The Evil Within Review

No one is........Safe.

    The Evil Within is a horror game by famed horror director Shinji Mikami who is known for his work on the Resident evil franchise and his new studio Tango Gameworks. The Evil Within attempts to redefine and expand the horror genre with a game that tests your sanity not just in the story but the gameplay, and not in a good way.

Kill it with fire!

 

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Early for Halloween, but we're rolling out the spooky playlist this week for your enjoyment.  Trey and Guy give us their first impressions of Civilization: Beyond Earth, price drops and system updates are happening, and we can't help indulging in the deluge of info released for the new Marvel movies.  Lucky for us, Colleen knows a thing or two about the comic books, so there's lots of info to be had.

-=Download 4.10=-

Let's Play Resident Evil 5

DJ and I decided to start a little impromptu LP series for RE5, one the earliest games I can remember playing co-op with him.  It's been a while for myself, but getting back into the groove isn't too difficult, as I still remember an embarrassing amount of detail when it comes to this game.  Check it out as we wade through Kijuju and give our thoughts on the RE series as a whole.

Resident Evil 5 Playlist

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel review

Everything about Pre-Sequel screams middle step: in plot, mechanics, graphics, the whole studio hand-off rigamarole, console politics, the whole she-bang. And, y’know, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. 2K Australia isn’t disingenuously re-inventing the shoot-and-loot genre the way the first two games managed to, rather, they manage to continue to carry the strong lead that Borderlands 2 set-up in 2012. For fans of the series, or people just looking to sate their desire to grab new weapons, there’s plenty in this middle chapter to tide players over.

Story-wise this time around, we’re filling in some of the blanks between the original and the sequel, hence our naming scheme for the game. Perhaps more so than any other previous installment, narrative is brought to the forefront. We’re mixing characters from 1 and 2, and watching character motivations play out in more understandable fashions than before. The initial setup of the player character Athena being captured by the city of Sanctuary set’s up the story to be told in medias res (or flashback for you less fancy folks out there), with a focus to see how a lowly Hyperion programmer ends up becoming the big bad of number 2: Handsome Jack.

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We're back from fall break, and we're getting caught up on the news.  Public condemnations of death threats!  Horses that are motorcycles! Talking about Destiny's raid! Free DLC!  Copious amounts of exclamation points!  Also a review for Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel.  Plus some music too! Huzzah!


-=Download 4.09=-

Alien Isolation Review

Alien Isolation is a follow up to last year's disappointing game Aliens: Colonial Marines. This time around Sega has given the reigns to Creative Assembly. While Creative Assembly is known for the Total War franchise, they step out of their comfort zone to give us an Aliens game unlike any other.

Rather than stepping into the shoes of a hardened colonial marine, this time we get to experience the terror through the eyes of Amanda Ripley, Ellen Ripley's daughter. Taking place between Alien and Aliens, the story follows Amanda after she is invited on a job that might shed some light into the disappearance of her mother and the rest of the Nostromo crew. You arrive on the space station Sevastopol only to discover that the station is in ruins and the remaining people still on board are terrified of some unknown creature.

To say the least, the game has a very good hook to get you invested in the story. The dark and tense tone is set as you begin your investigation. People are paranoid and fighting over resources and it doesn't take too long before you are faced with the terror that survivors can only describe as a dangerous organism.

Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor Review

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is a game for all. I have to admit, I came into this game thinking it would be an onslaught against the Tolkien fandom. So far, digital media has somewhat sullied the works of J.R.R. Tolkien with the Lord of the Rings movies and the new Hobbit Trilogy, both done by Peter Jackson. While I admit, they have brought Tolkien’s works to a wider audience, and have made themselves into media I like, they aren’t the truest to Tolkien form ever. However, this game touches on bits and pieces of less known Tolkien works like The Silmarillion and other assorted poems written by J.R.R. himself with a few references to the Jackson films (with an appearance from Gollum).

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Full house tonight with special guests Guy and Andrea on top of the regular cast.  Ryan and Trey geek out about Shadow of Mordor while I geek out about all the different drape options in Dragon Age.  All that and actual news and music, so make sure to check it out.


-=Download 4.08=-

Completed: Let's Play Dark Souls 2 + DLC

So 5 months and 34 episodes later, I'm not only finally done with my first Let's Play, but also all of the crown DLC for Dark Souls II.  For me anyway, I like the clear dichotomy between the experienced and quick parts from the main game that I know like the back of my hand compared to the slow cautious approach of new content.

But I'm also really glad that I'm done.  Stretching it over months, and learning first-hand some of prep. needed for a Let's Play series has been nothing if not personally valuable to me.

So yeah, if you're looking for some gameplay, some random lore rabble, this is the series for you:

Let's Play Dark Souls 2 Playlist

Let's Play Dark Souls 2: Crown of the Ivory King

Well we're closing in on the end of the Dark Souls 2 Let's Play.  There's just a handful of bosses left in the main game, and this fancy new DLC to conquer.  This will end up concluding the crown trilogy, so if you feel like watching me stumble through this icy challenge blind, this is a good video to start with.

Want to watch from the start?  Click the link below for the playlist:

Let's Play Dark Souls 2