Well, that’s another childhood video game of mine beaten. The climax, at least the story revelation anyway, was a bit anticlimactic and underwhelming. Spoilers btw, but they didn’t explain much about Selena’s character. I think they established she’s a witch, but they didn’t go into detail about her backstory and her relation to the Tome of Doom book, not to mention the Tome of Doom itself! They didn’t establish if she’s a modern witch and the book is her family heirloom, or if she’s an immortal witch or something along those lines. Even for a Scooby-Doo game, I’d expect the story to be at least good, on par with the animated movies like Zombie Island and the Witch’s Ghost. It’s like by the last two levels, the supernatural part just sorta takes a backseat to this megacorp conspiracy thing, which I didn’t mind, but they didn’t tie it well with the supernatural portion, especially with Selena and the Tome of Dome, near the end of the game. It’s still a decent game, and I partially recommend it, but the climax, especially some infuriating parts of the level like the mine cart section, the “stealth” at the end of level 5, and the swimming sections in level 4, could be a lot better.

J.M. Barrie’s classic novel, Peter Pan (or Peter and Wendy as it was first published in 1911) is a beloved tale of childhood innocence, filled with light and dark humor, fun and thrilling adventures, and tragedy. Eventually, everyone grows up, but that doesn’t mean we must forget what it was like to be kids, when we once had vivid imaginations, filled with light and or darkness, playing Cowboys and Indians, or pirates vs honest, courageous sailors of the sea; when we were playful, cheerful, mean-spirited and carefree; when we didn’t have a clue about what the woes and sorrows of the world, and wanted nothing to do with schoolwork or chores.

J.M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan, the novel and the play, successfully wrote this engaging story about childhood innocence with all its pros and cons, mixing reality with elements of fairy tales, both good and bad, sad and happy, good and evil.

The titular character, Peter Pan, similar to the Greek faun-deity Pan and the Norse god Loki to an extent, is a mischievous immortal and rebellious delinquent, luring children like Wendy and her brothers Michael and John to Neverland where they would never grow up and always play games with him and the Lost Boys. He is the embodiment of joy and youth as he said so in the book to his archenemy, the villainous pirate Captain James Hook in their final battle.

J.M. Barrie is also a character in this story, serving as both narrator, telling the story of Peter Pan and his adventures with Wendy, and commentator, letting in on his personal thoughts about the whole matter, about each of the characters’ motivations, how easily forgetful Peter can be (much like we were, and still may be now as grown-ups), how Hook still sees himself as a virtuous gentlemen despite his criminal occupation as a roguish pirate, about the world of Neverland without lingering so much on the details, explaining the fairy tale elements within the real world, and so on. His writing is both personal and entertaining, intriguing and engaging readers to the story of Peter Pan with well-written, relatable characters, wonderful prose, and blending reality with fantasy.

I have fond memories of first playing the demo for this game when I came across it in the Xbox 360 Marketplace online store back when I was a teenager. It was the only game I knew of at the time that explored the Italian Campaign/Front of WWII (besides Call of Duty 2: Big Red One, which also featured a mission based on Operation Husky), although in the full game only two missions took place in Italy (the 1st [based on Operation Husky] featured the Italian Blackshirts in the first half of the mission and the 2nd mission [based on Operation Avalanche] only features Nazi German troops), while the rest of the game you’re fighting the Nazis like most other WWII single player campaign games. It was disappointing when I finally bought a physical copy of MOH: Airborne, but it’s still nice to see a game that showcased the Allied Invasion of Italy, even if it was only two missions because it nearly doesn’t get as much attention as the Western Front, even the Pacific War.

Anyways, I recently finished Airborne and it was pretty good despite the campaign being on the short side and the difficulty spike in the last two levels that almost made me tear my hair out.

The gameplay was really fun, and I dug into the leaning system which made the shooting not only tactical but also immersive when ducking and dodging enemy fire and emerging from cover to shoot at enemies. Besides the protagonist you play as (another mute video game character), the other characters, particularly the US soldiers, were not much memorable, although I think the intention for the developers was not to build character development as they were only trying to capture the intense moments within the real-life WWII operations (with the exception of the last mission which is a shoe-horned in fictional mission). I also wasn’t a fan of the Nazi Elite troops enemy type which were almost out of place (not to mention annoying as hell in the last two missions of the game), which I get it, the earlier MOH had these type of plot points where they featured these Nazi top secret weapons and super enemies straight out of pulp fiction stories (something you’d also see in the early Wolfenstein titles which included Mecha Hitler) and the developers were obviously trying to replicate the early MOH titles with the Nazis creating a “ultimate weapon” to turn the tide of the war in their favor, so it doesn’t really bother me as much as anyone who think the Nazi Elite troopers to be out of place and historically inaccurate which I also understand and agree to an extent.

