Ghosts ‘N DJ’s: Monday’s Been Made, Charities Get Paid

Posted on January 20, 2020 by geelw

This is priceless. No, seriously, it’s going to be FREE.

Sometimes, you wake up and see something that makes your day, as as it’s a Monday, that goes double because it kicks off the week on a high note. I woke up earlier this morning to go to a medical appointment, checked my email and saw this game info, then the trailer and yep, my day was made instantly.

Solo developer and creator Daniel Manzano (aka Dr. Kucho!) has cooked up such a thing with Ghosts ‘N DJ’s, which… well, just take a look at the game trailer while I go put on a pot of coffee:

Screenshots and a good and lengthy game description are below the jump. I know you’re curious, so you get the long version this time.

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DOOM Eternal: More Kicks To The Devil Butt, Guaranteed

Posted on January 16, 2020 by geelw

I did love the DOOM revival from 2016 because the game managed to be as fun to play as it was funny when necessary. It also defined its lead as a total demon-slaying nightmare that, yes, even some of the demons feared and you weren’t just killing them for fun and games. All that slaughter was your job because some rather stupid smart people had messed around and screwed things up by letting those demons into onto Mars (science!) and you were the person chosen to clean up the mess with how shall we say, EXTREME prejudice.

DOOM Eternal looks as if it’s also packing the same zippy no-cover fast-kill action as the last game (which was a welcome return to form from the first two DOOM games from the ’90’s), but as with the revival, I prefer to go in as cold as possible and be thrilled over knowing whee every enemy and secret is out of the gate. Kids, this is how gaming never gets old for me. The less I know, the better the game gets. On that note, I’ll probably ignore watching important spoilers from this moment on, as that new trailer sure teases a whole lot, doesn’t it?

-GW

Zombie Army 4: Not For The Squeamish, This Squish, Squish

Posted on January 16, 2020 by geelw

The Dirty 1/3 of a Dozen…

Oh, this trailer is a total riot, though, zombie shark and all. If it were a movie, I’d go see it just because it’s about as perfect it gets in terms of the exploitation elements alone. The trailer reminded me of some of those old grindhouse movies whose trailers seemed endless and/or packed in so much mind-blowing content that you HAD to see the final results and nope, you weren’t disappointed at all.

Er, hold on to something – here we go:

Zombie sharks seem to be the least crazy thing here, right?

We’re gonna need another boat to put all of this stuff in…

February 4, 2020 on PC as an Epic Store exclusive, or on consoles for PS4 and Xbox One. Go here if you’re going to pre-order.

-GW

Review: Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls (PC)

Posted on January 16, 2020 by geelw

“Adventure… the new fragrance by Cloven Hind…”

Prepare to get ~~schooled~~ skulled if you’re not ready.

For a while, from the 1980’s into the 1990’s, it seemed that the original Wizardry series was destined to last forever. But by 2001 that wasn’t the case as developer of what would be the final game in the series, Sir-Tech Canada went down for the count after the mostly excellent but flawed foray into the fully polygon arena with Wizardry 8. The company still supported the game until they finally vanished in 2003, and was never able to do a proper followup before they left the scene. There have been quite a large amount of games since then that have taken many elements the series pioneered, polished up the visuals and are basically Wizardry games with different titles as the end of the day.

Other titles in the series had danced on the edge with polygonal environments but 8’s was the first with both characters and maps presented this way. In the US, the series was slowly being forgotten despite some excellent ports to the Nintendo and Super Nintendo consoles, but in Japan, the series flourished on PC and consoles as a number of different developers tried their hands at making dozens of Wizardry games from console ports and original games to mobile and online-only titles with mostly good results. Which brings us to the game in question, which is quite good especially if you’re a fan of the classics. It’s got a few issues the keep it squarely in the past, but we’ll get to them below.

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Delay of Game: Moons of Madness Moves To March

Posted on January 15, 2020 by geelw

“The bathrooms in this bar…”

While it’s been out on PC for a few months, the console versions of Moons of Madness on PS4 and Xbox One have moved from this month to March in order to get some additional polish. This is fine with me, as I have so many games to play, my backlog’s backlog has a backlog. Here’s a trailer to keep your interest piqued:

Now, I’m one of those folks who don’t mind delays at all because it’s better to have a solid port from PC than to have one that’s memorable for all the wrong for the Big W reasons. So, await with bated breath will I, but I’ll need to keep breathing so I don’t die! Ha and ha.

I’ll see what’s up as FunCom keeps us posted with further details. This looks too creepy not to miss out on.

