Dead Space 2 Demo

So I finally got a chance to play the Dead Space 2 Demo.

First, let me gripe.

I didn't finally get a chance to play the demo because I was busy and couldn't find the time to play the thing. I couldn't play the demo because I wasn't a Gold Member on Xbox Live. That annoyed me. That annoyed me a lot. I was really looking forward to the demo, and on release day I ran to my XBox like a small child runs to the tree on Christmas (Merry Christmas, BTW) to play the game as soon as I possibly could. Then I had to read all the Facebook posts asking me how much I enjoyed the game. I was truly a tortured soul.

That last part was embellishment. I was a smidgen annoyed in truth.

The demo itself is very fun. It exists to give you a very small taste of what the game is going to be. A very small taste. You can probably run through the level in 15 minutes or so.

You get to check out a new weapon, the harpoon gun, and figure out how to use the thing. It's pretty nifty. When it would normally kill an enemy, it sends them flying back into the nearest wall (or floor, depending on the angle of the shot) and pins them to it. Then, you can press the alt fire button and enemies near the harpoon will get zapped with a fairly powerful electric burst. This comes in handy, especially against the new enemy type.

The new enemy type is called, I believe, The Pack. Basically a bunch of zombie children who run at you screaming and hungry. They're terrifying. Not hard to kill, but they just keep coming, and coming, and they're children, and the animation for their kill on Isaac is straight out of the most terrible imagining of Lord of the Flies. It's awesome.

Theirs also the new suit that Isaac wears. I'm not in love with it. The old suit was perfect for the game. Kind of rugged looking. Mid-evil in a futuristic kind of way. The new suit is very streamlined, like a modern Gundam. It's not bad, but it doesn't say horror to me, it says action. I liked the Engineering suit because, even without the other bits of atmosphere in Dead Space, I really felt like I was in trouble in the game.

The story bits are nice as well. Isaac is still insane, probably moreso than he was last game, and you get one awesome hallucination scene that really drives that home. Apparently the government is after Isaac as well, which makes perfect sense if you've read the Dead Space book, and Isaac is working with someone new, whose motive I was left unaware of. Good stuff.

While it was a rather short experience, I was extremely happy with it. It felt very true to the first game, and that's really all I want out the new experience. There's no need to reinvent this wheel.

Dead Irons and the Zombie Cowboy Epic

I was walking through Newbury Comics the other day and it came to me: conceptually the idea of a zombie cowboy is awesome. I'm willing to bet the idea popped in my head because I glanced the trade paperback for Dead Irons (Dynamite Entertainment, written by James Kuhoric, art by Jason Shawn Alexander) as I was walking out. Being a responsible consumer of ideas and entertainment, I decided it was high time I read Dead Irons, since the gorgeous Jae Lee covers had been calling to me for some time.


So I read the book later in the day.

In hindsight, it's a good read with an interesting an engaging storyline. The characters could have used some fleshing out, but that wasn't entirely needed when one considers that Dead Irons is primarily a revenge/redemption story. However, my problem with Dead Irons, the problem I had while I was reading it anyway, was that it wasn't the kind of Zombie Cowboy story I wanted to read at the time. No, that's not fair to the book. I don't care about being fair in my judging of entertainment. The book was good enough that I was happy with it even though it didn't give me what I wanted, take that as pretty solid praise. (This paragraph is a mess, but I'm comfortable with that too, it sums up my thoughts on the matter pretty well, I think, being a mess.)

I wanted to find an Old West Clint Eastwood style protagonist who just happened to be a zombie. Think about it. The quick draw wouldn't be quick. He couldn't be quick, he's a zombie. He would lose the quick draw every time, but unless you shoot him in the head (and let's be fair, quick draws usually ended with a chest shot [bigger mass]) he's probably going to kill his opponent. There wouldn't be much in the way of sweaty men squinting in the sunlight, zombies don't like the sun. I think the lone supernatural element would work wonders. I guess you could think of it as a slower version of the backup story in American Vampire (Scott Snyder, Stephen King, Rafael Albuquerque), less attitude, since we're following a hero, and slower paced action, since we're following a corpsier corpse.

Dead Irons focused a bit too much on the supernatural for what I was looking for. Both the protagonist and the antagonists as well as the thrust of the plot were steeped in the paranormal. Nothing wrong with that, nothing at all, just not what I wanted at that time.

Speaking of all this, I really need to play Undead Redemption. But that's going to have to wait until I've played Red Dead Redemption. I think that would really add to my education on the concept. The perfect concept.

