Tag Archives: leisure

Jurassic World Review

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By Jason Green

If there’s one word I can sum up Jurassic World with, it would be “surprise”.

The first Jurassic Park movie was such an outstanding movie to me. As a kid, I watched it over and over on laser disc, yes you read that correctly. As far as the two sequels go, as a kid I loved them but now as an adult I realize they’re flawed. Not terrible movies, just not as good as JP 1.

I was extremely hesitant going into Jurassic World. The trailer made the movie seem… lame, for lack of a better word. The CGI seemed sub par and that scene with Chris Pratt teaming up with the Raptors made my eyes roll so hard my mom thought I was possessed.

But, I will say I was pleasantly surprised with this film. It hit mostly all the right notes.

First, let’s start with the bad. Most of the characters in this movie are boring. The two kids whom are visiting the park are just cookie cutter characters. You got the one teen who hates the world and his younger happy-go-lucky brother to balance it out. The other two leads, Chris Pratt’s Owen Brady and Bryce Dallas-Howard’s Clare… something, are way more interesting than the two younger leads.

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Although, Owen Brady and Clare are pretty standard as well they’re way more entertaining than the latter two characters of the film. Also, the character who replaces John Hammond as owner of the park wasn’t, in my opinion, very likable either and neither was the main villain of the film.

Another minor gripe was some tone issues; that being it felt all over the place in some spots. For example: and this is sort of a non spoiler because most this shot was in the trailer. When the Pterodactyls escape and attack the people in the park, we are greeted with a lovely scene of a woman being lifted up and pretty much being annihilated, which is directly followed by a man running from the bar trying to protect his Margaritas. Basically, we go from a pretty ugly shot to sort of comedic relief shot in the matter of a second.

All that aside, the  good definitely out weighs the bad. Simply put this movie is fun and doesn’t take itself TOO seriously. The action scenes are well crafted and really keep you on the edge of your seat. There’s a very clever scene at the end when the main villain is delivering his cliche speech and is interrupted in a very witty way which definitely, at least, deserves a chuckle. And that Raptor team up scene in the third act did work out very well.

There’s obviously going to be sequels, and multiples ones at that. But, it’s nice to know that the Jurassic franchise may be heading in a better direction then before. And, if you’re one of the people who didn’t like this movie, which is okay, just remember that the original script involved dinosaurs with guns. At least we got a better movie than that.

 

@JayGreen89

The Witcher 3 Review (so far)

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by Jason Green

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt defines why I love playing video games. It’s a shining example of a fully realized world that you can get sucked in to.

Let me take a step back real quick and say: I have never played a Witcher game before, but that’s okay. Witcher 3 is a solid stand alone title that welcomes new players to the series and, yes it references stuff from previous games but not enough to get confused.

You take control of Geralt, a very famous Witcher. Witchers are pretty much monster hitmen; meaning, a desperate towns person might be having trouble with a monster or demon and they hire a Witcher to take care of it. The chronicles of Geralt can be found throughout a series of books and now video games, which end with this final installment.

To be honest, the story is a little hard to follow. It has a simple concept, Geralt is on a quest to find his surrogate daughter and gets interrupted at every turn. The real name for this game should be The Witcher 3: Detour because every person Geralt meets sends him on another quest that’s out of his way, giving him the incentive of information about his daughter. Obviously, that’s CD Projekt Red’s, the developers, way of having you explore this gigantic world.

Speaking of gigantic worlds, the in game world is absolutely massive. CD Projekt Red has gone above and beyond making a fully realized, immersive, and freaking huge world. Other previews of this game have said Witcher 3 holds 200 hours of gameplay and, honestly I can totally believe that. There is just so much to do it’s pretty overwhelming, but in a good way.

So far, my only fault with this game is the combat system because the sword and magic play is fun but clunky. There’s been multiple times when I yell at my TV because three or four enemies jump me at once and Geralt doesn’t block all of them. Or, I’m fighting enemies in close quarters and some veer off camera and still hit me. This is a minor point though, but still a nuisance.

