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Video Game Review – Battlefield 5

I waited awhile to review this game because it had a rocky start. After three and a half months the game finally feels polished and patched up to where it should have been when first released (a sad trend in modern gaming).

I don’t know what it is but Battlefield 5 seems like the shallowest BF release I have experienced. I’ll say strait away that the game is great fun and I’ve already put over 120 hours into it and play fairly regularly. I’ve played pretty much every Battlefield that has come out on Console since Bad Company. I am definitely more of a Battlefielder than I am a Caller of Duty .. I like both games for their different mechanics and styles. I’ll discuss some things I like and don’t like about Battlefield 5 as it stands .

Battlefield 5 is military shooter with an emphasis on large open maps complete with tanks, trucks, jeeps, and even planes. The BF series has different class roles which each play differently and have different equipment to help out on the battlefield. Assault class carries explosives and anti tank weaponry, the Medic class can quickly revive fallen team mates and restore health and bandages. The support class is great for defense and can restore ammo and equipment to team mates as well as build fortifications twice as fast. Lastly the Recon class is best used for spotting enemies with their spotting scope or as counter infantry at any distance. A good BF player will learn each class and be able to switch if the situation calls for it.

To begin the game plays really good now. I have had no severe instances of freezing or being booted from servers. Battlefield 5 definitely captures the intensity of warfare better than any other Military Based Shooter. I know it’s not a “simulator” by any means but there are some truly epic moments in BF games that I have never experienced in any other shooter. This is the main reason why I keep coming back to this series. You feel like you are part of a small army running across a field with other human players, while shells rip into tanks several yards from you. Having to dive in a fresh crater to avoid gun fire and popping smoke so your squad can advance on a target never gets old to me.

The sound in BF games has always been a sheer cut above the rest in terms of oomph and quality. I play on a small surround sound system and most of the guns have a distinct punch and boom when you fire them, not to mention the wonderful echo effects in open areas versus the muffled bangs when firing indoors. The sound design in general is pretty stellar to me. Hearing the roar of gunfire and artillery grow steadily louder as you run towards it is a reminder, to me, of how terrifying it must have been for soldiers throughout the world who had to live through it.

I really enjoy the WW2 setting. World War 2 has been an object of fascination for every generation that came after. I’ve read about extensively.. Today we are only reminded by video games and movies that show heroic characters doing epic things.. I appreciate how BF5, and BF1 before it, captured the more somber and hopeless sides of war. After all it was primarily young men who lost their lives in those savage wars. BF1 definitely took itself a bit more seriously in terms of feel and emotion but I don’t mind too much because after all it is just a video game.

I enjoy what they added to the gameplay mechanics. Every class being able to revive is a blessing. I have been on teams where it seemed like myself and a good squad turned the whole tide of battle, because we had someone playing each class well and supporting each other. It took DICE a minute to get the medic class balanced but now I feel all the classes are fairly useful each to their own and have their own play styles. The emphasis on team play is strong and goes a long way toward winning matches or having more fun in general.

The smoke in BF5 is actually pretty great. The medic class automatically comes equipped with two smoke grenades, which are used with great success in this game. I use the smoke both to safely revive fallen soldiers and also practically as a smoke screen to block the view of snipers, tanks, or when advancing on objectives. To me it adds a small sense of realism to the game that feels genuine. Smoke and cover fire are huge parts of war fare and I feel the small addition of a functional smoke grenade is awesome. I know the smoke nades are in the other BF games as well but I believe this is the first time they are issued as a base gadget. For some reason this helped me notice them and it’s the first time I have ever found them really useful in game.

Although the game plays well now there are still some things that I don’t like or that put a bad taste in my mouth.

Among various bugs and glitches the game felt very empty on launch. There was a huge lack of maps, gadgets, vehicles, and game modes. Many gamers expressed their displeasure with this aspect. Without the 50 dollar premium pass, Dice and EA are hoping that micro transactions will provide enough money to continue development. However the past couple years and other popular titles have shown that this ultimately leads to a weak trickle of content that doesn’t have much of an impact (think star wars Battlefront 2?). Battlefield fans are skeptical if BF5 will ever become the game that it deserves to be and I share in their skepticism.

Another big turn off came after the game launched. There was a problem with the in game currency that allows you to unlock cosmetic items and specializations. The glitch prevented anyone at the already low level cap of 50 from getting the company coins needed to progress.. This left me with a “why the hell even play then?”, attitude as this made it very difficult to advance and specialize my weapons. Worst of is the fact that this bug persisted for over 2 months..

I feel there is a problem with balancing the teams. Often times it’s either mashing or getting mashed. I’ve been in very few matches where it comes down to the wire and the points stay close the whole time. Those matches definitely happen, maybe I just wish there were more of them.

Lastly, customization for your weapons are purely cosmetic beyond what type of optic you use. To me this feels kinda cheap.. I get that it is probably going to be one of their only extra sources of income at this point.. One of my favorite BF games was BF3 because the customizations that you unlocked actually effected the way the gun behaved. You unlocked barrels, grips, stocks, extra attachments, and sights that niched out the weapon. I guess they have “specializations” that you can unlock for specific weapons to better customize a play style. I don’t know.. I just don’t care to have my WW2 guns painted in chrome and gold plating or with bright green and blue colors.

My overall opinions and thoughts vary pretty greatly on this game. I love the gameplay overall. Now as it is, the game sounds great, looks great, and has exhilirating combat. The maps are large open and for the most part pretty balanced (except Hamada, just make it normal conquest?)..