Bits and Pieces, November was Pretty Awesome

There was a lot of stuff that I missed writing about in November. Bummer. It was on my mind the whole time, but, hey, I was busy... weak excuse. Anywho, in sexy list format, here's the awesome that dropped in November:

Kanye West's Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - Fantastic album. I am a Kanye West fan. Absolutely. I like the way the man carries himself and I love the way he stays motivated and interested in his craft. This album is well worth a few listens. It's epic, and not in the way that the word is overused nowadays, it's epic in the actual sense of the word.

Cee Lo Green's The Lady Killer - I don't have any real basis for this comparison, but this album feels like the bombastic sexy 70's to me. It's romantic and soulful, loud and playful, and goddamn can Cee Lo sing.

Super Meat Boy on XBox Live Arcade - The most difficult and fun platforming game that I have ever had the privilege of playing. The levels take no more than 30 seconds to beat... if you don't factor in the insane amount of death that you will experience. If you have any kind of competitive edge, you'll want to play this game until you hurt. It's happened to me plenty of times.

There's probably more, but, I'm kind of lazy, and they aren't rolling off the of my head like they should.

Potential new direction

I've given this much thought, I really have.

I'm thinking of a bold new direction for my fun little blog here. And by bold new direction I simply mean an expansion of the content which I choose to write about. Make this bad boy into a real E and N blog, because god knows the world needs one more of those, am I right?

This is by no means a referendum on the initial goal of this blog. It got me to a place that I needed to be in, so I'm very grateful for that. I'm not going to stop writing super-happy-fun-shine articles about entertainment. Oh no. I really do enjoy the hell out of that. I just want to not feel limited. Which I do. I've limited myself in a way.

I just want to write stuff and pretend that other people read the stuff that I write.

Thanks!

N.E.R.D. - Nothing

I love the new album by N.E.R.D. I was pretty sure I'd like it going in, The Neptunes making music for themselves has been awesome since they started doing it (there's something creative in N.E.R.D. that I normally only find in film and comic books), but I wasn't aware how much the album would move me.

Mix up soul beats, party jams, and the quirkiness and experimental standard that the group sets themselves to with a sense of sheer FUN, and I'm in love. The album makes me happy, almost gleeful. It makes doing the dishes a dance party, playing with the dog a dance party, and writing this blog entry a dance party.

...

I've probably been reading too much Andrew W.K. blog.

Whatever. I'm happy, and you can be as well, here, listen to this:


I came to sweat, I came to sweat, I came to sweat.

GOOD Fridays

On the off chance that you aren't addicted to the internet like I am you may not have heard about Kanye West's GOOD Friday project. What, you're not addicted to Kanye West? That's silly, don't play. Every Friday, until December, Mr. West is going to be releasing a new track online, for free! He already has 10 free tracks out there, and it's crazy how good this stuff is. It's not like you're only getting Kanye for free, you're also getting Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj, Justin Bieber, Raekwon, Common, Kid Cudi, John Legend, and more!

It's not even like Kanye is just slowly releasing a new album online for free, like some artists have done, he's also developing a new album at the same time. Are some of the GOOD Friday tracks going to be on the new album? Probably. But, who cares? I've always wanted artists to give me more, an album every other doesn't do it for me. If I love your music I want to have something new to listen to all the time. I could use a new EP every month from every artist, and that's pretty much what Kanye is delivering here.

Shit, I just think it's really cool. The man has a real love for what he's doing and his fans. I can get behind that.

Check it out at www.kanyewest.com

Dead Rising 2: Case Zero

So this is somewhat topical if not a smidgen late. See, Dead Rising 2 came out today! Yay! New video game. This right here is a review for Dead Rising 2: Case Zero, which serves as a prequel to the new game. If it's any indication by it being on this blog, I dug Dead Rising 2: Case Zero, certainly enough to purchase at some point when I find a good enough deal for it.

So how did I get into this game? A really great strategy by the creators of the game, that's how. First of all, DR2:C0 was available as a demo download on XBox Live. I download almost every single demo that gets put out, so bam, I'm instantly going to be playing this game. Second, the game is $5. That's a solid price point. Sure, it only take 3-4 hours to beat the game, but it's $5. And the game has pretty solid replay value. Killing zombies is fun, what can I say?

That last paragraph should convince you to buy the game. It really should. Now the following is why I enjoy playing the game.

First of all, there are hundreds of zombies to murder. Every time you enter and exit your safehouse they all respawn, so you'll never run out of little beasties to beat down. Heck, one play through I decided to see how many zombies I could kill before time ran out (see a paragraph below if you've never played Dead Rising [I think, I really don't know since I've also never played Dead Rising, but this is what I've been told]). I killed 2000 of the bastards and I still had time to go. I just got hungry and a little drained from the slaughter.

