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Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated the PC version of Mortal Shell in Video Games
Oct 8, 2020
Beautiful Scenery (1 more)
Hardening Skill can save you when you screw up
Back in 2009 Demon’s Soul, a PlayStation 3 exclusive, made its way into the hands of players around the world. The game was punishingly difficult, and was revered for its no handholding, brutally steep learning curve. A game that harkened back to the days of old, when video games were more about a player spending hour upon hour of mastering its nuances then relying on a never-ending supply of save games. This game, and the even more popular successor Dark Souls, gave way to its own genre defining style, the “souls-like” game. Since those genre defining years, several companies have tried to take inspiration from the originals and craft them into their own unique experiences. Whether that be futuristic takes such as Surge 2, or sticking to a familiar fantasy setting, with mixed results. Enter the latest in this genre, a game developed by the fine folks at Cold Symetry, released on Windows, Xbox and PlayStation.
Mortal Shell is an “souls-like” action role playing game, where you are a creature whose unique ability is to inhabit the bodies of fallen warriors scattered across the realm of Fallgrim. Much like its inspiration, Fallgrim is a land that is bleak and unforgiving. Whether you are traipsing across murky swamps, filled with bear tramps and poisonous frogs, snowy fields or fiery plains, there are always an unending supply of enemies that you must contend with. Each “shell” you inhabit offers up a distinct playstyle and upgrade tree that should appeal to every unique player.
The first shell you inhabit, is what I refer to as the Jack-of-All trades shell, Harros. Harros is a traditional knight like character that has a balance of health, stamina, and resolve (the statistic that allows you to use your special upgrades applied to your weapon of choice). As you progress through the story, you will come across three other shells for you to inhabit, that you can switch between as you wish. This allows you to vary your play style between Eredrim, a tank-architype with lots of health but low stamina, Tiel, the acolyte with less health but is more agile and able to dodge and roll out of the way, or Solomon, who has the most resolve. Each character upgrade requires Tar (the gold of Fallgrim) and Glimpses. These are acquired by defeating enemies, and through gathering various plants throughout your journey.
In addition to the four shells, there are also four upgradable weapons that can be found along your journey. You begin with the Hollow Sword but will come across others to aid you on your quest. There is the Hammer and Chisel, a dual wield, fast attack, but lower damage weapon. The Martyr’s Blade, a heavy two-handed sword that does massive damage but is slow to attack. Lastly, The Smoldering Mace. All of these can be upgrades with special attacks that are initiated by your characters resolve, that can do an incredible amount of damage when initiated.
Combat occurs by locking onto your opponent and then utilizing fast and heavy attacks to defeat them. Experimenting with executing fast and heavy in specific sequences will result in numerous combos that do additional damage and stagger your foes. Mortal Shells unique blocking ability is what the game refers to as Hardening. Hardening, does exactly as the name suggests, turning yourself into stone and blocking most incoming attacks. It can be initiated at practically any time, even during the middle of your attack, allowing you to brush off an incoming attack and finish up with an epic strike. Learning the best time and place to use your hardening skill, is the key to overcoming your most difficult opponents, and ultimately slaying them in the process. There is also a parry aspect, which you obtain at the beginning of your quest, that allows you to parry incoming blows, and respond with devastating effect. Be aware that not all attacks can be parried, and your Tarnished Seal Emblem (which enables your skill) will glow red to warn you of this.
During combat, if your health reaches zero, you will be pushed out of your shell (which reminded me of playing a mech game where your mech is destroyed and you are automatically ejected). You are given the chance to climb back into your shell, but if you are hit while outside of your shell you will almost always die quickly. If your health reaches zero again, you die and you return back to Sester Genessa, a shadowy figure who acts like a bonfire from the souls’ games. As with the games before it, dying forces you to drop your tar and re-spawns all enemies that you have killed previously. Returning to your body allows you to retrieve your tar and restores all your health.
One of the more interesting aspects of the game is in the use of items you discover during your adventure. Most items effects will be unknown until you use the item, which forces you to experiment with everything you find. As you use the item more frequently you become more familiar with the item, and as that familiarity grows, the effects grow as well. Some will damage you in the beginning, only to benefit you as you grow more familiar with them, others you will utilize at the wrong time, and not benefit from the effect, but you will still learn from the experience. In this way Mortal Shell rewards you for experimentation, and forces those who like to hoard their findings for “when the right time arrives to use it” to utilize it and learn from it.
Much like the Souls-like games that inspired it, Mortal Shell could almost be mistaken for one of the games it garnered inspiration from. The setting, the characters, even the fonts used, could easily have been taken directly from a Dark Souls game. You’d be forgiven if someone came up to you and asked you which of the Dark Souls games you are playing. That’s not to say that Mortal Shell doesn’t distinguish itself in other ways, but on the surface, it would be easy to mistake it for another clone. The sound design, the graphic design, is all very well done, so at least the inspiration is put to good use in Mortal Shell
While Mortal Shell generally plays fast and well, there are a couple of instances where death seemed to come due to little I had control over. There are various cut scenes where you are crawling through tunnels, and you come out on the other side. Occasionally your character will be attacked immediately follow the cut scene, which gives you little time to react. There are ways to time your crawl, as to not emerge immediately into a group of baddies, but nothing frustrated me more, when I came across these areas. The difficulty and learning curve are about as difficult as one would expect from such a game.
If you are a fan of Dark Souls or Souls-like games, there is a lot to like in Mortal Shell. Most of the gameplay and style will feel immediately familiar, and there is just enough uniqueness in the game to satisfy veterans of the soul’s type games. If you have been put off by the difficulty of souls-like games in the past, Mortal Shell doesn’t differ enough from the formula to likely change your mind. While it’s not as long as the games that inspire it, it’s hard to beat the price ($29.99 on the Epic Store), and it’s refreshing enough to act as a place holder until the Demon’s Soul remake becomes available
What I liked: Beautiful Scenery, Hardening Skill can save you when you screw up
What I liked less: No real direction on where to start
Mortal Shell is an “souls-like” action role playing game, where you are a creature whose unique ability is to inhabit the bodies of fallen warriors scattered across the realm of Fallgrim. Much like its inspiration, Fallgrim is a land that is bleak and unforgiving. Whether you are traipsing across murky swamps, filled with bear tramps and poisonous frogs, snowy fields or fiery plains, there are always an unending supply of enemies that you must contend with. Each “shell” you inhabit offers up a distinct playstyle and upgrade tree that should appeal to every unique player.
The first shell you inhabit, is what I refer to as the Jack-of-All trades shell, Harros. Harros is a traditional knight like character that has a balance of health, stamina, and resolve (the statistic that allows you to use your special upgrades applied to your weapon of choice). As you progress through the story, you will come across three other shells for you to inhabit, that you can switch between as you wish. This allows you to vary your play style between Eredrim, a tank-architype with lots of health but low stamina, Tiel, the acolyte with less health but is more agile and able to dodge and roll out of the way, or Solomon, who has the most resolve. Each character upgrade requires Tar (the gold of Fallgrim) and Glimpses. These are acquired by defeating enemies, and through gathering various plants throughout your journey.
In addition to the four shells, there are also four upgradable weapons that can be found along your journey. You begin with the Hollow Sword but will come across others to aid you on your quest. There is the Hammer and Chisel, a dual wield, fast attack, but lower damage weapon. The Martyr’s Blade, a heavy two-handed sword that does massive damage but is slow to attack. Lastly, The Smoldering Mace. All of these can be upgrades with special attacks that are initiated by your characters resolve, that can do an incredible amount of damage when initiated.
Combat occurs by locking onto your opponent and then utilizing fast and heavy attacks to defeat them. Experimenting with executing fast and heavy in specific sequences will result in numerous combos that do additional damage and stagger your foes. Mortal Shells unique blocking ability is what the game refers to as Hardening. Hardening, does exactly as the name suggests, turning yourself into stone and blocking most incoming attacks. It can be initiated at practically any time, even during the middle of your attack, allowing you to brush off an incoming attack and finish up with an epic strike. Learning the best time and place to use your hardening skill, is the key to overcoming your most difficult opponents, and ultimately slaying them in the process. There is also a parry aspect, which you obtain at the beginning of your quest, that allows you to parry incoming blows, and respond with devastating effect. Be aware that not all attacks can be parried, and your Tarnished Seal Emblem (which enables your skill) will glow red to warn you of this.
During combat, if your health reaches zero, you will be pushed out of your shell (which reminded me of playing a mech game where your mech is destroyed and you are automatically ejected). You are given the chance to climb back into your shell, but if you are hit while outside of your shell you will almost always die quickly. If your health reaches zero again, you die and you return back to Sester Genessa, a shadowy figure who acts like a bonfire from the souls’ games. As with the games before it, dying forces you to drop your tar and re-spawns all enemies that you have killed previously. Returning to your body allows you to retrieve your tar and restores all your health.
One of the more interesting aspects of the game is in the use of items you discover during your adventure. Most items effects will be unknown until you use the item, which forces you to experiment with everything you find. As you use the item more frequently you become more familiar with the item, and as that familiarity grows, the effects grow as well. Some will damage you in the beginning, only to benefit you as you grow more familiar with them, others you will utilize at the wrong time, and not benefit from the effect, but you will still learn from the experience. In this way Mortal Shell rewards you for experimentation, and forces those who like to hoard their findings for “when the right time arrives to use it” to utilize it and learn from it.
Much like the Souls-like games that inspired it, Mortal Shell could almost be mistaken for one of the games it garnered inspiration from. The setting, the characters, even the fonts used, could easily have been taken directly from a Dark Souls game. You’d be forgiven if someone came up to you and asked you which of the Dark Souls games you are playing. That’s not to say that Mortal Shell doesn’t distinguish itself in other ways, but on the surface, it would be easy to mistake it for another clone. The sound design, the graphic design, is all very well done, so at least the inspiration is put to good use in Mortal Shell
While Mortal Shell generally plays fast and well, there are a couple of instances where death seemed to come due to little I had control over. There are various cut scenes where you are crawling through tunnels, and you come out on the other side. Occasionally your character will be attacked immediately follow the cut scene, which gives you little time to react. There are ways to time your crawl, as to not emerge immediately into a group of baddies, but nothing frustrated me more, when I came across these areas. The difficulty and learning curve are about as difficult as one would expect from such a game.