However there aren’t many maps yet and worse yet only 1 new map slated for release by the time four were releasing for BF1. This is an ominous sign of what is to come as far as map content.

I highly recommend this game if you like more in depth online shooters. There is more depth and strategy at play due to vehicles and and different classes. Like I said it is one of the only video games that regularly gives me those “holy sh!t” moments of epic gameplay. There were some issues in the beginning but most of them have been corrected or patched up. I am eager to see what becomes of this game, for it will be telling of the overall trend in gaming as a whole as more and more games move to a “games as as service” model. I’ve already written about my disdain for this in another article.

Hope this article was a little bit useful if you were on the fence about the game.. If you are interested in Battlefield 5 I would highly recommend it now. You can purchase the game for under 40 dollars. I play regularly so feel free to join a game or add me on PSN if you ever want a great squad mate! , my id is: SL_Blank

As always thanks for reading.

Video Game Review – Super Smash Bros: Ultimate

Being a long time Nintendo fan it is no doubt I have played the hell out of the Newest Super Smash Brothers. Super Smash Brothers has a super long lineage going back to the N64. It is a fighting game that pits long time and lesser known Nintendo characters into one roster. An impressive roster at that. Smash Brothers has always been one of my favorite games on Nintendo and probably my most played game on my N64 besides Goldeneye. Spent a lot of time playing Melee for GameCube as well and owned the one for the Wii U.

The game is a stylized fighter / brawler where every character has the exact same move sets controller wise, but the corresponding moves are drastically different for each character. Some characters have similarities usually if they are from the same game franchise or the same story line. Instead of life bars in SB, hits you land increase Damage% and as this rises you or characters you hit are thrown farther from the impact. Eventually after enough Dmg% is accumulated even the smallest move will send a character flying off stage which knocks a point off their score or finishes the match. Basically weaken your opponent enough to Smash them off the stage. These basic mechanics make Smash Bros easy to pick up and learn but a challenge to master. There is a lot of depth to this game, coupled with a HUGE roster of characters, there is a lot to chew on.

Diving right in to the new Super Smash Brothers Ultimate for Nintendo Switch.

The list of characters starts off small and you unloce new characters just by playing the game. I think it took me several weeks to get all of them. There are 76 characters in the game at present, each with different powers and abiliteis. This may seem daunting but the game rewards you well jsut for playing and experimenting with the different modes and functionis. There are many different playstyles among the characters including fighter types, sword types, shooter types, and various other types based off of the games where the character comes from. I’ve put around 40 hours into the game and I still have far from seen everything.

I like this game because there is a littele something for everyone. There is definite action. The graphics are more cartoony and very colorful, so kids can enjoy it. The game has tons of customization and handicap settings so, again, kids can have a good time as well as more seasoned players. I’m not even particularly good at SB but it is always a riot to play with multiple people who know what they are doing, even if they don’t, matches are crazy and mostly enjoyable. You can easily make it easier if you are having trouble in most spots, except for the new Adventure mode.

I enjoy the new Adventure mode, speaking of. It adds the slightest story and strategy element to the game instead of it being just a brawler. After a cutscene you must travel a world map and fight enemies in battles with set parameters and hazards. Doing this gains you spirits which come in two forms. Main and support. These spirits are from any Nintendo property you could ever imagine even some super obscure ones that I have never seen before. Spirits serve as a cool and functional collection item that allow your character to become immune to various stage hazards, move types, or start you off with various weapons. They add very basic form of strategy that is easy to get the hang of. This is a one player portion of the game, but the spirits can be used on any other part of the game, and it lets you choose whether you want them on or off.

The rest is all here including the Classic mode which slowly gets more difficult if you do well, and ends with a battle with master hand or a franchise boss fight depending on which characters you are using. There are also some other great modes including the Century Smash where you fight a hoard of 100 bots, or challenging last man standing type battles. Normal Smash mode has a fully customizable set up and you can save your favorite match types so you don’t have to deal with the menus unless you want to tweak something about the match. You can change pretty much anything about the match including game rules, certain items, handicaps, CPU difficulty, and anything else you could imagine. Ultimate playability (I don’t think that’s a word..)!

There are tons of unlockable items in this game. Literally a thousand plus spirits and thousand plus different pieces of music in the soundtrack. Countless pieces of armor and costumes for your Mii character.. It’s truly impressive the amount of stuff they can fit on those tiny little Switch cartridges. There are literally 100 different stages or battle arenas!!! This game is simply massive.

There isn’t much bad to say about it honestly.

The game is a lot faster than I remember.. Sometimes the hardest part of the match is literally trying to keep track of your character. The stages move and swoosh around and are a potential hazard in themselves. I often find myself losing track of my character after a large explosion or other dazzling event, thus I die needlessly fairly often. You do get used to this but it was something I noticed. I may be getting old or it may have been a long time since I played a SSB game. Honestly this adds to the chaos of the game and mostly ends up being funny in large multiplayer matches. When playing solo it is much easier to see what your character is doing and what your moves do. It took me a lot of time playing solo before I got the hang of the larger more intense multiplayer matches.

The online mode kinda sucks. Or maybe I just suck at SSB because I rarely win and when the lag isn’t messing up my experience people tend to be try-hards or just spam the same bullshit moves over and over. Needless to say the servers aren’t very stable and I’m sure they will be updated eventually but I generally don’t play much online. It picks a random match and random team mates for you unless you are playing co-op with a friend. I probably just need more practice.

