#gmanlive

[itstimewehavesomesoliddick]

Another day another gmanlives L

[rjmhereunderprotest]

Shocking News: Ubisoft Does What Every Developer Ever Does to get Positive Free Marketing for Upcoming Video Game! Rando CHUD Gamers In an Uproar!

This has been fucking bothering me at this point, okay? So I'm using this opportunity to vent because ignorant stupid people don't know how the gaming industry works and/or are exploiting the fact people don't for clicks. And I'm so fucking sick and tired of this shit at this point so I'm going to rage for a second.

Try not to see this as me defending UbiSoft, fuck them, I have no love for any video game company ever and feel that cheerleading corporations is fucking stupid, either for or against them. But this sudden attack on them is less about actually shitty gaming industry practices that HAVE valid problems associated with them and more about the ridiculous culture war that this Space Wizards IP is trapped in. If this was any other game by UbiSoft no one would care, but it's a Star Wars game, so some idiots do care. Here's the run down.

UbiSoft recently sent previews out to various gaming news websites and major YouTube Gamer Influencers concerning the impending release of "Star Wars: Outlaws." A bunch of them got to go down a private preview event where they got free merch, hung out, played the game for a few hours, that sort of thing. They supposedly even got a trip to Disneyland out of it and a Boat Tour.

Finding out about this, every single right-wing culture warrior on YouTube instantly pounced on this and declared that UbiSoft was bribing people to give good reviews for "Star Wars: Outlaws" to convince people to buy it! Because the game is actually terrible and no one would actually like it on its own merits, and they know its terrible despite not getting to play it because... well... uh... it's Disney-Era Star Wars and that's always bad! Kathleen Kennedy made their wives leave them and shat on their rug! It wasn't them, it was Kathy! She did it! She snuck in during the night and shat on the rug! Then she took their last can of gamer fuel and broke their waifu figurines!

If you must know, the real reason "Star Wars: Outlaws" is in the crosshairs this go around is simple enough. The lead star of the game is a woman you see, a not fair-skinned woman, and people got pissy over this. How dare they not make the most basic ass video game protagonist design for this one game! Brown hair and eyes with four o'clock shadow white dudes are the only heroes that should ever appear in any video game ever, says they. "Why can't you just let us pick our gender?" they cry. You couldn't pick your gender in "Jedi Fallen Order", where was your crying then? Oh? Was the protagonist a dude there? Gee, I wonder why you found Cal Kestis being your only option as a player character okay, but Kay is an awful choice forced onto you?

So Kay Vess being a woman means "Outlaws" must be opposed, must be bad, and therefore must fail in order to stop the horrible scourge of DEI Gaming Development before all our precious white male protagonists are gone forever! Boo hoo! We don't get to play a dude in this one game out of the several dozens that will allow us to! If we don't stop this now, gaming is ruined!

And of course, anyone who plays the game and has something nice to say about it? Well obviously they're corporate shills, who were bribed by Disney to say positive things and there can be no other possible answer. No one can legitimately like a game that has a g-g-g-g-girl as the lead character! That's insane! And to prove how not sexist they are they'll list all the female characters they actually like in games, mostly all the ones that make their peepee hard.

They even went after GManLives, a respected independent gaming critic, just because he apparently played and liked the game. And they're still going after him even after he took the video down because he didn't want to deal with that shit. Accusing him of selling out his principles for a trip to Disneyland.

It's ridiculous and not just because it's a bunch of people complaining about a video game that isn't even out yet and hasn't been properly reviews. It's because critics and influencers getting special perks and shit for previewing games is nothing new. It's been going on forever.

Publishers of video games want to maximize their chances of getting good reviews. But they don't bribe people for them. They try to butter them up a little by inviting them to big marketing events, but that's just standard. You always try to give the people looking at your product a good time. Especially if they are critics with the power to sell it for you for free.

What they generally do is promise you exclusive coverage, behind the scenes details, access to developers, hands-on demos, interviews with the cast, inside information. And they provide it to the critics and influencers first who they feel will best promote and be favorable to their product at no extra cost to them.

