For the past week and a half I've been dumping all of my spare after work time into Valkyria Chronicles for the PS3. It was an overlooked game in a slew of great overlooked games that came out toward the end of last year but deserves much respect and praise for what it is, what it does, how it managed to pull it off.
The game from publisher Sega, is a Japanese RPG set in an alternative WWII universe. The world has kind of a Steampunk feel to it with tanks roaming around with big glowing radiators sticking out the back of them and massive lancer weapons. It's done in an anime style and shown through a filter making every character and environment look hand drawn. You play Welkin, a 22 year old with the dreams of becoming a school teacher and study bugs but is forced to put those aspirations on hold to command a militia squad against (wait for it) the evil empire who is threatening to take over his country.
What separates Valkyria Chronicles from every other JRPG in existence (or known to me at least) are two things, the way the story is delivered and the combat. The story is in the form of a book with 18 chapters and episodes within those chapters. By selecting an episode you are either presented with a cut scene or a talking head text based scene to move the story along instead of aimlessly wondering around on a map trying to talk to everyone in town to find out where you next mission is to continue with the story. Every chapter has at least one map where the combat for that chapter takes place.
The combat of the game is a mix of genres. It blends real-time-strategy with the traditional turn-based system of most JRPGs. At the beginning of every battle you are given a briefing about what you will be up against, shown a map with the position of the enemy camp and yours, and given a set number of control points to use to move your units. Selecting a unit on the map drops you into a 3-D space where you move your character in real time across the map to either attack or capture enemy base camps. While you are moving your character all enemy characters have the ability to attack you if you are within range and vice-versa when it's the computer's turn. There are 6 classes of characters each with different attributes and varying amounts of move distance, HP, and attack power. Though you move your character in real time across the map, when you attack it is still a dice roll and sometimes you will have the perfect headshot lined up only to see it whiff for apparently no reason which stings a little more than in traditional turn based RPGs where your just told the attack missed because here you've done all the work of getting the character to that point.
Since story is delivered from the book only, the game found an interesting way of giving you side quests. You book will get tabs after advancing the game and you will be able to take place in skirmish battles over and over to basically grind for experience. They are completely aside from the story of the game and not essential to do to complete, but they do make for an interesting challenge. Every battle in the game including skirmishes is graded A-D depending only on how many turns it takes you and since a skirmish can be played multiple times unlike story mode battles it's easy to get caught up in the puzzle of trying to complete it in the least amount of turns and still be able to take out all the enemy captains for the maximum bonus. This is one of the first RPGs where I actually had fun and looked forward to grinding for exp because of the puzzle-like nature of the battles.
Your characters are upgraded by class and you can distribute the XP as you like. Upgrading classes also gives them new abilities and orders that can aid in battle by raising stats or giving them extra ammo. Weapon upgrades must be purchased and they branch off offering selection of more attack power to status effects. Tank parts can be bought as well and you must choose which ones to outfit you tank with depending on what battle you're going into. The best part is you have the choice of completely ignoring all of it an continue on without trouble but for players that want a little more depth it is there.
There are a lot of things to like about the game like the art direction and the new and fresh twist on the gameplay, but I was most impressed by the story. Welkin is a real character that you get to play at the beginning of his legend and get to see and take part in his successes. You develop a feel for your squad. I found myself not saying "I need an engineer here and a storm trouper here," but "Jane can storm this hallway and Carl needs to be by the tank." The game doesn't punish you for members dying in battle (though in the credit roll it will list the survivors and deceased) but I wanted to protect my troupes more than anything and get through every battle with no casualties which is saying something because 3/4ths of them were non-essential characters. It's hard to say much about the story without giving anything away but it is one full of emotion. There were several times I was at a loss for words at the action that was happening on screen. The book representation of the story was spot on as the game like a book makes you want to keep turning the pages of the chapters to find out what happens next.
If you have a PS3, this game is absolutely worth checking out. There are hours of great gameplay and a story that you'll actually want to sit through. A/9.0/93
Friday, January 30, 2009
Vikings, Spacemen, and Aliens.
Outlander begins with a space ship crashing on Earth around 700AD and two humanoids escape from the crash. One survives, one doesn't. The survivor, Kainan, played by Jim Caviezel learns the local language from his ships computer and then picks up his weapon and goes searching the area for something. He happens upon a destroyed village with no survivors or bodies but signs of a complete slaughter at the same time as a search party from another Viking village who believes he is the killer. They soon realize that something larger and much more dangerous is lurking out there in the woods and enlist the strange outlander's help to hunt it and kill it.Half of this movie seems like it should be a Sci-Fi channel Sunday night feature. From the king's (John Hurt) relationship with his daughter Freia, (Sophia Myles) sparing with her as he tries to convince her to marry Wulfric (Jack Huston) who wants to be king but is too hot headed. The character's relations with each other were only wedged into the movie in a failed attempt to mak you care about them which did nothing but lengthen the time between the good portions of the movie when they were fighting and being attacked by the creature known as a Morwin. The second half of the movie is exactly that and there it blossoms into a decent monster movie where it is hunting them as they are hunting it. Where danger lurks behind every corner and crevice. The movie does a good job with a few other things as well. For one it sets up Freia as a strong female character and doesn't turn her into a damsel in distress even toward the climax of the movie. The twist of the movie is presented to us in the very beginning with Kainin being from space. He loses his weapon early on and instead of making him into the know it all character sent to lead the savages to victory he blends in with them and uses what they have. Also it avoided what seemed like the inevitable love triangle that many lesser movies would have ran with. The CG for the creature wasn't the best but overall the movie did come together in the second half and is worth checking out if you'd like to see something that could have ended up on an extended cable channel transcend itself. B/7/73.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Parallels and Reflections
So I was driving home and happened to be listening to "Still Alive" the theme from the Mirror's Edge game that game out late last year (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TERyxFfMqDk) and a bunch of parallels from games of '07-'08 started crossing in my head. Then I started reflecting on the year for games in 2008 itself. Here's a few things that passed through my brain I'd like to share:
"Still Alive" was the theme of Mirror's Edge and the last song unlocked after you beat the game. Mirror's Edge very much reminded me of Portal which came out in 2007 which also had a song in it called "Still Alive" played at the end of the game. Mirror's Edge is very much 08's Portal in that it's more of a 1st person puzzle game that's short in length and can be played for speed runs which have and will continue to give you "I would have never thought to do that" moments. The problem with it is mainly price. Mirror's Edge was a $60 release whereas Portal came as part of The Orange Box from Valve and was packaged in alongside the Half Life 2 episodes and Team Fortress 2. It was later released exclusively for the 360 with additional levels in 08 but for a fraction of the price Mirror's Edge is. Everyone loved Portal and some even voted it game of the year. If Mirror's Edge had come out for $20-$30 or was packaged in with another EA release it may very well have gotten the same love Portal received.
While on the subject of Valve games, in 07 the released Orange Box and those of us who game had to explain to people not in the know what Orange Box actually was. In 08 they flooded Seattle, San Francisco, and other cities with Left 4 Dead billboards and once again we were explaining to people not in the know that L4D isn't a movie, but a video game about the zombie apocalypse. It released in November of 08 and is probably the best co-op game ever created. Requiring more team effort that Team Fortress 2 to get through levels while you're fending off the brain eaters, the game has everyone reciting accounts of their multiple brushes with virtual death like ghost stories told around camp fires. "I was almost to the helicopter when I saw Frances get pulled in by a smoker" becomes water cooler talk at work and in e-mails the next day. And knowing that Valve will support the game with downloadable content in the future makes it an even better buy knowing you will be able to play something new as the game only shipped with 4 levels.
