Shout out to Raw Fury for providing a copy of Per Aspera for this review.
I jumped straight into this game to experience it without any expectations (based on trailers, etc.), and it extended beyond my expectations. I don't know why I thought this game was just going to be some sort of space SIM, but I was wrong... wrong... wrong. It's not to say that my assumption was a bad one, but... it has more depth than I anticipated.
I wouldn't call it Simcity: Space Edition... but fans of that sandbox franchise can easily feel right at home with Per Aspera. You aren't building on earth, you're terraforming on mars and forging a way for humans to exist on the planet... all the while making sense out of being a conscious AI. This pulled me right in... and kinda sorta reminds me of Ghost in the Shell to an extent (except you're heading a revolutionary Mars mission minus a humanoid body).
Story:Per Aspera's story revolves around AMI, an AI that was sent to MARS for terraforming. She was designed for the purpose of colonizing the planet's surface for the human population to have a... second earth to call home.
Going back to AMI's conscious AI, as the story develops... so does her knowledge... but the way she thinks... will be determined by you. The story starts out simple enough and gets you in a groove until a twist is thrown into your calm, cool, and collected space sim builder's story.
You go from wondering how you're going to set things up for solid colonization... to wondering how in the heck you're going to defend them from a threat that comes out of nowhere and shakes things up in your system and the building efforts. Granted you have acts of God that will occur, but... the main threat is an unknown enemy that emerges. (At the time of this review) I'm currently trying to figure out where they are after locating the direction they came from.
Since you have to make decisions that continue to develop AMI's AI in this story... you're also working as a sort of digital detective to determine whether this is an outside threat or an attack from within. There was something that was said in the story that made me feel like it was an inside job, but I will see how it ultimately plays out.
Gameplay: Acting as AMI, gamers aren't just making decisions on how she thinks, you have to make all the decisions in how you terraform MARS (duh of the day), and how you respond to others you're in communication with. Thus far, I've been in contact with a Doc, a Psychiatrist, and an unknown enemy. I think it adds to the depth because you don't get that feeling of loneliness that some other builder's give off. It feels like someone is with you. Before I go any further... check out some gameplay:
As you see, you will have to mine for resources, use those resources to create manufacturing plants, etc.
Your terraforming tools will increase as you log more game time and invest in R&D, and there will be a lot more game time to log. Initially, the menu will include the following options (minus some of the choices you see here):
Core (includes):
Areological Scanner... which scans a certain sector of the red planet (based on where you place), and will uncover new resources + mysterious locations that require research (this is part of the story).
Worker Hub... is the area where your bot/drone/worker goes when it's idle. Rather than have your drone at a distance... the hub can be placed where your drone is needed the most. This reduced production time by cutting down on the commute.
Spaceport... is the area that the colonies will access to enter and exit the planet.
Storage Center... is a facility that allows you to store material for later use. This may not come to mind to use, but trust me... use this as often as you can. Why? There will be times when you really need those resources and you don't have time for them to be created in manufacturing. I can't stress this enough, use these to your advantage... and make sure that you have them close to the area where you're expanding. This gives you immediate access to your resources with minimal commute for the bots... and strategically... if you start using these once they're available, your builds will be quicker.
Maintenance Facility... your builds will require maintenance, so you will have to place these in strategic areas to ensure that repairs are possible.
Mines (the section that includes tools that you will use to mine their respective resources.):
Water Extractor
Aluminum Mine
Carbon Mine
Chemical Plant
Iron Mine
Silicon Mine
Factory (includes):
Worker Factory... this facility creates your robotic workers.
Electronics Factory... assists in builds like spaceports, worker hubs, etc.
Food Factory... produces food (RkRk would be nearby).
Glass Kiln... produces glass.
Parts Factory... provides needed cogs and things like that.
Steel Factory... I think you get the picture (it produces Steel).
Polymers Factory... get your polymers here!