If you are a fan of Dark Souls or Souls-like games, there is a lot to like in Mortal Shell. Most of the gameplay and style will feel immediately familiar, and there is just enough uniqueness in the game to satisfy veterans of the soul’s type games. If you have been put off by the difficulty of souls-like games in the past, Mortal Shell doesn’t differ enough from the formula to likely change your mind. While it’s not as long as the games that inspire it, it’s hard to beat the price ($29.99 on the Epic Store), and it’s refreshing enough to act as a place holder until the Demon’s Soul remake becomes available
What I liked: Beautiful Scenery, Hardening Skill can save you when you screw up
What I liked less: No real direction on where to start
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated the PC version of Evolve in Video Games
Jun 19, 2019
Following up a game as popular and successful as Left 4 Dead is not an easy task. Then add into the mix having your studio closed by your new owners, reopened as a casual studio, having the publisher of your next big game go Bankrupt and then dealing with the huge expectations for your latest project; and you see the task facing Turtle Rock Studios.
Turtle Rock Studios and 2K have combined to give gamers EVOLVE, a game that takes the co-op gameplay aspects of Left 4 Dead and throws in some new wrinkles and features thanks in large part to the increased power of the next generation of gaming consoles and the versatility and power of gaming PCs.
The game is set on a distant planet named Shear where giant and deadly creatures are threatening the established colonies to the point where an evacuation is being planned. As such a team of expert hunters is assigned to locate and eliminate the creatures posing the threat and as such players play as one of four classes, Assault, Trapper, Medic, and Support. Each class has weapons and abilities specific to their role and as player’s progress; they will unlock other characters in the various classes each with their own weapons and abilities which gives players far more options than simply having to play the same class in a new characters but with the same weapons and abilities.
The game also allows players to play as the monster and they will gain size and abilities as they consume the abundant local wildlife and “evolve” into a larger and more dangerous threat. Naturally as players gain experience, they will gain new abilities and even more weapons to use against the hunters.
Players have the option to play with friends, bots, or be randomly matched and there are various gameplay modes such as hunting, rescuing survivors, and defending an installation. There is also an Evacuation mode which tasks players to survive and complete various missions in a connected campaign where what they do or do not do over the missions will change options that are available to them. For example, players who are able to defend a power station will have gun emplacements available to them in the next mission. Failure to save the power plant will result I a toxic cloud being released which will harm the others. Other failures in this mode can result in the local wildlife becoming even more dangerous and aggressive which is not something you want to deal with when tracking the monster.
Playing on the PC version of the game I was impressed by the smooth frame rate and the lush and detailed environment in which I played. It was very easy finding others to play with and the system did a good job of matching players according to their level for the most part.
Shear is a very lush and dangerous world filled with all sorts of animals and plants who have no problem taking a bit out of you and party.
It is vital to work as a team, as lone wolf players rarely survive long, and as such the key is getting good players around you. I have had the misfortune to be teamed with players who do not come to your aid, who wander off and do their own thing, and ignore your suggestions for strategies. This usually results in a frustrating defeat.
I have also worked with a random team that was very helping of one another and while we endured some losses in early missions we rebounded well to complete the last two missions of the Evacuation mode and see a successful conclusion.
The players are fairly easy to control and anyone who has played Titanfall or Call of Duty: Advanced warfare will have a leg up in using the jet packs to jump and glide in combat and when navigating up and across terrain and obstacles.
Playing as the monster can be rewarding and also a challenge as knowing when the best time to stop running and attack the hunters is a key and also if you should stop evolving at level 3 and try to destroy various objects to win or try to evolve to the max levels.
As with the players, the success or failure of a mission can depend on how well the person playing the monster is. A novice with little skill tends to make for an unsatisfactory hunt while a seasoned player with good abilities can often present a frustrating challenge as many times the monster can appear to be overpowering. I can remember a recent mission where my team unloaded on the creature on three different exchanges and had their armor and health depleted. Pressing on the attack a few minutes later, the creature was able to take down the entire team in a matter of seconds despite being able to handle us in the early and much longer exchanges.
The weapons are painstakingly slow on the big guy as dart guns, fusion cutters, and lightning guns work well on the local wildlife but tend to not do much unless part of a joined and sustained attack. I remember one battle where I was unloading on the creature over and over, swapping weapons when one needed to recharge and the other needed to reload. Despite scoring hit after hit the creature was not taking any devastating damage and continued to ignore me while taking out other members of the team before giving me his full attention.
This is where running away can be a good thing as when hunters fall and you are unable to revive them, they can return to the battle when a drop ship returns which is indicated by a countdown on the screen.
The characters are diverse and interesting and have some great lines but after playing the Big Alpha, Beta, and some early access, I found that I was ready for some new lines and characters by the time the final release came out.
Evolve is a game that will be different things to different people. Some will bemoan the lack of a traditional campaign while others will want more powerful weapons and balance.
If you’re happy playing a game that is at its core an online co-op game then Evolve is a game you will want to play. If you’re someone who needs a structured and lengthy campaign with multiple locales, then Evolve may not be to your liking.
Some gamers have complained about the amount of DLC that was available at launch stating that some of it should have been included in the final game. My take on DLC is pretty straight forward and you can see it here. That being said, taking Evolve for what it is rather that what it is not, it is a very beautiful and action filled game that will present plenty of fun and challenges along the way for gamers. What you ultimately do with the game is largely up to the players as they will find the gameplay style, customizations, and characters that work best for them.
I am curious what the future will bring for the series as I would not mind seeing new characters, weapons and scenarios but for now, what is available is highly enjoyable and challenging.
http://sknr.net/2015/02/24/evolve/
Turtle Rock Studios and 2K have combined to give gamers EVOLVE, a game that takes the co-op gameplay aspects of Left 4 Dead and throws in some new wrinkles and features thanks in large part to the increased power of the next generation of gaming consoles and the versatility and power of gaming PCs.
The game is set on a distant planet named Shear where giant and deadly creatures are threatening the established colonies to the point where an evacuation is being planned. As such a team of expert hunters is assigned to locate and eliminate the creatures posing the threat and as such players play as one of four classes, Assault, Trapper, Medic, and Support. Each class has weapons and abilities specific to their role and as player’s progress; they will unlock other characters in the various classes each with their own weapons and abilities which gives players far more options than simply having to play the same class in a new characters but with the same weapons and abilities.
The game also allows players to play as the monster and they will gain size and abilities as they consume the abundant local wildlife and “evolve” into a larger and more dangerous threat. Naturally as players gain experience, they will gain new abilities and even more weapons to use against the hunters.
Players have the option to play with friends, bots, or be randomly matched and there are various gameplay modes such as hunting, rescuing survivors, and defending an installation. There is also an Evacuation mode which tasks players to survive and complete various missions in a connected campaign where what they do or do not do over the missions will change options that are available to them. For example, players who are able to defend a power station will have gun emplacements available to them in the next mission. Failure to save the power plant will result I a toxic cloud being released which will harm the others. Other failures in this mode can result in the local wildlife becoming even more dangerous and aggressive which is not something you want to deal with when tracking the monster.
Playing on the PC version of the game I was impressed by the smooth frame rate and the lush and detailed environment in which I played. It was very easy finding others to play with and the system did a good job of matching players according to their level for the most part.
Shear is a very lush and dangerous world filled with all sorts of animals and plants who have no problem taking a bit out of you and party.
It is vital to work as a team, as lone wolf players rarely survive long, and as such the key is getting good players around you. I have had the misfortune to be teamed with players who do not come to your aid, who wander off and do their own thing, and ignore your suggestions for strategies. This usually results in a frustrating defeat.
I have also worked with a random team that was very helping of one another and while we endured some losses in early missions we rebounded well to complete the last two missions of the Evacuation mode and see a successful conclusion.
The players are fairly easy to control and anyone who has played Titanfall or Call of Duty: Advanced warfare will have a leg up in using the jet packs to jump and glide in combat and when navigating up and across terrain and obstacles.
Playing as the monster can be rewarding and also a challenge as knowing when the best time to stop running and attack the hunters is a key and also if you should stop evolving at level 3 and try to destroy various objects to win or try to evolve to the max levels.
As with the players, the success or failure of a mission can depend on how well the person playing the monster is. A novice with little skill tends to make for an unsatisfactory hunt while a seasoned player with good abilities can often present a frustrating challenge as many times the monster can appear to be overpowering. I can remember a recent mission where my team unloaded on the creature on three different exchanges and had their armor and health depleted. Pressing on the attack a few minutes later, the creature was able to take down the entire team in a matter of seconds despite being able to handle us in the early and much longer exchanges.
The weapons are painstakingly slow on the big guy as dart guns, fusion cutters, and lightning guns work well on the local wildlife but tend to not do much unless part of a joined and sustained attack. I remember one battle where I was unloading on the creature over and over, swapping weapons when one needed to recharge and the other needed to reload. Despite scoring hit after hit the creature was not taking any devastating damage and continued to ignore me while taking out other members of the team before giving me his full attention.
This is where running away can be a good thing as when hunters fall and you are unable to revive them, they can return to the battle when a drop ship returns which is indicated by a countdown on the screen.
The characters are diverse and interesting and have some great lines but after playing the Big Alpha, Beta, and some early access, I found that I was ready for some new lines and characters by the time the final release came out.
Evolve is a game that will be different things to different people. Some will bemoan the lack of a traditional campaign while others will want more powerful weapons and balance.
If you’re happy playing a game that is at its core an online co-op game then Evolve is a game you will want to play. If you’re someone who needs a structured and lengthy campaign with multiple locales, then Evolve may not be to your liking.
Some gamers have complained about the amount of DLC that was available at launch stating that some of it should have been included in the final game. My take on DLC is pretty straight forward and you can see it here. That being said, taking Evolve for what it is rather that what it is not, it is a very beautiful and action filled game that will present plenty of fun and challenges along the way for gamers. What you ultimately do with the game is largely up to the players as they will find the gameplay style, customizations, and characters that work best for them.
