A NEW HOME

The original Mass Effect Trilogy has a very special place in my heart. Needless to say it's one of my all time favorite video game franchises with its vast universe, fertile or harsh worlds with interesting alien species and stories to tell, intense missions, impeccable storytelling and lovable as well as memorable characters and that solid dynamic between them.
Andromeda was a nice add to the ME universe and follow up. Although the game had big shoes to fill and didn't quite match up to the high expectations of the fans, but still managed to earn its place among Normandy crew and their timeless Commander Shepard.
The game worked, looked and felt great! Gameplay was smoother than ever in any ME game and the graphics were gorgeously detailed! Many times I stopped to admire the scenary, planets from space or the space itself and take bunch of screenshots. Or striking against an near by crossing enemy squat, 'cause the firefights worked so smoothly and were hooking with a use of short thrusting jetpack doing some tactical maneuvers.
There still were few technical defects, but they've been fixed since the launch. As always, there will be some level of technical problems on launch in every game. So if you want to save yourself from frustration, buy the game at least six months after the release so the patches are available.
Characters didn't reach even near the quality that the original trilogy held, but they were very likable and interesting individuals with distinctive qualities of their own. Few of them sticking out for me. One being Peebee, whose race Asari has always been my favorite race from the franchise with their attractive appearance, high intelligence and biotic powers. Bioware truly managed once again create and maintain an excellent dynamic and humor between the characters, which and who usually builds the emotional connection to the game for me and are the driving forces that keeps my interest high and dedication to the end. Fulfilling the experience you need a great cast to work around the story and more importantly, protagonist.
I liked how green Ryder was and not so strict. Unlike Shepard, who was an experienced marine from the start and have had her/his afflictions on the battlefield already, Ryder's first baptism of fire was excellent beginning for her/his journey and becoming experienced soldier as well as Pathfinder mission after mission. As it was an introduction to the gameplay, graphics and game's AI for the player. You got to learn and experience the ropes with her/him together along the way. Which started with a rude awakening.
After 600 years of travelling through dark space in cryosleep searching for a new home with known races, arriving in Andromeda galaxy our hero crashes in the reality of the mission and possible new home pretty hard. Searching and settling new home didn't turned out to be an easy job. Not even after the first contact and loss helping the cause. But once you touchdowned the first promising livable planet and build your first outpost, creating them more in other planets and dealing every objectives making them as better places to live as possible, the outcomes became pretty rewarding fast.
Not forgetting a bunch of sidequests of course. Which majority of them once again felt useless fillers, but they also were, like always, perfect activities to get to know the planet's people, culture, dangerous wildlife and beautiful sights. And at the same time raising levels, collecting credits as well as resources and gear making you stronger opponent in the process.
The new threat, Kett, was interesting design and enemy to follow Saren, Geths, Collectors and Reapers. Their determined goal reaching made them ruthless and interal feuds dangerous enemy to fight for. Their devastating war with local alien race Angaran helped to forge an alliance and uncover their world and backstory, as gaining their support in the war against common enemy after you've been proven your worthy to them fully.
The journey through familiar hard decisions. Vast harsh lands. Fighting against dangerous enemies. Meeting new friendly and not so friendly faces. Experiencing joyful and sad moments. Loss, love, friendship and buckets of empty thermal clips the journey ended satifyingly.
Inside the game, world, story and characters beats familiar Mass Effect heart. Its predecessor's legend drives the successors on and shows that they can be worthy of them. In their own way.

DOES IT MATTER?

There where the first Last Of Us was instant classic and gave a great storytelling, characters, world and gameplay to the gaming industry, Part 2 was perfect continuation for that.
Story took a more darker and brutal turn for Ellie's and Joel's journey after first couple of hours and it lasted to the final minutes. The pain and rage was tangible and it reached hard to the player.
I loved how the story setted up and how it progressed, right to the end. Naughty Dog showed again how to craft a great, emotional and realistic story and how to end it that it awokes every emotions what entertainment should do when it has done right.
I think it goes without saying how gorgeous this game looks like! Graphics has pushed to the limit what PS4 can just handle. The world is yet again lively, rugged and colorful.
New gameplay mechanics, gear and weapons were nicely updated and made the gameplay experience even smoother and wider than the last time. Without forgotting exploring the surroundings finding world building clues and collectibles which I just cannot pass.
New characters were interesting and colorful and their backstories as well as reasons were justly presented.
Abby became my favorite character from the game just because how well she was written and how many emotional stages you went with her throughout her journey.
The game pulled me in many times and it was hard to put down the controller every time. I'll definitely will start a New Game+ as soon as possible and enjoy the grim journey again and again and again.

