Monday, April 10, 2023

Dungeons and Dragons: Honour Among Thieves (2023)

(pulled from twitter review https://twitter.com/MetricJester/status/1644726047869657090?s=20) I watched Dungeons & Dragons Honour Among Theives last night, so I would like to talk about it here. Having watched the two linked D&D films from 2000 and 2005, and finding one to be total cheese, and the other to be "feed the nerds", I was not expecting a great movie. (spoilers) What I got was actually a great movie. It has a solid heist movie / buddy group sort of plot, the characters are written more grounded and less pure archetypal, but still has some reference to classic D&D character types, without being outlandish (like 2005's "Rogue" reference every 5 minutes). The menagerie of races you can have in D&D is well represented, and to scale. The tropes they used were used well, my favourites being Flashback, Early MacGuffin, Treasure Room Swap-a-roo (sorry about the plot twist mention), The Big Bad Shuffle, and Final Boss. D&D Honour Among Thieves is an excellent D&D movie, but also a good movie. In other years this would have/should have been a summer blockbuster. Passes Mustard Dijon Quality!

It's been almost 8 years

It's been nearly 8 years and I am finally ready to start up my blog again. Let me just start off again by saying: This is a pass or fail review blog. These items either cut the mustard or they don't. There is no in between.

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

E3 2015 - Sony Press Conference

This has been a long time coming, and I should be ashamed of myself for not posting this sooner.  I've waited long enough to tell you if the E3 2015 Sony Press Conference passed mustard.  It's always nice when a conference starts on a high, and keeps on giving through the whole thing.

The first game was conceived as a poetic story of friendship and adventure.  At least that's what Shawn Layden tells us.  He's not wrong though, and the gameplay trailer for The Last Guardian looked amazing.  Some of it's age is showing through in some of the animations being used, the walking and moving around and such.  It kind of reminds me of the VERY first Prince of Persia game, where you would stop moving but the character would just keep moving on it's own.  I love me a puzzle platformer, and coming out in 2016 it will probably end up on the shelf.

Herman Hulst of Guerrila Games came out to introduce something brand new.  A game where you are a female hunter and you hunt down giant robotic dinosaurs with a bow and arrow.  It's called Horizon Zero Dawn.  I'm hoping that you can do some upgrades or weapon crafting and so on, but we only get a look at one hunt.  This is definitely a good move for Sony, cause they NEED more female leads.

Up next is the new Hitman game.  I'm not looking forward to this as much as some of my friends are.  The trailer was pretty cool, and the Square/Enix press conference and the PC Gaming Conference gave us a better look at what can be done in the game.  Here we are told that the world will be alive and changing as the game is played, and that the Playstation 4 will get a BETA releaase of the game when you pre-order.

Street fighter 5 is coming, and all this tells us is that Cammie and Birdie will be in it. Oh and you can pre-order on PS4 with a public beta on July 23rd.

Sean Murray from Hello Games gives us a live demo of No Man's Sky.  Starts off with a bit of space combat, then he pulls out, not a little, but a lot.  Like a Galaxy away!  He warps to another star system, an undiscovered solar system, and then lands on a planet and walks around.  I think it's so cool that there isn't just one world, but thousands to explore!  There's no release date yet, but it just looks awesome!

Now this is just the first half hour!  Definitely passed mustard!

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

E3 2015 - Ubisoft Press Conference

The reason I look forward to this conference every year has to do with  Ubisoft showing their passion for games and gaming on their sleeves.  That and Aisha Taylor is an excellent host, and did a great job this year.  I was wondering if they would do the whole backstage interview thing like last year, which hadn't worked, but could have with practice, and they really didn't.  I liked the walk around and talk to an audience member thing, and really liked that Ubisoft encouraged some costume play.

Now for the games!  The show opened with the words "The EPIC RPG returns" meaning Stick of Truth 2 The Fractured But Whole! Honestly I know nothing about the first game besides what was shown last E3.  It looks like it would be a bunch of fun, but I just don't know.

After Ms. Taylor's short monologue, Yves Guillemot came out to introduce a game I would definitely like to try that contains Knights, Samurai, and Vikings, in glorious sword battles.  It's called For Honor (which I think is misspelled since Ubisoft is Canadian).  There are some really amazing moments in the demo, like when a friend comes and saves the guy we are following.  It's not out yet, but you can go to a website to sign up for a preview. [https://www.ubisoft.com/en-US/game/for-honor/]

The Crew Wild Run looks to be bigger, wilder, faster than the last The Crew.  The trailer showcased monster trucks!  Next along was Trials Fusion Awesome Level Max expansion looks, well, awesome, with a cat riding a fire breathing unicorn in front of a triple rainbow.

The Division is an online open world action RPG that lets you shoot people, hide behind things and talk to your friends while trying to stay alive and loot corpses.  Some of those corpses could be other real people also playing the game.  If I were still interested in theses SOCOM type games I would be totally into this game, but as my life stands right now, meh.