I am curious what the future will bring for the series as I would not mind seeing new characters, weapons and scenarios but for now, what is available is highly enjoyable and challenging.
http://sknr.net/2015/02/24/evolve/
Charlie Cobra Reviews (1840 KP) rated the Xbox One version of Xuan Yuan Sword 7 in Video Games
Oct 4, 2021
Beautiful looking world and nice graphics (2 more)
Pretty enjoyable story and gameplay
Interesting mix of fantasy and history
Lacks the polish that could have made it great (2 more)
Too linear and doesn’t open up enough
Combat could have been further refined
Interesting and Ambitious but Ultimately Average
So to start this review I got to say that I'm pretty mixed on how I feel about this game. For one it definitely has a lot of potential and enough going for it that it could have been a really good. But on the other hand it had a lot of things that I feel could have been done better and falls far from being a great game to just around average for me. The story itself isn't terrible but it suffers from bad writing and performance of the voice actors. The world itself seems like it could have been a lot more interesting but it just wasn't engaging enough half the time.
It seemed like it was going to be an open world game but wound up being very linear in nature although it had aspects of an open world game like side quests, fast travel, and even treasure chests scattered throughout the game world as well. There's a climbing mechanic that seemed kind of pointless because it was pretty much just a cut scene of in game graphics of you climbing a little cliff or sometimes it would turn into an interactive part where you had to move the analog stick to move the character. Still it was better than these weird times that the game gave you control of the character for a scene in which your only movement was preset like a ride on a rail that couldn't veer off a road.
I liked that it was an action-RPG meaning instead of turn based combat like most RPG's it had an active combat system where you could move at your own leisure and consisted of hack and slash combat with some martial art skills, blocking, dodging, and some riposte (parrying). There are four basic martial art skills which can be learned as you progress through the game, Bull, Wolf, Bear, and Tiger. They become stronger and increase the length or hits of their combo the more you use them. A big draw back is that you could only equip or use two at one time although they can be changed at anytime through the talent menu. Then there are three special martial art skills which are Taowu, Tundou and ?
The combat was one of the things that had me really conflicted. A cool thing I liked about the combat was that there was a meter that would go up when you would attack an enemy and if it filled all the way you could perform an execution on them. Otherwise it was very unresponsive most of the time making dodging and parrying really hard and kind of useless. I found the blocking especially useless because of how much damage you still incurred. There is a skill tree for new martial arts and you can create and upgrade structures in Elysium that can enhance various things, such as weapon, armor, accessories and more. You can also use the fusion to capture the souls of enemies in combat and fuse them together in Elysium to equip them for bonus stats and effects.
Your able to carry items in your inventory which are mainly objects like items that don't do anything except advance the story or quest and some like healing weapons. There is an equipment screen for weapons and accessories but you only stay with one weapon the whole game. It does change and become stronger and its appearance changes too. You can even change outfits. I'm not sure if you get any in the game as the version I played came with a couple of additional weapons/costumes. You do wind up getting some party members which is customary of some RPG's and they help out by attacking enemies on their own. You can control them by activating some abilities or special attacks that have cooldown times for when you can use them again. There's a minigame called Zhuolu chess and it can be pretty fun and a nice change of pace but not what you were looking for when you bought the game.
You can save your game and recover health at random campfires throughout the game world as well as listen to some party dialogue when you choose to rest. The dialogue tends to repeat often and doesn't really advance the story much or fit where you are at in the story that often. These game mechanics are similar to Dark Souls as resting respawns enemies when you save at a bonfire and get healed too. As I mentioned earlier the game employs a fast travel system consisting of waypoints called guard stones that you can activate when found. There is an element of puzzle solving in the game but they don't seem to be that hard to figure out and some can even be skipped if you don't want to bother with it.
The graphics were pretty solid and the game surely looks good for the most part. The textures are sometimes rough in the environment and sometimes there's very noticeable instances of "pop-ins" but overall aesthetic and style is beautiful. You really never get to play games where you get to see ancient Chinese castles, cities, or kingdoms so that was nice. The leaves in the trees are even ruffled by the wind, which is a nice touch. The main characters like Zhao and his sister Xiang look great and so do most of the secondary characters like Chu-Hong and Mo Huang. It just makes it that more disappointing when you see sub-par detail in the NPC's and stiff cutscenes because you know they could have done better on those too. Maybe they didn't have enough time, man power or budget.
The music was probably one of the best additions to the game as a whole. Containing traditional Chinese sounds and instruments befitting the setting the music was great. There are some instances where there is no music and the void is filled with nothing but awkward silence or the sound of footsteps. Only the subpar voice acting fills the dead air and background music would have added more depth to certain parts and scenes of the game. There's no English dubbing for the voice acting in the game it's only in Mandarin/Chinese which isn't bad in itself except the performances are kind of hit and miss and not very balanced.
Verdict: [5/10]
The game seemed very rough around the edges, it lacked that "polished" feel that it would have gotten if it had been a "AAA" game instead of a "AA" game. It's linear aspects left little to no deviation for exploring the world other than the main quest making it feel like going through a tunnel from location to the next. The distances between the towns and villages also made the world feel really small which it probably was. The story and gameplay were enjoyable enough but writing and especially acting/voice acting in key cutscenes needed work. The combat was was so uninspired I felt like I was doing the same sword attacks the whole game and they never really changed. And last thing, even if it doesn't help or is in any way useful, I like to be able to make my character jump and this game didn't let you do that either. So in conclusion I have to give Xuan Yuan Sword 7 a 5/10. It's an average or ok game, which has it's moments but nothing to write home about. However if they make a Xuan Yuan Sword 8, I'd be looking forward to see what kind of improvements they would make in the next installment.
It seemed like it was going to be an open world game but wound up being very linear in nature although it had aspects of an open world game like side quests, fast travel, and even treasure chests scattered throughout the game world as well. There's a climbing mechanic that seemed kind of pointless because it was pretty much just a cut scene of in game graphics of you climbing a little cliff or sometimes it would turn into an interactive part where you had to move the analog stick to move the character. Still it was better than these weird times that the game gave you control of the character for a scene in which your only movement was preset like a ride on a rail that couldn't veer off a road.
I liked that it was an action-RPG meaning instead of turn based combat like most RPG's it had an active combat system where you could move at your own leisure and consisted of hack and slash combat with some martial art skills, blocking, dodging, and some riposte (parrying). There are four basic martial art skills which can be learned as you progress through the game, Bull, Wolf, Bear, and Tiger. They become stronger and increase the length or hits of their combo the more you use them. A big draw back is that you could only equip or use two at one time although they can be changed at anytime through the talent menu. Then there are three special martial art skills which are Taowu, Tundou and ?
The combat was one of the things that had me really conflicted. A cool thing I liked about the combat was that there was a meter that would go up when you would attack an enemy and if it filled all the way you could perform an execution on them. Otherwise it was very unresponsive most of the time making dodging and parrying really hard and kind of useless. I found the blocking especially useless because of how much damage you still incurred. There is a skill tree for new martial arts and you can create and upgrade structures in Elysium that can enhance various things, such as weapon, armor, accessories and more. You can also use the fusion to capture the souls of enemies in combat and fuse them together in Elysium to equip them for bonus stats and effects.
Your able to carry items in your inventory which are mainly objects like items that don't do anything except advance the story or quest and some like healing weapons. There is an equipment screen for weapons and accessories but you only stay with one weapon the whole game. It does change and become stronger and its appearance changes too. You can even change outfits. I'm not sure if you get any in the game as the version I played came with a couple of additional weapons/costumes. You do wind up getting some party members which is customary of some RPG's and they help out by attacking enemies on their own. You can control them by activating some abilities or special attacks that have cooldown times for when you can use them again. There's a minigame called Zhuolu chess and it can be pretty fun and a nice change of pace but not what you were looking for when you bought the game.
You can save your game and recover health at random campfires throughout the game world as well as listen to some party dialogue when you choose to rest. The dialogue tends to repeat often and doesn't really advance the story much or fit where you are at in the story that often. These game mechanics are similar to Dark Souls as resting respawns enemies when you save at a bonfire and get healed too. As I mentioned earlier the game employs a fast travel system consisting of waypoints called guard stones that you can activate when found. There is an element of puzzle solving in the game but they don't seem to be that hard to figure out and some can even be skipped if you don't want to bother with it.
The graphics were pretty solid and the game surely looks good for the most part. The textures are sometimes rough in the environment and sometimes there's very noticeable instances of "pop-ins" but overall aesthetic and style is beautiful. You really never get to play games where you get to see ancient Chinese castles, cities, or kingdoms so that was nice. The leaves in the trees are even ruffled by the wind, which is a nice touch. The main characters like Zhao and his sister Xiang look great and so do most of the secondary characters like Chu-Hong and Mo Huang. It just makes it that more disappointing when you see sub-par detail in the NPC's and stiff cutscenes because you know they could have done better on those too. Maybe they didn't have enough time, man power or budget.
The music was probably one of the best additions to the game as a whole. Containing traditional Chinese sounds and instruments befitting the setting the music was great. There are some instances where there is no music and the void is filled with nothing but awkward silence or the sound of footsteps. Only the subpar voice acting fills the dead air and background music would have added more depth to certain parts and scenes of the game. There's no English dubbing for the voice acting in the game it's only in Mandarin/Chinese which isn't bad in itself except the performances are kind of hit and miss and not very balanced.
Verdict: [5/10]
The game seemed very rough around the edges, it lacked that "polished" feel that it would have gotten if it had been a "AAA" game instead of a "AA" game. It's linear aspects left little to no deviation for exploring the world other than the main quest making it feel like going through a tunnel from location to the next. The distances between the towns and villages also made the world feel really small which it probably was. The story and gameplay were enjoyable enough but writing and especially acting/voice acting in key cutscenes needed work. The combat was was so uninspired I felt like I was doing the same sword attacks the whole game and they never really changed. And last thing, even if it doesn't help or is in any way useful, I like to be able to make my character jump and this game didn't let you do that either. So in conclusion I have to give Xuan Yuan Sword 7 a 5/10. It's an average or ok game, which has it's moments but nothing to write home about. However if they make a Xuan Yuan Sword 8, I'd be looking forward to see what kind of improvements they would make in the next installment.
Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Mary Poppins Returns (2018) in Movies
Sep 28, 2021
A valiant attempt to recreate a masterpiece.
How do you repaint a masterpiece: the Mona Lisa of children’s fantasy cinema? Some would say “You shouldn’t try”.
As I’ve said before, Mary Poppins was the first film I saw when it came out (or soon afterwards) at a very impressionable age…. I was said to have bawled my eyes out with “THE MAGIC NANNY IS GOING AWAY!!” as Julie Andrews floated off! So as my last cinema trip of 2018 I went to see this sequel, 54 years after the original, with a sense of dread. I’m relieved to say that although the film has its flaws it’s by no means the disaster I envisaged.
The plot
It’s a fairly lightweight story. Now all grown up, young Michael from the original film (Ben Whishaw) has his own family. His troubles though come not singly but in battalions since not only is he grieving a recent loss but he is also about to be evicted from 17 Cherry Tree Lane. Help is at hand in that his father, George Banks, had shares with the Fidelity Fiduciary Bank. But despite their best efforts neither he, his sister Jane (Emily Mortimer) nor their chirpy “strike a light” lamplighter friend Jack (Lin-Manuel Miranda) can find the all-important share certificates. With the deadline from bank manager Wilkins (Colin Firth) approaching, it’s fortuitous that Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt) drops in to look after the Banks children – John (Nathanael Saleh), Anabel (Pixie Davies) and Georgie (Joel Dawson) – in her own inimitable fashion.
Songs that are more Meh-ry Poppins
I know musical taste is very personal. My biggest problem with the film though was that the songs by Marc Shaiman were, to me, on the lacklustre side. Only one jumped out and struck me: the jaunty vaudeville number “A Cover is not the Book”. Elsewhere they were – to me – unmemorable and nowhere near as catchy as those of “The Greatest Showman“. (What amplified this for me was having some of the classic Sherman-brothers themes woven into the soundtrack that just made me realise what I was missing!) Richard M Sherman – now 90 – was credited with “Music Consultant” but I wonder how much input he actually had?
The other flaws
Another issue I had with the film was that it just tried WAAYYY too hard to tick off the key attributes of the original:
‘Mary in the mirror’ – check
‘Bottomless carpet bag’ – check
‘Initial fun in the nursery’ – check
‘Quirky trip to a cartoon land’ – check
‘Dance on the ceiling with a quirky relative’ – check
‘Chirpy chimney sweeps’ – check (“Er… Mr Marshall… we couldn’t get chimney sweeps… will lamplighters do?” “Yeah, good enough”)
Another thing that struck me about the film – particularly as a film aimed at kids – is just how long it is. At 2 hours and 10 minutes it’s a bladder-testing experience for adults let alone younger children. (It’s worth noting that this is still 9 minutes shorter than the original, but back in the 60’s we had FAR fewer options to be stimulated by entertainment and our attention spans were – I think – much longer as a result!)
What it does get right
But with this whinging aside, the film does get a number of things spit-spot on.
Emily Blunt is near perfection as Poppins. (In the interests of balance my wife found her bizarrely clipped accent very grating, but I suspect P.L. Travers would have approved!). Broadway star Lin-Manuel Miranda also does a good job as Jack, although you wonder whether the ‘society of cockney actors’ must again be in a big grump about the casting! I found Emily Mortimer just delightful as the grown-up Jane, although Ben Whishaw‘s Michael didn’t particularly connect with me.
Almost unrecognisable was David Warner as the now wheelchair-bound Admiral Boom. His first mate is none other than Jim Norton of “Father Ted” Bishop Brennan fame (thanks to my daughter Jenn for pointing that one out)!
Also watch out (I’d largely missed it before I realised!) for a nice pavement cameo by Karen Dotrice, the original Jane, asking directions to number 19 Cherry Tree Lane.
What the film also gets right is to implement the old-school animation of the “Jolly Holidays” segment of the original. That’s a really smart move. Filmed at Shepperton Studios in London, this is once again a great advert for Britain’s film technicians. The London sets and the costumes (by the great Sandy Powell) are just superb.
Some cameo cherries on the cake
Finally, the aces in the hole are the two cameos near the end of the film. And they would have been lovely surprises as well since neither name appears in the opening credits. It’s therefore a CRYING SHAME that they chose to let the cat out of the bag in the trailer (BLOODY MARKETING EXECS!). In case you haven’t seen the trailer, I won’t spoil it for you here. But as a magical movie experience the first of those cameos moved me close to tears. He also delivers a hum-dinger of a plot twist that is a genuinely welcome crossover from the first film.
Final Thoughts
Rob Marshall directs, and with a pretty impossible task he delivers an end-product that, while it didn’t completely thrill me, did well not to trash my delicate hopes and dreams either. Having just listened to Kermode and Mayo’s review (and it seems that Mark Kermode places Poppins on a similar pedestal to me) the songs (and therefore the “Place Where Lost Things Go” song) just didn’t resonate with me in the same way, and so, unlike Kermode, I mentally never bridged the gap to safely enjoying it.
But what we all think is secondary. Because if some three or four year old out there gets a similarly lifelong love of the cinema by watching this, then that’s all that matters.
As I’ve said before, Mary Poppins was the first film I saw when it came out (or soon afterwards) at a very impressionable age…. I was said to have bawled my eyes out with “THE MAGIC NANNY IS GOING AWAY!!” as Julie Andrews floated off! So as my last cinema trip of 2018 I went to see this sequel, 54 years after the original, with a sense of dread. I’m relieved to say that although the film has its flaws it’s by no means the disaster I envisaged.
The plot
It’s a fairly lightweight story. Now all grown up, young Michael from the original film (Ben Whishaw) has his own family. His troubles though come not singly but in battalions since not only is he grieving a recent loss but he is also about to be evicted from 17 Cherry Tree Lane. Help is at hand in that his father, George Banks, had shares with the Fidelity Fiduciary Bank. But despite their best efforts neither he, his sister Jane (Emily Mortimer) nor their chirpy “strike a light” lamplighter friend Jack (Lin-Manuel Miranda) can find the all-important share certificates. With the deadline from bank manager Wilkins (Colin Firth) approaching, it’s fortuitous that Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt) drops in to look after the Banks children – John (Nathanael Saleh), Anabel (Pixie Davies) and Georgie (Joel Dawson) – in her own inimitable fashion.
Songs that are more Meh-ry Poppins
I know musical taste is very personal. My biggest problem with the film though was that the songs by Marc Shaiman were, to me, on the lacklustre side. Only one jumped out and struck me: the jaunty vaudeville number “A Cover is not the Book”. Elsewhere they were – to me – unmemorable and nowhere near as catchy as those of “The Greatest Showman“. (What amplified this for me was having some of the classic Sherman-brothers themes woven into the soundtrack that just made me realise what I was missing!) Richard M Sherman – now 90 – was credited with “Music Consultant” but I wonder how much input he actually had?
The other flaws
Another issue I had with the film was that it just tried WAAYYY too hard to tick off the key attributes of the original:
‘Mary in the mirror’ – check
‘Bottomless carpet bag’ – check
‘Initial fun in the nursery’ – check
‘Quirky trip to a cartoon land’ – check
‘Dance on the ceiling with a quirky relative’ – check
‘Chirpy chimney sweeps’ – check (“Er… Mr Marshall… we couldn’t get chimney sweeps… will lamplighters do?” “Yeah, good enough”)
Another thing that struck me about the film – particularly as a film aimed at kids – is just how long it is. At 2 hours and 10 minutes it’s a bladder-testing experience for adults let alone younger children. (It’s worth noting that this is still 9 minutes shorter than the original, but back in the 60’s we had FAR fewer options to be stimulated by entertainment and our attention spans were – I think – much longer as a result!)
What it does get right
But with this whinging aside, the film does get a number of things spit-spot on.
Emily Blunt is near perfection as Poppins. (In the interests of balance my wife found her bizarrely clipped accent very grating, but I suspect P.L. Travers would have approved!). Broadway star Lin-Manuel Miranda also does a good job as Jack, although you wonder whether the ‘society of cockney actors’ must again be in a big grump about the casting! I found Emily Mortimer just delightful as the grown-up Jane, although Ben Whishaw‘s Michael didn’t particularly connect with me.
Almost unrecognisable was David Warner as the now wheelchair-bound Admiral Boom. His first mate is none other than Jim Norton of “Father Ted” Bishop Brennan fame (thanks to my daughter Jenn for pointing that one out)!
Also watch out (I’d largely missed it before I realised!) for a nice pavement cameo by Karen Dotrice, the original Jane, asking directions to number 19 Cherry Tree Lane.
What the film also gets right is to implement the old-school animation of the “Jolly Holidays” segment of the original. That’s a really smart move. Filmed at Shepperton Studios in London, this is once again a great advert for Britain’s film technicians. The London sets and the costumes (by the great Sandy Powell) are just superb.
Some cameo cherries on the cake
Finally, the aces in the hole are the two cameos near the end of the film. And they would have been lovely surprises as well since neither name appears in the opening credits. It’s therefore a CRYING SHAME that they chose to let the cat out of the bag in the trailer (BLOODY MARKETING EXECS!). In case you haven’t seen the trailer, I won’t spoil it for you here. But as a magical movie experience the first of those cameos moved me close to tears. He also delivers a hum-dinger of a plot twist that is a genuinely welcome crossover from the first film.
Final Thoughts
Rob Marshall directs, and with a pretty impossible task he delivers an end-product that, while it didn’t completely thrill me, did well not to trash my delicate hopes and dreams either. Having just listened to Kermode and Mayo’s review (and it seems that Mark Kermode places Poppins on a similar pedestal to me) the songs (and therefore the “Place Where Lost Things Go” song) just didn’t resonate with me in the same way, and so, unlike Kermode, I mentally never bridged the gap to safely enjoying it.
But what we all think is secondary. Because if some three or four year old out there gets a similarly lifelong love of the cinema by watching this, then that’s all that matters.
