Review

All Things Geekery Podcast S3E10 – E3 2019 Review

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In this episode, We are going to cover all things E3. Starting with the pre-E3 details of Stadia and our thoughts on it. We will work through each of the main conferences calling out our top moments and items that got us excited. Then we will wrap up this episode with our personal Best of E3.

Click to Listen: S310 – E3 2019 Review

Show Notes

  • Google and Stadia 
    • Baldur’s Gate 3
    • Destiny 2 – All content free 
  • EA Play 
    • Star Wars – Jedi Fallen Order 
  • Microsoft 
    • Project Scarlett
      • Next-gen Xbox console
      • Releasing 2020 holiday season
      • Able to do 8k and 120fps
      • Halo Infinite will be launching with the console
    • X-Cloud
      • Getting Console Streaming “AKA” Remote Play
        • Ability to stream your games off of your home Xbox One to anywhere starting in October
      • X-Cloud will be coming out later
    • GAMES
      • Revamped Battletoads
      • Halo Infinite – Releasing holiday 2020
      • Age of Empire II – 4k graphics and updated audio
      • Ori and the Will of the Wisps
      • Cyberpunk 2077 – Keanu Reeve
      • The Outer World
      • Borderlands 3
      • Elden Ring
      • Phantasy Star Online 2 
  • Bethesda 
    • Doom Eternal
    • Wolfenstein Youngblood
    • Commander Keen – RIP childhood memories
    • Ghostwire Tokyo
  • PC Gaming Conference – AKA the Epic Gaming Show
    • Spiritfarer 
  • Ubisoft 
    • Gods and Monsters
    • Watchdogs Legion – Beware Grandma
      • Not only is it set in London, but it gives you the ability to recruit and play as literally any person in the open world game
    • Ghost Recon – Breakpoint – Almost too much talk about that game 
  • Square Enix 
    • Marvel Avengers – Crystal Dynamics is at the helm of developing the game
    • Final Fantasy 7 Remake  
  • Nintendo 
      • Super Smash Bros new DLC character – Banjo—Almost the ultimate jabait happen
      • The Legend of Zelda – Breath of the Wild 2
      • The Legend of Zelda – Links Awakening
      • Super Mario Maker 2
      • Panzer Dragoon: Remake 
  • Contra: Rogue Corps 
  • Sega 
    • SEGA Genesis mini console coming September 2019 with mini-games like Mega Man: The Wily Wars, Earthworm Jim, Sonic the Hedgehog 1 & 2, Ecco the Dolphin and 35 more classic games

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All Things Geekery Podcast: S3E3 – All Things Anthem

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Welcome to Season 3 Episode 3 of the All Things Geekery Podcast – All About Anthem

In this episode,  We talk about the recent “DEMO” for Anthem, What problems we encountered, Our 1st Impressions, What we thought about the gameplay and we discuss what we think the future of the game will be.

