X-Men Lurvz

 

 

I only recently got around to watching X-Men: Days of Future Past. I really loved it, and now I’m obsessed with X-Men! It had a desperate feel throughout the whole end-of-all-mutants subject without making me totally depressed like a lot of apocalyptic-type of movies are trying to go for lately. I’ve also never been able to sympathize with Xavier until this movie, though the actor was doing a great job in the First-Class movies already. I just think he really threw his all into this performance, and it pleased me greatly.

Oh, and Quicksilver! Ermegersh I think I’m in lurvz now! When making him run and move ‘quickly’, it was done excellently! Not like the odd way they are making poor Flash look in the newest Flash TV series. Not that I don’t like the tv series. It’s just that the way they have him run reminds me of how I pretend-run-in-place when I’m telling a story. Quicksilver’s attitude was quirky and fun, and witty! I’ll bet the actor really did his background research! It seemed to me that ‘being fast’ was really thought out on how someone might cope and react to things because of their skill.

After finishing this movie and immediately needing another X-Men fix, Master Betty (hubby) offered up his Onslaught comic book collection for me to read, and that’s what I’m doing right now while I wait for the Marvel Now Uncanny X-Men comics to get here in the mail. There are 4 volumes out so far of the Uncanny X-Men, and I went ahead and assumed I’m going to want to read through them. I haven’t read any reviews on if they’re any good or not. I can tell you that the first volume of Onslaught is epic so far! Woot-woot! I have to make myself stop reading once I get started so I don’t get a headache. As far as X-Men in Marvel Now, I think there are several different routes to go, but Uncanny X-men are supposed to be the current flagship, so that’s what I’m going with for starters.

I suppose the other place I can get an X-Men fix for this new obsession is the Lego Marvel game for our PS3.  All the Lego games are super adorable, and I love smashing all the blocks I can find. There are plenty of X-Men in the Lego Marvel game.

Those are my current suggestions for X-Men lovers in various fields of entertainment! All these pictures link to where you can get this stuff on Amazon.com! Now go and have fun, my ghoulz! *Mimes Professor Xavior’s temple-touching thing he does while influencing people’s minds.*

 

~ Starling

 

 

HEIMSKR!!!!!????!!!!

In Skyrim I raided a few different places and then when I went to sell stuff I realized I had a book I hadn’t read yet that makes me able to transmutate iron ore into silver ore, and then silver ore into gold ore!! Ermegersh!!!!

Halted Stream Camp is FULL of iron ore deposits! (And the vendors have it all the time!)  I put the spell to my left hand and at random I’ve been slowly changing all my iron ore into gold!! I gotz huge bank now!

 

Another thing I’ve realized recently is that when you are enchanting an item, before you create it you can choose to rename it. Now I don’t have to be so confused about which items I have are for sneak, pickpocket, increased carry weight, etc…I can just name them something obvious, like sneaky ring and sneaky necklace, and my legendary ebony daggers too! The one that does fire damage is Mars, the dagger that does shock and magic damage is Raiden, and the dagger that traps a soul for my soul gems is Reaper! I ran out of creativity by the time I remade a legendary soul trap mace and just named it Reaper Mace.  This has been very helpful when shifting to my different equipment depending on what my motives are! I love smithing, and I love enchanting my weapons, jewelry, and apparel that I create to be top of the line!

Now all I need to do is find lots of flawless diamonds to go in my gold jewelry that I’m enchanting. I used a black soul gem in a gold diamond ring and made a +22 carry weight ring! Woot-woot! I think the more expensive the jewelry is plus the higher quality of soul gem you use affects the enchantment.

I finally made it up to be able to make Daedric and Dragon Bone armor. I’m not quite sure where to get the Daedra hearts and netch leather. What is a netch? I guess I’ll figure that out pretty soon. I’ve been doing light armor, but I’ve gotten so powerful that I sometimes accidentally kill my followers, so I like making the best armor for them so I don’t have to worry about them as much AND so I don’t accidentally kill them so easily. Cicero, of course, has my Daedric armor that I made with the only heart I found so far. (I stole it off a desk in the basement of the Companion’s building.)