Lee (2222 KP) rated Jumanji: The Next Level (2019) in Movies
Dec 23, 2019
Like pretty much everyone else, when I first heard that the Robin Williams 1985 classic Jumanji was getting some kind of reboot/remake starring Dwayne Johnson, I was hugely sceptical. I probably even rolled my eyes and raised an eyebrow or something in disappointed disbelief! But then, also like pretty much everyone else judging by the fact it went on to make almost a billion dollars, I was more than pleasantly surprised when Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle turned out to be a big hit - an enjoyable, fresh take on the Jumanji idea, while still remaining true to the original. But, big box office numbers usually mean that a sequel won't be too far off and, sure enough, Jumanji: The Next Level was announced, with the original cast all returning. Hopefully they weren't going to end up stretching the formula too thin and had managed to come up with another new and exciting adventure to entice us back into the world of Jumanji.
Our four teens from Welcome to the Jungle are all still great friends following their ordeal/adventure together, although Spencer has become more distant from the group over the last year, seeming rather unhappy and depressed with life. As the rest of the group excitedly exchange messages on Whatsapp in preparation to return home for a Christmas reunion, Spencer is getting yelled at by his boss before struggling with a broken suitcase in the pouring rain as he heads to catch the bus home. When he does make it home, his Grandpa Eddie (Danny DeVito) is staying with them while he recovers from a hip operation, and Spencer now has the pleasure of sharing his bedroom with him. Complaining about old age, Eddie is the kind of grumpy character that Danny DeVito plays so perfectly and we are also introduced soon after to an old friend of his, Milo (Danny Glover). Eddie and Milo are former partners in the restaurant business, but haven't been on the best of terms over the last 15 years since they sold the restaurant and parted on not the best of terms.
When Spencer suddenly goes missing and his three friends go looking for him, they discover the battered Jumanji video game down in his basement, with Spencer's mobile phone and coat laying nearby. They realise that Spencer has ventured back into Jumanji and decide that they must join him in order to increase his chances of getting out of there alive. But this time round, it's not just the teens who get pulled into the game, as Eddie and Milo also find themselves inside Jumanji. And, just to mix things up a bit from the last movie, not everyone winds up in the same avatar as they did before either. So, similar to what we got last time, we're treated to plenty of comedy moments while everyone becomes accustomed to their new body and is either disgusted or overjoyed with what they've got. Grandpa Eddie finds himself as Dr. Bravestone while Milo is Franklin 'Mouse' Finbar, so obviously now having a fully functional, new and improved body is a pretty big deal for the old timers. Seeing Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart act out their very best impersonations of DeVito and Glover is a lot of fun and straight away serves up a completely different dynamic to that of the first movie. On top of that, there are some differences in the skills and weaknesses that each avatar now possesses and the introduction throughout the movie of a few more avatars in order to cater for the additional players who are now in the game.
When it comes to the quest that the team must embark upon in order to beat the game, this doesn't seem quite as well fleshed out or developed as in Welcome to the Jungle, and it's where this movie is lacking. The villain isn't at all interesting, and neither is the journey they take in order to get there. There are a couple of big fun action scenes, but also a lot of filler scenes that are somewhat lacking. It's still that winning formula from the previous movie, but with something missing.
As before though, it's the characters that shine through and make this all the more enjoyable. Probably the biggest addition this time round is Awkwafina as Ming Fleetfoot, who proves to be just as entertaining as the rest of the avatars. And, just to keep us on our toes, there are a couple of times where a dip in some magical water causes the players to switch avatars, meaning the cast get a chance to act in a different way as they get to grips with a new body and skills again.
Overall, Jumanji: The Next Level felt like more of the same, only not quite as good as Welcome to the Jungle. Obviously, there's a teaser or two of a sequel at the end of the movie and I'm sure the characters telling each other that they'll “never go back again” won't be enough to stop that from happening should this movie do as well as the last one!
Our four teens from Welcome to the Jungle are all still great friends following their ordeal/adventure together, although Spencer has become more distant from the group over the last year, seeming rather unhappy and depressed with life. As the rest of the group excitedly exchange messages on Whatsapp in preparation to return home for a Christmas reunion, Spencer is getting yelled at by his boss before struggling with a broken suitcase in the pouring rain as he heads to catch the bus home. When he does make it home, his Grandpa Eddie (Danny DeVito) is staying with them while he recovers from a hip operation, and Spencer now has the pleasure of sharing his bedroom with him. Complaining about old age, Eddie is the kind of grumpy character that Danny DeVito plays so perfectly and we are also introduced soon after to an old friend of his, Milo (Danny Glover). Eddie and Milo are former partners in the restaurant business, but haven't been on the best of terms over the last 15 years since they sold the restaurant and parted on not the best of terms.
When Spencer suddenly goes missing and his three friends go looking for him, they discover the battered Jumanji video game down in his basement, with Spencer's mobile phone and coat laying nearby. They realise that Spencer has ventured back into Jumanji and decide that they must join him in order to increase his chances of getting out of there alive. But this time round, it's not just the teens who get pulled into the game, as Eddie and Milo also find themselves inside Jumanji. And, just to mix things up a bit from the last movie, not everyone winds up in the same avatar as they did before either. So, similar to what we got last time, we're treated to plenty of comedy moments while everyone becomes accustomed to their new body and is either disgusted or overjoyed with what they've got. Grandpa Eddie finds himself as Dr. Bravestone while Milo is Franklin 'Mouse' Finbar, so obviously now having a fully functional, new and improved body is a pretty big deal for the old timers. Seeing Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart act out their very best impersonations of DeVito and Glover is a lot of fun and straight away serves up a completely different dynamic to that of the first movie. On top of that, there are some differences in the skills and weaknesses that each avatar now possesses and the introduction throughout the movie of a few more avatars in order to cater for the additional players who are now in the game.
When it comes to the quest that the team must embark upon in order to beat the game, this doesn't seem quite as well fleshed out or developed as in Welcome to the Jungle, and it's where this movie is lacking. The villain isn't at all interesting, and neither is the journey they take in order to get there. There are a couple of big fun action scenes, but also a lot of filler scenes that are somewhat lacking. It's still that winning formula from the previous movie, but with something missing.
As before though, it's the characters that shine through and make this all the more enjoyable. Probably the biggest addition this time round is Awkwafina as Ming Fleetfoot, who proves to be just as entertaining as the rest of the avatars. And, just to keep us on our toes, there are a couple of times where a dip in some magical water causes the players to switch avatars, meaning the cast get a chance to act in a different way as they get to grips with a new body and skills again.
Overall, Jumanji: The Next Level felt like more of the same, only not quite as good as Welcome to the Jungle. Obviously, there's a teaser or two of a sequel at the end of the movie and I'm sure the characters telling each other that they'll “never go back again” won't be enough to stop that from happening should this movie do as well as the last one!
Chris Sawin (602 KP) rated Jurassic World: Dominion (2022) in Movies
Jun 16, 2022
The Therizinosaurus and Pyroraptor sequences. (2 more)
The final dinosaur battle.
Jeff Goldblum
No chemistry between the cast. (2 more)
Not enough dinosaurs.
Human drama overshadows anything remotely dinosaur related.
You Can't Squeeze Gold From a Dried Up Fossil
Four years after the events of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, dinosaurs now roam free and are a part of everyday life. Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) and Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) have been taking care of Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon) while living in a cabin deep within the Sierra Nevada mountains. Biosyn Genetics now utilizes the dinosaurs as a means to try to cure the world’s most devastating diseases.
Maisie’s unique clone DNA is suddenly the world’s only hope for surviving against a swarm of de-extinct giant locusts that is growing in number, spreading from continent to continent, and attacking the source of the world’s food supply. Biosyn kidnaps Maisie along with Beta; the offspring of Blue, the velociraptor Owen trained, who reproduced Beta asexually. Meanwhile, with the help of Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) recruits Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) to break into Biosyn in an attempt to prove that they are the ones responsible for the giant locusts.
The big drawing point of Jurassic World Dominion is that not only is it the first time Jeff Goldblum, Laura Dern, and Sam Neill have been together in a Jurassic Park film since the original, but you get to see them interact with the main characters of the Jurassic World films. The problem is that it wasn’t worth the wait. The highlight of the Jurassic Park films are the dinosaurs and it seems like Dominion purposely keeps its audience away from what they came to see for the majority of the film. To make matters worse, all of the human interactions fall flat. What little comedic humor the film tries to provide is met with blank stares and there seems to be more time spent talking about relationships between characters, teenager woes, and villainous characters who have suddenly turned a new leaf over actual dinosaur goodness.
Why anyone decided that Owen’s trademark pose of his arm being extended with his palm being the only defense between them and a wild dinosaur mauling them to death is beyond anyone’s comprehension. It’s done so often here and what’s even more frustrating is that it works every time. The film throws in these sappy and melodramatic excursions that simply aren’t worth the hassle. Claire and Owen attempting to be parents is excruciating and the way this film has decided to force Ellie Sattler and Alan Grant into an awkward, romantic fling is more uncomfortable than it is satisfying.
The film does offer a few highlights, but not nearly enough amongst its close to 150-minute runtime. The motorcycle chase in Malta is the film’s most entertaining action sequence and the pyroraptor scene on top of the ice is also incredibly thrilling. The three-way dinosaur battle during the finale of the film is cool, but it feels like it’s been done previously. As the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World films progressed, they seemed to always try to be topping the T. Rex and yet were never really able to.
Dominion includes the Giganotosaurus; an apex predator that is bigger and meaner than the T. Rex. The finale sees the T.Rex battling the Giganotosaurus with the help of a Therizinosaurus. Earlier in the film, the Therizinosaurus and its long, sharp, finger-like appendages provide the only nod to horror and classic monster movies Dominion provides as it stalks Claire in the jungle near the main Biosyn facility.
The film spends a lot of time focusing on human drama that you don’t care about. Claire and Owen bounce around the world as they try to find Maisie. They’re taken to an underground dinosaur fighting ring by Barry Sembène (Omar Sy), who now works for the CIA. They go on a wild goose chase as they trail behind Rainn Delacourt (Scott Haze), the man who kidnapped Maisie, and then Soyona Santos (Dichen Lachman), a dinosaur smuggler that has a direct line to Biosyn.
