Mister Jack

Got it as a gift

I'm stuck at home for a while so I wanted a party game to stay in touch with the outside world.

Ant Man and The Wasp: Quantumania Yeah, it's pretty average. This is basically "Green Screen: The Movie" and I'm never a big fan of that. I found Ant Man's teenage daughter really annoying, MODOK is treated as a joke and his effects look awful, I didn't really care about the side characters in the quantum realm, and the first half of the movie can get kind of boring when they keep hyping up the villain without actually showing him. However, Kang is the movie's saving grace. What you get here is basically a preview of his threat level in the next Avengers movie and yeah, I can believe this guy is going to be a huge problem. Is it worth seeing for that? Ehh, maybe when it comes to Disney+. Or you could just look up his scenes on Youtube later. I don't really think you need to go to a theater for this one. While I did like Kang as a villain, I just came off of Guardians vol. 3 and I still liked High Evolutionary more as an antagonist.

Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3 The Guardians films are already my favorite in the MCU but god damn this one punches you in the gut, twists your balls, and never lets go. While it's hardly devoid of humor, this is hands down the darkest and most emotional film in the whole Marvel franchise. Rocket's backstory is finally put on full display and the movie does not shy away from depicting the horrific animal cruelty that he and his fellow experiments were subjected to both physically and emotionally. I actually found myself tearing up several times while watching and I rarely do that with Marvel movies. In fact, it's usually just other Guardians films that can get me choked up. High Evolutionary is easily the most cruel, evil, and despicable MCU villain ever written, and that includes the likes of Thanos. Adam Warlock wasn't what I expected him to be, but I enjoyed his role nonetheless. This film is the last time we'll see the original Guardians together, but I came away satisfied with how their individual arcs came to a close. Everyone gets their moment to shine, even Drax, and nobody feels like a waste of space on the team this time. I also have to give a shout out to James Gunn for knowing when it's not appropriate to tell a joke, which a lot of Marvel writers seem to struggle with. There are certainly plenty of one-liners and quips in the script, but when things get really heavy and emotional he allows those moments to be what they need to be without succumbing to the temptation to lighten it up with a gag for fear of upsetting the audience too much. Bring tissues.

I could agree with that assessment.

Renfield Nicolas Cage is Dracula. That should be all you need right there but this was fairly enjoyable outside of that. The premise is that Dracula was never killed because his loyal servant Renfield came to his rescue at the last moment and the two of them have been on the move for nearly a century since then, but over time Renfield starts realizing he is in an abusive relationship (not romantic) with Dracula and wants to escape from it. The codependency theme of the movie is extremely on the nose and not subtle at all, but it still made for some good scenes between Renfield and Dracula. There's also a side plot about an organized crime ring that Renfield runs afoul of when he brings some of their members back to Dracula for him to feed on. Renfield gains temporary vampire powers whenever he eats a bug—a reference to the novel—and there are some gory fight scenes where heads, limbs, and guts go flying whenever Renfield gets his hands on a bad guy. The CGI blood isn't convincing, but there are some pretty fun and creative kills in here anyway. Dracula, despite being played by Nicolas Cage, isn't as hammy as I expected him to be. Oh sure, there's definitely ham, it's Nicolas Cage, but Dracula is portrayed as a disturbingly realistic domestic abuser and psychopath who uses some really monstrous methods to keep Renfield under his control without even getting into the vampire powers, although he definitely uses those to horrific effect as well. Ultimately, this is a fairly low budget film and there are some pacing issues here and there, but I'd recommend watching it at least once because there's probably going to be something in here you like.

Bought this Because of this https://youtu.be/ToM-wz3v-NU

Iron Man VR I wish I could recommend this because it's not half bad. Flying around with your hands is fun, blasting robots with your wrist weapons or your repulsor cannons is fun, the suit customization is nice, and the campaign is decent. Unfortunately, 40 dollars for a game you can finish in four or five hours is absolute highway robbery. I'd recommend it for maybe 20 bucks, but no more.