If you decide to not be fair or NOT provide positive feedback, well then next go around they won't invite you to the big marketing event party. They won't give you hands-on demons. They won't get you access to developers or the cast. It's a major misbalance of power, but it's been a thing in gaming since forever. Nothing "Outlaws" is doing in the lead up to its release is that different.

And no one is actually hiding this anyway. Gaming websites and the influencers in questions regularly admit they were provided these previews by the publisher or developer of the game. That they were invited to check it out directly. That this is a preview that they scored under the watchful eye and with permission by the developer. They admit to the sponsorship element of what is essentially a commercial advertising something. They can't be too harsh or they won't get invited back, but they also won't withhold criticism if they find fault in something. In fact, sometimes to convince people they're not being too positive, they will force themselves to say something negative in some way to prove they aren't biased. It's usually something extremely subjective concerning the article writer's or content creator's personal taste.

Being driven out to Disneyland or given a boat tour aren't what I'd call major bribes. They're at best, the company trying to cozy up to an interviewer or influencer in order to keep them in a good mood and retain positive feedback. It's about maintain the relationship between their halves of the industry, putting on a show, treating the guys who help you sell your games right. Is it a problem? Oh yes, it very much is, it makes a lot of gaming web sites rather unreliable given how they'll go softer on a game to retain that relationship. But it is nothing new and Outlaws hasn't been the first game to do it, nor will it be the last.

And all the same, if the positive feedback as that consistent overall, it's not because they were bribed to say it. It's because they genuinely enjoyed the slice of game they were given and allowed to play around in. Even then, in those positive looks, I noticed complaints about this or that, minor quibbles, about what I'd expect from a preview event that went well but isn't ready to call it just yet.

My opinions on UbiSoft are fairly simple, they make some pretty good games overall. But they're still a gaming company, and that comes with a lot of baggage. Especially given Ubi's recent sexual harassments scandals and poor working conditions. They're not special and deserve to get ripped open when deserved. But not for letting a bunch of influencers run around an organized event where they got to play a game, get a plushie alien salamander and then run off to Disneyland when they were done. Because that's not a UbiSoft problem, that's an industry problem and one not easily solved. If you're a major gaming company, is it wise to keep giving exclusive peeks into your stuff if the news site was unfair to you? That's money better spent on someone who doesn't have an axe to grind. And gamers can hold grudges worse than anyone. I should know, I'm a gamer. I tend to hold a grudge.

Everything I've seen so far about "Star Wars: Outlaws" suggests it is, at the very least, a solid open world action game with UbiSoft and its stable of developers is fairly good at creating. And Massive Entertainment, the developer, has made some of my favorite games in the past. I believe Outlaws will be good, nothing I've seen suggests it's a bad title, let alone a bad entry in the Star Wars brand. I just don't see the justifiable reason to cry foul play here. This isn't like "Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League" where the red flags are obvious from the word go. This isn't even head-tiltingly worrisome like Cyberpunk 2077, which kept getting delayed and delayed and problems were apparent even in preview builds that news sites raised eyebrows over. Nothing Outlaws has done suggests this impending disaster. At worst, it will be a fairly okay game, but nothing that's going to completely collapse a company under the weight of its failure.

But that's not the point. This isn't about any of that. It's about a stupid culture war and it's pissing me off how some idiots are pretending they have anything legitimate to complain about. Fuck, if they thought they could get more money out of it, they'd all be lining up to go to Disneyland for Free and take a boat tour themselves. But they're pathetic, loser, dipshit little fuckwits who can't cut it as real journalists. Because then they'd have to actually fucking do real work instead of shitting out 12 videos about how Brie Larson is evil incarnate in a day.

And at this point, I'm seriously rethinking my plans here. I was intending to get Outlaws at a reduced price through some Microsoft Rewards points. But now I'm not so sure. Maybe I should just pay for most of the game or something, if only to piss off the fucking CHUDs who want to convince me it will be a horrible failure. But I don't like the idea of playing the Capitalist Cheerleading game just to own some fucking douchebags on the internet. So I'm not sure at this point. I know I don't like playing $90 for a fucking video game. Wish they'd complain more about the increase in prices for Triple A titles than bitching about Girls existing in their Space Wizards Media.

