The Seasonal Order: Summer 2014

Hey everyone! It's that time of the year again! Time to talk about the current state of The Critical Order, projects I have in the works, and what I will be reviewing over the next several months! More information after the cutoff!

Shovel Knight Review

Say what will you will about Kickstarter, but the undeniable fact is that it allows gamers to fund the games that they want to see made. No more being forced to watch AAA developers churn out sequel after sequel with no original ideas behind them. Now, any company can pitch a game, show some footage from it, and have the gamers themselves pay for the development. Sometimes developers can be very shady and turn Kickstarter into a scam, but more often than naught, legitimate developers use the platform to help fund games that normally couldn't be funded. Shovel Knight is such an example.

And it kicks ass.

How To Train Your Dragon 2 Review

Dreamworks and I have had an interesting relationship over the past few years. I've never really paid that much attention to them and in return, Dreamworks has never done anything to merit my attention. I know that there are people who really do enjoy Dreamworks movies, but I'm just not one of them. Their style usually revolves around making modern references where they don't belong and making movies that just don't sound appealing to me. When I heard they were doing The Croods last year, I couldn't even muster up a "meh" in acknowledgment. That's how little I care about Dreamworks. That may have to change soon after seeing How To Train Your Dragon 2.

Mario Kart 8 Review

If you've noticed. it's been over two weeks since Mario Kart 8 has come out. Now you may be asking yourself why this review is coming in so late, and the answer is simple. Not only was I busy taking care of E3 news and I couldn't get it out in time, but I wanted to be sure that I had fully completed the game. Over the course of two weeks, I have gotten gold on every single Mirror course AND completed a 32 course circuit in the game. There's a lot of content to this game, and I loved every second of it.

E3 2014: Nintendo Edition

With the last conference finally done, we now have Nintendo's line up for the near future. Is it all it's cracked up to be, or will the Wii U struggle again this year?

E3 2014: Sony Edition

Okay we've got a lot to talk about in this press conference, so let's not waste any time. Sony brought the games, and man were there a lot of them.

E3 2014: Ubisoft Edition

Two down, three to go, it's time we talked about the Ubisoft press conference today. Did it deliver, or was it more of the same? Well it was a little of both, as is often the case, but I never really got invested in what was shown.

E3 2014: EA Edition

Our E3 2014 coverage continues with EA, not necessarily the most popular of companies, but it can't be denied that their games sell and are highly anticipated, but how did E3 shape up for them this year?

E3 2014: Microsoft Edition

Hello and welcome to the E3 Roundup of each press conference today, starting off with the Microsoft Press Conference. After last E3, Microsoft was publicly humiliated by Sony for their Xbox One policies. To say that they're still reeling from what happened last year is an understatement. They had a lot to prove at E3 this year, and more or less, they pulled it off.

The Fault in Our Stars Review

Let it never been said that I don't venture out into unexplored territories. Me and the whole "Teen novel adaptation" craze have had our ups and downs. I really enjoyed Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters and I respect The Hunger Games for at least being a very well handled series with a solid plot. And then we have my experiences with the Twilight franchise and how that alone can color my perceptions on the whole sub genre. In my eyes, most teen novels that get made into movies feature an unusual element of fiction inside of them, like vampires, witches, aliens, etc, and links that with a romance plot in order to tell a story that teenage girls would find captivating, but make their book stand out against all the other books. Read my teen romance novel because it has aliens in it! But here, we have a very realistic (by Hollywood standards), adaptation of the popular teen romance novel, The Fault in Our Stars, and we get to see first hand if it's another Twilight or not.

A Million Ways to Die in the West Review

When it comes to Seth MacFarlane, people tend to have a very divided opinion of him and his works like Family Guy and American Dad. Some people think that he's able to poke fun at any situation and inject humor and satire into nearly any situation regardless of how difficult it is. Others view him as being all cut away gags and that his only jokes are making references to other things with a modern perspective and failing at it. I personally think that Seth MacFarlane is very hit and miss with his humor and he seems to push the boundaries a bit too far in some instances, but when his jokes hit, man do they hit. His last feature film Ted was a huge success both critically and commercially, justifyingly so, and while his latest movie A Million Ways to Die in the West isn't as good, it's still pretty damned good and one of the best comedies of the year so far.