Wii is the perfect console for rail shooters. Back when I had a Wii I bought a Nerf gun where you could take out the firing chamber and replace it with a Wii remote to use for rail shooters. I loved that little thing.

Yes, now that you mention it I noticed that it was in RE4 too and I loved it.

Enemy infighting. Maybe it's just me but I feel like this is turning into a lost art with FPS games. While playing Vertigo 2, I found that positioning myself so that enemies would hit each other with their bullets or so that they would wind up in the path of a deadly animal was often quite effective. You almost never really see that nowadays and I miss it. It gives you a tactic besides just aiming better.

Vertigo 2 This is a VR FPS that definitely takes a lot of pages out of Valve's book, but in a good way. It's more story-driven, like Half-Life, but has a sense of humor about it. The plot is even kind of similar with an experiment that draws in aliens from other universes, only instead of being the hapless scientist who caused an invasion like Gordon Freeman, you ARE the alien who gets pulled into another universe due to someone else's experiment and you have to fight through the native aliens and robots to find a way back home. This game was made by a smaller team so don't expect graphics on the level of Alyx, but they still managed to make a full-fledged campaign that will take you roughly 10-12 hours to beat, depending on your skill. There are also plenty of guns to play with, including six optional hidden guns that you have to go out of your way to find. If you miss any, new game+ is available, which lets you keep all of the guns you acquired during the game and use them from the beginning. Probably the most unique mechanic in this is that you never run out of ammo. You have to reload, of course, but you will never be left high and dry because your ammo belt regenerates over time. The catch is that you can only hold a handful of refills at a time for each gun, and the stronger the gun the longer it takes to regenerate. This might make it sound like the difficulty is trivialized, but I actually found it rather tough. During large firefights you're likely to use up all the reloads on your favorite gun before it can regenerate, so you'll be frequently switching between your other guns while waiting on the cooldown for whatever your Ol' Reliable is. I rather enjoyed this, since it meant I didn't have to worry about picking up ammo packs all the time and it also encouraged me to use all the guns. On a lesser note, teleporting is more than just a motion sickness deterrent but also a core mechanic to help you get around obstacles and dodge enemy attacks. You can still walk normally, but even then teleportation is always available for a quick burst of speed. I had a few crashes near the end, but other than that I'd probably stick this on my personal top 10 list when it comes to VR games.

Super Mario Bros. Saw this and had a blast. Now to be clear, this is definitely a fan pleasing film rather than a critic pleasing one. If I try to rate this movie with an unbiased lens I am forced to admit that some of the voices don't work (Pratt is actually okay enough but Seth Rogen is just Seth Rogen), the pacing is too fast, the story is very basic, and there are too many licensed songs. Those are all valid criticisms. Do they ruin it for me? Hell no. Who goes to a Mario movie expecting award bait cinema? They go expecting a video game playing out on the big screen and this is by FAR the most faithful adaptation ever made. Either Illumination had some diehard Mario fans writing the script or Nintendo held their hand through the whole process to make sure we didn't get another Bob Hoskins situations, no offense to the guy. This is a movie where you're meant to enjoy all the copious references and Easter eggs, which is exactly what I expected and what I got. The Mario Kart scene was probably my favorite part, especially... This movie is just pure "don't think too hard" fun. I usually dislike that sort of thing because it's an easy excuse for not putting any effort into your film, but they did put effort in here. It's just that the effort was put toward pleasing Mario fans rather than general audiences. Oh and I didn't detect a single fart joke. Thanks for that, Illumination. I know that took restraint.

Yeah I don't think it's worth even trying to do that until NG+.

Deadzones, huh? In that case yeah, patch that shit.