Fuck it, I don't know what I'm gonna do at this point. I just know that stupid people are given way too many platforms these days to spew stupid shit and no one calls them out on it. It's fucking infuriating. Pre-Order or don't to your heart's content folks, stop listening to fucking idiots on the internet.

[hellsite-yano]

>see new gmanlives video thumbnail >game looks interesting so add to my steam wishlist >ignore video

[marcythatdamnraccoon]

Gmanlives fucking sucks

[44gamez]

Silent Hill 2 Fans are Angry About The Latest Trailer

Throughout the latest State of Play occasion, Sony launched a brand new fight centered trailer for the upcoming Silent Hill 2 remake. The trailer reveals a number of enemies in addition to gameplay segments displaying James Sunderland dispatching these enemies with weapons and melee weapons. Following the discharge of the trailer, a number of followers took to the web to voice their disappointment and displeasure on the sport’s seemingly motion centered course that’s a lot completely different from the unique. “The actual fact somebody thought we would have liked a “fight reveal” for the Silent Hill 2 remake is trigger for concern.” stated @GmainLives “Feels prefer it misses what makes a correct psychological horror Silent Hill sport.” Stated @MauroNL “The silent hill 2 remake being this fight centered is a pink flag lol”  stated @yoracrab Nevertheless, it’s price noting that Sony launched a fight reveal trailer particularly highlighting the fight components. A trailer displaying a number of different options and horror components have but to be launched. Nevertheless, a number of followers have identified the sport’s new fight components reminiscent of the brand new QTEs proven within the trailer are a trigger for concern.  Silent Hill 2 is in growth for PS5 and PC. A launch date has nonetheless but to be introduced.  The actual fact somebody thought we would have liked a "fight reveal" for the Silent Hill 2 remake is trigger for concern. pic.twitter.com/h5xQS6DyY9 — GmanLives (@GmanLives) January 31, 2024 the silent hill 2 remake being this fight centered is a pink flag lol — 🦀 YORA 🦀 (@yoracrab) January 31, 2024 Silent Hill 2 Remake seems to be kinda tough, I hope its nonetheless at the very least 6 months out. Animations look stiff, sound design lacks punch and the fight seems to be clunky. And whats with the bizarre wall textual content? Feels prefer it misses what makes a correct psychological horror Silent Hill sport. pic.twitter.com/6m0GEd8VTH — MauroNL (@MauroNL3) February 1, 2024   Silent Hill 2 remake particulars by way of Steam: Having obtained a letter from his deceased spouse, James heads to the place they shared so many recollections, within the hope of seeing her another time: Silent Hill. There, by the lake, he finds a lady eerily much like her… “My identify…is Maria,” the girl smiles. Her face, her voice… She’s identical to her. Expertise a master-class in psychological survival horror—lauded as the perfect within the sequence—on the newest {hardware} with chilling visuals and visceral sounds. Keep tuned at Gaming Instincts by way of Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook for extra gaming information. Source link Read the full article

[sjbattleangel]

Don’t forget: Notch is a Gamergate-supporting, MRA Neo-Nazi.

JonTron is a Gamergater and an open Trump supporter.

Laci Green is a white supremacist, TERF-tradwife.

Gmanlives is a Gamergater, Neo-Nazi and Stormfront fanboy.

Butch Hartman is an Autism-denying, anti-choice, anti-LGTBQ+ Christofascist.

John Lasseter is well-known sex pest who used his power to silence unique storytellers (like randomly firing Brenda Chapman during Brave’s producion).

David Cage created a toxic environment at Quantic Dream where he was allowed to sexual harass female employers, along with constantly making racist, sexist and homophobic remarks out in the open.

Scott Tennapel is a Gamergater/Comicsgater and an out-and-proud anti-LGTBQ+ white supremacist.