Click To Listen – S3E3: All About Anthem

Show Notes

  • Our Snapshot Opinion of the Game
    • Anthem feels like Mass Effect made a child with Division and they were raised by Iron Man in the world of Monster Hunter
    • This game is not Destiny, it is not The Division, it is not Warframe.  The one thing we can comment on is the quality of the game.
  • Publisher Concerns
    • EA – Need we say more
    • VIP weekend DEMO didn’t have a good start
    • Will they learn, and correct the issues presented during the demos – It seems like they did with the Open DEMO as server problems were much less but we did experience issues the first day
    • There will be microtransaction but only for cosmetics and all cosmetics in the game can be bought with a certain in-game currency – 0 items in the market currently affect your gameplay
  • Technical Issues
    • Not a technical issue but the naming could have been changed from DEMO to BETA and a lot of the PR would have been addressed – Community would have been more forgiving
    • Server problems
    • Connection Issues – for the VIP demo only
    • Lag – Mostly in VIP demo
    • Audio problems
  • Overall Feel
    • Combat
      • Good mix of strategy and learning needed
      • Teamwork oriented
      • Solo queue play is very challenging as you really need to be able to communicate with your team
      • Some mid-level tier enemies were extremely tanky.  EA will need to look at balancing the enemies vs. player shield levels
    • Loot
      • One massive key to a shooter-looter is the LOOT and it’s got to be good
      • The loot in this game was exciting and fun to get your hands on
    • Weapons
      • Good mix of weapons to use
      • Depending on what types of weapons you prefer there could be a bit of learning curve with the weapons
      • Situational
      • Each class should have a special weapon they can use, which I think would give just a bit more edge and hone in each class for specific fighting styles.  Would allow players to have a bit more customization with how they choose weapons for each of the slots
      • A lot of the weapons had the same look, sound and feel which made it hard to figure out what to use
    • Skills
      • Learning curve
      • Some skills felt very underwhelming in specific fights
      • Situational
      • Skills are somewhat customizable
    • Movement
      • Really felt like a console game that was ported to PC with how the controls were laid out
      • Flight and Underwater Movement was a massive learning curve
      • Overall movement was top notch and felt very smooth for the most part
    • Environments
      • Beautifully made worlds
      • Challenging to navigate first time in as most new worlds are
      • Exploration and hidden items
  • Playing The Javelin
    • Each Javelin is unique – Each has a unique feel
    • Our Opinion of each Javelin
      • STORM
      • RANGER
      • COLOSSUS
      • INTERCEPTOR
  • The Future of Anthem
    • We now have a road map which shows a plan with new strongholds, loot, quality of life changes, & GUILDS!
    • The core Bioware team is making this game
    • The End game has Legendary missions which are enhanced versions of the missions you get from quest givers. The drops from these missions will also be of a higher tier to match difficulty.
    • For the ultimate test in skill and squad cohesion, you can increase the difficulty of the mission to Grandmaster and above.   
    • It looks like we will have Diablo style loot in that there are rolls which will sync better depending on the play styles you are going for.  FARMING NEEDED!

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All Things Geekery Podcast: S3E2 – Superhero Madness

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Welcome to Season 3 Episode 2 of the All Things Geekery Podcast – Superhero Madness

In this episode, the geeks are back to discuss all the upcoming superhero & villain films coming out this year and what our thoughts are on each.