The weapon upgrades system was also pretty fun and encourages replayability to unlock the rest of the weapons’ upgrades, although I do not like that with two of the rifles’ third and final upgrade they turned into grenade launchers and there’s no way to switch back to rifle bullet fire or whatever you call it.

Overall, it’s a pretty fun game, although I wouldn’t say for sure if it’s as good as the earlier MOH titles, but it’s well-worth the purchase and I highly recommend it.

This is one of those rare titles I played where I really enjoyed my time playing this game but also really loathed it (especially after playing the last four or five levels that made me tore my hair out, and not in a good way).

Ghost Recon: Future Solider’s gameplay is a game I consider a mix between being a classic strategic shooter (somewhat like the early Ghost Recon titles like the first Ghost Recon) and a “zoomer shooter” (somewhere in the likes of Call of Duty or Gears of War); enjoyable, but suffers from a few game-tropes that you’d also see in a COD title or modern third person shooter and haven’t aged very well. Those tropes are some slo-mo scenes (when breaking and entering a room), railgun shooting segments (although you’d also see this in classic titles like Medal of Honor Underground, but I think like Underground, Future Soldier has only one or two railgun segments from what I remember), and forced shooty-shooty segments (meaning the game devs made it almost impossible to ghost stealth through a couple of enemies who you’ll immediately engage with, either because there’s too many to take out or they’re placed in spots to where they’ll immediately spot their dead comrade and go into panic mode).

I really wanted to like this game, and I do for the most part, from the excellent and smooth gameplay and team mechanics, optional stealth (for the most part), and somewhat entertaining story. The weapon customization was neat, and there’s some new weapons and gadgets you unlock as you play through the campaign or complete some challenges, but some of the challenges aren’t worth it to me in order to unlock some weapons that may or may not be good or worth losing my sanity and braincells over. Some of these challenges (especially in the later levels like Valiant Hammer) are just plain sadistic to partake in and hard to pull off, and some of them are just busy-work that I don’t wanna bother with. It’s almost like the devs didn’t playtest them and made sure they were fun and hard instead of infuriating and nonsensically bullshit.

Overall, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is a decent game, but it’s one title I won’t be going back soon, especially since it doesn’t have local co-op mode like previous titles. If you wanna try it out, it wouldn’t hurt to own a copy. It’s extremely cheap to buy and it’s worth your time playing, despite the levels being linear compared to the previous early Ghost Recon titles. Otherwise, you’d be better off playing something else like Spec Ops: The Line (or the early Ghost Recon titles).

I enjoyed Kathy Rain despite some cringey moments/ lines here and there at the beginning, but nothing too bad to take me out of the experience playing this game (Believe me, I've played games with worse story and dialogue. Not to say this game is bad or anything.). The characters are well-written and likable, even Kathy. Although Kathy was pretty annoying at the beginning, she wasn't terribly written, and despite her daddy issues, it didn't really affect the character all that much, and she became much sympathetic and likable as the story goes on. The mystery definitely got me glued in from beginning to end. The creator of this game cited Twin Peaks as Kathy Rain's inspiration, and I can definitely see that in the some of the dialogue, writing, and horror-fantasy elements (besides a few obvious references to that show). The puzzles were not too hard to figure out (for the most part), but definitely left me stumped a few times (although that's just me and not to criticize the game for how hard the puzzles are, but a few could be explained a little better.). Overall, it's a fun point and click adventure game, pretty old school, and I highly recommend it.

My first time reading a Sherlock Holmes story by A.C. Doyle, starting with “The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb”. Definitely a freelance contractor’s worst nightmare (next to being a contractor for Baby-Face Bambino), and what a page-turner! Very spooky and haunting story, almost appropriate to be read around Halloween! Looking forward to reading the rest of the Sherlock Holmes stories!

