Month: February 2017

Posted on

Shmee Enters The Wildlands With The Ghost Recon Beta!

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands feels like the more realistic version of Mercenaries 2.  Mercenaries 2 was an over the top open world action title where you overthrow a fictional Venezuelan government, and you got to pick whether you helped the Chinese or the Americans.  You overthrew the government by taking out targets.  You do the exact same thing in Wildlands except it is Bolivia, it is drugs not oil, and you can’t call down airstrikes to level entire cities.  I am not sure that it is an upgrade.

Because of the more grounded world that Wildlands (also Wildlands is not a word) takes place in it just feels kind of off.  You are supposed to be helping people, but you can jack their cars or accidentally kill them.  Now if you disrupt the local populous too much they will stop helping you out, and killing civilians ends the game, so you go around driving the speed limit and carefully shooting when in cities.  However, you do a lot of shooting, so there will be some collateral damage, and that hurts this game’s serious tone.  It is hard to have a good time after I accidentally murdered some poor farmer, and then have to reload to a save.

All is not lost though.  The world is varied and lush.  The shooting is top notch, and something tells me if you have a group that you play games with, the co-op would be a ton of fun.  So, I am not saying not to get Wildlands, I am just saying it feels different for an open world action game.  Kind of like how Mafia is different from GTA, but again the Mafia games always have those moments where the tone of the game conflict with the structure of the game.  Between For Honor and Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands, Ubisoft really has a lot riding on Q1 2017, and sadly for them, while both games seem fun, I am not sure either of them are for me.  Though if you convince all my friends to get it, I might just have to join in on some open world co-op.

Posted on

Remember Bill Paxton By Watching Near Dark!

Bill Paxton had an amazing career and had many signature roles, but for me his best work was as the vampire Severen in Near Dark.  Near Dark is one of the greatest horror movies of all time, and Paxton was great in it.  He was a terrifying cold and ruthless killer.  His Severen was everything a vampire was supposed to be.  His skin may not have sparkled in the sunlight, but Paxton’s performance dazzled on screen.

We never really get to know the stars in our movies, so it is fitting we remember them by the films they were in, and there are few films better than Near Dark.  While it is true Paxton doesn’t get all the credit for that, he should still get a lot since a horror movie is only as good as its monster, and Severen was gloriously monstrous.

With Bill Paxton’s wonderful body of work he has insured that he will be remembered for ages to come, and if you haven’t seen Near Dark, you should do so immediately.  Paxton’s role will scare you in all the right ways, and you will not be able to get the film out of your head because of it.  In fact, ever since I heard Bill Paxton had passed away, Near Dark is all I can think about, and how he will no longer be bringing characters like Severen to life anymore.

Posted on

We’ve Got Directors For Our Batmen!

Ben Affleck’s troubled “The Batman” has found a director, Matt Reeves.  Reeves is known for the new Planet of the Apes films as well as the Cloverfield  movies.  He also co-created the TV series Felicity, though I am guessing that is not what got him the job.  Reeves will take over directing duty as well as producing the film, and he will co-write the script with Affleck.  Reeves is a talented director, so this is good news.

Meanwhile Warner Brothers was so impressed with Lego Batman, that they are offering the director of that movie, Chis McKay, the job of bringing to life Batman’s most well known ward Dick Grayson.  Grayson was the original Robin who struck out on his own to become Nightwing.  Making a Nightwing movie makes sense because if Affleck decides to stop being Batman, Nightwing is more than up to the task of filling his role in the Justice League.

Hopefully with these talented directors on board the Bat-Family will once again be on the top of the Superhero scene.  If not, there are plenty of Bat-Family members left to choose from.

Posted on

For Honor Seems Like A Good Game For Other People…

For Honor recently came out, but before that I played around with the open beta, and I decided that it wasn’t for me.  That is not to say it isn’t good, because it seems like it is, it is just for other people.  For Honor is a mix of a fighting game and an action game with a focus on 2v1 combat.  It is an interesting concept, but the way the controls work along with the counter/block/attack system means that you will have to put a lot of time in to get good and stay good.  That is a problem for me.  I barely have time to play games I like, let alone devote myself to being okay at a Dark Souls/Soulcaliber mashup.

All that being the case, I’m happy Ubisoft made this game.  It is different, and games that are different need to be made to keep pushing the industry forward.  All games are based on other games, so if someone sees what For Honor is doing and tweaks it a little, there may be a game for me down the line, and to be fair For Honor borrowed more than a little from other games like Chivalry.  If you are out there looking for a game where you can show your skill and ability, For Honor just might be for you, and I hope you enjoy it.  Though you will not see me playing it any time soon.

Posted on

I Finished Trollhunters, And It Does Get Better!

In my earlier review I had started Trollhunters and after I got about halfway through it I was not sure it was right for me.  I pushed through after some urging from my friends and family, and I am happy to report that the second half does get much better.  The ending is particularly strong.  It is still not my favorite show out there, but I am now looking forward to the upcoming second season which will still feature Anton Yelchin’s voice.

I think if I was in the target demo for this show I would like it even more than I do, but as it is now, it is a fun show.  The first season has some filler episodes to get the count up to 26, but the second season will only have 13, so maybe that will help it out.  Plus the cliff hanger at the end of season one was pretty major, so it should be pretty fast paced.  Netflix continues to add to its great collection of shows.