The Witcher 3 is a big, beautiful and bold game. There’s so much to do I feel like I’ll be playing this game well in to the next year. It’s fun, mostly easy to get the hang of and pretty to look it. Once I beat the game my full review will be up.

@JayGreen89

Fallout 4 Officially Revealed!

A bomb was dropped this morning.

The culprits – Bethesda Software.

That’s right, folks. Fallout 4 is officially upon us. This announcement trailer details some interesting things, such as: the world before the Nuclear disaster and a protagonist that talks!

The latter being, in the previous Fallout games your avatar never speaks. Yes, you make dialog choices but a voice is never heard. The case may be different now, though. Maybe it’ll be similar to Dragon Age: Inquisition where you choose between a few voices and pick one you like.

Another thing to note is the location, which is confirmed to be Boston. Maybe some characters from Fallout 3 will make an appearance? Washington D.C. isn’t that far from Boston…

Closing out, this trailer leaves more questions then answers. We know the location but, that’s about it. Why does it show civilization before the war and after in that juxtaposition? Maybe you’ll be playing in both eras?

Hopefully, this years E3 will answer more.

 

@JayGreen89

The Wolf Among Us (Late) Review

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by Jason Green,

Yes, yes I know this game is over a year old and I know it’s been reviewed and praised dozens of times. But, I just played it. So, now it’s my turn.

The Wolf Among Us is a fantastic game. Telltale, the developers, have been hitting home runs these last few years with various other titles and this one is no different. The Wolf Among Us was a game that, when released, I didn’t go out of my way to purchase. No disrespect to the game and the team behind it, it just didn’t seem like my cup of tea. Well thanks to a very handy Flash Sale on the Playstation Store I bought the game in its entirety and didn’t put it down for days.

The Wolf Among Us is an episodic mystery game with a dash of fantasy. You’re detective Bigby Wolf and you’re tasked with uncovering a murder in Fabletown. This game takes place in the same universe as Bill Willingham’s Fable comics. Basically, all the fables and fairy tales of olds’ characters now live amongst us in New York City. Honestly, that city would be my first guess, too. I have never read any of the comics but now I’m totally compelled too.

 

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What makes this game stand out is it’s film noir-esque tone. Noir movies have always been something that fascinated me and a simple story with a stylistic tone is treat to the eyes and ears. The Wolf Among Us captures that very same tone within it’s five episode arc. Every noir aspect is touched upon; from the shady damsel in distress, to the who-done-it murder plot, to the seedy underbelly of the society. It’s all done with elegance and a flare for the unnatural, since we’re dealing with fairy tale creatures.

As usual, Telltale does a fantastic job of fleshing out your character along with the characters in the story. And, as usual in Telltale fashion, the player is able to pick choices for the main character that will dictate the story in different ways. If I had nit pick at one thing in this brilliant game it would be that the choices are extremely black and white. It’s either you pick one which does a horrible thing or another which does a good thing. Yes, they do have different outcomes and some characters favor your choices over others but the choices you pick are always polar opposites of themselves. Small point, though, as the outcomes and the story for this game is fantastic.

The Wolf Among Us really blew me away. Similar to how the big bad wolf blows down the three little pigs’ house, my mind was shattered. It’s an extremely unique game filled with intrigue, surprises, a surprisingly amount of action and good character depth. To top it all off, the ending is so mind blowing that you will be thinking about it for days, trust me. I know I still am. Do yourself a favor the play this game.

 

@JayGreen89

Dying Light Review

Despite being about shambling, half dead corpses, the zombie genre is alive. Over the past several years the video game market has become enamored with zombie titles – from The Walking Dead to Dead Rising. After awhile one would think “this genre will die out similar to Tony Hawk and Guitar Hero, right?” Well, then a game like Dying Light comes along and shows you just how much this undying genre can really shine.

