Reviews – Page 74 – Savior Gaming

Stephen King’s Thinner (1996)

Stephen King’s Thinner is based on the novel by the same name and is the last novel released under King’s the pseudonym Richard Bachman. Released in 1996 by Paramount Pictures.

Stephen King’s Thinner is based on the novel by the same name and is the last novel released under King’s the pseudonym Richard Bachman. The story is about an over weight lawyer named Billy Halleck. Billy is what you would call less than honest.

After winning his most recent case and discovering his diet still isn’t really working he goes out to celebrate with his wife. On the ride home he is enjoying some extra driving activities with his wife and runs over an elderly gypsy lady and kills her. There of course is an investigation to determine if there is any wrong doing and the investigation is a complete sham. The investigator lies about having even done a breathalyzer test. Billy wasn’t drunk, but he still lied in court. The judge also pressures people into lying about the old woman running out of a store instead of walking.

After Billy is found to have done nothing wrong in the disgrace of a trial the husband and daughter decide to take justice into their own hands by setting a gypsy curse on Billy. This curse will make him lose weight. This doesn’t sound bad, except for the fact that he will lose weight until he dies.

At first Billy and his wife doesn’t seem to realize that anything is even wrong. Then they think maybe it is a sign of cancer. Billy is the first however to think maybe something is wrong when he notices the judge also has a skin issue and coincidentally right where the old gypsy man touched him as well. Of course he will see multiple doctors and end up at the mayo clinic, because who would believe gypsy curses are real? I mean would you think this dude could curse you?

Seriously nobody would think this guy is going to be serious. It isn’t more than a few weeks tho before our 300 pound friend however is down to about 150 despite eating thousands of calories a day of whatever the hell he wants.

The movie itself is interesting but suffers from the same issue pretty much every King book adaptation does, you will see most reviews come down to “The book was better.” Honestly this may be true, I personally haven’t read the book. The movie itself was fun and had an interesting concept. It also played pretty much every stereotype on every person in the movie. The lawyer had no morals, the cop and judge were dirty, the gypsies were basically magical nomads that lived a long time and seemed to have no morals and are hated by everyone. Pretty standard stuff. I did enjoy the movie and the ending tho, and would happily watch the movie again. It was never scary or really all that funny, it was just interesting. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Pokemon Quest (Mobile)

Pokemon Quest is a free Mobile and Nintendo switch game from Game freak released in 2018.

Pokemon Quest is a cute little game for Nintendo Switch, Android and iOS. I decided to check out the Mobile version on Android since its free and admittedly I don’t have access to a Switch or iOS device. I am curious if there are any differences between the Switch and Mobile versions so someday I hope to find that out, if I ever do I will be writing another one of these.

The game is quite simplistic, you go to an island to discover treasure and befriend a pokemon for help. You will choose from one of the three original starters of Charmander, Squirtle or Bulbasaur. There are also 2 additional choices of Evvee and Pikachu. There is a small twist tho, they are all little block creatures.

The game is mostly just your pokemon walking around on their own, they also attack on their own but you choose their special attacks. The game is quite intuitive on its own. I never had an issue with them getting stuck or anything like that.

The biggest issue I had with the game was the cooking mechanic. You need to go thru 4 or 5 levels until its done cooking, then you get a pokemon based off what you cooked. While this is interesting it can take a while to get the pokemon you need for where you happen to be. It’s not a deal breaker it can just be pretty annoying at times, tho there are enough guides online to make it less time-consuming. It is also worth noting you can play the game without spending any real money, tho as always it will make your life much easier.

At the end of the day tho you have to ask yourself what you want from a game. Pokemon Quest is basically a cute time sink for the more dedicated pokemon fans. I think your more average fans won’t really put enough time into this to collect the pokemon or the equip items to get far enough to enjoy it. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Just Before I Go (2015)

Just Before I Go is a comedy, but it’s actually a pretty dark comedy in a way. The movie starts with a man underwater.

This is Ted, Ted is a pretty basic guy with a pretty basic job. Most people would even call him boring. One day at his boring job he meets his wife, Penny. Penny eventually gets bored and cheats on him with her guitar teacher. In the ensuing argument she tells him he may as well be dead, and this is when he decides he really would be better off dead. First however he has some things to do.