Man, what a ride! Really enjoyed playing this game a lot, especially with playing around with the psychic powers. The story was what made me want to keep playing this game because it’s very intriguing and has a lot of mystery to it and unravels the more you progress in the game. There was also a twist reveal later in the story that caught me off guard and actually surprised when I thought I already figured out before then. Besides the psychic powers and puzzle-solving, the shooting gameplay was also fun. The gameplay was smooth and the controls were surprisingly smooth and easy to handle, especially with a Gamcube controller, with only a few minor design flaws that could use more fine-tuning. I’m glad I bought this game thanks to the story that got me invested the whole way through.

I’ve been dying to buy a DVD copy of this movie and watch it since I first came across the trailer on YouTube, and boy, they do not make films like this anymore. I am putting it down on paper, er, in text, that this is a masterpiece of filmmaking. It has it all: drama, action, tragedy, mobsters shot to shit or blown away, and CHUCK NORRIS. Need I say more?

Directed by Chuck’s brother, Aaron Norris, who’s also known for directing and producing episodes of the TV series Walker: Texas Ranger (starring Chuck Norris, of course, and Clarence Giyard Jr., who has unfortunately passed away recently), and written by Don Carmody, along with two other writers, this is one of many awesome films distributed by none other than Canon Films. It stars Chuck Norris as Seattle cop Cliff Garret, who was betrayed and shot by his former partner (played by Michael Parks) and has been doing undercover work years later as a hitman for the Italian mob (in Seattle of all places) under the alias Dan Grogan. I also have to mention that the composer has done a great job with the film’s soundtrack because it is is bitchin’.

Some crazy shit goes down hard in this movie. Italian mobsters getting shot to hell, Chuck punches a racist in the face, Arab criminals getting killed by Chuck’s sawed-off shotgun, it’s amazing. It’s one of those movies where you have to watch it yourself to believe the awesomeness and hype that this film brings.

Anyway, this film is pure awesomeness, and I highly recommend it, even to fans of Chuck Norris films. I will say it again that they don’t make movies like this anymore, because, well, besides being too concerned about their movies being “politically correct” for “modern audiences”, middle-market films like these, with not as high a budget as say John Wick or any of the usual recent action shlock, and a simple story that flows really well and not as long as it takes for Christopher Nolan’s films to end three hours later, are truly what made them so special and classic.

”

My only complaint, which is not so much a big deal for me, is the dialogue. I think it could use a little bit of rewriting in my opinion. I feel like some of the dialogue could use a little bit more flavor to it because they’re a little too informal, or sounding like people back in the day who learned to speak from novels or something like that. With that being said, it didn’t take me out of the story because the characters were still intriguing and the dialogue and story were memorable and fun.

The art is also fantastic, so nothing much for me to say anything else about it. Certainly WAY times better than the art in most mainstream comics nowadays.

I highly recommend picking up this issue! I can see that Rippaverse is going for a different type of comic issue sales strategy where the issues are about the same length as pulp magazines or other graphic novel works like the Dark Knight Returns, so I look forward to reading more issues from Rippaverse’s Isom series. I also look forward to their other Rippaverse projects such as Norfrica and Yaira. You can still get a copy of Isom issue 1 at their Rppiaverse website! Again, I highly recommend it

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Although this recent Halo title's multiplayer goes back to its old roots of classic fps of its predecessors and proves the formula to still be fun, there are some flaws that hold it back from being an overall enjoyable experience.

The first problem I'll mention, that many other players who played multiplayer criticized, is the progression system. While you don't level up or gain XP based on your gameplay achievements and skills for each match, you do level up based on the challenges you complete. These challenges, whether they're daily or check-list challenges, tasked the player to perform in order to level up, unfortunately. This does break the flow of progression, and it leads the progression system to not be as enjoyable as the Halo titles of the past's multiplayers such as Halo 3, ODST, and Reach (even Halo 4 and 5) for better or worse. However, this is not a problem for players who don't care for level progression, even some or most of the pointless cosmetics, and can still find the multiplayer enjoyable without the need to unlock (or even purchase) anything. Still, this XP progression level system leaves a lot to be fixed and is not as well programmed or thought out as the previous titles' mutliplayer progression system (with the exception of Halo 1 and 2 which didn't need any).

