Release day! Tales from the Borderlands Episode 3: Catch a Ride

In what is slowly becoming a 4 month endeavor per episode for new Tales from the Borderlands episodes, today marks 8 months since the beginning, and the 3rd episode’s release in the critically acclaimed series.

I haven’t had a chance to put up a proper review for the first two episodes, but if you are a fan of the Borderlands series this is easily up your alley. The humor that has been developed in the first-person shooter series translates especially well to the Telltale Games format, and the “cell-shading” trademark also finds itself right at home.

So stay tuned, we’ll do a break-down of the series to this point either late today or tomorrow.

Finds from the bargain bin: Joel Schumacher’s Blood Creek (2009)

I’m no stranger when it comes to the horror movie genre and much of my personal library makes that pretty obvious. I tend to browse the horror section of my local media store Pre-Played more often than I search for games (just barely mind you) and I’ve found many favorites there. My fiancé often accompanies me on these endeavors as they often have good deals on movies they have an over-stock of — which lead to her finding some I’d otherwise never see.

This time it was Joel Schumacher’s Blood Creek.

Almost all directors take up more independently run efforts in their spare time, unless you’re Christopher Nolan and decide to make ‘Inception’ when you get bored. Joel Schumacher’s Blood Creek however isn’t what I expected, and at $2.99 it was a gamble that often greets me when I explore the horror aisle. It almost made up for Schumacher’s cinematic abortions that were apparently good enough to be Batman movies…almost.

Never forget

Now I’ve made mistakes there many times, often buying movies with flashy case art and actors that I recognize, but this one just felt different. The box-art wasn’t that impressive, which is normally a red flag, but then I noticed the names Henry Cavill, Dominic Purcell, and Magneto himself, Michael Fassbender. To say the least was my interest was piqued, and the premise of the film is actually just enough to get you on the hook. From IMDB.com:

A man and his brother on a mission of revenge become trapped in a harrowing occult experiment dating back to the Third Reich.

So long story short, you’re going to get into something that SOUNDS interesting but you’ll also get 90 minutes of thoroughbred manmeat such as Cavill, Purcell and Fassbender. Then you go and throw Nazis, the Occult, and blood sacrifice into the mix, you already had my interest but now you have my attention.

…shockingly still no academy award

THE GOOD

Now Nazis and the Occult aren’t exactly new concepts to many, however the sheer lack of this subject matter being represented in film is a little surprising. It’s an early strength that builds a creepy mythos involving Nordic travel to the Americas and the accompanying rune-stones they brought with them. Rune-stones are often used in tandem with fantasy themed endeavors, and their presence in this film fits with the relic-hunting obsessions Nazis had in their quest for world dominance. The stones in this case had been on the radar of Heinrich Himmler, director of the Nazi SS, and is the main reason why Richard Wirth (Fassbender) travels to a West Virginia farm. Initially Wirth is presented as a German professor, but it quickly becomes known that he’s actually a Nazi Occultist tasked with discovering how to harness the Runes’ power.

The role the stones play in Himmler’s plans aren’t immediately told, and actually helps keep this film on the rails throughout (to tell you what they do here would ruin the film.) A major issue you get with horror films are notoriously slow starts that become encumbered with so much information that the premise of the film just falls apart. Blood Creek doesn’t make this mistake, instead using small bits of background that help quickly build the characters that we end up focusing on. As an independent project this is pretty damn important, mostly because if you look at the pacing Schumacher builds throughout, there’s barely time for anything else, which I’ll point out later.

Little known fact: Americans beat the Nazis while entirely shirtless

It’s actually refreshing to see a quickly developing independent film, as the horror genre often can’t do it without a heavy dose of exposition. It’s not often that my attention is held throughout an entire horror movie either, and a lot of that has to do with not being inundated with useless information. I can’t remember how many times I’ve heard an awful monologue from a character that I care nothing about, only to see that character die in a predictable fashion mere moments later.

He’s just trying to get home to his wife and kids honey

Instead with Blood Creek we’re thrown into an impossible situation that two brothers must solve before the end of the world happens. You don’t get meaningless dialogue to fill time, and it’s one of those things that just doesn’t happen often in this genre.

The presentation of Wirth’s transformation as the main antagonist is also slowly introduced and isn’t completely thrown at viewers. It’s important because all too often in horror films you see the monster or creature right away, and by keeping this under wraps for a majority of the film it actually keeps the focus on other elements of story-telling instead.

THE BAD

Now I did cringe a bit at times just because some elements of this film can get a little confusing. Yes, I realize I said not long ago other horror films make the crucial error of information overload, but what I’m referring to here involves two major things. The disappearance of Evan Marshall (Purcell) and his brother Victor’s (Cavill) related guilt/strained personal relationships because of it. These are major plot devices that get completely glazed over and if you’re not paying close attention you’ll literally miss them all in the beginning. If this were a bigger budget production (that was longer than 90 minutes), then I’m sure these elements could have been expanded a bit more.

