Sunday 31 July 2016

Film Review No. 10 The BFG (PG)

Strong Points:
Amazing motion capture
Superb CGI and scaling
Nicely translates Roald Dahl's novel
Funny
Great acting
Given the film is mostly a duologue, the speed is kept up nicely
Good sound and music
Great family film

Weak Points:
Pacing can be sometimes off
Some parts of the film are brushed away/never explained

Some slight spoilers ahead:

E3 2016: Microsoft

New consoles, new ways to play and even more games! That's what the Microsoft conference had in store for us and here's a round-up of all that happened:

Saturday 30 July 2016

Top 5: Features Wanted in Pokémon Go

Have you heard of Pokémon Go? If you have access to the Internet there's a good chance you do and with the game being out for a few weeks now people have started to ask the big questions. How can this game be improved? Now, I know bug fixes are top of the list but what about new features? Well, here are my Top 5 most wanted features for Pokémon Go (besides more Pokémon).

Thursday 21 July 2016

Wednesday 20 July 2016

Monday 18 July 2016

Saturday 16 July 2016

First Impressions: Saints Row: The Third

In-between catching many Pokémon in Pokémon Go, I decided to carry on with my other hobby - completing the backlog of games I have on Steam with my new PC. First was Watch_Dogs, then Dishonored (review coming soon) and now we have Saint Row: The Third, after much deliberation, I might add, as I wasn't sure which game to start with. I haven't got Saints Row 1, so that was out of the deliberations and I didn with the last one as story points would've been lost. In the end, I chose the 3rd game in the series as I've heard good things about it and it has achievements. It's really fun.

Behind-The-Team: Pokémon Go Journal: Day 2

Another day, another Pokémon Go outing, on the quest 'to be the very best, like no one ever was'. Here's how it went:

Friday 15 July 2016

Behind-The-Team: Pokémon Go Journal: Day 1

You may not have heard, but a new Pokémon game was released recently for iPhone and Android, set in the real world. It is, of course, Pokémon Go, global phenomenon, the cause for children and adults alike getting out of their homes and walking to catch AR creatures. You've heard the stories of people being brought together by Pokémon again, like the 90's, and we've decided to add to it with our own experiences of Pokémon Go. If you have any experiences of the world of Pokémon Go then please don't hesitate to comment.

Friday 8 July 2016

Recap: Pokémon Battles: Satamer and Harry VS Oli and Taylor

A couple of days ago, a couple of the blog group had a mini Pokémon championship to see who really was the very best (that no one ever was). We did it in a multi-battle format over the course of three battles, with a few single battles as well to settle things. The multi battles were Harry and I VS Oli and Taylor with one being a flat battle (like the actual championship) and the other allowing some legends. While my team did emerge victorious in the end, it was close. Here is a recap of the matches and what happened.

Thursday 7 July 2016

Review No. 122 Overwatch - PS4 (12+)

Strong Points:
Extremely well polished
Likeable and distinct characters
Great graphics style
Accessible for beginners while also challenging enough for pros
Lots of unlocks
One change or elimination can change the course of the battle
You really feel like your helping, whatever you do
Physics objects!
Interesting story...

Weak Points:
...That hasn't been fleshed out fully yet
No single-player mode/campaign
Some choke points on maps are a bit one-sided (especially with Torbjörn or Bastion involved)
Some heroes can be seen as slightly 'cheap'
Arcade brawl mode is a good idea but at the moment just limits the heroes available
No cross-platform play
Different updates per platform
Play-of-the-game isn't refined enough
Not enough communication options on consoles
Some ultimates are a little more 'ultimate' than others

Nitpicks:
Never enough maps are there?
Lots of maps look like they have potential flanking paths only to double back on themselves



Tuesday 5 July 2016

TV Review No. 31 Marvel: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Series 3

Strong Points:
Great character development (for most characters)
Well choreographed action
Superb emotion and tension
Good CGI
Simmon's and Fitz's story-line
End of Hydra
Lots of Inhumans
Surprising twists and reveals
Great pace
Good references to the MCU films released in the time
Hive's addiction idea was interesting
As was the prophecies being misinterpreted
Humorous
Lincoln got better...

Weak Points:
Some story arcs were weaker than others
Some character's story-lines were rushed to finish
...Although he was still a bit of a whiny teenager
Didn't carry on Ward's brother story-line
Lash seemed to have a bigger part at the beginning
Lash transforming over time while the rest of the transformations was instantaneous was a bit odd
Characters were introduced only to have no other part to play
Can we keep The Secret Warriors together for longer, please?

Note: my rating may seem higher than the individual episodes ratings. This is due to AoS being a show where the sum of all parts is a lot greater than the individual stories given the huge story arcs. Also spoilers ahead:

Sunday 3 July 2016

Review No. 121 Rayman Legends - Wii U (7+)

Strong Points:
Fast, fluid platforming
Amazing graphics/art style
Lots of content
Kung-Foot is awesome
Musical levels are really well done
Funny
Lots of collectibles
Lots of characters
Daily and weekly challenges are great
You can replay some of the levels from Origins
Duck levels are hilarious
Murphy levels are clever

Weak Points:
Even less of a story than Rayman Origins
No world-map
Can get repetitive
No Land of The Livid Dead
Extra characters are literally just re-skins
Can get frustrating



Friday 1 July 2016

TV Review No. 30 Marvel: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Ascension (S3, Ep22)

Strong Points:
Nice use of science to escape
Great first ending and nice send off to some characters
Awesome fight between Hive and Daisy (earthquake martial arts)
Awesome fight scene with the whole team
Fitz's invisible gun
Mack's shot-gun axe
Coulson's: 'help me Obi-Wan, your my only hope'
Coulson calling a Quinjet...
Radcliffe's quips
The biggest game of hot potato ever seen
Robin scene

Weak Points:
The 'ending' ending seemed a bit out of place (was setting up next season)
Mirrored Captain America: First Avenger more than a bit in the final scene
...could be scene as a bit of an Eagle moment
Hive's face reveal seemed a bit forced in for such a big reveal

Spoilers ahead:

Video Game Character of the Month - July 2016 - Aiden Pearce - Watch_Dogs

Video Game Character of the Month
July 2016
Aiden Pearce
Watch_Dogs


Overview:
No, this isn't a hacking by Aiden to get some recognition (maybe), but me, Satamer, as I do believe that beyond the cold, monotone personality, he has the heart and powers deserving of this award. Without further ado lets get on to this award.

And now some information of Aiden Pearce (for someone who sneaks in the shadows, we actually have quite a lot of info!):