Anno 2205 is a city building, space race game that really tickles my fancy.  Not much has been said about it in this conference, but you can find out more info at [http://anno-game.ubi.com/anno-2205/en-GB/home/index.aspx]

Do you have a smart phone? Then you can play Just Dance 2016 without a camera on your console.  Not bad considering Just Dance Now has been on my phone but unused for ages.  Plus we get to see Aisha Taylor and Jason Derulo on stage.

So when did Rainbow Six turn into SOCOM meets COD?  Now with Rainbow Six: Siege: Terrohunt!  So you get to hunt down terrorist AGAIN!  It now stars Angela Bassett and like I said before if I was still into SOCOM type games I'd probably play this.

Do you remember TrackMania? no? well it's an over the top arcade racing game, that now has a turbo edition!

AC Syndicate gets a big roll out here, and I've been typing for hours so I just don't want to do this game any injustice.  The trailer has been out for a month, and if you haven't seen it yet, you will be surprised by it. Last but not least we get a look at bust-a-druglord!  I mean Ghost Recon Wild Lands.

So my verdict is that this Ubisoft Press Conference Passed Mustard!  Check out the games that are coming out of Ubisoft,

E3 2015 - Electronic Arts Press Conference

I remember a time when Electronic Arts was the only game company I liked.  Nobody else made games like they did.  No one else had the man power, or the know how, or the gumption to make games like Electronic Arts.  Those days of one GIANT studio making literally hundreds of games has disappeared with the millennium, and lately we have been given mediocre games with little heart, with a few exceptions from some of EA's smaller studios.  This year is different though.  It's as if the entire company has decided to care again, and we are getting new and interesting games like Unravel.

The Conference started with Mass Effect Andromeda, I'm not familiar with the franchise, and yet it's been presented as if I should know all about it already.  There's space, planets, shooting, and.... um.... other people?  Honestly I have no idea.

Next along comes the new Need For Speed game.  It looks great, and I think they are bringing back the story mode.  Reminds me more of NFS: Underground, and I really hope it stands up to those games better than Rivals ever did.  The trailer shows off more story elements, more customization, and more fun! Well at least that's the hope.

Star Wars the Old Republic is getting an expansion called Knights of the Fallen Empire, with better storytelling, more like BioWare's storytelling.  Coming out October 2015.  This trailer has twins who Jedi together and drift apart.  Check it here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGHW4sn5J-Y]

The guy who introduces us with Unravel looked so nervous!  His hands were shaking so bad when he brought out Yarny!  I think it was awesome to hear about how he pretty well invented Yarny and Unravel two summers before on a trip to the woods with his family.  It really brings it down to a personal level that I feel EA has been missing lately (ahem, SimCity and DRM).

I started laughing when the super Zombie came out and started preening.  I don't think anyone else did though.  Good introduction to PvZ:GW2 which is the abbreviation for Plants Versus Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 I have chose to use.  The Microsoft conference told us that it will be an exclusive to XBox ONE, and this one gives us a first look at actual gameplay, and from the zombie's perspective no less. My wife wants to try this one, but there's no way we'd buy the XBox ONE just for this game.

So I didn't pay much attention to the NHL game, I know I know, a Canadian who doesn't like hockey? What gives? Well honestly I've played almost every one since 1994 and still it doesn't make me smile.  My friends are all WAY better at sports games than me and I can never win.  It's so bad that I won't even play them with other people anymore.  I'll rent one ever once in a while and try out what's new, but I just won't buy them.  NHL, NBA Live, Madden, and FIFA all fall into that same category of "Why bother I won't win".  Got to admit though that NBA Live's Game Face looks good, and I hope it makes it into EA's PGA Pro Tour Golf game.

Star Wars has a new Mobile game, and I don't want to gloss over Galaxy of Heroes, but there really isn't any information to glean from the press conference.  I like building games, and Minions Paradise looks like it will be fun.  Building up a tropical island from scratch and watching minions cavorting around and doing things looks so fun.  I loved Simpsons: Tapped Out from EA, so with all that practice from that game this one should shine.

PELE!!!!!!!! Yes he scores again, with a sit down chat about his life, and how he coined the term "The Beautiful Game" as an expression of Soccer, as opposed to American Football.  I loved that they introduced Pele involvment with the new Fifa game this way.  And I would not mind trying this game at least once.  I wouldn't be able to tell what's different from one to another, not playing sports games much.

We get an introduction to the new Mirror's Edge game here, andit looks beautiful!  Frostbite definitely has a lot going for it, and the colour on white aesthetic is still here. A free roam open world is a great idea for Mirror's Edge, I'd like to go jump around my home town in the same way Faith does in hers.

Oh look Madden... who cares? Fantasy draft? Wide Receivers? Back back? Whatever....