If you’re casually watching this film for the first time (like me) it will become instantly confusing and you won’t really catch back up with either element until an argument between the two brothers later in the film. It leads to some of the poorest acting I’ve ever seen as Cavill does his best to make the inevitable confrontation look genuine, but his natural English accent pokes through as he yells. Since Purcell doesn’t exactly hit the cover off the ball from a dramatic acting standpoint, this just makes the entire segment fall a little flat. Despite being the low point of the movie it’s barely a few minutes of screen time, and you’re then thrown directly back into the quickly approaching showdown between the brothers and their other-worldly encounters.

The other low point of the film is the CGI, which for an indie venture isn’t exactly a surprise, but if I didn’t point it out I’m sure someone would complain about it. The special effects are actually pretty solid outside of the CGI, but Fassbender’s character by default requires him to have a heavy amount of computer aided effects near the latter half of the film. Personally I’m used to seeing effects far worse than the ones I saw during the end of Blood Creek, but to the average viewer it will still look obvious.

He’s in a lot of pain, but you will be too trying to get through these scenes

THE BOTTOM LINE

For $2.99 this was a film that pleasantly surprised me and broke the notion that low budget horror doesn’t often deliver. While Blood Creek isn’t going to get a Steel-book release any time soon, it’s a little known treasure that managed to grab some serious acting talent and put it to good use. Fassbender has been an amazing actor in any role thrown at him, and while he’s a bit underutilized here, his moments on screen are fantastic. Cavill and Purcell aren’t tasked with much in this film, but I’ve seen simple action screwed up before, and it’s a testament to the experience Schumacher has as a director. While I’m sure Blood Creek was a combination of a good idea and Union mandated insurance requirements, it manages to create a mythos and story worth watching.

The biggest thing I’m disappointed by is that this film actually sets itself up for sequels, and I’ve seen far more money thrown at less worthwhile endeavors. For that I leave my enthusiasm with only one film, as I doubt we’ll ever see a second entry in this series, and if we did it definitely wouldn’t feature the talent it had the first time around. If you do manage to find Blood Creek in a bargain bin somewhere, definitely pick it up, as it’s a breath of fresh air in a genre dominated by mediocrity.

Thanks for reading and as always, be careful who you bed with.

Downloadable Content: I hate you… kinda

A lot has changed in just 30 years of video gaming. When a video game developer used to release their new intellectual property, you’d get a finished product with content you could unlock if you knew how. Extra characters, secret levels, cheat codes, debug modes… you name it, it was all there and it was just the right combination of buttons to take you to the promised land.

Now we are seeing companies worried about deadlines, profit margins and annual entries. Yes these are not new or foreign concepts to many, but it’s shaped the industry in ways that it won’t ever go back. Early gaming concepts like share-ware for were demos that featured an option to pay for a full version of the game. Now we’re getting whole games that are pretty much a hopped up version of this early publishing tool.

Jesus… now you can create your own?

The dawn of DLC (downloadable content) didn’t start in the version that we’ve come to know it now. Instead, it found its way through lanlines and cable connections so that you could get access to games without having to leave your home. As the internet grew at the torrid pace that it eventually did however, it wasn’t long before taking this idea took to the digital  marketplace occurred. Now we’ve got companies like Telltale Games pounding this idea into the ground with success on an annual basis.

Dedicated readers will know I’m still salty over their business model.

DLC however in the form that it finally ended up being didn’t come full circle until the late 90’s, as the failed Sega Dreamcast would offer tiny game add-ons with a tremendously low-powered internet connection. We’re talking so low-powered that porn just wasn’t physically possible.

I don’t think I need to explain this

With the internet as a driving force more consumers were able to throw their money around than ever before. Companies like Zynga, Microsoft and Sony found their ways to jump at this chance, with Zynga being an early juggernaut in the digital money chase. Offering excruciatingly simple games with real-time limitations, offering the ability to purchase credits, items, and additional content to enhance your experience. To those who had money, congratulations, you’ve conquered casual unskilled gaming, to everyone else, you were at the highest podium of online jackassery.

How this became a gaming staple however is obvious, companies knew they could not only extend their content, but people would spend money to not have to do things teenage Asians kids do so well. It’s now a major model of almost any RPG-based game, and even some of the shittiest games like Aliens: Colonial Marines somehow got DLC cranked out despite not having the original programming correct first.

Wait a second, this sex-doll has an extra hole

I don’t think that it really becomes much of a surprise that market behavior such as this was allowed to happen. Gamers up until the introduction of The Big Bang Theory weren’t segmented into a truly marketable group. In today’s world gamers are not only targeted like everyone else, but we eat up stupid things like different character skins, additional multiplayer maps, and lets not forget the option to eviscerate the competition with weapons we spent no time trying to earn.