Chuck Dixon is also a Gamergater/Comicsgater and an out-and-proud anti-LGTBQ+ white supremacist.

Chris Savino sexually harassed multiple women.

Ethan Van Sciver is a Gamergate/Comicgate ringleader and Neo-Nazi.

John K is a racist, sexist, ableist and homophobic sex creep who prayed upon young girls and helped start a new wave of idiotic animation snobbery by coining the dreadful “CalArts” insult. 

Yet we will happily burn queer/marginalized creators like Rebecca Sugar and Nate Stevenson at the stake, all because their deep, personal work “wasn’t 1000% perfect” or “good enough.”  

I find it hilarious the Rebecca Sugar is honestly the least problematic content creator to have made a piece of media that I have as a special interest. Like, seriously.

Scott Cawthon is an open Trump supporter.

Andrew Hussie actively despises their fandom, has threatened to sue people to silence criticism, and refuses to credit their workers.

Sucker Punch, creators of the inFAMOUS series, hired a white guy to play a Native American in Delsin and Reggie Rowe.

And Marvel and Star Wars are owned by Disney, so that's self explanatory.

Yet, none of thes franchises, aside from potentially Star Wars, have near the amount of dedicated backlash and hate that Rebecca Sugar had gotten for creating Steven Universe. Despite the fact that Sugar has risked her job in order to make Steven Universe as queer as it was and has apologized for her mistakes, showing a true dedication to the messages she preaches.

Honestly, it just proves to me that the SU Critical crowd cares more about seeming right and being high and mighty than they do about actually being right and achieving tangible change. We're going to need a lot more shows like Steven Universe if we're ever going to see this environment change.

[leam1983]

On Boomer Shooters

I don't know if the term is appropriate.

You've got its defenders, like GManLives on YouTube, who believes the terms refers to "punchy old-school shooters" specifically. Then there's its detractors, who realize that, well, none of us who grew up in the heyday of 1993's Doom are exactly Boomers. Yes, Boomers can and have played these titles back when they were first conceived (the least of which being Sandy Petersen, one of its designers) but they're not chronologically tied to Boomers. If anything, most of us who have a yearning for low-fi, crunchy splatter-'em-ups where the plot fits on a napkin and the protagonist runs like Wile E. Coyote with Rocket Boots on are Gen X or Early Millennials and later.

Not exactly Boomers, nevermind what Gen Z and later are likely to think...

On the other hand, there is the undeniable observation that a good chunk of us who grew up with the Super Shotgun and Bobby Prince's guiltless rip-offs of Slayer and Pantera riffs are slowly shaping up to be more ideologically Conservative, as well as the fact that there's nothing about Doom 1993 and its sequels that exactly repels Right-Wingers. If anything, Doomguy more or less is the exact type of uncompromising, take-charge-and-take-no-prisoners fingerquotes-hero they'd unironically champion.

At least, the Doom Slayer, Doomguy's recent reimagining, is shown to be so comfortable in his own skin as to cram his sanctum with nerd crap and to behave in exactly the same way no matter if you stick a tutu on him or have him shoot down demons in mechanized overalls and an exposed beer belly...

[the-conquest-of-shred]

fav youtube channels?

hack the movies, Botchamania, GmanLives, Josh Brett and Barbell Brigade!

[austinjonez36]

Only a few tickets left! Hmu! 🚨 Event Alert 🚨@officialcappadonna Live 7.24.21 with special guest @originaltimboking @realbignateallstar #austinjonez36 @metricton @djillmaticbeats @iammisc at #WestBeachTavern‼️ Tickets available NOW! 😈 Powered by #GmanLive #Miscelanyus #TeamCoolin Show up and we gon Show out #SRE & #SSR #PYN @hoodcelebs own @swoosh_fontain_2.0 BIG 🐓 in the building 💯Inbox me if you need tickets @hoodcelebsboss @williamlarrimore @vegadonofficial2 @glasxx_tv @36core @core_masson36 @wutangclan @jimmykang1 @bronxjewelers757 @wuworld @wumusicgroup @wuworldentertainment @youngdirtybastardofficial @sungodmusic @johnmookgibbons #backatitagain #allin #dmvartist #BIGSRE #PYN #lifestyle #wutang #talktomenice #takeoff🏂 #wedifferent #peace #letsgova #trending #tour #bighitz #wuwednsday🔒💨 https://www.instagram.com/p/CRpmJcgLOvr/?utm_medium=tumblr

