Rambo: The Video Game – PC Game Review

I am honestly not even sure where to begin. I love the Rambo movies! I even watched the 2008 “Rambo” movie to completion. Hell, I even watched the Animated series(Though, to be fair I was a wee child at the time, and wasn’t too picky with my cartoons). I also love video games! So, basically “Rambo: The Video Game” was basically like someone coming along and bumping into me, and knocking my chocolate bar into their peanut butter jar! It’s 2 great tastes, that go great together!

Now, this is by no means the first Rambo video game! There have been several video games based on the franchise that have released on various platforms. They’ve been released on everything from the Commodore 64 to the mobile platform. This however, as far as I know is the first time a Rambo game was released on PC(As well as Xbox 360 and PS3…Though this review is for the PC version, and I am not sure how similar it is to the console versions).

The game is a little old! It came out in early 2014, and like I said earlier, was released on PS3 and Xbox 360. Some of you maybe wondering why I took so long to play the game, if I love games and Rambo so much. The answer to that is “Time”! As much as I love games, I still have other things to do in my life. Which means that a good number of games slip past my radar, or just get put on the back burner until I can find the time to play it! R:TVG is one such game that found it’s self on the back burner.

The idea of a Rambo game is fairly exciting! It has a lot of potential, a large ready-made fan base and tons of game styles to choose from! Basically, when it comes to making a Rambo Video Game, it’s almost impossible to make a stinker! That is unless you are the game developer Teyon! Somehow, they managed to create a mess of a game, based on a good franchise. Then, somehow managed to shovel it all up and convince Reef Entertainment to actually publish the thing!

You might recognize the name of the Developer! Teyon has developed a few other games in the past(The heavy Fire games, as well as a several lesser known titles)..The publisher hasn’t published anything else other than this game, though they do state that they have a Terminator game coming out! Of course, that was first announced in 2013, and they have revealed no information about it! No screenshots, concept art or even who the developer is going to be. So, there’s a chance it won’t see the light of day! Maybe Rambo ruined it for them?! Who knows!

Back to the game at hand! Rambo: The Video game(Which I am just going to refer to as Rambo from here on out) is an on rails shooter, much like the developers other more well-known franchise “Heavy Fire”. It begins at the funeral of John J. Rambo! The story is told mostly as flashbacks during Rambos eulogy. Starting with Rambos escape from a Vietnam POW camp, through the events of Rambo 3, and though there are some differences between the game and the movies it’s basically the story you all know and are familiar with(Assuming you have watched the Rambo movies of course).

The graphics aren’t bad in the game! Don’t get me wrong, they aren’t great either! Although, the model they used for Rambo? That is pretty bad! In fact, it’s one of the worst likenesses of Sylvester Stallone that I have ever seen! If I were Stallone, I would sue!

As I mentioned before, the game is an on rails shooter! Which basically means that you have no control of the character. You just move the crosshairs around the screen and shoot the enemies popping out at you. Once you blast away your enemies on the screen, the main character will automatically turn around, or move forward and a new batch of enemies will pop out so you can gun them down. However, Unlike a lot of On rail shooters, Rambo does give you some “Partial Control” over the movement of John Rambo. At least in the sense that you can sometimes take cover behind something. It’s not much, but it’s something!

I’m going to be blunt here! On rails shooters belong in the arcade! At the very least played with a light gun, or a wiimote! Something like that! Playing the game with a gamepad or even a mouse cursor just sucks! I have always believed that certain types of games are better off on certain platforms. MMORPGS are better off on PC, platforming games are better off on Consoles and On rails shooters are better off in arcades.

So, it goes without saying that the games controls are annoying! Both the gamepad and mouse controls just stink! To be fair, that can’t be avoided because of the type of game it is…but why make that type of game when you know it’s going to stink for anyone not using a light zapper, or at the very least a wiimote?

Thankfully though, the whole game isn’t just shooting. There are a few On Rail “Stealth” moments and On Rails Melee moments, but those are basically just QTE cut scenes. They allow less interaction than the shooter aspect! Plus, a good many people hate QTE in games(I myself love them, but I am just weird).