It’s a difficult position to be in as a gamer, because not only do I want the option to kill the shit out of things, but I also don’t want to dedicate months of my life for that sword with a fancier hilt than the one I do now. Unfortunately… I’ve spent way too much time doing that in my previous MMO experiences.

There’s no time for sex! I need those special boots with a purple aura!

Now don’t think for a second that I think of myself as a victim here because I clearly do not think so. As a credit-card toting consumer, I’ve already spent way too much for things that if I had only waited for I would save plenty of money. The same rings true for pretty much anything gaming these days, because of the previously mentioned annual installments of most genres.

Sure you could pay $59.99 for a brand new game, but if you wait literally 5-7 months after release, you could easily save 35-60% on a game, even more so if you’re ok with buying it used. With some games this is an easily achievable practice; with my Assassin’s Creed obsession however… there’s no such thing as self-control. The DLC arrangements however often debut not long after the initial release of the games, and the price drop is even further guaranteed when new bundles come out featuring them.

This is just getting silly

In the end it all comes down to how patient a person you are, but just remember that patience doesn’t always pay dividends. If you’re a trophy hunter or enjoy the online multiplayer experience, any game with online support WILL eventually shut down. Sports games are the worst when it comes to this, while other titles can survive online indefinitely. X-Box live for example, allows many of these online experiences to continue due to paid subscriptions. Playstation users however, didn’t have that luxury with the previous generation, the PS4 may inevitably change that.

Overall though DLC is a lazy way to squeeze more money out of a segment of consumers that marketers have spent decades trying to figure out. The only reason why it has continued to happen with an increasing frequency is because we’ve allowed it to happen, and we’ve continued to support it. As much as I hate the idea of spending more money for a game that I ALREADY bought, it still adds to depth to a gaming experience.

Just do yourself a few favors, support the studios that do a good job for the core game (like Bethesda for example) and don’t reward others small-time for cash grabs (Little Big Planet I’m looking at you.)

…and as always, be careful who you bed with.

TV Review: AMC’s TURN

AMC has no shortage of fantastic original programming and has managed to keep it for years. The cable network has introduced “Mad Men,” “Breaking Bad,” and “The Walking Dead” within the past 10 years. Since these kinds of shows obviously have their off seasons, a responsibility comes along to fill the void of spots held by their juggernauts while they prepare for the next season.

TURN became one of these shows, filling the void for The Walking Dead’s 8PM CT/9PM ET schedule on Sunday night. I’ll admit that I was a bit surprised when I first saw the program, mostly because it’s not often you get a TV show that utilizes a revolutionary United States as a back-drop.

It’s hard to teach etiquette to some people

TURN features many real historical figures and does a very good job of balancing its historical responsibilities while also being consistent thriller. What it suffers from however, could be sins too big for it to come back for a second season, as it just wrapped up its first season today.

As previously stated TURN takes place during 1776-1777 during the American revolution in Setauket, New York. Jamie Bell (Jumper, The Adventures of Tintin) plays Abraham Woodhull, a farmer who eventually becomes part of the Culper Spy Ring. The Spy Ring played an important part in the revolutionary war and much of its content is based off of the book Washington’s Spies: The Story of America’s First Spy Ring.

A spy ring where everyone stands around looking at one guy

What plagues TURN early on is the sheer amount of characters and content necessary to be able to follow the program. The setting and plot don’t necessarily need much introduction, but after having viewed almost half of a season I still had issues maintaining a foothold on the many sub-plots.

While these large amounts of information may be daunting at times, there are many characters worth paying attention to. Kevin R. McNally (Pirates of the Caribbean) and Angus Macfadyen (Braveheart) bring a tremendous presence to the small screen. Macadyen in particular plays Robert Rogers, a career soldier whose portrayal in this show varies slightly from the alcoholic he earned the reputation of being. McNally however, portrays Richard Woodhull, local judge and father of Abraham.

Again with the staring…

McNally is one of the reasons why I chose to return to this show after each week, as his acting skills are on full display. While I have seen him in many successful roles before, he nails his portrayal of the Woodhull patriarch. His struggle as a local judge and father bring an added drama and weight to the struggles of British occupation in the New York town the show is based out of.

Outside of that TURN’s biggest mistake may be the length of time needed for its plot to thicken. The mid-season mark of this show finally brought intrigue and internal conflicts within Abraham’s personal life and that of his former fiance Anna Strong (portrayed by Heather Lind.) Anna’s role in the spy ring becomes one of the larger points of intrigue; leading to much of the drama between the Woodhulls and the British occupation.

Many strong characters, not enough time

FINAL RATING: 2.5/5.0

Don’t get me wrong, I did like TURN by the end of the series. The only problems that plague the series are episodes that feature too little movement and save everything for the last 5 minutes. By the mid-season mark this show began to pick up steam, however it may be too late for it to survive for another year. The cast of this show is fantastic throughout, but can’t do enough to lift up the dry writing at times.