Speaking of downloadable content. Rockband has continued to churn out song after song taking them for the 54 the game launched with in 07 to well over 500 by the end of 08. Harmonix is committed to playing the long con with its DLC attempting to take you for everything you've got (here's an indie song pack for $2, here's every Pearl Jam song you ever thought you would want for $20), while Activision and Gutiar Hero are still trying to sell you necklaces outside the shop by the pier (hey kids, do you like Areosmith). The did step it up some in 08 with the release of World Tour but it's more of a me too effort than anything. We have drums and a mic now too, we have "Living On a Prayer" too, we released a full album too. Harmonix did follow up with a sequel and Rockband 2 is more of a refinement of the original that fixed a lot of things and made the game better. Neversoft didn't actually make Guitar Hero better, they just made it so more people could play it at the same time. At four installments you'd think they would be able to learn what the people want by now.
2008 was the year of 4's. There was Devil May Cry 4, Grand Theft Auto 4, Metal Gear Solid 4, Soul Calibur 4, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4, and the arcade release of Street Fighter 4 to name a few or 6. Each game was a great improvement on the last. DMC4 finally fixed the difficulty issues plaguing the series. GTA4 was a complete reboot of the franchise and showed that Rockstar has matured, but in a good way like when your friend's older sister comes home from college with a degree and a really sexy tattoo you can't take your eyes off of. She's still up for some of the old shenanigans, but comes equipped with life experience now. MGS4 brought an end the the story of Solid Snake and an end to every control issue that had ever plagued the series. SC4 brought fans of the series back after the miss that SC3 was with its glitches and errors. It's was also the first viable on-line fighter after so many developers said it couldn't be done. The Persona series is a testament to how good a system the PS2 really is. The game looks great with its stylized art work that will make it hold up for years to come and the story elements are even more refined giving you more insight into the characters you're playing and their stories. The long awaited Street Fighter 4 is a return to the basics of what made the Street Fighter franchise so awesome in the first place and is receiving love and anticipation from the fans of old and those who never left. The console version drops in February of 09. I consider myself lucky to be able to drive an hour to play the arcade version.
Another gem of Street Fighter, 2008, and DLC was the release of (deep breath) Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. What many consider to be the best of the series has now been updated with HD graphics, redesigned backgrounds, and rebalanced offering a fresh look at the game that ruled the arcades when fighting games were in their prime. Speaking of fighting games I remember reading an EGM interview with Ed Boone of Midway where they asked him what he thought he'd be doing in 10 years to which he responded "working on Mortal Kombat 12." I, like many others have lost count, but the man may be dead on the money as Mortal Kombat Vs DC Universe breaths life into a franchise so obsessed with death. And then there was censorship. Firstly who would have thought there would be a "T" rated Mortal Kombat game? Who would have thought Superman could get burned to a crisp by Scorpion? And who would have ever thought that the Joker in a PG-13 rated movie would be pulling off way cooler fatalities (pencils anyone) than his video game counterpart in a Mortal Kombat game? If you're raising your hand, you are a liar.
As far as lies are concerned, some were quite fun to tell in Fallout 3. 2007 gave is Mass Effect and as good as that game was (my 2007 game of the year) it had us trekking from planet to planet exploring the same bunkers and repeating the same missions. I kept thinking it would be great if there were just one planet to explore. Fast forward a year and check out Bethesda's release and you get the best of both worlds. While the dialogue system isn't as good as Mass Effects, they managed to create that one planet full of different, fun, exciting, and interesting things to do that I longed for after seeing the same hallway fore the umpteenth time in Mass Effect. Bethesda also managed to pull off the "morally ambiguous" role better than many games this year as well. They understood that you can often times do the right thing and still be a dick.
Choices were also rampant throughout games this year whether it be Fable 2's good or evil, picking your path in Mirror's Edge, or building your level in Little Big Planet. Last year was all about what you want to do. Far Cry 2 lets you chose how to attack your enemies hideout and who gives you missions. It's GTA in the jungle. GTA4 reined some of that in letting you chose to kill the guy after you do what they want you to do first. Saint's Row 2 took open world to the extreme and let you do pretty much anything. Naked skydiving, check. Septic tank shooting, check. Breaking out of jail and hiring a plastic surgeon to change you age, sex, race, and voice multiple times... check. Not to be counted out Burnout Paradise showed everyone what an open world racer is supposed to be like and raised the bar for arcade racers in general. Making every stop light a race where you choose the best path between two points was simply brilliant. Then they stepped up support for the game by bleeding free downloadable add ons including a new island, bikes, and play modes.
And my final segue way pulls us into the realm of downloads. 2008 shows promise in the market as developers big and small released some great titles that were actually worth you $5, $10, $15, $20, or $30. Whether it be something old and something new like Megaman 9, something to chill out with like Pixeljunk Eden, bringing back an arcade motif like Geometry Wars 2 and its beat your friends system, or just there to tell a story like the controversial Braid, there was indeed something for everyone released that was actually worth spending money on. Even iPhone is finally hitting its stride with the release of Rolando showing that developers are finally getting a hang of how to make a good game for the platform.
2008 was a hell of a year for games. As someone who's been gaming for over 20 years now I'm surprised to see how far the industry has come and even more excited to see what it will bring in the future. There was I time where I was loosing interest in the industry but I'm happy to report my love for games is still alive.
"Still Alive" was the theme of Mirror's Edge and the last song unlocked after you beat the game. Mirror's Edge very much reminded me of Portal which came out in 2007 which also had a song in it called "Still Alive" played at the end of the game. Mirror's Edge is very much 08's Portal in that it's more of a 1st person puzzle game that's short in length and can be played for speed runs which have and will continue to give you "I would have never thought to do that" moments. The problem with it is mainly price. Mirror's Edge was a $60 release whereas Portal came as part of The Orange Box from Valve and was packaged in alongside the Half Life 2 episodes and Team Fortress 2. It was later released exclusively for the 360 with additional levels in 08 but for a fraction of the price Mirror's Edge is. Everyone loved Portal and some even voted it game of the year. If Mirror's Edge had come out for $20-$30 or was packaged in with another EA release it may very well have gotten the same love Portal received.
While on the subject of Valve games, in 07 the released Orange Box and those of us who game had to explain to people not in the know what Orange Box actually was. In 08 they flooded Seattle, San Francisco, and other cities with Left 4 Dead billboards and once again we were explaining to people not in the know that L4D isn't a movie, but a video game about the zombie apocalypse. It released in November of 08 and is probably the best co-op game ever created. Requiring more team effort that Team Fortress 2 to get through levels while you're fending off the brain eaters, the game has everyone reciting accounts of their multiple brushes with virtual death like ghost stories told around camp fires. "I was almost to the helicopter when I saw Frances get pulled in by a smoker" becomes water cooler talk at work and in e-mails the next day. And knowing that Valve will support the game with downloadable content in the future makes it an even better buy knowing you will be able to play something new as the game only shipped with 4 levels.
Speaking of downloadable content. Rockband has continued to churn out song after song taking them for the 54 the game launched with in 07 to well over 500 by the end of 08. Harmonix is committed to playing the long con with its DLC attempting to take you for everything you've got (here's an indie song pack for $2, here's every Pearl Jam song you ever thought you would want for $20), while Activision and Gutiar Hero are still trying to sell you necklaces outside the shop by the pier (hey kids, do you like Areosmith). The did step it up some in 08 with the release of World Tour but it's more of a me too effort than anything. We have drums and a mic now too, we have "Living On a Prayer" too, we released a full album too. Harmonix did follow up with a sequel and Rockband 2 is more of a refinement of the original that fixed a lot of things and made the game better. Neversoft didn't actually make Guitar Hero better, they just made it so more people could play it at the same time. At four installments you'd think they would be able to learn what the people want by now.
