So a lazy friday evening turns into a night of sci-fi movie watching. Let’s see what’s on cable!

First up…

Alien Resurrection

Bleh. That’s about all I got to say about this one. It’s a pretty unlikeable movie that I still end up watching all the time for some reason. I think it’s that same rehashed formula from The Poseiden Adventure that hooks me in every time, the same way a movie like Deep Blue Sea gets me every time. But yeah, standard horror movie fare about a group of people that need to get off a ship before the “aliens” get them. Ripley’s back again through cloning in a comic book-esque resurrection, and for the most part it feels like the performances are cliched or phoned in all around. But its a watchable, low expectations action movie with some decent kills and alien stuff if you remove the idea from your head that his is just a generic, lackluster sequel to two of the best science fiction movies of all time, Alien and Aliens.

After I finished up Alien Resurrection, I flipped to the Starz channels I get and saw…

Independence Day

Now I haven’t watched the movie in years, and remembered it was pretty hackneyed back in the day, and that certainly hasn’t changed. The movie is still full of overwrought Bill Pullman acting, drunken Randy Quaid non-acting, Goldblum ramblings, and Will Smith jive talkin’. But it is what it is, and I’ll be damned if I wasn’t entertained for 2 hours. I think one thing that gets overlooked in this movie is the excellent ship and creature design. The special effects also still hold up moderately well. When the ships fill the sky over top of New York, you can’t help but feel that these are monolithic, scary machines, almost in a War of the Worlds type atmosphere. I also enjoy the excellent small roles filled by Brent Spiner and Adam Baldwin in the movie, whom I completely forgot were in it until I saw them. So yeah, it’s still a mindless action movie with gaping plot holes and idiotic logic at times, but I turned my brain off and enjoyed it. And plus, Goldblum. Seriously.

Cube Zero

Ahh, I was really going for the trifecta of meh tonight. Cube Zero is everything you expect a sequel/prequel to be, but not in a good sense. It’s safe, uses much of the same setups as the first movie, and never really tries too much new. The only interesting idea is that this one is from the perspective of the people working the traps in the Cube and poses the question of “hey, what if these people are prisoners too?” Kind of an interesting thought, but the whole movie takes the mystique and coolness out of the first movie (most of its appeal lie in the fact that you did not know any more than the characters, and that everything seemed so foreign, cold, and mechanical). It’s replaced with dopey characters watching the Cube and even cornier higher ups that appear later on. This could have been done ok, but it’s clumsy and tries to explain a little too much, but at the same time leaves large portions of the plot unexplained. I would prefer either explain it all, or explain nothing. As it is, this just kinda feels like a SciFi Channel sequel to a much better movie. Again, it’s watchable, but far from great.

Hey everyone, sorry this is a tad late. I’ve been sitting around with family and trying to squeeze in some Bioshock here and there. Things have been fairly slow the past few weeks, but hopefully things will pick up as we wrap up our thoughts on 2007 as well as take in all the new games we’ve received for Christmas. I’m wishing I was back in school so I could spend some quality time with my various gaming consoles. It seems like I have more too play now than ever!

Have a safe, but wildly fun holiday season.

<3
The Good-Evil Crew

As gaming continues to grow year after year, the stories only became more interesting to watch unfold. Here’s a countdown of what made the biggest impact and controversy in what was one of the best years ever. (more…)

It’s been a good year for the Ace Attorney series, seeing the second and third games released in the same year. If you’ve played either of the first two games, you should be right at home here. There’s nothing new added to the series in this iteration other than a conclusion of sorts to some dangling plot threads from the previous games and some new mysteries.

I hate to be too critical of this series, because I realize it’s rare for a text-based adventure game to even come to America, and overall this series is rather well written and fun to play. However, with nothing new added, the third game feels a lot less like a sequel, and more like an expansion of the second game. You still play as Phoenix Wright, with Maya and Pearl assisting you in investigations, and then facing off against a new prosecutor, Godot. I think what is really disappointing is that so many characters are recycled. I mean, we have Gumshoe in nearly every case, and then lesser characters like Larry Butz constantly showing up. While some of them are welcome returns (playing as Mia in the past is pretty cool and her current day cameos are always welcome), it largely feels unnecessary to reuse so many characters so often.