Photo credit(s):

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Game Review – LEGO The Hobbit: Playstation Vita edition

LEGO has slowly built itself quite the niche in terms of video games adapted to their unique style of action figures. For years they have put together titles from popular properties like Marvel, Harry Potter, DC (Batman) and the first Lord of the Rings trilogy. These adaptations for the most part featured an open world with individual levels that can be explored.

While LEGO The Hobbit (LTH) was a fun game; I believe there are many things that should be different moving forward for the LEGO franchise.

I thought hobbits didn’t wear shoes?

The LTH game features many of the things that made previous entries great; a massive list of characters to unlock and hordes of Easter eggs for thoughtful players. This strong point makes the game extremely fun to play for any collector, as unlocking the various character tokens is fun despite being tedious.

One of the biggest things that LTH did however was drastically change the format of previous titles (following in the steps of Lego Marvel: Universe in Peril). Rather than have open world-type settings, you are instead dropped into simple 5-10 minute levels and challenges to complete for each one.

Take note of the difference in view; taken from a “bird tilting its head” perspective

Challenges in the game range from beating the level within a certain amount of time; finding a certain item or killing a specific amount of enemies to name a few. Outside of that however, mainstays like finding red bricks (physical forms of cheat codes that can be activated) and mini-kits (to create structures in game) also show back up.

Another previous element from other LEGO titles, finding and returning treasure items, also makes its way back. The only major gripe I find in this system however is that there is absolutely no way to track which items go to which people. This is a flaw in the new HUB system, which is the single biggest headache I have ever experienced in a game.

When life throws you blue paths… shit…

This HUB system instead has you travel between a pre-determined set of points connected by dotted pathways. There are many of these, often appearing in droves once you reach another node after discovering another. For this reason alone I often worried about whether or not I was going the right direction, while story driven paths are laid out typically, it still made for a relatively confusing experience.

That’s not to say however that the game is ALL bad, because LTH features the same charm as any other entry in the series. At times I’d find myself laughing at the little jokes hidden throughout the cut scenes adapted from the PS3 version. The core gameplay itself also throws you a lot of different means of beating levels… meaning that there’s a lot of variety in terms of boss battles, level exploration, and some of the new challenges expand the experience.

Don’t worry… this game is completely PG

FINAL RATING: 3.0/5.0

LEGO: The Hobbit manages to draw on many of the strengths of previous LEGO entries, but its PS Vita counterpart just barely makes the cut. While a fun game; it becomes more frustrating at time than actually being interesting.

REPLAY VALUE: Minimal

Unless you REALLY like LEGO games, it is doubtful that you’d return to this title after beating it.

TROPHY DIFFICULTY: 3.5/5.0

This games features over 450 gold bricks to collect, alongside 3-5 replays of almost all levels, plus treasure and character unlocks. It is tedious and will easily take 15-20 hours to complete if you know what you are doing.

As always, thanks for reading and be careful who you bed with.

Photo credit(s):

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5 shows on Netflix worthy of binge viewing:

There’s many treasures buried within Netflix; and while there’s just as much garbage easily accessible through the streaming service… these ones are definitely worth your time.

Just in case you don’t know what Netflix is

5. Lie to Me (2009-2011)

Following in the trend of abruptly canceled Fox shows; Lie to Me is a casualty that still stings despite being canceled 3 years ago. Lie to Me is based off of the real-life works of Paul Ekman, who is an expert on facial micro-expressions (recognition of facial movements and cues.) He was involved in the production of the series and is a well established author as well.

Pumpkin has come a long way since robbing diners with Honeybunny

Ekman’s work lead to the creation of Cal Lightman (Tim Roth) who is the founder of the Lightman group. His firm primarily consults with clients to use the recognition of “micro-expressions” to determine if suspects are lying. “Suspects” is a broad term however, as many of these investigations aren’t always criminal in nature.

Roth truly shines in his role as Cal Lightman, bringing a powerful performance that kept the show running during its 3 year run. There’s just a little over 40 episodes, but Roth’s surrounding cast and the depth of this show are well worth checking out.

4. Rules of Engagement (2007-2013)

Another unfortunate show that was met with an early cancellation. Rules of Engagement followed the comedic/dramatic interactions between a group of friends living in New York city.

No… not these friends

 Recognizable faces from this series include Patrick Warburton (Family Guy’s wheel-chair bound Joe Swanson) , David Spade (SNL alum among various comedies) and Megyn Price (best known for her role in Grounded for Life.) The rest of the cast is rounded out by Oliver Hudson and Bianca Kajlich, and are later joined by Adhir Kalyan (the assistant to Spade’s character Russell.)

