Video Game - The Walking Dead: 400 Days (2013 PS4)

This is the add on content for the original Walking Dead game released in 2012.  This content bridges the gap between the first season and the second season and provides a little bit of pre character building. This was a nice and quick mini-game you could say which was created in about the same format as the original season one game.

This add on content follows five different stories, each finally coming together at the end regarding how a group of people came together. This group is later seen in the second season. If you play WD season one, 400 days, and WD season two all on the same system, the decisions you made in the previous games will affect things in the next game. For instance **SPOILER**, depending on who you save in the first season (either Carlee or Doug), you will find one of their dead bodies in 400 days as a little Easter egg. Also, some of the decisions you make in the first season will carry over into the second season when Clementine reflects on certain actions made previously.

Anyway, this is a pretty good (and short) extra content.  If you buy the actual disc for season one, this comes with it (or you can jsut get this on the PS Store). I've given the actual extra content a four as well because the stories were all different and all interesting. All in all, great DLC.

Video Game - The Walking Dead: Season One (2012)

This game was created by TellTale Games based upon the hit Walking Dead graphic novel series. From what I gather, the only character that was integrated from the actual graphic novel was Glen however he does not remain in the game for very long. 

In this game you follow a convicted murderer who meets a stranded young girl and helps her survive through a zombie apocalypse.  Along the way you meet new characters and lose a few in your group.  The game controls are a lot different than any game I've played before and the game itself gives you the option to alter the story in many ways. This is a characteristic of TellTale's game style. Their games provide you with the option to make decisions based upon actions taken in the game such as saving one character over another which will ultimately alter your entire game moving forward.

This game also comes in "episodes" much like the show does and gives you the option to go back to previous episodes to replay your decisions. The replay value on this game is pretty high as you can keep going back and making different decisions over and over again.

I have given this game a four for being very entertaining and by keeping you on edge wondering where your actions will take you next.

P.S. Clem will pull those heart strings each and every time.

Video Game - Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor (2014)

So my fiance bought this game as she is an avid Lord of the Rings fan however once she started playing it she ended up hating it. Intrigued by a new game, I decided to start it up myself. Upon playing, it is very obvious that this game was created by the same people who created the Batman games for Playstation 3 as the battle style is completely identical. This game is what happens when Batman: Arkham City and Assassin's Creed combine into one game. This is the fighting style of Batman and the exploration/movement style of Assassin's Creed. Fortunately for me these are two of my favorite video games.

Your character (Talion) is murdered along with his family. Instead of going to his final resting place, Talion is transported into Mordor in order to help a spirit regain his memories and to gain revenge for the murder of his family. The game is pretty long if you do all of the side missions, but pretty quick if you just shoot through the main missions. There are lots of different things you can do in the game such as hunting, collecting items, and destroying the ranks of Mordor from within. The game itself was GREAT in my opinion as the open world gave you many exploration opportunities and a variety of mission types to go through and also opportunities to upgrade your character.

All in all, this is a really great game that I would recommend for all Playstation 4 gamers so pick it up and get playing now! What are you waiting for? I gave this one a five out of five. Great game!

Movie - Delivery: The Beast Within (2013)

My fiance picked up this movie on a whim at WAL-MART and I was very surprised at how good it ended up being. Usually spur of the moment buys have produced unsuccessful results in the past for us.  I am happy that this one ended up being as good as it was.

I have never really seen a movie that was filmed the way that this one was. Yes, it is first person (which I love!) however it is filmed much like a reality TV show which they did a great job at representing.  The movie starts with an episode of a show that follows a couple who is expecting a child.  The camera crew follows the couple everywhere during the entire pregnancy.

**SPOILER** Wouldn't be me if I didn't completely spoil the movie for you :)

So things start getting a little weird after the mother miscarries the baby. Deciding to sleep on if she wants to have the baby removed at the hospital, the baby miraculously comes back to life in the morning.  After this little miracle, things start to go downhill.  The dog decides he no longer likes her and makes it a point to let her know. Sleepless nights are spent painting troubled pictures in the attic.  A once vegetarian is now craving raw meat. The husband begins to get more irritated as time goes on and starts to regret letting the camera crew into their house.

Things start to heat up when Rachel begins hurting herself and eventually murdering the family dog claiming that he tried to bite her belly so she stabbed him.  After a complete meltdown at home over her baby being possessed by the devil, Kyle finally asks the camera crew to leave and never come back.