Then to make matters worse, the developer apparently felt that you don’t need to manually save! All saving is done automatically through a checkpoint system. Now, checkpoint saves are pretty common these days, but allowing manual save or quick saves is always nice! Though, to be fair it isn’t really needed since the game isn’t that difficult! Enemies pop out in the same locations at the same time, so if you fail and get killed enough times, you will eventually memorize the pattern and blow them away easily enough. It might be more of a challenge if the placements of enemies were more random?

The sound in the game is equally bad! Rambo and Troutman are basically audio clips taken right from the movies, and at times they are can be hard to hear, and rarely seem to fit with the other voice “Actors” (And I use the term loosely since this is some terrible voice acting work. It’s almost laughable really) in the game. It’s horrible, and honestly if they couldn’t afford Stallone to come in and do some voice work…hire someone who does impressions! What you did here is just shoddy work man!

To be honest? There’s nothing redeeming about this game, aside from the fact that it’s Rambo! Should you buy it? I wouldn’t recommend it! Not even to a hard-core Rambo fan! The game costs 25 backaroos on steam which is about 22 dollars more than it’s worth! If you catch it on sale, and it’s only about 3 or so bucks? By all means grab it! Otherwise don’t bother, because the game is just bad!

If however you absolutely MUST experience the “action packed journey” that is RAMBO: The Video Game, just watch a YouTube walk through! The person playing it in the videos experience will be identical to your experience since it’s an on Rails shooter…the only difference is you will still have 25 bucks in your pocket, and can munch popcorn while laughing about how you dodged a bullet by not buying the game.

PROS

• It’s Rambo
• Variety of locations.
• Different “Game modes”
• QTEs(Unless you hate them)

CONS

• Poor modeling
• Bad Voice Acting.
• Poorly ripped Soundtrack audio from films.
• Bad controls
• No Manual Save
• QTEs(Unless you love them)

Overall score: 1.5/10

F.E.A.R. Gold – PC Retro Review

 

Anyone remember the Survival horror / FPS hybrid “F.E.A.R.” that came out way back in 2005? It was incredibly popular, and was released on not just the PC, but also Xbox 360 and PS3. From what I understand, the console games were inferior, but I can’t say with any certainty because I never played the game on the console. In fact, I had never played the game on the PC either!

I know, I am a horrible gamer! The reason though, was that during those years, I wasn’t doing much gaming at all. My wife had passed away a few years before that, and I was in a major slump and gaming was the last thing on my mind. So, a good many  of the later PS2/Xbox games, and early Xbox 360/PS3 games were completely ignored…I’m still catching up!

Anyway, this is one of the games that I had to catch up on, and I finally got around to playing it on the PC and I have to admit that this is a good cinematic FPS! Easily one of the better games I have played! My only real regret is that it took me this long to pick it up and begin playing it! I wish I started playing it when I first started catching up on old games that I skipped over! Better late than never I guess though right?

The game is also incredibly LONG! Which is a huge plus in my book, and should be in yours too. You definitely get your moneys worth with this purchase, especially since you can pick it up on steam for a mere 10 bucks. Less if you wait for a sale. I got mine, for just 2 bucks. So, unless you are someone who doesn’t have much time to invest into a game, and just want a quick bang-bang, pew-pew experience, then you owe it to yourself to get this now, otherwise stick with the single player CoD campaigns for your pew-pew thrills. This one will take several hours unless you just rush through without exploring. It took me 15 hours to complete the game(That’s including the two expansion packs that are included with the gold edition)

The game is also challenging, so if you want a game that’s a breeze and practically plays it’s self, then might not be for you, and again: Stick to the single player CoD campaigns! However if you want a challenge then this game should be in your library.

Now, the game lists it’s self as a horror game, and I just do not agree with that assessment. Sure there are a few “gasp moments”, but only because the game relies heavily on jump scare tactics, and I don’t consider loud noises or quick rushing objects appearing out of nowhere to be horror. To be fair, I believe jump scare tactics might be the only way to cause a fright in a FPS, as real horror comes from escaping and fearing for your life, not gunning down everything in your way in a blazing hail of gunfire.

So, while I don’t consider it a “Horror” game, I do consider it an excellent FPS that should be in everyone’s library!

–Pros–
Good graphics for it’s age.
Fantastic Story line!
Challenging game play
Bullet time!
Impressive AI
Many hours of game play
Includes two expansion packs!

