Wednesday, July 15, 2009

GAME: No More Heroes


No More Heroes follows the story of Travis Touchdown, trying to be the #1 assassin there is, killing everyone who gets in his way.

Story/Characters. The game has a funny story, with very lovable characters. Every character is crazy, but that's what's so great about them. Travis kills all these people so he can have sex with Sylvia, and so he can get paid, as well as other people just killing for the hell of it. Each voice actor pulls off the role perfectly.

Gameplay. Killing the enemies in the game is fun, and very brutal. It's a little repetitive, but still very fun. Although one thing about the gameplay is the world you get to explore. It's made terribly. You can't interact with anything besides your bike, falling off your bike is really annoying and happens frequently, doing side jobs is boring, and it takes up a lot of the game. As for the graphics, they're just great. Cel-shaded graphics are fantastic, there's nothing wrong with it.

Music. The game's theme song is so eerie sounding, and mysterious, and it's really catchy at first. But then it goes on in the game way to much. If you're not fighting a boss, this song will play with a different tempo, and it gets annoying. But the boss battle songs are amazing, so I guess that makes up for it.

Overall: 7.5
Pros: Funny, great characters, killing enemies is some of the most fun in a game, great boss battles with great music
Cons: Theme song is played too often, open world just really sucks, paying for each mission
Last Comments: Playing the actual game is great, but the open-world has too big of a part of the game

Sunday, July 12, 2009

GAME: Shadow The Hedgehog


Shadow The Hedgehog was what started the rain of bad Sonic games. Everyone knows Sonic. He's a video game icon. Everybody loved him. But now, if you like a Sonic game, you should visit a doctor because there's something wrong with you. I mean, this game is in the Sonic universe, but not about Sonic. But who really thought of this idea? Let's give Shadow guns! Because that's cool! But I guess this review isn't about the history of Sonic, it's about Shadow and this game.


Story/Characters. The story is Shadow wakes up with no memory of his past, except brief images of a girl named Maria. After meeting Black Doom, he realizes the way to remember his past is too collect the chaos emeralds. Not really a new concept, and not executed well, put in with boring really annoying characters. Seriously, the game's slogan is Hero or Villain? You Decide. But the majority of the time you'll play as "normal" A.K.A neither. The heroes have really annoying personalities, but with annoying voice actors. They're all annoying. But than again, the villains over-act. They have to deepen their voices so much to make you know they're evil. I mean, shouldn't you just KNOW they're evil by looking at them?

Gameplay. Playing this game is really annoying. The controls are bad, guns are a stupid idea for a Sonic related game, the jumping is bad, there's too many enemies, the Hero vs Villain thing is executed terribly, and the graphics suck. I really don't understand this Hero or Villain thing. Several times when I was on the evil side I was shot at by my own team. Hell, I was shot at by everyone. It's just really annoying when everyone's trying to kill you. The game has too much going on. And for the graphics, sure, it was back in 2005, but in 2005 there were plenty of games with good graphics for it's time. Hell, Metal Gear Solid 3 was released a year earlier, Final Fantasy X was released 4 years earlier. I don't get it. I figure the developers were just lazy.

Music. As far as Sonic games go, the music is usually one of the only good things about them, and I guess the music was passable. Some of the songs suck, some of them are great.

Overall: 4/10
Pros:
Okay music, Shadow is kinda cool

Cons: Annoying characters, bad controls, shooting is terrible, poorly executed story, terrible graphics, bad voice acting, seriously, who thought a Sonic related game with guns would be a GOOD idea?

Friday, July 10, 2009

MOVIE: American Beauty


American Beauty is about Lester Burnham, a depressed father who decides to change his life after meeting his daughter's attractive friend.

Story/Characters. The story is inntriguing, with an odd concept, and it's pulled off very well. Almost every character in the movie was lovable. Ricky Fitts (Wes Bentlly) was the odd character who is just so odd he's interesting. Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) is the character who just tells everybody in the movie what they don't want too hear, but the way he says it so casually is great. He's such a jerk, and he's so great. Every character was pulled off great.

The Music. For this movie, the music wasn't something I really payed attention to, but for some scenes when I heard it, I enjoyed it. I wouldn't say it was the best choice, but the songs were good.

