Despite an inherent love for musicals, I haven't really been around them. I've seen a couple performed, and watched a couple movie adaptations, but I've never been in one or exposed to more than the most popular ones like Phantom and Les Mis. So having received the recommendation from my more musically inclined girlfriend I turned on Every Little Step, a documentary about the casting of the revival of A Chorus Line, which is a musical that I had never heard of nor heard songs from. Thankfully, however, I am an actor, and this is an actor's movie.
A Chorus Line is the rather brilliant brainchild of Michael Bennett, who sat down with several fellow Broadway actors for 12 hours, talking about what it was like to be in showbusiness. He then took those stories and turned it into a musical about a bunch of actors auditioning for a Broadway show. So Every Little Step then chronicles the stories of some of the 3,000 people who showed up to audition for the revival, making it a documentary about a bunch of actors auditioning for a show about a bunch of actors auditioning for a show. Very meta.
Frankly it's a fascinating process, and the movie captures it very well. You see these rooms filled with dancers who all get turned away, then another roomful where you can see who is on their game and who just doesn't have it. Even towards the very end to watch these people who have put their livelihoods on the line for this job go so far, only to fall after 8 MONTHS of waiting. It's intense.
The only problem I have is that I wanted more. It felt like it all went by so quickly, and some final people ended up in that cast that were barely even mentioned. At the final callback there were still about 10 people we knew nothing about. I understand it would take a long time to do each and every person's story, and some of them might not have an interesting story to tell, but I would've gladly stuck around for another 30 minutes of material (it runs 1.5 hours). I know this is one of those situations where you just have to make some sacrifices so that the movie can still tell a story and end in a reasonable amount of time, but damn it, it was so interesting I couldn't help but feel the lack of depth.
For any actors or those who are involved in theater, this is a brilliant movie to see as you feel like you can really understand what these people are going through which makes the emotional impact strike all the harder. For everyone else, it's a rarely seen and very interesting look into just what it takes to make it to Broadway. In any case, it's a worthwhile view.
Every Little Step gets a 9/10.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
The Road
This movie has me torn. On one hand I found the setting of an America devastated by some kind of massive destructive event, leaving the last remnants of humanity to wander a dead world absolutely fascinating. The struggle to survive turning most into cannibals, with only a few keeping the fire of their humanity alive. On the other hand, I feel like the story never made a point, besides saying things are bleak. We follow around this father and son as they go south towards the ocean, bad things happen along the way, and they both grapple with what it means to be the good guys in a bad world. Every single shot looks stark and gray, practically every location is burned or broken down, and by the end you're just left sitting there thinking "Well that was depressing."
Basically it makes me want to go and read the book, because I can tell there's something beneath this drudge of grayness that is actually an interesting story. Unfortunately, instead of exploring the depths of morality and metaphor littered throughout, the movie just takes us along on this very slow paced journey where they're either running/hiding from cannibals, walking/scavenging/sleeping, or showing how the father is pretty much a failure. He preaches about carrying the fire, being the good guy, yet when the opportunity presents itself he always looks out only for himself while his son tries desperately to make him change his mind. And that's the movie. Running, resting, scavenging, and morality. There's certainly a message to be found in it, a deeper resonance the movie was trying to achieve, but unfortunately it just came off dull. And then there's the ending...
SPOILER ALERT...I really couldn't understand the point of the ending. We've just spent almost 2 hours with this father and son, with the father trying the entire time to teach what he can. His dying request is that the son be cautious, and voila the first person he comes across, who instills no confidence whatsoever, he almost immediately trusts. Not only that, but he admits to there being others with him. And then, he admits that they've been following him the entire time. But...then it turns out to be okay. It's actually a family. It's the good guys they were searching for. Possibly. It just seemed like a very odd ending, to immediately forget his father's wishes but don't worry it's okay they're actually nice. I guess the fire lives on? END SPOILERS
To me it just felt like despite the good acting and interesting direction, what fell flat was simply the screenplay itself. It turned what could've been a fascinating philosophical study amid the backdrop of this strange alternate reality into an odd, slightly muddled post-apocalyptic journey movie where the journey didn't really have a solid beginning or end. With any luck I'll get to reading the book, and will hopefully have a much better impression.