With all the games I played this past holiday season I’d say this one was one of the only two that felt worth it, Red Dead Redemption 2 Being the other. I have discussed the ongoing trend of developers selling shoddy and incomplete games. I’m happy to say this game felt worth my money.

I’d highly recommend this game to anyone who likes fighting or beat em ups. The action is intensely smooth and fast paced but the simple controls let pretty much anyone figure it out pretty quick. Definitely a no-brainer for anyone who loves Nintendo and owns a Switch.

Video Game Review – Assassins Creed: Odyssey

I generally like the Assassins Creed series but I’ll admit I got series fatigue after Black flag and never finished Unity and I never even purchased or played Syndicate. I absolutely love what they did with Origins though and as result I thoroughly enjoyed the newest installment, Odyssey. I got a Platinum trophy on the Playstation4, thus I fully explored the game and most of what it had to offer. This game is absolutely massive and Gorgeous to behold. I must say it is an impressive game even at its worse! Never once can I say the game is very bad at all there were some minor things I found silly or repetitive but that is literally any video game.

Most importantly I thought the game was fun! It’s fun and rewarding to explore, the action is fun, and they give you so many options on how to fight and engage the enemy that, as long as I kept changing up my perks and switching up my play style and weapons, the gameplay loop never really got boring even after 100+ hours. To me that is a pretty good experience. There was some repetitive stuff but to me it never felt super drab or grindy.

I truly enjoyed the characters and time setting. I liked the Greek accents even if they were a little cheesy sometimes I thought it felt pretty genuine for the most part. Most every review I have seen or read praises Kassandra as the better and more lively of the two playable characters. I chose her because quite simply a female character adds so much to the dynamic and way I play the character. I personally like the “Bad Ass” female persona, I grew up watching Ripley fighting aliens with machine guns duct taped to flamethrowers. I wasn’t disappointed by Kassandra in the slightest. I read a review that says, “playing as her turns the game from a good one with a solid male lead character into an epic game where you are basically a mini Wonder Woman.” I would definitely agree and second this statement.

The characters felt pretty real and alive. She displayed emotions in a great range, she was funny, and several times I felt the dialogue was specifically tailored to her sex, which to me was refreshing. A friend of mine played through the game as Alexios so I got to hear some of the dialogue and the way people talk to him. There is definitely a difference in the way the NPCs address the main character depending on their sex. It added a nice touch of realism that helped to immerse me in the world that much more.

Some of the Dialogue is kinda cheesy and after spending so much time in the game you start to see the limitations of your choices and effects but The game is Massive and their are so many interesting tid-bits of lore and story, I rarely felt bored and logged over a hundred hours in the game. Better yet I have yet to see any added content so I know I will spend even more time in this gorgeous world. I like how the tale dipped into the legend of Leonidas and the 300 soldiers who fought against the Persian Empire. Some of that kinda gets lost in the story because it is so long, but I was happy with their depiction none-the-less.

The games graphics look very similar to AC Origins. Which I am not complaining about. Origins was a breathtaking game, and Odyssey is no different. I think Origins was a little bit more solid and fluid but Odyssey is larger by a fair degree. Altogether the small glitches and rough spots were easily overlooked next to the beauty and detail everywhere else in the game. I also appreciated the music. As I explored the gorgeous scenery between objectives beautiful female voices echo and twangy sting instruments play serene little riffs that took me to the rolling hills of the Mediterranean.

There were a couple of glaring little things that kinda made me chuckle or were kinda annoying but these ended up being kinda charming, such as the glitchyness of Skyrim. None of these things are game breaking but hard not to notice.

The NPCs dive directly into my horse when I am riding through populated areas. I feel like people stayed more out of the way of my horse in Origins.. but maybe it was just as bad. It’s not a terrible glitch it’s just funny when people are yelling at you to “watch where you are going” as they dive into your horse as it passes them. It happens a lot too.. not just every now and again. I think there is some small timing or spacial issue but I don’t know anything about the technical side of bugs or glitches..

I thought the inventory Menus are kinda clunky as well. I think there should be some kind of fast dismantle option or a way to highlight and sell all of your junk weapons and armor with one button press instead of Ka-chunking through every single piece of worthless armor you collect throughout the game, and you collect a lot, so I found this kinda annoying.

I felt like sneaking and being stealthy was easier than it has ever been. Especially once you power up some of your assassination perks, you can quite literally skip through some of the bases without ever alerting anyone. This is cool and all but I feel like the Enemy AI could have been a little bit better in the hearing and noticing disturbances department. Otherwise I liked how the game kinda levels up with you so when I went back to do missions that I had long passed they were still somewhat difficult and not just a waste of time. I felt like the pacing of the game was pretty good overall.

Lastly, I thought the story was a little bit Convoluted. I ultimately got everything and understood everything but there were some twists that were kinda random and some times in the game where I was like WTF? I feel like they should have gated a couple of the Cultists of Kosmos so that when I got to a certain place, I hadn’t already killed the leader and thus make all of the missions in that area pointless.. This game is so massive that it would be impossible to make it flow without a couple snags. It’s worth noting that most AC games are a little weird when they try to explain themselves.. so it wasn’t too hard to overlook the strangeness of some of the events or pacing issues.