STORY – You’re put into the shoes of a GRE agent known as Kyle Crane. Going into this game I thought “Well, I’ll just be playing as a silent protagonist who does peoples’ biddings.” Turns out, I was only half right! Crane’s personality is far more fleshed out then I expected. Yes, he still blindly follows people and gets angry a lot, but voice actor Roger Craig Smith does a damn good job putting his heart and soul into Crane. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the other characters as their voice work ranges from mediocre to cringe worthy. There are a few exceptions however, like the main villain and the love interest.

The game begins with Crane HALO jumping down to the fictional city of Harran. Harran is plagued with the zombie virus and he’s tasked with saving the day. As expected, the moment he lands things go haywire and he stumbles upon a large group of survivors. From that point forward he agrees to help them with their needs as well as help fight against an evil faction of humans lead by a drug lord named Rise. It’s a better thought out story then a lot of other zombie games; with a surprising amount of heart and depth.

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GAMEPLAY – The biggest focus here is the Parkour. Parkour is a essentially running, jumping and grabbing at a specific pace along an urban environment. Examples can be seen here and here. Crane is a Parkour master so the majority of the game is spent running, jumping, grabbing and climbing onto rails buildings and everything in between. Think Mirrors Edge but with more zombies. Parkour the main means of traversing the map and a super effective way at avoiding the undead. It’s such a focus that for the first few hours of the game the only weapons Crane has access too are extremely weak ones. The game forces you to Parkour and avoid zombies. As for the weapons, there is a wide range of melee weapons. From pipes, wrenches, baseball bats and swords. Every weapon has its own unique feel and can be crafted with the likes of fire and electricity, along with a few other helpers. There are guns but not until later in the game and the noise they give off can hinder your progression.

There are three skill trees that can be leveled up. Agility, Power and Survival. Agility is leveled up by running, climbing and dodged while Power by killing enemies. Survival is leveled up by completing missions and surviving the night time. Once you reach a new level in any one of the three trees you gain a skill point that can be spent on a new perk in that skill tree. It’s very Borderlands-esque.

The other main focus of the game is the night time. Simply put, when the day turns to night things get worse. A more vile, harder-to-kill group of enemies rise from the depths of the city looking for a meal. These are known as the Volatiles. Once the sun sets and the night hits, you have the choice of finding a safe house and sleeping there until the morning or toughing it out and surviving the night. Doing so gives you double points in every skill tree, just watch out for the Volatiles as avoiding them can be a tricky. Holding down the X button (I played this on a PS4) allows Crane to scan the area for any useful items, but it can also detect Volatiles so you can plan accordingly. That, and they can be seen on the in game map with a cone of sight a la Metal Gear Solid.

Dying Light also sports co-op if you feel like gathering with some friends to kick some undead ass. It feels a bit lazy in the sense that each of the players would be playing as Kyle Crane at the same time. But, honestly it’s pretty entertaining to see your friend drop kick a zombie. Personally, I spent hours and hours doing missions with my friends. The only downside is that if you’re in their game and do a mission or two and go back to your own game, you’ll have to do the same missions again if you haven’t already.

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PRESENTATION – Once you’re given free range to run around Harran and bash zombie heads in, it becomes quite clear how easy it is to be sucked into the world. The crips graphics, disturbing zombie noises and chatter amongst the NPCs, Techland does a remarkable job at making Harran feel real. Even though most of the voice acting (excluding Crane and a few others) is pretty cringeworthy, that doesn’t take away from the bright and bustling display of the city. There are two maps the game gives you access to and they both feel as if they could be actual locations.

VERDICT – Dying Light is a game that, when I purchased it, didn’t think it would be anything that stood out. I played Dead Island (Techland’s other zombie game) and thought it’d be more of the same, just something fun to past the time. A few weeks later and I’ve completed 100% of the game. It’s a fantastic zombie game with a lot of depth, surprising amount of heart, and a ton of guts. Whether you’re running along roof tops, slicing a zombie’s head off or laughing at some of the dialog, Dying Light shines bright.

SCORE – 9/10

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@JayGreen89