brooks) is especially satisfying as all the characters show real growth and change as the season goes on.

Vigilante and Peacemaker playing with guns irresponsibly

If you haven’t started watching this yet, now is the time to catch up. Best wishes and may the gaming gods being you glory.

Edge of Eternity Xbox Series S (review)

As always with these things I like to give a huge thank you to my friends over at Midgar Studios and Dear Villager for hooking me up with a copy of this one. It is always appreciated.

A few things to get out of the way first, this review will be all over the place. There are things in this game to love, and there are things I honestly just didn’t even like. There were some pros and cons as always, but this one seemed to be almost a 50/50 mix and it’s up to you to decide what is important to you.

I always like to start with something positive, and I will get the biggest thing out of the way first. To me the make or break if any JRPG is the combat, and Edge of Eternity is clearly a love letter to the old school ATB systems of the past. This one is on a hexagonal field and moving your characters around it can really help with the strategy needed to not get yourself killed.

The game doesn’t reinvent or even perfect the wheel, but if you like the games of the last like me this is where the game shines.

Unfortunately where the combat is great, the story is pretty much the usual save the world story. The time it is from something called the corrosion seemingly brought about by visitors from the sky in metal ships. It’s kind of hit and miss. At times it is fun and exciting but it never truly kicks into high gear. You can however tell they creators loved certain times in gaming history, and they really wanted to pay a certain amount of respect to that.

The world however is also big and beautiful with very little technical issues, tho the Xbox version did have a few people report that after a couple hours of game play during a fight the game would freeze. Not everyone ran into this and by the time you read this the patch will be released to fix that issue.

I don’t tell you this to convince you not to buy the game, quite the opposite in fact. The company is very responsive to people and I played before any of the patches at release. This to me is a huge sign of quality from a company and it should be recognized.

When all is said and done, the game is a fun playthrough. I enjoyed the combat and the simple but fun crafting system there was enough to do to keep me interested, tho I can’t say I will be playing it again. The game is a 7/10 and worth checking out on GamePass or even at it’s price point on PlayStation. Best wishes and may the gaming gods being you glory.

Farming Simulator 22 (PS4 Review)

As always I like to start out by saying thank you to the people over at GIANTS Software for hooking me up with a review copy of this one. As you all know I am a huge fan of the Farming Simulator series and have looked forward to this one.

So how does 22 stack up to the previous years you may ask? Well there are a few spots 22 is a swing and a miss and none of them are in areas I expected. So before I go and talk about all the things the game did right, I am going to go and explain where I feel like this one failed. None of then are game breaking but after playing on my PS4 Pro you can tell graphically this needed a little more time. As seasons change more than once I’ve had snow on the ground that suddenly would disappear all at once.

And not just on a part of the map, my entire farm would suddenly just not have snow. Fields would also suddenly pop into existence with fully grown crops where before there was a black void. Entire buildings would do this as well when things would be there and gone and pop right back into existence. This was always purely visual and would only happen occasionally in the distance. Your vehicle would always stay firmly attached to the road and it never messed with gameplay etc.

Now the news isn’t all bad, in fact despite what I just said about the graphical issues, this game is truly the epitome of the series. The seasons changing is a nice touch and honestly it gives you incentive to do jobs for the other farmers in the game. It helps pass time and make money while you wait for your crops to grow in the early game until you have more fields for yourself to grow a variety of crops. Why you might want to do that will become apparent in a moment.

Another great addition to the game, and my personal favorite is the production chain. You no longer just have to grow crops simply to sell them, which you still can do and early on you pretty much have to. Later for example you can buy the Oil Mill and deposit your canola there. The Oil Mill will then turn it into canola oil which you can then sell for even more profits.

This process also works for things like wheat or grapes and everything else however some go further. For example wheat can be turned into flour which can then be made into bread or combined with other things to be made into cake. The more complex the potential more money to be made.

None of this replaces the older features from past games, there is still money to be made raising animals, making silage, tossing bails around or logging. Honestly I haven’t even touched half of what the game has to offer I think and that’s after easily 30-40 hours of playing.