While the gameplay of the multiplayer is fun and can give many players a good time, there are many flaws to not only some of the equipment used, but also some of the weapons as well. I found some of the weapons to be less effective in terms of damage, such as the disruptor, ravager, and heatwave, and rather pointless to use. This includes one of the equipments you use like the threat radar that is pretty pointless to use.

I'm also disappointed that this multiplayer lacked tje option to choose singular multiplayer types for players to join like its previous titles, such as slayer or capture the flag, but instead only had them mashed into these game type playlists, where players are subjected to play multiple game types that they aren't a fan of such as Oddball.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend playing the multiplayer. It can be fun for a while, but there's other multiplayer games that can be a lot more engaging and fun than this one (Verdun, for example). Not only is the progression system not worth the time, even the money, to suffer through, but also the gameplay, despite the "new" weapons and equipment added, including the grappling hook, can get stale after playing for a while. However, if you don't care for the progression system, I would recommend the multiplayer despite its flaws.

I rewatched “Live and Let Die” last night. The first time I watched it, I hated it. I wasn’t a fan of the writing compared to the earlier films with Sean Connery. Then I thought about it over and wanted to watch it again to give it a second chance, feeling like I was being unfair to the movie for some of its campy moments. I can see why this is one of Razorfist’s favorite James Bond movies. It’s a great film, although I wouldn’t consider it one of the best of the Bond movies, especially with some of its cheesy parts (and no, it doesn’t always have to take itself seriously and all that. Hell, the Sean Connery Bond movies have some funny moments too, especially with character names like Pussy Galore). However, that boat chase sequence with most of it focused on the redneck cop was still pretty terrible and unnecessary. It’s not the worst thing, but it feels out of place to me. I mean, come on, it’s 007, not Dukes of Hazzard. There were also moments in the movie where it kind of reminds me of Dr. No a little bit, although those two movies are far from being similar to each other. Anyway, really glad I came around on this movie, and I definitely recommend it.

The Metal Gear games are the worst stealth games ever made.
Terrible writing and storytelling from overrated hack Hideo Kojima aside, the stealth in these games, with slight exceptions to Metal Gear 1, 2, and MGS 5, are not the best compared to what other stealth games have excelled at.
I don’t think I consider these Metal Gear games as stealth games at all due to how primitive and clunky the controls and stealth mechanics are. It’s almost like these programmers didn’t know how to program a stealth game, developing the stealth mechanics and gameplay inadequately without checking out other stealth titles, including ones that came out the same year as MGS1.
Even after MGS1’s release, they still used primitive and wonky controls, thinking it qualifies as “good and immersive stealth,” taking style over substance with amazing graphics, but keep ignoring to improve the gameplay and stealth mechanics.
I can’t believe how many shilled, misinformed people, especially journalists from gaming websites and magazines, call MGS1 the “best” and “defining” stealth game ever made when there’s games that came out the same year as MGS1 like “Thief: The Dark Project” and “Tenchu: Stealth Assassins” that knocked it WAY out of the park and were way more immersive in terms of actual stealth.
Every stealth game has recognizable mechanics or tropes that define the stealth genre. Thief and Splinter Cell have light, shadow, and sound. Tenchu has feudal Japan style ninja skills and equipment, as well as timed executions on enemies. Assassin’s Creed 1 used discretion and direct approaches to assassination. The Hitman games have disguises, as well as multiple choices to how to kill your targets, direct or indirect. The Metal Gear games, however, have nothing to offer compared to what other stealth games have already done after MGS1 besides weak gameplay, weak stealth mechanics and gadgets for “espionage” that Splinter Cell did way better, and none of the immersion that makes stealth games engaging to play through.
At least they learned their lesson when they made MGS5, but it was already many years too late, even after the stealth genre faded from mainstream attention.

