Paeter is no longer posting to this blog. His new reviews and thoughts on geek entertainment (including all those previously posted here!) can now be found conveniently organized and archived at The Spirit Blade Underground!
All I really know about the “Prince Of Persia” video games is that the first one was way too freakin’ hard for me, so I never bothered with the others. (Though I hear that’s changed.) So I didn’t come into the theater as a fan of the video games, just a fan of fantasy adventure.
Prince Of Persia’s story centers on a young street urchin turned prince who finds himself caught in the middle of treachery within his adopted royal family. He is accused of a murder and is on the run for most of the movie, trying to prove his innocence by unmasking the true culprit and his evil schemes.
There is plenty of adventure to be had as the title character, cleverly played by Jake Gyllenhaal, leaps from roof to wall like an ancient free runner, stopping now and then to engage in fast-paced swordplay. Some of the early action scenes especially are clever in their design and very engaging to watch. Fights are well choreographed, but with no innovation.
The story is straightforward and somewhat predictable. Performances are fine, though these actors were not given much to work with. This is an action-driven movie. Characterization moments are obviously planted in the script, rather than coming through the material naturally. But if you’re a fan of light-hearted adventure with a touch of darkness now and then, you may find this movie has some things in common with the first three Indiana Jones films. Not much meat to the characters, but they serve the plot well.
The special effects are standard quality and not as common in the film as the trailers would have you believe. But they shoot for some pretty big moments near the end that you may find fun to watch. Maybe I’m getting even more jaded toward Hollywood CGI, or maybe I’m just playing too many video games. But when big summer movie effects are no more interesting to my eye than an average video game session, I feel like Hollywood needs to raise the bar. (At least I can interact with those visuals in my video game.) And I’m not convinced 3D is the answer. (Video games are delving into that, too.)
The score is very enjoyable, blending the sounds you’d expect to hear in a fantasy adventure score with an appropriate middle-eastern quality.
I don’t think it’s very likely that many will come away from this movie and have a meaningful discussion about anything of real worth as a result. But I’d still like to draw attention to a couple of pop-spirituality clichés that once again find their way into a Hollywood script.
The first comes near the beginning, when a Persian royal advisor is talking about the kingdom they are about to invade. With disgust in his tone, speaking of their religious beliefs, he says that this kingdom is open to no truth but their own. I understand what he means to convey, but using the word “truth” instead of “ideas” or “beliefs” suggests flexibility to the nature of truth. Yet, truth does not really change and never contradicts itself.
Truth, according to Webster, is that which conforms to fact, or reality. There is no such thing as your truth or my truth. There is only THE truth. One or both of us may conclude wrongly what the truth is. But there is still only one actual truth. A very small, almost unnoticeable bit in the script. But when a word is misused so many times, as “truth” is by Hollywood, we can forget what the word actually means.
Of greater notice are two key moments in the script, one during the resolution of the climax, where we hear the proverb, “a good king listens to counsel, but always follows his heart.” I think a better proverb would be, “a good king listens to counsel, but always uses his best judgment”. Why? Because no one that I know of has ever nailed down what it means to “follow your heart”.
Does that mean follow your instincts? Follow your feelings? Do what you think is right? How do you know what your heart is telling you? The truth is, “follow your heart” really just amounts to “do what you want to do.” And this advice only works when the heart in question is guaranteed to be good and noble.
After all, you never hear characters tell a bad guy to follow their heart. And I don’t mean bad like Darth Vader. I mean bad like Emperor Palpatine. Just bad through and through. We never tell those guys to “follow their hearts”. We might even say they don’t have hearts. As though the heart is some pure untainted compass for life that only the most evil people don’t possess. But Jeremiah 17:9 says that “the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”
I’ve got a non-Christian friend who laughed in agreement when I pointed her to that verse. She’d had a series of bad dating relationships and said, “That’s right! My heart LIES to me!”
