The Surlaw Reviews - 1/2/23 - 2022 Year in Review

Talk about things that are not making games here. But you should also make games!

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Spoonweaver
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Post by Spoonweaver »

Ouch. Sorry to hear your wife had such a hard time. My finance didn't get whisked off to emergency c-section, but the strain from natural birth actually put her in a walker for a little over a month.
We can also relate to breast feeding issues. Despite wanting to breast feed we ended up giving him formula throughout his infancy, which he's finally out of.
I look back on those first few months as the craziest time of my life, and I wasn't even the one giving birth. I know desperation hit Ashleigh pretty hard and we had to work hard to get through it.
Now we have a little boy who just turned two that we wouldn't trade for the world. We both knew it was going to be hard, but considering the toned down scenes in most movies, nothing really prepares you for it. Glad to hear eraserhead captured the event so well. I've been meaning to watch it and now I just might get around to it.
Last edited by Spoonweaver on Thu Mar 09, 2017 1:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by The Wobbler »

Glad to hear everything worked out for you too, it really has been unlike anything else in our lives. We're finally just getting back into our regular work routines so life's starting to feel normal again.
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Post by Bob the Hamster »

I enjoyed the article, and yes, I could identify with much of it too.

Gosh dang it is nice when they finally start sleeping through the night :)

Trying to imagine what an Eraserhead game would play like.
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The Wobbler
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Post by The Wobbler »

Hey people I wrote about Sad Games, tell me your favorite Sad Games!

Springtime Sadness - Games That Left an Emotional Impact
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Post by Wendigo »

The saddest game I have ever played is "To the moon" by Freebird Games.
It is about two employees from a company that grant dying people their last wish by injecting fake memories into their minds.
This is the only game that actually made me cry (multiple times). The soundtrack ist also great.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QfPDmzpC2Q

To the moon
Last edited by Wendigo on Fri Apr 07, 2017 4:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by kylekrack »

Oh, I heard To the Moon is very sad. I never had the chance to play it for myself though.

I thought Mother 3 was pretty sad in the way that it addresses how a child deals with loss while still having the responsibility to go out and save the world. Much of the game has a more happy, joyous feel, but when you think back to plot as a whole, it's all pretty painful in one way or another. I don't want to spoil anything because I think Mother 3 is definitely worth playing, even though you have to get a fan translation and emulate it.
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The Wobbler
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Post by The Wobbler »

It's been over a year since I wrote a full-length movie article. It's time to wake up and get myself out of this slump. Here's some stuff about Wonder Woman!

Wonder Woman

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Post by msw188 »

Great review boss!

VERY LIGHT SPOILERS HERE

As someone who really didn't like Man of Steel, I'm 100% behind this WW movie. It was amazing to see characters smiling in these DC movies, and doubly amazing to have the protagonist NOT end up disillusioned by the end. Refreshing as hell. Like, she's a superhero, and the movie lets her be a superhero. So happy about it. The only weaknesses for me were technical in nature. Soundtrack kinda blah. Didn't like the style for the action sequences (I mean, if I didn't like Snyder's action style in Man of Steel, I guess no surprise I don't like the same bs here). Overall cinematography felt 'competent' but very little 'stood out' to me. Related to the action thing, CG was pretty bad. Enough that it actually hurt my friend's experience with the film (didn't really hurt my experience though).

I agree with Wobbles that the ending drops the ball a bit. I'm not sure what exactly I wanted out of an ending to a movie like this, but what we got was, eh, not awful by any means but not quite right either.

I'm not sure whether to attribute this to having a woman directing or to just good acting, but I have to kinda gush over Chris Pine's performance here. Like, he's clearly in awe of how beautiful WW is, but it never comes off as creepy, leering, drooling, any of that megaslime. And the movie allows them to be in conflict without Pine's character ever really coming off like an slimehole in any way - in fact he's pretty likable and reasonable even when he's in direct opposition to our heroine. And yet he also never for a moment overshadows the sheer awesomeness of Gadot's Wonder Woman.

And Wobbles touched on it, but yeah, it's just so great that almost every single scene was about Diana. In fact, the only scenes I can even think of at the moment that don't involve her are the ones showing the bad guys working on their stuff, and they're mostly kept brief. This highly singular focus would be a drag on Cavill's Superman, but it is delightful and invigorating with Gadot's Diana.

Okay, I didn't mean to type this much. Apart from any of the female empowerment stuff, I'm just so glad that this felt like a movie about an actual superhero. Someone you look up to and admire, that a kid could fantasize about becoming, placed in a mostly well-made movie that flirts with pure fantasy without being overly childish. I felt similarly about Rey's character in Star Wars actually.
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The Wobbler
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Post by The Wobbler »

Chris Pine is pretty much just playing Captain Kirk again but I'm ok with that, he's great.

On music, I totally love Wonder Woman's theme music from BvS and was glad to have it return better but the rest is basically wallpaper. Lots of silly music when stuff is playful, generic rousing music during action. It's not bad music but it doesn't stand out in any way.
Last edited by The Wobbler on Sat Jun 10, 2017 1:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by msw188 »

Nah, I don't know but something felt different about Pine for me here. Can't put my finger on it. I haven't really loved him in any of the new Trek movies except the third one.
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Post by The Wobbler »

Yakuza Zero

So far, Yakuza Zero is my favorite game of the year in a year filled with amazing games. My review!

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Post by The Wobbler »

It took me a long time to finish this game, but not a lot of time to write about it! Check out my thoughts on the best turn-based RPG I've played in ages.

Persona 5

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Post by The Wobbler »

Time to talk Game of the Year/Movie of the Year stuff. What did you bros like?

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2017 in Movies


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2017 in Games
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Bob the Hamster
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Post by Bob the Hamster »

I think "Get Out" was the only movie I saw in theaters the whole year. It was awesome. Definitely my favorite Horror movie ever, and a strong contender for my favorite in any genre.

I can't wait to see what Jordan Peele does next
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Post by The Wobbler »

Wow I hadn't written a full review in a year. Here's one for a bug game.

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Hollow Knight
Last edited by The Wobbler on Sat Jun 23, 2018 12:45 am, edited 1 time in total.
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