–Cons–
Clumsy default controls(Can be reconfigured to your liking)
Game maybe TOO challenging for some novice gamers even on easier settings.
Some maps get boring and slightly repetitive.

Overall Score: 7/10

Farcry Primal – PS4 Review

Once upon a time, I bought a game called Far Cry, and I loved that game like nobodies business! It was beautiful and original. It combined Stealth with FPS goodness, and then topped it off with a decent story. I seriously loved this game!

Then Far Cry 2 came out, and since I loved the original I bought the sequel right quick. Unfortunately I was incredibly disappointed. Everything seemed so bland! The story sucked, the location sucked and I was just really let down. I did love how the fire could spread though when a fire broke out. That was cool, but not cool enough to make the game enjoyable.

It wasn’t too long before FarCry 3 came out, and I found myself equally disappointed with that one. The same disappointment followed with FarCry 4. It was at this point that I knew that Far Cry had evolved into a game series, that just didn’t appeal to me. The sales were high on the series though! People love the Far Cry games! So, odds are it was always going to be the same ol’ game with polished graphics.

I told myself after playing the 4th entry in the Far Cry series, that I wasn’t going to buy any more Far Cry games. That they just don’t appeal to me anymore. Then they announced Far Cry: Primal. Far Cry game where you get to be a caveman and hunt sabretooth tigers and mammoths and all kinds of other extinct creatures? How can I resist that??

Not only did I pick it up, but I even pre-ordered it. To be fair though, how could I not? Cave men! So knowing that I was going to prob dislike the game, I ordered it anyway. Hoping that the fact that it’s about cave men will make it more enjoyable, at least enjoyable enough to overlook everything else that I was going to dislike about it!

So, it arrived and I popped it into my console and began playing it! First, let me just say that the graphics in this game is nothing short of amazing! The fur on the animals doesn’t quite seem right, but everything else is eye poppingly awesome in appearance! However that’s to be expected when it comes to Farcry games. I haven’t played a Farcry title yet that wasn’t graphically impressive for its time. How’s the content? Glad you asked!

The game started off nice! A sweet a mammoth hunt! True, I ended up getting killed in said opening mammoth hunt, so I was fairly certain the game was going to be a challenge! I survived the mammoth hunt the second time around, and eventually make it into the heart of the game! From this point on, the goes downhill to me! It’s basically feels like farcry 4(A game I did not like)! Only difference is as the game progresses you can tame wild animals and have them do your bidding! Yea, that part is actually as cool as it sounds! The story is there, but it’s not really anything that captures your imagination. It doesn’t suck you in! You are going to be spending more time fighting and killing animals that participating in an engaging story.

There are some cool things you can do in the game though! Like shoot bee hives causing a swarm of bees to attack surrounding foes(Or animals). There’s also my personal favorite: track down a bear in the woods, and fire a flaming arrow at him. This catches him on fire, and a flaming bear running through the woods tends to cause mayhem….also wildfires.

The voice acting is acceptable! Though you should know right away that the game is spoken in Proto-Indo-European. What this means is that unless you are a freak and speak caveman language, you are going to be reading subtitles. This does add to the realism, but why does it need to be realistic when so much of it isn’t realistic. I am sure many people will love the added touch, for me it was an annoyance. I hate reading subtitles, because the text on the bottom pulls me out of whatever immersion I am in.

In the end, I didn’t completely hate it like other Farcry games, but it is still a disappointment. Yes, I regret buying it, but I will also likely still play it on occasion. I have no plans to trade it in, so it’s not so bad that I don’t want it in my game library, it’s just not something I will go on about. I really need to stop buying these farcry games though. The style just isn’t my cup of tea! If you love past Farcry games though, most likely you are going to love this, since it’s just more of the same with a few improvements. I would rate it a 5/10. A solid “Meh!”

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WonderWash – Product Review

 

Awhile back my washing machine went kaput, and I didn’t want to run out and buy a new washing machine, because I am incredibly cheap. Being cheap I decided to look for an alternative method for washing clothes. Sure, there was hand washing. That was an option, and one I did do! Ultimately the hand washed clothes came out cleaner and nicer smelling than when I stuck them in the washing machine. Still, it was a lot of trouble, and was difficult for me, so I decided to look for more options.