About a month prior to the birth of their child, Kyle allows the camera crew to come back so that they can complete the film.  While giving birth, Rachel goes off the deep end.  Worried for her health, a doctor is called to help with the birth regardless of protests from the mid wife. After much struggle, the baby is born and all seems to be well finally until Rachel decides to kill the baby and ultimately dies herself.  I did not expect this part. It was so crazy! My fiance and I just stared at each other in disbelief like WHAT! Who would have expected that?

Eventually Kyle moves on and gets with another woman.  They said she was pregnant with his child and I can only imagine how nervous he must be. I mean at that point I'd never have children, you know?

All in all this was a really great film.  I'm glad we picked it up. Though I'm pretty sure this isn't on Netflix, you can pick it up at WAL-MART pretty cheap if you're interested. Seriously, go watch it. You won't be sorry I promise. I gave this one a four. Great movie.

Video Game - The Evil Within (2014)

This is the game I have been waiting for since I heard of its creation.  I am very sad to see and hear the bad reviews this game has been getting. The thing that really enrages me is that I know someone who gave this game a terrible review WITHOUT EVER PLAYING IT. How do you expect to provide an accurate review based on other people's opinions? I won't stand for that, it's unacceptable!

Okay, all that aside, this was a great game in my opinion. I had a great time playing this. That being said, I had two issues with this game. The game was very unforgiveably hard at times making it very difficult to move forward which was frustrating as I was playing on easy.  I feel that if you are playing on EASY, that it should be pretty simple for even a novice gamer to get through. The second issue I had was that the storyline was hard to follow and at the end of the game I was still left with so many unanswered questions.  I got some of the answers however I am still left very confused.

Let's jump into the great points of the game. The game gives you options which I like: fight or flight?  You can fight with various weapons, perform stealth kills, or in some cases you can run to save your ammo.  You get a melee weapon but you don't really use it unless you need to push an enemy away from you for a second. I wouldn't recommend trying to kill any enemies with this weapon as you are going to be fighting a losing battle.

The game is a wonderful mix of Resident Evil and Silent Hill. Some people complain about this aspect but honestly, what could be better?? These are two of the most popular gaming franchises so why wouldn't we celebrate a mash of the two? ....Getting off topic again...

So the storyline (from what I gathered) is going to be attempted next. Emphasis on ATTEMPTED.  You start off as a detective who goes in with his team to investigate a mass homicide at a mental institution. Upon entering, your character is knocked out and here is where the horror begins.

I won't go fully into the story because I don't feel like typing it out and I also don't want to spoil the game. I know, no spoilers, how unlike me! But seriously, get out there and play the game! Don't listen to what other people say. Only you can make an opinion of something.

Keep in mind how hard the game is and conserve your ammo when possible. Utilize traps and bombs and stealth kill when or at all possible. My favorite part of the game is that once you complete the game, all of your power ups and weapons carry over into the new game + which is very Dead Space and I love it. You literally can just keep going and you will want to I promise.  One last note: You get extras for completing the game much like you were awarded at the end of Resident Evil 2 and 3 which is awesome. I gave this game a five. I loved it regardless what all of the reviewers are giving it.

Movie - Annabelle (2014)

Here is a movie that I was extremely excited for and I have to say I was completely disappointed by it. Being a huge fan of The Conjuring, I came out to see this one with very high expectations.

**Hello! Spoilers ahead!! Proceed with caution my friends**

This movie follows the original owners of the haunted Annabelle doll that was portrayed in The Conjuring. This is a real story and the doll does in fact exist somewhere right now (in Ed and Lorraine Warren's house) though in real life the doll is actually a Raggedy Ann doll instead. An expecting mother is given a gift (the doll) by her husband in order to complete her doll collection. In the middle of the night, their neighbor's derranged daughter (it is explained that she has joined a satanic cult) murders her parents. When the husband goes to check on the family, Annabelle (the daughter) sneaks into their house and gets into a skirmish with the very pregnant wife and ultimately kills herself while holding the new doll.

It is later said that this act was done to summon a demon which succeeded. Now that the demon is freed, it takes refuge in the doll. Things start happening in the house while the husband is not home and on one day, the demon catches the house on fire almost killing her and the baby. Thinking the house is haunted, the couple throws away the doll and moves to a new apartment.