2008 was the year of 4's. There was Devil May Cry 4, Grand Theft Auto 4, Metal Gear Solid 4, Soul Calibur 4, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4, and the arcade release of Street Fighter 4 to name a few or 6. Each game was a great improvement on the last. DMC4 finally fixed the difficulty issues plaguing the series. GTA4 was a complete reboot of the franchise and showed that Rockstar has matured, but in a good way like when your friend's older sister comes home from college with a degree and a really sexy tattoo you can't take your eyes off of. She's still up for some of the old shenanigans, but comes equipped with life experience now. MGS4 brought an end the the story of Solid Snake and an end to every control issue that had ever plagued the series. SC4 brought fans of the series back after the miss that SC3 was with its glitches and errors. It's was also the first viable on-line fighter after so many developers said it couldn't be done. The Persona series is a testament to how good a system the PS2 really is. The game looks great with its stylized art work that will make it hold up for years to come and the story elements are even more refined giving you more insight into the characters you're playing and their stories. The long awaited Street Fighter 4 is a return to the basics of what made the Street Fighter franchise so awesome in the first place and is receiving love and anticipation from the fans of old and those who never left. The console version drops in February of 09. I consider myself lucky to be able to drive an hour to play the arcade version.
Another gem of Street Fighter, 2008, and DLC was the release of (deep breath) Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. What many consider to be the best of the series has now been updated with HD graphics, redesigned backgrounds, and rebalanced offering a fresh look at the game that ruled the arcades when fighting games were in their prime. Speaking of fighting games I remember reading an EGM interview with Ed Boone of Midway where they asked him what he thought he'd be doing in 10 years to which he responded "working on Mortal Kombat 12." I, like many others have lost count, but the man may be dead on the money as Mortal Kombat Vs DC Universe breaths life into a franchise so obsessed with death. And then there was censorship. Firstly who would have thought there would be a "T" rated Mortal Kombat game? Who would have thought Superman could get burned to a crisp by Scorpion? And who would have ever thought that the Joker in a PG-13 rated movie would be pulling off way cooler fatalities (pencils anyone) than his video game counterpart in a Mortal Kombat game? If you're raising your hand, you are a liar.
As far as lies are concerned, some were quite fun to tell in Fallout 3. 2007 gave is Mass Effect and as good as that game was (my 2007 game of the year) it had us trekking from planet to planet exploring the same bunkers and repeating the same missions. I kept thinking it would be great if there were just one planet to explore. Fast forward a year and check out Bethesda's release and you get the best of both worlds. While the dialogue system isn't as good as Mass Effects, they managed to create that one planet full of different, fun, exciting, and interesting things to do that I longed for after seeing the same hallway fore the umpteenth time in Mass Effect. Bethesda also managed to pull off the "morally ambiguous" role better than many games this year as well. They understood that you can often times do the right thing and still be a dick.
Choices were also rampant throughout games this year whether it be Fable 2's good or evil, picking your path in Mirror's Edge, or building your level in Little Big Planet. Last year was all about what you want to do. Far Cry 2 lets you chose how to attack your enemies hideout and who gives you missions. It's GTA in the jungle. GTA4 reined some of that in letting you chose to kill the guy after you do what they want you to do first. Saint's Row 2 took open world to the extreme and let you do pretty much anything. Naked skydiving, check. Septic tank shooting, check. Breaking out of jail and hiring a plastic surgeon to change you age, sex, race, and voice multiple times... check. Not to be counted out Burnout Paradise showed everyone what an open world racer is supposed to be like and raised the bar for arcade racers in general. Making every stop light a race where you choose the best path between two points was simply brilliant. Then they stepped up support for the game by bleeding free downloadable add ons including a new island, bikes, and play modes.
And my final segue way pulls us into the realm of downloads. 2008 shows promise in the market as developers big and small released some great titles that were actually worth you $5, $10, $15, $20, or $30. Whether it be something old and something new like Megaman 9, something to chill out with like Pixeljunk Eden, bringing back an arcade motif like Geometry Wars 2 and its beat your friends system, or just there to tell a story like the controversial Braid, there was indeed something for everyone released that was actually worth spending money on. Even iPhone is finally hitting its stride with the release of Rolando showing that developers are finally getting a hang of how to make a good game for the platform.
2008 was a hell of a year for games. As someone who's been gaming for over 20 years now I'm surprised to see how far the industry has come and even more excited to see what it will bring in the future. There was I time where I was loosing interest in the industry but I'm happy to report my love for games is still alive.
Quick houskeeping notes
First off, the title of the blog is a temporary thing. I named it that to remind myself that if I forget about my love of writing I will lose it and will never amount to anything. Secondly I do have a Twitter account: http://twitter.com/nodoz You can follow me if you like, but I am a working stiff and don't update very often. There are more updates/rants/reviews and whatevers to come but for now my main focus is getting at least one or two posts up per week.
Bloody Ridiculous
I'm glad 3-D movies are coming back in style. I think there's a lot of interesting stuff you can do with the technology and that good stories can be told using it. Having said that, My Bloody Valentine 3-D is two steps in the wrong direction. You expect 3-D movies to do certain things with the format and play with the audience but the first rule of 3-D film making should still be the first rule of all film making. Make the movie good first. Last year I was pleasantly delighted with Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D. The story made sense, the motivations were there. The premise and world created by the movie were already over the top and well suited for a 3-D presentation, but what made it good and Valentine the converse of good is that Journey used 3-D to accentuate the movie and make it better and Valentine built the movie around having 3-D kills in it. I'll refrain from saying anything about the "story" of the movie as it has the word "bloody" in the title and people die painful deaths. Eyeballs are poked out at us, body parts fly at us, and fire jumps out at us, but none of these things made the movie any good. In fact the only "good" use of the format was at the hospital aftermath scene in the beginning where the camera moves around with full depth of field showing mutilated body parts, blood and destruction after the crazed killer wakes up from his coma to pick up where he left off. They could have done more in the claustrophobic environments of the mine to really help bring home the fear, or show some more depth of field in what was going on around the characters, but instead they chose to go with cheap thrills that were done much better in the '80s and early '90s when Jason, Freddy, and Mike Myers were carving people up every year. Not recommended even if you like 3-D. D+/4.5/40
Monday, January 12, 2009
The Walking Dead
Walking Dead is definitely the Lord of the Rings of zombie stories. I hesitantly bought books 1&2 after hearing good things about it from a few podcasts I listen to. When I finished the first half of book 1 I immediately ordered book 3 (4 was not out yet at the time) because I was completely and utterly hooked.
The story is one we are all too familiar with. In 28 Days later fashion Rick, a cop from Georgia, wakes up on a hospital bed not knowing where he is or why he can't find anyone in the hospital our outside. Then the first person he comes across tries to bite his face off and he realizes the zombie apocalypse has occurred. He meets another survivor who has taken up residence in his old house and gives him an update on what exactly happened. He learns that many people evacuated to Atlanta so he heads in that direction in hopes to find his wife and son.
At this point you're probably saying "why should I waste my time with that, it's been done before?" And if we were talking about some new zombie movie coming out next week I'd be incline to agree but the title's author and creator Robert Kirkman has seen it all before too. That's why underneath the title of the comics it says "a continuing story of survival horror." Kirkman got tired of seeing zombie movie after zombie movie where the group gets in a plane, train, or automobile and escapes followed by the credits. What he has set out to do is make a zombie story that answers the question of "what happens after the plane lands or the bus runs out of gas?" It fills in all the juicy bits that every other movie glosses over. That you can dangerously get used to an insane situation. That you are never safe despite all precautions. That the greatest threat to you may not be the walking dead around you. Kirkman delivers on his promise. We do see what happens when camp isn't safe anymore and the flee in an RV only to have it run out of gas.
