Category Jake Combs

Let’s face it, humans are terrible creatures, just look at what they’ve done to the planet. With Destroy All Humans you can give them what’s coming to them.

Who wants to help Destroy All Humans? They suck, well most of ’em anyway. I am a firm believer that if more people had even a slight sense of decency this world would be so much better than it is and these last four years make that even more apparent. Hell, even this pandemic has highlighted the selfish nature of the human race. THQ Nordic and Black Forest Games bring us this classic kill ’em all video game with a full High Definition overhaul.

I had never played the original but had always heard that it was a fun game. When offered the opportunity to play and review this remake I jumped at the chance. Players take control of Crypto as he attempts to harvest brain stems to harvest the intermixed DNA that is stored there. Between abducting random citizens, killing cows and burning buildings to the ground you can quickly become overwhelmed but with some time spent unlocking abilities you can soon turn the tide.

Overall the game is quite goofy and entertaining but other than the ability to raze the world around you there wasn’t much to keep me engaged for a long period. Cutscenes are quite long, voice acting tolerable and the controls were easy to pick up. There are worse games out there but this one fell short of my expectations.

Exploding Kittens has a new expansion called Barking Kittens and we were able to not only play it but blowup members of our family as well!

We’ve talked about the Exploding Kittens brand before but this time we are talking about the latest expansions- Streaking Kittens and Barking Kittens for the Exploding Kittens card game.

Streaking Kittens

This $5 pack of carts adds one HUGE advantage- if you find the Streaking Kitten card you get to hide an Exploding Kitten in your hand without having to defuse it. The idea is to get someone to steal the worse of the two cards from your hand and inadvertently blow themselves up. In our game this would have worked quite well for my wife’s dad if the rest of us weren’t already aware he was drawing a kitten into his hand- no one stole cards from him again until he blew himself up.

Barking Kittens

There are several new additions here that make for some great combinations. My favorites were the Alter the Future and Personal Attack cards. Personal Attack cards force the next player to take three full actions on their next turn but doesn’t end your turn like other attacks do. Having multiples of these cards allow you to overload the next player with several actions and may just remove them from play. Alter the Future works similar to the See the Future cards in that you can see the next three cards in the deck but with this variation you get to change their order when you return them to the deck. This means if you know a kitten is coming up you get to control how soon they do.

There are several other new cards in both expansions and are worth learning how to use them all. Playing the game we loved the new cards and their changes to the core game and hated when someone else used them against us. Both expansions are essential for any fan of the game and a ton of fun to use.

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 are taking a look at the live action version of Mulan!

Mulan

Growing up (and this will tell you approximately how old I really am) I was able to see the original Disney Masterpiece that was Mulan in theaters and did so multiple times. To this day it is still one of my favorites. I have also heard that this adaptation was good so my expectations and hopes were quite high. There were two facts I had been informed of prior to seeing the film and that was that there were none of the original songs being sung by the characters and that the film would be missing the comedic relief by removing Mushu from it entirely. Knowing both of these were crucial because had I expected them I would have been disappointed. Having watched the film I can say that it exceeded all expectations I had. The action was well choreographed, acting top notch and cinematically beautiful. This was by far the best of the live adaptations.

Have you had a chance to see this film from Disney Studios? What were your thoughts? Let us know on our facebook page!

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 One of this article I discussed The Shape of Water, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and Red Sparrow. Part Two discusses Maze Runner: Death Cure, Alien Covenant and Love, Simon. Part three covers Super Troopers 2 and Murder on the Orient Express. Part Four discusses Sorry To Bother You and Darkest Minds. Part Five discussed The Predator and Bad Times at the El Royale. Part Six covered Bohemian Rhapsody, The Hate U Give and Once Upon a Deadpool. Part Seven talked about The Sisters Brothers, London Fields, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Widows and the Favourite! Part Eight covered Destroyer, The Prodigy, Alien 40th Anniversary Edition, Vice, The Kid Who Would Be King and If Beale Street Could Talk, and Part Nine we discussed Missing Link and Alita Battle Angel. Part Ten we discussed Tolkien, Booksmart, X-Men Dark Phoenix and Stuber. Part 11 discussed The Art of Racing in the Rain, Where’d You Go, Bernadette, Ad Astra, and Ready or Not. Part 12 talked about Ford v Ferrari, Spies in Disguise and A Hidden Life.  Part 13 was the last part I did with PNTV and discussed Downhill and The Call of the Wild. Part 14 (forever referred to as Part 1 on this site and our first with the Nerd Cult) was all about Underwater and we are back with the New Part 2 with The New Mutants!

