Here's a simple and straightforward top ten list!
2010: Inception
2011: My Way
2012: The Dark Knight Rises
2013: Captain Philips
2014: The Raid 2
2015: Victoria
2016: Train to Busan
2017: Coco
2018: Avengers: Infinity War
2019: Joker
Saturday, January 4, 2020
Wednesday, January 1, 2020
Final Flok Factory
To start off, I am announcing that this year will likely be the last one that I will be writing in this blog of mine called Flok Factory.
This means that I expect to be done at the end of next december, as far as writing blog posts goes, or sometimes I also associate it as an online diary. The "factory" is starting to become irrelevant, even for myself, as I have typed almost everything I wanted to spill out if you will, and I am running out of them.
Not only that, this blog of mine has been ignored almost entirely by the rest of the internet. In some ways I am quite impressed that I have been writing so long, for most of all myself. But as 2020 will become the tenth year I will be writing for this blog of mine, I think it's enough, and I have had a good ride.
Perhaps I will continue on in some other form, such as writing my own book, or starting a gaming stream, or a podcast, or...? Before starting Flok Factory, I used to be so active at certain forums too, and that died out back in 2010.
Anyhow, if this will indeed be the last year, then I applaud and praise myself for having written so much for the sake of sanity, attention, satisfaction, and more.
But first, let's get through this new year, this new decade, and this new beginning of new chances in overall!
This means that I expect to be done at the end of next december, as far as writing blog posts goes, or sometimes I also associate it as an online diary. The "factory" is starting to become irrelevant, even for myself, as I have typed almost everything I wanted to spill out if you will, and I am running out of them.
Not only that, this blog of mine has been ignored almost entirely by the rest of the internet. In some ways I am quite impressed that I have been writing so long, for most of all myself. But as 2020 will become the tenth year I will be writing for this blog of mine, I think it's enough, and I have had a good ride.
Perhaps I will continue on in some other form, such as writing my own book, or starting a gaming stream, or a podcast, or...? Before starting Flok Factory, I used to be so active at certain forums too, and that died out back in 2010.
Anyhow, if this will indeed be the last year, then I applaud and praise myself for having written so much for the sake of sanity, attention, satisfaction, and more.
But first, let's get through this new year, this new decade, and this new beginning of new chances in overall!
Tuesday, December 31, 2019
Neuromancer
Neuromancer. "Neuro from the nerves, the silver paths. Romancer. Necromancer."
William Gibson's debut novel is one of the most important pieces of cyberpunk from the last century, and only now did I discover it and had I the time to read it's wild narrative.
Plenty of work after 1984 has been inspired by it since then, including The Matrix film trilogy and Johhny Mnemonic. Widely credited as pioneering the science function sub-genre known as cyberpunk, this is a must read for fellow fans.
It follows Case, a drug addict and cyberspace hacker who enters a mission with a formed up crew where a cure towards him is promised while his services are needed internationally. While forming a relationship with Molly who is cybernetic-ally enhanced, they encounter all kinds of characters.
These include drug dealers, military men, other hackers and eventually AI's with their own ambiguous personalities. Throughout the story being told, I noticed that most of the specific words, slang and terminology to be found are definitely not explained throughout.
This is intended apparently by the author in order sacrifice literal meaning towards offering you a more foreign like ride, as if you were a tourist, and perhaps that also reflects back all of the international objects being referenced in here.
Definitely a character driven story too, the way it describes the settings and their environments got my brain wildly yet relatively searching and finding pictures inside, allowing it to be a very good thrilling sci-fi adventure to unfold.
Neuromancer is unlike anything else I have read or seen, even in it's own genre, and some believe that Gibson even predicted or described in here what is now globally known as the Internet, but then in the form of cyberspace and the matrix. It conveys plenty, and it sparks the imagination.
“Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation.
Rating: ****
I wish all of you a mighty 2020.
Monday, December 30, 2019
Days Gone
From the studio that developed the Syphon Filter games previously, Days Gone was released exclusively for the PlayStation 4 this year. Catching up onto it at the end of this decade, let's delve into it.
It's a survival third person action shooter with an open world formula letting you tackle on main and side quests at various survival camps. The motorbike will be your main way of traveling around, although you can unlock fast traveling under certain circumstances.
At first, I had to get used towards gathering up fuel and fixing up my bike, but that soon became second nature as I either found scraps or fuel in the wild, or got my bike fixed up at the mechanics. There's enough upgrades for it to be found too.
The same goes for your playable character Deacon St. John too. You can improve his methods of survival, melee or ranged combat in various ways. The personality is likable too, as he is member of a former motor club and now drifts around with his best pal Boozer while hoping to find peace towards his former wife.