Resident Evil 4 Remake I don't have a whole lot to add to what was said above. I also agree that RE4 didn't need a remake but this one turned out quite good anyway. They did cut out a boss fight, but I hear that one will be put back into the Separate Ways DLC later on. They went out of their way to make the game harder with the breakable knife and the more aggressive enemies and bosses. The frequent QTEs in the original have been replaced by the much more interesting parry and dodge mechanics. Capcom also decided to be cheeky and exploit the fact that just about everyone has played the original by throwing in surprises when you least expect it. Even though the story follows the same beats, there are moments where just when you think you know how something is going to play out because you've seen it before, they'll toss you a curveball. It's a very clever way to do a remake. I'm also glad to see that Ashley is much less high-maintenance and the useless mine thrower has been replaced by the very useful crossbow. I do have one complaint, and unfortunately it's a big one. The aiming controls just don't feel quite right. I don't know if this is a PS5 thing or if it extends to the PC version as well, but I was fiddling with the camera controls for the entire game, trying to get it to feel nice and tight like the original, but I never quite got there. I got it to a point where it was good enough for me to get by, but I still had a few very frustrating moments like missing shot after shot on the regenerator parasites because the sniper rifle always felt either too sensitive or not sensitive enough no matter what I did. Either Capcom needs to patch this or I need to figure out the magical combination of settings on the various camera sliders to hit that Goldilocks spot because this alone dragged the game down from a 10 to a 9 for me. Still a great game even with this problem, though. Can't wait for the VR update.

I would love an RE5 remake. It might not be as beloved as the classics and for good reason when you play it alone but it's one of the best co-op games out there to this day and I will die on this hill.

Now there's a game that could use a remake.

Pokemon Violet This is the first mainline Pokemon game I've bothered to finish since I was a little kid (Legends Arceus is a spinoff and I don't care what Nintendo says). I really don't think I've managed to get all the way through a mainline Pokemon game since the Game Boy days. But here it is, the first truly open-world console Pokemon game we all dreamed of playing one day. How is it? Well, it's...goooood? I'll explain. Since it's been so long for me, I'm judging this one mostly on the progress the series has made since I last played it. I hate to use the phrase "a step in the right direction" because I've reached a point where I have to ask myself how many steps you can take without getting anywhere, but SV really did evolve, no pun intended, in several ways I had been wanting for a long time. For starters, tall grass random encounter bullshit is gone and thank fucking god. You want a Pokemon? You can clearly see right on the field which one it is. If you don't want to fight it? Just go around it. Also, trainer battles out in the routes are OPTIONAL. You still have to fight trainers for gym battles and story-related moments, obviously, but you don't have to fight random strangers while you're walking around unless you want to, which I am really grateful for. Some of the bits and bobs about the battle system have been sped up or streamlined. For example, you can set the options to skip Pokemon nicknaming prompts or to automatically box anything you catch while your team is full. There are several little things in there to reduce the number of button presses you have to endure in every battle, which may not sound like much on paper but it really reduces the tedium and speeds up the gameplay. Ride Pokemon are back from Arceus, and while you only get one, the one you get is very versatile and makes exploring the map more enjoyable than just running around on foot. My favorite new feature is the ability to send out a Pokemon onto the field with a button press and let it run around and auto-battle wild Pokemon nearby. You can't catch anything that you automate this way but you still get the experience so this is a great way to quickly grind exp without having to go through a bunch of battles yourself. These are all really good QoL features that improved the basic Pokemon gameplay loop enough for me to want to finish this one. I also liked several of the side characters, which is saying something because I often find them all stupid and annoying. It's not all praise, though. There were some great strides made here, but the series still has a way to go to become truly great. For starters, while I appreciate the open world that lets me go anywhere and do anything, there isn't much in the way of side content besides catching more Pokemon. You get three main questlines, then after that you get a fourth endgame quest before the credits. You can do them in any order you choose, but there's no level scaling so there's still a recommended order. That said, if you want to challenge yourself like I did you can go to higher level areas and attempt higher level missions before the game wants you to, so I appreciate that you are at least allowed to make that choice. It's still rough in other areas, though. The graphics? What else can I say? They range from acceptable to dreadful. The performance? It's poo poo. Pop-in everywhere. Frame drops. Slowdown. This game really makes it sink in just how outdated the Switch is, not to mention how they really need to make a second studio for Pokemon games so that each entry gets another year of development time. But the thing that bugged me the most, the thing that I still hate more than anything, are the constant battle messages for buffs, debuffs, and status effects. In just about any other RPG, stuff like this would be indicated with a graphical effect and maybe an icon, which is more than enough on its own. But what does Pokemon still feel the need to do? GARCHOMP WAS POISONED! GARCHOMP TOOK DAMAGE FROM THE POISON! GARCHOMP'S ATK INCREASED! GARCHOMP'S DEF INCREASED! GARCHOMP'S SP. DEF DECREASED! GARCHOMP'S SP. ATK DECREASED! God damn do I hate this. I dread fighting Pokemon with lots of stat changing moves because this is what slows battles down to a fucking crawl. With all the other improvements they made, why is THIS the thing they still decide to keep in? You don't need it! Just look at Persona! Sure it has a message when someone buffs or debuffs, but it comes and goes in less than a second. This, to me, is still the worst thing about Pokemon battles and they seriously need to ditch it when the next game comes along. At the very least, if there are multiple stat changes, put them all in one text box rather than several different ones one after another. I don't think this is too much to ask. I haven't tried any of the postgame content yet so I can't comment on that, but even with my gripes this was at least good enough for me to finish and mostly enjoy. They're still pretty easy games even if you try to challenge yourself like I did by skipping the field trainer battles which are basically free exp, but not every RPG needs to be hardcore. Sometimes I just enjoy the thrill of catching and raising a Pokemon team. Oh, and while the performance was unimpressive I didn't experience any game breaking bugs like there were at launch, so I think they fixed the worst of the issues by now.

