February 2010

Heavy Rain
Submitted Saturday, February 27, 2010 - 5:07:09 PM by Klaitu

Heavy Rain is a sort of unique game that it's developers refer to as "interactive drama" but is really more of an updated adventure game in the tradition of games like Syberia.

It's the story of the Origami Killer who abducts young boys and kills them by drowning them in rain water 5 days after they are kidnapped. You play as multiple key characters investigating the case. Decisions you make during the game cause the story to unfold differently, but most of the plot is unavoidable.

Graphics here are pretty slick, but experience slowdowns at times. It's not a serious issue, but it's noticeable.

Music is depressing and understated, it fits with the mood of the game, being entirely dark, rainy, and depressing.

The Voice Acting is completely awful, being nearly as bad as a CAPCOM release.

The game was developed by French people, but the story takes place in America. Apparently none of the development team has spent any time in America because the game feels very European. There's wallpaper in every house, the houses look very UK and characters who live in urban areas all live in flats, which you'd be hard pressed to find in the US.

Heavy Rain is a unique experience with enough quality and attention to detail to be worth playing, but not enough to be considered much of a masterpiece.

Overall Score: 7 of 10
Quality Rating: 4 of 5
Rent it.

Old Before My Time?
Submitted Wednesday, February 17, 2010 - 6:01:53 PM by Klaitu

I like TV and Movies, but these days it seems like the companies who run such things tend to make more and more crappy shows..

Of course, I'm willing to admit that the shows are just fine and perhaps my own perception has changed over time, but I can't quite shake the impression that today's productions lack the quality of ages past.

Recently, I was in the mood to check out something new, so I fired up hulu.com and took a list at their TV shows listed in order of popularity.

1. Family Guy

I like Family Guy pretty well, but it seems like there's only 1 new episode every 2 months or so. I'm never really sure if there will be a new one on or not, so I end up missing them.

2. LOST

Half of LOST interests me.. the half that takes place in the current time on the island. I don't care about flashbacks or flashfowards. LOST likes to fill an episode with 30 minutes of irrelevant story and 15 of plot.

LOST is okay, but why has it become so popular? I just don't get it.

3. House MD

House is probably my favorite show presently on the air, which just goes to show you that there is no decent sci-fi at the moment.

4. The Simpsons

The Simpsons hasn't been funny for at least 15 years. I tried to watch the Simpsons movie and I couldn't make it all the way through it.

5. The Office

The Office is composed entirely of humor that I don't get. I'm sure it's great for some people, but apparently I am not plugged into whatever it is. A typical episode might have one character make a farting noise, and then everyone stares at him for 10 minutes. I don't get it.

6. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

I've never watched this show, so I might try it in the near future.

7. American Dad!

Don't really care for it. It tries desperately to be funny, but it's no Family Guy.

8. The Bachelor

It's hard to imagine a show worse than the Bachelor.. not that I'm encouraging people to try, because a show worse than the Bachelor would be.. evil.

9. The Cleveland Show

Like it about the same as American Dad.. which is not much.

10. The Secret Life of an American Teenager

Never saw it, but I have a hard time drumming up interest in American Teenagers, or their secret lives that everyone older than a teenager already knows about.

11. Make it or Break it

I've never even heard of this before.

12. Greek

It's either about Greek people, or fraternities/sororities.. neither of which I care about.

13. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

I know tons of people who consider this "the news". People who like this show nearly universally hate Fox News, so much that I wonder if there's some sort of correlation. Anyways, I don't really think the show is that funny, so I don't watch it.

14. 24

I've never seen 24, but the advertising I've seen would seem to imply that it's about people in New York who fight terrorists 24 hours at a time.. they say dramatic things like "there's no time, we have to find that bomb!" I could be wrong.

15. Stargate SG-1

I like SG-1, I've seen them all. There's nothing new here.

16. Modern Family

Haven't seen it yet, but it looks average.

17. Naruto Shippuden

BELIEVE IT! Well, I don't. I don't BELIEVE that this show is top 20. It's awful.

18. 30 Rock

It's hard to imagine someone less funny than Alec Baldwin.. only Martin Short, Andy Dick, and Dane Cook are less funny. Not even Tina Fey can make up for it.

19. Bones

Never saw it.

20. Millionaire Matchmaker

Good lord, they actually made a show about a millionaire matchmaker? Awful.

At any rate, looking at my list here, I don't know if I've actually figured out if people are producing crap, or if I'm an old fart, but at least there are a few new things to check out.

Left 4 Dead 2
Submitted Sunday, February 14, 2010 - 3:41:52 PM by Klaitu

Did you play Left 4 Dead?

It's the exact same game. Nothing has changed at all. 4 new levels, 4 new characters.. same stand in a corner and hit the melee button until the game ends.

Overall Score: 4 of 10
Quality Rating 1 of 5
Rent it.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Submitted Sunday, February 14, 2010 - 3:37:22 PM by Klaitu

What exactly can I say about Modern Warfare 2? It's a FPS, it's Modern Warfare with terrorists and whatnot. You shoot them. The game is crisp and clear, and it controls well. It seems like everyone is all over this game, but I just don't see it.

There's nothing here that you haven't seen before. If you like FPS games, you'll probably like this one too.

Overall Score: 5 of 10
Quality Rating: 4 of 5
Pass on it.

The Ladies Man
Submitted Sunday, February 14, 2010 - 3:32:40 PM by Klaitu

This is the movie adaptation of the SNL comedy skit "The Ladies Man" where Ladies Man Leon Phelps offers comedic love advice to any assortment of people who are not in on the joke.

Ladies Man got panned at the box office, and I can't imagine it got very good DVD reviews either, but for what it was, I enjoyed the film. It was actually mildly amusing, and certainly funnier than anything else SNL has produced in the past 5 years or so.

Plus, Billy Dee Williams is in it, and Tiffani Amber Thiessen in some hot black lingerie.. so that's something!

Overall Score: 6 of 10

White Knight Chronicles
Submitted Sunday, February 14, 2010 - 3:29:03 PM by Klaitu

This is one of those games that I've watched for years, ever since I saw the first demonstration of it from the Tokyo 06 game show.

At the time, the PS3 was a new animal, and the 360 was still mired in games that were for "gamecube, PS2, and 360" and White Knight Chronicles looked really good.

Now, some 4 years later it's finally come out in the US, and in that time White Knight Chronicles has become extremely dated. This is essentially a bad PS2 JRPG in high resolution.

The game plays a lot like a clunkier version of Final Fantasy 12, where you could be entering actions in real time, instead you are slowed down by the timer system. The game's combat allows you to string together different moves, but the whole thing is crazy complicated and really not all that much fun.

The graphics would have been great in 06, but today the graphics are horribly dated. You can see the texture patterns in the ground.

The story has nothing new to offer, either. A young boy falls in love with a princess and attempts to rescue her.

The music is also not anything remarkable, it's your standard bland JRPG soundtrack.

In the end, White Knight Chronicles really doesn't have much to offer in the way of enjoyment. It's not an awful game, it's just not good enough to spend time playing.

Overall Score: 4 of 10
Quality Rating: 2 of 5
Pass on it.