Archives 2022

Headup Games brings us Silver Chains, a survival horror game in the first person perspective but is it creepy enough?

In Silver Chains you play as Peter, a traveler who’s car has broken down, as he explores a dilapidated mansion in hopes of leaving. Of course your first steps into the house to search for help ends being rendered unconscious. You awake in a bedroom with no memory of how you got there. Now, I am far from understanding what is happening in this house and even further from finishing the story at the time of writing but I have an early prediction. That Peter grew up in this house and had escaped but after he died elsewhere the house has called him home (this prediction was written only 10-20 minutes into the story).

This game absolutely requires playing with the sound loud enough to draw you in, it is a critical part of setting the tone. The building itself is wonderfully crafted in completes the atmospheric package. The different rooms you get into have a ton of detail between peeling paint, doll parts hanging from the ceiling and doors filled with cracked wood. The game is full of tense moments that are not helped by the monster chasing you. I feel like I spent more time hiding in wardrobes more than actually exploring and it seriously had me on edge. For anyone that enjoys a good horror title this will be a great addition to your library.

IT IS RARE FOR ME TO SEE A MOVIE WHEN IT’S STILL IN THEATERS BUT THANKS TO 20TH CENTURY STUDIOS I WAS ABLE TO CATCH UP ON A FEW THAT I MISSED!

Recently the fine folks at 20th Century Fox (now 20th Century Studios- their home page is here) had sent me codes to several of the movies I missed so that I could share my thoughts on them with you. Part 1 was all about Underwater and Part 2 focused on The New Mutants. Part 3 we talked about The Personal History of David Copperfield. Part 4 discussed The Empty Man. Part 5 talked about Nomadland and Speed 4K Ultra HD. Part 6 discussed The Night House and Free Guy. Part 7 focused on The Eyes of Tammy Faye and Part 8 had The Last Duel. Part 9 discussed Ron’s Gone Wrong and Part 10 talked about The King’s Man and Summer of Soul. Part 11 discussed Nightmare Alley and West Side Story. Part 12 is here to highlight Death on the Nile!

Death on the Nile

The only thing I knew about this film prior to seeing it, other than who was among the cast, was that it was the direct sequel to Murder on the Orient Express. This released soon after the negative press hit regarding Armie Hammer and was surprised that reshoots weren’t done prior to the actual release. I don’t know if it was how he played his character or just the actor himself but watching he came off just slimy felt dirty watching him. I thought he heavily detracted from the film as a whole but when not focused around him it pulled me in as I tried to piece the clues together myself. Comparing the two films I thought this one as a whole was the better story and hope that we see more films centered around Hercule.

IT IS RARE FOR ME TO SEE A MOVIE WHEN IT’S STILL IN THEATERS BUT THANKS TO DISNEY STUDIOS I WAS ABLE TO CATCH UP ON A FEW THAT I MISSED!

Recently the fine folks at Disney Studios (their home page is here) had sent me codes to several of the movies I missed so that I could share my thoughts on them with you. With Part 1 we were taking a look at the live action version of Mulan. Part 2 discussed Soul and Raya and the Last Dragon. Part 3 looked at the live action story of Cruella. Part 4 discussed Luca and Part 5 talked about Jungle Cruise. Part 6 discussed Encanto and we are back with Part 7 and Turning Red!

Turning Red

This film follows Mei Lee as she learns her family’s deepest secret- that the women can turn into a giant red panda and that most can’t control when it happens. The film focuses on how detrimental living a life where you try to hide away parts of yourself from those you love and that love you. The story itself centers around her and her friends and their wish to attend an upcoming concert with their favorite boy-band and she decides to use her ability as a means of making the money to do so. We went into this film expecting it to be cute and enjoyable and it more than exceeded our expectations, hitting us on a deep level we weren’t expecting it to do.

Have you had a chance to see this film from Disney Studios?

It feels like ages ago that Games Workshop announced Bladeborn, a game that appeared to mix Underworlds with Warcry but did they deliver the goods?

Games Workshop shared a copy of Bladeborn with us and almost immediately asked us to hold onto any recordings we made for a while due to the misprinting of some of the cards. At the time we were lucky enough to have been behind on our recording schedule and hadn’t recorded anything yet on this game. Once the replacement cards had arrived we finally got down to recording and shortly after playing. The link to that video is at the bottom of the article.

Before we get into gameplay I must admit that in the video below I made some mistakes. Specifically I felt that the quality of the minis were of a lower quality than their counterparts from Warhammer Underworlds. I was so wrong on this. About a month later I revisited the models along with their counterparts and the quality was exactly the same so I apologize my words that were so wrong. I hope this didn’t affect anyone and their decision in picking this game up.