Script writers have complete control and can guarantee that “follow your heart” will always be the best advice for their characters. But in real life, it’s not near that simple.
This movie is a fun ride that never gets emotionally intense. You probably won’t ever grip the edge of your seat, but you may very well enjoy what you’re watching. An exception to the norm for “video game movies”.
MPAA: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action.
I'm about 20 hours into this game now and thought I'd give another update to my "First Five" review. In short, I'd say my score has likely settled into a 7.5 or 8.0 at best in the realm of quality.
The combat is as fun and addictive as ever. The battles are also getting easier to watch without dying. The game is a visual feast and I love the design of the world and its creatures.
What I didn't anticipate is the number of cut-scenes this game has. It's ridiculous. I can't go more than 10 minutes without one, and much of the time not more than 3-5 minutes. Insane.
The acting and script are not getting any better, either. So each cut-scene takes me away from the momentum I'm building and puts me in the middle of a story that makes little sense and characters who are extremely odd or at best unrealistic. I've played JRPGs with translations that work MUCH better than this one. (The first two "Shadow Hearts" games come to mind.)
And the game is as linear as ever. Only last night did I get to choose my own battle party for the very first time. When compared to Bioware games, where choice is given to you at almost every turn and has a very significant impact on the game, Final Fantasy 13 feels like a leap in the wrong direction. I can't imagine why the creators thought we would want less choice in nearly every aspect of gameplay. And the repeated pattern of Walk, Battle, "Storytime" just isn't working for me here. I don't want to WATCH a story anymore. (Especially not one as hard to follow as this one.) I want to participate in it.
I'm certainly having enough fun that I'll finish the game. But I won't be keeping or playing this one again. One other thing I'll definitely give it, though. It's gotten me a little more used to seeing a "Game Over" screen. So I may actually be willing to try out "Resonance Of Fate" after this one!
I can't believe I'm sitting here! For the last three weeks I've had a highly unusual amount of subbing to do. I normally only substitute teach an average of 5 days a month and run my business from home the rest of the time. The last three weeks I've been subbing 4 out of 5 days a week. Some of the only times I've done any work for my company in the last month have been on Saturdays, and so I actually had to remind myself that today was Monday!
But YIKES! It's already 11am! The day is racing by already and I've got three weeks of odds and ends to catch up on before I can build any creative momentum again!
Last year at this time, I committed to spending as close to zero dollars on entertainment over the summer as I could, to help save up for a TV I eventually bought in the fall. It was such a good experience for me and helped train me to be more responsible with the resources God has entrusted to me. So I want to do it again! And I want YOU to be a part of it!
The internet is an insanely massive entity with untold numbers of free things to enjoy. Video games, videos, short stories, music, audio drama... the list goes on and on!
I'd like to compile lists and reviews of free entertainment on the web that geeks like you and me would enjoy. So if you know of a site with great videos (or have a list of "youtube favorites") I want it! If you know of a great free game online, tell me about it! Comment here or send me an e-mail and I'll share it on the podcast!
And if you don't know where to start, there are a TON of free games to sift through at freeware.net. If you'd like to try one out, I'd love to know: 1. What you think of the game. 2. How it plans to make money, if at all(free trial? buy in-game items/content etc.) 3. What the system requirements are.
(And as a side note, please only send me info about stuff that is unquestionably legal. For example, the use of video game roms and emulators is a legal gray area and I'd prefer to avoid gray areas.)
I hope you'll be a part of this summer long event with me and save yourself some money along the way!
Now this may not be true for everyone. In fact, I might be in the very small minority. But after playing Final Fantasy 13 for a couple more hours, I discovered that some form of strategy guide will be vital to get through this game. Now and then the game will present you with some tough boss battles. (Chiefly when you fight summon monsters to add them to your collection.) In these battles, the game seems to have one very specific way to win the fight that you have to figure out, and if you don't use the strategy they have in mind, you're toast.