On top of the slaughter is the ability to CREATIVELY slaughter. There are a ton of fun weapons to choose from: baseball bats, swords, guns, cacti, sledge hammers, chain saws, cardboard cutouts of Proto Man (seriously). That list doesn't even count the customizable weapons which range from a spiked baseball bat (baseball bat + nails) and the Boom Stick (Shot Gun + Pitchfork) which are just a ton of fun, and really increase the carnage. Custom weapons deal more damage and give out more xp. Whenever I play a game that requires leveling I turn into a bit of a munchkin, so there's that.

There's also the point of the game. Ya know, the storyline. Your daughter, yea, you have a daughter, has been infected with a zombie bite and you have to find more of this miracle drug, Zombrex, which delays her transformation into the undead. Oh, and you have to escape from the little town you're in because the government is on the way and you just know they're going to take your little girl away. This means you have a time limit on your activities. I thought this was annoying at first, very counter-intuitive for a sandbox game. However, it really heightens the tension come end game. You're all busy getting parts for your getaway vehicle and rescuing hostages that all of a sudden you have 20 minutes before the military comes and you lose! You don't want to lose, so you best hurry your ass up!

So yea, go buy this game. Then go buy Dead Rising 2. I've heard that all the problems people had with Dead Rising have been solved here, so yay!

Weekend Dining

Upper Crust

Canadian Bacon and Banana Peppers Pizza!
Very tasty slice of pie. I knew going in that I would enjoy this, so it's not like I was pleasently surprised or anything. The Upper Crust always delivers what I want. There's just something incredible about their tomato sauce. I imagine it's the chunky pieces of super fresh tomato, but I'm hardly an expert. I'll let you know when their slice of the day let's me down.

Stephanies on Newbury

Tuna Tartar (w/ Avacado, crisps, and wasabi horseradish, all wrapped in a sliced cucumber)
What part of heaven did this come from? The tuna, a heaping portion, rests on a bed of Avacado and is begging to be dipped into the wasabi sauce. It's quite a bit like eating a giant piece of sushi, but even better! The tuna was amazingly fresh and the whole dish felt like eating a nice Summer day. Which is exactly what I was looking for on a chilly start of Fall day.

Clam Chowder
Thick, creamy and rich... what else can you ask for in a Clam Chowder? The seasoning was right on and the crackers came stuffed with cheese for an extra bite of flavor. Fantastic.

The Stephie Slammer
Have you ever wanted to get drunk quickly? Try this. It's a martini glass filled with bourbon and garnished with lemon, lime, and some drunken cherries. Wow, packs one heck of a punch.

Rino's Place

Pumpkin Ravioli
An interesting appetizer. It wasn't what I was expecting, since most pumpking things this time of the year are sweet as all get out. This wasn't. It was like eating the meat of a pumpkin... which had been stuffed inside of a piece of pasta... So they got that down :) It was good. I'd definitely have it again, but I can't say I love it yet.

Vitello Marsala
Rino's always has excellent pasta and meat. This was no exception. Everything was cooked to perfection and the marsala sauce was to die for. I ate every last bite happily, even after I should have stopped eating.

Kung-Fu Girl Wine
I like a tasty white, and I have no shame about saying this. What a fantastic Riesling!

The Beehive

French Toast
This is the best French Toast I have ever had in my life. Apparently the secret is that the toast is covered in some kind of fried brown sugar/ corn flake mix. Simply amazing. I'd eat this every day if I could.

Machete

Remember when I wrote a review of Shank? No? I wrote it two weeks ago. What has society come to? I'm shaking my head here, seriously. When I reviewed Shank I pretty much told you to watch Machete. And I wasn't wrong, Machete is a fantastic movie!


Machete stars Danny Trejo in the role of Machete, a former government agent whose life was ruined by evil drug lord Torrez (played by Steven Seagal, clearly too busy to be in The Expendables). The plot is straightforward: Machete is wanted dead by a handful of bad people (Tom Savini, Don Johnson, Jeff Fahey) who are all peons under Torrez. This means Machete gets to kill a lot of people with various bladed instruments. Yay!

Helping Machete out with the mayhem is Luz (Michelle Rodriguez) and Sartana (Jessica Alba). Luz and Sartana play out the morals of the border debate while showing that women both kickass and cannot resist Machete (as though the latter was ever in any doubt).