When all is said and done, if you have played and enjoyed a farming simulator game in the past you will love this one and it is a must buy. If you have always been curious, this is the one to jump on. That all being said, if you haven’t enjoyed them in the past this won’t change your mind. This is however the best in the series, and it isn’t even close. The only thing holding this one back are some graphical glitches that are purely cosmetic, and I have tried my hardest to see if they would do anything to actual gameplay.

Normally I don’t give out two scores for the same game but this time I will. If you are playing on a PS4 pro like me, it’s a 7/10. The graphical issues are annoying tho not game breaking. On the PS5 and Xbox series of systems though these graphical issues don’t seem to exist and the game rightfully deserves a 9/10 for being the top of the farming simulator food chain. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Black Christmas (2019 Review)

I don’t often do this, but lately, I was hanging out with @torstenvblog watching movies and we decided to check out Black Christmas. It is a Blumhouse movie ( I know first red flag) by Sophia Takal. Sophia has made other movies like Always Shine and V/H/S, movies I’ve heard are solid and respectable movies on their in their own right. Based on this movie, however, I have no intention of ever fucking watching them.

Yes, I am about to trash this movie from here on after I say this. The actors did everything they could to save what was basically a dumpster fire that had no real chance of ever being good. The movie starts with poor Linsday leaving the library and being followed by some guy on his cell phone made out to be a total creep that magically has her phone number. It is a horror movie I get it. Get used to this though. If you see a guy in this movie, he is an evil rapist. This isn’t a joke. On some level, he is the bad guy unless he is an extra in the background. Lindy girl is now dead when the real killer turns her into a snow angel.

Get used to this too, every woman in this movie is basically a total moron except the main character. Nobody is going to believe her to listen to her about almost anything.

This is basically the last we will discuss on Linsday. This isn’t my choice, go talk to Sophia about that shit, she wrote and directed this. They will mention her towards the end but basically, everyone is happy to accept that she called her friends right before being murdered, never made it home to her family and nobody was found. She is just gone. This happens more than once.

The movie is full of weird plot holes like this, but they are not even the worst part. Every guy in the movie is made out to be a rapist (one actually is and his death is the most satisfying part of the movie) and every girl (I say this to point out when called girls one always shouts out woman) is a huge stereotype. For example, the “SUPER woke” black woman running around having statues torn down of white slave owner racist and trying to get the teacher fired for teaching English literature but not having enough women or people of color on the class syllabus. That is however basically all she does, besides badger the chick that got raped that it’s been like two years and she needs to rebuild herself already.

The ending is even more insulting because it turns out the killings were all a cult. Basically a cult of “alpha” men controlled by a statue that brings out the real tendency of men. A weak and submissive woman that knows her place would steal items so these men would know which women were causing problems and kill them. And even the two men in the movie decent guys suddenly became violent abusers that attacked women as inferior.

This movie insulted basically all of humankind, and the worst part is the movie SHOULD have been really good. The pieces were there, the concept of a cult that can make horrible men become their true selves was good, and that it could be used to help control already weak-willed women to help scum like that could have been great. Instead, we ended up with a movie that damn near offended me, and I don’t think I’ve ever been offended by anything in my life. Not only was this movie not good, but it also shouldn’t be watched by anyone with class or taste. Best wishes and may the gaming gods have mercy on our souls.

Airborne Kingdom (Xbox Series S Review)

As always, huge shout out to my new friends over at The Wandering Band and Freedom Games for hooking me up with a review code for this game. It is always a pleasure to check out a new game and the one was no exception.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to build a flying kingdom? This game will let you find out, and before we go any further I highly suggest you try building everything on one side of your kingdom to see what happens when you tilt it all to one side. I’m not saying anything does or doesn’t happen, Just give it a go. Maybe don’t do it during a serious attempt tho.

With that out of the way, the game tells the story of you trying to bring back a floating kingdom by rediscovering and making alliances with all the other Kingdoms, twelve in total.

The game is beautiful, as you watch the sun rise and set on your floating city.

You can see the love poured into this game from every angle. The resource management is also quite well done, at no point did I feel like the game was unfair but I came dangerously close more than once of running out of the things I needed to stay afloat.

The sound is another place where this game is great, but it isn’t where it shines. Where it truly shines is where all city builders are made or broken.