Click To Listen – S3E2: Superhero Madness

Show Notes

  • Captain Marvel
    • Release Date: March 8, 2019
    • What We Know So Far
      • Marvel’s first female-led superhero film will revolve around the most powerful character in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe.  This iteration of Captain Marvel will focus on the character of Carol Danvers, whose adventures are earthbound but whose powers are based in the cosmic realm. Joss Whedon wanted to introduce the character at the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron, but Marvel didn’t want to bring Captain Marvel into the MCU fully formed without first telling her origin story.
      • This film will be a prequel to the MCU, taking place in the 90s and bringing back Clark Gregg as Agent Coulson for the first time since The Avengers. Moreover, the comics characters the Skrulls are the villains with a story revolving around the Skrull vs. Kree war, which explains why Lee Pace and Djimon Hounsou are reprising their roles from Guardians of the Galaxy as Kree. That could have major repercussions leading into Avengers 4, but Captain Marvel will also give us a two-eyed Nick Fury. Jude Law is set to co-star as the alien Mar-Vell.
  • Hellboy
    • Release Date: April 12, 2019
    • What We Know So Far:
      • Hellboy creator Mike Mignola came up with the story for this new reboot as opposed to moving forward with the third film in Guillermo del Toro‘s established franchise, and Stranger Things standout David Harbour fills the role of the titular character for director Neil Marshall, who helmed The Descent and a couple standout Game of Thrones episodes. The film has loosely based the Rise of the Blood Queen arc with Milla Jovovich filling that villainous role, while Ian McShane plays Trevor Bruttenholm and Daniel Dae Kim fills the part of Ben Daimio. Oh, and this is 100% Rated R.
  • Shazam
    • Release Date: April 5, 2019
    • What We Know So Far:
      • Making his superhero movie debut, Dwayne Johnson opted to take on the role of the villainous Black Adam in this DC comics adaptation, but Warner Bros. subsequently decided to hold Johnson for a separate Black Adam movie so Shazam will be all about that hero. Lights Out and Annabelle: Creation director David F. Sandberg is directing, and this served as Warner Bros.’ next DCEU film in production after Aquaman.
      • Zachary Levi is the title superhero character, with Asher Angel playing his boy counterpart Billy Batson. The story revolves around a young boy who can transform into a powerful superhero simply by uttering the word “Shazam!”. Mark Strong is playing the film’s villain, Dr. Thaddeus Sivana.
  • Avengers Endgame
    • Release Date: April 26, 2019
    • What We Know So Far:
      • The conclusion to the epic two-part Avengers storyline will close out Marvel’s ambitious MCU with a bang. The title, Avengers: Endgame, has finally been revealed, if not the story, confirmed cast, etc.
  • Dark Phoenix
    • Release Date: June 7, 2019
    • What We Know So Far:
      • The sequel to X-Men: Apocalypse has been firmed up as Dark Phoenix, which will tackle the beloved Jean Grey story arc from the comics that was first broached (and botched) in X-Men: The Last Stand. X-Men writer/producer Simon Kinberg has penned the script and is making his directorial debut on the project, which also stars Jessica Chastain as maybe the villain Lilandra and is bringing back pretty much the entire main X-Men cast. The movie won’t be skimping on the weirdness, as it’s been confirmed that the story will find the X-Men finally venturing to space. Hans Zimmer is coming out of superhero movie retirement to compose the score.
  • Spider-Man Far From Home
    • Release Date: July 5, 2019
    • What We Know So Far:
      • Not much. Bolstered by the positive response to Homecoming, director Jon Watts returned to direct, and screenwriters Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, who came on to rewrite Homecoming, wrote the script.
      • Jake Gyllenhaal plays comics villain Mysterio, although Mysterio is a good guy in this movie. Samuel L. Jackson and Cobie Smulders also co-star, adding a S.H.I.E.L.D. presence to the whole shebang.
  • The New Mutants
    • Release Date: August 2, 2019
    • What We Know So Far:
      • Writer/director Josh Boone (The Fault in Our Stars) has been attached to direct New Mutants for some time now, but 20th Century Fox finally moved this thing into production after the success of Deadpool and Logan. The film is both YA-esque and horror-tinged in tone, revolving around a group of much younger mutants in the X-Men universe than the adults from the proper X-Men movies. The story will also ditch traditional superhero costumes and supervillains in favor of telling a story about these young mutants locked up together in some facility, mirroring a horror haunted house vibe. James McAvoy has been rumored to be reprising his role as Professor X in the film.
      • However, just a few months before the film was set to hit theaters in April 2018, Fox pushed the movie back 10 months to 2019 to take over Gambit‘s previous spot. No official explanation was given, but rumors swirl that Fox tested the film and decided it “wasn’t scary enough,” so some additional photography may be in order.
  • Joker
    • Release Date: October 4, 2019
    • What We Know So Far:
      • This is a weird one. In the wake of Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad, and with Wonder Woman proving to be a massive success, Warner Bros. began changing up its plans for the DCEU. One idea is to kickstart a new arm at WB that will develop and produce one-off DC Comics adaptations not connected to the DC Extended Universe, meaning filmmakers can come in, try something really radical, and not have to worry about setting up a franchise or fitting into an established timeline. The first of these to hit the trades was a Joker origin movie directed by The Hangover and War Dogs filmmaker Todd Phillips, who is co-writing the script with The Fighter scribe Scott Silver. The idea is to craft something in the vein of Taxi Driver, a gritty, hard-boiled crime picture set in the early 1980s.
      • The lead actor would not be Jared Leto, but someone else entirely—WB reportedly wanted Leonardo DiCaprio, and when he passed they moved on to Joaquin Phoenix, who signed on after prolonged negotiations. The movie began filming in September 2018 and wrapped in December.