All in all I feel that this is a strong game in the Assassins Creed franchise. I really enjoyed it. It was refreshing to have some RPG elements combined with the glorious action and stealth in the Assassins Creed style. Overall this is a great game for anyone who enjoys big open worlds and lots of exploration. The game was engaging throughout and I still have more to return too and I will. I played a lot of video games this past Holiday season and am just barely now getting to the reviews.

You may not like this game if you dislike long games with Massive and complex stories. There is lots to read and do and can get distracting from the main missions. There is also a degree of grindyness to this game that may turn off some gamers. I don’t mind a bit or repetitive grinding, as I said earlier they give you so many options that the game can only be boring if you play the same way for the whole time.

Definitely recommend Assassins Creed Odyssey.

My 2018 in review! Moving onward and upward! & Some goals and ideas!

I learned a lot in 2018 but I think the most important thing I learned, once again, was to NEVER READ THE COMMENTS. I’m partially joking but that is one of many things that I reminded myself of countless times over the past year. Don’t read the comments, say what you have to say, watch what you want to watch, and like what you want to like. Don’t let the dregs of the online population get you down or critique your favorite things to death. Remember to enjoy your time doing things because you enjoy it, not because someone tells you that they think you should or shouldn’t. Form your own opinions and think critically for yourself.

I had a bad habit of reading too far into things that I like or consume, whether it be media, food, or even certain industries. I realize I over critique a lot of things to the point that I don’t ever experience them for myself, more or less I only experience things through this lens of critical analysis.

I am hopefully stopping this in the coming year. Don’t get me wrong i like to read and do some research on things but concentrating on others reviews or comments about a certain thing can be damaging.. You gotta think someone is more likely to comment on something if something was wrong or if they were unsatisfied.. Unless presented with an option someone who is satisfied or content will PROBABLY NOT go out of their way to make a post or review saying “I like it, I’m satisfied”. The comment sections and review sections are usually more or less for trolls or people who have negative things to say. While it is good to review certain things so you don’t make shit purchases, it’s easy enough to look at the overall numbers of people who gave it a good rating VS people who gave it a bad one.

Bad time to be a gamer..

Since 2016 I have felt that as a solid video game player I have been getting more and more screwed over. Lately it has been a trend in all gaming industries to do micro-transactions. However they rely on these MTs (micro-transactions) to generate revenue so they can add more content and development to the games. There has been severe push back on the topic of MTs, gamers in general don’t care for them.

Now they do this Games as a service model that effectively releases partially finished games at full price and then updates them regularly and adds content to the entire player base instead of just charging extra for the guarantee of full content packs. They rely on a strong player base to be buying those MTs which are usually customization’s that have no real game value, they don’t effect statistics or characters actions at all they are purely cosmetic.. Most gamers can agree that this is pretty harmless and one doesn’t have to purchase them in order to enjoy the game in any sense. However the release of sub par and unfinished games is a sad conundrum that I don’t see getting better as game companies get greedier and the prices to produce games gets ever higher.

I would almost prefer if they were real with their customers and say look Games just cost 80 dollars anymore.. Sorry it’s the price of production and whatever else but now it feels like they are charging full price and not delivering even half of what would be considered a full video game, even 5 years ago.

I am a customer who likes to support the game developers and artists, but when I am repeatedly suckered into paying full if not extra price only to have to deal with bugs, glitches, and price drops less than a month after release.. Countless times it has happened where less than 40 days after I pay 80 dollars for a game I see it online for only 30 or 40 dollars. That is ridiculous. It’s like they are punishing the players who pay the most amount of money. Needless to say I finally learned my lesson. I won’t be buying any more games on launch and especially paying extra for pre-order crap. It’s simply not worth my money and the games end up not even being fun to play for another 6 months to a year after they are released by that time they are a fraction of the price, yet more enjoyable.. How does that work.

I love video games and I will always play them and enjoy them but I’m learning that this is considered normal in the industry now and it probably won’t change just get more effective over the years.. I’ve always said if they do away with the physical media I will probably not play as many video games anymore.. I don’t like the always on model and streaming games idea. Let me have my collections and share them with my friends if I want to.

Looking forward to 2019.

All in all 2018 was a great year. I did a ton of business and made a lot of great connections. I have some ideas and things that I want to do in 2019 and one of them is go back to school. I plan to attend CNM again this coming summer and start my degree in communications. I want to be a writer or game journalist of some kind. Even if it doesn’t have anything to do with video games I want to do some kind of writing either creative or professional. I will pursue business but I will do that in my own capacity with Unity Sound Co and other ventures.

I am also practicing and want to learn proficiency in the Spanish language. I think it’s important to be able to speak the languages of your neighboring countries, for both business and security. Being an interpreter is a well paying job that I would actually get some enjoyment out of and the communication degree as a whole will let me practice what i do for fun anyways; reading, writing, and creating.

As for Unity Sound Co, I like where I am at with it. I can increase business the more I go out and network, and a steady stream of people organically hit me up on the regular for small events and shows. I need to put my foot down with my pricing this year. I helped a lot of people out, even last minute sometimes, and never got compensated. Only I can ensure I get good business. I also need to keep better track of my accounting. That just makes it a lot easier when I go to file my taxes and do end of the year paperwork.

I want to do a couple of party in the park styled events and this time I would like to have some more vendors and artists. Maybe invite a little bit of color into the spectrum. I’m not looking to make a lot for that part of my shows, more to let the artists have an opportunity to make some money.