To my amazement, there are TONS of washing machine alternatives. So, I picked up one up to see how well it would suit me. The one I bought was called The WonderWash! Not to be confused with Wonder Washer(As seen on TV), those are two totally different things. I mean, they accomplish the same thing, but work differently.

So, what is it? Well it’s a small lightweight non-electric washing machine alternative powered via hand crank and it costs roughly about 50 bucks. Does it work? Well yes, kind of. I mean, it sort of manages to wash clothes, although it’s really not all that effective. You see there’s no agitator in the barrel to beat on the clothes, so you can essentially accomplish the same level of clean by swirling your clothes in a bucket for 5 mins. Which, would be cheaper than this system. The clothes just don’t come out that clean(as I said, it’s the same as swirling clothes in a bucket) and in fact you get cleaner clothes by washing the clothes by hand.

The unit it’s self is fairly sturdy and made out of high quality plastic. It’s definitely not cheaply made, however the clips used to hold the system on it’s “Stand” come out rather easily which can be annoying if you are using the washer in a sink or tub, and the clip goes down the drain.

The hole for your clothes also is fairly small. Not too much of an issue for light clothes like underwear, socks, t-shirts and the likes, but stiff clothing like jeans are a bit tough to get in and out and even when you get the clothes out there’s a good chance water will be everywhere! So make sure you use this outside, or in a sink or tub or some place where having water pool out everywhere isn’t an issue.

Another thing that irked me, was the thing didn’t include any kind of assembly manual. Sure, it’s not too difficult to figure out how it’s put together, but it still would be handy to have that little bit of help along the way. Granted, most likely I wouldn’t have read the manual anyway but there are people out there who actually read manuals! It’s for them that some kind of instruction should have been included.

All in all, I wouldn’t really recommend this to anyone, since there are better washing machine alternatives out there (Including hand washing) but it does SLIGHTLY work! Though the effort put into hand cranking the device just isn’t equal to the level of cleanliness received. It does get to be a bit difficult to crank, since all that water in the barrel weighs it down quite well! Plus you are expected to crank it for 5 mins.

Thankfully I got my washing machine fixed, so this doesn’t need to be used anymore! I’ll still hold onto it and keep it in the closet. It might come in useful during a  sharkalypse or something. You know, if I need to wash clothes, but don’t want to stand by the waters edge hand washing them because of Zombie Sharks. Someone better get Syfy channel on the horn, cause that would make an excellent SyFy movie!

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Firewatch – PS4 Review

 

Firewatch is a new game that was recently released on PS4, Windows, OS X and Linux. It’s brought by the developer Campo Santo, which has developed…well, just firewatch.

As I mentioned, the game is available on a few platforms, but the one I am reviewing is the PS4 version.

The game is a first person exploration/mystery/horror adventure game, that centers on the games main hero Henry, a volunteer fire lookout stationed in Shoshone National Forest in 1989(So yes, technically this is an ’80s game). His only companion is Delilah, Henrys supervisor who communicates with you via walkie-Talkie.

As the game advances forward you start to build a relationship with your supervisor, explore the wilderness and eventually discover strange things afoot.

Overall the game sounds interesting, and fairly original! Does it live up to expectations though?

Graphics: 8.5/10 – The graphics are beautiful and artistic. If you are looking for realism in your games graphics though, look elsewhere! The graphics are very cartoony, and appear slightly cel-shading. In fact, the graphics remind me a little of the cartoony nature of World of Warcraft. So, I can’t stress this enough! It’s not realistic looking, and it isn’t intended to be.

The textures are gorgeous, and to be honest, the game its self is a delight to explore. I enjoyed just roaming around the wilderness and looking at all the work that the devs put into this game, more than I enjoyed actually playing the game. So, the graphics are absolutely top knotch.

Voice Acting: 9/10 – The two main characters were voiced rather well! Sure, the sounds of henrys voice didn’t match up with your actions, but that’s because the game has no way to know if you are climbing a mountain, or jumping across a river when you are talking. So, you don’t get the vocal distrubances from movement. However the acting is well done! Rich Sommer and Cissy Jones did a very good job acting out their characters emotions and fears. I was completely impressed!