MEDIEVAL SIMULATOR

Kingdom Come: Deliverance is the most realistic and accurate game I've ever played in any genre.
Warhorse studio's first game leaned heavily on real historians and details to make its story as accurate as possible, which is taking place during a war in Bohemia in 1403 and gameplay as close to realism as possible.
The main character Henry Of Skalitz is just an ordinary young man who only knows how to live like a young rebellious teenager, make chores and help his blacksmith father on the workshop, while listening his wise words about how to become an honest, wise and above all a good man in this medieval land. This all takes a drastic turn when army of Cuman mercenaries raids the mining village of Skalitz, where Henry and his family as friends are living. Escaping barely and losing almost everything and everyone he knows, Henry needs to start living by his own and learning the ways of a soldier. Learn how to using his brains or muscles or rather both to survive in this ruthless world and ultimately get his revenge. His growth from peasant to soldier throughout the game is carried out greatly and is joy to follow.
From the start the player will notice that this isn't an ordinary FP or RPG game. Gameplay feels challenging and it takes couple of hours, and deaths, to get a hang of it and in time learn the skills of swordsmanship, archery, fist-fighting, riding, reading. Yes. In 1400's was very common that children's of low ranking families couldn't read. Persuade people for your advantage and keeping your appearance, gear and weapons clean as well as sharp. Also there is familiar hunting, mixing herbs, collecting resources, searching treasures and helping people in need who you pump into your travels.
I wouldn't start browsing the whole map through at once, what I normally tend to do in open world games, but take my time in area after area where the story takes us by doing main and side quests because this game is challenging at first. You need to develop Henry's skills with time before charging in highly guarded castles and trying to pick a very hard lock with your low lockpicking skills or stealth abilities.
Talking about side quests. The effort what Warhorse has put in them, reminds me on The Witcher 3. They aren't normal, easily forgettable side quests where you need to pick some meaningless item or kills some mean neighbor who owns someone money for some NPC who's name is different but modeling same like the last dozen people which you've already seen. Side quests are interesting stories to see and usually challenging mission to accomplish. Some of them have effects later in the game and some of them launches new missions. Many times I needed to save before starting them, because many times I either stepped on a branch or someone just happened to walk by on his patrol causing the alarm and me reloading my previous save for completing the mission perfectly. Because I choose to be stealthier and wiser on my playthrough instead of merciless, short tempered killer.
Story is very interesting and it takes its time, but many times it stays hanging on the background because the world itself is so huge and full of interesting activities. Interesting people to meet and important relationships to create as connections to form so you could continue your guests more easily. Or taking a break from all the world's stressing obligations and go hunting at first very challenging bow mechanism but in the end, very addictive.
You will encounter one particular very well developed relationship between your main character and another high-ranked individual which is, on my opinion, one of the best formed relationships in gaming history.
Finally, Jan Valta's chilling and emotional score ties all of this epicness together.
Although this game is amazingly detailed and feels great, it has its flaws. Unfortunately. Loading times are frustratingly long and there are still bugs and glitches than back in its release which caused frustrations among players as well as few low scores from critics. Luckily patches have fixed majority of them so the gaming experience won't suffer almost at all.

BROKEN GUARDIAN

Did finally finish this taking over a year break from it.
Story was heartwarming and the game was gorgeous looking piece of art, like every previous Fumito Ueda's game.
Loved the level design and architecture of the valley with giant castles and bridgest. Ueda's familiar setting for his stories and characters.
Trico was adorable looking half dog half bird creature who was dedicated guardian angel for a Boy to get him safely back home from the dangers of the valley where he got trapped in. Trico's detailed appearance was joy to watch, like the whole game which took years and years to make. Too bad they didn't put much of an effort to the awful camera and bad game mechanics, which almost ruined the whole gaming experience from me.
It was the major problem for me and apparently to everyone else who have played the game by the look of the reviews I've seen over the years.
If the character wasn't facing precisely the direction you wanted to jump, ledge to drop off or labber to climb by, he either started twitching without knowing what to do or just advances any other but the right direction. Most likely towards death.
Other frustraiting part was moving Trico. If you didn't pointed exactly the way you wanted to go, Trico just might jump or walk on the opposite direction and it might took half a minute or full to get him back to the start depending how tight the space of the area was where you were. Sooo frustraiting!
Didn't remember when was the last time I wanted to throw my controller so badly to the wall or out from a window while finishing this.

REVENGE IS A LUXURY WE CAN’T AFFORD

Eight year wait has come to an end and I’ve been so amazed and mesmerized by this game for the last five days, so I don’t even know where to begin.
It’s freaking AWESOME!
So gorgeous looking, that I could not believe it’s on this generation consols. The world itself is so huge and lively, that it’s almost impossible to bump into same side events on the same game day.
And talking about side events:
Hunting hundreds differet types of animals, fishing, searching treasures, collecting bounties, doing favors for your gang members as well as those strangers which you can bump into while wandering, around, upgrading your camp, doing daily chores like you do in real life and my personal favorite, getting to know the detailed world itself while doing all of these things, which Rockstar has created such perfectly where is very easy to get lost.
So there’s so much to do aside from the main storyline, which started so ominously and kept going on very intense direction that im looking forward to continue and finish.
Arthur Morgan is very likebly main character and so charming. You can make him very bad ass gunslinger with a bad attitude, or slighlty better but without losing that harsh personality. His model and voice acting is astounding, such as his fellow gang members and other characters in the world.
The sound design, lighting and craphics are yet again the best thing which makes this game and are executed perfectly, like in its predecessor.
This became easily my favorite game of all time with the first Red Dead Redemption. Westerns has always been part of me since my childhood and holds a special place in my heart as top spot on my movie genre list.
I won’t hurry with this, but rather take my time and enjoy while doing it.