While unpacking, the doll is found at the bottom of a box. Thinking it was just accidently placed in there, the wife agrees to keep it. Strange things again start to happen in the new residence and the demon shows itself to her.

With the help of a friend and a priest, the demon is driven away from the family (with only one casualty). The movie fades out in an antique store where an old woman is purchasing the Annabelle doll. This will segway into the beginning of The Conjuring.

So the movie wasn't TERRIBLE, but it wasn't scary by any means. The movie focused a lot on their life at home and things they did each day with a few jumps and scares along the way. The end wasn't what I expected either and was really overall disappointed. Sorry guys, not this time. I'd give this one a two and a half if I felt like looking for half skulls but I'll throw it a three for effort. See it if you want, but it's really not that great.

Video Game - Slender: The Arrival (2014)

I went into this game kind of blind as I've never played the original that everyone talked about. I have heard the multiple reports revolving around the murders of people claiming that Slenderman told them to kill which is kind of crazy. Apparently Slenderman has quite the following of murderous children. There's another stab against video games saying that they cause violence.  Let me just point out that video games do not cause violence, crazy people cause their own violence. Okay had to let that little burst out. Thanks :)

So back to the game. Here's a first person game.  The game is really short and according to one of the harder trophies, can be completed within about 45 minutes. I do love short games though!  So it took me I'd say 2-3 hours to beat this because I suck :) but you know.. who cares about that!

The story was a little confusing so I'll try to explain what I can.  Don't be too harsh in the comments if I get it wrong!  So you are a woman I believe who is going to find her friend who apparently got into some trouble (with Slenderman) but when you get to her house nobody is there. There are drawings of Slenderman on the walls and there's really nothing to find until you hear a scream from outside. Going to investigate it brings you to some forest. You see Slenderman on top of a hill and here begins your journey.

The goal of the game is to stay away from him at all costs. He will get you and he will kill you.  Each area gives you a certain amount of tasks to complete before Slenderman kills you (so you pretty much have to run for your life the whole time) so that you can advance to the next area. Along the way you learn more about what happened to your friend and at the end eventually find her dead.

During the last part the game kind of just abruptly ends. Maybe I'm just not that great at following things, but I was very confused at the plot. All in all, pretty scary game. Graphics could have been better, but I don't think the graphics were the main point of the game itself. From what I gather, this is leaps and bounds better than the graphics from the original computer version.

So yeah, pretty scary game. Go check it out. Right now it's on Playstation Network for about $9.99 for all users. I gave it a three due to the confusion and how short the game actually ended up being. Still a pretty good play and a good option for those of you (like me) who are not PC gamers.

Movie - A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014)

I figured it was time to go see a movie in theater since it had been some time since I'd gone. This was a movie I kind of went to see on a whim. Seeing as this stars Liam Neeson, I went in with some pretty high expectations. At the beginning of the movie my friend and I (both fans of Taken) had made a guess that Liam's character would kill at least 50 people in the movie. Sadly it was only five so I guess he's not always a brutal killer in every movie.

As stated in earlier posts (or if you are new to the blog; Welcome) if you do not like any spoilers, you can turn away now. I'd hate to push people away from the blog but that's just the way things are run here! :)

Let me gather my thoughts here since it's been a few weeks since I've seen the movie. I know I know, I should have done this sooner but you know how life it, it doesn't give you a chance to catch up! That and I'm lazy.... REAL lazy...

So this movie follows a broken retired detective who does pretty much illegal side jobs from time to time for people for some extra cash.  When a drug dealer's wife gets kidnapped and murdered, he is approached to investigate the crime and find the person responsible. The kidnappers are two men (from what I gathered they are a gay couple and very odd) who will stalk a woman they like who has a wealthy husband for a good amount of time and once they are alone, grab her up.  Once she is kidnapped, they call the husband to gain ransome money for her safe return. Though instead of returning the women they take, they rape and savagely murder them instead. And my saveagely murder, I mean torture because they're some really sick dudes.

After some persuasion, Liam's character agrees to help out. He gains an unlikely partner (a young homeless boy) who becomes his right hand man during the investigation. Once another girl gets kidnapped, Liam gets on the phone and makes a bargain with the kidnapper to meet him face to face in the graveyard and do the swap there to ensure the girl stays alive. During the swap, guns blaze on both sides killing the drug dealer's brother in the process.

