Weekly Blog #7: Favorite Cartoons/Animated SeriesJune 29, 2014 by

Lost's seventh blog topic is to write about your favorite animated shows from when you were a kid. Growing up, my parents didn't let me watch TV much, with the exception of when we were on vacation. Thanks to that, the internet, other people's houses, and the small amount I did watch at home, I do have a few cartoons from my childhood that I liked. Mainly Pinky and the Brain and Pokemon, which are the two I'm going to talk about.


Pinky and the Brain - I didn't get into this show as much as I did with Pokemon, but I remember watching episodes a long time ago and loving it. I've watched quite a bit of it more recently actually, and I even met the voice actors at Dragon Con last year. I've realized it's a surprisingly clever show as I've gotten older. A lot of the jokes would have gone way over my head as a kid. Plus, Pinky and the Brain are just so likable.


Pokemon - This is the show I binged on online. I went crazy watching Pokemon episodes as a kid. For a long time, I would wake up really early before school to watch as many as possible before I had to leave. I did that for several months, until I eventually stopped somewhere in the middle of Hoenn. I still like Pokemon to this day, although I haven't watched the show in years.


Pokemon is probably a popular choice among IGN members, so who else watched it when they were kids? Also, how many people watched Pinky and the Brain? Write a blog to submit to Lost or tell me in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

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Maleficent ReviewJune 27, 2014 by

This review is spoiler free.

Despite the generally negative reviews it's been getting, "Maleficent is a great movie for Disney and fantasy fans. It is a remake, although "rewrite" would be more accurate, of the Sleeping Beauty story.

The movie is from the perspective of Maleficent, the villain of the original story. However, she is not exactly a villain in Maleficent; her character is a lot more fleshed out. I don't want to give anything away, but she is much more ambivalent this time around.

The special effects are great; I could tell that much as soon as I saw the trailer. Although it is a live action movie, many of the characters are CGI (like fairies, orcs, and other creatures). Most of the time it works well, although it occasionally seems fake because of how much they are mixed in with real people.

One complaint I've heard often in reviews is that the humor just doesn't work with the movie and isn't funny. I would actually agree with that for the most part, although it had enough genuinely funny moments to balance it out.













People have also pointed out how different it is from the original story, which is true. It's from the perspective of a villain who the creators are trying to make less of a villain; of course the story isn't going to be exactly like the original. In my opinion, they took just enough creative freedom to make it interesting while still being true to the basis of the original story. The director has to make the movie unique, and I think he accomplished that goal.

The most impressive part of Maleficent is Angelina Jolie. She was incredible; I honestly don't think anybody could do a better job. It's almost worth seeing for her performance alone.

Maleficent is one of my new favorite Disney remakes. If you enjoy dark fantasy, I absolutely recommend it. I am giving it 8.9/10.

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The Best Free Games on SteamJune 25, 2014 by

Steam is one of the best gaming platforms you can get, and it has hundreds of great games. The only problem is that games cost money. With the summer sale going on, I came up with a list of games to give your wallet a break for a while, while still being fun. I limited my list to Steam games; it would be huge otherwise.


Tribes: Ascend












Sadly, Hi-Rez decided that Ascend was finished and doesn't need any more updates (which is stupid), but it's still a great game. Skiing down hills and launching into the air is such an awesome feeling.


Floating Point












Floating Point is very short; I only played it for about ten minutes in my first play session. It just doesn't have much content, but that isn't really the point. It's very relaxing. It was also made by the creator of Gunpoint, which is another great game.


Team Fortress 2












Pretty much everyone knows about this game, but it's still worth putting on here. I don't play it often, but I always have fun when I do.













Hawken is a first person mech game. I've never been a huge mech fan, but playing Hawken with my friends is some of the most fun I've had in a multiplayer game.


The Cat and the Coup













This game is interesting. It's kind of a historical game in a way, but at the same time it's not. I basically just told you nothing about it.

It's kind of a platformer/puzzle game with a Monty Python-esque art style. It's also really weird, which is why it's difficult to describe.















Space ninjas. Are you downloading it yet?

Seriously though, this game is just awesome. It has an insane number of missions, none of which require payment, and it's still being updated.


What free Steam games do you all like? Tell me in the comments!

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Weekly Blog #6: Your Favorite Video GameJune 21, 2014 by

Lost's topic for this week was to write about your favorite video game. I used to say that my favorite game was Portal 2 after it came out, but now I can't say I have one. It's way too broad of a question; there are too many games to choose from. A lot of games aren't even comparable as to which one I liked more. So, I instead decided to (somewhat ignore the topic and) write about a few of my favorite games from unusual genres. I've written about some of them before (and some of them I'm going to write about again soon), but it doesn't matter because these games are great.


Stickman Fighting - One Finger Death Punch















I have a review of this game coming out soon, so I won't say too much. If you want an easy to play martial arts game, this is perfect. And yes, your character and every enemy are stickmen. And also yes, that is a genre of games.


Hidden Object - Drawn: The Painted Tower











Again, I have a review of this coming out soon and don't want to steal my own thunder. Anyway, The Painted Tower involves finding objects hidden throughout various areas and solving puzzles, all in a beautiful fantasy setting. If that sounds good to you, I would recommend picking it up for PC when you get the chance. You won't regret it.


Text Adventure - Device 6













Device 6 isn't exactly a text adventure game because it has pictures, but the developers classify it as one. It's easily the most immersive iOS game I've ever played. The only downside is that you do have to have iOS; it isn't on Android.


Steampunk - Guns of Icarus Online












Sadly, the UI in this game is terrible, but it makes up for it with everything else. Guns of Icarus is a lot of fun with friends, the soundtrack is great, and the whole game looks amazing.


Thanks for reading. I would be pretty surprised if anyone has played any of these, but tell me in the comments if you have!

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X-Men: Days of Future Past ReviewJune 12, 2014 by

This review is spoiler free.

Days of Future Past is interesting because Mystique quickly becomes one of the most important characters in the movie, storywise. In the present day, the mutants are close to extinction because of the war that started years ago. Mystique essentially started the war, so Wolverine goes back in time to try to stop her.

As you might be able to tell from the confusing title, the story revolves around time travel. Fortunately, it doesn't overuse time travel or overcomplicate it at all.

















Days of Future Past introduces a few new mutants to the films, although most of them are minor characters. I would love to see more of Blink, but that probably won't happen. Anyway, the biggest addition is Quicksilver, who is one of my new favorite mutants. His power is super speed, although it would be more accurate to say his power is to slow down time for himself. He's a complete goofball, which makes for some great scenes. I've always liked super speed, as you can probably tell from my blog about it a few weeks ago.

The acting is very good, not that anyone should expect differently from X-Men. Hugh Jackman isn't quite as good as he was in The Wolverine, but he still has a solid performance. Jennifer Lawrence isn't my favorite actor, but she took on the lead role well. And of course, Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, although their roles were small since most of the movie was in the past, were great.

As important as the story was to the X-Men universe, I didn't find it as compelling as some of the other recent X-Men movies. Fortunately, the movie is enjoyable even if you haven't been following the X-Men movies too closely. Days of Future Past isn't my favorite X-Men movie, but I would absolutely recommend it to fans of the series. I am giving it 8/10.

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