Which reminds me!!!! Something glitched for me and I’m supposed to do a random quest before I can go any further in the Companions. Well, I talked to Vilkas and he sent me to rescue this priest guy that was kidnapped. He usually hangs out next to that statue of Talos in Whiterun, and his house is right there facing it. Not the one with the cow thingy grazing out front, but the other house. His name is Heimskr, and I can’t. find him. anywhere! My mission says I already saved him, yet I have no idea how I saved him when I was following this arrow all over the place in the middle of a field where it said that’s where he is, and there was a giant, and two camps full of people I killed, but no Heimskr! No one else in the Companions will give me a quest until I finish this one that Vilkas gave me, but I can’t find that guy anywhere! I’m so frustrated!!!!!! I broke into his house and he’s not there. I came back over and over at different times and he’s never home. I circled Whiterun inside and outside and he’s nowhere to be found. I’ve checked the stores and other places too, damn it!!!

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

 

 

As I’m sure you’ve all noticed, I am totally, completely, deeply, madly in love with Skyrim. I have had so much fun and put in over 120 hours so far with just doing random side quests and level grinding my smithing/sneaking/speech skills. I haven’t even completed the main mission yet, and my husband has all the DLC too, so I still have vampire/werewolf stuff to do later as well! I tell you, though, the main mission doesn’t seem nearly as exciting to me as the Dark Brotherhood faction and the Thieves Guild faction quests. I’ve completed those two just because they hooked me along right away. I seriously don’t even remember what the main mission is anymore, but I have two mansions, three houses in different towns, a wife and two orphan girls from off the street, a dog named Vigilance, several housecarls and horses, Shadowmere, and now my favorite companion: Cicero! “Let’s kill someone!”

 

The controls were easy enough to get the hang of. Even the fact that I have to put the reticule on the target I’m trying to hit and I accidentally kill my own people sometimes. (I save often and go back and try again. I can’t handle losing them! *Sob*) I bet by the time I finish most of the stuff there is to do I won’t even be able to remember over half the stuff I’ve accomplished, so the replay value is pretty good in that aspect. I’m excited to play as a cat lady next now that I know what skills are my favorite and they have perks in all those fields! It is so easy to get lost in this world, and such a great tension release when I need to murder a town. I can’t imagine running out of stuff to do on here. I’ve made lots of posts about my adventures and they’re at least chuckle worthy, so I’ll add them here and come back and add more as new lolz arise.

 

The one thing that bothers me a lot, though, is how long the load screens take. Ermegersh I go crazy, especially when I’m going somewhere that requires passing through several doors that trigger another load screen…like when I’m wrapping up a mission of some kind and returning to see what’s going on in the ending…tying up all the loose ends and collecting my rewards.  Also, sometimes the graphics are clunky and slow when you’re finishing off an oponent and it’s trying to show you totally bad-ass butchering your foes. Sometimes I don’t even see myself killing the dragon from the angle the game takes. I have to trust the citizens who gather around afterwards telling me how they’ve never seen such a thing to know that I looked awesome sauce finishing off the beast!

Even with the few quirks, though, I can’t see myself giving this game anything less than five hearts because  I adore it so much and I’m totally addicted.

Five out of Five Hearts!!!

 

I’m committed crimes against Skyrim and her people…

 

I hate you! I’ll hate you forever!

 

My Hungry Pony in Skyrim

 

 

Another thing: I can hardly wait for Elder Scrolls Online to come out for the PS4 in June!!!!! It looks like you can buy the game and get the first 30 days free after you register. After that you pay about $15 a month for it. I messaged them and asked if I create a character and make lots of progress, and then something goes wrong and I don’t pay for a month, or I loose interest and play something else for a few months, can I cancel the monthly payments and then still have my character and the progress waiting for me when I return and start it up again. They said yes I can! So that is great! I go through phases where I’ll obsess over games for months and then forget about it for a long time before remembering it again, (Diablo III, Kingdoms of Amalur), so it would have been annoying to have to pay $15 a month if I wasn’t even playing it just to keep my progress.

I’m so nervous and confused about how this whole online thing is gonna work. I mean, after all, I’ve only been an avid, serious gamer for about a year now and I’m pretty sure all the experienced gamers out there are gonna wipe the floor with me! At least I have my good ol’ Senpai, Master Betty, to help me out!

 

 

Bit.Trip Presents Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien (Starling’s Review)

Starling’s addicted to Bit.Trip presents Runner 2 Future Legend of Rhythm Alien!

Name of game: Bit.Trip Presents Runner 2 Future Legend of Rhythm Alien

Developer: Gaijin Games

Rating: T (for crude humor) I’d personally let much younger kiddos play it because it’s not offended me in any way and this has to be a game that’s good for their hand/eye coordination. Yay, brain food for the young and old!