Overall I am looking forward to 2019.. I’m through pre-ordering games.. I am done reading comment sections and critiques.. I’m ridding myself of toxic politics.. I am going back to school and running my business well and making it as good as I can. I know nobody cares haha.. feel free to comment and tell me what you are up to in the coming year.

As always thank you for reading!

Video Game Review – Red Dead Redemption 2

*** This article may contain spoilers.. I’ll try not to but fair warning., IF YOU HAVEN’T BEATEN THIS GAME DO NOT READ THIS UNTIL YOU DO. You deserve to play and discover all of the goodness for yourself. ***

First of all wow… just wow…

Everyone knows this game is the epitome of open world simulations. Everyone expected it to be top notch graphics, stellar voice acting, and tight mechanics. Rockstar Games did not disappoint in the slightest. This game is easily one of my all time top favorites now, up in my top 5 at least. The pacing and setting really did it for me. While I haven’t played the 1st game starring John Marston (I know… I know…), now it has become an acute need of mine to experience that game as well. However this game is a great standalone. You needn’t experience the first game, since this 2nd one is the Prequel.

The game starts you off in dire straits against the elements. With your outlaw group in tow, Survival is a crucial element to the first small part of the game which serves as a tutorial that teaches basic mechanics, how to play, and keep your character healthy. The game has more of an emphasis on simulation and survival than previous Rockstar entries.

This game is slow paced.. I can see people not really liking the pacing during the first chapter or two. Movement in general is a bit slower than in past iterations of the open world format. However, this style choice for me, really set the tone of the rest of the game. Red Dead Redemption 2 is a Loooooooong game. I found that if you desire to play just the story with no other side missions or exploration you will still spend upwards of 40 to 50 hours. I spent at least 80 hours in this game and got 100% in the story mode before I started writing this review.

After the opening scenes, the game let’s you free in the absolutely gorgeous and massive world. To start, I did like I do in any other Grand Theft Auto game and just started going ham with my six guns and murdering random passerby on the trail. This quickly got the law in tow and the people who I was bothering even pulled out weapons and started chasing and shooting at me. Needless to say, not knowing how to heal or cover myself, I didn’t survive long. When I tried again the same thing happened.. Haha.. I realized this game has a definite pace and style they want you to play. Don’t get me wrong you can still do anything you want, GTA style, but this time your actions carry a little bit more weight even if you manage to run away from the Sheriffs or Bounty hunters.

As you progress you meet the other characters in your band and get to know them bit by bit. These NPCs (non playable characters) serve as both story and lore enhancers as well as teaching you skills for survival, fighting, or robbing things. They are all very well written and eventually you begin to care about their various stresses. If you mash through only the story missions, the game seems to flow relatively smoothly with everything making sense to the overall plot of the game and ongoing conflict. No event is really out of place except for some events in chapter 5, but only in my opinion. But I won’t spoil that.

I have a good imagination and one of the ways I guage a game is if “I give a shit” about the characters. Halfway through a game if I don’t give a shit about the characters, I usually end up not finishing that game. It’s like with any good book or movie.. some just aren’t for you and it’s completely OK not to finish them.. This is definitely NOT one of those experiences. I definitely gave a shit about Arthur Morgan and his conflicts.

I personally played my character with an honorable personality.. I only killed and robbed when i felt it necessary and over all the game rewards you with nicer interactions with NPCs and discounts at some stores. If you help the various other strangers in the world many of them reward you with money, helpful hints, or even will buy you stuff from stores if they meet you again in a near by town. I felt I got a much better experience playing as an honorable bad guy. haha. I definitely want to mash through the game again and see if it effects the contents in any way if you start and keep a very low honor level throughout the story. This game feels like it would be a different experience if you murdered and stole needlessly, it’s pretty deep.

After the main story ended I started just going ham and killing everyone and after a while people definitely started treating you differently and were more cautious around me.

I really liked how this game kinda goes into the psychology of the main character.. He is a good guy caught in a bad guys world. He struggles immensely with this throughout the game and even talks openly about it with the other band mates. This is why I think the way you act throughout the story would effect the ending of the game… I won’t spoil that because it deserves to be experienced by the individual player.

You’re a good man Arthur Morgan.. carried a lot of weight.. is all I’ll say.

My absolute favorite thing about this masterfully developed video game is the music. In no game I have ever played did the music capture such feeling and emotions. Usually while riding your horse to or from a big event or important mission. The music amplified the feeling and the sense of tension, loneliness, and sadness that this game already portrays so well visually. Sad and somber vocal arrangements when returning to a routed camp.. sometimes up beat and quizzical when you are looking for a person or item.. the music is absolutely gorgeous.. Everything from southern soul and slave hymns, to tight banjo and fiddle riffs play as you explore and travel to the various sections of the map. Sometimes cued by the game and sometimes as if out of nowhere. The vocal pieces are haunting and always had such perfect timing. The music in this game is awe inspiring and got me in the feelers a couple times.

Video game music has always been a love and passion of mine. I started playing music myself because I had a dream of one day making music for video games.. The soundtrack in RDR2 is next level and if you like great music that beckons of an older era, I would highly recommend this games Soundtrack when it comes out. I do not recommend media soundtracks lightly.

There were things that bugged me about the game. However not a single thing was enough to steal from the majesty that was the experience overall. Small things like repetitive dialogue or NPCs. (only after I played for 60+ hours) This happens in every sandbox style game. Because this game is so massive I encountered some small glitches and weird happenings, but again in a game world of this size that is to be expected and was monumentally better than some other massive open worlds, on release no less. Not being able to skip certain animations, for example skinning animals kinda bugged me, especially after my hundredth deer skinned. I personally felt like the gun play and some shootouts could have been a little tougher. Once you master Dead Eye not many encounters were really challenging after that. I only died in gun fights when I got caught off guard or physically stuck in the open. But that is negligible because I still died A LOT!