Kirkman has also managed to give us real characters and create situations that happen in ways you feel they would actually transpire should zombies take over. The characters are multifaceted, intelligent, and you know the motivation of each and every one of them. You want them all to make it. But the world they live in is full of peril and not one of them is safe. There is tension on nearly every page of the book in a way that I've never experienced in a book written or drawn. It has all the makings of one of the best stories I've ever been told in any medium. Don't just take my word for it either. You owe it to yourself to read this series. Find it on Amazon or your local comic store, or even your local book store may have the hardcovers. By the end of chapter 1 if you're not hooked then you can call me a lier.
Kirkman set out to make a zombie story that never ends. I'm hoping it actually will end, just not for a long time as the story is great and has only gotten better. Still all good things must come to an end and hopefully he'll pull the plug before the writing shows any signs of faltering. A+, 10, 100.
The story is one we are all too familiar with. In 28 Days later fashion Rick, a cop from Georgia, wakes up on a hospital bed not knowing where he is or why he can't find anyone in the hospital our outside. Then the first person he comes across tries to bite his face off and he realizes the zombie apocalypse has occurred. He meets another survivor who has taken up residence in his old house and gives him an update on what exactly happened. He learns that many people evacuated to Atlanta so he heads in that direction in hopes to find his wife and son.
At this point you're probably saying "why should I waste my time with that, it's been done before?" And if we were talking about some new zombie movie coming out next week I'd be incline to agree but the title's author and creator Robert Kirkman has seen it all before too. That's why underneath the title of the comics it says "a continuing story of survival horror." Kirkman got tired of seeing zombie movie after zombie movie where the group gets in a plane, train, or automobile and escapes followed by the credits. What he has set out to do is make a zombie story that answers the question of "what happens after the plane lands or the bus runs out of gas?" It fills in all the juicy bits that every other movie glosses over. That you can dangerously get used to an insane situation. That you are never safe despite all precautions. That the greatest threat to you may not be the walking dead around you. Kirkman delivers on his promise. We do see what happens when camp isn't safe anymore and the flee in an RV only to have it run out of gas.
Kirkman has also managed to give us real characters and create situations that happen in ways you feel they would actually transpire should zombies take over. The characters are multifaceted, intelligent, and you know the motivation of each and every one of them. You want them all to make it. But the world they live in is full of peril and not one of them is safe. There is tension on nearly every page of the book in a way that I've never experienced in a book written or drawn. It has all the makings of one of the best stories I've ever been told in any medium. Don't just take my word for it either. You owe it to yourself to read this series. Find it on Amazon or your local comic store, or even your local book store may have the hardcovers. By the end of chapter 1 if you're not hooked then you can call me a lier.
Kirkman set out to make a zombie story that never ends. I'm hoping it actually will end, just not for a long time as the story is great and has only gotten better. Still all good things must come to an end and hopefully he'll pull the plug before the writing shows any signs of faltering. A+, 10, 100.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Reviews: Revolutionary Road & The Wrestler
Revolutionary Road:
Leo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet play a couple whose marriage is on the brink of disaster. When they first met it was all about their ability to do anything and live life but they ended up in suburbia with two kids and horrible emptiness. Leo's character works a job he can't stand to support the family. Kate's stays at home all day thinking about the life she could of had. Then she has an idea on her husband's birthday that they should move to Paris remembering that it was his favorite place and wanting to escape the harsh reality she has to live. She manages to convince him to make the move and they become happy again, but life has a way of throwing obstacles in the way of happiness.
I found myself really wanting to like this movie but it tried to make me not like it at every turn. It felt as if Leo and Kate were overacting their parts as if they were performing in a stage production rather than a motion picture which allows its audience to get much more intimate. The dialogue was also not a help. I've grown to detest period setting movies that pretend the people of that time spoke as impersonally as they do in this movie. The other problem with the movie is that we only get to see the moment they first meet. We don't really get a chance to see them how they were or get a full idea of that they could have been which would have helped to bring home the tragedy of their current lives. Instead all we can do is imagine that at some point they must have been wonderful together. My imagination just wasn't good enough to me me care about either character nor the movie. I cannot recommend spending theatre money on this movie. C-, 4.5, 40
The Wrestler:
The Wrestler is in a way a redemption movie not only for Mickey Rourke but also for its director Darren Aronosky after 2006's The Fountain missed at both the box office and with critics. Randy "The Ram" Robinson, played by Rourke, was one of the great wrestlers from his time who is now nearing the end of his career. When we find him his has been reduced to wrestling at small venues, in school gymnasiums and small city civic centers. The fans he has left all remember his glory days of 20 years ago. After a brutal no holds barred mach her suffers a heart attack and has to come to terms with his life. Cassidy, played by Marisa Tomei, a stripper whom he's grown fond for even though she won't cross the line between customer and friend with him convinces him to see his daughter again played by Evan Rachel Wood. And things do begin to pick up for him in that life always grants you a second chance sort of way, but what is given can also be taken or thrown away.
This is what a tour de force is. Rourke carries the movie on those huge shoulders of his and has us captivated the whole way. Also there is some great camera work done in this movie that cannot go unmentioned. From the moment Rourke appears on screen we are following him as if we are walking to the stage right behind him. We follow him venue he lives in, and the life he performs in. For Ram, the two are reversed as after a person who has lived a life like that can understand - he is only truly alive when in the ring. The movie captures the action of wrestling best of any film to feature the sport. And there's a documentary feel to it as well as we get to go backstage and see the respect and appreciation the performers have for each other and it comes off as real. You see the effect of what these men put their bodies through and why they do it again and again. Aside from all that, the movie remembers it's about the man and not the sport. And we are shown the sum of this mans parts fully exposed for all to see. I highly recommend finding this movie. It's in a limited release, but well worth the effort. A, 9.5, 90.
Leo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet play a couple whose marriage is on the brink of disaster. When they first met it was all about their ability to do anything and live life but they ended up in suburbia with two kids and horrible emptiness. Leo's character works a job he can't stand to support the family. Kate's stays at home all day thinking about the life she could of had. Then she has an idea on her husband's birthday that they should move to Paris remembering that it was his favorite place and wanting to escape the harsh reality she has to live. She manages to convince him to make the move and they become happy again, but life has a way of throwing obstacles in the way of happiness.
I found myself really wanting to like this movie but it tried to make me not like it at every turn. It felt as if Leo and Kate were overacting their parts as if they were performing in a stage production rather than a motion picture which allows its audience to get much more intimate. The dialogue was also not a help. I've grown to detest period setting movies that pretend the people of that time spoke as impersonally as they do in this movie. The other problem with the movie is that we only get to see the moment they first meet. We don't really get a chance to see them how they were or get a full idea of that they could have been which would have helped to bring home the tragedy of their current lives. Instead all we can do is imagine that at some point they must have been wonderful together. My imagination just wasn't good enough to me me care about either character nor the movie. I cannot recommend spending theatre money on this movie. C-, 4.5, 40
The Wrestler:
The Wrestler is in a way a redemption movie not only for Mickey Rourke but also for its director Darren Aronosky after 2006's The Fountain missed at both the box office and with critics. Randy "The Ram" Robinson, played by Rourke, was one of the great wrestlers from his time who is now nearing the end of his career. When we find him his has been reduced to wrestling at small venues, in school gymnasiums and small city civic centers. The fans he has left all remember his glory days of 20 years ago. After a brutal no holds barred mach her suffers a heart attack and has to come to terms with his life. Cassidy, played by Marisa Tomei, a stripper whom he's grown fond for even though she won't cross the line between customer and friend with him convinces him to see his daughter again played by Evan Rachel Wood. And things do begin to pick up for him in that life always grants you a second chance sort of way, but what is given can also be taken or thrown away.