Days Gone gave me vibes most of all from The Walking Dead and The Last of Us, two great inspirations. There are the different kinds of zombies, or infected humans walking around such as Freaks, Newts and Swarmers, but there are crazy humans too, and then there are even crazier ones called Rippers, who are part of a cult.
This is quite a large game where it took me over 40 hours to beat it. In this post apocalyptic setting, you are also able to craft items such as molotov cocktails and medkits to keep you going. In order to purchase items, you will need to gain more trust per camp by doing all kinds of jobs.
Deacon and the rest of the cast were just fine, from the various kinds of leaders per camp, to the sidekicks per mission, to the villains represented, it's all good. The story itself is nothing special, but at least the characters and their voice acting kept me going, aside from the gameplay.
Days Gone turned out to be better than I expected, although to be honest, it won't blow you away with innovation or groundbreaking ways. Seeing the wild landscapes of Oregon drifting around of which some parts just might be the same in real life, is a good bonus to experience too.
Rating: 8.1
Sunday, December 29, 2019
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
The negatives voices on the internet were wrong.
Objectively, this is a fine movie, and a fine conclusion towards what is now dubbed the Skywalker saga. I was more than content with the The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi too, even though I saw the Original Trilogy and then the Prequel Trilogy first.
I had my sincere doubts that this movie had to bring back Sheev Palpatine in order to act as the main villain once more while filling the void between Snoke and Kylo Ren, but I am glad with the way the plot got directed, and most of if not all arcs have now gotten a good end.
(It's also always fun to see the emperor cackling around and shouting "Do It" :D)
Several plot twists unfold once again, and I can even really like Rey now, knowing her backstory. It's not The Force just creating a baby, but she really had parents, and in the end a motivation and reason to end tyranny.
All of the tropes as you would expect from a Star Wars movie return, including light saber duels, aircraft space shooting, humor, droids, planets, alien species, the familiar music, the religions of Sith and Jedi, and a few characters will perish, although with grace.
J.J. Abrams might have played it safe again while directing this, but he also called the shots onto how to end this overall saga, and the end scene where Rey buries the past and looks upon the future with the objects she held and now holds is effective.
Honestly, this so called Sequel Trilogy turned out to be just fine. They're not perfect by any sense, but if you are an average Star Wars fan like me, and not die hard to the core, you will enjoy what is to be found and shared here with audiences.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is a compelling final chapter and brings quality while honoring past episodes. Star Wars itself shall continue on in one form or another, and when in doubt, know that The Force will be with you, always.
Rating: 7.5
Saturday, December 28, 2019
Downloadable Content: Specter of Torment and King of Cards
Just as fun as the other two previous modes Shovel of Hope and Plague of Shadows if you ask me, Specter Knight has the ability to briefly wall climb/jump, as well as slash his way through the air using certain objects so that he can traverse quickly and fearsome.
Serving as a prequel towards the main game, you get to see the origin of Specter Knight and what his motivations are. The level design was cleverly developed, and the stages have been remixed to keep throwing at you new situations.
A "spinning" take on Shovel Knight's pogo jump, King of Cards is another prequel where you get to on on royal adventures while gathering followers onto a flying airship where the hottest card mini game of Joustus is available.
It finally released in late 2019, and it's arguably the most difficult one to beat, as you have to learn to land your dashing movements with the spinning afterward jumps precisely. The world map is remixed with more available normal stages, and the Knight bosses have turned into mini boss encounters.
Instead, you will fight 3 ruling kings in each region, before The Enchantress throws at you another final boss transformation to overcome, a tradition seen differently in all of the 4 campaigns. It was also nice to read the special message upon completing all of them from Yacht Club Games.
Now they can finally develop a new project, or are they gonna develop a true sequel instead...?
Thursday, December 26, 2019
Mario Party
It just occurred to me; I have not reviewed any Mario Party title yet which I have played. Considering it's overall festival theme, including snowy settings at some of the boards, let's do so right now.
The very first one, back in 1998, when I was only 10 years old, this game was pretty much the first 3D based board multiplayer game on the Nintendo 64 featuring Mario characters where you would be able to play dice on several kinds of different boards.
As would be the objective of each entry, in order to win the game, you would have to collect the most stars out of everyone in order to become the super star and be number one. To get these, you would have to collect enough coins, which can be found on the boards themselves, or during mini games.
It would be the mini games that would give Mario Party and the franchise it's most recognizable feature. From free for all to 2v2 and 1v3 kinds of games, any kind of mini game could popup, but the controls would remain easy and simple to perform.
This is my most memorable entry, Mario Party 2 features a bit more characters, boards and mini games to keep you occupied. This time, more stereotypical themes are playing, and arguably, it had the most fun mini games out of the ones I have played and which are featured in this blog post.
So yes, that also means I have never played Mario Party 3, 6 and 9, but I did play portions of 4, 5 and 8 during parties or over at friends. So my opinion won't matter that much objectively, but I do have some fine memories.