[comfy-bruh]

Why I'm Grateful for id

[veeranger]

i’m watching some gmanlives videos and MAN does this guy like to nitpick everything without giving any thought as to why it exists.

[burgerpocalypse]

Inspired by GmanLives and his review of Subverse

https://youtu.be/G4Fr-2EwMqc

[ranger-report]

Thoughts On: HEXEN: BEYOND HERETIC

In 1995, less than a year after the release of Heretic (which I talked about here), Raven Software unleashed a masterpiece upon the first person shooter landscape. Titled Hexen: Beyond Heretic, the game featured radical new features for the id tech 1 engine, including scripted events (such as monster falling through the ceiling to ambush the player), hub level design, CD music, and moving walls. But what it really brought to the table was an unrelenting difficulty and obtuse puzzle system revolving around the discovery of multiple switches throughout a central hub to open the path to the next world. Combined with a pseudo-RPG character class feature, beautiful sprite work, and a rich atmosphere to explore, Hexen introduced concepts and mechanics that influence FPS games to this day, overshadowed only by the release of Quake the following year.

YouTuber GmanLives produced a video on Hexen calling it, “The Dark Souls of FPS Games,” and that's really not far off the mark. Hexen is oppressive. It's brutal. It's actively trying to prevent the player from achieving their goal of beating the game. While the previous entry in the series, Heretic, offered a fast-paced shoot-em-up blitzkrieg, this game operated with a more measured approach. Methodical pacing, resource management, and the utilization of each class's weapons are key to moving forward. Hidden doors and paths and switches, sometimes activated with the use key and sometimes by firing a weapon at them, permeate the levels to the point where half the game can be spent clicking or shooting at random walls just to see what's going to open up when – or if at all. Most games would tuck away secrets by this method, but Hexen, oh no. Hexen offers little rewards aside from survival, and it's glorious. It's harder than shit, but it's glorious.

Opening up the game, players are given three options to choose from: Baratus the fighter, Parias the cleric, or Daedolon the mage. Each class has their ups and downs; for example, the fighter is a beefy fucker who has high hit points and damage, but weak magic, leading to a mostly melee combat style if you run out of mana. The mage is the opposite, low hit points but high magic damage, with some gorgeously rendered spells that beautifully highlight the detail that id tech 1 was capable of. And the cleric is a mixed bag, balanced between the two, with a woefully weak melee weapon and decent ranged magic weapons, but he also carries the single best weapon in the entire game: the Wraithverge, a crucifix that shoots out Arc of the Covenant ghosts that scream and eviscerate anything on the screen in a glorious display of carnage. Clear out a room in seconds with two well placed shot. Arguable, the Wraithverge should be right up next to the BFG 9000 as one of the most ridiculously overpowered weapons in any game – maybe even higher. But the Wraithverge is an Ultimate Weapon, and each class has an Ultimate Weapon, which needs to be assembled over the course of the game by finding the pieces of it tucked away in hidden corners of the levels. Depending on your vigilance, you might find the pieces sooner vs later, and the rewards for this are plentiful. However, unlike the prior game, this game doesn't use unique ammo type for each weapon; that would be too easy. This time around, weapons require mana to use, coming in two different flavors, blue and green. Each class works as such: weak melee weapon that needs no mana, a slightly stronger weapon that uses blue mana, a much stronger weapon that uses green mana, and the Ultimate Weapon which uses both. With the fighter, all of his weapons can be used as melee if he runs out of mana, but if he has the stock, they take on ranged properties. The mage has a starting weapon that requires no mana, but it still ranged. Meanwhile, the cleric maintains the balance with his solo melee weapon, and the rest are ranged. What's notable about the differences in the classes is that it's not just limited to weapon usage, but also inventory usage. Different classes will garner different amounts of armor points depending on their “familiarity” with how to use armor. There's an item called a fletchette that varies in use depending on the class; for example, the fighter throws the fletchette like a bomb, where the cleric drops it in place and it explodes into a cloud of poison. New players will have the opportunity to briefly look over the classes at the beginning as the opening screen displays stats such as speed, armor, magic, and strength, all of which seem a little arbitrary since they don't explicitly state what they do or how they affect the game up front. At the same time, each class is going to lean towards a bit more difficulty, seeing as how the tanky fighter is going to make bruting through the game a lot easier than the tissue paper mage. First time players would do wise to pick the fighter or the cleric as their first timer, saving the mage for a later playthrough, unless you're a masochist when it comes to the games that you play.

