Quantum is a cross between a classic Bond film and a Bourne film. It has improbable enemy stations, moments of comedy and seduction, mixed with a shakey cam, lots of close quarter combat, and stunts. It is not as good as Casino Royale, but it isn’t a bad Bond film. It is just living under a large shadow.
Opps, never got around to posting an initial impression article. I’ve been pretty busy, and I also went through the game relatively quickly (for me) in about a week.
I was a big fan of the original Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30. In a lot of ways it was one of the better games released last generation, and was revolutionary enough to revitalize WWII shooters. The first sequel, BiA: Earned in Blood, came out only 7 months later and was just another Ubisoft expansion pack. Too early for me to jump into.
He’ll’s Highway, the 3rd game in the series, has been through development hell and delays. Now that they’ve had more time to design, and I’ve had more time between games, what is my opinion of the new Brothers in Arms?
Loaned from a friend, I recently sat down and read Wolverine: Origin. In the forward, a commenter mentions that there is no way someone could pull this off. Despite his misgivings he grew to love the story and wish he had thought of it. For me, there was no way it could ever live up to that hype.
Wolverine’s past has been one of those comic book mysteries for, what, 30 years? And they expected to tell the story of his origin in what amounts to about 6 books? With what they had to work with they did a marvel-ous (hah!) job, but by the end it certainly didn’t feel like enough.
Still, it’s a canon origin story. Don’t *you* want to know his past?
In a world with one man, the best comedian is still a man.
Brief introduction: I am Ben, oft-known as Pickett. If you know Aaron there is a high percentage chance you already know me as the cranky asshole who whines a lot and is not very good at video games. Ergo, I will mostly restrict my writing to comic book and television show-related topics.
As a bonus gift for reading, please download this fan-translated ROM of Mother 3, aka Earthbound 2. Available for your GBA emulators.
Get your Mother on!
And yes, you can still name your favorite food.
Brian K. Vaughan is an excellent comic writer. His Mystique stand-alone series is one of my favorite comics overall, including the non-superhero stuff. It helps to have some familiarity with X-Men, but it’s not necessary. Of course, X-Men knowledge is helpful in all facets of everyday life, when push comes to shove, as people say. In any case, outside of the author, that has little to do with Y: The Last Man.
The number one drawback to Y is that it’s very difficult to talk about audibly, as the phrase Y: The Last Man can be confusing to someone who isn’t familiar with it. Honestly, that is probably the worst thing. (It’s pretty annoying)! Also I have been asked to keep this spoiler-free to appease The Aaron, so I will do my best.
The basic premise of Y is simple enough. Except for plants, everything with a Y chromosome on the planet earth dies. The lone survivors are Yorick Brown and his pet monkey Ampersand. The letter Y itself is a pervasive symbol throughout and it can be viewed as gimmicky or thought-provoking. In any case, that is the story. What would it be like to be The Last Man on Earth? Continue reading
I only heard about Dead Space about a week before the release, but I wanted to play it anyway. Most of the games that I want, Fallout 3, Fable 2, I have known about for years, but something about Dead Space struck me right away. My impression was it was going to have a Universe connected with it. An Atmosphere. Most of the games that I like are just simple a matter of
Step One: Move cursor over antagonist
Step Two: Pull Trigger
Story happens in the background, but if the story wasn’t there, I’d probably still have a pretty good time.
I finally beat Rainbow Six Vegas. This is one of the games that founded this site. It’s been in my queue since its release, played sporadically in single player, coop, and multiplayer. I’ve probably played the first level a couple dozen times in splitscreen multiplayer, or watched 2 friends play it. And now it’s done. As usual, most of my initial impressions hold. But a few things did come up near the end, both good and bad.
Rail Baron is a board game from 1977. It plays similar to a monopoly with multiple paths where at the end of each die-determined destination, the player can choose to then buy any route. Any route not owned by a player costs $1k to use, any player route costs $5k. Once all the routes have been purchased it bumps up to $10k.
Quick debt follows.
Rainbow Six: Vegas is a solid example of a good, squad based FPS. It combines excellent teammate AI with deadly enemies, turning you from gung-ho hero into a team member. You are a part of this team and in many cases *you* are the weak link. This is a very different feel from your average FPS, where you can run out and do anything.
It is also very different from simply playing on a high difficulty. Being killed easily here is not the same as a cheapshot from a random soldier who only shoots at you on COD4’s Veteran difficulty. It is because your tactics fell apart and you were flanked (similar to the excellent Brothers in Arms series).
Let’s not mess with a bad thing: compliment sandwich time. Continue reading
**Before you are saddened by my beating this without you, note this: I want to go through it again.**
I finally sat down and beat Castle Crashers. Matt, Chue, and Sean had already gone through by themselves and defeated the final boss. Ztynzo offered to sit down with a secondary character and help me finish the main campaign.
I say finish the main campaign b/c Castle Crashers is hardly over after the final boss goes down.
And I didn’t feel like jumping afterwards. Not off a cliff, the roof, or even down a flight of stairs. It certainly wasn’t a “good” movie. I’m sure I would have been a bit more angry if I’d paid $10 to see it in a theater. But, all in all, it was enjoyable to finally knock that off my list.
Curiousity drove me to see Jumper,
and it didn’t kill me.