The Past Few Days

Well, obviously the blogger app sucks. None of my posts have gone through on my android, so I guess I will re-install it and try again before I deem the app to be crap. All my posts I have typed up and posted along with photos are showing on my app, but not on the actual blog page...weird stuff.

Anyways, past few days have been awesome. Got a resume almost completely put together and I have got a lot of Dead Island and Dead Rising 2: Off the Record gaming in :P Tonight I am finally going to try Texas Roadhouse. Hopefully it is delicious like it sounds. 

I'm at work so I will update a little later when I am less busy.

Zombie Calendar Update for Wednesday 02/01/2012

Cadaverous Context

Zombie Cultural Influence: Haitian Vodou Pharmacology
An ethnobotanist named Wade Davis suggested in his two books The Serpent and the Rainbow (1985) and Passage of Darkness. The Ethniobiology of the Haitian Zombie (1988) that Haitian living zombis were actually under the pharmacological influence of two drugs. The first, known as a coup padre, was created from tetrodotoxin, a deadly porcupine fish extract and neurotoxin. The second chemical was a similar compound to the one found in flowering datura plants, which caused dissociation and hallucinations. Given together by the bokors, the mixture could simulate the appearance of death, and make the victim sluggishly psychotic and easily manipulated. Because of widespread societal beliefs in zombis, the receiver of the drugs took easily to the suggesting that he or she was a zombi, too, and acted accordingly.

Zombie Calendar Update for Friday 1/27/2012

Ghoulish Graphic Novels

The Mammoth Book of Zombie Comics (2008)
David Kendall (Editor)


Perhaps the first collection of international zombie comics, this thick tome spans 20 years of material-some humourous, some science-fiction based, some folkloric, some purely horror- including comics by Askold Akishin, Hideshi Hino, Vincent Locke, Joe Lansdale, and Steve Niles, among others.

Playstation 3- Back to the Future (Part 1)

Well last night I decided I need to go through my games a couple at a time, play them, beat them, and platinum/1k+ them, so I decided to start with the ones on my hard drive since they are the easiest and so I can delete them to free up some space. My only platinum on my Playstation Network account right now is from Portal 2, which is a great game by the way and I am more than happy to help others out with any games as long as I own them. Anyways, I started with Back to the Future (part 1 of 5). I had previously played it, but only for about 5 minutes because I was about to leave.

Gameplay
This is probably one of the easiest games I have ever played. I got all of the trophies for part one in just a little over an hour.
The story was interesting because it was like a mini-episode from the actual movies (if you have seen them). It is a very basic game, almost like a point and click type of game. I have not played any games on the system like this before. The characters are definitely likeable. One of the weaknesses I think in this game is how simple the puzzles are. You find an object and almost immediately use it, so it offers no challenge. The most challenging part of the game is one area where you have to listen to the Doc and his father arguing, but control a lot of contraptions in a certain order by picking out certain words from only the Doc's side of the argument. If you mess up once, you ruin the progress of a trophy. If you have the subtitles on though, the "clue" words as to what contraption to do to is in all caps, making the puzzle VERY easy. The bad guys in town make an appearance, then disappear so suddenly...they are not very involved and you spend a majority of your time in the same exact areas, so there is not much for exploring. I'd give the gameplay a 4/10 because it wasn't quite unbearable, but at least there is a skip button to skip the story scenes, which is was most of the game consists of.

Graphics & Sounds
I liked how the voices were very accurate to those of the actors in the films. The doc was voiced by the same actor, Christopher Llyod, but Marty was voiced by a new guy, who actually sounds just like Michael J Fox did. The graphics are a bit cartoony, however they fit the gameplay. The lipping was off really bad in the Playstation 3 version, which I have read the Wii version is even worse. It almost makes some of the cutscenes seem like a joke. I will give the graphics/sounds section an 7/10 because this is where the game makes up for almost everything. 



Controls
The controls for this game are extremely basic and very simple to learn and use. The only big drawback that was upsetting to me was the camera angles in the city area when you do go back in time. They somewhat resembled those from the first Resident Evil where the camera would spontaneously flip flop and the controls would do the same. I found that to be highly aggravating as that is where you spend a majority of the time in the game running back and forth. I'll rate this section a 5/10 for the simplified buttons, but the horrible camera angles at certain parts that make the game unbearable. 