Is the game addictive? And the answer is absolutely. I was constantly redesigning things to make sure I had enough lift and propulsion to keep the place afloat or people in work. And I love making sure I had enough resources to make sure I could make it to my next area of exploration since not every biome would have the same resources in the same quantities.

This game is honestly absolutely amazing, and while it isn’t exactly challenging it doesn’t truly need to be, it is just a lot of fun. Definitely recommended for fans of the genre. Solid 8/10. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Cotton 100% PS4 Review

As always I want to give a huge shout out to my friends over at ININ games for tossing me a copy of this one to review. It is always appreciated.

Cotton 100% was never released in the west but was originally released for the SNES in Japan. It is actually nice that this series is finally getting released here in America.

Cotton 100% is actually more of a side scrolling shooter, think along the lines of Gradius. As the screen moves to the side you will be shooting enemies that fly towards you or drop bombs or use other power ups on them. Unlike most games however where you will fly around in some sort of ship or such, you actually are a cute little pink haired witch on a broom.

Honestly she might have a name, but as of when I played it the game is only in it’s original Japanese. This doesn’t actually do anything to the game play and you could easily look up the story, I just didn’t bother. The game play was enough to keep me interested.

Graphically the game looks nice, it isn’t anything to write home about but we are looking at a re-release here. If you are walking into this expecting AAA graphics you aren’t having realistic expectations. The enemies are pretty well designed and the bosses are down right adorable. In fact I will go so far as to say they are probably the high point of the game itself. Each one is just greatly designed.

The sound unfortunately is where the game suffered the most for me. It wasn’t by any means bad, it just wasn’t exactly good. For me it just felt dated and stiff. And really could have used some sort of a bigger update or clearing up.

The truth about this game is quite simple, it’s fun but there isn’t anything special about it. It’s definitely worth playing playing and is a solid 7/10, but truth be told it’s a very niche game for people that love retro games. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Panorama Cotton PS4 Review

As always with these things, a huge shout out to the people at ININ games for tossing me a copy of this one. It is always appreciated.

Panorama Cotton is essentially an emulation of the original Sega Master system version we never got in the west. It also happens to be the only one that isn’t a side scrolling shooter. This has more of the Space Harrier front view.

Graphically the game has some nice graphics and sound that aged pretty well and it does come with some nice bells and whistles such as some cheat codes and such.

This was honestly one of those games that I had never heard of and didn’t really have high hopes for but since it came from ININ games I wanted to give it a chance. The game will satisfy that need for nostalgia without breaking the bank, something ININ games does amazing at. A solid 7/10. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Caligula Effect 2 (PS4 Review)

As always, huge shout out to NIS America, always love working with them when they bring things stateside.

Caligula Effect to as the name says is a sequel to the first one and yes, it is linked but not so much that you have to play the first one. They will explain what you need to know to enjoy the game. That being said playing the first one helps, and if you have the battle system is pretty much the same and is the best part of the series. See it’s turn based, but not really. See when you take your time you can see what’s about to happen and move your characters turn up and down the time table. By doing this you can actually counter what an enemy is do. This may allow you to defend or toss them up into the air, or maybe just move out of the way.

By doing this you can have other characters use their turns to take advantage by using their skills that do extra damage to enemies on the ground or in the air. When you truly get this down you can go entire fights without taking a hit. After battles your characters heal, as the game truly rewards strategy. That being said, I’ve had it work against me and been utterly destroyed by more powerful enemies or simply normal enemies on higher difficulty levels. And I wouldn’t change it for the world.

The story is rather interesting, but if you played the first one there’s nothing new here. You are trapped in a fake world and once someone sees it, the Musicians that work for the person controlling it won’t tolerate you messing with the program. They rather like it the way it is and the people that don’t realize they aren’t in the real world are perfectly content living their fake lives.

Truthfully I’m not even sure we don’t play as the bad guys in these games, more than once I’ve thought the world sucks and wanted something better,who would I be to go and ruin the entire thing for others. That is part of what I enjoy about the game though, it does make you think.

The game looks nice and the music is great, which is good since you are fighting people called musicians. The game is a solid 8/10 and is great for anyone that loves RPGs. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.