There's an amazing soundtrack (think porn rock), ridiculous action, and over the top everything. If you're looking to have a fantastic time, go watch Machete.

Ya know, there really isn't that much more to say that is important. I find that to be fantastic. I got to watch a nice straightforward piece of cinematic gold and there isn't any kind of real thinking that needs to happen. It is what it is and doesn't pretend to be anything else or even give the impression that it could be something else. Not that I have an issue with films that make one think, I just really appreciate solid entertainment.

Under Armour Boxerjocks

I'm sure you read that title and immediately thought, "Dang... what is this kid writing about now..."

No, you didn't think that? Liar. You did, I made you think it by typing it.

I'm writing about these:


These boxerjocks are FANTASTIC!

I've taken up running recently. Very recently. So recently that I've only done it twice, but I really do plan on sticking to it, so we can say that I've taken it up. For purposes of this little article, I've taken up running.

And these boxerjocks are FANTASTIC!

As you should be able to tell from the picture, these bad boys are snug in all the right places. They hug your thighs and waist perfectly. This is important for someone like me. I have pretty meaty thighs, and when I get moving they can rub together quite a bit and it just does not feel right. These boxerjocks prevent that chafing feeling, and on top of that they're made from the smooth as silk Under Armour material, so when they do touch your exposed leg it feels nice, welcoming but not quite erotic.

Now, I'm sure you're asking yourself (you're asking yourself a lot of questions while you're reading this. I appreciate an active participant, thank you!), "Isn't snug not always a good thing... ya know, in the package area?" Do not worry about that. If you look closely at the pouch area of the picture above you'll notice some seems (and possibly a dick, but you have to look pretty close for that). It's not really clear here, but the pouch area, as indicated by the seems, is actually made out of a different, looser material. This pouch holds your package just right. These boxerjocks are made for comfort, and they work.

On a related note: They also make me feel a little bit like professional mixed martial artist and fellow Under Armour enthusiast Georges St. Pierre. That's just a mental thing, but sports are, in great part, a mental game. If I feel like GSP, then I feel like I can PERFORM like GSP. When performance is everything, it's absolutely imperative that I get every edge that I can.

I really can't recommend these boxers enough, for sports and recreational use. Heck, I spent a full day just sitting around in them. I bet Georges does it all the time.

Demo Review: Shank

Shank!

Stop reading now if you don't like Mexploitation films.

I don't think I can talk about Shank without thinking about the upcoming mega hit super summer smash film Machete. It's not that I haven't seen other films in the genre, it's just that the name Shank is so reminiscent of Machete. It's almost like I would accuse the makers of Shank for ripping off and cashing in on the clear popularity that Machete is receiving. If I cared. I don't. I think derivative works are great.

Our hero, Shank, was recently beaten close to death and had to bear witness to listen while his lovely girlfriend was raped by a giant lucha libre guy named The Butcher. Strong start. The animation and character design are all there. We have giant beefcakes looking menacing. Throw in a bar scene that's clearly evocative of the opening to Desperado and a shadowy figure, and we're good to go.



Alright, it's not THAT awesome, but you get the idea.

The game play is pretty solid and engaging, especially for a 2d beat'em up, enough that upon a replay of the demo I was still entertained trying new things. Shank starts his vigilante career with a chainsaw, two knives, and two handguns, all of which he gets to use in interesting ways to savagely murder his opposition. Clearly we're looking at strong, light, and ranged attacks. For our added depth we're given the grapple and leap options. Both are pretty self explanatory, but the key in their use is timing. It seems like other enemies can't, or won't, attack Shank when he's holding onto someone.
And you can shoot the guns in two directions at once! COOL!

As far as the environment is concerned... it's pretty standard fare as far as backdrops go. You've got your run down desert city that looks like it would be a nesting place for scum and villainy. However, there was one bit that blew me away:


Now that is some cool stuff. I just enjoy the heck out of the shading and the badassery it contains. It's just a short part of the demo, but it really elevates the experience.

For breaks between busting the skulls of a seemingly endless wave of goons, you get to fight mini bosses and boss battles. Mini bosses are a lot like the normal goons, except that they deal more damage, have specialized attacks, and are harder to damage (harder to grapple specifically.) They add a healthy amount of thought into what could be hack and slash game. The first boss battle was solid as well. You fight against a guy who is easily four times your size and only a very limited range of attacks are effective against him. While the first boss wasn't entirely complicated, I remain hopeful that other boss battles are more inventive.

I'll probably get around to buying this someday. The promise of more levels, more weapons to play with, and more of the story has me pretty hooked.

