MadCap's Game Reviews - "Bethesda Creation Club"

So, Bethesda...we meet again at last. The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was mocking the fact that you were trying to resell what was admittedly a very good game six years afterwards as a "Special Edition", which earned it a spot as one of my worst games of 2017.

How far I have come in seven years of doing this.

But now, I come to tackle a new spore of madness - likely long after anyone has stopped caring about it. The Bethesda Creation Club. When the controversy first broke out, I admit, I was squicky about the concept of paid mods. Of course, anyone who follows my blog will know that I try to avoid controversies surrounding games and just try to focus on the product themselves...though sometimes, that is astoundingly impossible in a few instances.

Like with No Man's Sky.

...or Aliens: Colonial Marines.

But now, I come back to Bethesda again. Once, we were as close and intimate as lovers. I was a scrawny, energetic thing at the age of 21 when Skyrim first graced store shelves in November of 2011. Now that I'm a slightly more robust, cynical creature at the age of 27, it seems that the honeymoon is over. Bethesda is doing things that no longer thrill me and just plain make me sad. Case in point, the aforementioned re-releasing of Skyrim with some graphics clean up long after anyone stopped caring about it...and the Creation Club.

MadCap's Reel Thoughts - "Thor: The Dark World" (2013)

Hoo boy...

Yeah, I'm not going to lie here, when I'm recommending a Marvel movie to one of my friends (y'know, of the three people who haven't seen a Marvel movie at this point) Thor: The Dark World is not my go-to choice. It's not because the film is bad - with the exception of Iron Man 3 (which I covered in detail a few weeks ago), I'd be hard pressed to call a film in the MCU bad - but because it's, frankly just...boring. It has good moments and isn't overall unwatchable, but it's not a film I find myself revisiting often whenever I get in the mood to watch a Marvel film.

As a testament to this statement, I will say that I've seen this movie three times: once in the theater, once on DVD at my home, and then once on DVD at home when I went to review the movie.

I think a large problem is that, coming off of The Avengers, Dark World isn't exactly sure what it wants to be. The first Thor film had a clear focus - it was a Shakespearean drama about two brothers vying for the throne of their father. Even Thor: Ragnarok had a clear focus as a fun space romp much in the late 80s vein (admittedly because of the success of the Guardians of the Galaxy films, but that's neither here nor there). But Thor: The Dark World? It doesn't really follow the rule of successful superhero movies using another genre to disguise themselves.

For example, Captain America: The First Avenger worked well because it was a war film that just so happened to have the fantastic superhero elements within it, Spider-Man: Homecoming worked because it was a coming of age film that just so happened to have the fantastic superhero elements within it, Logan worked because it was a gritty western that just so happened to have the fantastic superhero elements within it, and so on....

Thor: The Dark World is sort of an action-adventure, but also a romance, but also a disaster film, the problem with that combination being that it really doesn't succeed in pulling off any of those. With that said, let's get into the nitty-gritty.

MadCap's Game Reviews - "The Best of 2017"

And let's hope that this year will be better than the last, am I right everybody?!

Ahem.

With the new year here at last, 2018 (and not a moment too soon), I find myself reflecting on the year past and I have come to a very important conclusion - I have not played nearly enough game in the last year. This is to change in 2018! Before that, however, I bring to you my list of the top three games of 2017! Because, believe it or not, there were actually some good ones that I played. And, as established last year, 2017 was not a good year for my gaming cred for a variety of reasons.

So, let's start out 2018 on a high note! Here are my top 3 games of 2017!