Lack of updates...

Sorry for the lack of updates, dear friends. :(

The reason is that I've been too busy at the moment, especially now that I've joined the Swedish movie database and community MovieZine.

After Pixels, I've also watched Jurassic World (in 3D), Kung Fury and Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation. I've written reviews of them in Swedish for MovieZine. In due time they'll be translated into English and uploaded to this blog.

If you can read Swedish, then you're welcome to visit my profile at MovieZine where you can find all of my reviews of movies I've watched since I joined the community, including older movies shown on TV.

In the meantime, if you like Pixels as much as I do, then you'll love this promo website: Pixels Photo Bomb. In that website, you'll be able to add the alien characters from Pixels to your photos of choice.

Have fun, and see you later! :)

An unexpected McMeal deal!

On my way home today, I got an unexpected offer in the official app of Swedish McDonald's: buy a Quarter Pounder with Cheese and a Medium French Fries for only 19 SEK (≈ €2.02 or $2.20)!

So naturally, I went to the nearest McDonald's restaurant.

Thanks for this offer, McDonald's! You made my evening!

(It's 19:35 PM Swedish time when I write this blog post.)

How I rate mobile games and movies

(Please note that the content of this post may be revised in the future.)

(To understand why I prefer to write reviews on my blog instead of directly on Google Play, please read about it here.)

To make it simple, I'll use the universal 5-star rating system:

5*: Excellent

4*: Very good

3*: Average

2*: Bad

1*: Should be avoided at all costs

I'll also apply half stars if needed.

How do I rate mobile games?

I play with either an Apple iPad 2 or a Samsung Galaxy Trend Plus (GT-S7580). I rate mobile games after:

1. The possibility to play the game offline

Let's face it. If the game requires a constant Internet connection, it's impossible to play it unless you have access to free Wi-Fi or are ready to pay for a data plan.

Personally I think games should be able to be played offline no matter where you are - if you're in a tunnel while riding a train, camping in the woods or simply spending your time at a location with bad Internet connection.

One acceptable exception would be if a daily present/gift requires an online connection.

2. Controls

Self-explanatory. Is it easy to control the character and access the menus?

3. The Plot

An important part of my game experience. Is the plot interesting enough to make me want to play this game until the end?

4. Graphics

It's quite obvious: Whether a game uses 2D sprites or 3D models, it must be good to be looking at.

But I won't comment so much if the textures are good or bad. I'm rating mobile games after all, and we should expect that mobile games can't be as beautiful as their console or PC counterparts. And we can't expect all of the 3D characters to be able to move their jaws in a realistic way, can we?

5. Sound and music

Another obvious fact: Not only a game needs to look good, we must bear with the sounds and background music, don't you agree?

Classic java games for old cellphones can't play sounds and background music together at the same time, but games for modern (smart)phones can.

5. Multiplayer experience

In case I play a game where multiplayer exists. I'll rate it as well. I'll comment if the multiplayer session works, if it's balanced or unfair and if the game lags or not.

6. The possibility to share savefiles between platforms

If you get a new device, is it possible to transfer the savefiles from the old one to the new one? Or do you have to restart the game from the beginning?

7. The possibility to record a gameplay session

I bet that many of you want to record yourselves playing a game and developers sometimes include this feature in their apps, but not always.

Is this feature worth your time or not? That's the question.

8. My overall experience

The most important part of the review. Is the gameplay good or bad, despite the game having an interesting plot, great graphics, music and multiplayer experience?

How do I rate movies?

My movie reviews will be easier (and perhaps shorter) than my mobile game reviews.

In my movie reviews I'll give you my overall experience based on

1. the choice of actors (appearance and how they act their roles)
2. music (if it fits the setting)
3. the plot (if I think it's logical or not)
4. the 3D experience (if applicable; will I get a real 3D experience with my 3D glasses, or is just a gimmick?)

Why don't I rate a 'real' console game or PC game? 

That's because I'm too busy nowadays. I haven't touched any of them for a long time. If I play a PC game, it usually will be Champions Online (a free-to-play massive multiplayer online superhero roleplaying game by Cryptic Studios) since I rarely buy new games.

But mobile games however, that's another story. I can play them anywhere. Sometimes I think a mobile game title can as good as its bigger counterparts.

But I won't leave out the console and PC games completely: If there are news about them on other gaming websites which I find interesting, I'll share my thoughts with you on my blog.

Will you write reviews of every mobile game?

Actually, I won't because I don't have time and because I can't afford to buy every title. Instead I'll only focus on free-to-play mobile games which belong to or are spin-offs of famous franchises.

Why do I only rate movies shown at cinemas?