It’s true, these friends all share a single bed

What makes this show fun is that it’s packed with plenty of humor, often focusing on relations between the couples themselves. Jeff and Audrey (Warburton and Price respectively) often trade advice and share their relationship woes with Adam and Jennifer (Hudson and Kajlich.) Spade’s depiction of Russell is often comedy relief and a direct contrast as he is the only single person among this group of friends.

Despite being canceled, this show packed a punch in terms consistent laughs. While some may find it relatively formulaic, this show is still worth watching and all 100 episodes are available now.

3. Bates Motel (2013-present)

A&E managed to knock one out of the park when they decided to sign off on the prequel TV Series based off of the Alfred Hitchcock movie “Psycho.” While only 1 season is currently on Netflix, it has a total of 2 seasons and has already been renewed for a third.

Don’t worry; the sign for the hotel is not actually in the hotel room

For those of you who haven’t seen the movie “Psycho,” this prequel revolves around Norma and Norman Bates. After an accident in which Norman’s father mysteriously dies, the Bates family moves to White Pine, Oregon. The city quickly becomes just as mysterious as the Bates’ reasons for moving there.

The strong point of this series comes from it’s core actors, Vera Farmiga and Freddie Highmore are delightful in their depictions of the Bates mother and son. Highmore having been a child movie star shows just what kind of depth he has as an adult, bringing an intensity not easily done on television.

Don’t worry, they’re not actually spliced together in the show… barely

Despite being a contemporary revision of the classic horror film, Bates Motel is an amazing adaptation. Its characters are rich they weave in and out of a plot that never loses a full head of steam. Luckily this show is still running, and season 2 will be available before the release of season 3 around March 2015.

2. Fringe (2008-2013)

Fringe joins a collection of shows canceled by Fox despite having viciously loyal fanbases. True to form for a Fox cancellation, episodes were aired out of order, the day of the week it aired changed several times and before it could gain any steam Fox would end its erection on the spot.

Sorry we’re on Tuesdays, wait Thursday… sorry… I meant Friday

Despite Fox’ best effort to confuse and infuriate fans, no matter what day of the week Fringe aired, enough people still showed up to keep it going. For this reason Fringe managed to last 5 seasons, incorporating topics concerning Fringe science, meaning alternate dimensions, unlocking mental powers and splicing DNA just to name a few.

Fringe was the brain-child of a post-Lost era J.J. Abrams, who was backed by consistent collaborators Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. The show mainly followed the cast of Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson) and Peter’s father Walter (John Noble.) The dynamic of these three characters packed enough interest to carry almost any storyline thrown at them. Noble especially delivers a knockout performance, stealing almost any scene he is in due to the bizarre nature of his mental instabilities.

I have no idea what we’re staring at

While Fringe may have gotten the ax, it still went out on its own terms. The 5th and final season managed to settle a lot of loose ends, and also served as a love letter to the fans who so passionately followed it for half a decade. All episodes of Fringes are also available on Netflix, and any fans of the X-Files will definitely see a great parallel in this series.

1. Orange is the New Black (2013-present)

Netflix has shown that is has the chops necessary to make award-winning programming. In the past 2 years they have premiered House of Cards, Hemlock Grove and resurrected Arrested Development for a 4th season. Netflix continued to flex its range with Orange is the New Black (OITNB); a comedy/drama based on the memoirs of Piper Kerman.

I find the lack of orange here very disturbing

OITNB follows the prison adventures of Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling) a woman sentenced to 15 months in a women’s prison for her involvement in the transport of drug money. Her former girlfriend Alex Vause (Laura Prepon) reunites with her after Piper has no choice but to turn herself in after her involvement with Vause becomes public.

The strength of this series early on ties directly into Chapman’s inability to adapt to prison life, having spent the previous 10 years as one of the New York’s upper middle class. Her misadventures as an inmate are very easy to quickly be immersed in, as OITNB manages to captivate with a brilliant surrounding cast and comedy worthy of network television.

There sure are a lot of smiles in prison

OITNB manages to bring about a quality similar to TV’s Hogans Heroes, as the inmates are often treated as friends to the prison guards. However, as soon as one dynamic is created, in mere moments it is flipped on its head. This paradigm shift leads to brutality that many would expect to find in a prison setting; a balance that OITNB managed to execute flawlessly throughout its first season.

It is no surprise that the show was picked up for a second season almost immediately. So long as Netflix manages to create television as captivating as this; you can expect this series to flourish until further notice.

Thanks again for reading! As always, be careful who you bed with.

Photo credit(s):

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10 Easy Playstation Platinum Trophies:

Somewhere along the way a lot of gamers (including myself) have become obsessed with trophy hunting. Having many trophies or achieving a higher gamer score can be important to a lot of people; often spreading friendly competition.

However, this is a list of what I’ve found to be the easiest to attain… of which I’ve personally gone after. This list will be ordered in terms of difficulty, but difficulty is always relative.