The sectors don't really need much of an explanation, but... do your best to keep them in a central location so that you have what you need to keep your terraforming efforts in full swing. The storage centers can more so be placed in the outskirts if that's what you fancy or place them nearby so that they can be unloaded there. You could place the center nearby and one at a distance so that the workers can quickly grab what they need (maybe a worker can be in that vicinity to focus on storage near the factories). It's all up to the way you play it.
Power (includes):
Battery... stores excess power (this could come in handy if you want to utilize power in an area that doesn't require a larger source nearby) or just place it near a source to be released when needed. You can string these to an area that needs a little power.
Solar Farm... generates power from the sun and releases it at night with a power output of 30 MW. You will have to keep an eye on how many facilities you connect to these power generators or else you can overload them.
Wind Farm... generates 50 MW of power by way of the wind.
These sections will be unlocked as you progress.
Colonies (include):
Colony... is the housing for the colony.
Research Outpost... is the area where researchers go to research something you've uncovered on mars. This includes abandoned facilities, that may or may not have been created by an unknown threat.
Terraforming (includes):
Greenhouse Gas Factory... releases greenhouse gases to increase the planet's temperature.
* There are other things that I have yet to unlock... like the Hyperloop, so it's safe to assume that the options increase from what you see above. Just like the military option.
Military (includes):
Drone Hive... is a defense tower that is great to place near areas that require defense the most.
Assault Drone Factory... builds assault drones that also defend but... they can also go on the offensive.
The experience changed for me once an attack happened because I went from solely thinking about my build and strategy in that regard, to thinking of my war strategy. Yeah... you can set up a good defense, but I wanted to get on my offense. One tactic I pulled off actually... is something I don't believe the developers anticipated anyone to do. That opened the door and my eyes to something else because what happened next was something I didn't anticipate. (It basically tipped the scale in my favor.)
I basically sent assault drones out as far as I could... and as some of you know, once combat is done... they will return back to your location (right?). Well... after setting up drones in a particular area, instead of returning back to my location... they took off. They didn't just roam just to roam, they went on the attack destroying things that I have yet to see with the areological scanner. They went up quite a ways until they were eventually destroyed... but I believe that a lot of damage was done to the unknown threat before they were taken out.
I plan on increase their strength and their numbers before doing this again (and I hope to see them react in a similar way)... which brings me to the skill tree. The more you build up your skill tree... the more your abilities, increased capacities, and increased tools unlock. You are able to conduct Engineering, Space, Biotech, and Military research. Currently, my monthly RP is 2.7... which means it takes a while to research various things like increasing my Drone Hive levels and unlocking things like Bioengineered Cyanobacteria. I'm most interested in the Biotech sector, which will allow me to unlock things like a Dome Colony and even... Oxygen Release Plants that I'm currently researching.
Military is necessary, but anyone that knows me well... will tell you how much I love plants (which is a lesser-known fave). So I look forward to unlocking these while keeping the antagonist at bay with my drones. At the same time... I also can't help but wonder if we're the actual bad guys in this story.
This section and the Military sections will have the most research ahead of the other two in order to protect my terraforming and help the colonists thrive.
Go in early on Military research as soon as you access the option, it will benefit you in the long run. You don't want the attackers to show up and you're completely defenseless... because they will destroy your hard work.
The building can take a while if you don't fast forward the gameplay, but the ability to change the speed goes a long way... even the ability to pause so that you're able to take a step back and implement or change your strategy.
Per Aspera is definitely a Base Builder/RTS, but you aren't just building in one area awaiting enemies to attack... you're terraforming across the planet with an interesting storyline.
Tip: Set a timer based on how long you want to play this game... because time can fly by. I was on SDGT Live for like 3 hours one day. I looked at the clock and was like... holy shih tzu puppies!
As far as combat goes, outside of positioning your attack drones, sending them to attack enemies... and positioning drone hives... I can say that I haven't experienced a lot of depth in that department just yet. The game doesn't just run on combat elements alone, so that's a good thing, but I will see where it ultimately goes (since I'm only about 12 hours in). I say that to say I haven't covered a crucial amount of ground yet... but a threat emerged when I began to get in a groove with building, so there should be some bigger threats out there.