  • Birds Of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)
    • Release Date: February 7, 2020
    • What We Know So Far:
      • This project hit the fast track at Margot Robbie‘s urging, as the Harley Quinn actress lobbied Warner Bros. an DC to put together a female-centric DC movie based on the Birds of Prey comics. The studio not only put this together but has Cathy Yan in line to direct based on the strength of her indie feature Dead Pigs. The idea is to potentially introduce a few DC comics characters in this film, like Batgirl, which would then pave the way to their own solo films a la Black Panther and Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War.
      • This project is a priority for Warner Bros. and could begin filming at the end of 2018. Jurnee Smollett-Bell plays Black Canary, Mary Elizabeth Winstead is Huntress, and Rosie Perez is The Question, while Ewan McGregor plays villain Black Mask.
  • Gambit
    • Release Date: March 13, 2020
    • What We Know So Far:
      • Channing Tatum has been keen on playing the X-Men mutant for a while now, and 20th Century Fox finally pulled the trigger on a standalone movie for the fan-favorite Cajun. Production had initially been slated to begin Fall 2015, but when it was pushed back to early 2016, director Rupert Wyatt abruptly dropped out due to personal reasons. Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow) subsequently signed on to direct, and while producer Simon Kinberg told us the film will be a heist picture and a “sexy thriller”, the film was pulled from its October 2016 release date and sat in limbo for a bit.
      • Gambit was officially back on track with Pirates of the Caribbean and A Cure for Wellness director Gore Verbinski taking the helm and a Valentine’s Day 2019 release date, but Verbinski dropped out two months before filming was set to begin and Fox is once again on the hunt for a director. Joshua Zetumer (Patriot’s Day, RoboCop) penned the most recent draft of the script, but this entire film could be scrapped or reconceived once the Disney/Fox deal goes through.
  • Wonder Woman 1984
    • Release Date: June 5, 2020
    • What We Know So Far:
      • Very little, but Wonder Woman marked a major turning point for the DCEU with wildly positive reviews and massive box office, so anticipation is high. Patty Jenkins returns to direct a story that takes place in the year 1984 against the backdrop of the Cold War (timely!), with Kristen Wiig playing the villain Cheetah and Chris Pine somehow reprising his role as Steve Trevor. The film was originally scheduled for release in November 2019, but Warner Bros. opted to push it into the summer corridor of 2020.
  • Black Widow
    • Release Date: TBA
    • What We Know So Far:
      • A standalone Black Widow movie has long been requested by fans, and Marvel Studios is finally pulling the trigger—although all official details will be under wraps until Avengers 4 hits theaters so as not to spoil how that film wraps up. Scarlett Johansson handpicked indie filmmaker Cate Shortland to direct after an exhaustive search, and the most recent draft of the script was written by Jac Schaeffer. Early word is that this movie takes place before the events of The Avengers, but again all confirmed details are under lock and key at the moment.
  • Suicide Squad 2
    • Release Date: TBA
    • What We Know So Far:
      • David Ayer definitely isn’t coming back to direct this sequel, and Warner Bros. looked at some intriguing names for his replacement. Mel Gibson was approached towards the end of 2016, but Warner Bros. eventually moved on and offered the movie to Jaume Collet-Serra of The Shallows and Non-Stop fame to take the helm, only to see him pass. Gavin O’Connor (The Accountant) was subsequently set to direct, but when his take came out similar to the plot of the Birds of Prey movie—which is going into production first—he became frustrated and moved on.
      • Subsequently, Warner Bros. tapped former Guardians of the Galaxy 3 filmmaker James Gunn to write a script from scratch and potentially direct. The idea is for Gunn to craft whatever kind of story he wants, which means we could be in for a complete reboot of this franchise.
  • The Flash
    • Release Date: TBA
    • What We Know So Far:
      • Miller made his brief debut in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, but he’s a fully fledged star of the Justice League. After tasking Phil Lord and Chris Miller with penning a treatment only to see them head off to direct the Han Solo Star Wars film (and then leave that), the studio subsequently tapped Seth Grahame-Smith to make his directorial debut on the superhero picture. Alas, after the disappointing reception to Batman v Superman, Warner Bros. opted to change course and parted ways with Grahame-Smith, seeking to find a more established filmmaker in his stead. They settled on Dope filmmaker Rick Famuyiwa, working from Grahame-Smith’s script that was a buddy film of sorts between Flash and Cyborg. But after months of developing the project and with casting underway (Dopestandout Kiersey Clemons landed the role of Iris West), Famuyiwa exited the project in late October.
      • This put the March 2018 release date in doubt, as it was dependent upon production getting underway in early 2017. Miller was then due to start filming Fantastic Beasts 2 in mid-2017, which would push production of The Flash to late 2017 or early 2018, meaning the March 2018 date was impossible. The film does now have a pair of directors though. Names like Robert Zemeckis were bandied about early on, but WB settled on Vacation and Game Night helmers John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein to direct Flashpoint, who also co-wrote Spider-Man: Homecoming.
      • Warner Bros. announced at Comic-Con 2017 that this Flash movie will be an adaptation of the Flashpoint time travel comics storyline, which could give WB a way to reboot the DCEU somewhat. But it’s unclear if that’s still the plan.
      • The long road to getting The Flash movie off the ground hit yet another speed bump in October 2018, when it was revealed that production is being delayed from Spring 2019 to late 2019 due to the fact that the script wouldn’t be ready in time and Miller once again has to shoot Fantastic Beasts 3 starting in July 2019. As a result, The Flash movie isn’t expected to hit theaters anytime before 2021 now.