  

The Assassin’s Creed franchise sucks balls. This series as a whole shouldn’t have been a franchise in the first place.
The only Assassin’s Creed game that exists in my eyes is the first game. Just take out the crappy future story with Desmond and the rest of the snarky forgettable cast, maybe make the Apple of Eden something that isn’t about aliens, and Ubisoft would have a great one-hit wonder game in their catalog of games.
AC2 and Brotherhood should be their own games, like a mafia GTA-style game with the same parkour gameplay minus tailing missions and collectibles are complete cancer and terrible game design, and it’s about Ezio, with help from the Medici family and Machiavelli, seeking revenge against the Borgia family for the deaths of his father and two brothers.
As much as I like 2 and Brotherhood, growing up and playing these two games a lot, they shouldn’t be Assassin’s Creed games. The same goes for AC Black Flag, especially since the stealth in that game is god awful or just implemented in there for interior decoration, which the same can be said about most AAA games with stealth mechanics shoehorned in and written off as “new” or “innovative”.
As for the rest of the games in the series, forget about them. They are the definition of games that everybody buys but is left on the shelf to collect dust for years and years after wasting God knows how much of your time and life to play something that’s a bore and makes you feel like you’re doing chores instead of playing a real video game. AC Unity is the slight exemption to this, which I think is decent despite its poor launch and overload of samey collectibles and missions, although it shouldn’t be an AC game either.
The big lesson that game companies, especially the big corporate ones, need to take away from series like AC is to not make annual franchises out of them (like Call of Duty and other garbage franchises for example). One-hit wonders, especially a two or three game series, whether it be the Sly Cooper series or the Legacy of Kain games, give a lasting impact and high replay value. Each game should bring something unique to the table, gameplay and mechanics that make the game fun. Just look at the Nintendo games like Mario or Metroid.
Also, they should’ve let Patrice Désilets make 1666: Amsterdam like he wanted to all those years ago when he worked on this project under Ubisoft. That would’ve been an awesome game, especially the idea of roaming around 17th century Netherlands while doing all these necromancy spells and killing crooks.
You screwed up big time, Ubisoft.

I played this game recently and beat it in one sitting (of course I used a guide on some parts when I was stumped) and I can see why this is the best point-and-click games ever made. I was really hooked to the story which I thought was really intriguing, from the phenomenal writing (something that’s rare nowadays, especially in the modern video game industry) to the characters like Gabriel Knight, Grace, and Detective Mosely, especially in regards to the chemistry between these characters. You also can’t go wrong with the gameplay since it’s straightforward and simple. I admit that there were times where I was completely stumped on some of the puzzles and had to resort to looking at a guide, but most of them were straightforward with a bit of challenge and deduction skills to figure out, while there were one or two that were kind of weird and pretty typical of Sierra games and other point-and-click adventures. Great soundtrack and voice work by Tim Curry, who voiced Gabriel Knight, and Mark Hamill as Detective Mosely, amongst other great voice work from the actors. I’m glad to have gotten around to playing it, and had a great time. I definitely look forward to trying out the rest of the Gabriel Knight games! I highly recommend it, especially if you like point-and-click games.

Myst (Masterpiece Edition) review: The first time I came across this game was on GOG when they were having a sale on some of the old games, including the Myst series. I was curious about what it was about but never gotten interested in the series until I watch a video from Adumplaze and wanted to play it myself. This is a game that requires a LOT of patience. The puzzles are certainly not easy to figure out, but once you’re able to solve it and get the hang of it, it is extremely rewarding. There were a few times where I got stuck in two of the worlds (or Ages as they’re called) and had to resort to looking up what to do from a walkthrough. There’s no doubt that a lot of passion when into not only the environments for Age and each puzzle, but also the world of Myst and its characters. I would recommend playing this game as your first entry to the series, although I think any of the later tiles in the series, like Riven or Myst 3, would be a better starting point than the first game since they improve on a lot of things over Myst 1. Also, if you were to play Myst 1, I would probably recommend the realMyst version over the original Myst, although I haven’t played that version yet to compare the two versions of Myst 1. Anyway, realMyst replaces the slideshow screenshots from the original version with a 3D world to explore, and might be a better experience for you despite the recent Masterpiece edition of realMyst that changed the original graphics with more “modern” and “realistic” graphics for the 3D world. I haven’t played the sequels yet, but I definitely look forward to trying them out when I get the chance.