This is what a tour de force is. Rourke carries the movie on those huge shoulders of his and has us captivated the whole way. Also there is some great camera work done in this movie that cannot go unmentioned. From the moment Rourke appears on screen we are following him as if we are walking to the stage right behind him. We follow him venue he lives in, and the life he performs in. For Ram, the two are reversed as after a person who has lived a life like that can understand - he is only truly alive when in the ring. The movie captures the action of wrestling best of any film to feature the sport. And there's a documentary feel to it as well as we get to go backstage and see the respect and appreciation the performers have for each other and it comes off as real. You see the effect of what these men put their bodies through and why they do it again and again. Aside from all that, the movie remembers it's about the man and not the sport. And we are shown the sum of this mans parts fully exposed for all to see. I highly recommend finding this movie. It's in a limited release, but well worth the effort. A, 9.5, 90.
About review scores
So I figure since I'll be reviewing pretty much everything I see and play here I should do a quick run down of how I'm scoring everything. And since there are several formats (A-F, 0-10, 0-100) from now on I'll give everything three separate scores in each format thereby eliminating someone preforming numerical voodoo and turning my B- into a 64.
An average score is a C, 5, or 50. Anything above or below those scores is above or below average respectively. But more important than what score I give it is whether you should see it or play it, and I will try to give you a good reason to do either at the end of every review.
That's all for now.
An average score is a C, 5, or 50. Anything above or below those scores is above or below average respectively. But more important than what score I give it is whether you should see it or play it, and I will try to give you a good reason to do either at the end of every review.
That's all for now.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Video Killed the Radio Star Redux
The year I was born, 1979 a British band by the name of The Buggles release the song they'd become known for and quite frankly nothing summed up the movement better than their 3:21 minute pop tune. Two years later in 1981 when MTV launched it was the first video played on the network and music videos did go on to change the industry as we know it. But the seeds of change were planted long before The Buggles decided that they could make a hit record out of it. As soon as television was available to the masses the change was evident. Advertisers could demonstrate their product to you. People who listened to the debates of Kennedy vs Nixon on the radio thought Nixon won, but the audience who saw the young photogenic Robert F. Kennedy on television told a different story and when the votes were counted the distinguished gentlemen from Massachusetts took the office. Showing images of war on television during Vietnam gave the people at home an entire different understanding of what it's like "over there" and turned the country against its leader and its troupes. Video had indeed killed radio long before a song was created.
The Buggles soothsaying wisdom could never have been more spot on. "In my mind and in my car, we can't rewind we've gone too far." Now that we could see what these people looked like and know that they weren't as attractive, handsome, sexy, or drop dead gorgeous as we thought they were or wanted them to be the industry changed. It found new faces, new body types, and sold you something different. Now you have to look the part, and live the part. And dancing and acting skills are beginning to become a necessity. Video didn't just kill radio, it also made it very difficult for people who despite any setbacks they had were very good at what they did get a job.
The Buggles were also the subject of my Multimedia Production teacher's first lecture he gave my class before we began developing web pages and content. History is doomed to repeat itself, and now that Electronic Gaming Monthly my favorite magazine of my childhood which I grew up with is one day dead, I feel compelled to write this essay, rant, or whatever you want to call it for the internet is the new video and the radio stars of yesteryear are fading.
My blog is mostly focused with games so for purposes of this post I will keep the subject matter there. We are all reporters now. We talk about our lives, our secrets, our fears, our very existence in blogs, Facebook, and Twitter posts. The internet has turned us into a people of opinions, but rarely do we really take the time to compose our thoughts and write them out. Admittedly it can be quite difficult when some random user can post a comment "y don't knoe waat ur sayng n uy bl0g suX0r3s" seemingly undo the hours of thought you've put into critique. Print journalism was always something of an expanded critique where writers really had time to arrange their thoughts in the cleverest manner possible and give their readers their true opinion on something. The reader could take time and follow the thought process and come to an understanding and agree or disagree and make a but make an informed decision. As a kid when a $50 video game was a big deal and I was only able to get so very few every year, I looked to these reviews and thought processes to help me make that decision. Somewhere down the road it all became about the the score.
Some years ago as a college freshman the first thing about journalism I learned was that the media cannot tell you what to think, only what to think about. Now that I've graduated and have been in that world of things, it has become more blatant that the advertisers and the PR firms are trying to control what you are thinking about more than ever especially for the enthusiast press which is what game journalists are. I wish that were the only problem for if it were EGM would likely still be printing issues. Anyone who has ever worked for any media publication knows that the business survives solely on the advertising dollars it can get. Everything from how much staff they can hire, how many pages they can print, and how many articles they can write rests on how many ad pages they can sell. People who read these magazines are enthusiasts themselves and want the information as fast as they can get it. The internet made this so much easier. More people started getting information from the online magazines. More ad dollars were spent on those internet magazines. Less time came between enthusiast and information. Now it's a race to have the information up the fastest. Now there's less time to collect your thoughts. All you can really do is put out a review, and a score.
The problem is advertising really has no effect on the enthusiast reader who goes to these sites and subscribes or reads the magazines. Think about it. Most Xbox 360 owners who read the enthusiast magazine or web page regularly were going to buy Gears of War 2 anyway despite what the review said or what score it got. This is true for several of the AAA titles that come out all year. The review and score at this point in this day and age only serve the purpose of giving the readers something to talk about. As stated in the beginning we all have opinions today and places to post them. Then something changed. Podcasting came along and once again we were privacy to this wonderful process of people putting their thoughts together in these wonderful roundtable discussions of ideas and opinions clashing and you get a sense of what these people actually think about the game. It's like having the magazines of old back again but in audio format and on a more frequent basis. But it is much more difficult to monetize a podcast. You can't stuff it with ads everywhere like the magazines did because the audience will complain. You can't compromise your morals and give extra praise to a game that doesn't deserve it because your fans will think you are being paid off, and it is difficult to get one sponsor to spend enough money for a limited amount of ads per show while running the risk of people talking bad about its product. The only solution that makes any sense that would not compromise your morals and keep a stream of revenue would be to charge for the episodes, but this would likely alienate your base and lead to people pirating your product or outright leaving the community. It seems all roads lead to failure. It's no wonder why Ira Glass, host of This American Life, has been asking for donations for the past month.
The only way to keep the engine running is to support it. In the enthusiast industry where ad dollars are becoming more and more scarce the only those dollars are going to have to come from us. The internet won this war before the trumpets even sounded and we are all better for it. But we must not forget what happened for the "in my mind and in my car" explanation I made several hundred words ago still applies. Advertisers and PR firms have the dollars and they want the good reviews and scores for the games they represent. They could care less about real opinions and they will engineer a Brittany Spears of reviews for every industry. When the dust finally settles it is important to make sure that real writers with real opinions are not casualties.
Note - I need an editor, but I feel it's best to post this as is.
I would just like to say thank you to all those at 1Up and EGM that lost their jobs. You all brought much enjoyment to my life. As a kid I always wanted to get something published in the magazine and now feel much shame that I didn't pursue that chance now that I'll never have it again. I wish you all the best of luck and hope to hear your voices and read your work again soon.
The Buggles soothsaying wisdom could never have been more spot on. "In my mind and in my car, we can't rewind we've gone too far." Now that we could see what these people looked like and know that they weren't as attractive, handsome, sexy, or drop dead gorgeous as we thought they were or wanted them to be the industry changed. It found new faces, new body types, and sold you something different. Now you have to look the part, and live the part. And dancing and acting skills are beginning to become a necessity. Video didn't just kill radio, it also made it very difficult for people who despite any setbacks they had were very good at what they did get a job.
The Buggles were also the subject of my Multimedia Production teacher's first lecture he gave my class before we began developing web pages and content. History is doomed to repeat itself, and now that Electronic Gaming Monthly my favorite magazine of my childhood which I grew up with is one day dead, I feel compelled to write this essay, rant, or whatever you want to call it for the internet is the new video and the radio stars of yesteryear are fading.