What’s disappointing is more of the film could have been devoted to Santos and the dinosaur black market since they are two of the most interesting aspects of the film. Dominion tries to make up for it by making pilot Kayla Watts (DeWanda Wise) the most intriguing new character, but her inclusion feels like it’s too little too late.
With Jurassic World Dominion, a Jurassic World film where dinosaurs are now free and interacting with the modern world shouldn’t feel this longwinded or this tiresome. There are a few action sequences that are worthwhile and Jeff Goldblum has a few great one-liners (“You made a promise to a dinosaur?”), but the film is a monumental disappointment overall.
The film has already made over $415 million at the worldwide box office, so the interest in the franchise is still there. But the chemistry between the cast is almost non-existent and it feels like the film is running on fumes as it tries to offer something new from what is otherwise dried up fossil fuel. If the Jurassic Park/Jurassic World franchise is to continue, it desperately needs to go in a refreshing and unseen direction. Now that all of the nostalgia is out of the way, fans deserve a refreshing and unique adventure over what is otherwise a glorified rehash.
Maisie’s unique clone DNA is suddenly the world’s only hope for surviving against a swarm of de-extinct giant locusts that is growing in number, spreading from continent to continent, and attacking the source of the world’s food supply. Biosyn kidnaps Maisie along with Beta; the offspring of Blue, the velociraptor Owen trained, who reproduced Beta asexually. Meanwhile, with the help of Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) recruits Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) to break into Biosyn in an attempt to prove that they are the ones responsible for the giant locusts.
The big drawing point of Jurassic World Dominion is that not only is it the first time Jeff Goldblum, Laura Dern, and Sam Neill have been together in a Jurassic Park film since the original, but you get to see them interact with the main characters of the Jurassic World films. The problem is that it wasn’t worth the wait. The highlight of the Jurassic Park films are the dinosaurs and it seems like Dominion purposely keeps its audience away from what they came to see for the majority of the film. To make matters worse, all of the human interactions fall flat. What little comedic humor the film tries to provide is met with blank stares and there seems to be more time spent talking about relationships between characters, teenager woes, and villainous characters who have suddenly turned a new leaf over actual dinosaur goodness.
Why anyone decided that Owen’s trademark pose of his arm being extended with his palm being the only defense between them and a wild dinosaur mauling them to death is beyond anyone’s comprehension. It’s done so often here and what’s even more frustrating is that it works every time. The film throws in these sappy and melodramatic excursions that simply aren’t worth the hassle. Claire and Owen attempting to be parents is excruciating and the way this film has decided to force Ellie Sattler and Alan Grant into an awkward, romantic fling is more uncomfortable than it is satisfying.
The film does offer a few highlights, but not nearly enough amongst its close to 150-minute runtime. The motorcycle chase in Malta is the film’s most entertaining action sequence and the pyroraptor scene on top of the ice is also incredibly thrilling. The three-way dinosaur battle during the finale of the film is cool, but it feels like it’s been done previously. As the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World films progressed, they seemed to always try to be topping the T. Rex and yet were never really able to.
Dominion includes the Giganotosaurus; an apex predator that is bigger and meaner than the T. Rex. The finale sees the T.Rex battling the Giganotosaurus with the help of a Therizinosaurus. Earlier in the film, the Therizinosaurus and its long, sharp, finger-like appendages provide the only nod to horror and classic monster movies Dominion provides as it stalks Claire in the jungle near the main Biosyn facility.
The film spends a lot of time focusing on human drama that you don’t care about. Claire and Owen bounce around the world as they try to find Maisie. They’re taken to an underground dinosaur fighting ring by Barry Sembène (Omar Sy), who now works for the CIA. They go on a wild goose chase as they trail behind Rainn Delacourt (Scott Haze), the man who kidnapped Maisie, and then Soyona Santos (Dichen Lachman), a dinosaur smuggler that has a direct line to Biosyn.
What’s disappointing is more of the film could have been devoted to Santos and the dinosaur black market since they are two of the most interesting aspects of the film. Dominion tries to make up for it by making pilot Kayla Watts (DeWanda Wise) the most intriguing new character, but her inclusion feels like it’s too little too late.
With Jurassic World Dominion, a Jurassic World film where dinosaurs are now free and interacting with the modern world shouldn’t feel this longwinded or this tiresome. There are a few action sequences that are worthwhile and Jeff Goldblum has a few great one-liners (“You made a promise to a dinosaur?”), but the film is a monumental disappointment overall.
The film has already made over $415 million at the worldwide box office, so the interest in the franchise is still there. But the chemistry between the cast is almost non-existent and it feels like the film is running on fumes as it tries to offer something new from what is otherwise dried up fossil fuel. If the Jurassic Park/Jurassic World franchise is to continue, it desperately needs to go in a refreshing and unseen direction. Now that all of the nostalgia is out of the way, fans deserve a refreshing and unique adventure over what is otherwise a glorified rehash.
Mothergamer (1546 KP) rated the PC version of The Elder Scrolls Online Tamriel Unlimited in Video Games
Apr 3, 2019
Many of my friends kept telling me I should play Elder Scrolls Online because it was a lot of fun and set before the events of Skyrim. I told them I didn't have it yet, but eventually I would check it out. I liked that they followed in the steps of Guild Wars 2 by not having a monthly subscription, once you buy the game it's yours to play to your heart's content. I waited until it went on sale on Steam and got the collector's edition which included three DLCs and a horse mount. I was excited to create a new character and explore the world of Elder Scrolls Online. I actually made two characters both in the Nightblade job class a Dark Elf and a Wood Elf. You can have 8 character slots which is pretty nice. I may go and try out a Khajiit character later.
One of the many Khajit characters in the game.
The character creation is very user friendly with a variety of options. However, I once again wondered why there so many different variations of bald for the female characters. I suppose that just gives you a lot of options if that's your thing. I did like that there were plenty of longer hair options for the characters. Once my character creation was complete, I could not wait to start my adventure. I also had to pick which server to play on North American or European. I went with North American as the time difference doesn't really let me play with my European friends. Depending on which character you pick: Dark Elf, Wood Elf, High Elf, Khajit, Argonian, Nord, Breton, Redguard, or Orc you start the game that gives you a tutorial introduction for the game controls and then you have racial origin quests you can play. I play the game on PC so my controls were for the PC, but you can also play the game on PS4 and XboxOne. Once I finished the tutorial quest I was able to really begin exploring the world of Tamriel.
My Dark Elf ready for adventure!
One great thing that stands out is how easy the controls are to map and use. The user menu for items and quest logs is incredibly user friendly making the game feel nicely streamlined. There is literally tons to see and do in Elder Scrolls Online ranging from a myriad of side quests to origin story quests as well as the main story quests. Another thing I like is the dungeon system. While I like Final Fantasy 14, the one thing I really do not like is how many forced dungeon crawls there are. Elder Scrolls Online has made it so that if you want to do a dungeon you can or you can just skip it if it's not your thing.
There are actually seven different types of dungeons. You have the public dungeons which if you have the right character build, you can solo very easily. This dungeon is open to everyone so solo players can come in and explore and team up with people who are in there if they wish. Public dungeons are a bit more challenging than the other dungeons so in general a group definitely helps. Delves are solo dungeons pertinent to whichever quest you're on. Non-Veteran group dungeons are instanced dungeons that require a group of four and are normal mode and scale to the level of the group leader. Veteran dungeons are instanced as well, but they don't unlock until you're level 50 and they are a higher difficulty than the other dungeons. Trials are 12 person instances that are mainly for endgame content and require a solid group and teamwork. Craglorn delves are instanced dungeons that have you kill a specific bosses inside. Finally, there is the Dragonstar Arena which is a 4 person instance PVE (Player versus event) arena. This has 10 different levels where you work together to fight 5 waves of monsters in each level and a final boss at the end. This is a difficult level dungeon for experienced players.
Battling in a Delve.
There is chat of course and for the most part it's alright in the fact that you can learn about events or people looking for groups so you can team up for quests and dungeons. This also lets you know what guilds are out there recruiting. Other times I tend to turn off zone chat because there's only so many sexual innuendo and dick jokes I can take. For the most part I run around by myself doing quests and I always have fun doing them and I have done a few group dungeons which are fun as well. The community in Elder Scrolls Online is quite friendly from what I've experienced and there are a lot of players who are willing to help if you need it and give advice about the game and class builds. I've even had a few players trade gear with me to help my Nightblade characters be even better which was so nice of them. That alone has made my experience with Elder Scrolls Online even more enjoyable.
The different areas that I've explored so far are beautiful. Just exploring is a lot of fun in itself because each area is completely different so it's a lot of fun to just look around at everything. The music in the game is fantastic as well and sets a great atmosphere for the story and quests. The battles are fun and easy to navigate. Leveling doesn't feel like a chore and unlocking skills is simple to do and with enough skill points you can even morph your skills into more powerful abilities. Traveling is great too because once you unlock a way shrine you can fast travel to those spots that you have unlocked. It does cost some gold when you fast travel however, but with all the quests you get under your belt it's not that big a deal. Traveling on a mount is easy, you can just use a command that has your character whistle and your mount will appear so you can head to where you need to go.
My Wood Elf admiring the beautiful scenery.
There is PVP (player versus player) in the game. You can fight in Cyrodiil from level 10 and above. You can also challenge other players to a duel anywhere in Tamriel. If the person accepts your duel challenge, a flag appears and you fight in the designated area marked by the flag, if you leave that area it results in a forfeit. I tried it out once just to see what it was like (PVP is not my thing) and it was alright. For those who love PVP it is one more fun adventure thing you can do in the game.
You can do crafting in the game as well. There is an introductory quest to crafting that you get so you can learn about the craft you choose. There are six crafts to choose from: Blacksmith, Clothier, Alchemy, Enchanting, Provisioning, and Woodworking. The tutorial on how to do the crafts is easy to follow and once you get started it's easy to do. This is also a terrific way to make a bit of extra coin in the game for all the things you need such as gear and healing potions.