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All Things Geekery Podcast S2E13: The Blunder of Blizzcon

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Welcome to Season 2 Episode 13 of the All Things Geekery Podcast: The Blunder of Blizzcon

In this episode, the Geeks will be talking about this year’s Blizzcon – What’s become of it, What they are doing for the community, What new announcements Blizzard brought to the table, and we’ll be dropping our opinions and covering the controversy regarding Diablo!

Click The Link To Listen

Show Notes

  • We jump in and review the flow of the conference! You would think the types of conferences would have a good flow to them.  This year’s Blizzcon had some extremely awkward moments
  • eSports and how Blizzard has contributed to the success, and how they are helping propel the future
  • How does Blizzard continue to make good games, what are they doing right and how they are still drawing fans into the world of gaming
  • Blizzard did a thing and created a fund for the Mercy Breast Cancer research, which they were able to donate the single largest donation from a company
  • Starcraft 2 – We review what makes this game so strong in the competitive RTS realm and what might happen with the story
  • Heroes of the Storm – We take a look at the new direction Blizzard is going in hero creation and what it’s going to do for the future of the game
  • World of Warcraft – We review the state of the game and discuss how a lot of the fans are feeling towards this long-running series!
  • World of Warcraft Classic was announced at the conference – Can we say Nostalgia and what does this re-release bring to the community and will it be received well
  • Overwatch – Dominating the cinematography gaming world, and we review the newly announced hero Ashe
  • Warcraft 3 Reforged – Need we say more!
  • Hearthstone – We review the new expansion that was announced, our love for these types of card games and what new mechanics could be delivered
  • The controversy over Diablo Immortal – the Geeks jump into all of the craziness flying around on social media, and what the announcement of Diablo Immortal being a mobile-only could do to the company!
  • Last, of all, we give our conclusions on the overall conference, the future of Blizzard and how they might recover from the negativity surrounding Blizzcon, and the Diablo franchise!

Be sure to subscribe to the All Things Geekery Podcast with any of your favorite podcast apps. Stop by and drop us a review so we know how we’re doing.

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All Things Geekery Podcast S2E9: Our Top Upcoming Games

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Welcome to Season 2 Episode 9 of the All Things Geekery Podcast – Our Top Upcoming Games

In this episode, the Geeks are back with a fresh list of upcoming games hitting the market soon that we can’t wait to get our hands on!

Show Notes

  • Our Top Upcoming Games List
  • Kingdom Hearts 3
  • Spyro the Reignited Trilogy
  • Anthem
  • Super Smash Brothers – Ultimate
  • BioMutant

Click Below to Listen via our Youtube Channel

 

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Sword & Sorcery Series: Remembering Krull

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krullapOne of the greatest sword and sorcery fantasy movies of all time!  This is one of my top three films from this genre and it was very hard to remain objective about a film I enjoyed so much as a kid.  Krull pulled from some great influences and that is more apparent than ever in 2016 as I’ve just recently watched it again. It “borrows” freely from Tolkien, Greek and Arthurian mythology and Star Wars.  Even with all the borrowing of themes for this 80’s sci-fi / fantasy cult classic it was hard for me to not have some genuine affection towards this film. Seeing this film in the 80’s as a young boy just sparked that already intense drive I had for my wild imagination for the fantasy realm. Though this film is starting to show it’s age in places, Krull overall is a very well-made film, and far from one of those cheaply made knock-offs that showed up in the wake of the fantasy, sci-fi, and sword & sorcery era of film making.

What’s notable about Krull, is the genre mixing as it draws from the fantasy / sci-fi films mentioned before with all the swords, castles, epic battles, and beasts but it, for the time period had some great laser and lighting effects.  From start to finish this film brings us an epic adventure of good vs. evil and it was never a dull moment to watch.  Krull opens with what seems to be a gigantic ship travelling through the dark of space, but this ship is in fact, the Black Fortress.

krull-black-fortressThis ship is, in fact, the Black Fortress, a massive stronghold for the Beast and his army of Slayers.  This ship touches down on the planet Krull which opens our story for a great battle of good vs. evil like most of the great fantasy films.  We have a hero of the story, a prince named Colwyn who is about to wed a fellow kingdoms daughter, the princess Lyssa.  During the wedding the Beast sends his Slayers to attack the castle where the wedding ceremony was being held to take the princess and bring her back to the Beast in the Black Fortress.