One of the great distinctions about Hexen as compared to Heretic is that the former feels more like a fully realized game world vs the cool fanfic/DOOM clone of the latter. Director and designer Brian Raffel no doubt had a hardon for dark fantasy substance, having worked on Raven's previous two fantasy games, and with the release of DOOM thought, “You know, we can do something with that.” Didn't hurt that id Software was just a block down the street from their offices around that time (true story!) and John Romero, AKA Rock God of Gaming, worked directly with Raven during development so they could make the most of id tech 1. Taking what they knew after Heretic, hungry to dive in further, Hexen feels like a natural expansion of the concepts introduced in the first game: weary travelers journeying through worlds and dimensions to combat an ancient evil using magic and steel. It's great stuff, leaning even harder on the 80's horror fantasy art aesthetic. The game is oozing with deeply detailed monsters and environments, even more refined than the very good work done on Heretic. Translucent objects, fog, breakable terrain, each hub and level are intimately crafted to feel like it's a living, breathing world, not just something you've decided to boot up on your 486 PC. Ranging from traditionally gothic architecture with stained glass and parapets, to jungley swamps, arid canyons, and moldy sewers. And as mentioned before, it's brutally oppressive, absolutely unwelcoming in design. Even the environment doesn't want your presence here. Sometimes it doesn't even want the other monsters around; if you're lucky, you can get creatures to turn on each other by creeping into a new area, and if you can go unnoticed before their attack animations kick in, monster castes will infight with one another, saving you precious mana in the process. It doesn't always work, but when it does, it's a fun little sight to behold your meddling.

The sound effects are truly phenomenal, a game worth wearing headphones for. Composer Kevin Schilder returns for the soundtrack, and while his work on Heretic was suitable, here he knocks it completely out of the park. Ominous, brooding, energetic but not too up tempo, it's perfect dungeon crawling music that creeps up your spine at the same time. Meanwhile the distinct creature sounds echo and crawl around corners, letting you know what is where, and also what to be afraid of. I can still hear the sounds of the Dark Bishop in the back of my head, letting me know that I need to turn tail and put some distance between me and them. Enemy design is even better this time around: the aforementioned Dark Bishops take the role of the previous game's Disciples of D'Sparil, teleporting and blasting you with dark magic from their hooded, faceless bodies. Ettins are double-headed warrior beasts that carry a spiked mace, and are the most prevalent monster class in the game – and while they might be everywhere, they pack a helluva wallop, meaning you don't underestimate them no matter how many times you've killed one. Meanwhile, the Centaurs and Slaughtaurs are horrible little shits. Just like the tag says, they're centaurs with full-face helmets, swords, and spiked shields. They can raise their shield to deflect any incoming attacks and reflect them back at you, which is infuriating, especially since the Slaughtaur can fire deadly green magic at you while holding up their shields. And since they look the same, you have to approach any of them with intense caution, otherwise you're staring down the face of death while waiting to make your next strike.