The New Mutants

The New Mutants is intended as a horror film within the X-Men universe and begins with Danielle Moonstar as she runs from something chases her into the forest and almost immediately kills her father in front of her. She is knocked out almost immediately after and awakes in some form of hospital for mutants that looks more like a psychiatric facility or the medical ward of a prison. It film successfully gives a solid creepy vibe and handles some of the dark tones from Illyana’s past quite well but fails to hit the point of actually being a scary film. As a darker drama it works quite well and handles the universe around it quite well, making several nods to it without relying on having seen any of the other films. When the true villains are revealed however it relies more on an intimate knowledge of the comics to know how bad things have gotten and left the rest of my family confused by the implications. I felt the film was quite solid and really enjoyed it but the rest of the family (not knowing the same comic history as myself) thought it was worthy of only 2.5 out of 5 stars, I gave it a solid 3.5.

WHICH OF THESE FILMS FROM 20TH CENTURY STUDIOS HAVE YOU SEEN? WHICH WAS YOUR FAVORITE?

The Exploding Kittens have released another feline-centric game with A Game of Cat and Mouth.

In our house there is one species of pet that ranks higher than all others and that is the majestic feline. My son’s love for cats is so strong that if there is a cat on it or it is cat themed it is almost guaranteed to win him over. It’s no surprise that Exploding Kittens is one of his all time favorite games to play. When he learned that the team behind it were releasing another cat themed title he was more than excited. We received our copy of A Game of Cat and Mouth soon after he heard the news.

Players rapidly use magnetic paws to launch balls through the eyes, nose or mouth holes in the divider between sides. The first player to get all white, all yellow or the single black ball on the opposing side wins. The launchers themselves make use of the most powerful magnets I’ve ever seen that didn’t have electricity amplifying their strength.

Getting the balls through the holes require a bit of skill but with a little practice and even a four year old can do well at the game. The entire family has a blast with this game. This game is so much fun it even draws the attention of one of our own cats.

Have you ever had a loud neighbor you couldn’t shut up? With Party Hard 2 you can live your fantasies of a permanent solution.

TinyBuild have a history of exploiting a franchise for all that it’s worth so why should Party Hard 2 be a surprise? Having never played the original and hearing that it was mediocre at best I was surprised to hear there would be a sequel. I am never one to turn down a game offered for review though and as always my opinion is never swayed by the price I had to pay to play the game.

Presumably the original Party Hard leaves off with the killer going to therapy. As no surprise the Party Hard Killer finds himself getting upset at the noise coming from the nightclub nearby and upon hitting his breaking point dons his mask and knife once again and begins a new killing spree. The game visually isn’t much to look at as the bulk of the detail is rather pixelated and feels like it is meant to capitalize on the frequent waves of pixel-based nostalgia. The story feels like it just might be trying a bit too hard to justify why you are killing all of the party-goers from one location to another- we’re adults dammit, sometimes we just want to kill random people. Controls are easy to pick up and some of the items make for some rather interesting combinations.

The game is quite difficult to play and if you aren’t careful you will be arrested by the police and must start the game over. With a bit of patience however you can capitalize on people leaving the group so you can jump them in an alley. Gameplay is quite addicting and entertaining as you find new ways to kill the party-goers, drug dealer, bikers and more. I found myself wishing I had played the original game because this game was utterly fantastic and extremely addicting. I regularly find myself saying “one more try” or “I’ll stop when I beat this map” and each time I find that one more try becomes two and three tries.

Poetry for Neanderthals is another family fun game created by the team at Exploding Kittens.

The Exploding Kittens team are back with another insane concept for a family game in Poetry for Neanderthals. Since it’s inception Exploding Kittens has been a staple in our household and the team of the same name was responsible for several of our favorite family games. Conceptually the game is quite simple, dividing into two teams players will take turns describing a word or phrase but must do so using only single syllable words. If at any point they gesture, use more than one syllable, use the word they are trying to describe or a few other instances or rule breaking then they will get hit with the inflatable club. Not going to lie but I felt like Captain Caveman while wielding it over my daughter’s head.

Every player during our games end up getting hit at least once or twice, most of us for gesturing. I was really bad at giving clues without moving because I am naturally very animated when I talk.