Demo Review: Monday Night Combat

Welcome to Monday Night Combat!

Before we get started, let's keep in mind that this is a Demo Review. Since it's a demo, that means I can't play this game like I imagine it was meant to be played: online multiplayer. I can only imagine what this badboy plays like on line... so that's exactly what I'm going to do!


Monday Night Combat is a pretty simple game. Simplicity, when it's well executed, can breed the heck out of fun, and this is exactly the case here. You have six classes to choose from, each varies in special abilities and combat prowess. You have one goal: protect your moneyball (flag) from the hordes of robots (online you can play against other live opponents, I imagine this is more fun than beating back the robots) that are attacking you. To help you with this goal, you can build up a handful of turrets for some automated defense.

I'm going to rock this backwards.

Turret defense is huge. In fact, it's the only thing you need to use in order to beat the demo. I'm sure this is less of a giant advantage in multi, but just against the bots it's an auto win. Get yourself a few Level 3 Laser Turrets and you can prop your feet up as you watch bits of bots fly. Did I not mention there are 4 kinds of turrets that you can build? There are. I only played around with the Laser Turrets. I saw the word Laser and was completely satisfied.

The object of the is to protect your moneyball. Think capture the flag, except replace "capture" with "destroy" and "flag" with "moneyball". FYI, the moneyball is a big yellow orb (or ball) that hovers in the center of your arena. Fortunately, it takes a bit of damage from the bots before the ball's shields are lowered and the ball itself can be damaged. I haven't lost yet, so I can tell you the ball can take a solid amount of damage before you lose.


Here we get to the fun stuff, character classes! From left to right we have: Gunner, Support, Assassin, Assault, Sniper, Tank.

For your general combat purposes you're going to want to use either the Gunner or the Assault Class. With the Gunner you have a class that's all about overwhelming power. You're going to be slow, but you have a big gun that shoots a lot of bullets really fast. The Assault class is more well rounded, in that you can run and gun effectively, but you make up for the speed with a softer punch. Both are fun to play, for my time I'd go with the Assault class. While I do love overwhelming power, I enjoy options a little bit more.

If you want to get up close and personal, pick either the Tank or the Assassin. The Tank is great for getting all up in someone's grill. Damage doesn't really faze him and he packs a nasty punch. He even has a great area attack that will hit anyone in a complete 360. Solid damage, solid damage reduction. He's slow as heck, but when you catch up to your opponent he's going to pay. The Assassin is just like the Tank... when it comes to close combat prowess. She tears through machines with her katana and has a nifty Predator-esque cloaking device to get in close. The problem with her is that she folds quick. I can see her doing well online, but for the demo...

Lastly, we have the Support and Sniper classes. I'm sure both can be interesting when it comes to online play, but for purposes of the demo... Support is all about healing turrets and hacking opposing turrets, which I'm sure is fun, but here he just doesn't do anything. The Sniper will likely play a lot like the Assassin in multiplayer, just, ya know from range, cause he's a Sniper. Here, his rate of fire sucks, so he's not going to help you with anything.

As it stands, I'm sure if I had 1200 Microsoft Points and a Gold Status membership I'd buy the heck out of and play the heck out of this game. As it stands, I'm not huge on Online gaming, so I don't have it. Maybe I'll change my mind at some point.

DC and Marvel November Covers

Every month I get all kinds of excited when the major comic book publishers release their upcoming solicitations. Not that I read what's going to be happening, but I love looking at the pretty covers. Here are my favorites from Marvel and DC.

Here is the cover to Sweet Tooth. I'm a sucker for stark contrast, and the blood covering the man really brings a visceral brutality to the cover that is nicely shocking.

X-Files finally crosses over with 30 Days of Night! Alright, I wasn't thinking that would ever happen, but I really enjoy the gritty feel of this one.

Superboy is getting a new ongoing, and it looks like DC is going to be focusing on the fun parts of being the Boy of Steel. I get a great positive vibe coming from this one, coming largely from the smirk on Connor's face and the bright yellow background. The whole piece feels really warm and welcoming.

Scalped pretty constantly has my favorite covers, but this one is significant for me thanks to, largely, the "desk". I like the smug sheriff, but the juxtaposition of his conceit and arrogance with the fruits of his labor is striking in a way that alters the sheriff into something sinister.

Sam's hat and hand make this.

I'll always enjoy an Usual Suspects homage, combine that with this excellent art and the attitude of the DV8 team, I'm happy. The carrier brings this home, showing the viewer that there is more to this crew than just a caper.

I love the grittiness and collage like feel to this image.

