A Way Out: Fun or Disappointing?

So I recently purchased the new game “A Way Out” by the creator of “Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons”. The quick run down is that it’s an indie game that’s part of the EA Originals project (in which the creator said that EA isn’t making any money off of it, he and his team get all the profits [aside from what PlayStation makes]). It’ll take you about 6-7 hours to complete, it’s $39.99 CDN (so probably $29.99 in the US) and there are no microtransactions of any kind. It’s also a co-op only game (you can’t play solo), but only one person needs to own it (more on that later). So with that in mind, what did I think of the game? (Also, I’ll be keeping spoilers to a minimum, but there will be some minor non-story spoilers.)

Advertisements

The Overwatch Problem

So yesterday I downloaded the Overwatch Beta on the PS4 and played it for a few hours. And while I had fun with it and I’m sure I’ll continue to have fun with it until the beta is up, I’m not planning on actually buying the game and I’m here to tell you why.

First, for those that don’t know, Overwatch is a first-person shooter game by Blizzard (the company behind World of Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo and, most recently, Hearthstone). Of course, calling it a first-person shooter might make people think it’s another Call of Duty or something, but it has more strategy involved in it than CoD (which has no strategy involved) and it’s more fast-paced and fun as well.

So what kind of problem do I have with the game?

Anomalisa: Great Movie or Pretentious Crap?

Warning: SPOILERS TO FOLLOW!

So I’m going to start this off by saying that I think Charlie Kaufman is a great screenwriter and filmmaker, but that in no way affects my opinion of this movie. For example, I also happen to love P.T. Anderson with Boogie Nights being one of my all-time favourite films ever, but I absolutely hated Inherent Vice. Now as for Kaufman, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is also one of my all-time favourite movies ever, but he didn’t direct that one, he only wrote it. His first movie that he both wrote and directed was Synecdoche, New York which I am fine never seeing again considering it was quite possibly the world’s most depressing film ever conceived. It wasn’t bad, it was actually quite good, but each scene was more depressing than the scene that preceded it and by the end of the movie you basically want to kill yourself, so yeah, one viewing is all I need.
But now onto his latest film Anomalisa. So what is Anomalisa? It’s a stop-motion animated film written and (co-)directed by Charlie Kaufman. It was completely funded on Kickstarter.com. It was originally just a soundplay and the three actors that were used to voice the soundplay reprised their roles for the movie.

New Years Resolutions Part 3: Resurrection

So it’s that time of year again…the beginning. And you know what that means: time to make some more resolutions that we’ll completely forget to keep by the third week of January.

Before we get there though let’s briefly talk about the holidays. I hope everyone had a great holiday season. For me it was pretty awesome. I got some movies, books, TV shows, Lego Dimensions on the Wii U and, craziest of all: a PS4. I was not expecting that at all, so it was a really awesome surprise. Along with the PS4 I got Fallout 4 and Far Cry 4.

So that was pretty sweet. But now let’s move on to what this post is actually about, resolutions. Like last year, let’s first find out how well I did at keeping my resolutions in 2015.

15 Things Only People Who Were Once a Baby Will Understand! Number 9 is so SHOCKING! OMFG!

If you were never a baby…

get out!

Otherwise keep reading!

Proper Spelling and Grammar is a Dying Art

For this article I wanted to do something different from what I’ve done in the past; I wanted to write an article that people would actually want to read. Rather than simply talking about things I like or don’t like, or mentioning crap about my life no one actually gives two shits about, I wanted to write about something that matters: The death of the English language (at least in written form).

“It Follows” – A Movie Review

It Follows. No It Doesn’t!

*Spoiler Warning*

So I should’ve written this review a little while ago when I had just finished watching the movie, but I didn’t. Now I am, though, because people have to know why this is not a good horror movie and why it is not a good movie in general.

I became interested in seeing it shortly after it came out and critics were praising it. Seriously. 96% on Rotten Tomatoes with this as the consensus: “Smart, original, and above all terrifying, It Follows is the rare modern horror film that works on multiple levels — and leaves a lingering sting.”

That is simply a lie and let me tell you why.

“A Year of Terror” – A Halloween-ish Horror Short Story Written by Stephen Kaplan

January 1^st

It started with a knock. It was four in the morning and there was a knock on the door. Ordinarily something like that wouldn’t have even made me stir, never mind actually wake me up. There was something odd about this knock, it was much louder than a normal knock. Even weirder is that it was just a single knock. No rapid tapping, no door bell, no “shave and a haircut” knock, just one single house-shakingly loud knock.

I immediately sat up, feeling hungover from the night of partying and debauchery, thinking that maybe it was one of my friends who just needed a place to crash. I got out of bed, wrapped a robe around myself and proceeded to the door. When I opened it, to my surprise there was no one there. I looked around but the street was dead. The whole neighbourhood was dead in the chilly winter night.

Did I imagine the knock? Was it part of the dream I was having? Did I take too long to answer the door and they left? I swear, it wasn’t more than a minute from hearing the knock to getting to the door. Oh well. I decided to go back to sleep.

January 2^nd

Top 10 Best Songs and Videos from Animusic

Animusic  (for those that don’t know) is a company that makes their own original pieces of music and then creates little computer animations to go along with it. They design fascinating looking instruments or have robotic creations playing the instruments. They released two volumes with a third on the way (though it’s been in the works for a couple years now, but Wayne Lytle [the creator of it] posted an update in August explaining why it hasn’t been finished yet).

Anyway, this list is going to have songs and videos from both Animusic 1 and 2. I’ve also embedded each video so you can watch and listen while you read. So now then, onto the list.

Melody’s Escape – A Game Review

So I recently downloaded this game off of Steam, it was 50% off and it intrigued me as all games of this genre tend to do. It’s a rhythm based music game that uses your own song library from your computer to create these obstacle course-like tracks. Obviously this isn’t the first game to do this, but it’s the first one I’ve played that actually does it well. The surprising thing about it is that it’s in early access, so it’s not even fully complete.