Overall the Pros of this game massively negate the Cons. There is a little something for everyone in this game from hunting to fishing, gambling and shooting, to nature filled with wonderful exploration and mysteries.

I very highly recommend this Video Game to anyone who owns a PlayStation 4. I think if you have a good mind for stories and a good imagination. You will love this piece of media and take from it, like any good story or movie.

Well done Rockstar… Well done.

Video Game Review – Spider Man

I played this game in it’s entirety on the Playstation 4 standard system and got a platinum trophy. Gamer tag SL_Blank

I would highly recommend this game for anyone who liked the Batman and Arkham games. The fluid fighting mechanics are faithfully re-created to make you a web-slinging bad ass after just a short while playing. Definitely give it two thumbs up. I will go over some pros and cons but will try not to spoil any major story points.

One of the most memorable things I liked about the game was the freedom of movement that felt genuinely… well, Spider-Man. After an opening sequence and tutorial for the mechanics, from the very onset of the game, you can do all of the favorite movements. After some practice you can effortlessly re-create your favorite scenes from the movies including vaulting over buildings and doing graceful back flips between every web swing. The game captures the movement and essence of Spider-Man really well.

The story was also a highlight and I was expecting something a little bit lighter in subject matter. This is definitely a darker and more mature exploration of the characters that have been portrayed countless times in varying media. The cinematics are absolutely gorgeous and rival the best CG films I’ve ever scene. The eyes and basic animations are pretty solid. The voices and movements of all of the characters sound pretty good and are believable. Not a single one of them are super cheesy and ruin it. I genuinely cared about most of the story issues being presented. Most people know the back story of the Spider-Man series so I appreciated that this game dove right in and gave tons of little nods to nostalgia as well as more about he characters and lore of this particular Marvel Game Universe (MGU), although I personally craved a bit more. I enjoyed learning about this MGU Peter Parker and his various friends and enemies. I wish they had have given a bit more back story over all.

There will definitely be more Games in this series. Overall the game does all the basic open world mechanics really well. Base Clearing, random pop-up events, collectables, challenges, leveling up, unlocking new skills, etc is all included. There was nothing super cutting edge that I noticed. I know by now that they wouldn’t put all of the best things in the first entry in the series. What it does well, it does REALLY well, However there was a strong desire for more, and I am not being greedy. I have read other reviews with this exact sentiment. There could have been a lot more interaction with civilians and urban landscapes. I personally would have appreciated a lot more variety in the missions and side missions. Again, this is not to discredit the great moments, but some of the time in between felt repetitive from an early stage and didn’t really abate much.

I understand this is a symptom of pretty much any game you go on to platinum. By the end you have done literally almost everything that the creators of the game put in there for you to do, so it’s bound to be a little repetitive. This overall observation didn’t negate from the fact that I had a blast traversing this accurate portrayal of Manhattan. The game lacked a definitive day and night cycle and eventually gives you the option to change the time of day at your leisure. Both day and night looked stunning from high on top of the Empire State Building. Pretty accurate, as I have been up to the observation deck of that particular building! Spider-Man can just run his happy ass up the side of the building! Screw waiting in lines!

Yep, that is pretty much my basic review, There have been a ton of other reviews discussing the nitty gritty. This is just a strait up review from a casual gamer.

Final Thoughs… Honestly at this point you can probly find it used for cheaper and even more so if you wait till after Thanksgiving. I highly recommend this game! If you enjoy being comic book characters in a fluid and seamless open world than this is a great game for you. If you like tight and cinematic combat, you’d probably enjoy it as an action game. Of course if you love spider man you most certainly will dig. It’s been a long time since a good Spidey game came out and this one was a blast to play. I eagerly await the next installments over the next year or two.

As always Thanks for Reading, feel free to comment and share your experiences!

Book review – Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman

Just finished “Way of the Peaceful Warrior” by Dan Millman this morning and I was surprised what impact it had overall. I was skeptical because it has been made into a major movie. For some reason I feel like books that are turned into movies are cookie cutter because they are easily adaptable, the production took a quarter of a century, so boy was I wrong. I don’t even know why it took me half of the book to really get into it, but upon finishing I realize that is the whole point of the style of the writing it is almost like a spiritual manual but played out with characters that are interesting yet pretty normal. You kinda learn what the point of everything is as you continue on into the story. All at once it became a page turner as I had do discover what the main character was seeking just as much as he was.

First a little bit about the Author. Dan Millman is a world champion Gymnast and Sports trainer who studied at University of California in Berkeley. He later taught sports, fitness, and was a trainer at Oberlin. He has traveled the world and for many years he studied different forms of martial arts, meditation, yoga, and other training pertaining to personal betterment and well-being.

I always find books, who’s authors choose to use their own name for the main character, intresting. I always wonder how much of the themselves the author puts into the character. This is a partial fiction I believe. He writes largely of his time in Berkeley and says many of the instances of his life are included in the book. Although I think the main characters mentor, aptly named Socrates, is fictional. Regardless of fact or fiction this book contained a small amount of adventure, spirituality, intrigue, and almost a form of life manual. Dan Millman’s other books are range from story books about his characters, back stories, all the way too literal Self help and Enlightened living manuals. I will definitely check out some of these as they have peaked my interest already.