Puzzles operate primarily on a “find the key/switch” platform, but rather than tracking down everything necessary to proceed in a single level, Hexen challenges the player to locate and operate everything they need to move forward throughout a spread of areas around the hub. For example, the Swamp Key won't be directly located in the swamp itself, but maybe over in the Forest. Multiple switches necessary to unlocking the Final Door in the central hub are located in the various hub worlds, informing the player with a quick “You have solved 1/3 of the puzzle” text across the screen when you've found one. Find another switch, the number increases from 1/3 to 2/3, etc. But each hub has more switches, all the way up to nine switches necessary to journey on, which to some is going to be a slog. While frustrating at times, I never felt like I was wading through a switch hunt just to proceed. Each switch seemed to naturally pop up on its own, and once I realized that certain areas couldn't be accessed within the levels themselves, I'd hop around the various worlds in the hub until I found a new switch or key, and then went back. Imagine if Super Mario 64's paintings were all connected to each other, and you had to hop back and forth between them in order to get to the next floor of the castle. It's innovative, and certainly makes sense; if an evil overlord tyrant person were going to hide the keys to access their lair, they probably would spread them out to make it harder to find. It's gratifying to open up section after section of these levels, defying the odds and slaying your way through the puzzles. Adding to the depth of torment is that, unlike Heretic, clearing a room of monsters doesn't mean it will stay that way. Scripted sequences again have monsters teleport in when you least expect it, repopulating areas you thought were safe for the time being. Damning though that may be, it adds to the feeling like the player is being watched at every moment, and that the game is doing its level best to fight back against your progress.

Hexen is hard. I resorted to a walkthrough once, just like in Heretic, and absolutely utilized the minimap in order to suss out where switches were located. There is nothing here to suggest a walk in the park: it is labyrinthine, it is torrid, it is nightmarish. But the mechanics all come together in the end, particularly in the moments where the game gratifyingly presents a room full of mana and health and a lot of monsters to let loose on. These apeshit moments are some of the best in the game. After spending hours managing resources and trying to hoard as much mana and health as possible, to be allowed a moment of pure rip and tear is wonderful.

If you're going to play Hexen, I highly recommend getting the expansion, Deathkings of the Dark Citadel. Not only is the title metal as fuck, but the three new hubs it offers are even more vicious, demeaning, and frustrating. They shove all the elements of the previous five hubs down into three, and it shows. You'll be assaulted on all fronts right from the start, continuing where the final battle left off in Hexen. You still get to pick your class, but sadly, you're also starting over. Curiously depowered and without any inventory items to work with, you'll feel extra squishy for the first level or three. Honestly, Deathkings was where I felt I had the most pure Hexen experience: solidly brutal and unforgiving as fuck. Interestingly, Deathkings was released in 1996 around the same time that Heretic got a retail release with two additional episodes under the name Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders. Factor this in with the upcoming release of Hexen II in 1997 (which saw a hefty difficulty spike as well), it seems that Raven got in one last hurrah with id tech 1 before moving on to id tech 2 -- the Quake engine. But more on that game in another post.

As with Heretic, I recommend playing this one through GZDOOM in order to get the best experience. And you'll need the best experience to stay one step ahead of everything that's trying to kill you. In a nutshell, Hexen is a true masterclass of determination to see the day through. For fans of retro FPS games, it's a must play, but be warned that coming into this after Heretic there is a distinct shift in how the game plays, looks, feels. Gone is the run and gun, which exists now only in pockets. But what's here, crafted lovingly and passionately, is a true nightmare of agony and difficulty unlike anything made before it. As Gmanlives summed it up, perhaps Dark Souls should be called the Hexen of third person adventure games.

Next time, we'll take a look at Hexen II, a popular but vastly different title in the series, and how the changes it made not only distinguished it from the previous two games, but may have also set it slightly backwards as well.

[geek-gem]

So when I was on Twitter. I saw that Gmanlives made a legit spoiler review for the movie. He basically goes through the whole movie. But don’t worry it’s not very long. I’ve seen reviews from him of some games, especially the Doom franchise. I didn’t watch this on Twitter because I wanted to watch this at home which I am now. 