The one issue I have with Elder Scrolls Online is that there is no cross platform gaming. This means if you play on the PC, but your friends play on the PS4 or XboxOne consoles you can't play together. This means that PC players are on their own server and the console players are on their own separate server. I can understand a bit why they did it that way, but it kind of sucks that I can't play with my friends who are on the console platforms. In that regard, Final Fantasy 14 is winning because you can play with your friends across all platforms. Perhaps that may change in the future, but for now that's not the case.
Lack of cross platform gaming aside, Elder Scrolls Online is a great game. It's a fun adventure with a ton of content to explore and plenty of things to see and do. I'm glad I was able to check it out and I'm enjoying playing by myself and with other people. It's an MMORPG that offers a lot of great things in its game and gives a huge amount of freedom to the different play styles that people have allowing everyone to enjoy the game the way they wish. Now, I'm off to do some more adventuring in Tamriel!
One of the many Khajit characters in the game.
The character creation is very user friendly with a variety of options. However, I once again wondered why there so many different variations of bald for the female characters. I suppose that just gives you a lot of options if that's your thing. I did like that there were plenty of longer hair options for the characters. Once my character creation was complete, I could not wait to start my adventure. I also had to pick which server to play on North American or European. I went with North American as the time difference doesn't really let me play with my European friends. Depending on which character you pick: Dark Elf, Wood Elf, High Elf, Khajit, Argonian, Nord, Breton, Redguard, or Orc you start the game that gives you a tutorial introduction for the game controls and then you have racial origin quests you can play. I play the game on PC so my controls were for the PC, but you can also play the game on PS4 and XboxOne. Once I finished the tutorial quest I was able to really begin exploring the world of Tamriel.
My Dark Elf ready for adventure!
One great thing that stands out is how easy the controls are to map and use. The user menu for items and quest logs is incredibly user friendly making the game feel nicely streamlined. There is literally tons to see and do in Elder Scrolls Online ranging from a myriad of side quests to origin story quests as well as the main story quests. Another thing I like is the dungeon system. While I like Final Fantasy 14, the one thing I really do not like is how many forced dungeon crawls there are. Elder Scrolls Online has made it so that if you want to do a dungeon you can or you can just skip it if it's not your thing.
There are actually seven different types of dungeons. You have the public dungeons which if you have the right character build, you can solo very easily. This dungeon is open to everyone so solo players can come in and explore and team up with people who are in there if they wish. Public dungeons are a bit more challenging than the other dungeons so in general a group definitely helps. Delves are solo dungeons pertinent to whichever quest you're on. Non-Veteran group dungeons are instanced dungeons that require a group of four and are normal mode and scale to the level of the group leader. Veteran dungeons are instanced as well, but they don't unlock until you're level 50 and they are a higher difficulty than the other dungeons. Trials are 12 person instances that are mainly for endgame content and require a solid group and teamwork. Craglorn delves are instanced dungeons that have you kill a specific bosses inside. Finally, there is the Dragonstar Arena which is a 4 person instance PVE (Player versus event) arena. This has 10 different levels where you work together to fight 5 waves of monsters in each level and a final boss at the end. This is a difficult level dungeon for experienced players.
Battling in a Delve.
There is chat of course and for the most part it's alright in the fact that you can learn about events or people looking for groups so you can team up for quests and dungeons. This also lets you know what guilds are out there recruiting. Other times I tend to turn off zone chat because there's only so many sexual innuendo and dick jokes I can take. For the most part I run around by myself doing quests and I always have fun doing them and I have done a few group dungeons which are fun as well. The community in Elder Scrolls Online is quite friendly from what I've experienced and there are a lot of players who are willing to help if you need it and give advice about the game and class builds. I've even had a few players trade gear with me to help my Nightblade characters be even better which was so nice of them. That alone has made my experience with Elder Scrolls Online even more enjoyable.
The different areas that I've explored so far are beautiful. Just exploring is a lot of fun in itself because each area is completely different so it's a lot of fun to just look around at everything. The music in the game is fantastic as well and sets a great atmosphere for the story and quests. The battles are fun and easy to navigate. Leveling doesn't feel like a chore and unlocking skills is simple to do and with enough skill points you can even morph your skills into more powerful abilities. Traveling is great too because once you unlock a way shrine you can fast travel to those spots that you have unlocked. It does cost some gold when you fast travel however, but with all the quests you get under your belt it's not that big a deal. Traveling on a mount is easy, you can just use a command that has your character whistle and your mount will appear so you can head to where you need to go.
My Wood Elf admiring the beautiful scenery.
There is PVP (player versus player) in the game. You can fight in Cyrodiil from level 10 and above. You can also challenge other players to a duel anywhere in Tamriel. If the person accepts your duel challenge, a flag appears and you fight in the designated area marked by the flag, if you leave that area it results in a forfeit. I tried it out once just to see what it was like (PVP is not my thing) and it was alright. For those who love PVP it is one more fun adventure thing you can do in the game.
You can do crafting in the game as well. There is an introductory quest to crafting that you get so you can learn about the craft you choose. There are six crafts to choose from: Blacksmith, Clothier, Alchemy, Enchanting, Provisioning, and Woodworking. The tutorial on how to do the crafts is easy to follow and once you get started it's easy to do. This is also a terrific way to make a bit of extra coin in the game for all the things you need such as gear and healing potions.
The one issue I have with Elder Scrolls Online is that there is no cross platform gaming. This means if you play on the PC, but your friends play on the PS4 or XboxOne consoles you can't play together. This means that PC players are on their own server and the console players are on their own separate server. I can understand a bit why they did it that way, but it kind of sucks that I can't play with my friends who are on the console platforms. In that regard, Final Fantasy 14 is winning because you can play with your friends across all platforms. Perhaps that may change in the future, but for now that's not the case.
Lack of cross platform gaming aside, Elder Scrolls Online is a great game. It's a fun adventure with a ton of content to explore and plenty of things to see and do. I'm glad I was able to check it out and I'm enjoying playing by myself and with other people. It's an MMORPG that offers a lot of great things in its game and gives a huge amount of freedom to the different play styles that people have allowing everyone to enjoy the game the way they wish. Now, I'm off to do some more adventuring in Tamriel!
Mothergamer (1546 KP) rated the PlayStation 3 version of Fallout New Vegas in Video Games
Apr 3, 2019
Once I finished Fallout 3, I went on to playing Fallout New Vegas. I really liked the opening introduction to the game's main story line because it hooks you in right away showing just a glimpse of the underlying chaos in the Mojave wasteland with a pretty badass introduction narrated by Ron Perlman. Then you get to meet your main character the Courier who is in a messed up situation as they're getting mugged for a platinum chick they're delivering and some jerk in a checkered suit is explaining that the Courier has made their last delivery and while it may seem like bad luck, it's just that the game was rigged from the start. I knew right then it was going to get worse and it did as he shot the Courier in the head. I admit my initial thought was, how the heck is this going to work if the main character is dead? I got my answer fairly quickly as it showed the Courier waking up in a bed with an old man hovering over her looking concerned and asking if she was alright. The man introduced himself as Doc Mitchell and explains how the Courier survived thanks to a Securitron robot named Victor and the adventure of Fallout New Vegas begins in a town called Goodsprings.
Goodsprings of course gives you a chance to explore and get familiar with the game controls and how everything works. The controls are much better here than they were in Fallout 3 which made me happy. It also introduces you to the people in the town and you get a couple of quests from them. You also get a chance to speak with Victor the robot who saved your life. Honestly, I found Victor to be really creepy. He seemed friendly enough with his cowboy icon face and talking in a friendly cowboy drawl, but there was just something weird about him. It also didn't help that he kept popping up in odd places during my adventures and seemed to be following me. He did own up to it which I will give him, but he was creepy.
Once the tutorial introduction and quests are finished, you get to really explore the Mojave with the main goal being to find Benny; the man who stole the platinum chip from you and shot you leaving you for dead to get answers. For me it was to get answers, get the platinum chip back, and beat the crap out of him. I was still pretty ticked off about that whole ordeal with him shooting me.
To say that the world of Fallout New Vegas is big is an understatement. It is huge and you get an immediate sense of just how vast the Mojave wasteland is as you explore it. There are three big main factions fighting for control of the Mojave and the Hoover Dam and your decisions throughout the story affect which side you will help. There's the NCR a military expansion government, Caesar's Legion a group of Roman style slavers, and Mr. House the mysterious ruler of New Vegas.
There are so many side quests to do alongside the main story quests which isn't a bad thing. A lot of them were fun to do and the companion quests are interesting especially for the character of Boone. I liked Boone a great deal. There was a complexity to him that was intriguing and as my Courier got to know him better there was an understanding of why he was the way he was and a path towards him atoning for some of his past. It made for a great companion story and by the end of Boone's personal quest I liked him even more.
While I enjoyed Fallout New Vegas, there were many frustrating issues with it that had me swearing up a storm when they happened. The major thing were the constant dropped frame rates and freezing that caused the game to crash. When the game worked, it was a lot of fun to play. It just killed it for me when the game would freeze every couple of hours. I make sure to save my game often anyway with my games and I think that games like New Vegas are why. I did all the tricks too with clearing the cache on the PS3 and rebooting and it would still crash after a bit of time. That's incredibly irritating when I want to fully enjoy a game.
Then there's the weird quest bugs. I couldn't finish a quest for a couple of my companions because in one the quest item was nowhere to be found and in the other a quest the NPC I needed to complete the quest had disappeared completely. There were also occasions where I would get stuck in a wall or my companion would and I would have to reload my last save. I understand that there are going to be bugs and glitches in a game sometimes, they happen. However, the vast amount of glitches, bugs, and technical difficulties is inexcusable. I know that Obsidian the developers that worked on New Vegas apologized for all of that, but the thing is slapping a band aid on it is not going to cut it. For as long as the game has been out and the patches they had to fix the game, it should be fixed and yet those irritating issues remain.
