Spooktober: Freddy vs Jason

Freddy vs Jason
Directed by: Ronny Yu
Starring: Robert Englund, Ken Kirzinger
Released: 2003

A burnt child murderer vs an immortal super strong mentally stunted lad. Not much of a match up. After rewatching this movie with a friend I described it as an unfortunate child of it's time, and I think that's the best way to put it. Freddy vs Jason is an interesting movie, that could have lead the way for more fun horror crossovers, but didn't. Jaws vs Terminators! C'mon!

Spooktober: Misery

Misery
Directed by: Rob Reiner
Starring: Kathy Bates, James Caan
Released: 1990

While I'd known of this movie through references for years I'd never sat down to watch it. I was pretty sure it would appeal to me, but it's just one of those movies that I never went out of my way for. I was a fool.

Spooktober: The Devil's Rejects

The Devil's Rejects
Directed by: Rob Zombie
Starring: Sheri Moon Zombie, Sid Haig, Bill Moseley
Released: 2005

I remember when I saw the first trailer for this movie and was immediately enticed. I believe I watched this first, then went back and watched Rob Zombie's earlier House of 1000 Corpses, which, like all of his other movies, was terrible. Somehow though, The Devil's Rejects shines through in all of it's absolutely disgusting splendor.

Games I Beat: Kirby Planet Robobot

Kirby Planet Robobot
Platformer
1 Player
System: 3DS
Developer: Hal Laboratory
Year of Release: 2016
Beaten: September 14th, 2016

Kirby has always weirdly been in the background of my life without me ever realizing it. One of the few earliest memories I have is of Kirby's Adventure, I just remember the look of it with Kirby climbing up ladders. In the initial batch of Game Boy games I got with the handheld was Kirby's Dreamland. Kirby Super Star was one of my stand out all time favorite Super Nintendo games growing up. When I rented Kirby 64 one of the files had access to the final boss which fucked with my head. I played more Air Ride than Double Dash. Canvas Curse is one of the main reasons I wanted a DS. I don't really think about it too much, but I really love the series as a whole. In between games I tend to forget, but every time I play through them I absolutely adore my time with it. Canvas Curse, Squeak Squad, Mass Attack, and now Planet Robobot all bring me (a few difficult levels aside) nothing but joy while playing them. So yeah, spoilers, Planet Robobot is great.

Dem Bones: Into the Echoside

Into the Echoside
Dark Carnival Themed Deck Building Game
2-4 Players
Playtime: Under an hour, usually
Designer: Jumpsteady, Louis Simpson, Tom Wood
Publisher: Psychopathic Records
Year of Release: 2016

Surprisingly the Insane Clown Posse has had multiple forays into the world of games prior to this. Penedulum's Promise was a fairly rudimentary tabletop RPG. Morton's List, the end to boredom, was, well really just a big list where you rolled a die to see what you and some friends should do that day. The Quest for Shangri-La is this big mysterious entity to me that is way out of print and I think was drawn by one of the members of the group. And now Into the Echoside, a deck building game. I may have grown disillusioned with the band years ago and don't really enjoy their new music, but after getting really into the band and the "lore" they created for around five years I can't deny I have an affinity for that universe. Of course I had to pick it up.

Too Soon: Star Trek Online

Star Trek Online
STAR TREK MMO
MMO
System: Playstation 4
Developer: Cryptic Games
Year of Release: 2016 (Originally 2010)

This game came out right around the time I was heavily getting into Star Trek. I had always been a Star Wars kind of kid and aside from that one time my dead beat father got me a fucking Quark action figure (because hey! Star Something huh, you little twat) my experience with Star Trek was as close minded as the feud between the franchises would have led you to believe. Eventually in late high school I marathoned every episode of the original series and a convert was made. Well, not so much a convert. As an aside, of the seven deadly sins I most closely identify with gluttony. Not just literally, with food, but with media, and ideas. I just voraciously devour as much as fucking possible as quickly as I can. So, for me at least, there's room in my soul for Wars and some good old fashioned Trek.

Fangasm: Trumptendo

Trumptendo
Political Parody NES Romhacks
1 Players
System: PC
Developer: Jeff Hong
Year of Release: 2016
Trumptendo Games

I don't discuss politics on this blog often, if ever, because, well, I don't have much faith in them anymore. Especially with this year's election. However, Trump does provide some promising things. Such as being able to add him as the final boss in old NES classics. There isn't really much to say about these games, the Trumptendo series is literally just Trump plopped into classics. But I felt like it was a humorous enough concept to warrant me talking about it. Until Nintendo comes and DMCA's it because they forgot what fun fucking is.

Dem Bones: Dead of Winter

Dead of Winter
Zombie Survival
2-5 Players
Playtime: 30 Minutes to 2 Hours
Designer: Jonathan Gilmour, Isaac Vega
Publisher: Plaid Hat Games
Year of Release: 2014

It takes a while to stop dying in Dead of Winter. It took my group about five or six games before we actually won at all, much less with any frequency. It has an interesting learning curve, we honestly aren't sure what we're doing much different. For me at least I respond to problems as they come up while focusing on the group's current needs and being as stingy with items as possible. I thought that's what I did when we first started playing. But no. We usually wound up getting torn to shreds by the hoards of the undead.

Games I Beat: Until Dawn

Until Dawn
Story Driven Horror
1 Player
System: Playstation 4
Developer: Supermassive Games
Year of Release: 2015
Beaten: September 2nd, 2016

I don't technically enjoy this game. Until Dawn isn't really a game though. The bits I enjoyed were the same sort of bits I enjoyed in Telltale's Walking Dead series. Getting to take part in a movie is an interesting experience, but unfortunately it doesn't have any staying power. Being worth experiencing while not necessarily being worth owning can pose a bit of a problem. Although Red Box exists, but I've never used one and don't know how quickly games get removed from their catalogs. This is weekend rental movie, game, is what I'm trying to say.

DLC I Beat: Fallout 4 Season Pass

Fallout 4 Season Pass
Open World Shooty "RPG"
1 Player
System: Playstation 4
Developer: Bethesda Softworks
Year of Release: 2015
Beaten: August 31st, 2016

It's a sad state of affairs we find ourselves in. In regards to how RPG's have become streamlined action games. In regards to Bethesda continual slide into mediocrity. In regards to how downloadable content is handled. In regards to the practice of overpricing games and downloadable content. In regards to the lack of communication in the world of video games. In regards to the Fallout series as a whole. In regards to the current elections. Truly, this is a time of chaos.