Dead Island 2

More zombies, more morons.

The continuation of the Dead Island series takes place in Hel-LA with a new (set) of protagonist(s, up to 3 players co-op) who find themselves bit in the opening act before somehow surviving but "being changed" - which becomes a pretty cool game mechanic later on. The maps are beautiful (even the gross places) and the game play is pretty fun, at least when playing co-op. If you were playing this solo, I'm pretty sure it would get old very fast. This is because many of the quests are of the find and fetch variety, with a mandatory "now you must withstand the horde" segments each time. Worse, most of the time these quests are done for the stupidest people. As Jim frequently liked to point out: it seems only morons survived. There's a reason I'm not doing a play through journal on this one!

There is a defense game mode as well, but again better geared for co-op, as up to three of you now play three students in a rogue like type event where you pick one of three quests per day with various rewards and on day five you need to mount a defense, building traps and such, at your shelter as waves of zombies come to break the doors down. Again pretty fun in a team, unlikely to appeal to a solo operative. Overall recommended only if you liked the first Dead Island and have people to play the game with you.

Free tip: while there are many zombie types almost all of them have the same weakspot: their legs.

Spartacus: House of Ashur and Arena of Trophies

Two things that involve gladiators!

Spartacus: House of Ashur

This one season show is a continuation of the Spartacus TV show has an unlikely protagonist in Ashur (Nick Tarabay), who through machinations of the gods finds himself dominus of the same ludus he once was a gladiator in. It is a strange premise but does keep the gore, full frontal nudity and different speech pattern of the original but you know what? It works and is actually pretty good! Recommended for Spartacus fans. I do hope someone makes a second season of this because it deserves it. 

Arena of Trophies

Free on steam until it closes down next month, this three on three arena combat game is only single player and takes place in a single map, a crumbling colloseum which actively falls apart as you fight. It's the best thing in here and is worth a look! Alas the fighting is less polished and while there are a variety of weapons hidden around you'll probably just resort to the ultra powerful kick attack that inflicts knock back and knock down. When paired with the wall spikes that insta-kill, there's no faster way to get your score up. 

The Slow Down in Posting

Hey all, it's that time of year again where work is busy and on top of that my "writing fuel" is being used in the preparing of the current campaign my party is playing through. I'm also behind on recaps of that, but for now I thought I'd just share some links that I liked which you might also enjoy. 

Starting off with some feats of engineering we have the process of "rescuing" a pretty big tree house, and China brings future tech closer by having robot fighting matches and first flying cars?! That's cool but surely going to cause air control some headaches. If you prefer your fighting to have a more human element you might enjoy these clips from FreeMMAGyms, and the archer Blumineck.

Music wise I've really been enjoying Mac Glocky's restyled songs, as well as Warframe's Lullaby of the Manifold and Yoko Kanno & the Seatbelts's recently extended version of TANK! Lastly if you want to both have a laugh and be impressed by yodeling, here's Chicken Attack, which I would never have encountered if not for Juris! Thanks dude!

Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader

An excellent example of how the Warhammer 40K universe should be.

This amazing RPG is set in the Warhammer 40K universe where you play as a scion to a titular Rogue Trader house - "noble" individuals granted a relic from the Emperor that charters them as freelance explorer, merchant and conquistador all in one. It's also set just far enough from the Imperium to give you problems which ever route you go: be it the traditional dogmatic "all heretics and xenos must burn", the nutjob heretical "I will gladly obey your cruel whims demons of the warp", and the foolishly hopeful iconoclast who "strives to treat all people and races with equality and respect".

While you can create your own custom party, you are provided a bunch of companions all eager to betray you or be betrayed by you at every turn story wise but are also very handy when it comes to the XCOM type turn based combat that you will frequently find yourself in, despite of or because of your best and worst intentions. Some of these combats are super tricky too, and that goes doubly so for the space combats where you pick what stations your companions are manning and are often outnumbered with your one ship to however many the enemy fleet has ready for you. 

I especially loved that comparing my play through to that with Jim's was a totally different experience which means your decisions actually have impact on the story, as any good game should. Player agency, tick! The game is also pretty lengthy with a lot of side stuff that is interesting, rewarding and fun (especially for masochists in some combats).  Awesome game, highly recommended!

Gary (The Bear TV)

A weak standalone episode when compared to its parent show.

This special flashback episode of the Bear takes place between Season 4 and Season 5, focusing on Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) and Michael (Jon Bernthal) as they do an easy delivery run to Gary, Indiana. A lot of this is just these two guys talking shit while en route and killing time only hitting the heavier acting stuff towards the end. And it does end pretty abruptly too. I kinda wish there was more going on here, but as it stands this falls in the not recommended bucket - just skip it and watch the main series as it doesn't add anything. 

A good measure for a flashback series or film is to ask, "if I watched this first, would I then watch the main series"? The answer in this case is a resounding no.

Kumusta

A Korean production with a Filipino focus? 

This reality cooking show follows three Filipina actresses and one chef on their journey to prepare and setup a popup Filipino restaurant in Korea, where they are helped out by some Korean celebrities as they run a week long service which just shows how demanding the restaurant business can be. As it is a Korean production you can expect things like flash backs, funny subtitles, and replayed bits over and over from different angles. While some bits can be cringey for the most part we found it entertaining, especially with the kitchen / food prep side of things. I guess it helps that we like shows like Masterchef because it really is mostly cooking food and people eating food. Definitely not for everyone, but it might be worth giving an episode or two a try to see if you like it.

Project Hail Mary

Amazing characters in a great story.

 

Everything about this film is cool.

 

This sci-fi flick has Ryan Gosling star as a middle school teacher sent into space to find what is basically a "cure" to our dying sun. Despite the grim subject matter the script is surprisingly light, humourous and mostly upbeat, moves along at a good pace, and has flash backs that don't get in the way of the story telling because the character himself has amnesia and is trying to remember how he ended up here. Nice effects, good acting and cinematography, character development and characters who should be role models to boot? I give this one five out of five (which is interesting from me as it has no violence, sex or cussing whatsoever). Highly recommended!