Replay Value
The only reason I would ever replay this game is to get any missed trophies, but since I got them all on the first playthrough, I have already deleted this off of my hard drive if that says how much replay value this had to me. I would give the replay value a 1/10 only for any missed trophies.

Overall
Luckily this game IS available on a disc as well for those of you who would prefer to just rent it, beat it, take it back. All 5 parts are available right now for free if you are a Playstation Plus member, which is great because this game isn't unplayable nor unbearable, but it is a very easy platinum if you are interested in a freebie. I will be downloading the other 4 parts I believe just to get the easy platinum, but I am extremely thankful for the skip button "O" at some parts. They story is interesting if you liked the films and the characters are likeable, however it is a point and click game with simple puzzles, so the game lacks really any real challenges. 3.35/10 if you average all of my ratings, however I'd give it 4.5/10 just for its simplicity, story line, and decent voice acting.

This game is only out at the moment for Wii, Playstation 3, and PC. 

Today 1/26/12

Well today has been a slow day at work. I started this back up out of boredom since my friend closed his news site (never had enough writers-he and I wrote ALL of the ones on there almost) and when I have nothing to do at work, I am supposed to "man the phones," a.k.a. INTERNET TIME!! Well...for me at least. My 3DS is dead unfortunately, so no gaming for me at the moment...pooie. Least my lunch break was interesting. I had an hour lunch like always, ran to get gas, ran to the bank, and then ran to Wendy's because I really wanted a bacon burger since I haven't had a burger in a while...best tasting fast food I have ever eaten! Got back from lunch to discover  this lady across the street from my work with a car that was on fire and something loud popped and her hood shattered. There were 2 fire department cars putting out the fire, a special operations vehicle, and a cop there...crazy stuff these people in Douglasville I tell ya...they think they are in Atlanta or something like that haha.
Anyways...I pre-ordered the blu-ray set of Battle Royale on blu-ray on amazon recently, but then realized...I had bought the e-book and still haven't read it. The movie set is both films, but I figured I should probably read the book before March (when the movies are coming out) so I at least know what is going on since I have never read/watched/etc anything Battle Royale, but all I hear is good things. Well...now I cannot put the damn Nook down because I am so into what is going to happen next. It reminds me of a better Hunger Games book (I have those on my Nook too, but I just need to finish them). Wow though, Battle Royale has had my full attention since Monday, but I have only been reading it at work. I am about 40% of the way into it and each chapter contains all new twists. Think I may hang out with a friend tonight, so possibly no gaming, but I will make sure to keep updating :P

Back to Gaming!

I just started back up on gaming recently since I graduated college. When I was in college, I was working a full time job, a part time job, and going to school full time, soooooo by the time I got home I was tired and I had barely any time for myself or to game. Just recently, I graduated, so I can actually stay up late and not worry about studying for tests or writing papers...now I just play games or do whatever else with my friends. I am still working a full time job Mon-Fri and a part time job on the weekends (just so I can start my savings back up that my school emptied AND for all the pre-orders for the great line up of games this year!) Anyways, I am going to be gaming a lot again, so look out for me. I have a playfire account, which is almost like a Facebook for gamers type of thing. If you want to follow me, there HERE is my link. See you guys in the gaming world!! 

Zombie Calendar Update for Thursday 1/26/2012

My sister got me a desk calendar for my birthday on 1/13, so I figured to make the most of it I would type all the facts (one per weekday and one for the weekend) for everyone else interested in zombie stuff...you can also join my zombie Facebook group HERE...so with that said...here is the zombie calendar update for the day:

FETID FILMS

Night of the Living Dead (1968)
George Romero's first zombie film-and probably the most influential film in the genre-starts with Barbara and her brother Johnny visiting the grave of their father. When they're attacked by a zombie, and Johnny dies, Barbara runs away and finds refuge in a farmhouse, where she's joined by six strangers and they all try to survive the night. The radiation from a satellite that exploded in the Earth's atmosphere seems to be the cause for the dead to rise from their graves. Starring Duane Jones and Judith O'Dea. Directed by George Romero.