10. South Park: Stick of Truth (2014)

The most current of games on this list, Stick of Truth is a fun game. Despite the fact that it does have missable trophies; all of these can be successfully navigated by doing strategic saves throughout. Skill doesn’t really affect the ease of this trophy list; and following a guide for the collectables will get you this in 10-12 hours.

Playthroughs needed; 1 (by using strategic saves)

Additional hardware needed: None

9. The Testament of Sherlock Holmes (2010)

No surprise here, you’re dropped into a mystery that only the great Sherlock Holmes can solve. Fortunately; the trophies are just as easy to uncover and with a guide this game can be finished in just under 6 hours. If you take your time and explore you can easily spend more time; but due to the graphics and lack of any real personality this is just a glorified point and click first person adventure. Some trophies are missable, but almost any guide can help you get where you need to go in one playthrough.

Playthroughs needed; 1 (with a guide;; without you’re looking at at least 2)

Additional hardware needed: None

8. Assassin’s Creed II (2009)

Assassins Creed II still stands as one of the best entries into now well established franchise. The core plot to this game is very well done and the combat system alone brings a lot of replay value. The trophy list however, can also be done in almost the blink of an eye. Many of the trophies are combat related, but none of it requires any multiplayer access. Depending on skill, this game can take well over 20 hours just based off of how large a game this is.

Playthroughs needed; 1

Additional hardware needed: None

7. Borderlands (2009)

One of my personal favorites; Borderlands has a rich gameplay experience with over a million different weapon combinations. It is a first person shooter with RPG elements to it; which lends to some character customization. The storyline is superb (although some will debate that) and overall the majority of trophies can be achieved in one playthrough. While not tremendously difficult; you do have to play as each of the 4 characters once. However, pick one class you like and complete the game with it because the other 3 characters you’ll only need to dedicate about 45 minutes to each. Overall though you’ll probably need to dedicate at least a solid 30 hours to this game.

Playthroughs needed; 4 (requiring playing with all 4 main characters)

Additional hardware needed: None

6. Terminator Salvation (2009)

Another movie tie-in… no surprise… a complete abortion of a video game. the game does require you to beat it on “hard” mode… which is fairly easy to get through but do you want to dedicate 8 hours of your time just to get it? Well I did, but I can say in complete confidence that I would never have tried this game if not for it’s easy gold & platinum trophies. They are all story related and the difficulty trophies all stack; so one playthrough is all that’s needed.

Playthroughs needed; 1 (on hard difficulty)

Additional hardware needed: None

5. Saw (2009)

While not “specifically” a movie tie-in, this game drops you into the middle of one of Jigsaw’s classic live or die scenarios. Believe it or not the story isn’t really all that bad but the graphics and gameplay mechanics aren’t the best. The majority of trophies in this game require you to kill with a certain weapon but realistically this game can be finishing in 7-10 hours of dedication. Despite it’s shortcomings it’s still not a chore to get through, requiring one playthrough with chapter select for clean-up.

Playthroughs needed; 1+ (with chapter select)

Additional hardware needed: None

4. Spare Parts (2011)

Let me say that this Playstation Network game has  a lot of character and is a blast to get through. It features a trophy list that is completely story driven for the exception of fully upgrading your character. However, this game does require co-op to gather all of the collectibles in the game. While the majority of these collectibles you can get by playing solo; there’s no way to avoid needing a second controller.

Playthroughs needed; 1+ (with chapter select)

Additional hardware needed: A second controller

3. Trine 2 (2011)

Trine 2 is a fantasy oriented game with classic side-scrolling pseudo 3D elements. The funniest thing about this platinum however is that it doesn’t require you to actually play the full game. All of the trophies is this game require you to do specific tasks with your lineup of 3 characters; who can be changed to at any time. Story-wise, it only requires you to endure up to 7 levels before calling it a day. I played this over several days, but cumulative only spent about 4 hours total.

Playthroughs needed; Barely 1 playthrough needed

Additional hardware needed: None

2. Megamind (2010)

As is the case with most movie tie-ins; Megamind ranks as a truly uninspired game not worthy of reviewing. The platinum trophy for this game is relatively uninvolved and if you’re relatively skilled you can platinum the game in as little as 4-6 hours. I managed to snag the trophy in one day, and there’s absolutely no challenge to it so long as you don’t die during boss battles. With that in mind, dying during a boss battle would mean you’re most likely playing by smashing the controller with your face.

Playthroughs needed; 1

Additional hardware needed: None

1. The Walking Dead (2012)

This game shows up on almost every single platinum list because all of the trophies involved are story related. The only trophy that doesn’t occurs in the DLC “400 Days” which while easy to miss, can be quickly achieved with little effort. This doesn’t take away from the story behind the game as it requires many morally ambiguous choices throughout, but I won’t spend a ton of time here just because of how widespread this game is in terms of completion. All told you can finish this game realistically in 6-7 hours.