Frostbite Engine! Star Wars Battlefront!  too much to talk about!

Does it pass mustard? Yes it does!  Despite the slight emphasis on sports (which is inevitable it's half their business) and no showing whatsoever from EA Active, I liked it.

E3 2015 - Microsoft Press Conference

And so it came to pass, that a press conference that lived in infamy (for sucking) emboldened itself to present us with epic games, and news, and stuff like that.  Right, so enough of that.  I watched Microsoft's 2015 E3 Press Conference live yesterday on the IGN feed [www.ign.com/e3], and again now while I'm typing this, and a few things struck me about it.  Overall it seemed to be way more about the games and a lot less about the technology behind them.  I'm not going to go too far in depth to all the things, but I do have some thoughts about the big things.

Halo 5 looks good.  Well, actually, the demo looked like a new Halo game, all glowy and bloomy.   Drop-in drop-out co-op is a good feature to highlight and showing off Nathan Fillion in the game makes for a good trailer.  The test is in the playing however, and I'm not likely to play it any time soon.

XBOX ONE Backward compatibility is a smart move for Microsoft.  Pop in a disc, download the XBox ONE version and play, for free, if it's supported.  100 Games now, mostly popular ones and first party.  Good stuff, wish it was that easy on PS4 to PS3 games.

Let's talk about the Elite Controller too.  It reminds me of the crazy nut ball convertible controller for $300 that was released recently, but I can't remember who makes it. Adjustable buttons, paddles, exchangeable parts, and those green switches, whatever they do.  It looks interesting, but I'd like to know a little more about it, like how much it costs.

Tod Howard told us of the ability to use Mods for Fallout 4 from the PC on the Xbox.  Genius move, and should give the XBox Fallout more play time, and would almost make me want to buy an XBox.  Almost.  I like my PC and Playstation too much.

Electronic Arts dropped in and told us about EA Access.  $5 a month to get new titles before other people and 10% off EA games.  I wouldn't sign up for it cause I'm not a fan of sports games.  Cause that's like paying more to play games that aren't done.  Also they told us about Plant Vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2, or as an EA lover would say: PvZ:GW2. Cause there aren't enough abbreviations in the world.

Ford shows off it's new GT and Henry Ford III shows off Forza 6. It does look like a lot of fun, and by now it's the ubiquitous driving game.  If you like the last one you should like this one.  If you want to drive super cars fast and own an XBox ONE this is the game to buy.

We had our first look at Dark Souls 3 here, with a trailer that needs further investigation, but E3 is so busy that I'll just have to watch it again later. I'll just leave a link to it here: [https://youtu.be/7OtAVElUljE]

Ubisoft showed off some games too, like Tom Clancy: The Division and Rainbow Six: Siege.  They do look like they play differently, but we can talk more about that from the Ubisoft Conference.

Gigantic is cool looking, and Free to Play on Windows 10 and XBox.  I'm a sucker for cell shaded games. Now we get into the rapid fire game section, ID@Xbox.  Ashen, an explore and solve puzzles game. Beyond Eyes, explore the world while blind, the trailier kind of reminds me of Unfiinished Swan's trailer, white screen and splashes of colour. Cuphead looks just stunning as a tribute to 1930's cartoons, and it looks to play like Contra.

Rise of the Tomb Raider trailer from Crystal Dynamics looked awesome here!  It started in a cave with a flare, and moved through slogging through snow, where Lara left marks in the snow! Then it went into ice climbing with timed events and finishing with showing of some other exploration options.  I so want to play this and I wasn't even expecting it to show up.

This is the time when you might expect the conference to be over, but no there's tons more!  Rare tugged at my heartstrings by showing off their new disc of old games.  30 full old Rare Games!  I loved playing Banjo Kazooie, and a whole bunch of other Nintendo branded Rare games, and I'd love to try this.  If only I could convince my wife that spending $600 for a console and a disc is worth it.  Rare also talked about a new game they have been working on called Sea of Thieves.  A Pirate game! The trailer was great, and really drove home the piratey feel.  It looks like you can run a tall ship with your friends and go on piratical adventures together.

Fable Legends and Gears of War 4 got trotted out too along with all these other great games, I'm just worried that with all these games in one press conferenece that maybe I missed something.  Or maybe we all missed some things and we'll have to find out what it is from other sources.'

Now we come to the hardware section, which really is more of a "Look what Minecraft can do using HoloLens"  I'd have liked to see more about this, like some of the technical specifications of the holo lens, more of how it works, and I'd really like to try it before buying it.  Wish I was at E3.

Anyway now we come to the nitty gritty of the conference.  Did it pass mustard?  Yes.  I look forward to gaming on Windows 10, and there are a few games that were marketed for it in this conference.

Monday, June 15, 2015

E3 Update

I've watched some of the many livestreams today for the E3 Press Conferences.  I have many notes, and will be reporting on them shortly... please stand by....