If you have ever played Warcry and Underworlds will love this game because it truly is the daemonic love-child of them both. Combat is very much like Warcry (of the two games this is the better system so a huge win) and movement feels more akin to Underworlds. Even better it gives you cards for ALL of the Chaos Warbands from Underworlds released so far. Best yet is that these cards can also be used in Warcry! If you are a fan of Warcry or Underworlds this game will be a great addition to your library and is easier to learn. This means it is a great starting point for new players as well.

Without further adieu here is our official unboxing video of Bladeborn :

IT IS RARE FOR ME TO SEE A MOVIE WHEN IT’S STILL IN THEATERS BUT THANKS TO 20TH CENTURY STUDIOS I WAS ABLE TO CATCH UP ON A FEW THAT I MISSED!

Recently the fine folks at 20th Century Fox (now 20th Century Studios- their home page is here) had sent me codes to several of the movies I missed so that I could share my thoughts on them with you. Part 1 was all about Underwater and Part 2 focused on The New Mutants. Part 3 we talked about The Personal History of David Copperfield. Part 4 discussed The Empty Man. Part 5 talked about Nomadland and Speed 4K Ultra HD. Part 6 discussed The Night House and Free Guy. Part 7 focused on The Eyes of Tammy Faye and Part 8 had The Last Duel. Part 9 discussed Ron’s Gone Wrong and Part 10 talked about The King’s Man and Summer of Soul. We’ve returned with Part 11 to discuss Nightmare Alley and West Side Story!

Nightmare Alley

After torching his family home, Stan wanders around a carnival, eventually taking a show and leaving without payment. After getting caught he accepts a job doing manual labor and eventually learns the art of mentalism. Throughout his mentalism performances he is reminded to never perform what they refer to as a spook show but don’t give too much insight into why. He eventually leaves the carnival to take his mentalism act tot he big city and gets an offer of a large sum to start performing these shows. Greed is the cause of many men’s fall from success and watching as things start to unravel make this film worth the watch as tries to pull himself out of trouble while being manipulated from outside sources. The acting is fantastic but the overall story failed to impress.

West Side Story

This was directed by Steven Spielberg, telling the story from the classic play. Having never seen the original material I can’t say with certainty if anything changed between the original and this adaptation but I can say I did not enjoy the film. The cast did a great job but the story felt like a retelling of Romeo and Juliet but based in the slums of a US city.

IT IS RARE FOR ME TO SEE A MOVIE WHEN IT’S STILL IN THEATERS BUT THANKS TO 20TH CENTURY STUDIOS I WAS ABLE TO CATCH UP ON A FEW THAT I MISSED!

Recently the fine folks at 20th Century Fox (now 20th Century Studios- their home page is here) had sent me codes to several of the movies I missed so that I could share my thoughts on them with you. Part 1 was all about Underwater and Part 2 focused on The New Mutants. Part 3 we talked about The Personal History of David Copperfield. Part 4 discussed The Empty Man. Part 5 talked about Nomadland and Speed 4K Ultra HD. Part 6 discussed The Night House and Free Guy. Part 7 focused on The Eyes of Tammy Faye and Part 8 had The Last Duel. Part 9 discussed Ron’s Gone Wrong and we are back for Part 10 to talk about The King’s Man and Summer of Soul.

The King’s Man

Telling the story of the origin of the Kingsmen, an elite group dedicated to protecting Britain and by extension the world. Following a Duke and his aides as they race to bring an end to the first World War, its secret organizer and the cabal he leads. The film is full of action, the acting and cast were great.

Summer of Soul

During the same summer as Woodstock was another similar musical event based in Harlem. The event was filmed and that footage was then placed in storage for decades. The documentary follows the event and some of the things that happened behind the scenes. Some of the biggest names in African American music were there and its amazing that many of us were not even aware this event took place. I am not a fan of documentaries but I was captivated by the story and I am even less of a fan of the music and it was an integral part of the story that and fan of music will enjoy.

IT IS RARE FOR ME TO SEE A MOVIE WHEN IT’S STILL IN THEATERS BUT THANKS TO DISNEY STUDIOS I WAS ABLE TO CATCH UP ON A FEW THAT I MISSED!

Recently the fine folks at Disney Studios (their home page is here) had sent me codes to several of the movies I missed so that I could share my thoughts on them with you. With Part 1 we were taking a look at the live action version of Mulan. Part 2 discussed Soul and Raya and the Last Dragon. Part 3 looked at the live action story of Cruella. Part 4 discussed Luca and Part 5 talked about Jungle Cruise. We have returned with Part 6 and will be discussing Encanto!