Also, with some other normal battles I run into situations where they take a long time to finish and I get a low performance rating because I didn't finish it quickly in the way the game wants me to. I've tried every combination available to me and there is a particular enemy that just takes a long time to beat every time I run into one or more of him. The only conclusion I can come to is that I haven't rained my characters in the classes needed to make short work of these particular bad guys. A little annoying. And I can say with confidence that I've seen the "Game Over" screen more times in this FF than in all the times I've seen one in every other FF game combined.
So just FYI, although the linear nature of exploration has not bothered me so far, the very "linear" battle strategy does not encourage independence of thought or creative character development either. As a card carrying non-conformist, I find this a little lame. But the combat is still very addictive and fun outside of these quirks and so far I have found the strategy answers I need for free online. So it's only a minor annoyance so far.
Since I don’t always buy new games as soon as they come out, and since I don’t often play them through quickly enough, I’ve never done a video game review before. But I thought since Final Fantasy 13 is still pretty new I could try out an idea I’ve been toying with for a little while: A “First Five” Review. The idea is that I play through the first five hours of a video game and offer a “first impression review” based on my experience.
I’ve been a huge fan of the Final Fantasy series and have played every game in the main series (excluding the game boy games, or games like Final Fantasy Mystic Quest or Final Fantasy X-2) starting with the original Final Fantasy on the 8-bit NES.
The chief elements that have brought me back to the series again and again are the strategic, fun battle systems and the blend of sci-fi and fantasy. FF games also tend to boast the best RPG graphics, involving stories and lengthy playtime. My favorite games in the series are (in order of preference) Final Fantasy 9, Final Fantasy 3(6 in Japan) and Final Fantasy 12. Final Fantasy 12 had to grow on me because of the new battle mechanics, but I eventually came to love them and they became the strongest part of the game for me.
There was a time when Japanese RPGs were the only choice for video game console players. American RPGs (or those targeted at an English speaking demographic) were almost exclusively on computers. But in recent years this has changed, with giants like Bethesda, Snowblind and of course Bioware, changing the landscape of console RPGs and catering much more effectively to an English speaking audience.
Likewise, as technology has advanced, video game creators are able to express their ideas and characters much more effectively. Full voice acting and motion capture actors are able to bring characters to life fulfilling their creator’s visions like never before. (For better or for worse.)
All of these factors have had an interesting effect on my fidelity to the Final Fantasy games in the last 5-10 years. Without voice actors hamming it up (with less subtlety than performances in a children’s musical), I could imagine the dialogue in old-school JRPGs sounding however I wanted. (Namely, with much less inflection and no strange grunting or gasping whenever someone so much as turns their head or raises an eyebrow.)
JRPG scripts (especially in the FF series) often deal with deep and serious subject matter. Overdone inflection with accompanying grunts, sighs oohs and aahs may be normal in the Japanese language and culture. But whoever is calling the shots during the translation process seems oblivious to the fact that this is not the case in most English speaking cultures. It just comes off weird at best and annoying at worst.
Now, add to this the fact that English designed RPGs are hitting consoles all the time with American players in mind. Bioware alone has done an excellent job of writing, casting and directing with Americans and English speaking players in mind. And since I’ve just come off of a streak of great “English produced” console RPGs, it was a shock to play Final Fantasy 13 and once again have to make allowances for all the strangeness that comes with translations of Japanese RPGs and Japanese Anime.
So although in years past I would have just accepted these elements as par for the course and not factored them into a review, the RPGs available to American consumers have raised the bar for that demographic. With no other information about how these games are made, I have to assume that those translating these games are aware of this on some level and have simply chosen not to adapt the games’ cultural sensibilities as much as they could, for whatever reason. So I’ve found I can no longer make allowances for JRPGs since as far as I can tell it could be addressed pretty easily(and would probably net them more American customers!).
Alright, I’ve spent a TON of time on all that because I think it takes a little more time to lay the foundation for that issue to be a valid criticism. But on to the game itself.