Another great story, especially one that has been passed down from the Middle Ages (with some alternative versions, of course), that remains relevant, especially in today's social and political climate. First, there's the cunning and conniving fox, named Reynard, who lies, deceives and murders his way to ensure his survival, as well as his family's; a greedy, arrogantly-blind, and controlling king who tries to ensure that peace and prosperity spreads throughout the kingdom despite his constant short-comings and failures in preventing crime, especially those committed by Reynard the fox; last but not least, the people of the king's land who blame the fox, even using him as a scapegoat, for their misfortune and woes, while at the same time depending on the king to solve the problems that can't always be fixed by authoritarians, even authority-figures and governments in general, especially those started by said authoritarians who try to fix the problems they started and only serve to bite them in the ass and cost them their influence to the people in the end. Underneath the story's edgy humor and cartoon slapstick is a political commentary on authoritarian figures such as the monarchy and the church, even a critique on the noble class and the justice system, including many other problems that embroiled the social and political climate of Medieval society. Anyway, what makes this film great is not just that it took 10 years to make or that this film was co-directed by Ladislas Starevich and his daughter Irene, but that the animation is phenomenal. I highly recommend this film, especially if you like stop-motion animation, and a hilarious but very important and relevant story with characters who are anything but noble.

Not as great or funny as "Clerks", but it's still a hilarious film that I don't think deserved the hate that it got when it first came out. I mean, what the hell do you expect from a guy like Kevin Smith (back when he wrote good stories and wasn't a conformist-fanboy and a shill) with a big-budget Hollywood money funded by Universal Studios? Of course Kevin Smith is gonna use a lot of the budget to do some crazy and wacky shit (besides hiring big name actors who did a pretty good job in this movie) that makes "Clerks" look tamed. A simple, engaging story with likable characters and non-PC sense of humor that has since become outlawed by the comedy-police (AKA dumbasses, conformists, and limousine liberals). Jason Lee is also no exception to this; being a great actor who steals the show and has some great and memorable scenes and lines that make you wish you had a friend like him (almost). I highly recommend "Mallrats" if you're looking for a funny film to watch, and it's something that fans of "Clerks", even Kevin Smith's work in general, can enjoy. I'm glad it's gotten a whole-new recognition as a great film recently, and I'm happy to have known about and watched it.

Giving this film a half-star rating is way too generous than it ought of be. It has your usual Nolan-esk, try-hard, intellectual-snobbery film-making sins that a LOT of mainstream films of the 2010s (including the 2000s to an extent) and beyond suffer from. It has uninspired cinematography, bland characters, including Ryan Gosling's wooden-acting charm, boring story that doesn't add anything interesting or worth to the world of Blade Runner, let alone Philip K. Dick's work that Ridley Scott adapted from, and dialogue and scenes so unmemorable, the only thing I remember is the ending to this film, mainly because they used a shitty cover of Vangelis' "Tears in Rain" that Hans Zimmer shoe-horned in (wouldn't be his first and last time he shoe-horned in music, especially since his composing skills is down in the toilet), and that's not saying much. I also hate movies like these where the color-grading is drained or depressing, but with no point or sensible directional to it, other then to make it "dark" or "gritty". It only makes it dull, predictable, and not at all mesmerizing or pleasing to the eye and the mind. Even the most dark and depressing films like Tim Burton's Batman has some life and energy to it compared to this horseshit. At the end of the day, was there any point in making a sequel to Blade Runner? No. Like many other franchises, including Highlander (if anyone remembers that), sometimes backed by corporate-cronies or "artiste" filmmakers who like to smell their own farts, this film is nothing more than a desperate cash-grab and should be forgotten and left under a pile of garbage in a graveyard filled with trash like every other overrated film ever made, especially the Dark Knight and the rest of Christopher Nolan's films. Someone should also take the bottle away from Hans Zimmer before he dies of alcohol-poisoning.

There's very few movies that inspired me, and this film was no exception. This was the movie that inspired and encouraged me to become a fiction writer. I don't remember exactly when or how I came across this movie, but I think I randomly came across a copy of the dvd at a 2nd & Charles store and looked up about this film and read into Harvey Pekar's work, mainly his American Splendor comic series. I've watched the movie before I read Pekar's comic series. Needless to say, I'm a fan of Harvey Pekar's work and thankfully, I own the volume collection which contains all of his American Splendor comic issues (with the exceptions of the recent ones published by Dark Horse and Vertigo). Anyway, this movie is great, from its writing and story to its performance and cinematography. Paul Giamatti did a great job portraying Harvey Pekar in this film, as well as the filmmakers who made this movie about his life and his work in the comic medium. Highly recommend it.