Soon after the battle a very old wiseman named Ynry from the mountains traveled down to find prince Colwyn, and together they head off to rescue the princess from the clutches of the evil beast.  Sounds like an epic story of fantasy proportions right?  Along the way Colwyn and Ynry amass a band of allies to help with their quest.  This band of allies is a rag tag group made up of a wizard named Ergo the Magnificent who can’t get a spell right to save his life.  Then you have Bernard Bresslaw who played the melancholy Cyclops and then you have a band of outlaws in which we get to see a very young Liam Neeson make his third film appearance.

Krull is a film that shines and comes to life in individual scenes rather than as a whole, nevertheless this film is full of quite captivating designs and special effects. Colwyn’s Glaive weapon, which he retrieves from a pool of lava, is one of the most iconic sword and sorcery weapons of all time.

krull4The Slayers, are one of the best parts of the film, though they are silent other than a horrific scream they emit when killed they make a mark onscreen for a foe. Their laser spears and ominous silhouette of armour, and the worm-like creature that erupts from them when they’re defeated, make them far less derivative than they may otherwise have been.  In fact, one of my enduring memories of Krull from when I was a child was just how scary it could be. There’s a great, tense scene set inside the lair of a giant spider, and a creepy sequence in a swamp, where a the Seer is taken over by a shape-shifting clone with black eyes.

The Black Fortress was full of great set designs like moving floors, and that mainstay of action fantasy, walls that sprout spikes.  It’s in Krull’s concluding act, as Colwyn and his loyal band fight their way through the Fortress, that the film becomes most exciting.  With the 70’s and 80’s being the grand era of sci-fi and fantasy themes, Krull is no stranger to this theme as it had some fantastic photography, and set locations to bring all this fantasy to a very fond place in our hearts.

All Things Geekery Podcast Episode 4 – Stranger Things

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In this episode:

  • Iogro talks about some new changes that will be happening to the podcast over the next few months.
  • We talk Netflix and some of it’s original series
  • **Spoiler** about a new Destiny Lore series coming this year
  • We take an in depth look at Netflix’s original series Stranger Things

 

 

Be sure to subscribe to the All Things Geekery Podcast with any of your favorite podcast apps.  Stop by and drop us a review  so we know how we’re doing.  Thanks for listening, and we can’t wait to hear from you!

Subscribe

 

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Iogro Merrybelly / Victus Darkaero

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Music Credit Erik Skiff

The Wolf Among Us – Episode 2 Smoke and Mirrors Review

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ss_dedc5e68e74788af4d714392a231d090d2511af9.1920x1080.jpgThe second episode of Telltale’s The Wolf Among Us, titled Smoke and Mirrors, takes us to a whole new level of awesome! This masterpiece of a world that Telltale created is still bouncing with vibrant neon colors, but all the characters this go round are coming in shades of grey!

This episode dives much deeper into the character of Bigby, and no matter whether you play as the nice guy, or as a monster you get to see a personal side to who Bigby really is. You really get to see a lot of the dark, fantastical world of Fables which you find yourself really questioning some of the decisions you have to make, right or wrong.  The writers of this episode did an amazing job of keeping the suspense up, but thrilling you with moments of ease and lush adventure.

Starting this episode you will pick up right where you left off with the shocking events at the end of Faith.  A lot of the drama and suspense in this episode revolves around how Bigby and the other Fables deal with the fallout, and thankfully, a lot of that is fully up to you and the decisions you make. The voice acting in this episode and overall game is top notch and probably some of the best Telltale has put out, which is saying a lot with the games they’ve done.

1392053246Want some villians?  Well, this episode has got plenty of them as they set the foundation for some really nasty ones who you will quickly love and hate all at the same time. SPOILER ALERT – One of the nasties in this game is named Georgie, a strip club owner and pimp with an absolute numbness to human dignity and need.  No matter how you handle Bigby’s interaction with him, through understandable violence or forced restraint, the scene plays out great both ways. A few of the major decisions from Episode 1 also have some nice moments of payoff in Smoke and Mirrors. Particularly how you handled Belle lying to Beast and who you chose to chase out of the bar result in very different scenes that shape both the story and Bigby as a character.

