Morning, all!
I haven’t done one of these in a while. Between YE chaos, added work chaos, and the coming release chaos, somethings I’ve had to let slide. (Though it’s over a year since the gall bladder surgery, I’m still not back to normal.) 🙁
Anyway! Here goes!
Assassin’s Creed – Black Flag
This is the first time I’ve tried playing one of the games in the franchise since the first one. Back then, I had to stop because even though I could close my eyes during synchronization, the baud rate in the white room of the prisoner in modern times was so low that even though nothing was moving, it gave me horrible motion sickness.
I am happy to say that this addition to the franchise does not have the same problem. I can even enjoy the beauty of the synchronizations as they got slowed down a bit. (Just don’t have Edward drink alcohol. Talk about side effects. I won’t do that again!) Lol.
The vistas are gorgeous, and the longer you play, the more options of stuff to do or equipment you can use open up. But some of the mechanics are clunky or get in the way. A decent tutorial on combat would have been nice – I still have trouble. 😛 (The same goes for ship combat!) But overall, hubby and I are enjoying it.
Our time vessel is Edward Kenway – a man desperate to gain fame and fortune. He wants to prove to his estranged wife and her family that he did not make the wrong decision by striking out on his own. Now that being a privateer has been outlawed, he’s going to become an outright pirate.
Eventual intro! Pictured here is the Port of Havana.
Edward and a mysterious man have survived the destruction of the ship they were on. Things turn a little weird here. The strange man is injured, and he asks Edward to help him get to Havana. The mysterious man has clothing fitting the Assassins Creed members, but seemingly he is a traitor and is working with the Templars. Somehow these two end up not coming to an understanding, and the wounded man speeds off like a gazelle, and Edward has to catch him. (I did say it got weird.)
From what I understand, the game has no way to remove the UI for pics. A pity, because as you can see, the visuals are lovely. 🙂
After catching up to the assassin, Edward takes his coat, message, and goods for himself. (No hidden blades yet, so cutlasses are for us arrh!) I loved the rainbow with the waterfall!
Edward does a lot of swimming. In a heavy coat to boot! 😛 Even his crew will make fun of him for it. Lol. There’s also an achievement. 😛
Havana without the logo. So nice!
The ever-present hawk leads us to the synchronization spot. Havana has multiple of these as it is a large city.
There are cats, dogs, and parrots you can pet in the game! There’s even an achievement for petting dogs. Too cute!
While some items are repetitive in their look, there’s plenty of excellent detail. Shafts of soft light from small fortress windows – how nice!
Here is a lovely view of several ships leaving the harbor. Look at the gorgeous water! Isn’t it amazing?
I hope you have a great week!
Obligatory Promo Section!
Yep, I gotta have this since a book is pending release. I am hoping to share the cover soon!
Don’t forget the Kindle and Nook versions are currently on pre-order at a discounted price.
You can find sample chapters here.
Don’t forget the free ebooks to help celebrate the release and to thank you for your help in getting the word out, doing reviews, whatever you feel like – Cross-eyed Dragon Troubles and Inner Demons.
Thanks again!!!!!!
Ford vs. Ferrari – Matt Damon and Christian Bale are fab in this film. The rapport between the two men and the difficulties they face came across as natural and with depth. From the quick research I did, this is mostly accurate, with the usual license taken by Hollywood to ramp up the excitement and drama. The one bit I do wish they’d pointed out better is how Ken Miles would have won the European trifecta of racing if he’d not been shafted at Le Mans. He would have been the first man to ever win all three. So sad. Good story, great cinematography, excellent acting, cool racing stunts. Rating: 3.75 out of 4 (Hubby’s Rating: Worth Full Price to See Again)
Terminator: Dark Fate – A lot of James Cameron’s films of late have been not so great, so I went to see this with low expectations. I was very pleasantly surprised – the movie was good!
Gemini Man – Hubby and I had thought this would be Will Smith and his son, but it was all Will Smith. The film was great fun. Impressive stunts and fight scenes with some surprising moves. Gorgeous locals and cinematography. They even play with camera perspectives – enough to make it interesting, but not so much it disturbs the viewer. Rating: 3.5 out of 4 (Hubby’s Rating: Pay Full Price to See Again!)
The Current War: Director’s Cut – I’d never heard of the film until about a week ago. Per IMDB it was initially released in 2017. The title is horrible (If you don’t know what it is, you’d think it was an actual war movie.) The film is about Edison, Tesla, and Westinghouse and the fight/race to light up the US with either DC or Alternating Current. A lot of history gets sanitized for the history books. Here’s a chance to get a taste of what they don’t tell you. Great acting, fascinating history, and you get a feel for how truly revolutionary the concepts being thrown about are to the people of that ear. Rating: 3.75 out of 4 (Hubby’s Rating: Worth Full Price.)
Men In Black: International – They are back! With more attitude, bigger weapons, and the usual chaos! 😛 The original theme music is back, so the film had a nostalgic vibe to it. There’s even a painting in High T’s office of J and K saving the world. 😛 There’s a recurring theme in the film they pound into you hard – the universe always puts you where you need to be when you need to be there. They stretch this out a bit much! And while some explanations on why things have happened are shown, there are others you have to infer from what’s been presented. (For example: Why H changed so much in 3 years. And no, it’s not the girlfriend. Though if you don’t put it together yourself, it’s gone :P) Cool effects, fast pace, overall a good ride! Rating: 3.5 out of 4 (Hubby’s Rating: Worth Full Price of Admission.)