The kidnappers, now wounded, run off with their money. In the car they find out that they money is actually fake and the whole thing was a set up. Unknowingly they carry the homeless boy in the back of their van who snuck in to tail them.  After they get home, the one kidnapper kills the other for making the deal. Once everyone arrives at the house, Liam gives the drug dealer the choice to do whatever he wants with his wife's murderer and leaves. He returns later only to find the drug dealer dead and the kidnapper missing.

After a skirmish in the basement, the second kidnapper is killed. The movie fades out with Liam sitting in a chair in his apartment as the homeless boy is asleep on his couch. Does he adopt him? I'd like to think so. The kid was the real hero in this movie as they would not have found the where the kidnappers lived without him. I should mention that he is a retired detective because while on duty he got extremely drunk. While drunk, he chased down two people who had murdered the bartender only when he went to gun them down he accidentally shot and killed a little girl. That was some pretty brutal stuff right there and they don't explain that to you until almost the very end. And yes, I did count that as one of the five kills Liam made (it's still technically a kill).

Okay so all in all, pretty good movie. I prefer Taken though because... well it's Taken and it's awesome. Haven't seen the second one and I see a third is coming out so I better get rolling on those. Let me know what you thought of this movie in the comments section below. Great movie. Gave it a four. Go see it! Good stuff!

Movie - The Prophecy: Uprising (2005)

I always think due to my reviews on certain movies that it is fairly obvious if I like or dislike a movie series. Can you tell this one is starting to drag? I might not watch the last one as this one wasn't all that great really. I'm still giving it a three because though the story was slightly confusing at times, the random body snatching was pretty cool.

Okay sooooo in this one we follow a police officer who when he was younger sold his parents out as traitors to their country thus resulting in their deaths. He was separated from his sister and thought her dead until Lucifer leads him to her. At this time she is being pursued by angels so that they can take a book which holds the outcome of the war between the angels thus providing whichever side who obtains in the ammunition they need to win.

The angel ends up possessing her brother, she kills her brother, and the demon is taken by Lucifer. The book is safe (for now).

The movie had its perks such as the angel playing musical bodies while in search of the book. I thought that was kind of cool and very Invasion of the Body Snatchers. No Christopher Walken in this one so it kind of loses its touch.

Movie - The Prophecy III: The Ascent (2000)

Okay the last Prophecy movie in the series that has Christopher Walken as Gabriel which is depressing because I feel like he really made the series. I'm assuming Jennifer Beals wasn't worth the cost of a very tiny part at the beginning where her character was burned alive try to protect her son as a different actress was cast for that role.

So Valerie gets killed and her son Dan escapes only to grow up into a God hating preacher. He is shot and killed during one of his sermons only to come back to life as a new man. Terrified at what has happened, his girlfriend teams up with the man who runs the morgue to find out what's happening. The angels are after Dan as well. One of them works with his girlfriend to find him.

Dan makes his way to where he is being summoned and ultimately defeats the two angels who meant to end the world.

This movie's storyline was okay and I gave it a three. Christopher Walken really made the movie funny though as he was turned into a human during this movie. He's a funny guy and brings great character to the movie. Overall though, it was okay, but not memorably great.

Movie - The Prophecy II (1998)

So here is the second movie. This one was a lot easier to navigate through which was refreshing. We again have Christopher Walken as Gabriel. There are also two characters played by the L Word cast which I thought was pretty cool. The main protagonist is Jennifer Beals who played Bette Porter in the L Word and Michael is played by Eric Roberts who was Shane's Dad in the L Word. I was also surprised to see Brittany Murphy in this movie as well. So we are going in with a really well known cast which is great.

The movie follows Valerie (Jennifer Beals) who is a doctor. She is seduced by Danyael (an angel) and he gets her pregnant with a "super baby" (half human/half angel). Gabriel is back again as Lucifer rejected him from Hell and is determined to kill her to stop the baby from being born. With the help of Danyael and Michael, she is able to defeat Gabriel.

There is a brief part in the very beginning where you see the detective from the first movie living as a monk and then he is murdered by Gabriel. I guess he needed that little bit of payback for sending him to Hell.

Overall I thought this movie was really good and a lot more composed than the first one. This was much much easier to follow and the different between good and evil was clearly defined. I gave this one a four especially for the great cast selection. Let's see how number three goes...