This game is gorgeous. The first HD game in the series and it jumps out of my TV with incredible detail and splendor. The battles are wonderfully choreographed and dazzling to watch. The world is vast and incredible to look at. Every once in awhile I find myself pausing just to move the camera around and take in the immense spectacle of this world.The camera doesn’t always move the way you’d like it to during exploration and so behaves strangely now and then, but not so much that it is frustrating.
Although the voice acting is standard for a JRPG, it’s not as “over the top” as it could be, with the exception of one female character that I actually wanted to lose a battle with in hopes that she would die and be removed from the game. (No luck…yet.) And the acting is still plagued with all the strange grunts and emotionally expressive “noises” that accompany already obvious expressions of emotion in body movement. After Dragon Age and Mass Effect, the ridiculousness of this kind of behavior is severely amplified and no fun. But if you’ve built up a bit of a tolerance to it as I have, it’s not horrific. Just lame.
The music in the game is well done, though not the best in the series. And the battle music sounds downright happy and strangely dated. Like the upbeat music of an 80’s TV adventure show. A little too bright for my tastes. I can think of much better sounding music to kick butt to, or to have my butt kicked to.
The story presented is interesting and it’s nice to see how the characters are thrown together against their wills. So far, character motivations all make sense and I’m interested to see where things will go. The down side of the story is the way exposition is presented. By that I mean that exposition is not presented. Or when it is, it is sparse and hard to understand, due partly to translation issues.
The game continues to update a file that recaps the story. You can look at this file any time and at the beginning especially it will be vital. Names, places and terminology are being thrown around in dialogue as though you already know all of this stuff. Only by reading every new page of exposition as it was unlocked was I able to understand what people were talking about. And these bits of exposition are only unlocked after the scene in which you needed to know them. So very often I find myself reading and then saying , “Oh THAT’S what they were talking about in the last scene.” It’s gotten better as the game progresses, but it’s still a big beef I have with the way the script is written and the story is presented. It’s hard to be involved with the emotion of a scene when you’re not quite sure why people are upset.
The game has already been criticized for being linear during exploration and in many ways this is literally true. In the opening level, you are largely traveling along a single straight line. But it wasn’t long before the maps provided enough detours to satisfy me and make me feel a little accomplishment for veering off the main path to find a hidden treasure. So this is a point of criticism that I don’t echo as a significant issue for me.
The combat system in this game took some getting used to. In fact, I suspect that more and more concepts have yet to be introduced to me. At first, it’s just a whole bunch of hitting “A”, since the auto-battle option is almost always the best strategic choice. So battles at the start are not exciting. Add to this the fact that there are a lot of cut-scenes in the game and the first hour or so feels a lot like “A,A,A,A,A,A,(watch a cut scene),A,A,A,A(walk forward some)A,A,A,A,A,A”. But grind your way through this and combat strategy does become more interesting.
Although you only directly control your party leader, you decide the overarching strategy of your party. If you were able to make the change from turn-based playing to the combat in Final Fantasy 12, you’ll probably make a similar transition into the combat on this game after a period of adjustment. However, unlike Final Fantasy 12, I find I’m virtually unable to watch and enjoy the battle as it plays out. Instead, I have to keep my eyes glued on the health of my party members and the action gauge so I can see when I’m able to input the next command (even if it is just “auto-battle” or a quick strategy switch for my party).
So why would I have to be watching so intently for every opportunity to input a vital command? Because you can’t pause!! Well, okay, technically you can. But it will do you almost no good in formulating your strategy, because you can’t access any menus or look at any stats and the screen is completely fuzzed out. And when battle is un-paused, the bad guys keep hammering at you. So you have no time to sift through and carefully consider your command options. For better or worse, this means that the actual strategy in battles is very simple. It is only made challenging by the fact that you have to be on the ball and make your choices quickly.
