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Solo Command (Star Wars: X-Wing, #7)
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Released pre Episode I, the Star Wars: X-Wing books are, I believe, amongst the first EU ('Extended Universe') novels that do not focus on the main protaganists of the films as their central characters, taking instead LucasArts X-Wing/TIE fighter games of the 90s (as an aside - somebody really REALLY needs to re-make those for modern machines) as their inspiration.

This is the 7th book in the X-Wing series, and the 3rd to focus primarily on the activities of Wraith squadron, after both <i>Wraith Squadron</i> and <i>Iron Fist</i>. Unlike the previous novels in the series, this also includes a larger role for some of the characters from the original film series - the 'Solo' of the title actually refers to Han Solo, and not to Solo as in 'single'. As well, this also includes members of the first 4 X-Wings books (i.e. Rogue Squadron) in the story.

Blasted through this one in about 2 days flat.
  
Death Troopers (Star Wars)
Death Troopers (Star Wars)
4
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Take a classic Space Opera saga (Star Wars), add a soupcon of horror (Aliens), and a large dose of Zombies (Resident Evil), and what do you have?

This book.

The plot? An Imperial prison barge breaks down, and then comes across a seemingly abandoned Star Destroyer out in the wastes of space. It transpires that the Destroyer is not abandoned after all, and that it had been carrying out bio-weapon experiments ...

Definitely felt like the author was (heavily) inspired by the Resident Evil games/films: the Zombies are such not as the living dead back-to-life of Romero, but as a result of a engineered virus. The Aliens link I mentioned comes in on the 'set-on-prison-<s>planet</s>barge' setting, and I'm also not entirely sure why he felt the need to drop Han Solo and Chewbacca into the mix, unless that was just so you would know it is a Star Wars novel?

Not the best Extended Universe book.
  
Coimbra
Coimbra
2018 | Dice Game, Political
The strategy and the board is awesome (0 more)
Needs expansions (0 more)
Lots going on
This is a great game for beginners, to start with there seems to be too much going on, it is fairly easy to grasp this game within 2 or 3 playthroughs though.
The dice drafting and card drafting together give players a nice introduction to both of these game mechanics as well as trying to grow multiple paths at the same time, like many other good gateway games this has a lot to keep you interested without being super heavy or overly complex.
You will find yourself planning ahead a lot in this and it is definitely good for replayability.
I think there are more directions in which they could go with this so I hope to see more expansion packs coming out for it.
There is only one currently which I haven't managed to snag yet but I will.
I will update when I get a copy.
Happy gaming folks
  
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Vegas (725 KP) rated the Xbox One version of The Outer Worlds in Video Games

Oct 28, 2019  
The Outer Worlds
The Outer Worlds
2019 | Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Shooter
The writing (3 more)
The game play
Characters
The graphics
Lack of 3rd person view (3 more)
Drawing weapons by mistack when trying other tasks
Some conversations are a little long
The combat system could be tweaked
Like Fallout in space.
If you have played Fallout you will feel at home with this game from part of the team who made New Vegas and even though it isn't part of the Fallout series it does have the feel of a distant cousin.

Although I'm still only part way through, it is one of the best games I have played recently, it is colourful, fun, tough choices need to be made and feels like things you do actually matter to the world around you...

It would be nice to have a third person view choice as in Fallout and it is a bit annoying when attempt to do a task and you end up drawing your gun by mistake but these are not enough of a problem to ruin the game...
  
BloodRayne (2006)
BloodRayne (2006)
2006 | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
Rayne of blood
So this movie excist, bloodrayne came out the same month as uwe bolls other terrible movie- alone in the dark. So in 2006, you didnt get one but two terrible uwe boll movies that came out the same month, both based off of video games.

Bloodrayne is about- In 18th-century Romania, after spending much of her life in a traveling circus, human-vampire hybrid Rayne (Kristanna Loken) escapes and plots to take down her evil vampire father, Kagan (Ben Kingsley). When she's discovered by three vampire hunters, Vladimir (Michael Madsen), Katarin (Michelle Rodriguez) and Sebastian (Matt Davis), she manages to convince them to spare her life and join her cause. But slaying a vampire as powerful as Kagan will be no easy task.

The cast is wasted on this film. Im not sure why they signed up for this movie in the first place, but their did.

Its a god awful movie that no one, i mean no one should suffer through.
  