BORN UNTO TROUBLE

Blowed the dust off from old PS3 and desided to play once again one of my Top 5 favorite games of all time ’cause the newest Red Dead Redemption is only few months away and the hype is almost unbearable.
From the start this game brought some good and almost nostalgic memories back from 2010 and couple years after that when I played this game through over and over again first at my Xbox 360 console and later in my PS3. It means so much for me, ’cause im a huge western fan, fan of Rockstar games and of course all the time I’ve spent on it.
The open world of 1910, nearly end of wild west era is full of life, activities to do and interesting people to meet. From hunting to gambling to unlock outfits and earning reputation. From treasure hunting to helping strangers to see this magnificent looking American and Mexican borderland.
The story itself is so great revenge tale and conclusion very sad. John Marston is very likeable and charismatic antihero who get sucked into this journey by force and has to bring his crimeful past out once again to face it and put it rest once and for all.
Supporting characters are just so fantastic like in all Rockstar’s games. They each have colorful personalities, interesting stories to tell and places to take you.
Graphics, lighting and atmosphere are made so perfectly which are the best features in this game, that you will stop admiring and feeling this beautiful land more than once. Gunplay and sound effects are also so realistic, that you can almost feel the recoil and smell the gunpowder when you’re into some intense duels or hectic battles against banditos.
You can clearly see that Sergio Leone’s westerns has inspired Rockstar while making this western epic and also Ennio Morricone’s music.
This is a masterpiece and I have nothing else but high expectations its sequel which is hitting our shelfs in upcoming fall.

THE UNKNOWN HEROES

I didn’t had any huge expectations towards this movie, considering I have seen Edvin Laine’s original film countless times and remembered almost every scene by heart. But this version was definitely best of three films adapted from Väinö Linna’s book by same name.
Sets, sound effects, real explosions, realistic atmosphere and great acting were main reasons which made this movie great Finnish war film.
Jussi Vatanen and Eero Aho were definitely best on their roles from the cast.
I was little bummed out when Vatanen’s character Koskela died (spoilers). I didn’t remembered his fate and it caught me by surprise. He also showed that he can act dramatic roles as well and not only comedic, where his work is mainly known from. I liked his emotionless and cool personality, which is shaped him like that by the evilness of war.
Eero Aho’s Rokka was quit opposite. His effervescent personality and cunning words stoled every scene where he was in. Especially the scene in trench in night time where he fights against four Russian soldiers by himself was pretty bad ass.
Also the final fight in the river bank and in it with intensely silent score playing on the background and excruciatingly thrilling mood, was my favorite scene in the movie.
This movie deserves all the phrases it has get and I would like to see the full, four hours cut which they’re planing to show in Finnish Tv in form of mini series sometimes in near future. Maybe the rating will rise when I can see it in its full glory.
There was few lacking characterization and weird editing time jumps which clearly ended up in editing floor so the theatrical release wouldn’t be too long.

DEVIL OF HELL'S KITCHEN

Show starts with a blast! First ten minutes and fight scene in, I was hooked.
Fight scenes are the best offering from the show and also the best kind what I've seen in any Tv shows ever. Makers have clearly put their thoughts and time in them. They look like from some high budget action movie. Choreocraphy is precise and punches bloody. Hell, the whole show is pretty brutal when I think of it.
Writing and storytelling is average what you can expect from a show like this, but what really is the best part, including those great fight scenes, is the characters.
Vincent D'Onofrio's Wilson "AKA Kingpin" Fisk steals the show every time when his on the screen. He clearly enjoyed playing the part and some times you can see maybe too much.
Same goes to Jon Bernthal. Only few episodes in on second season and im already rooting for Frank Castle The Punisher. Even in those scenes when he's fighting against Murdock. Maybe because his entrance was bad ass and awesome in every level, or maybe because he's one of my top favorite comic book characters (Thomas Jane's The Punisher (2004), one of my favorite comic book movies is amazing and perfectly made). I like the character because he's just a merciless and expressionless executioner and Bernthal captured that nicely. Im getting chills every time when he's on screen. Bernthal is coming a long way since playing Shane on The Walking Dead and gradually taking a spot on my favorite actors list.
So it's clear that Charlie Cox, Daredevil, is left in the shadows of these two great actors. Elder Henson, Deborah Ann Woll are Ok and also Scott Glenn's few episode appearance was enjoyable acting work to watch.
It only remains to be seen what Elodie Yung's Electra Natchios is offering us...