I’m getting used to this aspect of the game and I’m enjoying combat quite a bit. But it’s still a real shame that I’m only able to enjoy the dazzling and beautiful battle animations out of my peripheral vision. And no, slowing down the combat gauge (as the game allows) did not solve this issue for me. I just ended up waiting and watching my characters wait in between times of staring feverishly at my health bars and missing most of the eye candy. Slowing the gauge also reduces the rewards you are able to get for battles, since the speed with which you finish a battle effects the rewards you obtain.
In terms of philosophical relevance, this game says something very interesting that reminds me of the uniqueness of Christianity. In the world of FF13, if a human servant fulfills the purpose given to them by one of the powerful types of beings you encounter in the game, that human is granted eternal life as a frozen crystal. The implication is that everyone else simply dies and ceases to be.
Firstly, this type of spiritual economy is one thing that separates Christianity from possibly every other religion or philosophy that teaches on an afterlife. In nearly every religious system, you have to “earn” eternal life, or a good eternal life, through actions on earth. In Biblical Christianity, Christ earns all of this FOR those who simply trust that he did. While the Bible does teach on additional eternal rewards for serving God in this life, everyone will have the same incredibly close relationship with God and a wildly wonderful eternal existence. No one will be thinking, “boy, this isn’t as great as I’d hoped it would be…”
In addition, the eternal existence of the believer will not be some less than human ethereal existence. We won’t just live on in the memory of others. (What kind of sucky existence is that anyway when you think about it?) We won’t exist as vapor or crystal or some other inanimate material that simply sits motionless singing “aaaaaaah”. Believers will be given bodies and will be doing things. We will live an adventure that never ends!
Despite the fact that I’ve spent more time explaining my complaints of this game than my praises for it, I find it pretty addictive so far. The combat moves fast and may look intimidating, but it actually runs very smoothly and is very satisfying, Also, if you have trouble or even die, you always get the option to try again starting right before the last battle. And the elements I’ve enjoyed are easily strong enough to make the game stand out from many others and make it worth pushing through the game’s downsides.
Although this movie almost doesn't qualify as science fiction or fantasy, it has enough geek appeal by nature that I knew I would eventually see it and probably review it. And after a quick stop to a Red Box and an hour and a half on my couch, I'm wishing I would have seen this movie sooner!
"The Men Who Stare At Goats" is based on a true story of how the U.S. government funded an operation to create soldiers with psychic abilities. Ewen McGregor plays a journalist who travels with one of the program's most successful soldiers(George Clooney) and learns about this strange and secret world first-hand.
Like many unique movies, this film suffered from "in the box" marketing, which presented it as a comedy. And though it has a few laugh out loud moments, it is largely a light-hearted drama, though it does turn a little darker toward the end.
The performances are great across the board with Jeff Bridges truly shining as the psychic military program leader. Clooney is strange, yet grounded in realism. And Kevin Spacey is lots of fun to both hate and pity.
Part of what makes these characters so charming is their almost childlike willingness to believe that the fantastical is possible and that the absurd is real. There is a documentary on the DVD well worth watching after the movie that features interviews with real former members of the psychic soldier program. One of them says something very revealing when he establishes that if you are willing to believe in anything, without any limitations, you can discover some amazing things. This is undeniably true and is demonstrated well in the film. The film also demonstrates that if you keep your mind too open, your brain may just fall out.
The characters in this movie do seem to discover some incredible human potential. But they also end up believing some things that are ridiculous. The movie reminded me of how important discernment is and what can happen when we stop discerning between truth and falsehood. It's indicated in the script that these characters all wanted to believe they were special and that they had a purpose. (And this is very true of all humans.) But they ultimately chose a path to fulfillment of their purpose that involved believing some things that were not true and their trust in those things nearly cost them their lives at times. (It could be argued that in some cases it DID cost the lives of others.)
