Rambo: Last Blood

He doesn't actually drink coffee. Or eat.

Retired soldier John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) now mostly spends his days training horses, enabling his PTSD, and blaming himself for people he can't save. Thanks to the actions of a stupid teenager, he finds a new foe in a medium sized group of Mexican thugs whom he is quite happy to do very bad things to.

Still many HPs to go.

While the predictable plot moves at a good pace, almost all the action is loaded onto the tail end of this film and it is well worth the wait as people die in very horrible and entertaining ways. The rest of the movie? Eh, passable enough - but I'd probably just watch the last bit again. Still an ok film for action fans or Rambo fans.  I give it two and a half cartridge traps out of five.

Star Trail: Phex Dungeon

[Part of the Darklands of Arkania Story.]

After resting up at the inns at Tiefhusen, the full team finds Hensger again and after paying him 20 ducats the shady man leads them into a dungeon in town and locks the entrance behind them! What a douche! With forward being the only valid option the team begins exploring the winding maze littered with secret doors that is the "Phex Dungeon" (according to the automap).

It also has the cover art from the first game on the walls.

The place is also inhabited by mummies, skeletons, skeleton warriors (tougher version) and priests that enjoy using blinding magic. It doesn't matter though as with the overly armed team steamrolls through everything the place throws at them, making use of the spare weapons they brought in as their primaries begin breaking. During one combat, Dalian contracts Battlefield fever though (I assume it means he thinks he's Rambo) - which makes all the back and forth mapping and puzzle solving a little time sensitive.

Memory mini game! :)

Good time to note that the combats are set and fixed, meaning after awhile the place really is emptied out yet still manages to be a frustrating exercise of navigating empty halls. An overwhelming despair finally hits some of the party.

You'd think this would happen more often!

Battlefield 4: China Rising (Single Player Experience)

Been awhile since I've played a Battlefield franchise and boy has it come a long way since its first iteration of Battlefield 1942. The graphics are sharp, controls very easy, and the single player storyline compelling enough to get invested in the characters. A negative for me was again the difficulty, because the hardest mode is actually easier than the Rambo Video Game, mainly since your squad is on god mode. That's not much of a fault though because as the main content of the game is the multiplayer side, it serves as a good seven mission tutorial on the various weapons, vehicles and other systems present in game. It also sets out the background as to why there's another war on. Might be a shallow reason but hey, it's there.

A surprisingly accurate load out depiction for  a change.

Despite the game complaining that it hates my video card, it never once crashed on me in single player. Indeed the only thing I find puzzling about the whole thing was actually trying to play the game. Not only do you have to log into Origin, but you then are taken to a website where you then decide if you are going single player or multiplayer and it is from there that the game starts up. That's a big step backwards for me. Instead of a title screen or cool intro, you first see a web page. That is shit. Did it become too hard for them to put that in game?

Lastly while the video card thing was passable through single player it is nightmarish for me in multiplayer, as it creates another layer of lag for me to go through making the game pretty much unplayable (if I wanted to actually be competitive). Since that is mostly my issue though I'm leaving out the multiplayer part from my score of three bullets out of five. Since I got it gifted it's not too bad, but if you spent money on it you would want the multiplayer mode working as you will blast through the solo missions in two or so nights of gaming.

Rambo the Video Game

Based on the first three Rambo movies, the player gets to step into the shoes of the tortured and violent soul of John Rambo in this "On The Rails" shooter as you relive all the exciting and violent parts in the story (some variation, mostly leaning towards MORE violence). Basically you only need to do four things: Reload your weapon with the proper timing, remember to use cover, pass the many quick time events correctly, and put bullets into the heads of your enemies.

Stabbing works just as well.

It's a very brief game, and even on the hardest Green Beret difficulty you'll probably find yourself at the (truly challenging) final fight without having unlocked much of the skills or weapons you can get from replaying previous missions a particular way. Not sure why you would want to though. While it's semi-cool that the voice lines were ripped directly from the movies, the graphics leave a bit to be desired and you might suspect that the enemies in the first few missions have access to a cloning device as they all look the same.

As a fun diversion it works well enough, and it certainly has increased my interest in borrowing the movies again but it is a ride that doesn't really warrant a second playthrough. Despite the simplistic nature it also managed to crash three times on me which leaves it a pretty low score of two bullets out of five.

Splinter Cell: Blacklist

Being my first foray into any Splinter Cell game, this is the first time I was introduced to the series protagonist Sam Fisher. I'm glad that story wise, it was pretty accommodating to not make me feel like I required previous knowledge about anything. Plot wise it's pretty simple: a terrorist group is threatening to do bad stuff and it's up to you (and your team) to stop it. After the tutorial mission you get access to your mobile base (the Paladin) and can then get the money you make on missions based on your performance to upgrade it and expand your customizable arsenal. Whoever is paying you also rewards you for the strangest things. Killed three enemies with a grenade? That was cool! Here's $30k! Shot some one with a non-silenced pistol while using some poor sap as a human shield? Have $10k!

I'm being sneaky!

Gameplay wise you can try be Rambo (kill everything loudly) or Solid Snake (sneak past everything, or kill them quietly), with most missions leaning in favour to the latter (some even as mandatory) as Sam's impressive agility is counteracted by his highly fatal allergy to bullets especially on perfectionist mode. He could probably take more hits if I geared him up in combat gear instead of stealth gear though - but that's how I like to play. A few, side mini-games also break up the tedium of sneaking now and then throughout the solo campaign which I feel was a good inclusion. There are also side missions, most playable as two person coop, and the usual FPS team PvP. Mostly, against AI anyway, it is a lesson in displacement and flanking.

Graphics wise it is very good, way better than Sniper Elite V2 for example - but the control scheme is almost identical to that game, complete with cover mechanics etc. I didn't have a problem with it but I thought I'd mention it here since a few readers posted their dislike of it. It also still crashed out about 10 times during my play through which is irritating, has subtitles that are slightly off from the actual voice acting (I always turn subtitles on) and occasionally has small logic flaws in the missions. Due to the stealth imposed nature it also feels more like a puzzle game than a shooter in some sections which might put people off. Still, if you don't mind all of those then you are in for a good time. I give it 4 bullets out of 5.

Update: Just played the cooperative mode and though there are only four missions it was very enjoyable. So much so that I am upping my rating to 4.5 bullets out of 5!Your mileage may vary though if you team up with a random who doesn't use voice chat.