Alien vs Predator vs The Terminator is, apart from a long title, a curious three-way crossover, which on itself could be curious (hybrid terminator-alien), but the presence of an Ellen Ripley that continues the infamous 4h Alien movie trend of Ripley & family clones with alien DNA makes everything feel too much.
The main story not bad (how a Terminator laid low until could create a next generation hybrid soldier to try to recreate Skynet and so on), but apart from the aforementioned Ripley things, it looks like 4 issues were too few so story had to be packed so much that in time spans of hours (or as much as a few days) too much happens (don't want to spoil anything, but no matter how hard working a machine is, some stuff makes no sense).
While no match for a classic AvP comic story, a different reading, but I wouldn't say it is amazing.
Predator Omnibus spawns 4 volumes: I, II, III & IV, each one around 400 pages big. I got the four of them, but this review covers the first three volumes.
The reason of the incomplete review is simple: I got tired of reading so many similar Predator stories: Predator hunts humans, Predator hunts predator, Predator hunts animal... Although I sincerely don't think a Bear would be a match for our favourite alien, it's at least a different take, because when you read once and again and again and again the very same story just changing the setting, it becomes not only repetitive but actually boring.
Some ideas feel fresh, like crazy predators, or the small series of detective Schaefer, but other many just present the exact same plot and developments just with different visuals.
I might finish the fourth book in the future, but I've had enough Predators "alone" for a while. I'd rather read the great Alien vs Predator series, where there's much more imagination and creativity (and a few surprises).
I'm going to try to keep doing a status update post each X months, as might be of interest to read some personal opinions of some videogames I play (my main hobby nowadays).
I've done small bits of painting some necrons, but nothing relevant to show.
I've mainly spent time deciding which miniatures to get rid of and which ones to keep permanently, and then selling them. I still keep quite a few ones and have enough to paint for years, but at least I did this pending task and now can focus on painting.
Very recently I finally finished the original Uncharted Trilogy, so combining that with my recent read of The Art of Last of Us, grabbing The Art of the Uncharted Trilogy was a clear choice. And one I do not regret.
The review is pretty much like the aforementioned Last of Us title, but 3x. Tons of beautiful sketches, illustrations and drawings both seen in the game and never seen before (because they were conceptual, discarded, or simply evolved into other final versions). Lots of early designs of the main character Drake, but also of his close friends and many secondary characters from all three titles, and we're not talking just about bosses but NPCs, enemies, even the flora and types of trees.
Illumination tests, evolution of certain set pieces, tricks and non-realistic concessions they had to do to make the games either more visually appealing or gameplay-wise more enjoyable, and I was surprised to also see quite a few discarded scenarios (material that sometimes you don't even get to know about).
Covering three games in around 200 pages means it always feels brief, but I've you've played the games you will love the insane amount of detail, from how they decided which clothes enemies should wear at certain places to how Drake's diary pages should be built to feel natural and realistic.
I skipped a few Horus Heresy books because I wanted to read about the Thunder Warriors and The Outcast Dead was the recommended source. The main story relates to a powerful astropath who, after surviving a warp accident on a spaceship, got almost mad and apparently incapable of performing his duties, and who by chance will party with some renegade Space Marines who were imprisoned on Terra, so not much about Thunder Warriors there... it is true that part of the later plot does involve them (I don't want to spoil anything), but I was hoping to know more details.
Still the main story is quite interesting, at first unfolds slowly but then takes pace and I read the last third of the book way faster, devouring the words and trying to learn what happened next. Another good Horus Heresy novella, and one that goes quite deep into astropaths, cryptopaths, navigators and related psykers.