Additionally, the quality of the new secondary characters in this game are probably the worst of the series. Cases 2 and 3 are largely unrelated to 1, 4, and 5, so that is where the most original characters lie. And they are on the whole, very disappointing. Characters like Ron DeLite are so annoying that you would rather let take them fall for the crimes they are accused, and characters like Jean Armstrong and Victor Kudo are almost unbearably hackneyed, one dimensional characters. They keep introducing wackier, goofier anime characters, and it continues to alienate me from really getting into the cases. Also, the established characters seem to have hit a wall in this iteration. While characters like Maya, Pearl, Larry, and Gumshoe all have their own unique personality quirks, they never really evolve beyond them. Maya likes burgers, Pearl is hopelessly naive, Larry is a hopeless girl chasing loser, Gumshoe is a poor doofus, Phoenix is constantly awkward and against the wall in court, etc. It’s very predictable.

And I hate to belabor a point, but these characters supposedly have aged a few years since the first Phoenix Wright game, and yet they still have the exact same portraits/animations. Some characters get a costume change briefly, but there’s still like a half dozen basic “moods” and corresponding portraits that each character has, and it just gets boring aesthetically to look at after awhile. Sherv and I both noted that we had fallen asleep while playing it before. That doesn’t necessarily condemn it as a bad game, but sometimes sorting through testimonies and chasing mysteries can take awhile, and seeing the same stuff now 3 games in a row is getting a little stale at this point. It’s good that the next game makes changes to the game’s conventions, because another game of the same old thing would probably just be too much.

Finally, while the murders and crimes are pretty clever for the most part, they become almost overly complicated and implausible in this game. Too many of the cases are built on crazily concocted schemes that don’t make a lot of sense when you really think about it. Digging through all the layers of the crimes sometimes takes forever, and the cases seem to get longer and longer as the series continues. At this point, I would love for the game to just have some short cases that only take an hour or two to solve. Sitting through hours and court/investigation on menial points to prove one thing that still doesn’t solve the case is frustrating.

While I have spent a lot of time criticizing the game, it does do some things well. It lets you play as several different characters, which is a welcome change of pace and keeps you interested. Also, Godot is simply a really fun character. His music is great, he has a good sense of humor, and he plays a crucial part in the entire game. His story is the best part of the game, by far. Also, the Mia flashback cases are nice in that it limits you to just the courtroom part and simplifies the game a bit. While these two cases still take awhile, it’s nice to not have to do all the work the game usually requires. The writing is still very good as well, and it is a pretty funny game. The translators did a good job of Americanizing some of the jokes with references to Internet fads and American culture. The music in this game is a bit better than the second game as well, but it still is nowhere near as great as the first game (in fact, some of the original themes appear throughout the game still).

Overall, there’s nothing terribly wrong with the third game. It’s just very safe and does little to advance the series. But there are some signs that the game needs changes, since it still does not use the touch screen in any meaningful way, the artwork is still all the same, too many characters keep recurring, etc. Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney is the next game, and from what I hear, it addresses these faults. I would say if you really like the first two games, go ahead and get this. It won’t blow you away or anything, but it will finish off the Phoenix Wright and Fey family saga, and it’s more of the same type of gameplay that made the original so beloved. Me personally, I’m just getting a little tired of it.

So finally it arrived, the one game (except maybe Smash Bros Brawl) that every Wii owner was waiting for: Super Mario Galaxy, the newest sequel in the Mario series. It has been said to be the game to finally beat Super Mario 64 for the 3D platformer throne, and a game that would be able to showcase what the Wii could do graphically. So in the end, did it really deliver?

(more…)

Ever just kinda forget that a band is awesome? I suppose I am guilty of that with Zombi, so they are my music of the week.

I became a rather big fan of theirs with the release of Surface To Air in 2006, but after a few weeks they got lost in my dozens of other albums and I didn’t really pull it out again for a proper listen until this week. What’s so great about this album, and Zombi in general, is how time displaced they sound. This album could easily be the soundtrack to a late 70’s horror movie, and no one would question it. The heavy use of classic synths and a heavy bass permeate the entire album, giving it a very unique feel that in a way feels retro but also doesn’t make it feel outdated. To classify the genre is difficult, because some of it is almost mood or setting music, but it pretty easily can be seen as a very prog/space rock album.