The story focuses on a smart, successful, attractive, athelete type dude named Dan who seems to be at the top of his game and for some reason just isn’t feeling content in his various life situations. By random chance he stops at a small gas station close to his college campus and befriends a mysterious and interesting clerk, Socrates, who becomes his Mentor so to speak. The story builds slowly as Socrates molds Dan into what he calls a “peaceful warrior”. I instantly loved this term. My name means Peace in Latin. I have always considered myself and any great characters who fight for the better good, “peaceful warriors”.

The story overall is filled with a type of mystery about who Socrates actually is or if he is just an embodiment of Dan himself at that particular time in his life. There good but balanced humor in this book. It doesn’t have to try hard as you can feel Dan’s frustrations at the absurdness of some of his mentors teachings. I found myself laughing aloud many times at the things Socrates would tell Dan during their various sessions together.

The story blended well with my life in a way as well I read it over several months and finished the last half of the book in two nights. It slowly built up and taught Dan what he needed to live a content life. By half way through the book the various lessons Socrates tells Dan become more serious and forthright and not so abstract and whimsical. I almost felt like I was learning a little bit about the characters experiences, as any good book should. The characters definitely are pretty good all said and done, I want to know more about Dan’s journey and more about how Socrates came to be the comedic guru that he is. I think those will be fine tales, with much to learn, besides being just worth a good read.

The way of the peaceful warrior is a guide to enlightenment, or so I have come to understand, and I would like to read more of this authors books because he delves much further into these concepts and even has manuals for helping one live the way of his peaceful warrior.

Anyways, if you like based on real life stories, personal growth and discovery, or just a thought provoking adventure I definitely recommend giving this book or any of Dan Millmans other books a read. This story encourages dreams, imagination, and meditation. The reading is easy and flows well. Easy language and not very long. Not necessarily a page turner but has a nice flow to it regardless, can be read in small parts or all at once to great effect.

Thanks for reading my book review. Much love!

For the Sake of Writing – An update and shameless self promotion

It’s been a couple months.. Unity Sound Co is in full function this year and business is already going pretty well. I am super happy with the support and business I have gotten already while gigs and rentals keep on stacking up. I am practicing my DJing and building a persona for myself with a logo and the whole story-bio thing. I am stoked and I want to play some music again. I know how to use all of the equipment the business owns, why not enjoy some of it. All work and no play makes me crabby. Haha

I have been working on various novel projects as well in my spare time, writings that I may or may not put on here eventually. I don’t know.. not very confident with them yet.

Let’s see… I got a new smart phone I went back to the best phone on the planet, the Iphone SE. It’s the shit, it’s not a huge tablet phone, it is a nice, sleek, and powerful device with a great camera. It has the old Iphone 5 body so it is nice and small. I don’t need some big ass screen in my pocket to keep me distracted and oblivious.. Yep.. I still don’t have the fakebook app on the phone, and I still use my computer for a lot of my social media usage. I have been keeping it mostly as a tool for communication and networking.

I finally got the physical copy of my Business degree! Stoked to actually have all my hard work in some kind of physical form.

For the most part everyone in the music scene is doing good things. Lots of great music coming through even if I won’t be able to enjoy most of it. I have to save for a place to live, you see, and I am tired of renting so I am going hard on the big purchase, the ultimate commitment, a house. Holy shit all kinds of adulting going on this year.

Yeah that is pretty much it, still disgusted with the current state of political shit show and how backward our world has become.. It’s like the worst parts of great sci-fi novels. We live in it today..

Regardless it’s important to try to find the beauty in things. No matter how shitty the world around seems, if you lose the phone and ditch the computer screen and look around, you will see beautiful people doing beautiful things. It’s more of a challenge to be positive but I have always liked to push myself to a degree. Stay friendly toward each other even as the world and our tempers heat up. We need solidarity if we are to become a good honest nation again.

All this boils down to why I started my business and why I like to be a sound man. Throughout my 31 years of life some of the best times of it involved music and pleasant noises. I named my business Unity Sound Co because we need unity in the world. I have seen different crews come together and make magic happen, I’ve seen all kinds of different people working together to make amazing events that people will remember for the rest of their lives. I am honored to carry the torch and help provide something that we all love so much. Music.

I hope my business can support me fully but I am thankful to have other ventures for if it does not. The overall aim is to be pure and fair but to make money because I know my worth. I am not ashamed of being a successful business man. I’m very proud of it in fact. Many businesses fail because they sell themselves short and don’t know their own worth. I don’t want to be one of those businesses.

If you would like to be part of things and enjoy all of the great music that the business will be a part of, please follow on facebook , @Unity Sound Co. Also follow us on Instagram for pictures and flyers of upcoming events @unitysoundco. Lastly please visit and check the website, unitysoundco.com , often for the event calendar and info on upcoming events that have been confirmed.

Much love! Thank you, as always, for taking the time to read my blog and if you would please follow and share my business and events. This means the world to me, otherwise I hope to see you soon at one of Unity Sound Co’s events!