Encanto

The story follows the family Madrigal and more closely one of the grandchildren/ Mirabel. Mirabel is the only member of the family that hasn’t received a magical gift from the family’s magical candle and that doesn’t stop her from trying to do her part. The night her youngest cousin receives his gift cracks start to appear in their magical house and she is the only one that can save the magic. Knowing Lin Manuel Miranda was responsible for the music of this film we went into it with high expectations. Disney beat those expectations and then some but every member of the cast were fantastic but Stephanie Beatriz really shown as the amazing actress she is. This is by far one of the best Disney films we have ever seen!

Have you had a chance to see this film from Disney Studios?

Mushroom Wars 2 has finally arrived on consoles, over three years after it’s initial release!

The mushroom kingdoms are at war and this time it isn’t between Mario and Bowser/Koopa. No, it’s not between Luigi and a bunch of ghosts either. This is a true war. Thousands of mushroom soldiers marching to battle. Lead by a mushroom themed general, these soldiers fight for their homes and for the sake of glory. Zillion Whales brings us Mushroom Wars 2 which has a unique take on the traditional RTS gameplay that was made famous by games like Warcraft and Starcraft. Your armies pour across the battlefield and each body ticks a point off of each structure it takes until the building becomes yours.

The pace of the game gets hectic quite fast as wave after wave of green mushrooms move across the screen you must think and react quickly. The tutorial takes it’s time with you to teach new tactics but they don’t pull their punches as soon as you learn new ways to kill the green mushrooms. I found the game to be simple but very enjoyable and looks even better on consoles than it did on computer.

Space Marine Adventures is back for another round of murder fun with Doomsday Countdown courtesy of Games Workshop and local bookstores like Barnes and Noble.

With the first volume of Space Marine Adventures players took turns facing down the Necron threat, however this time, in Doomsday countdown, it’s time for hunting Chaos cultists. Players take on the roles of three Space Marines and move about the map trying to defuse a bomb before it detonates. All three Marines are members of the illustrious Ultramarines Chapter and facing off against seven cultists, these particular models were previously featured alongside Warhammer Quest Blackstone Fortress.

These Adventure boxes are intended to be an introduction into the world of Warhammer 40,000. The models for both the Space Marines and Cultists are push to fit and easy to assemble, making that part of the hobby much less difficult to ease in to. Even in this game there will be lots of dice rolling to be had so it feels like a Warhammer game in that respect while using common model types.

The previous release had used tokens instead of models for the enemies so the fact they return to models, especially these cultist models, is a huge improvement. The mechanics are very much the same to the previous version so if you’ve played before this is very much a continuation. Even though this is the third volume you don’t need to have played the previous iterations to get into this one. Beyond getting additional Chaos cultists (which I always need) you also get some great tiles that can easily work along with tiles for Blackstone Fortress. This is another great way to introduce your friends and family to the world that is Warhammer 40,000!

Slitherine Ltd brings us the latest in Warhammer 40k console gaming with Battlesector, a fight between Blood Angels and Tyranids.

Our friends at Slitherine Ltd shared their latest game from the Warhammer 40k universe (Battlesector) with us and from launch it is already available for Xbox Gamepass members! We were able to receive this at launch but only recently got to try the game out due to some technical difficulties that required a hardware replacement. With the issue resolved we jumped right in. The tutorial is relatively extensive, showing many features of gameplay, plus there are several hard to earn achievements you can get here with very little difficulty at all as they are stacked in your favor!

The game features multiple difficulties but none of them seem to affect the achievements you can unlock, at least this early in the game and only affect gameplay difficulty. Visually the graphics are really good, especially considering the number of troops you may have at one time on the screen and that some move randomly like real soldiers would while waiting to receive their orders. The terrain on the maps match classic pieces we’ve seen on the tabletop as well with common Imperium iconography throughout but even better show a solid amount of detail, especially if you are zooming in.

Overall I found the game quite enjoyable, this easily fills the need for an electronic version of the table top game of Warhammer 40k. It fills this need so well that it actually feels like one of the most accurate adaptations of the game I have ever played. Of course some of the rules and mechanics are not a perfect comparison but it is similar enough that it feels like something I’ve been missing from my current gaming library. My only complaint so far, I am still rather early into the story, is that the only army options are Tyranids and Blood Angles. I hope we see some expansions that allow you to play multiplayer with other factions as well. If you are a fan of RTS games or the Warhammer 40k table top game and looking for a video game counterpart this game will scratch those itches.