Tag Archives: Video Game

Borderlands – Movie Review

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TL;DR – While I will give it points for getting some of the visual style right, and something must have gotten that cast to sign up. But the final product was a soulless mess of nothingness.

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit scene that you don’t need to stay for.

Warning – There is strobing effects.

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film.

Space Station around Pandora.

Borderlands Review –

For a long time, there has been a question about whether you can write an engaging video game adaptation? They have been hit and miss, and many were just made for tax write-offs [allegedly]. However, in recent years, we have found that you can make that translation on both TV and in the cinema, which makes it even more frustrating that we take a return to the past with today’s entry.  

So, to set the scene, we open around the planet of Pandora, where a secret vault containing alien information has drawn vault hunters for generations, leaving the planet trashed and strewn with violent gangs. One man who is after that power is Atlas (Edgar Ramírez), which makes it concerning when one of his own soldiers, Roland (Kevin Hart), kidnaps his daughter Tina (Ariana Greenblatt) and takes her into the quagmire. It has been months, and no one has been able to find her, which is when he goes to Lilith (Cate Blanchett), the one bounty hunter that can take on the planet because she used to live there.

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Civilization: Full Map (2024 Edition) – Map-It

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TL;DR – Every single feature of the Civilization Franchise (at the time of posting) in one Map

Back in 2021, during Civilization’s 30th Anniversary, we put together a map that charted every location that has ever been added to a Civilization Game. It was a fun exercise, well, other than trying to get Mesopotamia to work. But after I released the Map, it became clear that I had missed a couple of items. So, with the recent Civilization VII announcement, it felt like this was the right time to come back in and fill in those missing spots.  

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Chained Together – Video Game Review

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TL;DR – A game that is as frustrating as it is fun. Just be sure it doesn’t end a relationship in the process.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for this game.

Skull of hell and a bone bridge.

Chained Together Review –

Today, we are looking at a bit of an odd game in that it is very purposely designed to cause grief. It’s like an old arcade game trying to take all your quarters, but instead of money, it is streamers yelling on Twitch. It should not have worked, but I was captured for the entire time.

So, to set the scene, Chained Together is the next in a long line of rage games that stretch back to Only Up! and Getting Over It! These use finicky controls and an odd visual environment to cause grief when you miss a jump and lose all the progress you have made. One step forward, and then a crushing fall back to Earth. The main difference this time around is that you are not climbing alone because you are chained together [said the name of the game]. Which can be a bonus or a great burden. You need to climb up all the puzzles and traps and escape hell, lest you fall back to the suffering below.

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Halo: Reach (2010) – Exploring the Past

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TL;DR – It might be the first Halo game to connect with me on a narrative level, as well as the general gameplay.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Game Pass service that accessed this game.

The Destruction of New Alexandria.

Back late last year the Halo TV series hit its stride for a moment during the conflagration on the Planet Reach. Alas, the strength in the show was fleeting, but it had me wondering if that strength was based on anything. It was here that my friends introduced me to Halo: Reach, and ever since then, I have had a plan to check it out. Well, I was able to jump in with some friends, and it is time to see just how well a game from 14 years ago resonates with me today.  

So, to set the scene, there has been a long war brewing between the Human forces of the UNSC and the growing alien Covenant threat. There had been numerous skirmishes, and all of humanity was working on a way to combat the Covenant’s technological edge because, sooner or later, they were going to find something meaningful. Well, when the Visegrád Relay Communications Outpost loses transmission, Colonel Urban Holland (Pat Duke) sends in Noble Team led by Carter-A259 (Freddy Bosche) to investigate. Noble Six (Amanda Philipson/ Philip Anthony-Rodriguez) discovered that it is not just a communication fault; the Covenant discovered Reach, which means an invasion is imminent. If Reach is about to fall, then they need to get to Sword Base because there could be one thing that saves humanity.    

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Halo: Sword – TV Review

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TL;DR – A more contained story that was slightly frustrating until you understood its context.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ service that viewed this episode.

The green mountains of Reach.

Halo Review –

We are making a splash with the second of the two-episode opening for Halo’s second season. The first episode showed a bit more focus than we saw in Season One, and that intrigued me. More than anything, I want to see if this was a blip or if this is a new direction for the series.  

So to set the scene, we open with Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey (Natascha McElhone) in a beautiful room, getting all her favourite things, which, of course, means that she is in prison somewhere. It is a nice prison, with pomegranate, but a prison nonetheless. Meanwhile, on Reach, John (Pablo Schreiber) is struggling to find himself now his team has been grounded by Ackerson (Joseph Morgan), and the lies continue to build. On Rubble, Kwan Ha (Yerin Ha) discovers that their precarious position might be even more perilous than they thought. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Planet of Lana – Video Game Review

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TL;DR – A stunningly beautiful game that pulls at the heartstrings as it reveals the world one puzzle at a time.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Game Pass service that viewed this game.