My blog is mostly focused with games so for purposes of this post I will keep the subject matter there. We are all reporters now. We talk about our lives, our secrets, our fears, our very existence in blogs, Facebook, and Twitter posts. The internet has turned us into a people of opinions, but rarely do we really take the time to compose our thoughts and write them out. Admittedly it can be quite difficult when some random user can post a comment "y don't knoe waat ur sayng n uy bl0g suX0r3s" seemingly undo the hours of thought you've put into critique. Print journalism was always something of an expanded critique where writers really had time to arrange their thoughts in the cleverest manner possible and give their readers their true opinion on something. The reader could take time and follow the thought process and come to an understanding and agree or disagree and make a but make an informed decision. As a kid when a $50 video game was a big deal and I was only able to get so very few every year, I looked to these reviews and thought processes to help me make that decision. Somewhere down the road it all became about the the score.
Some years ago as a college freshman the first thing about journalism I learned was that the media cannot tell you what to think, only what to think about. Now that I've graduated and have been in that world of things, it has become more blatant that the advertisers and the PR firms are trying to control what you are thinking about more than ever especially for the enthusiast press which is what game journalists are. I wish that were the only problem for if it were EGM would likely still be printing issues. Anyone who has ever worked for any media publication knows that the business survives solely on the advertising dollars it can get. Everything from how much staff they can hire, how many pages they can print, and how many articles they can write rests on how many ad pages they can sell. People who read these magazines are enthusiasts themselves and want the information as fast as they can get it. The internet made this so much easier. More people started getting information from the online magazines. More ad dollars were spent on those internet magazines. Less time came between enthusiast and information. Now it's a race to have the information up the fastest. Now there's less time to collect your thoughts. All you can really do is put out a review, and a score.
The problem is advertising really has no effect on the enthusiast reader who goes to these sites and subscribes or reads the magazines. Think about it. Most Xbox 360 owners who read the enthusiast magazine or web page regularly were going to buy Gears of War 2 anyway despite what the review said or what score it got. This is true for several of the AAA titles that come out all year. The review and score at this point in this day and age only serve the purpose of giving the readers something to talk about. As stated in the beginning we all have opinions today and places to post them. Then something changed. Podcasting came along and once again we were privacy to this wonderful process of people putting their thoughts together in these wonderful roundtable discussions of ideas and opinions clashing and you get a sense of what these people actually think about the game. It's like having the magazines of old back again but in audio format and on a more frequent basis. But it is much more difficult to monetize a podcast. You can't stuff it with ads everywhere like the magazines did because the audience will complain. You can't compromise your morals and give extra praise to a game that doesn't deserve it because your fans will think you are being paid off, and it is difficult to get one sponsor to spend enough money for a limited amount of ads per show while running the risk of people talking bad about its product. The only solution that makes any sense that would not compromise your morals and keep a stream of revenue would be to charge for the episodes, but this would likely alienate your base and lead to people pirating your product or outright leaving the community. It seems all roads lead to failure. It's no wonder why Ira Glass, host of This American Life, has been asking for donations for the past month.
The only way to keep the engine running is to support it. In the enthusiast industry where ad dollars are becoming more and more scarce the only those dollars are going to have to come from us. The internet won this war before the trumpets even sounded and we are all better for it. But we must not forget what happened for the "in my mind and in my car" explanation I made several hundred words ago still applies. Advertisers and PR firms have the dollars and they want the good reviews and scores for the games they represent. They could care less about real opinions and they will engineer a Brittany Spears of reviews for every industry. When the dust finally settles it is important to make sure that real writers with real opinions are not casualties.
Note - I need an editor, but I feel it's best to post this as is.
I would just like to say thank you to all those at 1Up and EGM that lost their jobs. You all brought much enjoyment to my life. As a kid I always wanted to get something published in the magazine and now feel much shame that I didn't pursue that chance now that I'll never have it again. I wish you all the best of luck and hope to hear your voices and read your work again soon.
Friday, January 2, 2009
A rant about Street Fighter II and joysticks and memories
The original Fighting Street machine was the first fighting game cabinet I ever learned to play at the Landmark arcade in Peoria, back when it was huge with lots of games and pool tables. When the first got it, it had a gigantic rubber punch and kick button. Then a week later it got the correct 6 button format. I remember the first time I saw a fireball thrown with the "hot fire" sound effect which was completely by accident. Then we all grinded the hell out of the joysticks foregoing all strategy trying to reproduce it. Then some time later SFII came out and you could instantly tell it was a 500% improvement on the first game. I was in a bowling league at the time and every Saturday I would spend every last quarter of my allowance on that machine. We had all matured a bit since then and no longer grinded the fireball motion constantly with the joysticks and learned that deep jump kicks and foot sweeps was a good way to deal out damage. Few of us were good enough to beat it and if you could get to Balrog or Vega on one credit many arcade kids looked up to you there. I lived with my dad 2 1/2 months every summer of my childhood and he hated video games but would take me to some of the most awesome arcades every now and then in Ohio and Florida when we visited my grandmother and I would get to play SFII Champion Edition, and other SF mods. I remember the first time I played SSFIIT. It seemed crazy fast at the time. I could barely keep up. I remember getting owned by high school kids and adults who could pull off 3, 4, and 5 hit combos while I was still trying to figure out exactly how the Super meter worked. I learned that a deep jumping RH into a crouch SK could be followed up with a free fireball or that Ken's standing Strong could be chained to a dragon punch. And people wanted you to learn and to get better. I miss those days. When everything was new and exciting and people were willing to share and help each other out at the arcades. Before internet message boards, chat rooms, and forums where we were all trying new things and teaching each other what we learned. I think that's why I haven't taught myself to use a controller for SF and other fighters. It's as if I'm holding on to those days for dear life and I'd be letting that kid inside of me that just wanted to learn and get good down by using anything other than what I learned on and what the game was meant to be played on. It's like watching a movie or anime in its original language. Maybe I'm just addicted to that feeling of buttons under my fingertips and my left hand moving the stick around. Whatever it is, I'm not about to let it die.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
A day at the movies
So it may be a little late to put up my reviews of week old movies, but I didn't have this blog last week. My usual Christmas tradition has been to spend it at the movies. This year there were 4 major releases so I watched them all and wrote about them. Here are my thoughts which I'm pasting over here from my e-mail stream:
The Spirit:
Or Sin City Lite as I like to call it exceeded my expectations in every way. Frank Miller's adaptation of the old comic oozes with style, great hard boiled dialogue, and awesome one liners to boot. The character of The Spirit has many lovers but only one true love, his city and Miller is able to show this love in several ways. His sick sense of humor also come across and punctuates several scenes with over-the-top characters, situations, and utterances from the characters such as the doctor telling the Spirit "keep the mask on, I think it'll be better that way," or Spirit discovering the situation he's in "this place seems dental, and Nazi." But most importantly this movie makes you want to get to know and love Central City just as much as The Spirit does and that is an accomplishment. A-
Valkyrie:
Valkyrie is a movie of waiting. There is a plot to kill Hitler and take over the government and then offer the Allied forces in WWII a truce before it is too late. That's the story you know. The story this is based on is of the final failed attempt on Hitler's life. Cruise plays a commander who believes Hitler is the arch enemy of Germany and gets sent to Africa because of his radical beliefs. There he looses some of his bits and gets a promotion and a medal and is put in touch with some who share his beliefs. You wait for about 2/5ths of the movie before a proper team is assembled. Then you wait for the plan to formulate. Then you wait for that plan to fail and be reset. By the time everything is moving the movie really draws you in and gets your blood pumping, but it is all over too quickly and in a film where you know what the end result will be the movie does not do anything interesting enough to make you want to keep watching. A feeble attempt was made toward the end having to do with the family of Cruise's character, but went nowhere. It was a well made film with good acting, but it's like taking the scenic route to your grandmother's house for the 20th time. After you've done it so many times, there's nothing really left to point at as a reason to do it again. C