Many Christians choose not to discern and instead create "rules" that the Bible does not specifically teach. (Like avoiding fantasy fiction and abstaining from all rated R movies.) As a result they enslave themselves, despite guarding their hearts and minds, and miss out on the freedom Christ offers us. Other Christians choose not to discern in the opposite extreme, like the characters in this movie. They do and believe all things and embrace all ideas. As a result, they become enslaved to false perceptions of reality, despite gaining some valid insight to truth.
This movie made me imagine and hope for the day when Christians everywhere choose to discern consistently. Imagine the insight and truth we could discover and the kind of lives we could live if we chose to discern in every moment of our lives.
This movie may seem a little strange to some and won't appeal to everyone. But if a nerdy kid still lives inside you, imagining what might be possible if we dream big enough, you'll likely find a charming, thought-provoking movie here that you'll be glad you watched.
Rated R for language, some drug content and brief nudity.
Last night I ran my first game of "DC Heroclix" with a friend, but in a non-competitive format I've been playing with. I hate competitive games and I hate collectible games. But this one has been around long enough that for the price of a new boardgame I was able to buy the individual figures I wanted online to create a "set" useful for multiple "campaigns". Since the game is based on a point building system, it's just a matter of re-balancing the points allotted each player to give the heroes an edge. And now with very little modification, I'm running Heroclix much in the same way I would run a game of "Descent". (I play the thugs and villains and my friend plays the team of heroes.)
I've developed a "story arc" made up of 14 "encounters" and it was surprisingly easy! (Being a DC Comics nerd has its advantages.) I think I've discovered a new favorite! (Well, maybe not more fun than "Descent", but very likely tying with it! And MUCH quicker to play!)
I've been spending my "fun money" conservatively for awhile, but after seeing Iron Man 2 I finally felt that it was time to get caught up on my "Ultimate Marvel" reading. All the trade paperbacks for the "Ultimatum" crossover are now released and even more importantly, available for cheaper on Amazon. So I dropped a little over 60 bucks (that's a lot for me) to order them and they'll be arriving on Wednesday! (Comic book day! Perfect!)
But with "Daybreakers" coming out on Bluray/DVD tomorrow and Final Fantasy 13 still on my "to buy" list, I have a lot of saving up to do between now and whenever I finish playing "Mass Effect"! I smell another "Summer Of Free" coming...
To my memory, the original Iron Man movie is the only film I have given a 10 out of 10 for quality in a review. So I was very excited to see the next installment of this exciting film franchise. I am a huge comic book geek, though mostly for the DC universe, with a few Marvel Comics from the past and much of the "Ultimate" line. So although I'm very familiar with and love the Iron Man character, I am not a hardcore Iron Man fan.
Let's get right to the meat of things. This is a great movie and you should definitely check it out. The dialogue is just as smart, the acting is just as clever, the action is just as explosive and the effects are just as cool. And as with any sequel to a successful film, more money has been thrown at this one to amp things up a notch. Fans of superhero action should not be disappointed by the action in this flick. It's a great ride!
Robert Downey Junior continues to offer a unique but strangely fitting portrayal of Tony Stark and Gwyneth Paltrow is wonderfully charming, especially when playing next to her co-star. Don Cheadle takes over the role of Rhodey and after a scene or two of adjustment, fits into the cast like he'd been there all along. Scarlett Johansson also joins the cast and fills her role nicely, though without bringing any unique or memorable characteristics to her role. Sam Rockwell is very "Sam Rockwell", but not in any way that hurts the film. Rather his quirky, insecure antics fit right in with the tone established by the leads in the first film. Samuel L. Jackson get considerably more screen time as Nick Fury. And though his portrayal of fury is slightly more urban than his "Ultimates" comic book counterpart (which was based on his physical likeness and got him the role in these movies!) he holds back enough that I can still buy the character as an official military operative of some kind. Lastly, Mickey Rourke is the center stage villain of this flick and brings both heart and grit to a role that required both.