Alien mothership in the distance

Planet of Lana Review –

One of the things that you are always looking for when you boot up a new game is to experience something that pulls on your emotions. Does it build upon strong mechanics and art design to bring a world alive? Today we are looking at a game that does just that as it charms and uplifts you.

So to set the scene, on a planet off somewhere in the galaxy, we meet Lana (Bianca Zoe Mantelli), who lives in a small but friendly fishing village on the coast of a giant sea. Running through the town with her big sister Elo (Rossmary Petruzzelli), they climb up the nearby hillside to visit a place of sadness and to reflect on their bond. But when they get there, they see objects falling from the sky, and soon grand machines capture Elo and take her up into the sky. The village is in ruins by the time Lana can get back, everyone has been taken, but nothing will stop Lana from trying to save her family, where she meets a little animal friend who may be the hope of her salvation.

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Tron: Identity – Video Game Review

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TL;DR – A very old-school kind of game with not much complexity mechanically, but with a story that gets its hooks into you wanting to explore this world

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for this game

Tron: Identity Review –

If anyone has met me before, you probably know of my love for the Tron universe. Everything from the visual aesthetic to the story and worldbuilding brings me in and excites me. Things have been light on the ground for the world since the third film went in and out of production. So when I heard there was a new game set in the universe, I was interested. When I discovered that it would be a narrative novel type of game leaning into the old Point & Click genre, well, now you have me intrigued.

So to set the scene, it has been many years since the failed Clu revolution in Tron: Legacy, and even longer since the origin grid in Tron. Long enough, the ‘Users’ have been almost relegated to myth or, for some, a religion to venerate. There have been wars for control. Some programs have even broken off to form their own societies, while Core has taken control of many things in the city. You play a Disciple of Tron, an investigator, an outsider within and without the system. You have been summoned to The Repository, where dangerous items and knowledge are stored. There has been an explosion, and something has been looted from their secure vaults.

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The Super Mario Bros. Movie – Movie Review

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TL;DR – While frustrating in more places than it should be, it shines when it lands on the fun.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid and end-credit scene

Disclosure – I was invited to a screening of this film

Bowser arrives.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie Review –

When this film was first announced, you could feel a general odd bemusement permeate through the internet, with relocations back to the last time they tried this in live action [a film that I have fond remembrances of, but that might be just the distance of time and youth as I have not seen it in decades]. That amusement was only highlighted when the lead cast was announced. A feeling that was only slightly abated when the first trailers landed. However, 2023 has been the year for good video game adaptations, so maybe this could work … maybe.

So to set the scene, Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) are two brothers that have just started their own plumbing company in Brooklyn and Queens. They are trying to make a name for themselves when a water main bursts, and only they can fix it. But as they go underground to find the source, they stumble across a giant green pipe lying open. What harm could that do? Was the thought right before both brothers were sucked into a new world, one full of mushrooms and the other dark and foreboding.

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Civilization VI: Leader Pass – Full Map – Map-It

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TL;DR – Every single feature of Civilization VI (at the time of posting) in one Map, featuring the new additions from the Leaders Pass.

Civ 6 Mapped –

Well, back when I finished the New Frontier’s Pass Map, I had assumed that this was the final entry into the Civilization VI map series that we started all the way back in 2017. However, here we are in 2023 with some new additions.

To be clear, there are no significant updates, but that completionist side of me could not let it lie. With this update, several cities are being upgraded to capitals and some new additions to the city list, including the addition of Munich, which has appeared on people’s city lists for Germany since the start but is only appearing today.    

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The Last of Us: Look for the Light & Season 1– TV Review

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TL;DR – In a show about the end of the world, this is the first episode to truly explore the levels of violence that could be found in the ruins of the old world.  

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Binge service that viewed this show.

Running for safety.

The Last of Us Review –

When I started watching this season a couple of months ago, I came in with some trepidation. To begin with, many video game adaptations had fallen flat because those adapting them didn’t understand the genre or were embarrassed with the course material. Something that had already happened to one of Playstation’s marquee programs. Second, I was just coming off the masterclass of post-apocalyptic fiction with Station Eleven, and I knew I would constantly be comparing the two. But watching this first season, all my fears evaporated in amazement at what I was watching.    


So to set the scene, we open in the woods outside of Boston where a young woman Anna (Ashley Johnson), is running through the trees as screams erupt behind her. She is about to give birth, but the fungus waits for no one, and the walker bursts through a door as the contractions are coming. Fighting the creature off, she gives birth only to see she has been bitten on the leg. She cuts the umbilical cord before contamination could happen and entrusts the little baby Ellie into the care of her best friend Marlene (Merle Dandridge). In the show’s current timeline, Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) have made it to the outskirts of Salt Lake City, and the end of their journey is near. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode and the season as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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