I don't have time to watch movies often, I'm afraid. And I don't think you're interested in my opinions of older movies which you (may) already have watched.

Why I've decided to write reviews on my blog instead of directly on Google Play

The famous
Google Play badge

One of the reasons I started this blog (besides running my YouTube-channel Stormtrooper Sverige) is to share with you my thoughts of (mobile) games and movies I've watched. At the moment I'll only cover movies still being shown at cinemas.

I've written a few reviews of mobile games found on Google Play in the past. While it's possible to write how much you want in a Google Play-review of an app or a movie, I don't think the space offered by Google is good enough because of two things:

1. Formatting is impossible

As you may have discovered, I'm not fond of too much text without spaces. It looks like a forest of words and it makes the whole text difficult for me to read. I prefer texts divided in sections with some space between them.

This is impossible to do in a Google Play-review: No matter how hard I try, Google Play always puts all of the sentences behind each other.

2. Only the first sentences in a long review will appear (on a handheld device)

I experienced this when I wrote a long text about why I dislike Spider-Man Unlimited. This is a huge problem since other Google Play-users won't be able to read my full reviews on their handheld Android-devices. At the moment, it's only possible to read full texts if you're browsing through Google Play with a personal computer.

Please note that this isn't 'just another entertainment-blog' written by a private person for the Internet. And it won't be a blog where I speculate rumours (e.g. possible plots) about movies and (mobile) games. It's simply a blog about me and my daily experiences, either online or offline.

Although I've just started this blog recently, I hope you've enjoyed following it so far. If you like my blog and my YouTube-channel, please subscribe to them and comment on my videos and blog posts. It means a lot to me and encourages me to continue sharing things with you.

(If you're new to the blog and don't know why I dislike Spider-Man Unlimited, you may read it here.)

Gameloft Confidential

The icon for Spider-Man Unlimited,
a free-to-play game released in 2014. 
© 2015 Gameloft © 2015 Marvel

Today I've joined Gameloft Confidential which is a program for content creators (e.g. YouTubers like me). It was recently started by the video game developer and publisher Gameloft.

The program gives assets (e.g. screenshots) from a couple of Gameloft's smartphone games in order for content creators to create 'awesome' Gameloft-related videos.

At the moment, the program only covers the latest (free-to-play) smartphone games, like Spider-Man Unlimited, Modern Combat 5: Blackout and Asphalt 8.

Ryan, the Community Manager for the US Marketing team

at Gameloft, announces Gameloft Confidential.

I think this is an exciting move from Gameloft's part. But I hope the video game developer will add more games from its catalogue, because I've thought of making videos of some of their 'older' games.

Spider-Woman with her new suit.
© 2015 Gameloft © 2015 Marvel

I have played Spider-Man Unlimited frequently last year and I could make videos of it since I love Marvel's famous superhero. But I've promised myself to never touch that game again.

You see, I still haven't forgotten my disappointments when it first turned out that the game's story mode had to be played online. Only the endless runner-mode was available offline. 

Secondly, premium characters (in other words, high-ranking Spider-Men or Spider-Women who could reach high levels) had to be purchased in order to complete the story's later chapters. But all purchases were totally random so it would be difficult to get the favourite character of one's choice, especially when the Spideys must be ranked up to raise the level caps and hence, reach the levels the stages of the later chapters require.

But the nail in the coffin was during the 2014 Christmas-event where all of the players could win Spider-Woman wearing her revised costume. I managed to finish the mission where a number of Christmas-presents must be collected but because of a glitch, I never acquired her!

The only 'thing' Gameloft offered was an ISO-8 compensation. ISO-8 is the game's premium currency which is needed to do the random purchases. But since I knew I would only waste them and get characters I didn't want, I declined the offer and uninstalled Spider-Man Unlimited.

Gameloft, I think you've been a great video game developer. I've followed you since 2003 when I got my first colour GSM-phone. But since I touched this pay-to-win game, I don't think highly of you anymore. You ruined my Christmas spirit last year when I played like crazy instead of celebrating Christmas. I have difficulties forgiving you because of it.

Sorry for the rant, I needed to let off some steam. I gave the game only one star at its Google Play-page, and I still think it deserves that low score.

So which Gameloft-games among the titles in Gameloft Confidential will I make videos of? I'll just wait and see if there are future games which will raise my interest. But not Spider-Man Unlimited.

Hello World!

After thinking for a very long while, I've finally decided to start my simple blog where I share with you my thoughts about popular culture and (mobile) video games among other things - when I'm not creating and uploading gameplay videos.

I've also thought of writing my own game and movie reviews in the future.

Please stay tuned, friends! :)