Book review – Poland by James A, Michener

May I first start by saying, few nations in history have had such a tragic, yet naturally beautiful, dignified, and proud history. It was an honor to learn about Easter Europe’s history through the lens of such a timeless and knowledgeable writer

First a little bit about the author. James A Michener is an American classic author who wrote dozens of books throughout his lifetime. He passed away in 1997 at the age of ninety. His books are mainly novels in the Anthropological fiction sub genre. In summary, Michener takes a region or place in our world and goes back a thousand years, to before you knew anything about that particular place, and starts to build a narrative based on made up characters. His books end up being about 85% factual history mixed with 15% of the narrative liberties taken to make a cohesive story which spans hundreds if not thousands of years.

Michener himself was an avid traveler in his lifetime (which I have done and admire greatly), and I believe he was in the Navy during world war 2 and from his journals and letters he ultimately penned one of his first and most popular books “Tales from the South Pacific”, which I have yet to read. This is how he generally makes the material for his books it would seem. His research usually involved living and absorbing the places he would then write about. For Poland he spent much time in Eastern Europe and took great care to piece together what was ultimately a region with a shattered history.

I was drawn to his style of writing because of his use of language which is classic but not olde.. it was easy to read and very few times did he use overly elegant words which I had to look up. The hardest part of reading his books is the Languages and names of the characters which I often times had no idea how to pronounce properly. This small detail, of course, was not enough to detract from the Majesty of the tale he weaves.

In Poland, Michener outlines the chapters so the reader has a sense of what is actual history and what is fictional. He creates three family lines One noble, one middle class gentry, and one peasant. He then proceeds to introduce them briefly before launching you almost one thousand years back in time to when these characters great, great, great on an on, ancestors lived.

It was almost as if I was teleported to the beautifully barren lands of Eastern Europe. I could feel and see the lush forests and serene rivers where the characters family lines originated from. In all this beauty comes the tragedy and triumph of a country that never really had central leadership and was often the scapegoat of other nations greed, anger, and mistrust.

The story takes the reader from when the barbarians and sons of Genghis Khan would terrorize the villages and castles, through the tumultuous crusades when Poland was terrorized even when they preyed to the same gods as their oppressors.. all the way to the inevitable Nazi occupation and through the subsequent Holocaust.

My breadth of knowledge about this country stopped in World War 2. I Personally have been to Poland and the infamous town of Oswiecim, which the Nazis named Auschwitz.. I have been to Birkenau, one of the Nazis most “efficient” death camps. Needless to say traveling through the country and taking in physically and directly, some of that tragedy.. When I found out about this Author and then discovered that he had written a book about this countries history I bought it without a second guess. I’m proud that I did.

By far one of the more chunky books I have ever read up there with Shantaram, i believe there about 650+ pages. However don’t be intimidated by the size. The tale that Michener weaves is so intriguing and full of knowledge that the pages seem to melt away and I would read till three or four in the morning before I would even notice the time.

Micheners books are definitely for people who enjoy literature. His books are mostly all literary Epics, in scope, and Mastery in content. His Pulitzer Prize winning stories are beautifully created within the confines and ruthless happenings of

History. I recommend his books to anyone who likes or loves history, as well as large and very detailed novels. Despite the length of the story he wraps up all of the timelines and Ancestory so well that it’s hard to tell it was a seven hundred page book.

I will undoubtedly be reviewing many of James A, Michener books. Stay tuned and feel free to comment if you have any favorites or recommendations!

Much Love, as always, thank you for braving the bottomless blog.

Book review – The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield

This was an exciting story that I read over the past year, on and off. A lot of life happened in my 2017 year, and so the book further captivated me by literally showing me that the content and arch of the books plot, is really a reflection of the happenings in my real life. More over, in all of our lives.

This book is a novel about a seemingly random guy who gets hold of some information. Through a series of learning, practicing, and evolving the main character is compelled to go on this epic journey to the country of Peru, and to the ancient cities and monuments there. His quest and conflict get tied up in this “manuscript” that supposedly holds the keys to religion or spirituality. The conflicting force in this story is the church, for they feel that this manuscript denounces and de-legitimizes Christianity and uniform religion in general.

However this book is not about religion at all. Well not in a traditional sense. This story explores not who or what religion, but HOW one becomes, or already is, religious.. more in the spiritual sense rather than deity worship. The arch of the story focuses on connection to our surrounding, energy forces in nature and fellow humans, and the coincidences that bring us to learn, grow, and experience life.

This was an easy to read and pretty swift adventure. Most of the character dialogue content is on the meta-physical, and philosophical level, but it is put into many different scenarios and situations so the story gives literal examples of what the characters were talking about and describing to each other. It seems complex but it flows really nicely and the language is basic so it is fairly easy to wrap my head around. There were a couple parts I had to read a second time, to be able to grasp the concept that the characters were talking about, but nothing was out of my sphere of understanding.

I really liked this book because the main character is constantly learning how to see and experience the world around him. A lot of it has to do with meditation and relaxation. Really taking in your surroundings. I love this concept because I have always been a practitioner of meditation and relaxation to calm me when I get stressed out. It’s good to be reminded of the world around you and to remember to relax sometimes, because there is really nothing we can do in some situations and our attitude really does affect the overall outcome of our life scenarios.

Overall I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes self discovery, growth, meditation, or those who are interested in spirituality on any level. Again this book is not about religion directly but encompasses the broader notion of personal spirituality. The reading can be understood by any age really. I didn’t know what to expect when it was given to me. After reading it I am surprised by how much I took from it.

From what I understand there are many books in this series I would like to read more. If I ever do I will definitely review them and if you have read any of the others let me know how they are.

Thanks for reading, feel free to comment and share if you or someone you know needs a good book recommendation.