Back towards Mario Party 2, I pretty much remember teenage memories of me and my friends screaming in agony over winning the next mini game and having enough luck to get the next star, because sooner or later, people would realize that Mario Party as a whole is more about having luck than having skill.
Taking a "break" from subsequent releases, I decided that at the seventh installment, I wanted to return. Mario Party 7 is the last entry on the Nintendo Gamecube, and it's the second one that utilizes the microphone for a few mini games.
It would also be the last traditional entry in the sense that you would still be able to move individually as a playable character here, before the dreadful big car would be used in later releases.
The mini games at part 7 are modest and average at best, with a few of them sticking out, the same goes for the boards and the music itself. Still, you cannot go wrong with it really.
The most recent addition is Super Mario Party, the first one available on the Nintendo Switch where the Joy Cons are used to play all kinds of creative mini games. Nintendo has also finally listened towards fans as the big car is ditched, and characters are able to move on their own again.
Although shamefully, the online feature regarding multiplayer, which is a first for the series, is lackluster because it does not include the whole experience like offline multiplayer or singleplayer does.
I have played it a very few time with some friends, as these games are best played in multiplayer. It's another average title, but I was happy to return to it once more. Considering the release dates of 1998, 1999, 2005 and 2018 for these 4, the franchise has been around for quite a while now!
As a bonus feature, during my Super Smash Bros. Melee tournaments, sometimes we would afterwards also play Mario Party Blood, a special mode where if you would end as the fourth and last place, you would had to consume the Spoon of Nasty, where the 3 others would be free to mix and combine any kind of food onto it, resulting in nasty results!
Sometimes we would also include a drinking mini game feature where all of the losers would had to drink a shot of strong alcohol per mini game. I vaguely and barely remember a few of these drunken evenings and nights, but boy were the emotions and the fun running high!
Mario Party is all about having fun with friends!
The very first one, back in 1998, when I was only 10 years old, this game was pretty much the first 3D based board multiplayer game on the Nintendo 64 featuring Mario characters where you would be able to play dice on several kinds of different boards.
As would be the objective of each entry, in order to win the game, you would have to collect the most stars out of everyone in order to become the super star and be number one. To get these, you would have to collect enough coins, which can be found on the boards themselves, or during mini games.
It would be the mini games that would give Mario Party and the franchise it's most recognizable feature. From free for all to 2v2 and 1v3 kinds of games, any kind of mini game could popup, but the controls would remain easy and simple to perform.
This is my most memorable entry, Mario Party 2 features a bit more characters, boards and mini games to keep you occupied. This time, more stereotypical themes are playing, and arguably, it had the most fun mini games out of the ones I have played and which are featured in this blog post.
So yes, that also means I have never played Mario Party 3, 6 and 9, but I did play portions of 4, 5 and 8 during parties or over at friends. So my opinion won't matter that much objectively, but I do have some fine memories.
Back towards Mario Party 2, I pretty much remember teenage memories of me and my friends screaming in agony over winning the next mini game and having enough luck to get the next star, because sooner or later, people would realize that Mario Party as a whole is more about having luck than having skill.
Taking a "break" from subsequent releases, I decided that at the seventh installment, I wanted to return. Mario Party 7 is the last entry on the Nintendo Gamecube, and it's the second one that utilizes the microphone for a few mini games.
It would also be the last traditional entry in the sense that you would still be able to move individually as a playable character here, before the dreadful big car would be used in later releases.
The mini games at part 7 are modest and average at best, with a few of them sticking out, the same goes for the boards and the music itself. Still, you cannot go wrong with it really.
The most recent addition is Super Mario Party, the first one available on the Nintendo Switch where the Joy Cons are used to play all kinds of creative mini games. Nintendo has also finally listened towards fans as the big car is ditched, and characters are able to move on their own again.
Although shamefully, the online feature regarding multiplayer, which is a first for the series, is lackluster because it does not include the whole experience like offline multiplayer or singleplayer does.
I have played it a very few time with some friends, as these games are best played in multiplayer. It's another average title, but I was happy to return to it once more. Considering the release dates of 1998, 1999, 2005 and 2018 for these 4, the franchise has been around for quite a while now!
As a bonus feature, during my Super Smash Bros. Melee tournaments, sometimes we would afterwards also play Mario Party Blood, a special mode where if you would end as the fourth and last place, you would had to consume the Spoon of Nasty, where the 3 others would be free to mix and combine any kind of food onto it, resulting in nasty results!
Sometimes we would also include a drinking mini game feature where all of the losers would had to drink a shot of strong alcohol per mini game. I vaguely and barely remember a few of these drunken evenings and nights, but boy were the emotions and the fun running high!
Mario Party is all about having fun with friends!
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