I also wanna say I deleted my post sharing Metroidjunkie’s review of the movie because I found out and I was wondering if I saw it some where at first. He has that review on here already. So there was no point in having two posts showcasing the review. I deleted the post this morning but back to the point.

Very interesting Gman reviewed this. Gonna say I’m glad he goes through the whole movie. Again spoilers because he goes through the whole movie.

I’ll admit the video was funny at some moments. Including I get Gman’s points on the film. I was mainly expecting him to really rip it apart because of the fact he actually made this review. Because it was leaked yet today it was released. So even if he’s saying this might get taken down, I think probably not because it’s been released or for whatever reason.

Again while I totally get his points and opinion. I disagree with him. No this is not the best we are gonna get. Because this is bullshit and again I don’t want Universal to have the rights anymore. Especially after the horrible reception it’s been getting. But Wikipedia says it’s been getting mixed reception which I want to think is bullshit. Yet there’s also no Rotten Tomatoes score at all for both versions of the movie or even audience score.

In fact to be honest while I have only seen I Hate Everything’s review of the first House Of The Dead movie, I’ve been thinking Doom Annihilation seems to fit in that category of possible worst video game adaptions. Especially due to how this movie is cheaply made and could be something from the 2000′s okay that could sound stupid. I know it’s a direct to home video release. I just want Doom to have a better movie adaption. 

Sorry if this is getting long but I want to speak about this. In fact I have been thinking about making my own version of a Doom movie reboot. But been stalling because I feel certain decisions might bother fans. While my ideal vision for a reboot would be a respectable adaption, I feel some changes might bother some folks. Because I was inspired by my what if post of the 2005 Doom movie with what I did with that movie.

Basically I’ll name inspiration such as like I’ve said before, “John Wick but with demons” and the 2012 film Dredd. Including spoilers a bit from the video, I love how Gman mentions Dredd when talking about Karl Urban.  

While it’s interesting to see from his point that it’s not as bad.....again Universal shouldn’t have the rights anymore. Because while I’m gonna sound harsh. I kind of hope this film doesn’t make money or something. I just want Universal to give up the rights. I’m sorry that I sound like an immature brat. Because I feel like this might be the way I should be talking about the film. But I sound kind of immature about it. Especially it’s a direct to home release movie based a video game series I like.

I’ll be honest, while I have been thinking of stalling on making that Doom movie reboot idea I had. Because I feel I’m torn on what vision of what I wanna say. Such as using elements from which games. Yet I’m leaning into towards the 2016 route in a way. Despite my ideal vision for a movie.

But I feel after watching this, I think I might wanna make that post because I want to write something that sounds a lot better than what fans were given with this movie. Even before than I have thought about making it. But again seeing this review, it seems like I might wanna make it knowing this is how the movie is. Including again for Doom fans if they read it and want to engage in a discussion.

Sorry for all that rambling. That was stupid of me. Again I liked his review. Also I’m sorry I think it may be kind of funny or the fact I love the whole, “I’M YOUR ULTRA NIGHTMARE MOTHERFUCKERS!” because that’s just......I know it’s a reference to the hardest difficulty. But it seems weird to say and just a saying to reference the game. Okay I just watched the end of Gman’s review twice, oh God it’s fucking funny I laughed, my throat felt a bit tired just...it’s weird but funny.

Again I just put the Doomguy tag after the Doom tag. Because I want to make sure this gets more traction. Edit also I forgot to mention spoilers from the video. Glad Gman even noticed the refence with the name of Joan Dark. While I haven’t played the Perfect Dark games with Joanna Dark, I thought the name seemed very familiar. I was just too late to say something about it. Another edit I was reading comments below the video before I shared this. When I first discovered this on Twitter I was reading the comments again before I shared this on Tumblr.

I was looking for a comment that mentioned and I was just looking for it, I can’t find it now. But I saw it on my phone. It was a comment mentioning a Doom movie be like the original Predator, but the Doomguy is the Predator. Which would be fucking amazing because I’ve have had thought of the original Predator for some possible inspiration.