The game is a great exercise for the old noggin because you have to be a quick thinker to score points and avoid losing them at the same time. First game was parent’s versus the kids and some of the kids got bored early on (one was watching a movie and the other was too distracted to play) and so we started over for a round of boys versus girls. It was a close game but us boys won by only a couple points. Everyone that played to the end loved the game (4 of 6 members of the household) and the other two had fun until pulled away by the call of the children’s film on tv. We are all looking forward to the next game night we get to spend on this game.

Suicide is never a good thing but what makes the Suicide of Rachel Foster particularly noteworthy?

The Suicide of Rachel Foster by Daedelic Entertainment is a video game that focuses on investigating not only her final moments but how it affected Nicole and her family. Immediately upon starting the game you learn that Rachel Foster was you father’s mistress and soon after the breakup between them she had committed suicide. Nicole, our protagonist in this story, reads about this briefly in a letter sent to her by her dying mother, asking her to close the story and sell the family hotel.

If investigating a suicide from years ago while trying to sell a hotel wasn’t enough you arrive during one of the worst storms hitting Montana in decades. When I heard about this game I was told it would be an investigation based narrative and based on that description sounded like it would be quite dull. Playing through the first few minutes after arriving at the hotel it feels suspiciously like it was hiding a horror game under it’s mundane dressing. The music and effects add a bit of tension (or perhaps that’s my lack of sleep after working the graveyard shift) but is offset by the slow movements and bored dialogue- Nicole sounds dreadfully bored.

The visuals of the game are quite detailed but many of the more interesting sites cannot be interacted with in any way. Gameplay is maddeningly dull and tedious. Movements slow without any options to speed them up (it seriously needed a jog option while navigating the hall of the hotel. Playing over an hour I am no closer to unraveling the secret of the suicide and wonder if perhaps she played her own game. I expected much better from Daedelic and unless it is a free title I would avoid this one, of course if you need help going to sleep at night playing this before bed just might help.

Have you ever wanted to take on the role of your favorite villains from Gotham? In Talisman Batman: Super Villains Edition you can!

USAOpoly brings us a new take on the classic game Talisman with Talisman Batman. Having never played a Talisman game I didn’t know what to expect but loving Batman’s rogues I knew that this game would be right up my alley so when The Op Games offered me a review copy I jumped at the chance.

The goal of the game is to play as one of the various villains (what game let’s you do this, honestly?) and sneak your way through Arkham Asylum until you reach the security tower. Finding the exit isn’t simply the end though, you must also face down the greatest detective himself- Batman! Each turn your villain performs two actions, movement and encounters. In terms of movement your dice determine what happens and as always a roll of 1 is a failure, meaning Batman is moving as well. When you finish your movement you must resolve your encounter with the space you are on. Encounters will vary based on the space itself or if you share that space with either another player of Batman himself.

I loved the theme of the game and was honestly surprised there wasn’t an option where you could have someone play as Batman himself. Doing a larger group would have been quite fun if one person was playing the bat and everyone else had to either avoid him, work with each other to escape or face him directly. The mechanics worked well for the game and having to roll for your movement (instead of a default setting) added some stress inducing variables that made for some tense moments. If you’ve ever wanted to play the villain this game is a must for you but leaves a bit to be desired for those uninterested in the role.

Based on the original by Vlaada Chvatil, Codenames is back with Codenames Harry Potter from USAOpoly.

USAOpoly continues to prove they are the masters locking down the best intellectual properties like Marvel, Disney and even Harry Potter with Codenames Harry Potter. This of course is not their first foray into the magical world of Harry Potter but it is the second one we’ve had the pleasure of trying out.

Visually the game has top quality cards using hires images from the various movies but at a glance the game looks more like a version of Memory. The concept is that as operatives of the Order of the Phoenix you must use clue or “Codenames” to lead your teammates to tracking down the hidden members of the Order. This sounds rather easy but you must do it while avoiding the Death Eaters in the field. As time turner cards are revealed you get closer to running out of time. This puts a bit more urgency in the gameplay and the need to decipher the coded messages more imperative.

The simplicity of the game is quite brilliant in that the game is limited in only how creative you are in creating and deciphering the clues. The game is typically quickly played, the first game taking about 30-45 minutes and followup games closer to the 15-20 minute mark. If you are looking for a quick game that features some of your favorite Harry Potter characters then this is a must purchase for you.