-GW

It’s John Carpenter’s Birthday. You Know What To Do Next.

Posted on January 15, 2020 by geelw

And guess who sold off his record player a while ago? Boooo to me!

Clearer message: Go here. BUY STUFF. Be happy. That is all. Rinse and repeat if necessary (and it will be necessary). Show this post to friends and don’t be at all surprised when it works on them as well. OBEY.

Okay, NOW, that is all.

-GW

Review: CATS (2019)

Posted on January 15, 2020 by geelw

So I did something out of the ordinary (for me, as least). I went and saw a film I didn’t like the first time with hopes that the second time would me somewhat more enjoyable. It wasn’t, but at least what I saw was a bit more polished and I kind of got it a tad more. Yeah, I saw CATS again. Granted, the first time was a freebie, as a friend had planned to take his wife when the film opened. They went to see the last Star Wars film together and CATS was her pick for the next film they were to see, but she got sick, so I got called up as a last minute substitute player. I still haven’t seen that Star Wars movie yet, by the way.

Anyway, I was astounded by how very well-made but very off-putting this expensive film was and started writing a review in response, the opening paragraph which is below:

I was planning to save this one for when my writer’s block was slamming a book down on my fingers, but this review is practically writing itself for me as we speak. CATS is so very memorably atrocious that if we ever get visited by alien life in the future, I think those aliens will somehow unearth a print that’s been buried somewhere and may think we were ruled by a feline race that we made extinct because we got to see them as they really were.

There was more, but after looking at the finished review, I ended up trashing it it because it wasn’t constructive at all and even though I managed to make it a tidy 501 words, not too many of them were positive. So, I decided to chalk it up to the unfinished quality of the first run print’s unacceptable CG and yesterday afternoon, I flipped a coin and went to see it again, as the fixed version was out making the rounds. Mistake, meet blessing in disguise, as there was a blind person in front of me using a folding cane buying a pair of tickets to the showing.

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Brain Wash, Or: Monday, Stuff Escapes Me Temporarily

Posted on January 13, 2020 by geelw

So this was sort of amusing (sort of). First, let’s get some music for this post. Let’s see now… OK, here you go:

I woke up bright and early today to go do some laundry, which has been sitting around glaring at me for a bit and occasionally borrowing a book to read. Yeah, it’s been a while. I finally did gather up stuff a few days back and sorted it, so it’s three trips worth of what I would say are Santa-sized bags (“ho-ho-ho!”, but walking and smelling like dirty laundry). I was planning to head out early this morning. as the laundry here opens between 6:30 and 7am, do one load, finish around 8 or 8:30 and come back to do a second load.

Around 6:10, I’m having a cup of coffee and suddenly realize that I haven’t seen my wallet.

Uh-oh.

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Board of Corrections: Like The Corners Of My Mind

Posted on January 12, 2020 by geelw

Ah, the persistence of memory or, when the brain stops working, it still works some wonders. I was watching a certain movie a few days ago and the phone rang in the other room. Usually, I let the machine take it, but I was waiting for some important medical info to roll in. So I lowered the TV sound, ran to the living room, answered the call and heard what I needed to hear, then made a call myself to check something related.

That took, what? Maybe seven or eight minutes? I didn’t pause the film I was watching like I sometimes do, so that comes into play here (you’ll see). Was it good or bad news? That, as they say, is CLASSIFIED (well, for the moment).

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Random Film of the Week Quickie: DEAD END

Posted on January 10, 2020 by geelw

“I hear the marinara sauce is good in this joint…”

I love Dead End for a few reasons. It’s a great film based off a stage play that yep, both looks and feels stagey, but that works highly in its favor. It’s a classic Old New York City film just for the location it presents and the feeling that, staging aside, that place actually existed. It also marked the debut of The Dead End Kids who’d later morph into The Little Tough Guys, then The East Side Kids and then into The Bowery Boys with a total of close to 50 audience-pleasing fluff comedies made between 1937 and 1958. To some non-fans of the Boys, this only proves the law of diminishing returns should have been more strictly obeyed and enforced (ha and ha). But, I digress.

It also has Humphrey Bogart in an early knockout role as a slickly dressed but menacing thug who returns to his old stomping grounds with a brand new facelift for mixed results. Finally, it’s a nicely directed “message” film by the great William Wyler that works on many levels, some of which soak in only after a second or third viewing. Go grab your popcorn, pal. I’ll wait. Oh, you’re making it on the stove the old-fashioned way? Good. I’ll go get a bowl and meet you back here in five.