I think what I like best about the album is that it feels like it almost creates a story for itself just by listening to it. Each song has many layers, and if you just drift off with it on, you can picture some 70’s/80’s horror action movie in your head. I really dig albums that spur the imagination, and perhaps I’ve just seen too many George A. Romero movies, but this is definitely one of those types. I definitely recommend it if you are into heavy synth instrumental music like Goblin, which is of course the band that provided many soundtracks to great older horror movies.

What is today, the 9th? That leaves us less than 3 weeks until the Christmas Day. Now, I know the “spirit” of Christmas shopping is controversial in itself. Those scheming market ploys turning the entire holiday into an item and monetary focus and whatnot. I believe a man of eight bits said something to that effect.The thought counts, we all know this. But, there’s times when you’re still struggling to find out what the hell to get a pal of yours (also applicable to secret shizzie santa shopping). Other times, it might be someone who merely got you something before, and there’s that sense of obligation to return the favor. So if you’re going to take that step, here’s three things to avoid:

Using the “interests” on myface/spacebook/friendjournal/xanga as a Basis
You’d think this would be a great place to turn especially if you don’t know a person that well. Wrong! Three major problems lie within the items people list in their interest field.

First, too little information. One person might say they like heavy metal when they only like KoRn. Does KoRn count as heavy metal? See where I’m heading at? It’s too general and vague, and ultimately it’s up to your discrepancy on what you can infer. Throw in the fact that everybody has some personal definition, and you’re left in a big guessing game mess.

They like reading Harry Potter? Well who the hell doesn’t like reading Harry Potter.* The thing is, just from that bit of information, you can’t even tell if they’re a fanatic or not. Are they the type of person who didn’t mind reading it at a boring family reunion? Or were they late to the midnight showing of Order of the Phoenix because they were too busy trying to draw the line on their Dumbledore cosplay?

Second, too much information. If someone loves music, and their interest includes: KoRn, Muse, The White Stripes, Tupiac, Diddy, Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, anything gospel, Billy Ray Cyrus, Ayumi Hamasaki, Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, Avenged Sevenfold, Hardcore, Sisqo, George Michael, Tom Petty, Ricky Martin, Britney Spears, Chamillionaire, all rock and country

What can you get out of that? You’re right, nothing!

Finally, outdated information. I have a friend that I know pretty well, the thing is he already has everything I can think of. He likes swords, so why not get him another one? Well, he already has 12. He has more video games than I can count. Ever since I helped him explore anime, his collection has nearly tripled mine. So why not browse his interests. Well, I’ve known the guy for a long time, and seeing some of the stuff surprised me. Tom Clancy books? Lord of the Rings? What the hell? He likes this stuff? Wait a second… oh yeah, that’s right. He hasn’t updated this thing in five years.

eBay
All right! There’s no other options left! I can find anything on eBay! All I can say is just be careful. I’ve had two pretty bad experiences using this.

Once, I bid on a guitar just because it was $.01. Surely, it would be impossible for me to win it. Days would pass, and another person would jump in on the last second. I mean, no one would let their item go for only a penny. Besides, I really didn’t want that guitar anyway. It was purple. But, whoops! I won the thing and what I didn’t check was the shipping price. $30. Still not a bad deal… I guess. Well… yeah, it was a really bad deal.

You would think I learned my lesson to read the fine print. Well, not quite. More recently, I screwed up on an Ipod purchase. I made sure to check the shipping. No way in hell I’d be screwed on something like that again. My bid for a 30G was just too good to be true: $28. I read the basic information: a little scratched, but in good condition. It even had pictures. I was pretty satisfied, and to my surprise, the guy ended the auction early. I was the victor! What did I win? An Ipod that doesn’t start up! I didn’t read the itty bitty piece he tacked on in the middle…

Participating in Black Friday
Well, it’s already passed, but keep this idea in store for the years to come. Let’s face it: the sales and mark downs are tempting. Too tempting. The problem with Black Friday is being wrapped up in the whole money saving bonanza.

