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‘Space Hulk: Deathwing Enhanced Edition’ Adds Polish, Still Too Cumbersome

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Hulk

Who here is a Warhammer 40K fan? If you raised your hand I commend you, and I’m going to guess that you are in the process of purchasing or already own Space Hulk: Deathwing Enhanced Edition.Followers of the series find the charm and excitement in the series even when there are one or two issues at play. You Warhammer fans are a passionate and hardcore bunch and I totally understand and appreciate that. I too have fandoms that have me wearing blinders to some of its overt issues.

Space Hulk: Deathwing, was originally given the board game treatment before it was turned into the first-person shooter that we have before us now. Fans of Warhammer 40K made it a cult darling despite its many flaws.

Those flaws are kind of polished out with the latest “Enhanced Edition.” This remaster includes more customization, a new Chaplain class and new weapons in both single player and multiplayer modes which do improve on the base title quite a bit.

You take control of a Dark Angel Librarians he and his team infiltrate a Space Hulk to answer a distress call. It’s your job (and pleasure) to clear out the giant ship by blasting all the of the hostile Genestealers into bloody pulp while exploring the lore of each ship. The mechanics play out like Left 4 Dead, with hordes of endless enemies pouring onto your squad’s position.

These Space Hulk’s are very reminiscent to that of Event Horizon. These massive Space Hulks drift between dimensions resulting in these ships being half regular old sci-fi spacecraft environments and half atmospheric Gothic settings. The set-up is pretty cool, as a big Event Horizon fan I’m into the trans-dimensional horror angle, and how that is a jumping point for an interesting melding of horror and science fiction.

The main thing that has changed here is the skill tree and customization and both are rewarding in their own arenas and assists in combat against what seems like endless enemies, while the character customization gives your Terminator a cool armor paint jobs. Fans of the series are sure to be into the new improvements as well as the variety of Easter eggs from the Warhammer 40k lexicon.

Unfortunately, all this is built around the fact that the combat gameplay aspect is very clunky. The bulky suit that your Terminator wears, while cool looking, is entirely too cumbersome to move around in at a decent speed. Traveling down long hallway can become a daunting task due to slow galumphing issue. A bit of speeding up is definitely in order and would have helped the combat experience out immensely.

New weapons look fantastic but unfortunately aiming is a problematic especially while firing. Huge blinding muzzle flashes make it hard to see exactly what you are shooting at. This becomes a huge problem, early on and only gets worse with the increase number of enemies in later levels. It didn’t help that I experienced multiple frame drops within the first few hours of play that added to the already bulky game play.

You lead a squad of two other Deathwing marines, who you are able to give orders to in combat, but this feels like an aspect that was tacked on late in the game. The board game was very reliant on tactical squad combat, but nothing feels tactical here. It simply boils down to bad AI and sloppy command nuts and bolts execution.

When played in co-op with actual friends as opposed to the abysmal AI, the gameplay feels a little richer considering pushing and covering can actually be achieved. But, even then, frame rate issues and cumbersome movement gets in the way of that enjoyment.

It’s a shame that the negatives are such an integral part of the experience, because outside of those things Space Hulk: Deathwing, builds a fantastic world out of the Warhammer 40K mythos. The ships environments are painstakingly created with attention to detail and the action seems like it would be great if not for combat being such a chore.

Warhammer fans are hardcore. There is definitely a rewarding experience of lore and new features for them to sink their teeth into, but casual fans or someone new to the series may have trouble achieving the same experience.  Slow combat simply didn’t work for me, and not being able to see what you are shooting at while shooting is a blaring issue. It’s disheartening because the world here seems like a very cool place to spend hours gaming with friends, but the way things are I’ll take my chance with the Space Hulk board game in place of this anytime.

Space Hulk: Deathwing Enhanced Edition is out now on Playstation 4 and PC.

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Brad Dourif Says He’s Retiring Except For One Important Role

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Brad Dourif has been doing movies for nearly 50 years. Now it seems he is walking away from the industry at 74 to enjoy his golden years. Except, there is a caveat.

Recently, digital entertainment publication JoBlo’s Tyler Nichols talked to some of the Chucky television series cast members. During the interview, Dourif made an announcement.

“Dourif said that he’s retired from acting,” says Nichols. “The only reason he came back for the show was because of his daughter Fiona and he considers Chucky creator Don Mancini to be family. But for non-Chucky stuff, he considers himself retired.”

Dourif has voiced the possessed doll since 1988 (minus the 2019 reboot). The original movie “Child’s Play” has become such a cult classic it’s at the top of some people’s best chillers of all time. Chucky himself is ingrained in pop culture history much like Frankenstein or Jason Voorhees.

While Dourif may be known for his famous voiceover, he is also an Oscar-nominated actor for his part in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Another famous horror role is The Gemini Killer in William Peter Blatty’s Exorcist III. And who can forget Betazoid Lon Suder in Star Trek: Voyager?

The good news is that Don Mancini is already pitching a concept for season four of Chucky which might also include a feature-length movie with a series tie-in. So, Although Dourif says he is retiring from the industry, ironically he is Chucky’s friend till the end.

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Editorial

7 Great ‘Scream’ Fan Films & Shorts Worth a Watch

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The Scream franchise is such an iconic series, that many budding filmmakers take inspiration from it and make their own sequels or, at least, build upon the original universe created by screenwriter Kevin Williamson. YouTube is the perfect medium to showcase these talents (and budgets) with fan-made homages with their own personal twists.

The great thing about Ghostface is that he can appear anywhere, in any town, he just needs the signature mask, knife, and unhinged motive. Thanks to Fair Use laws it’s possible to expand upon Wes Craven’s creation by simply getting a group of young adults together and killing them off one by one. Oh, and don’t forget the twist. You’ll notice that Roger Jackson’s famous Ghostface voice is uncanny valley, but you get the gist.

We have gathered five fan films/shorts related to Scream that we thought were pretty good. Although they can’t possibly match the beats of a $33 million blockbuster, they get by on what they have. But who needs money? If you’re talented and motivated anything is possible as proven by these filmmakers who are well on their way to the big leagues.

Take a look at the below films and let us know what you think. And while you’re at it, leave these young filmmakers a thumbs up, or leave them a comment to encourage them to create more films. Besides, where else are you going to see Ghostface vs. a Katana all set to a hip-hop soundtrack?

Scream Live (2023)

Scream Live

Ghostface (2021)

Ghostface

Ghost Face (2023)

Ghost Face

Don’t Scream (2022)

Don’t Scream

Scream: A Fan Film (2023)

Scream: A Fan Film

The Scream (2023)

The Scream

A Scream Fan Film (2023)

A Scream Fan Film
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Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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