Jae Lee is a wonderful artist. Everything he draws grabs my eye. Look at Namor's face here. He's staring down a monster that would scare the pants off of anyone, but Namor looks at the creature with disdain.

This cover perfectly captures the feel of the book and manages to tell a story in the process.

I love the juxtaposition here between the artsy painting and the sketch. "Dream Logic" just seems like a perfect title.

Adorable.

The Expendables: Great Movie or Greatest Movie

I had the immense pleasure of watching the new smash hit movie The Expendables this weekend.
In case you're a terrible awful person and are unaware, The Expendables is the brainchild of Sylvester Stallone, Starring Sylvester Stallone, Written by Sylvester Stallone, and Directed by Sylvester Stallone. Aside from being a sweet Sylvester Stallone joint (which, frankly, is more than enough to get me to the theater, that man has great credentials [Rocky, Rambo, Cliffhanger, Cobra, etc]) the film also stars/features the esteemed likes of: Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, Terry Crews, and Mickey Rourke. I've been in love with this film since it was announced, no, I've been in love with this film since I thought of it in 5th grade while I was supposed to be doing something or other at school.

I need to say it: The Expendables exceeded each and every one of my expectations. I thought it would be a fun action flick. I like fun action flicks. There is an absolute need for them. Not every film should be a testament to the capabilities of the medium, some should just be a testament to the insanity of the over indulged adolescent male brain. Stallone, despite being 40 years my senior, can tap into that little hyper active boy far better than I could hope to. As far as I'm concerned, that makes Sly a national treasure. For a good two hours I was on the edge of my seat watching brutal fist fights, massive gun battles, and explosions galore.

Watch this film.

Demo Review: Dante's Inferno

Yesterday I decided to go hog wild downloading demos off of XBox Live, wow, what a fantastic experience. I'm going to be playing little 15 minute vignette's of video games for quite some time. It's going to be a nice little time running through them and then agonizing over whether I'm going to buy them or not. Knowing me, by the time I'm done thinking about it we'll be on to a next gen system (XBox 1080?) and the games will be at a price so negligible I won't hesitate to purchase them.

Anywho...

The first game that I previewed was this little gem called Dante's Inferno. It's made by the same people who made current all time favorite video game experience Dead Space so I figured it had to be some sort of quality. And it is! Yay!

The game is some sort Streets of Rage/Devil May Cry kinda thing set during the Crusades so it has this interesting pseudo religious bent. The atmosphere is pretty sexy. The main character, Dante, is all kinds of overly serious, which I guess you have to be if you're running into Hell chasing after your dead wife who is accusing you of committing some kind of heinous crime which you're unaware of. Women, am I right? So it's interesting, because you get to run through these crazy settings and kill these crazy monsters in crazy ways. But the best part of the game, for me, was the first boss you fight. Oh yea, it's a goody. See, after running around murdering what appear to be some innocent peasants that you had locked in jail, you get to go toe to toe with this guy:

That's right kids, the first level boss is the Grim Reaper. I think it takes some serious stones to fight the embodiment of death. Is everyone going to do it? Probably. I certainly don't want to die, and if Death showed up at my door I'd probably try and have a little conversation with him about the worth of my life and the value that I bring to the lives of others, but I don't think I'd engage the man/entity in fisticuffs. Which is exactly what Dante does here. Moreso...

Dante steals the Reaper's scythe and jams him in the face with it! That is so awesome! "Oh, what's that Death? You want to take my soul to some kind of afterlife? Really. No, I'm gonna stay here, I've got some business to handle." So you murder Death. Then you get to use his scythe for the rest of the game. I imagine anyway, since it harvests the souls of the things you kill and you use those souls as currency for power ups. I'm calling badass.

So I love this bit of the game. I do. But I'm not sure if I want to buy it. I've never been all that into the button mashing beat 'em up games. There's something about the timing that I'm off on or the combo memorization. Will I pick this up? There's potential. But I think if you enjoy these types of games it's a must buy. The atmosphere is far too fun to pass up on.

Coming up next...

Limbo: Four Hours of Dying Happy

I finally got around to playing Limbo on Wednesday and I loved every minute of it.

My love for the game has nothing to do with the graphics. Even if they are lovely, making the absolute most out of what a 2d platformer can offer.

It's not about they story, which may or may not exist, come to your own conclusions, I've read some interesting thoughts on the matter.

It's not about the music, which is sparse and helps to really set the tone and immerse you in the game play.

This game is 100% enjoyable because of the dying.