When Ted goes home to his home town to stay with his brother and his family things get a bit weird right out the gate. The first night his nephew tells him to use the dead bolt that’s on the guest room door, which he doesn’t only to discover his sister-in-law sleep masturbates in front of house guest. His nephew is hiding the fact that he is gay, which he confided in Ted, which leads to an entirely new predicament with the family.

Ted will also confront his childhood bully and have a small romance with the girl he had a crush on from 4th grade, that happens to now be married. All this while finding a new romance with a family member of the teacher that tormented him after the death of his father.

Now if this sounds like a lot going on, it is. That isn’t to say the movie is bad, I actually rather enjoyed it. The movie did get mixed reviews however, with metacritic giving it a 24% and rotten tomatoes a 10%. IMDb does give it a 6.4/10 with 91% of google users liking it. The movie is busy, but it seems to be another case where critics don’t like it, but people do. I am in this category as well. I enjoyed it a lot.

The movie while not perfect and at times quite busy is quite funny and while has an interesting yet cliché take on suicide. The movie doesn’t shy away from certain subjects like how the gay community is treated many times in high school or by family or even how many feel about themselves because of it. It also has shows how some times bullies act a certain way because of how they are treated, but also because sometimes they themselves are just crappy people.

The movie isn’t for everyone clearly, and it does deal with some sensitive subject matter that may bother or upset some people. It is however entertaining and thought-provoking. Movies don’t always make me stop and think, but this one did. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Jim Jefferies: This Is Me Now

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Jim Jefferies This Is Me Now is his new stand up on Netflix. Stand up comedies are hard to review because what people find funny is pretty subjective. The easiest way to explain this one is with a question. Are you a fan of Jefferies? If your answer is yes, you will enjoy this. If you said no, this isn’t going to change that. He will cover topics from being a single dad, to his first time ever doing a stand up for a birthday party or even the time he had some bottles thrown at him on stage. This one is quite hilarious and worth watching. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

How it Ends (2018)

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How it Ends is one of the new movies from Netflix so of course I checked this out. The idea is simple, Will (Theo Younger) has to go meet his girlfriends father, Tom ( Forest Whitaker. While there they get into a fight because they don’t get along and Will is asked to leave before he even asks if he can marry his daughter.

When Will wakes up the next morning after a night of drinking, Samantha (Kat Graham) wakes him up and reminds him he is late for his flight. This is when the real story kicks in. Samantha hears a noise in Seattle, gets really scared and the power goes out. Will rushes to the air port to discover the flights are all cancelled. In response to this he will return to Toms home. Tom’s wife Paula (Nicola Ari Parker) will go to her son’s house, and Tom the former Marine and Will shall go to Seattle to save Samantha.

The movie itself is interesting, but at the end of the day it is just basically a weird apocalypse survival movie. Most of the movie is simply them driving, occasionally either hiding from another person or shooting them. Then they talk, eventually the car breaks down and they hire a Native American chick to help fix the car. She comes with, they continue the trend, argue a bit and so on. The movie is rather unexciting. The movie has moments of being interesting and it does a good job of showing that the biggest issue n a survival scenario would be other people. I don’t regret watching the movie, but I can’t say I would watch it again. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Railway Empire PS4 Pro Vs Xbox One X

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After getting to play both the PS4 pro version and the Xbox one version Railway Empire I decided some of you may have wondered, what is the difference between the two versions of the game?

Well for starters the content is exactly the same, so if you have to choose don’t worry there. You will be buying the same game regardless. There is some DLC available opening up Mexico, but I have no experienced that on either console so I can’t say if that is worth purchasing.

Graphically they both look great, but I do honestly have to give a slight advantage to the Xbox One X. This isn’t to say the pro looked significantly worse. In fact it is truly splitting hairs to say one looks better than the others,I truthfully can’t even say why I like the Xbox versions looks better, I just do. It just seems a bit more crisp.

As for controls, I have to give it to the Pro. They respond better and function better. Again, this isn’t by a significant amount and I am by no means putting down the Xbox version. The difference is slight and you can go wrong with either console.