Gran Torino:
Clint Eastwood proves you're never too old to be a badass is this "What if Dirty Harry got old and made friends with is Asian neighbors" movie. Eastwood has been a fun actor to watch and this movie is no exception. But that's about the only thing the movie has going for it. Eastwood plays Walter, an old curmudgeon who's wife just died and his neighborhood has experienced white flight leaving him the only white man on the block with Asians taking over. Tao is his neighbor who is a quiet boy and looked down on by just about everyone. His cousin is in a gang and wants him to steal Walter's '72 Gran Turino as his initiation. The relationship between Walter,Tao & Su the neighbor kids seems forced and the actors playing them delivered their lines as if they only took an acting class as an elective while working on a business degree. While the film does keep you guessing as to what will eventually be the fate of Walter, you know exactly what will happen 20 minutes in and if it weren't for Eastwood's acting this would have been a lesser movie and possibly as straight to DVD release - or a TNT channel original. I suppose they would have had to tone down the ethnic jokes if it were though. C+
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button:
A few years ago I remember seeing Big Fish and enjoying it. This movie has several things in common with that picture. We are presented with a woman on her death bed and her daughter (who does in fact look like a female Billy Crudup) by her side. The dying mother asks her daughter to read her a diary from Benjamin in her final moments. And then a lot of nothing happens. There were interesting bits of nothing. It was a love story, and coming of age story, and right of passage, but someone forgot to put a wow factor into the movie. In Big Fish, you are left guessing if the stories were real or not. Here you know what happens happened, but I didn't really care that they were happening. It may have had something to do with the way it was presented as well. If they'd have chopped off the bookends and just let the movie be about the life of Benjamin and removed the dying mother alltogether it would have had more power to it, but because it was a story being told to us by an outside source it lost some of the magic which is a shame because there were several great moments throughout the film. But we weren't allowed to experience the story - only watch it. B-
The Spirit:
Or Sin City Lite as I like to call it exceeded my expectations in every way. Frank Miller's adaptation of the old comic oozes with style, great hard boiled dialogue, and awesome one liners to boot. The character of The Spirit has many lovers but only one true love, his city and Miller is able to show this love in several ways. His sick sense of humor also come across and punctuates several scenes with over-the-top characters, situations, and utterances from the characters such as the doctor telling the Spirit "keep the mask on, I think it'll be better that way," or Spirit discovering the situation he's in "this place seems dental, and Nazi." But most importantly this movie makes you want to get to know and love Central City just as much as The Spirit does and that is an accomplishment. A-
Valkyrie:
Valkyrie is a movie of waiting. There is a plot to kill Hitler and take over the government and then offer the Allied forces in WWII a truce before it is too late. That's the story you know. The story this is based on is of the final failed attempt on Hitler's life. Cruise plays a commander who believes Hitler is the arch enemy of Germany and gets sent to Africa because of his radical beliefs. There he looses some of his bits and gets a promotion and a medal and is put in touch with some who share his beliefs. You wait for about 2/5ths of the movie before a proper team is assembled. Then you wait for the plan to formulate. Then you wait for that plan to fail and be reset. By the time everything is moving the movie really draws you in and gets your blood pumping, but it is all over too quickly and in a film where you know what the end result will be the movie does not do anything interesting enough to make you want to keep watching. A feeble attempt was made toward the end having to do with the family of Cruise's character, but went nowhere. It was a well made film with good acting, but it's like taking the scenic route to your grandmother's house for the 20th time. After you've done it so many times, there's nothing really left to point at as a reason to do it again. C
Gran Torino:
Clint Eastwood proves you're never too old to be a badass is this "What if Dirty Harry got old and made friends with is Asian neighbors" movie. Eastwood has been a fun actor to watch and this movie is no exception. But that's about the only thing the movie has going for it. Eastwood plays Walter, an old curmudgeon who's wife just died and his neighborhood has experienced white flight leaving him the only white man on the block with Asians taking over. Tao is his neighbor who is a quiet boy and looked down on by just about everyone. His cousin is in a gang and wants him to steal Walter's '72 Gran Turino as his initiation. The relationship between Walter,Tao & Su the neighbor kids seems forced and the actors playing them delivered their lines as if they only took an acting class as an elective while working on a business degree. While the film does keep you guessing as to what will eventually be the fate of Walter, you know exactly what will happen 20 minutes in and if it weren't for Eastwood's acting this would have been a lesser movie and possibly as straight to DVD release - or a TNT channel original. I suppose they would have had to tone down the ethnic jokes if it were though. C+
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button:
A few years ago I remember seeing Big Fish and enjoying it. This movie has several things in common with that picture. We are presented with a woman on her death bed and her daughter (who does in fact look like a female Billy Crudup) by her side. The dying mother asks her daughter to read her a diary from Benjamin in her final moments. And then a lot of nothing happens. There were interesting bits of nothing. It was a love story, and coming of age story, and right of passage, but someone forgot to put a wow factor into the movie. In Big Fish, you are left guessing if the stories were real or not. Here you know what happens happened, but I didn't really care that they were happening. It may have had something to do with the way it was presented as well. If they'd have chopped off the bookends and just let the movie be about the life of Benjamin and removed the dying mother alltogether it would have had more power to it, but because it was a story being told to us by an outside source it lost some of the magic which is a shame because there were several great moments throughout the film. But we weren't allowed to experience the story - only watch it. B-
My top 5 games of 2008
2008 was a year of great games. A friend of mine in my e-mail stream asked all of us for our top 5 games of '08 and after much consideration this is what I came up with.
1. Metal Gear Solid 4. Kojima Productions was able to deliver both style and substance as well as replayability in this fully loaded game. The graphics are beautiful and it has the best sound engineering ever put into a video game. It transports you into a Saving Private Ryan-like world where the action is happening all around you and gives you multiple ways to experience it. You can go in guns blazing, sneak around, or try to use the NPCs to aid you on your way and every method works beautifully. It also managed to give players a new way to experience story and gameplay that were unexpected, innovative, and welcome and really help you feel for the character. Kudos to them for also being able to tie up a supremely complex story and wrap it up in a way that doesn't slight those who have invested heavily in the franchise throughout the years.
2. Little Big Planet. Media Molecule managed to do what Nintendo, Sega, and several 3rd party developers haven't been able to do in some time and that is to release an old school platformer that has all of the feel and fun of playing a Mario game from back in the day. It even manages to make its cuteness cool. The single player levels they put into the game were not only fun and challenging, but every level managed to tell a story and give you all kinds of fun things to do which not only keeps the player entertained, but also teach you that you can tell whatever story you want when trying to create you own level or make whatever mission you want. The multiplayer aspect makes this truly the youtube of games not only giving every internet meme, classic game, or other media new life, but also allows you the consumer to tell give everyone else something play with and think about. It was truly the most innovative game released this year.
3. Grand Theft Auto IV. Rockstar Games outdid themselves again with the release of GTA IV. A reboot of the Liberty City of GTA III Rockstar created a living breathing city with inhabitants that do more than just exist for you to run over and gun down in cold blood like the past 3 games. The story received a somewhat controversial reboot as well. The sophomoric humor of past games is still present but the volume has been turned down on it somewhat in favor of a more mature storyline. Now you play Niko Belic who has seen some hard times and just wants a piece of the American Dream. Niko has friends who call him and want to spend time with him. He has a camera phone with ringtones and themes he can buy. He can go out and get drunk. He can surf the internet which is surprisingly detailed and actually captures the feel of real life. And that's the game in general. The GTA franchise has always been a satire on America. Now it's now through its adolescent period of just being about killing hookers to get your money back and has come to make you think about your actions. Clearly Rockstar has put some though into theirs.
