Sunday, June 21, 2009

Movie Review Time

Over the last few weeks I've seen a few movies (big surprise there huh? lol) and here is what I thought of them:

The Hangover

This movie was f'n hilarious. It's from the director of Old School and Road Trip. I think it's even funnier than those two movies. Definitely could be the break-out movie for Bradley Cooper (even though he's made a few movies already such as Wedding Crashers), Ed Helms (Andy from the Office) and Zach Galifiankis. To be honest, I think Helms and Galifinakis stole the movie from everyone else. Karli and I went to see this and I think I nearly wet myself at a lot of the scenes. It was outrageous and very raunchy, the perfect type of humour for me. It is definitely R-rated and not for the little ones.

Up

Pixar has done it again and I really don't know how they keep doing it. They just put out quality movie after quality movie and I think this one is definitely one of their best. It really felt like classic Disney film making with the excellent writing and heart of the movie blended with the action and adventure.

The beginning of this movie is a little heavy for the kids but from there on out they should just love it. The talking dogs I think were the best part of the movie.

This is definitely one that both the kids and the adults will love.

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

This is a remake of a movie from the 70s that starred Walter Mathau and Robert Shaw. I haven't seen that one so I can't compare it with this one.

This one though stars Denzel Washington and John Travolta and is directed by Tony Scott. Scott's involvement of course means camera cuts that could give a person seizures. Washington plays an NYC subway dispatcher, and Travolta plays the villain who hijacks a subway. For the most of the movie they never see eachother and only talk over the radio.

This was better than I expected. It's definitely not one of Tony Scott's better movies but is miles above Domino. Had a some good action and tension. Travolta is not as good a villain as he was in Face/Off but he was good hamming it up as the villain in this one. Washington was his usual self.

E3 impressions wrap-up

Ok, I know it's been about 2 weeks since I started putting down my E3 impressions in writing but then I got busy and sick, so I haven't had a chance to finish it up. That's what I'm going to do now.

Thanks to Nintendo, everyone wants to get into the motion sensing game. Nintendo of course started it all with the Wii but now Microsoft and Sony want to get into the game.

Personally, I think Microsoft's Project Natal is a lot more interesting looking that Sony's magic wand. Just the ability to flip through the dash with the wave of a hand looks pretty damn cool to me. The thing that concerns me of course is price. I'm wondering how much Microsoft is going to be able to seel this thing for. If it's under $200, I'm there for sure.

As for some of the games that the other guys showcased for us, Sony's God of War III is going to be the reason I re-buy a PS3. The first two God of Wars are in my top games of all time list for sure. I even really liked the PSP version.

Nintendo showed off a new Super Mario Bros. for the Wii that looks to be in the same vein as the one on the DS a couple years back, which I absolutely loved. My girlfriend and I are thinking of getting a Wii together and this would probably be one of the first games we get for it. It's definitely a game right up her alley too.

Nintendo also showed us a new Metroid game from Team Ninja, the guys behind Ninja Gaiden. To be honest, it'll be nice to play a new Metroid game that isn't a shooter.

In the end though, I think Microsoft definitely had the best showing this year overall but the other two did have a couple things to pique my interest too.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

E3 Impressions: Microsoft, Part 1

I know it's been about a week since E3 but I finally have some time to post some impressions of what I thought of what was presented to us by Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo. What I'll do is do a series where I'll look at each company individually. Where a game is going to be on more than one system, i.e. Modern Warfare 2, I'll put it with the system I am most likely to buy it for.

I think Microsoft definitely had the best showing of the week. They started out strong by showing us a great preview of Beatles Rock Band. I am not 100% sure if I am going to buy this or not. If I do, it will be the game only as I don't need anymore plastic instruments laying around. To be honest though, I am starting to feel a little oversaturated with all the music games available. I think I'm going to take a break from them for a little while. Really, I think a steady stream of DLC is a far better way of releasing new music than putting out a new disc every year. The Beatles game is a bit of an exception though but with only 45 or so songs on the disc, it seems like a drop from the normal number in a Rock Band or Guitar Hero release.

There were a couple of games that Microsoft showed off that have me really excited. The top of the list being Modern Warfare 2 from Infinity Ward, who gave us Call of Duty 2 and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. After watching the gameplay video they showed off, I have to say I am drooling at the mouth for this one. I mean, c'mon, you get to ride snowmobiles like something out of a James Bond film or True Lies, the last really good Schwarzenegger movie. Please for you to enjoy, the gameplay video shown off at E3:



Left 4 Dead 2 is another game that really has me excited. I, like a lot of other people, was quite shocked that another Left 4 Dead game is coming out only a year after the first one. Perhaps they could have just released some more DLC for the first game but if they give us another 4 or more full scenarios like the first game and some more online multiplayer modes, I have no problem buying another full priced game. I do have to admit that I am really looking forward to whipping out the chainsaw and hacking up some zombies.



Microsoft of course also showed off some new games from the Halo universe. The one game everyone already knew about, Halo: ODST, which comes out this Fall. Include with the new game is a second disc containing all of the Halo 3 multiplayer modes, which are playable with anyone who is using the Halo 3 game disc. Now, I'm not the biggest Halo fan but I think this is a very smart move.

The other new Halo game was Halo: Reach, which caught everyone off by surprise. There is some information about it in the link I posted above for ODST. It appears to be some sort of a prequel. Here is the teaser they showed off though:



The last game I'm going to mention is Brutal Legend, before this post gets too long. This game is from the guys at Double Fine, who gave us the fantastic Psychonauts. This one looks like it'll be a Tenacious D game though, especially with the inclusion of Jack Black. I'm a huge heavy metal fan and I think this game looks like a complete blast. I definitely can't wait to play it.



I think that's it for today. Next post, I'll give my impressions on Project Natal to wrap up what I thought of Microsoft's showing at E3 this year.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Review Time: 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand

ESRB Rating: M (violence, drug references, language)
Platform: Xbox 360, PS3
Gametype: First Person Shooter

First and foremost let me start off by saying that I never thought I would say this about a game involving Fiddy but I really, really enjoyed this game. I saw a review for it on X-Play and my friend Chris told me he had fun playing it as well, so I figured I would give it a rental.

The story is pretty simplistic but then most shooters are. Basically, Fiddy performs a concert in the Middle East with the rest of G-Unit. When the concert promoter is unable to pay him, he offers him a diamond skull (a skull covered in diamonds, not a diamond shaped like a skull). This, of course, gets stolen sending Fiddy and a G-Unit member of your choice on a chase to get it back.

Aside from the rap soundtrack, which I am not a fan of, this is a pretty sold shooter game that definitely leans more on the arcade side. You rack up a score for kills, chain kills, destroying things, etc. You also earn money so you can buy new weapons, counterkills and taunts (which I never tried). The graphics are pretty solid but not the best thing out there. The sound is great, aside from the aforementioned soundtrack. I found the controls were really easy to
use.

The game does use a cover system much like the one in Gears without the duck and run. The counterkills are really easy to perform as well. You press B when an enemy is near you and press B again when prompted. They are pretty fun to use.

The game does have co-op in it but I didn't get a chance to try it out as no one else I know has it and I didn't feel like it playing with a stranger. From what I could tell from playing through by myself though, I think the co-op would sort of be like Army of Two with the usual helping eachother open gates, hoist eachother up onto high spots, etc.

Overall, I would definitely say this game is a great rental but not a purchase as it only took me about 7-8 hours to play through. A very good timewaster for sure though.

Rating: 7/10