Playthroughs needed; 1

Additional hardware needed: None

Well there you have it; while many of these are widely known to be easy platinum trophies hopefully you’ve seen some you didn’t know about. As time goes on I’ll eventually add more as to this list and also branch out into the Vita handheld system as well. Almost all of the games listed above are available on Playstation Network, but rather than buy them all brand new I’d recommend checking out Gamestop as they often have many of these. The only ones that don’t have disc versions (to my knowledge) are Trine 2 and Spare Parts. However these are typically fixed at $9.99 or less.

As always thanks again for reading and be careful who you bed with.

Photo credit(s):

http://thegamingliberty.com/wp-content/uploads/spareparts_header.jp g

http://megagames.com/sites/default/files/game-content-images/TToSH.jp g

http://cdn.highwinds.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/33230/header.jpg?t=137108069 8

http://assets1.ignimgs.com/vid/thumbnails/user/2014/04/11/Borderlands-3-Not-In-Development.jp g

http://www.appspy.com/images/product_screenshots/139409/mzl.htmbyotq.320×480-75.jp g

http://assets.ign.com/thumbs/2011/12/07/trine_2.jp g

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2012/02/walking-dead.jp g

Game Review – South Park: Stick of Truth

The Stick of Truth was a highly anticipated game originally to be published by THQ, however THQ went under months before the release date. Ubisoft (developer behind Assassins Creed, Watch Dogs and Far Cry) then acquired the property; delayed the release of the game and gave it a few months to ensure it was the quality they wanted. Needless to say, the extra time they took paid off and what we ended up getting was a solid role-playing game (RPG) and a love letter to the legions of South Park fans out there (myself being a fan ever since the show first aired.)

NOTE: This review is fairly spoiler free. I have focused on mostly gameplay and mechanics of the game itself instead of discussing the plot.

Title honesty… you’re fighting over a stick.

To start things off with a quick synopsis, you’re the new kid in town. Like many RPG’s you come in with very little background information on the character you’ll be playing… but you slowly find more out as the game continues.

After moving to South Park, your parents force you to go outside and make some friends; which inevitably leads to meeting all of the major players from the TV show itself. It is here that you’re introduced to your name… Sir Douchebag (don’t worry… you really have no choice in the matter.) The friends you meet can be tracked on your cell phone which uses a Facebook-like webpage. The amount of friends you have dictates your skill upgrades. Some friends you attain just by talking to them, others require quests.

You have 4 classes to choose from; and while I could go into detail on each individual class I’ll just be honest with you. I picked the Jew class first… why you might ask? Well it’s the only class you can be guaranteed to have never played in any other game in the history of your gaming career. It was just too funny of a premise for me to pass up… and as your class gets upgraded you’ll only be rewarded with funnier outfits and weapon options.

Disclaimer: Not all Jewish people look like this.

The easiest way to describe the gameplay of Stick of Truth is to relate it to the Paper Mario RPG series on the N64, Gamecube and Wii consoles. Combat is based on reaction time; so if you time your attacks, blocks or spells just right you’ll end up dealing additional damage, receiving less damage, or having a longer spell duration.

While this may seem tedious, it actually makes battles less monotonous because if you don’t hit your bonuses it pretty much drives you to perfect your tactics. I spent a lot of time mastering this early on so that I ended up on the winning side more often than not.

Variety in enemy types lacks quite a bit; as you’ll find yourself fighting generic elves, cats and dogs from around town. Enemy types are fairly predictable and the majority of them do not pose much of any challenge. Despite not being very difficult; each enemy type does require a different approach. Meaning some can reflect your moves while others have to be dealt specific attacks in order for you to defeat them. This does require some strategy; which can sometimes be a nice challenge but can quickly fall into the same approach too often.

While Al Gore may be slightly pathetic; he’s one of the toughest battles in the entire game

Total hours spent on this game between two different playthroughs only took me around 20 hours. One of the only gripes I really had about this game, but honestly I’d rather have short and sweet than a drawn out fetch-quest driven game. Trey Parker and Matt Stone both stated in interviews that they’d rather play a shorter RPG; and I agree that a shorter game is easier to control. That ends being one of the few drawbacks to this game, you don’t get any randomly generated armor and almost everything is scripted.

If this game were to get a sequel (and by all means it should) then perhaps this is something they could change. It’s not the biggest problem an RPG could have, but it really makes it so that a lot of different people will end up sharing the same experience when they play no matter what they do.

The biggest benefit Stick of Truth has however is the input Trey Parker and Matt Stone took in terms of writing the game and having solid creative control. For dedicated South Park fans, you will find no shortage of Easter Eggs, appreciation for the open world or the vast amount of characters used from the series. I snickered to myself through both of my playthroughs whenever I picked up a Chinpokomon, heard a Snacky cakes reference or recognized a commercial from a TV playing in the background. Staying true to the main characters of the show itself, you also have access to them the farther you go into the story.