4. Burnout Paradise. Way back in January Criterion Games release the absolute best arcade racer in several years. There have been several open world racing games in the past but none have done anything as good as what Burnout managed to pull off. You are presented with a city complete with a downtown area, beachfront, mountains & hills, freeway, and even a bit of the suburbs. Burnout Paradise manages to capture the feeling of speed better than any other racing game. When you are barrelling down the road you know it, you lean in and you try your hards not to screw up. In several other racers you have to look and your speedometer to get an idea of how fast you're going but here that split second could cost you your speed run. Every stop light in the game is a race you can partake in and it is up to you to figure out the fastest way to get to the finish. But they didn't stop there. Scattered throughout the humongous playpen that is this game are secret jumps to try, billboards to burst through, and gates to smash not to mention setting the best times on individual streets, or the highest trick score you can possibly set during stunt runs and showtime modes. And then they happened to throw in the best jump in jump out multiplayer mode ever created. At any time while you are playing off line you are only a few button presses away from joining a group of friends or random people online simply by pressing right on the d-pad and choosing play online. Your friends' records are updated for every street and the game will let you know what they are giving you incentive to try and break them. Create your own races on the fly or just have fun trying to take down everyone else, and when you're all done press the d-pad again and online goes away while never taking you out of the game which is something every multiplayer will hopefully adopt at some point. Burnout Paradise packs in so much fun it is criminal.
5. Pixel Junk Monsters. Simple is good. Few developers understand this as well as Q Games and their Pixel Junk line. Monsters is a simple RTS game that is a time warp. It has a gorgeous stylized hand drawn graphics in full 1080p resolution. I has a very easy to learn control scheme. It has a simple premise, protect the creatures from the incoming monsters. Yet when you're done playing it you realize you haven't had anything to eat all day and it's now dark outside. These days studios are spending millions of dollars and thousands of man hours putting together these epic games that are supposed to change everything only to have them flop because they didn't get the simple basic stuff right. If you can get all the simple stuff right, you can make a great game. Pixel Junk Monsters gets all of the simple stuff right. And it is a great game.
So that's my list. I only considered games I was familiar enough with, I haven't played Fable 2, Yakuza 2 yet. Fallout 3 was my game of the show at PAX 2008, but I've only played put about 3 hours into it so far which isn't nearly enough time to accurately place it or the other games I haven't gotten to on my list.
1. Metal Gear Solid 4. Kojima Productions was able to deliver both style and substance as well as replayability in this fully loaded game. The graphics are beautiful and it has the best sound engineering ever put into a video game. It transports you into a Saving Private Ryan-like world where the action is happening all around you and gives you multiple ways to experience it. You can go in guns blazing, sneak around, or try to use the NPCs to aid you on your way and every method works beautifully. It also managed to give players a new way to experience story and gameplay that were unexpected, innovative, and welcome and really help you feel for the character. Kudos to them for also being able to tie up a supremely complex story and wrap it up in a way that doesn't slight those who have invested heavily in the franchise throughout the years.
2. Little Big Planet. Media Molecule managed to do what Nintendo, Sega, and several 3rd party developers haven't been able to do in some time and that is to release an old school platformer that has all of the feel and fun of playing a Mario game from back in the day. It even manages to make its cuteness cool. The single player levels they put into the game were not only fun and challenging, but every level managed to tell a story and give you all kinds of fun things to do which not only keeps the player entertained, but also teach you that you can tell whatever story you want when trying to create you own level or make whatever mission you want. The multiplayer aspect makes this truly the youtube of games not only giving every internet meme, classic game, or other media new life, but also allows you the consumer to tell give everyone else something play with and think about. It was truly the most innovative game released this year.
3. Grand Theft Auto IV. Rockstar Games outdid themselves again with the release of GTA IV. A reboot of the Liberty City of GTA III Rockstar created a living breathing city with inhabitants that do more than just exist for you to run over and gun down in cold blood like the past 3 games. The story received a somewhat controversial reboot as well. The sophomoric humor of past games is still present but the volume has been turned down on it somewhat in favor of a more mature storyline. Now you play Niko Belic who has seen some hard times and just wants a piece of the American Dream. Niko has friends who call him and want to spend time with him. He has a camera phone with ringtones and themes he can buy. He can go out and get drunk. He can surf the internet which is surprisingly detailed and actually captures the feel of real life. And that's the game in general. The GTA franchise has always been a satire on America. Now it's now through its adolescent period of just being about killing hookers to get your money back and has come to make you think about your actions. Clearly Rockstar has put some though into theirs.
4. Burnout Paradise. Way back in January Criterion Games release the absolute best arcade racer in several years. There have been several open world racing games in the past but none have done anything as good as what Burnout managed to pull off. You are presented with a city complete with a downtown area, beachfront, mountains & hills, freeway, and even a bit of the suburbs. Burnout Paradise manages to capture the feeling of speed better than any other racing game. When you are barrelling down the road you know it, you lean in and you try your hards not to screw up. In several other racers you have to look and your speedometer to get an idea of how fast you're going but here that split second could cost you your speed run. Every stop light in the game is a race you can partake in and it is up to you to figure out the fastest way to get to the finish. But they didn't stop there. Scattered throughout the humongous playpen that is this game are secret jumps to try, billboards to burst through, and gates to smash not to mention setting the best times on individual streets, or the highest trick score you can possibly set during stunt runs and showtime modes. And then they happened to throw in the best jump in jump out multiplayer mode ever created. At any time while you are playing off line you are only a few button presses away from joining a group of friends or random people online simply by pressing right on the d-pad and choosing play online. Your friends' records are updated for every street and the game will let you know what they are giving you incentive to try and break them. Create your own races on the fly or just have fun trying to take down everyone else, and when you're all done press the d-pad again and online goes away while never taking you out of the game which is something every multiplayer will hopefully adopt at some point. Burnout Paradise packs in so much fun it is criminal.
5. Pixel Junk Monsters. Simple is good. Few developers understand this as well as Q Games and their Pixel Junk line. Monsters is a simple RTS game that is a time warp. It has a gorgeous stylized hand drawn graphics in full 1080p resolution. I has a very easy to learn control scheme. It has a simple premise, protect the creatures from the incoming monsters. Yet when you're done playing it you realize you haven't had anything to eat all day and it's now dark outside. These days studios are spending millions of dollars and thousands of man hours putting together these epic games that are supposed to change everything only to have them flop because they didn't get the simple basic stuff right. If you can get all the simple stuff right, you can make a great game. Pixel Junk Monsters gets all of the simple stuff right. And it is a great game.
So that's my list. I only considered games I was familiar enough with, I haven't played Fable 2, Yakuza 2 yet. Fallout 3 was my game of the show at PAX 2008, but I've only played put about 3 hours into it so far which isn't nearly enough time to accurately place it or the other games I haven't gotten to on my list.
Achievement Unlocked: Started Web Blog
So it's January 1st 2009 (happy new year to all) and with every new year come new year's resolutions. Many of which get forgotten a month or two into the year, though some of us continue to keep up with what we said we'd do, and very few of us actually make the change for good. I'm hoping in in the latter. I don't want to get too in depth about my background and personal life here, but I always wanted to be a writer as a kid, got a degree in Mass Communications and then proceeded to not write anything upon receipt of that degree. Hopefully all that comes to an end now. This blog will mainly feature critique on things that interest me which means a lot of movie and video game reviews as I see new movies every week, and play a ton of games. There may be some essays that pop up from time to time on all sorts of subject matter and some links to things that I saw interest in. I have no idea how regularly I will update this, but once a week is my goal for now. Well that's it for my first post. Don't be a stranger, and I'll try not to be one either.
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