Got the PS5 version in anticipation of the future VR update.

Atomic Heart Another Game Pass game. Before I go any further I'll address the elephant in the room and acknowledge that this game was made by Russians, who are pretty much nobody's friend right now for obvious reasons. I will not speak on the matter here other than to say that people's buying decisions are ultimately their own but I certainly understand if somebody chooses not to play this out of principle. It's not like I actually bought it either way so I did not worry about that too much myself. Putting that aside, I have mixed feelings on this game. It's basically Russian Bioshock and while it has some cool world building and lore and some design choices I really liked such as being able to refund your upgrades at any time to try out another build, there were also some choices made that are so baffling it made me wonder if these developers had ever played a video game before. Why can't I make a custom waypoint on the map or even zoom it in unless I'm at a terminal? Why do half of the powers feel useless? Why do they constantly throw me against large groups of enemies and then not give you a block or parry option with the melee? There is a dodge but it is not nearly good enough on its own and if you get trapped in a corner there is not much you can do to save yourself unless you have telekinesis equipped other than flail your melee weapon and hope they die before you do. Some of the boss fights are cool, but others are shit and unfortunately the worst boss of the game is fought three times. You can scavenge for resources by just holding down a button and sweeping it across an area but they compensate for that by making all the upgrades cost more than I think they should. Sometimes it feels like for every positive there is a negative to balance it out. On the plus side, it has a great soundtrack. You can thank Mick Gordon for that one. And just to put it out there, he donated his fee for working on the game to a Ukrainian charity. Also, while the story and the universe of this game has potential, the main character is written like a complete douchebag with terrible dialogue. He has a stupid catchphrase ("crispy critters!") that he says all the time. It is a fetch that they are desperately trying to make happen and it is never going to happen and every time he said it I cringed. He is also really stupid and gullible and he is the main thing that brings down what could otherwise be a decent plot for this kind of game. And for the record, no, the plot is not Soviet propaganda. They hammer in how much communism sucks about as hard as George Orwell does. They don't have many nice things to say about capitalism either. I don't know, the game is okay. But just okay. Maybe with some QOL patches I could see myself giving it one extra point. I still would not really recommend buying it but it might be okay to kill time if you have game pass.