Case in point: what did I buy during this year’s Black Friday? A blanket. It was $5 at Kohl’s. A maroon eight piece luggage set at Target. Why? Dude, it was only $50! Yeah, and I know many of you guys are out there for the DVD sales. I managed to pick up Domino, the Notebook, and
Guess Who all for the amazing price of $5 each.

Of course they had movies like 300 and Blades of Glory marked down, but I already bought those when they first came out.

Now that I have a blanket, a luggage set, and three so-so movies, comes the task of deciding the recipient. Oh wait, no one wants that stuff. So I guess it’s all for me. I forgot to keep a target audience in mind when shopping. That’s something that screwed me up in last year’s Black Friday too. I spent the entire time trying to get a 2G flash card. I went everywhere for that thing, and it was always sold out. I completely lost the notion that I was supposed to be getting things for other people. Oops.

*Actually, I don’t

Let me just get things straight here:

I played about 5 minutes of the original Halo, and I wasn’t too enthralled. My first experience with Halo 2 was in a commandeered classroom playing on a projection screen. It was cool but I sucked and I didn’t see what the big deal was. I played online at a friend’s house a few times, but again, I sucked and I didn’t see the draw. I never owned an Xbox and Halo 3 is one of the two reasons I have a Xbox 360.

Wait, what!?!? Yeah, that’s right. Even though I didn’t like Halo 1 or Halo 2, I really, really like Halo 3 and I bought a Xbox 360 because of it. I dunno what it is, but when I played Halo 3, I didn’t get pissed off that I sucked, and I actually enjoyed playing it.

Halo as a series has been gotten a lot of flak because it doesn’t really innovate much. But honestly, that is what makes it so good. It doesn’t innovate but it nearly perfects the genre. Sure, the single player campaign is a little lacking, but it’s fun enough and the multiplayer is where the real fun is. My favorite FPS deathmatch game for a long time has been Unreal Tournament. The original UT offers a striking amount of variety in terms of maps and weapons, while maintaining a really solid run-n-gun style of play. Halo 3 matches this closely. There’s very little room for camping and strategy. Just know where the weapons are and start running and shooting. This as visceral and raw as it gets, and it plays as Halo’s greatest strength.

Ok, so let’s get down to business, shall we?

Halo 3 looks great. It doesn’t play in 1080i/p, nor does it really play in 720i/p, but it doesn’t matter. Everything looks great from the lighting to the textures to the character models. There are times when there is so much action going on that you would almost expect a noticeable drop in frame rate, but it rarely, if ever happens. The scope of the game is humongous, and the level designers have done a great job at giving a variety of environments. There is a nice balance of outdoor and indoor areas, and a great mix of settings ranging from lush tropical paradise to closed-in military bases. You will fight enemies half your size and mechanoid creations with legs that fill the screen. This much variety ensures that the game never gets stale and the presentation is always fresh.

The audio aspect of the game is just as grand at times, but at other times takes a back seat to let the action unfold. The orchestral score is pretty spectacular, but it really only pops up for the story parts and stays quite once the action picks up. This isn’t a bad thing, really, as the action gets so intense that I have often not noticed that there was no music.

Storywise, there really isn’t much here. Since I never played Halo 1 or Halo 2, I’m kinda lost. There’s Master Chief, some chick that he has a thing for, an army, and some enemy dudes who want to use the Halo (apparently a big weapon?) to blow shit up. That’s fine and all, the story isn’t really too important to this game in the long run. It’s easy enough to figure out what’s going on at any given moment, which is really all you need to press on to the next objective.

The Campaign mode can be played either solo or co-op, and online. There’s lots of options here for what is generally a solo-only outing, so props to Bungie for giving us the choice to play with friends. There are nine levels total, but it’s kind of hard to tell where one level ends and one begins aside from new cutscenes. This is nice on one hand, because it makes the whole experience seamless, but on the other hand it makes it feel like there is no break. The Campaign offers plenty of action and thrills, and for someone like me who’s never really put in the time on Halo, it’s a good primer on how to play the game.