Controls: 6/10 – The controls, are a pain at first. Mainly during conversations and dialog options. It takes awhile to get used to, and the first several conversations I ended up coming across like an ass and just not responding to her because the time limit would run out before I remembered which button combinations allowed me to reply. Also, when you are out exploring the wilderness, and you have your map up, trying to get your bearings and a call comes in. You can’t reply without first putting your map away. The game doesn’t inform you of this, but your response timer still ticks down, so I lost out on responding to a few other early on calls due to this as well.

Other than dialog, the controls are pretty straight forward, but unfortunately..at least for me, the conversation controls really hit the enjoyment factor hard.

Final thoughts: The game is short as hell. For 20 bucks, I expected more gameplay. Instead what I got 5 hours of gaming, and a good portion of that was spent exploring the area. While most of the game was enjoyable, it ended on a sour note, with what could be the worst and most boring game ending that I have ever experienced.

Is there a reason to replay it? Well, the store description says your choices can impact the game, however I don’t see how anything you say or do, could impact the game enough to warrant a second playthrough. Normally I would say that if you are a completionist you could go back and try to gain missed trophies, however all trophies are earned just by advancing the game…so If you finish the story, you have 100% completion.

Overall, I would suggest getting the game, but only if it’s on a 50% or more sale. 10 bucks seems fair for this game. 20 is just a ripoff.

Overall rating: 5/10

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Second Life Fashion critics

You all have by now heard of Second Life, especially if you have read my blog in the past. Second Life is actually quite a big thing, and has been featured in numberous television shows, and has so many movie/Television Tie-in’s, you would not believe.

If however you are one of the few people who don’t have a clue what Second Life is, I suggest you either read a bit through the Second Life section of my blog OR visit the official Second Life website, maybe sign up for a free account and experience it all for yourself.

One thing I haven’t mentioned about Second Life, is that one of the big things in the virtual world much like the real world, is fashion! The Internet is filled with a plethora of SL fashion sites, where they discuss the looks that are all the rage, what Second Lifes top designers are doing, Also many where they throw together outfits and tell you how to achieve their glorious looks! Many, if not most, if not all are NOT actually professional fashion critics in their real life, some have horrible taste even, but thanks to the glory of the ‘net, anyone can attempt to be a fashion critic!

One interesting and unique website/blog is called Second Life Fashion Police, and it’s even a blog hosted on the same server as my blog…Good ol’ WordPress! Now, this site is fairly unique, however unique doesn’t mean GOOD. What this blog does, is take screenshots of people who dress odd in Secondlife, and then they begin to ridicule and make fun of the outfits, shapes or whatever that the person is wearing. Some of the “Contributers” haven’t even a clue what they are talking about and unable to name pieces being worn by the avatars, and just come up with creative names like “Blingy thing” and “whatever that is.” Please note, those are not actual quotes, just examples of the naming styles they use.

Granted many of the people shown there DO have their avatars dressed quite outlandish, however in all fairness that might be what they are going for. Perhaps they want an off the wall crazy look. Perhaps they want their avatar to be fat, or a mannly looking female avatar. If that’s what they are wanting, congrats! Pay on the shoulder, desired look achieved. It’s Second Life…a world where its not odd to see someone running around naked, wearing slave silks and a collar or even to see a bipedal wolf walking around smoking a cigar, wearing a leather jacket, chaps and a cowboy hat. Fact of the matter is Second Life fashion is not cookie cutter fashion. People should wear what they like, what they feel expresses themselves on their virtual character…Not what some pencil pusher from michigan who has an avatar that someone said “Wow, nice shoes” to once and all of a sudden started thinking he was gods gift to fashion.

Be your self…That simple.

Will I still go to their site/blog? Yea, probably…it can be funny….even if it’s just ridiculous! heh

MMORPGs

There are a lot of MMORPGs out there in the cyberverse, I have also played most of them. Some, I still play, others have fallen to the side of the road, however still hold a special place in my heart.. 🙂

So! Since I have nothing really to discuss here, I decided I would give my thoughts and oppinions about 4 games that are currently on the market..4 of the more popular ones and let you know my thoughts on them.