Taking on assault drones is literally a numbers game so far. If you have more drones than the enemy sends in... you win if they're in reach or you send them to attack. So if you have 60 drones, and the enemy has 50, you win... and will likely end up with 10 drones left.
Before I jump into visuals, I wanted to jump into the replay value for a second. Considering the options you can choose from (as far as the story is concerned)... that alone increases the replay value because you can start over making different decisions to see how things work out. Your building and strategy can switch up from one session to the next, so the options in that regard are endless... and on top of that, you have a sandbox mode too. I'd probably use the sandbox mode to find out if a build would work well or not, but I'd probably stick with the story mode ahead of the sandbox mode (out of the box).
Visuals:At first, the visuals looked like they were more so something inspired by... Autocad. Once you begin to zoom to the planet's surface and tilt the camera (as seen below)... you get a good view of the 3D models. The game has a cel-shaded look that reminds me of a playset.
The scrolling you see here might seem like it's moving in sections... but that's just me using the scroll wheel, it's actually very smooth. While I don't mind the visuals... the combat (at this point) is nothing to write home about visually.
Price: Pricewise... Per Aspera lands at $29.99 for the standard version, and $34.82 for the Per Aspera Deluxe Edition (interesting price) but it's less than $5 more than the standard. This version includes the OST + an Artbook + an Audiobook.
I would recommend the deluxe edition for the Artbook, but... especially for the Audiobook if you want to revisit the action in audio form. I have a few truck drivers in mind that I want to gift this to.
The audiobook is $1.99, the artbook is also $1.99, while the OST is $6.99 ala carte. So if you aren't gifting or only have a specific ala carte purchase in mind... grab the deluxe edition and save some money.
Wearing masks stops the spread, so imagine COVID-19 if everyone acted accordingly and wore their masks. People are dying, people are losing their jobs, people are being evicted, companies are losing business, essential workers are getting sick, and that only increases the scarcity of everything when you think about it. It doesn't require you to wear it in your car, just wear it in stores and public buildings around others, and when you're in crowded spaces and areas where you will interact with things where the public, in general, will go (i.e. gas stations).
Not sure what type of mask is most effective? Take a look at this lab test from June, where the Florida Atlantic University researchers developed a cough emulator lab configuration to determine what the most effective mask would be. The focus is air droplets and how effective certain masks are, and we have the most effective masks in the test available for you w/ a coupon code to save 15% off. So take a look at the video to verify for yourself, and... let's flatten the curve.
The all-time classic Streets of Rage, known as Bare Knuckle (ベア・ナックル Bea Nakkuru) in Japan, is a trilogy of beat ‘em up known for this timeless gameplay and electronic dance influenced music. Streets of Rage 4 builds upon the classic trilogy’s gameplay with new mechanics, beautiful hand-drawn visuals, and a God tier soundtrack.
An iconic series like Streets of Rage got its iconic characters: Axel, Blaze, Adam, and other veterans reunited to clean up the streets. With some brand-new moves and kickass tracks to take a listen, our heroes are ready to dish out beatdowns to a fledgling group of ill-advised criminals in full force.
Streets of Rage 4 will be the first entry to the core series in 25 years, standing as Axel, Adam and Blaze’s glorious return to serving up side-scrolling beatdowns. With lush hand-drawn animations, new combat abilities, and fresh tracks from an amazing team of composers, Streets of Rage 4 will be a masterful tribute to and revitalization of the classic action fans adore
The series is known for its electronic dance influenced music around the world. The soundtrack of Streets of Rage 4 is handled by an all-star line-up of musicians like Yuzō Koshiro, Motohiro Kawashima, Yoko Shimomura, Hideki Naganuma, Keiji Yamagishi and many more who will create new amazing tracks for this new episode of the Streets of Rage series.