Stan (and Sparky, his gay dog) end up being 1 of several companion characters

For each negative point this game may have however, it more than makes up for it due to the quality experienced throughout this game. Anyone playing for the first time can dedicate a solid 12-15 hours to their playthrough and find myriads of quest loot, unique items and locales pulled straight from the TV show. For that reason alone you are getting a very well polished and carefully crafted game. Not only that, but I found myself laughing literally out loud at many different story points.

Voice-acting is superb throughout the entire game, as Parker and Stone reprise all of their roles from South Park as well. Translating a TV show into a video game is no simple task; and while other major properties may have failed, South Park does not suffer this fate. This alone makes the game feel just like walking through an episode, except kept consistent throughout a 12-15 hour experience.

If the creators of South Park were to revisit this idea for a sequel; they would benefit from putting time into character customization. As your skills and abilities are pretty generic; expanding on these and developing more of a traditional system would give you a better connection to your character. While having Parker and Stone involved in the project is huge; their personal opinion for a short game might bother fans expecting more.

Stick of Truth is the first solid entry into the South Park video game experience

FINAL RATING: 4.0/5.0

South Park: Stick of Truth is a love letter to South Park fans, the delay definitely proved to be worth it. We end up getting a well polished, extremely fun game that that only lacks a prolonged gameplay experience with occasional monotony in battles.

REPLAY VALUE: Minimal 

Dedicated gamers might see themselves playing this game to explore each character class; but you’ll probably be able to only get 2 playthroughs before this game gets boring.

TROPHY DIFFICULTY: 1.5/5.0

Stick of Truth features a trophy list with 51 achieveable items. Very few of these are story driven; but almost all of these can be achieved in one playthrough with multiple saves. If you know which checkpoints to save at; you’ll be able to get them all in one go. Personally I needed two, as the trophy “No Child Left Behind” requires you to never leave a fight with a buddy incapacitated. Many of the trophies are missable… but none of them require a high level of skill to attain.

Photo credit(s):

http://thecontrolleronline.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/South-Park-the-Stick-of-Truth-logo.pn g

http://www.incgamers.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/South-Park-The-Stick-of-Truth-02.jpg?d3625 1

http://images.bit-tech.net/content_images/2014/03/south-park-the-stick-of-truth-review/south-park-stick-of-truth-1–1920×1080.jp g

http://guide4games.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/South-Park-The-Stick-of-Truth-Guide4GameS.Net-.jp g

Video credit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLSbMVw881 0

A lil’ background of my gaming history:

In my spare time I’ll slowly begin reviewing games as I beat them, or complete their full trophy lists. The Playstation 3 is the only major console I have from recent generations; so they’ll be the only games that I’ll be reviewing to start off with. However, I do also possess quite a library from many consoles over the past 25 years; so maybe I could throw a few classic reviews in here. Don’t count on those right away because my real interest just isn’t there at the moment.

However before I get into reviewing games I wanted to throw down parameters of what I do when I play a video game out there. The first thing I take into consideration is obviously how fun the game will be in terms of content and quality. Next comes the difficulty of the game itself, and then… the trophies.

I love hunting for trophies and it’s something that really began gaining traction within the past generation or two. It’s always been a point of pride to 100% a game on some of the older consoles, but for some of the cartridge consoles this could be erased by simply having the battery die on you (internally within the cartridge) or by any number of glitches. Regardless, I have gone after platinum trophies within the past year and have amassed 37 to date so far out of 116 titles.

116 believe it or not isn’t all that much for someone who likes to go after trophies. While less than half of the games I have platinums for, I still try to achieve 100% in most of the games I end up purchasing/getting out of my playstation plus membership.

So to wrap this up rather quickly… my reviews will have these on them.

1.) Overall rating; the quality, plot and content will be here.

2.) The trophy difficulty; just my personal estimate… there are websites that do this as well

3.) Replay value; which honestly this should be the most important… but once I platinum a game it gets put away or sold. However I’ll still post it just for the hell of it.

So that’s pretty much it for today, nothing too complicated but in my next post we’ll be reviewing South Park: Stick of Truth, a relatively new game. Stay tuned for that, and in the meantime… be careful who you bed with.

A little bit of what I plan on doing:

If there’s a few things I truly enjoy it’s movies and video games; so there’s no surprise that it would be something that I’d like to write about. Independently it’s something I’ve done for years but never cataloged or put in one place, so the sole purpose of this blog will pretty much be to keep them in one place. I’d also like to keep writing just as a general practice since it’s good to keep up on your skills, so don’t be surprised if random musings wind up here as well.

Short and sweet, nothing complicated… but I plan on keeping this pretty active with any movies and games I come into contact with in the coming days. I encourage and look forward to commentary, so if you have anything you’d like to say I’m more than happy to cry into a pillow over it.

Thanks for stopping by and I look forward to getting this lil’ blog going.