Multiplayer is where the real fun is to be had. Bungie really got things together with their matchmaking service. Matchmaking works by selecting from various playlists and waiting for the matchmaking service to find you players. It doesn’t just find anyone though, it looks for players who are as close to your skill level as possible. The more you play online, the more EXP you get, thus raising your rank. The better you play, the higher your skill number goes up. The game starts you off in an optional Basic Training list, and eventually graduates and bans you from that list. This is absolutely wonderful for people who don’t want to get “pwn3d” on their first outing.

Multiplayer modes include a variety of solo and team based matches, ensuring that there is something for everyone. Unfortunately, however, there is no way for a player to set up exactly what type of game type he or she wants. What map and weapons you play with is pretty much up to the matchmaking service. Players can veto a map, but once it is vetoed the next map must be played. Personally, I like variety, and I think this is a good decision. Nothing makes me want to play a multiplayer game less than playing the same map, with the same weapns, getting killed the same way, over and over and over again.

What is a FPS game without its weapons? Not much! There are a lot of great vehicles and guns to be used, even in multiplayer. The default automatic rifle is a worthy weapon in its own right. One well aimed clip can take down almost any foe, and combined with the punch, it’s fine for most situations. There are also sniper rifles, shotguns, rocket launchers, grenade launchers, and flame throwers. For a more exotic touch there are just as many alien weapons. Some are deadly, some are not, but overall the weapons are pretty balanced. Dual wielding is an option for some weapons, but dual wielding loses the ability to toss grenades, which makes the concept quite a bit less useful than expected. There are several varieties of grenades, including the sticky grenades that will… stick to your foes if you land a direct hit. Items including shields and a power-draining item can also be used. There is plenty of artillery and defensive measures available, but getting used to them all can be quite daunting. Eventually it’s easy enough to feel out what you are good with and how each weapon works.

What else can I say, really? If you’re a fan of the series, you probably already own the game. If you aren’t, well, you’re either on the fence or adamantly hate it (probably without ever really giving it a shot). I urge you to try it out if you can. Halo 3 really surprised me. It’s one of the most balanced online FPS games I’ve played, and it makes it much more fun that most other games as a result. It’s not without its problems, but the sheer amount of simple fun to be had is insurmountable.

So I’ve been lazy and had no will to write anything in depth lately. But, wait, what’s that? I smell some leftovers from a lazy weekend…….

The Forgotten

I saw this movie over the weekend. While I don’t think it was a particularly great movie, it kinda stood out as a solid X-Files type episode stretched into full length movie. Most of the cool parts are pretty quick and very few and far between, and the more sci-fi parts of the movie aren’t really explored in any depth. It’s a little frustrating to watch because they ditch the whole “she’s crazy” thing early and the mystery turns out to be kinda baffling and feeling rushed. That being said, Julianne Moore puts in a pretty good performance. It’s alright.

“Into The Wild” Soundtrack
by Eddie Vedder

I haven’t seen this movie and probably won’t until a later date, but I bought the music because I’m a Pearl Jam fan. This album isn’t too tough to dissect. It’s pretty straight up acoustic tracks from Eddie Vedder. They are all pretty short and none of them particularly will blow you away, but it’s a pretty relaxing selection of songs to listen to. It’s also a pretty short album and it doesn’t wear out it’s welcome. If you are looking for a nice acoustic album, you could certainly do worse than this.

Chibi-Robo
for Nintendo Gamecube

I just started playing this game, one of the later releases for the Gamecube, and so far, I have to say it’s a underhyped gem. It’s got great quirky humor and a distinct visual style, and add to that a nice leisurely pace to the game. You are basically a little robot in a house and you get to explore and help a family as well as deal with some of the crazy things that occur. It reminded me of Katamari a bit, in it’s anyperson appeal, and it’s a game that you can enjoy casually or for long stretches of time. The graphics could be better, and the lack of a jump button is irritating, but its a nice action/adventure game that you can find for less than 10 bucks.

Released on June 17, 2006, FM Sound Module Maniax is a compilation album by 14 video game composers of music created solely with FM (frequency modulation) synth. Although FM synth is essentially extinct for conventional use today, from when it was invented in 1983 it was the standard and primary sound module used for music in Arcade and Sega Genesis games. Its sound is also highly respectable and desired by synth-using composers for its distinct characteristics. (more…)