Speaking of the DLC quests, I wanted to like all of them. I really did, but there were so many flaws. I only really liked two of the quests out of four. That's saying something. One of them I just could not stand at all. That was the Dead Money quest. I could not stand Dead Money. It was very clunky with the navigation and hard to see at some points. Getting gassed and waking up in a strange place without any of my gear and some crazy ex Brotherhood of Steel jerk was not good. As part of the story you also have a slave collar around your neck that happens to be on the same frequency as the radios in the surrounding areas and if you don't destroy the radios the collar will explode and kill you. This is an exercise in futility as every damn five minutes the collar beeps and you have to figure out exactly where the radio is. I found this tedious and slow which made this quest one of the worst I have ever played and I played Dragon Age The Descent. Yeah, I said it. The ending was a little satisfying, but not much because you don't really get anything out of it except a little payback to the egomaniac who put me through that nonsense.
Old World Blues was alright, but I hated the fact that once again I'm basically drugged and wake up in a strange place without all my gear. Seriously, was this the same writer for Dead Money? So I had to figure out where I was and I met the insane scientists in robot bodies who had brought me there. The thing that kept Old World Blues moderately entertaining for me was the humor. There were moments that had me laughing especially when one of the scientists claimed that my toes looked like tiny penises. There were some cool places to explore and some interesting things to see. The big thing that makes Old World Blues shine are the smartly written jokes and the humor about trying to understand another species and the differences between you. That's what made it fun for me.
The Lonesome Road was disappointing for me. It started out strongly with the introduction of this other mysterious courier, Ulysses demanding you show up to answer for what happened in a place called The Divide. There isn't really a strong urge to explore and it just seems to be travel from point A to point B. During that time you get to hear Ulysses drone on and on about the NCR, the Legion, and how you were the catalyst for nuclear missiles blowing up in the Divide. I like history a lot, but Ulysses made it freaking boring because he kept harping on the same thing repeatedly. It shows just how nuts Ulysses is because essentially he's blaming a mailman for something that had nothing to do with them. What happened in the Divide was an accident and while yes the Courier was delivering the package (a detonator) that awoke and caused all that, they had no idea what it was. The NCR did however and probably the Legion, so that's on them. Look, I get it. Ulysses had something very traumatizing happen to him and he needed something or someone to blame in order to be able to wrap his head around it, but when I was there face to face with him all I could think was, this whole thing was not my fault and you're crazy! I mean he wanted to punish a bunch of innocent people for the traumatizing thing for just a chance to wipe out the NCR and the Legion; that does not sound like someone who is operating at full capacity. Luckily, my speech, intelligence, and science perks were high enough that I convinced him peacefully that destroying all those people would help and even earned his respect. It's obvious in the writing that they meant for Ulysses to be a companion, but I guess they couldn't quite figure out how to make it work and this is what happened. It was okay, but it wasn't perfect and they could have made this a great story instead of a mediocre one.
Once I finished all those, I wrapped up the game with the final quest which was the battle for Hoover Dam. I had decided to help the NCR because while they're far from perfect I felt that they were a better choice than the group of rapist slavers that represented Caesar's Legion. I also liked and respected the fact that the NCR seemed to be protecting the idea of democracy and while they had their flaws, they were at least trying to do something good. The battle for the dam was epic and because I had successfully convinced the minor factions to join the NCR I had a lot of help battling Caesar's Legion. I totally loved the Boomers with their salvaged airplane taking out Legion soldiers from the sky. We fought hard and the battle was won; the NCR still had control of the dam. The game ends then showing all the different things that happen to the people and areas in the Mojave depending on your choices. Overall, the ending was pretty good and I was glad to see that many of my choices helped a lot of people who needed it. I can honestly say that I enjoyed playing Fallout New Vegas in spite of the technical issues and I'm glad I only paid 10 bucks for it. When the game works, it is worth playing and there is lots of adventuring to do with a great main story and solid side stories. Play through it at least once is my take on it.
Goodsprings of course gives you a chance to explore and get familiar with the game controls and how everything works. The controls are much better here than they were in Fallout 3 which made me happy. It also introduces you to the people in the town and you get a couple of quests from them. You also get a chance to speak with Victor the robot who saved your life. Honestly, I found Victor to be really creepy. He seemed friendly enough with his cowboy icon face and talking in a friendly cowboy drawl, but there was just something weird about him. It also didn't help that he kept popping up in odd places during my adventures and seemed to be following me. He did own up to it which I will give him, but he was creepy.
Once the tutorial introduction and quests are finished, you get to really explore the Mojave with the main goal being to find Benny; the man who stole the platinum chip from you and shot you leaving you for dead to get answers. For me it was to get answers, get the platinum chip back, and beat the crap out of him. I was still pretty ticked off about that whole ordeal with him shooting me.
To say that the world of Fallout New Vegas is big is an understatement. It is huge and you get an immediate sense of just how vast the Mojave wasteland is as you explore it. There are three big main factions fighting for control of the Mojave and the Hoover Dam and your decisions throughout the story affect which side you will help. There's the NCR a military expansion government, Caesar's Legion a group of Roman style slavers, and Mr. House the mysterious ruler of New Vegas.
There are so many side quests to do alongside the main story quests which isn't a bad thing. A lot of them were fun to do and the companion quests are interesting especially for the character of Boone. I liked Boone a great deal. There was a complexity to him that was intriguing and as my Courier got to know him better there was an understanding of why he was the way he was and a path towards him atoning for some of his past. It made for a great companion story and by the end of Boone's personal quest I liked him even more.
While I enjoyed Fallout New Vegas, there were many frustrating issues with it that had me swearing up a storm when they happened. The major thing were the constant dropped frame rates and freezing that caused the game to crash. When the game worked, it was a lot of fun to play. It just killed it for me when the game would freeze every couple of hours. I make sure to save my game often anyway with my games and I think that games like New Vegas are why. I did all the tricks too with clearing the cache on the PS3 and rebooting and it would still crash after a bit of time. That's incredibly irritating when I want to fully enjoy a game.
Then there's the weird quest bugs. I couldn't finish a quest for a couple of my companions because in one the quest item was nowhere to be found and in the other a quest the NPC I needed to complete the quest had disappeared completely. There were also occasions where I would get stuck in a wall or my companion would and I would have to reload my last save. I understand that there are going to be bugs and glitches in a game sometimes, they happen. However, the vast amount of glitches, bugs, and technical difficulties is inexcusable. I know that Obsidian the developers that worked on New Vegas apologized for all of that, but the thing is slapping a band aid on it is not going to cut it. For as long as the game has been out and the patches they had to fix the game, it should be fixed and yet those irritating issues remain.
Speaking of the DLC quests, I wanted to like all of them. I really did, but there were so many flaws. I only really liked two of the quests out of four. That's saying something. One of them I just could not stand at all. That was the Dead Money quest. I could not stand Dead Money. It was very clunky with the navigation and hard to see at some points. Getting gassed and waking up in a strange place without any of my gear and some crazy ex Brotherhood of Steel jerk was not good. As part of the story you also have a slave collar around your neck that happens to be on the same frequency as the radios in the surrounding areas and if you don't destroy the radios the collar will explode and kill you. This is an exercise in futility as every damn five minutes the collar beeps and you have to figure out exactly where the radio is. I found this tedious and slow which made this quest one of the worst I have ever played and I played Dragon Age The Descent. Yeah, I said it. The ending was a little satisfying, but not much because you don't really get anything out of it except a little payback to the egomaniac who put me through that nonsense.
Old World Blues was alright, but I hated the fact that once again I'm basically drugged and wake up in a strange place without all my gear. Seriously, was this the same writer for Dead Money? So I had to figure out where I was and I met the insane scientists in robot bodies who had brought me there. The thing that kept Old World Blues moderately entertaining for me was the humor. There were moments that had me laughing especially when one of the scientists claimed that my toes looked like tiny penises. There were some cool places to explore and some interesting things to see. The big thing that makes Old World Blues shine are the smartly written jokes and the humor about trying to understand another species and the differences between you. That's what made it fun for me.
The Lonesome Road was disappointing for me. It started out strongly with the introduction of this other mysterious courier, Ulysses demanding you show up to answer for what happened in a place called The Divide. There isn't really a strong urge to explore and it just seems to be travel from point A to point B. During that time you get to hear Ulysses drone on and on about the NCR, the Legion, and how you were the catalyst for nuclear missiles blowing up in the Divide. I like history a lot, but Ulysses made it freaking boring because he kept harping on the same thing repeatedly. It shows just how nuts Ulysses is because essentially he's blaming a mailman for something that had nothing to do with them. What happened in the Divide was an accident and while yes the Courier was delivering the package (a detonator) that awoke and caused all that, they had no idea what it was. The NCR did however and probably the Legion, so that's on them. Look, I get it. Ulysses had something very traumatizing happen to him and he needed something or someone to blame in order to be able to wrap his head around it, but when I was there face to face with him all I could think was, this whole thing was not my fault and you're crazy! I mean he wanted to punish a bunch of innocent people for the traumatizing thing for just a chance to wipe out the NCR and the Legion; that does not sound like someone who is operating at full capacity. Luckily, my speech, intelligence, and science perks were high enough that I convinced him peacefully that destroying all those people would help and even earned his respect. It's obvious in the writing that they meant for Ulysses to be a companion, but I guess they couldn't quite figure out how to make it work and this is what happened. It was okay, but it wasn't perfect and they could have made this a great story instead of a mediocre one.
Once I finished all those, I wrapped up the game with the final quest which was the battle for Hoover Dam. I had decided to help the NCR because while they're far from perfect I felt that they were a better choice than the group of rapist slavers that represented Caesar's Legion. I also liked and respected the fact that the NCR seemed to be protecting the idea of democracy and while they had their flaws, they were at least trying to do something good. The battle for the dam was epic and because I had successfully convinced the minor factions to join the NCR I had a lot of help battling Caesar's Legion. I totally loved the Boomers with their salvaged airplane taking out Legion soldiers from the sky. We fought hard and the battle was won; the NCR still had control of the dam. The game ends then showing all the different things that happen to the people and areas in the Mojave depending on your choices. Overall, the ending was pretty good and I was glad to see that many of my choices helped a lot of people who needed it. I can honestly say that I enjoyed playing Fallout New Vegas in spite of the technical issues and I'm glad I only paid 10 bucks for it. When the game works, it is worth playing and there is lots of adventuring to do with a great main story and solid side stories. Play through it at least once is my take on it.
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