Overall: 8.5/10
Pros: Each actor pulls off their characters great, funny, There needs to be more characters like Lester, great ending

Cons: Carolyn is just annoying.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

ALBUM: Street Sweeper Social Club


Street Sweeper Social Club is the debut album by Tom Morello and Boots Riley's new Rap Rock band "Street Sweeper Social Club"

The album is great, keeping me entertained by Boot's great singing combined with Tom playing guitar, that being mixed is awesome. Every song on the album is catchy, fast, and perfect.

I'd recommend getting it, considering it's one of the best albums this year that I've heard.

Overall: 8
Best songs:
Somewhere In The World It's Midnight, The Oath, Promenade

GAME: Shadow Of The Colossus


Shadow Of The Colossus is about Wander, who's trying to resurrect Mono... because she's dead? This game is so mysterious I don't know what to say.

The Gameplay. The graphics are probably up there with Metal Gear Solid 3 as the best for the PS2, but that being said, graphics don't make a game good. There's little to kill the Colossi with, you've got a sword to stab them with, and an arrow to distract them with. The fights with the colossi are fast and great for the first while, but after about 5 fights are so they really get boring. There isn't much to say about the controls, the camera is annoying to move at times, but that's about it.

Story/Characters. Yeah, there isn't much story too it. Wander barely talks because there's almost no one to interact with, so it doesn't make me like him. The story is pretty straight forward and nothing special.

Music. The music is great, beautiful orchestrated music, which is very relaxing.

Overall: 6/10
Pros: Fighting colossi is really fun the first couple of fights, amazing graphics, soothing music

Cons:
No backstory, characters are hard to like when there's little known about them, the fights get boring after a while, travelling from colossi is very boring

Monday, July 6, 2009

MOVIE: Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa


Conqueror Of Shamballa starts 2 years after the series ended, with Al trying to find Ed, and Ed trying to get back to his own world.

The Animation. I'm glad the movie kept the show's animation. The show's animation helped in making some great action scenes, and the movie follows what the show did. Have great action scenes.

Story/Characters. The story is what I expected, and that's not bad, that's great. Bringing back some great characters in ways I didn't expect, and even adding in some cool new ones. One of the great things was the fact that the characters had the same voice actors from the show. And they all did their job really great.

The Music. The majority of the music was orchestra, which fit the scenes and made them perfect. Although, some of the music was Japanese, I mean, it's not like I hated it, but I figure if I knew what the singer was saying I'd like it more. Oh well.

Overall: 8
Pros:
Great action scenes, same characters, perfect way to end the series, bringing back some great characters, good voice acting, same animation from the show
Cons: I'd like too see Tucker, some of the music wasn't really in my taste

Sunday, July 5, 2009

GAME: inFAMOUS


inFAMOUS is a PS3 exclusive about Cole MacGrath, a bike courier who delivers an a bomb, nearly wiping out Empire City. Cole survives the explosion, and gets electric powers.


The Characters. All of them are likable. The comic-relief character "Zeke" to the crazy "Kessler". But the thing is, they're all likable. I cared about the characters that died, and I enjoyed whenever some characters were in the game. Every character was great.

The Story. The story for the game was really great. I played the good karma, so I'm not exactly sure if the evil karma changes the game. But from playing as good, it was really great. I can't write a review without including that the ending for inFAMOUS was probably one of the best endings I've ever seen.

The Gameplay. The controls were great, making great fights against the Reapers/Dust Men/The First Sons to climbing up walls and then flying off them. The controlls make great boss fights (Though there could've been more of those). The graphics were great. The way Cole moves around is very realistic and fun. The karma decision is a little bad at times, but the majority of times it's good. For example, I restored power to a district and that made me "a little more evil". Also, I hear a lot of bad things about the cutscenes. What's wrong with them? I think they really add to the comic-book feel of the game.

The Music. If you watch the gameplay trailer and think "Wow, this song is great", you'll be surprised too find a lot of the music is like this. It's all just so dark and fits the mood for the game.

Overall: 9.5
Pros: Great characters, great replay value, cutscenes are terrific, story may have one of the best plot twists, music is dark and fits the mood, side missions are fun, running around the city is fun, great combat held together with a lot of cool powers
Cons: Some jumping glitches, online play would've been nice