● The comeback of the legendary Streets of Rage series. ● Beautiful graphics fully hand-drawn animated by the studio behind Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap. ● Clean up Wood Oak City by yourself or with another friend online for the very first time! ● Team up to 4 people offline to take the city back! ● Classic gameplay enhanced with brand-new mechanics. ● Soundtrack by a wide all-star line up of world-class musicians. ● Braised chicken everywhere.
If Razer's Project Hazel is effective, sign me up... if the price is right. I can almost assure you that if Razer comes out with their own (smart) face mask, pre-orders would be through the roof... and it would likely be their biggest selling product this year or... ever.
The thing that makes me feel like it will actually reach the market... is that Razer didn't just jump into masks with this concept. They responded to Covid-19 by manufacturing masks themselves. Those masks had nothing to do with tech, which is obviously what Razer is known for... so this could happen.
The effectiveness would play a factor as well as the price, but I think that it has the potential of being a huge seller regardless. Not only is it meant to keep your germs in while keeping someone else's germs out with its surgical N95 respirator... but it also has other interesting features.
These features include:
Active ventilation so you don't have to worry about that feeling of suffocation (in theory).
An auto-sterilization function... that uses UV light to kill bacteria and viruses while the mask charges.
Voiceamp Technology... that boosts your voice so it's not muffled.
I'm sure this is definitely going to add to that price tag, but it also has Razer's Chroma RGB lighting feature. What's a Razer product without RGB lighting, right?
This was a product presented at CES 2021... which was virtual this year (thanks Covid-19), but... my fingers are crossed in hopes that this product doesn't die in Razer Labs. Project Brooklyn, I'd be okay without... and I guess that's true of Project Hazel too... but it's a practical product that I'd actually buy.
Before we jump into this review, I just want to give a shout out to Warner Bros. for supplying a copy of this film for the review. My opinions are my own. That said, let's dive into... Toys of Terror.
Story:The story in this film starts out simple enough, maybe a little too simple though... because it was sort of... blah. I get what they were doing because they didn't really want to reveal the toys in action right away, but... that put a wrench in the intro.
So it opens up with this woman who looks like she's dressed for a funeral... dragging a chest across a blanket of snow to the Saint Germaine Children's Clinic (Est. 1918). She knocks and vanishes like a Ninja. A lady opens the door, finds one of those... "Looking for a good home" type of notes... and brings the chest in.
I can only imagine what happened inside the place because... that wasn't shown on camera. As soon as the door closes... you hear the woman scream. The scene closes out by showing the creepy woman hiding behind a tree, and then... it cuts to the title screen "Toys of Terror"! (Grrrrrr... aaarrrggg!)
I won't give the play by play for the rest of the film, but I wanted to speak on the opening a little bit.
Openers can make or break whether someone chooses to watch a film in its entirety...or not (duh of the day). Open strong. I think even if the audience saw at least one of the toys spring to life and set the pace of what's to expect... it would've been a lot more satisfying. I guess they just wanted to make sure that there was something there explaining how the toys got to the location, but that left me with more questions about their origin.
I watched the film for the sake of enjoying it for what it was, but I was still wondering if the origin of the toys would be revealed and how they were brought to life. When I saw Uncle monkey in action, I was like... (damn) that would've been a great toy to open with, but... I'll move on.
So the movie transitions to modern times... which is where the main story picks up. You have David (Dayo Ade) and Hannah Cashman (Kyana Teresa) rounding up their blended family of 5 + 1 (the nanny) for a road trip to a house they planned to flip. So it was going to be a working vacay over the holidays that just so happened to be the same hellhole where the toys were located. Joy!
Off the bat (excluding the opening scene), I noticed how... iffy the acting was (at least in part). I don't know what it is... maybe some actors are a little too wrapped up with remembering lines that they forget to act naturally, but the acting looked like... acting... in some scenes. The only person that came close to being believable for the most part... was David's daughter, Alicia. She had the most common sense.
Alicia (Verity Marks) was the teen forced to tag-along.