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Vegas (725 KP) rated the Xbox One version of Red Dead Redemption 2 in Video Games

Jul 7, 2019 (Updated Jul 8, 2019)  
Red Dead Redemption 2
Red Dead Redemption 2
2018 | Action/Adventure
The story (1 more)
The gameplay
Nothing (0 more)
Improvement on the original
The long awaited sequel (prequel) to red dead doesn't disappoint in the solo game, the story is an epic adventure travelling through the open plains to the growing towns and cities, railroads, carriages, and horseback are all ways of getting around the massive map. Build up your camp, help the gang, or rob stores and banks the choice is yours, you can even spend time fishing or hunting...

The cast of characters you meet are diverse, funny, serious, violent or just odd but whoever you meet, you do find yourself caring one way or another about the people in the game you interact with...

I will say I did struggle to get as engaged in the multi player game side of it, but that is just a personal thing as I do prefer solo gaming...

For shear enjoyment aspect and length of game, this is one of the best games of recent times.
  
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Aurora recommended track Suzanne by Leonard Cohen in Back in the Motherland by Leonard Cohen in Music (curated)

 
Back in the Motherland by Leonard Cohen
Back in the Motherland by Leonard Cohen
2011 | Rock
1.0 (1 Ratings)
Album Favorite

Suzanne by Leonard Cohen

(0 Ratings)

Track

"May he rest in peace, the lovely little angel. I love this song. Musically we only heard Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Enya when I was a child, there was nothing else as we didn’t have a radio. I love Enya as well, especially the way she just stays the same and doesn’t change her sound. She knows what she’s here to do and she does it. ""This was one of the songs that I really loved when I was unable to understand what he was saying, because I didn’t know English then, or at least I didn’t know these lyrics yet, because they were so complicated. I ended up learning my English mainly from online gaming or computer games like World Of Warcraft. “’Suzanne’ is my childhood, safety, my mother, discovering music and English and falling in love with a song again and again the more that I grow. It’s like a forever growing song, because it grows with you while you grow.”"

Source
  
Godzilla: Tokyo Clash
Godzilla: Tokyo Clash
2020 | Video Game Theme
Gameplay (2 more)
Miniatures
Design
No expansions...yet. (2 more)
Tokens
Rulebook
Superb game, could do with some expansions!
A great game for all Godzilla fans!

What can I say? The gameplay is beautiful, simple, fun and quick (despite the terrible rulebook which is stupidly overcomplicated).

The playing pieces, figures of 4 kaiju, Godzilla, King Ghidorah, Mothra and Megalon are a decent size and of a great quality. The design for the game overall is superb!

Now the main downside, the vehicle and small building tokens. While large buildings have plastic 3D tokens, the vehicles and small buildings are all cardboard, and as it shows them from an aerial view, it's usually pretty unclear as to what they are.

Also, Funko Games, this game desperately needs some expansions featuring other kaiju. The base game is great, but it would be great to play the game with Mechagodzilla, Biollante, King Kong, Rodan, so many great kaiju that could add some great twists to the game!
  
Silent Hill (2006)
Silent Hill (2006)
2006 | Action, Horror
As visually perfect a cinematic representation of this franchise as we're ever going to get - really knockout stuff to look at (the CGI is sparing but amazing even by today's standards, practicals are godly). Corroded aesthetic, stiff acting, lots of extended cutscene-like exposition and sequences of people picking up/memorizing stuff... exactly like the games. Though, the seamless emulation only really translates to style, as I feel this doesn't really 'get' what makes the franchise's writing so special. The changes this makes to the lore seem very arbitrary, and the story is in big 'I don't care' mode. Too long to justify that, truthfully - but it ends with a fuckton of crazy cultists getting ripped apart by barbed wire and roasting people alive. So I'm pleased. Mitchell and Bean are madly boring, Ferland and Krige *slay* (literally and figuratively). Sidenote: I found it very amusing that there was a profession listed in the credits called "Senior roach simulation T.D.".
  
The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
2003 | Mystery, Sci-Fi
2003 was billed as the year of the Matrix, with this film, the Animatrix manga, the computer game 'Enter the Matrix' and The Matrix Revolutions all released within the span of that single year.

Most of which, nearly 20 years later, have largely been forgotten, with 'the Matrix sequels' almost becoming a by word for disappointing sequels.

Re-watching this back, it's actually not all bad: yes, there is an element of truth in the charge that this mid entry is over pretentious - especially in The Architect scenes - and that Niobe/Ghost scenes largely exist only to tie into the computer games - but there is also plenty to enjoy here - this is the film that has the 'burly brawl', the Merovingian chateau fight scene, the freeway chase and Neo going full-on Superman!

(And, yes, I used to think that, at the end, they were still in The Matrix, until Revolutions came out)