As great as this episode is/was with all the character developments, the one downfall is the overall story didn’t move a long quite as I hoped.  This episode leaves a lot of loose ends still unanswered from episode 1 which I was hoping to tie up, but instead they add more to the mix and leave you with even more questions.  There aren’t any big action sequences that would meet the expectation that episode 1 left after encountering the Woodsman which was a bit disappointing.

wa5Overall The Wolf Among us series continues to bring moments of joy while playing, but at the same time tears away at the multitude of emotions while dealing with people. Sadness is something you see quite often in Bigby’s life as he is alone in this journey, or so he feels. You quickly learn that he has more allies then he realizes after meeting some of the other characters in this game. Telltale makes it more than worthwhile to go back and replay the episode as a complete maniac or a restrained reasonable person.  This is really something I never wanted to do with any of the other adventure games Telltale has made, so good job for sucking me in even further Telltale.

Smoke and Mirrors is a fantastic second step in this already great story. You are going to get 90 whole minutes of memorable characters, scenes and some of the best but agonizing decision moments Telltale has ever made you think about before.  Even with the slight disappointment with the overall story not progressing like I hoped it would….I’m completely sold on this story and can’t wait to finish the rest of the game.

Stranger Things: Season 1 Review

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Did you grow up in the 80’s, or a fan of the 80’s films?  I sure am and if you haven’t seen Netflix’s new series Stranger Things then you are just flat missing out.  This show was so satisfying to watch, I honestly could watch it over and over again.

Stranger Things Season One Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWxyRG_tckY

Set in the early 80s, the show is an 80’s influence and nostalgic throwback of the good old days when I grew up.  The series centers around a mysterious disappearance of a young boy, Will (Noah Schnapp), and the finding of a young girl known as Eleven (Millie Brown). Will is one of a group of four friends who make up a very tight knit and adventurous bunch.  When Will’s friends Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) find out he’s missing they go on a desperate quest to find him.  They are also the ones who discover the young mysterious girl only known as Eleven and quickly find out she’s not a normal girl.

Will’s friends aren’t the only one’s looking for him as his mother, Joyce (Winona Ryder), and older brother, Jonathan (Charlie Heaton), are also trying to find him.  Along the way both Will’s friends and his family discover some very dangerous and disturbing moments that this small Illinois town has potentially been hiding.

As soon as Stranger Things begins it sucks you right into the story line, nostalgia of the 80’s and drops you right into a very familiar place with the 80’s films we once enjoyed. The creators of the show Matt and Ross Duffer bring the 80’s influence to this show brilliantly and bring us something new we haven’t seen in a long time…originality!  The depiction of these young kids and the way they speak, interact and, yep, ride bikes together when it’s dark outside, feels just like an old Spielberg movie!  As soon as I saw the kids on their bikes after dark it sparked the childhood memories of E.T. and the adventure scenes of one of my favorite films to date The Goonies, which was also produced by Spielberg.

Stranger Things doesn’t just bring an influence of the 80’s like Spielberg moments, but a much larger cast of our favorite childhood influences!  My favorite thing about the show is the overall feel they gave it with the opening credits, music, and vibes!  You get to see a John Carpenter mash-up of intense suspenseful music and opening scenes which brings a scariness to the show.  This show brings the horror fans of us out as we do get to see some gore and very intense scary moments for one unfortunate soul in the opening.  The Duffer Brothers have even said that Stephen King, Carpenter and Spielberg were very much a primary influences on them and it sure shows in all it’s magical Stranger Things glory!

What I like the best about the show is that it’s not just a copy cat of famous 80’s script writers and directors as the show creates a very intriguing and eye catching world of it’s own.  Well written and thought out, the show is centered around a great group of likable characters which is in part to how well the kids themselves interact and work as a group. The Duffer brothers did a fantastic job of finding a cast who wasn’t a polished set of actors, but brought a realness to the show which helps draw the audience even closer.

So this is showcasing the great 80’s right, well you can’t do that without having some teen drama in the show.  Nancy (Natalia Dyer) is the older sister of Mike who is one of Will’s friends and she also brings a very real feeling to the screen.  The one person who I felt stand out in performance was (Wynona Ryder) as Joynce, which plays the single mother who through the eight episode season grows worrisome, estranged at times, and very volatile with her emotions, understandably of course.  One of my favorite roles in the show is (David Harbour) which plays the local arrogant tough guy police chief.  He’s a very complex character once you get to see his part unfold in the story.