The story picks up 6 months after the first movie and Tony Stark is fighting the U.S. Government to keep control of his armor. Meanwhile, Rourke's character is out for revenge because of the way Tony Stark's weapons have affected Russia over the years, or because his dad helped Tony's dad invent the arc reactor and didn't get credit or... I'll be honest. I'm not really sure why Ivan (Rourke) wanted revenge. Those were educated guesses, but the motivation of the antagonist in this case was pretty murky. Maybe that Russian accent Rourke was using was a little too thick, but I felt like I only ever had the most basic idea of why he had a beef with Stark.
This is connected to the weak point of the film. There is not a clear enough line drawn between the antagonists and the protagonists. Stark is especially flawed in this film and we are given very little reminder of why he is driven to be Iron Man to begin with. This is a weakness common to superhero movie franchises. They establish motivation for the hero in the first film, but forget to repeat it in the following films. (Batman, old or new franchise, is an example of this, while the Spider-man movies are an exception.) Justin Hammer is far more pathetic than he is evil and "Whiplash" (Rourke) is mainly disgruntled and even sympathetically so. Add to this a surprisingly short final confrontation and the movie ends on an anti-climactic note with very little sense of victory.
As with the first film, there is not much to talk about of any relevance after seeing this movie. Stark is as narcissistic as ever and they do touch a little on the "demon in the bottle" theme that is present in the comic book, but none of these elements are executed in a way that will likely lead to worthwhile discussion.
This movie is a case where "more of the same" is a really great thing, although the story and characterization was not given quite the attention it should have been on all counts. A great movie and fans of the genre should certainly not miss it!
Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence, and some language.
Is anyone else concerned that the recent "3D Craze" in movies will kill itself? With the box office success of Avatar, Clash Of The Titans decided to do a hasty "up-conversion" to 3d, even though the movie was not made with 3d in mind. The result was a product many found to be poor and even worse than the 2d experience.
More and more now I'm seeing movies advertised as "3D" and I never know which ones are worth seeing in that format. Knowing that studios are willing to put out a poor 3d product to fool the consumer and make more money has been turning me off to the 3d experience. If I'm in the minority, this isn't a problem. But if my hesitation is common, we may see a lack of sales for 3d drive the medium out of the market.
This would be a real shame, since 3d done well is a great experience. And frankly, I think it's one that Hollywood needs to use well if they want to keep people in theaters. I'm very pleased with my home theater and actually prefer watching movies on my couch with my superior (and much cheaper) drinks and snacks over a pricey theater with "talkers" and a less than sharp picture. I've been to a number of big chain theaters and they all seem to suffer from picture quality that is less clear than my tv and people who don't know how to keep their mouths shut.
It's getting easier all the time to wait for DVD/Blu-ray and if Hollywood started releasing movies on home video at the same time as the theater I'd probably never walk into a theater again.
No such luck for now. Here's hoping I have a good audience when I see Iron Man 2 this weekend...
After finishing the recent "Dragon Age" expansion (Awakening) I wasted no time in jumping into Mass Effect, a game I've been getting around to playing for a loooong time. I never should have waited!
When I tried the game a long time ago, I wasn't so sure about the First Person Shooter elements and some of the timed missions. Those elements usually involve me dying a lot and being frustrated at how many times I have to play the same material over and over again until I remember that I suck and give up. But after playing so many great Bioware RPGs I figured I must have judged this one too quickly before and gave it another try.
There were still some things I had to get used to. I would prefer to toggle combat menus on and off instead of holding down the left or right bumper while I navigate menus and make decisions. I also wish the menu interface was more intuitive(they don't seem to like the "back" option), although I at least knew about this element from a gamespot review going in.
Instant death landmines and thresher maws add some stress I'd rather not deal with in planet exploration, but so far I've been able to work around them with a bit of determination.
Aside from those issues, combat is extremely satisfying and challenging without being overwhelming and the visual design of this game is incredibly inspiring. (Makes me want to mix some audio drama!) Not to mention the quests are freakin' addictive! (I'll just do ONE more!)
Speaking of which, I think I've got some gaming to do!