Oh the dying. It happened so often and it was glorious each and every time. There wasn't one time I was frustrated with the game; it was so forgiving, I'd restart play moments before my most recent death. Dying is the way you learn in Limbo, it's trial by error, but you'll find that there are very few errors that don't end in cartoon death.

Are the traps and puzzle hugely innovative... not if you've played a good amount of puzzle games. Again, the unique point of the game is the glee in my characters death.

As an aside, for whatever reason this game reminded me of Portal (a unique cult classic puzzle game, remind you of anything?), so I felt the need to replay that before writing this. I'm not sure why I needed to do that, but it made both experiences feel all that more rewarding, I recommend it highly.

Limbo: My Woman on the Side

I've struggled with writing this. No, that's not fully accurate, I've struggled with sitting down to write this.

I've only played the demo for Limbo, a new XBox Live Arcade title. I haven't been able to pull myself away from Fallout 3 to dedicate the five or so hours that it takes for a play through of Limbo. The problem here is that I kind of need to play Limbo, even if I deny that I do, because it's seriously killing my enjoyment of Fallout 3! Oh, I'll go in, explore for a bit (Operation: Anchorage really helped me to focus in) but then I'll start to think of Limbo. Oh, Limbo, you with your simplistic game play, your deep and dark moody atmosphere, your so simple it's revolutionary 2d platforming experience... and then a Super Mutant or some other such creature murders me because I was daydreaming about my other love. I think I might be cheating on Fallout 3 like Cyclops cheated on Jean Grey (nerd).

Maybe this isn't an article about how I love Limbo. I think this is really an article about how I love the taste of Limbo that I've had. Maybe I don't want to buy Limbo because I love it like I love the idea of that cute girl at the bar who flirted with me that one time (this is an example sweetie, I don't remember her, I swear).

I think it's time to take the plunge so this affair can be over. Monday. Look for an update here on Monday. Unless Limbo and I spend all day doing dirty, dirty things.

True Blood's Crazy in Love Romeo

I had never watched True Blood before this weekend. As a premise, I can't say that the show interested me. And I certainly do not have HBO, so it's like I could watch it even if I was inspired to do so.

Of course, one promise of casserole and brownies later, and I'm at my good friend Abby's apartment with her second favorite couple Torgan watching a solid marathon of episodes 2-5 of True Blood's third season.
And boy, am I glad for that promise of casserole and brownies (thanks Tara, totally delicious) because I was introduced to one of my brand new characters in fiction:

Ladies and Gentlemen, Franklin Mott

The first time we are introduced to Franklin he is a pair of leather shoes sneaking around the home of one of the shoe's main heroes. That's all the character we get. He's fashionable, clearly, and he has some kind of agenda, an agenda that is surely nefarious in some manner.

The second time we see Franklin he's saddling up to, apparently, the only bar in town. Tara, the bartender, is having some kind of a troubled time, and he throws a little bit of game her way (this is the gun introduced in the first act, for real). On Tara's way out of the bar gets into a fight with a few hillbillies, and Franklin, much to my personal delight, holds one of them while she pummels the drunk idiot.

Then they have awesome vampire sex. Which is apparently much, much better than normal people sex. I was aware of this, because Tara's eyes did a really weird flutter thing with the whites, good times. For her.

Do keep in mind, throughout all of this, Franklin is a gentleman. His English accent is used to it's full charming extent, and his witticisms are strong.

This is where we get fun.

Franklin shows up at Tara's house, mesmerizes her to let him in, forces her to tell him everything she knows about the main characters of True Blood and then ties her to the toilet while he sleeps. We knew Franklin was bad news, but this was straight nasty. We're treated to a good establishing shot of Tara, tied up and crying, struggling and unable to free herself from her bonds.

So, naturally, Franklin brings her roses.

And professes his love for her.

Seriously.

The next handful of episodes involve Franklin's steep, steep decent into love and madness, which is a joy, absolute joy to watch.

He buys Tara a wedding dress. He gets jealous when her cousin texts her ("Who is this!" I'm paraphrasing, "I thought you said there was nobody in the picture, I'll kill him!") whom he quickly learns is gay (to a complete turn in personality, from angry jealous to delighted child) and tries to get rid of (watch the video, but take the super speed part and watch it five or six times [that's how it is on the show! Franklin is SO damned impressed with himself]).

When Tara tries to escape and fails, he beats himself up because SHE hurt him so bad. His poor emotions. He literally throws himself against the wall. Poor Tara has to calm him down by telling him everything will be alright, and that it's not HIM she's afraid of, it's everyone else. Right.