Platform: PS3 (We got it on our Play Station Plus) and available on many other platforms. You can click on this picture to take you to the official site:

This is a very, very, very, addictive single player game with lots of replay value! It’s just as addictive as Tetris, but without actually being anything like Tetris. It’s a free running game where you try to jump, dodge, attack, slide, etc…and collect piles of gold setting and floating around throughout each level. It’s a rhythm game inspired by the Bit.Trip series originally released on Nintendo platforms. Imagine those moving screen sky levels on Super Mario 3…the ones that will keep moving without you and you die…but without all the things that make people say, “I hate these moving sky levels!”  There aren’t constant drop offs, no time limit, and the controls are super responsive.

It’s challenging without annoyance because the controls are responsive and smooth so that the character moves predictably. (Which is really, really needed for this game!) This means that if you fall off a cliff or bonk your head on a rock you don’t feel like throwing the controller because it’s not your fault he didn’t jump when you pushed the button, rather you can laugh because you shoulda remembered that from the first run! (And then you try the level again because you CAN’T FORCE YOURSELF TO STOP!) You don’t have to collect all the bricks to progress to the next level, you only have to make it through alive. This offers a nice variety of challenge levels for the player. If you want it more simplistic, then just get through the level alive. If you want a harder challenge then try not to miss any of the bricks throughout the level.

The replay value comes in here: You can replay any of the levels you’ve finished and keep attempting to collect all the bricks for a perfect score! If you do you can unlock extra levels, so there is incentive to do so rather than just assuming we’re all perfectionists! (But I am…so I’d probably play them over again anyway.) Even after getting a perfect score on the levels, then you can play them again after you beat the newly unlocked levels to collect things along your path that weren’t available the first time you played through! Once you finally unlock a key vault, for example, you can go back and collect treasure chests that were locked before, and these will unlock new costumes for your characters. (You also unlock lots of new friends/characters to play as you go along!) Another thing that keeps me freshly entertained with each level is how they introduce new moves to dodge/attack different obstacles as the levels increase. This effectively keeps the game from being repetitive because there is something new dotted throughout each little world. Also, all the different characters respond the same way to the controls, so if you want to switch up characters for variety you don’t have to relearn the controls for a new character, you can just enjoy the new pal and any number of the unlocked outfits for each character. (There is a lot of fun stuff to unlock. I know I said that already, but it’s worth mentioning again.)

The creative, lovely, and artsy backgrounds sure do a great job of giving a fresh, new feel to each level as well! I think my favorite part, however, is how the music caters to your game play! There is way more than a few bleeps and honks thrown in there for noise filler! The music and how it works with the game is creatively and intricately planned out! The songs are bouncy alone, but as you jump, kick, and collect bricks they are positioned to where you just so happen to create music of your own to flow with the beat! It’s  a lighthearted game, and not frightening or shadowy at all. The animations are crisp and pretty large. It’s easy to see when a bad guy is coming up or when you need to hop around and collect the golden bricks. That is important when you’re forced to go/think so fast. If all the colors were blending or the bad guys/objectives were blending together, you’d be jumping up right into a monster thinking it was gold! There is no such problem here. The characters, background, and platform are all great for the intense interaction that the game demands.

 Overall I’d say it’s fun, pleasing to look at, has a killer awesome soundtrack, responsive controls, and is super addictive with plenty of replay value. I give this five out of five hearts! Starling approves!!!!

Five out of Five Hearts!!!

Deadpool Video Game for the PS3

Starling as Deadpool.

Name of the game: Deadpool

Publisher: High Moon

Date of Release: June 25, 2013

Rating: Mature

Platform: PS3

I have never laughed during a game so much as I did with Deadpool! They portrayed Deadpool’s character perfectly! I don’t even want to quote any of the one liners or hilarious stuff he did because I recommend that everyone play this game simply for the happy factor that comes with moving along in the game!

The gist of the story is that Deadpool is wanting a game of his own and he’s having a blast living it up on the screen. He’s not interested in the story line much, so as the players we also miss a lot of the purpose of why he’s going where he’s going, fighting who he’s fighting, etc…but this is very uniquely okay! Deadpool seems to know just what we want! Explosions, tacos, action, glory and bewbs!! During the entire game he never seems to run out of fresh material for laughs and entertainment.

