Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Another trip to Liberty City.

Last night I finished the main storyline for The Lost and Damned, the DLC that came out recently for GTA IV. I think this is definitely some of the best DLC that has ever been released for a game. At a price of 1600 MS Points, it's definitely one of the more expensive ones but it is completely worth it. The main storyline took me about 7.5 hours to complete with an overall completion of 65%. I probably have another hour or two of side missions to finish to get 100%. That would give me a total of 9-10 hours, which is a steal at $22.00 CDN. I've paid $60 or $70 for a game and barely gotten that much.

This time around you play as Johnny K, a member of the Lost biker gang that Niko had some run ins with in the original GTA IV storyline. The original president of the chapter has just been released from jail/rehab and and you are now forced to do what he thinks is best for the gang despite how much you disagree. The storyline does sort of follow a predictable path but it is very enjoyable and I almost liked it more than Niko's story.

The one thing the game does very well is link Johnny's story with Niko's. You run into some of the same characters such as Niko himself, Roman, Liz Torres, Playboy and Ray Boccino. Some of the missions you play even link directly to the main game, i.e. you are the one who kidnaps Roman, they mention that Niko kills one of your brothers and you even play through the same mission you did with Niko but from Johnny's point of view. I really liked how they did this.

Some of the other additions include some new music. I couldn't tell you how much exactly as I usually just listen to Liberty Rock but there was some new songs on there for sure. They've also introduced a grenade launcher and an assault shotgun, which may be my absolute favourite weapon in a GTA game ever.

The only problem I had with the game and is not a criticism of it but more of my skills, is that there is more bike combat, i.e. having to shoot people while riding your bike. Let's just say, that's not the easiest thing in the world for me to do but it's not something that lessened my enjoyment of the game.

Overall, I am more than impressed with this DLC and cannot wait for the next one. GTA IV was my game of 2008 and this just expands and improves the games. A definite 5/5 in my books.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Sean's Top 5 T.V. Shows

I must be feeling productive this morning if I'm doing two posts. :) I just thought I would share my list of the top 5 t.v. shows I am currently watching. They are as follows (in alphabetical order):

30 Rock

This is the funniest show on t.v. right now and has one of the funniest casts going right now too. From Tina Fey to Alec Baldwin to Tracy Morgan to everyone else, I always bust a guy no matter what they are doing onscreen. I also do like the guest stars they are able to attract as everyone seems to want to be in the Tina Fey business right now, and who can blame them. :P A recent newspaper article I read said that the show relies too much on guest stars and I guess I can see that point but generally I love them all. Steve Martin even delivered one of the best lines this season: "We'll go to Toronto. It's like New York but without all the stuff". So very true. lol

Big Bang Theory

My friends Maggi and Chris got me into this one when I visited them last fall and I've been hooked ever since. It has to be one of the funniest shows on t.v. right now. It's a must see for all nerds and geeks really as I'm sure most of us can relate to the characters and their love of comics, scifi, video games, etc. Sheldon as the supergenius arrogant weirdo is probably the best character in the show. I just love how they tie geek culture into it, from Halo Nights to Rock Band to freaking out because Summer Glau is on the same train as them. My only criticism of the show is the overuse of the big canned laughter. Not every joke needs the huge outburst of laughter.

Chuck

I've loved this show since it first premiered last season. The character all have great chemistry, the writing is usually very crisp and it also has the geek references we can all enjoy. Adam Baldwin as the NSA agent Casey is just as good as he was on Firefly and the rest of the cast is great in their roles as well. I don't think they've had a single episode that I really haven't liked.

Prison Break

This is one of the most ridiculous, unbelieveable shows on t.v. and that is exactly why I love it. The shows has definitely veered off from the original season's flow and has brought in more conspiracies than one can shake a fist at. The characters always seem to find a way out of every tough situation they face. However, it is a very fun show to watch and always has some very good action sequences. It's just a real shame that it's being taken off the air after it's next 4 or so episodes. To be honest though, I can't believe they found a way to stretch it out this long (that's what she said).

Supernatural

This is probably my favourite show on t.v. and has been one of the most consistently enteraining ones since it first started 4 seasons ago. The two actors playing Sam and Dean Winchester, Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles, have the best brother chemistry I think I've seen on t.v. in quite some time. They even look like they could be brothers in real life. One of the reason I love this show is that I'm a big fan of horror movies and this show is almost like a 1 hour horror movie every week with bad guys from Reapers to Vampires to Demons to Ghosts to you name it. I love the variety of bad guys they seem to find in the occult and it's not always the same thing although ghosts and demons due show up more than anyothers. The main storyline this season of the demons trying to free Lucifer so he can bring on the apocalypse and the Winchesters being recruited by angels to fight on the side of Heaven has been very entertaining and interesting. I really hope they can get one more season but if it ends after just four, that's ok because not too many shows can be good for this long.

Now I know everyone has shows they would change with what I have set out, but it's my list so too bad. ;) What would you list as your favourite shows? I just listed the shows that I am current and up to date on. I do love Friday Night Lights and Battlestar Galactica too, but I haven't stayed up on their latest seasons and waiting to watch them this summer in one fell swoop. I also enjoy other shows such as The Office, My Name is Earl, Smallville and even the second half of Heroes' season but they just didn't make the cut.

What a Piece of...

So last weekend, my girlfriend and I decided, well I guess I decided and she just went along with it, to rent Twilight since it was on DVD. I had heard rather mixed reviews so I thought I should check it out for myself. I have never read the books and to be honest I don't really have a huge desire to do so either.

Well, after struggling my way through it I think it's safe to say it's one of the worst movies I have ever seen in my life. The story had no real flow to it and I thought the acting was more or less pretty weak. I didn't think they did a very good job of developing the relationship between Edward and Bella and their chemistry was pretty weak too. I also felt like the whole storyline with the bad guys was just shoved in there and didn't get a good build up. I'm guessing it's because they had to cut so much from the book to fit it in a two hour movie but it was safe to say both Karli and I didn't like it. In fact, I was tempted turn it off but I thought I should see the end. My brother, after seeing it in the theatre, described it as Dawson's Creek with vampires, and he was bang on the money with that description.

I've been told I should check out the book since everything gets explained better in it but I still really don't have any desire to do so even though I've heard the next book is even better, especially with the introduction of werewolves.

We also watched Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist last weekend. It was a pretty cute movie and would be something indie hipsters would really like. I did enjoy the music and it was pretty funny. The only thing is that Michael Cera is starting to play the exact same character in every movie. While I do enjoy his work, he's going to get tiresome pretty quickly. I had the same problem with Vince Vaughn.