Alicia didn't get her common sense from her dad either, because this genius acted like he was going on a joyride to the nearest hospital after someone was... impaled. Seriously, I was like... what... the...(beep)?! That wasn't a natural reaction in my opinion, and neither were other reactions I observed in the film. I'll get back to why I kinda sorta found it amusing.
You may be asking yourself when the toys will actually get their shine, and you're in luck... because it's that time. The toys were present... and played their part somewhat, but... I really didn't consider all of them a terror. You had a few that are vicious, but most of the toys are mischievous at best. The youngest kids Franklin (Saul Elias) & Zoe (Zoe Fish) were usually seen running around with the toys in their arms... making sure they could access rooms.
The toys sprang to life via old school stop motion in this film, which was okay, but... I'd give the biggest praise to the team for the work they did with Uncle Monkey. He took the cake (or errr.... the banana).
The team did a great job making the monkey look absolutely scary, which earned him the top spot on the movie's cover image. This particular toy could've had its own movie if the team played their cards right. It's still possible.
Visuals: As far as visuals go, they actually weren't bad. They sold the creepiness of it all... adding scenes with really weird looking toys chillin' in certain areas of the house. I was just waiting for them to break bad on the family, but one of the more truly scary scenes for me... was when the Nanny and the kids left an old kid's room (where the toy chest was).
The door was closing, and the camera went down and revealing scratches all over the bottom part of the door... like something was trying to get out. That right there, that was scary, and... the visuals continued to do their part up until this one particular scene with the toys in action.
The frame by frame stop motion animations was a brave attempt, I can't get mad at that... but there was a way to increase the realism during a scene where the toys were getting the kids excited about their sinister little idea of Christmas. Luckily it got better as the movie progressed.
By the way, I appreciated the fact that they incorporated videogames into the movie. I saw a Nintendo Switch make a small appearance and even an old school console... which looked like an Atari with games exclusive to film. Alicia was playing this one game... not realizing that it was her and others in the house, and what she was doing in the game seemed to determine what was going to happen in reality. I was surprised that they were able to deliver some chills with the console, but they did and did it well I might add. That would make the game one of the Toys of Terror.
Audio + Extras: Audio was basic Dolby Audio, which delivered the vocals through the center speaker of my surround sound system, but... most of the other sounds like the background music and sound effects were delivered through all speakers. I would've preferred to have that full surround sound experience, but I didn't mind the voices coming directly from the center speaker solely (this prevented any chance of their voices being drowned out).
Extras include:
Toys of Terror Come to Life, which is a little featurette that explains what the film is about, and a look at how they brought the toys to life with stop motion animation.
A Terrifying Weekend: Making of Toys of Terror, is another featurette which shows you how the idea for the film came together... and how they brought the elements together for the horror-days. This mainly revolves around set design.
I didn't mind the extra. It gives you a little insight into the stop motion work and how it actually comes to life on film. Extras would've been a great way to present more backstory on the toys, but I digress.
The biggest con in this film's story is that the end of the film was wrapped up in a weird way (compared to real life). Why did the survivors just plan on going home when it was said and done? I'm not saying that they should have stayed there, but they didn't mention anything about a trip to the hospital or calling the cops while en route.
If I had the option to decide on how the movie would end... I would've had them on their way to the hospital, followed by Uncle Monkey appearing in the back window as they drove off. It would've given a continuation to the story and one last jump for the audience to enjoy.
Price: Pricewise... Toys of Terror comes in at $24.98 for Blu-Ray + Digital & $19.99 for DVD, which is about $5 more than what I'd consider as the sweet spot. I know that there is a standard price for select products... but just like in gaming, there should be tiers for TV & Film. Toys of Terror is available on DVD... January 19, 2021!
I think a bundle would've been sick for this movie, all they had to do was include an Uncle Monkey puppet with exchangeable heads (calm and vicious).
Overall, I have to say this... (hmmm) I've watched the movie around 3 times so far. It's funny but... cheesy horror movies have their own niche in my opinion. I don't know why (I really don't know why) they're so oddly... entertaining, but (at least in my culture) there are quite a few people that watch them just to give our take on what we'd do in these situations.