Both versions of the game look and play great, the sound of both as far as I can tell are exactly the same so really its tasters choice on which one to pick. I do prefer the Pro version. It just seemed to play a little better to me, not by any substantial margin, but just enough to make me like it more. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

It (1990)

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The 1990 version of It has been a classic since, well since 1990. When the remake was announced people kind of lost their minds. Who could possibly play Pennywise better than Tim Curry? Well this isn’t about all that, but if you are interested we did cover that you can read more here.

Watching this movie made me remember that this wasn’t truly a movie, but a made for t.v. series. This does show by the lack of swearing and blood, something the 80’s and 90’s usually didn’t shy away from. This being made for t.v. tho, they did have to find a way to tone down what is actually a pretty violent and disturbing book. This is where they succeeded quite well.

In fact this may actually be the most successful part of the whole thing. When I was younger this movie actually was pretty freaky, but as an adult there were things that actually annoyed me more than anything. For example the constant jumping back and forth between childhood and being an adult as they introduced characters seemed completely unnecessary. It was also a 3 hour series that easily could have been two hours with much of it being feeling stretched out for no reason I can think of.

That isn’t to say the whole thing is bad, each character is played magnificently and Tim Curry still plays an amazing Pennywise the clown. I also feel comparing the two may be a bit unfair seeing as how one is made for t.v. and the other is a full-fledged movie.

At the end of the day however I have to admit, the 1990 version of It just doesn’t hold up very well for me. It’s still solid enough but it just doesn’t compare to the remake for me which I would much rather watch. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Twisted Metal:Black (PS4)

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I have been a fan of Twisted Metal for a long time, ever since the original. My favorite like most people has actually always been Twisted Metal 2, but I wasn’t going to pass up the chance to pick this one up when it was on sale.

The game itself is exactly what it has always been. You pick one of the characters, each with their own story and vehicle. You then drive around picking up weapons on different levels killing the other people. The controls are nice and the graphics aren’t bad for an old PS2 game remastered for the PS4. The game also now has trophies which is nice, tho none of them are really all that hard to get. The game is worth picking up for fans of the series, and it’s really not a bad spot to jump in. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Set It Up (2018)

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Set it up is one of the new movies from Netflix, and as such I of course sat down and watched it. I actually didn’t expect much.I can’t say why, I just didn’t. The concept was good tho. Essentially it comes down to A female sports writer isn’t very nice to her female assistant. They work long hours, she never has time, and she never gets the chance to write which is all she wants.

A important VP also has an assistant, and he also pretty much gets treated like crap,also works a ton and has no time for his beautiful model girlfriend. One night they both forget dinner,and have a chance meeting. Not much longer later on another late night, they end up having a few drinks in the office and a drunken plan jokingly takes place. One she takes a bit seriously when she misses another date.

After he almost gets dumped he also gets on board. The plan is simple, since they have their bosses entire lives planned out meticulously. They will use this to get them to hook up, so that when they are sleeping together they will have some time off to go do what they want. This of course has varying degrees of success. For example getting them stuck in an elevator goes horrible since a claustrophobic delivery guy ends up stuck with them. The Yankees game however goes well, because as well all know a Yankees game is the sexiest thing ever. Read that with heavy sarcasm.

The movie does have plenty of funny parts to it. This is actually the part that surprised me. The actors are all funny enough, but usually these types of movies just don’t end up being funny. This one however is and that made me happy. The movie isn’t great, but its fun. It is also funny. It is very much worth watching. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Beholder Complete Edition (PS4)

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Beholder Complete Edition lets you authoritarian types live your life long dream of spying on your neighbors and sending them to prison. The game is pretty simplistic on the surface. You manage a building, and use cameras and a skeleton key to spy on your neighbors to make sure things are on the up and up. When they go out you can sneak in and rummage through their stuff to make sure they aren’t hiding illegal stuff, and use the cameras to see what they do when they are home.

The game is pretty in depth tho, you will be fixing up apartments and taking care of your families needs. My daughter actually died from an illness when I couldn’t come up with the money for medicine. My wife was a complete pain in the neck wanting pots for cooking and candy. Seriously lady, I got stuff to do and people to get locked up.

The graphics are nice but nothing special and the controls are a bit stiff but work just fine. The game is fun, and at its price point you can’t really go wrong with such an odd but inventive game. So if you are looking for something new to check out, definitely give it a shot. It isn’t amazing or world changing, but it is interesting. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.