C.T. Phipps's Blog, page 85

Hitman (2016) Episode Five: Colorado review

    With the Colorado mission, we're coming up to the finale of Hitman (2016). It is the second-to-last mission in the game with the grand finale being a as-yet-unreleased mission in Japan. There's good and bad elements in Colorado with it drawing heavy inspiration from the dirty, washed-out environments of Hitman: Absolution. I actually liked Absolution despite its relative lack of freedom but have complaints regarding the fact this level seems like it could have used some mor...

Westworld 1x01 "The Original" review

    In 1973, Michael Crichton created the concept of Westworld as an adult theme park which was an extrapolation of the idea of combining Disneyland with play-acting. While I may deride Michael Crichton for not believing in global warming among other eccentricities, I will never fault him as a futurist. His idea of a theme park predates the concept of tabletop roleplaying games, live action roleplaying games, modern video games, and the MMORPG.

    For those unfam...

Hitman (2016) Episode Four: Bangkok review

    I'm terribly late regarding this review and that's a shame because it's an episode which grew on me. When I originally played through it, I didn't think all that much of it because the hotel setting felt like a step down from the previous episodes. I changed my views the more I played it, becoming aware of all the wonderful little in's and out's of the characters involved. This episode has probably the strongest writing in the game so far, target wise, and I'm pleased with...

Cthulhu Armageddon audiobook recording!

Jeffrey Kafer is awesome. The man who has done my first three Supervillainy Saga books (The Rules of Supervillainy, The Games of Supervillainy, The Secrets of Supervillainy) as well as my Esoterrorism novel is also doing Cthulhu Armageddon. What if Cthulhu Armageddon? It is a post-apocalypse action adventure set in the future of the world of H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. Basically, what if you crossed Mad Max and Call of Cthulhu.

“Under an alien sky where gods of eldritch matter rule, the o...

Warcraft (2016) review

    I don't know why this movie got such bad reviews. Oh yes, I do. This is a movie which is unashamed to be a video game movie. It treats its lore with the kind of reverence and seriousness that fans have given the franchise for decades. This is a movie with all of the major characters from the first Warcraft game as well as much of the lore from the novels. The story is streamlined but it's probably a more faithful adaptation than anyone should have expected.

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The Moral Ambiguity of Fallout 4: Nuka World

    I've mentioned my absolute love for Nuka World before and that remains to be the case. It's an absolutely beautiful spectacle and blows the main game out of the water but it's also something which has been controversial for the fact it favors an "evil" playthrough. Indeed, there are only a handful of quests which do not require working with complete scum. However, it is that very need to work with the deplorable and blunt their efforts which makes an intriguing path for tho...

Heart of a Dragon by David Niall Wilson review

    I was a big fan of the White Wolf novels released in the 90s to accompany their Vampire: The Masquerade gameline. I enjoyed the Clan Novels starring Lucita, Hesha, Beckett, and the other great characters who starred in them. Helping write these and several other stories was David Niall Wilson who is now the head of Crossroad Press. The opening of this book and others talks about how restricted those parameters were and how much they impeded storytelling.

    H...

Fathomless by Anne M. Pillsworth review

    Why is it so wrong to want to be a Deep One? H.P. Lovecraft's The Shadow over Innsmouth is all about the horror of how a bunch of townsfolk voluntarily decided to interbreed with fishmen in exchange for gold and fish. The focus of the narrator on the act of such "defilement" is such that Ruthanna Emrys claims to have completely forgot they also engaged in human sacrifice among other horrifically evil things. However, if you have the attitude of, "mating with fish men isn't...

Fallout 4: Nuka World DLC review

    I've never shared my post-apocalypse plan. It's to take a car, journey to Disneyland and take it over. Alternatively, I will journey to Brazil and live on a plantation where I will grow the ingredients necessary to create Coca Cola. If this is a peculiarly specific plan for Armageddon, I should note that if you somehow merged Disneyland and Coca-Cola then I never would have left as a child. I would have run away from my parents and lived in Colaland's sewers along with the...

Red Dead Redemption review

    This is a really overdue review but I, honestly, fell prey to hyper aversion. Everyone I knew mentioned it was one of the best video games of all time and a decent candidate for the best. However, I was leery of the idea of Rockstar being able to produce anything above Grand Theft: Stallion and it fell by the wayside. Still, with the upcoming announcement of Red Dead Redemption 2, I decided to finally give the game a try. Now, I'm kicking myself for not doing it much earlie...