I love this character. He has the perfect mix of dark comedy and damn seriousness. He's believable as a cold hearted, conniving killer because that's what he is. But at his heart, at his core, he's fucking crazy and in love with anyone that will show him a touch of decency.

I might be romanticizing that last bit.

Fallout 3 and my love affair with the Side Quest

I recently purchased an XBox 360. I know, I've always been a Nintendo man (even though I did dabble with a PS2), but I finally caved, new games are so cool.

So I went ahead and purchased this one game, Fallout 3, you have to know this, it's in the title.

I wasn't really aware of what exactly Fallout 3 was, all I knew was that it was highly rated, my good friend Matt said it was cool, and it took place in a post-nuclear war retro styled future. What I didn't know, and should have going in, is that it is a massive RPG that not only looks beautiful, but has so much style and cool it's silly.

But I'm not here to review Fallout 3 for you, that'd be silly, I haven't even finished one play-through of it yet.

I blame Bryan Wilks.

Do you see that face? That is the face of a really long and amazing side quest.

- Could you find my dad?

Sure kid, let me murder all of these fire ants for you. Oh, snap, I found your dad, he's dead :(

- Could you murder all the fire ants?

Sure kid, clearly I can do that. I just spent two hours or so wiping out an entire city filled with them.

Then you run into a random scientist...

- Could you murder these really strong fire ants for me? Oh, but leave the Queen fire ant alive.

Oh, sure, yea, that won't take me any time at all.

Then you run into a religious zealot wearing power armor...

- Hey, could you murder these giant mutants for me? We'll save my friend!

Of course I can, that won't take me an hour or so while they brutally kill me over and over.

Then you return to the kid...

- Thanks for killing all those Fire Ants for me... could you find me a new home?

And I haven't done that yet, because his new home is in a city that is really far away, and I had other Side Quests to do. I can't even begin to imagine how awesome the actual game is once I start playing it.

Predators Day!

Yesterday I watched Predators.

To more completely describe the experience I need to fill you in on a tradition that I've been creating with a few of my friends. When a sequel to a film comes out, a sequel such as Predators, take a day and watch all of the films in the series, in this instance, we watched Predator and Predator 2. Just spend a good day and a half hanging out and watching some old film with good friends. It's a classy idea, and I recommend that everyone at least try it.

On to Predators, and why I loved watching it!


Let's start out with the concept for the film, because it's a good one, and it lends itself wonderfully to making a great action flick. Toss a handful of diverse and interesting characters into a foreign land (in this case an alien planet), give them a common goal (survival), and a common foe (Predators!). It's a simple formula, really simple, but it gave me exactly what I was looking for, and I love that. It also helped to set the pace of the film early. We open with Adrian Brody falling out of the sky, he barely hits his parachute, and takes a bumpy landing. The first bit of the movie doesn't slow down from there. We're introduced to our cast and concept wasting absolutely no time. Fantastic!

Then there are the scenes I'm going to carry with me, the bits that were clearly minor labors of love and genius.

Laurence Fishburne played a survivor of the alien planet. This is one of those tropes for like movies that you generally have, or at least I feel like it's a trope (I'm thinking Battle Royale here). Of course, Fishburne continues the trend of characters in this film, everyone in the film is a terrible person. Fishburne is no different and you come to realize HOW it is that he has stayed alive for so long. Lovely bit there. That he was either crazy to start with or developed an imaginary friend is an added bonus. His scheming mania was a real high light for me, there was some nice humor in the film anyhow, what with Topher Grace playing a guy who "wasn't supposed to be there" and Walton Goggins' fairly worthless in combat serial killer, but the madcap over the top element always makes me happy.

I'm a fan of Japanese cinema, or at least, what I've seen of Japanese cinema, so the ridiculously classic shoot of a Samurai battle between a Yakuza and a Predator filled me with pure delight. Is it ridiculous in context... maybe a little. Why would the Predator not shoot the Yakuza, why go one on one? Why not! Either the director loves Samurai films like I do, or he gave a fantastic homage because he knew it would be fun, it doesn't matter. The outcome was brilliant.

And of course we have spectacular performances from every one involved, a script that flows smoothly, and direction that shows love.

My hat is off to the cast and crew.

Manifesto

What I think is fun:

I'm fascinated by entertainment in all mediums. I think about it all the time, and I'd like some kind of outlet to share those thoughts with others. That outlet will be this blog.

However, I'm not interested in discussing the normal things here. Craft, while it will likely have some place, is not the focus; the focus here is fun. We're here to talk and think about what makes a work fun. If it ain't fun, it don't belong here.