This is a single player game, and it is not a stealth game at all, though it is soooo funny when he sneaks up on an unsuspecting bad guy! Deadpool isn’t that worried about damage to his body because he regenerates. He tells us to barge right in headlong and make some noise! If you take too much damage you can just run over to the side and wait for his health to return. I have to say that it makes much more sense for Deadpool to act this way than it does in games where human soldiers get shot in the head and then stand there and wait for their health to regenerate. It is mostly fighting lots of bad guys, and it can get a little repetitive in that aspect, but again the one liners and Deadpool’s personality give fresh perspectives and new things to cackle at throughout the entire game.

The controls were smooth and responsive so that nothing to complain about stood out in my mind. There weren’t any races or puzzles to solve. I’d say that it makes the game one-dimensional, but a lot of times I feel like game creators try to stuff a little bit of everything in their game in the hopes of catering to every type of gamer. This game focuses on a target audience of fun-loving, easy-going, action hungry, fighting fans without cramming random things those people wouldn’t like in here and there. The fighting style in the game reminds me of God of War in that Deadpool decides to get to some place or another and has to fight his way there. He walks awhile killing random badies as he goes along, and then there’ll be one place he stops at that hordes of villains come out of the woodwork so he can smash, slice, kick, teleport around them, and belittle them in wave after wave of glorious bloody battle! (And the blood does get everywhere!)  To do this, Deadpool has a nice stash of weapons to choose from that you can upgrade throughout the game. Whether your style is guns, hammers, or swords, he’s got you covered! (I wouldn’t recommend buying the other guns, though. Just upgrade the pistols you start out with. The other guns seem just for show, and some of them only fire once before you have to reload.) Speaking of guns, the gun-toting enemies are the only annoying part of this game! By the time you catch up to them most of your health is gone…or you die! Even the exploding enemies don’t deal as much damage as the ones with guns! I enjoyed using the hammers through most of the game. They have pretty good upgrades. If you have trouble reaching the guys with guns, though, then it’s time to use those pistols.

The graphics were pleasing. There was a lot of detail that went into background, the characters, the explosions (especially), and the carnage. Some of the background was actually very beautiful, and there was plenty change of scenery for each of the missions. The interaction with the surroundings flowed very smooth. Like, I wasn’t accidentally walking off of half created cliffs and crap like that, or trying ten times to pick up an object I was after by circling around it and cursing. There was none of that annoying stuff!

Even though it was very repetitive, this game is pretty easy to play. This is a good thing because, though I’m very entertained during these repetitive parts with Deadpool’s shenanigans, I found I was more interested in the hilarious cut scenes after a while than the game play. It was super fun in the beginning, but then became more of a means to move the story along. That was okay for me since it was easy to play and moved fairly quickly when I wanted it to. Loitering is fun too sometimes, I might add, because it seems the longer you wonder around not staying on task, the more Deadpool comes up with creative talking-to-himself-and-us things to chuckle about. My curiosity and how entertained I was with Deadpool’s personality kept me hooked long enough to play through the entire game, so the repetitive thing wasn’t enough to cause me to feel negative toward it.

The bad part is that there are no side quests, and the game only has like…maybe eight acts? Not very many at all. It’s way too short. I can’t see there being much replay value in the game once you get through it the first time. Maybe it would be worth it to play through it slower the next time to see how many humorous things you might have missed, or perhaps it’s a good game to keep around for when you need to get some aggression out while lifting your mood at the same time. In that aspect, it would be a good game to own.

I would say that this game is totally worth renting, and if you’re a fan of Deadpool it is definitely a buy.  The game was so fun, and I find that games are lacking in that area lately. They’re all super serious (Call of Duty/Battlefield 4), angsty (Batman), dramatic (Beyond Two Souls/Heavy Rain), or fun in an adorable kind of way (Lego games/Little Big Planet.) With those cute types there isn’t enough carnage to sate the bloodthirsty appetite while making you smile. Deadpool is a unique game in a good way. Laughing out loud is one of the things I appreciate most about the Deadpool comic books, and they have managed to channel this atmosphere into a game impressively. Though the story is not extremely detailed, the feel of hanging out with Deadpool is a great experience.

I give this a three and a half heart rating, and a green heart fan favorite! To get your copy click here.

I give Deadpool three and a half hearts!

 

Green Heart Fan Favorite