If the show had one area it’s lacking, I would say tying things up from a story standpoint was the only minus I’d give the show.  The show had so many mysteries that unfolded in this season it kept you on edge most of the show, but I just wish it felt more fully formed! But I’m not a director and this may have been done on purpose so they could pull that story line into season 2 if Netflix decides to pick them up for season 2 that is.  This show had so much going on, and they came from all sorts of angles it always kept you guessing as to what was coming next, just like a good horror / suspense film would have.  Some of those things included government and scientific conspiracies, to the growth of relationships the boys had to go through while looking for their friend. All in all at the end of the show I felt we were left with an unsatisfied question of what just happened, but at the same time enjoyment and awe of what comes next.

Overall this series get’s an A+ in my book as the love for the works of all the great 80’s directors that brought us so much joy and excitement in the horror, science fiction realms. The Duffer Brothers have done an amazing job combining all of these different tones and genres together to make us feel right at home.  The show goes from moments of questionable actions to moments of absolute terror all set among a very curious bunch of of kids and does it without making you feel like it’s a knockoff 80’s horror film!

Go check it out and let me know what you thought of the show in the comments.  Would love to hear your feedback on the show, and what you did or didn’t like about it.

Until next time!

Battling in Battleborn – A Review

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Battleborn_Incursion_Sentry_Combat_02Battleborn is one of the most chaotic shooters I’ve played, which also managed to frustrate and amaze me at the same time. The single-player and co-op campaign was thin and hit and miss at best, plagued with bad jokes from NPC’s and really uninviting once you get into the game a bit. The multiplayer action tries to mix genres like the mechanics from popular MOBA’s but overall was a huge miss, as they tried to do to much.

Battleborn isn’t lacking diversity in characters as you have two dozen of them to pick from, and each has a fun creative look that makes for an enticing push to try each and everyone of them.  Each of the characters has a huge bag of abilities to pull from as well so that is another good selling point.  What gives each of the toons ability sets diversity is that you begin every new excursion at level one and progress through 10 upgrade choices in the course of a single session, with the twist that you have to choose the upgrades on the fly, like in a MOBA.  This was a challenging feature, but a fun feature to integrate into a game like this.

Battleborn_Incursion_FP_Deande_01.jpgBattleborn has a seven-hour campaign which are mostly repetitive with the exception of only a handful of good story moments. Each mission is made up of continuous waves of almost the same enemy with different boss battles or base defense settings. Using currency (called shards) you collect on each map, you also have to purchase turrets and bots to aid in your attack against giant mechs or base defense, which adds an interesting layer of resource management.  With all that you have to manage during the battling, sadly the story the game tries to tell becomes white-noise and easily forgettable. This is a Gearbox game, so the makers of Borderlands had to add loot but this game gives you new gear in between battles. While Battleborn’s loot carries over from match to match, the bonuses you get out of it aren’t as good the in-match leveling system. Overall I think they did a good job with loot and adding a challenge to the levels of combat.

enuwzwuY2cFfwDSoSzZUPP-650-80While the campaign feels empty and pointless to me, the PvP modes you get are a completely different story.  You get three different modes to choose from each with their own unique challenges.  Capture is a domination-style mode good for fast action and lots of frustration at times. Incursion is a condensed version of the campaign that avoids the insanely long battles, but you do get to take down some enemy mechs with some cool toys if you’ve purchased any.  Lastly you have, Meltdown, which is a mix of MOBA and arena style FPS.  Ultimately this could have been a great idea, but the first person perspective brings the action way too close and the map overlay is way too small to keep track of anyone.  It would have been nice to have a free-for-all, or a team death-match but you won’t find it in this game.

One plus is that all the multiplayer maps are instantly available – unlike the hero roster, which you have to unlock as you go. The heroes you do get to choose from at start a bit lacking.  You can though unlock four new characters by completing the seven hour campaign, and you can unlock more during the multiplayer modes by leveling up your profile. With a few dozen hours into Battleborn I’ve only just touched on the surface of earning access to the cast of toons you get.  It’s a big grind and it doesn’t feel very rewarding for the toons you do get with all the time you have to put in to get them.

Overall this is one hybrid MOBA / FPS that doesn’t excite my gaming fancy and one I won’t return to very often.  With no interesting story to take part in, or the lack of interesting stages it’s a bust on this game for me but I might return one day to see if anything has changed.

Until next time gamers!

Sincerely,

Iogro Merrybelly