The Road gets a 5/10.
Basically it makes me want to go and read the book, because I can tell there's something beneath this drudge of grayness that is actually an interesting story. Unfortunately, instead of exploring the depths of morality and metaphor littered throughout, the movie just takes us along on this very slow paced journey where they're either running/hiding from cannibals, walking/scavenging/sleeping, or showing how the father is pretty much a failure. He preaches about carrying the fire, being the good guy, yet when the opportunity presents itself he always looks out only for himself while his son tries desperately to make him change his mind. And that's the movie. Running, resting, scavenging, and morality. There's certainly a message to be found in it, a deeper resonance the movie was trying to achieve, but unfortunately it just came off dull. And then there's the ending...
SPOILER ALERT...I really couldn't understand the point of the ending. We've just spent almost 2 hours with this father and son, with the father trying the entire time to teach what he can. His dying request is that the son be cautious, and voila the first person he comes across, who instills no confidence whatsoever, he almost immediately trusts. Not only that, but he admits to there being others with him. And then, he admits that they've been following him the entire time. But...then it turns out to be okay. It's actually a family. It's the good guys they were searching for. Possibly. It just seemed like a very odd ending, to immediately forget his father's wishes but don't worry it's okay they're actually nice. I guess the fire lives on? END SPOILERS
To me it just felt like despite the good acting and interesting direction, what fell flat was simply the screenplay itself. It turned what could've been a fascinating philosophical study amid the backdrop of this strange alternate reality into an odd, slightly muddled post-apocalyptic journey movie where the journey didn't really have a solid beginning or end. With any luck I'll get to reading the book, and will hopefully have a much better impression.
The Road gets a 5/10.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Killer Klowns from Outer Space
The title really says it all. Do I even need to provide a review? Much like movies such as "Piranha" or "Anaconda" you pretty much know exactly what you're signing up for when you press play. However, there's something special about Killer Klowns that I think at least deserves some words written about it.
The concept of Killer Klowns is rather simple. Aliens who just happen to look like clowns, use cotton candy and popcorn as weapons, and whose spaceship is coincidentally shaped like a circus tent, land for an unknown reason in this small town and proceed to capture or kill every single person there in clown-like fashion. There's your stereotypical hero, maiden, powerful ally (cop), supposed comic relief (ice cream brothers), and stick-in-the-mud who doesn't believe a damn thing until he's dead (other cop), all with acting skills developed at whatever place casting directors went to for every actor from every bad horror movie made in the 80s (the mall?). So after stumbling on the big secret that this circus tent, which mysteriously appeared in the woods right where a meteor they watched fall should've crashed down, is actually a spaceship filled with deadly klowns, our heroes spend the movie running from death and trying to warn everyone before they all get turned into cotton candy cocoons.
If you really need it...SPOILER ALERT...everyone but the kinda hero, maiden in distress, powerfully ally and supposed comic relief end up dead. Somehow during the entire movie, the cop is the only one who figured out how to kill the klowns (shoot their noses off), and is able to kill the big boss klown, subsequently blowing up their ship and killing any other possible survivors from the town. Miraculously, he survives the explosion by locking himself in the klown car, and the comic relief escapes the previous explosion they were in AND the destruction of the ship by hiding in their ice cream truck's freezer. The cavalry, in the form of police from a neighboring town, show up just in time to see the ship explode. And just as the movie ends, with our heroes asking if it's finally all over, they get pied in the face, setting up a sequel if they ever chose to do one. END SPOILERS
It's ridiculous. It's all pure and utter failure in pretty much every sense. The acting, direction, script, sets, just about damn near everything is just plain BAD. The only redeeming thing is that the klowns were at some points pretty darn scary looking. So why even give this film a mention?
Because it was funny. It was damn funny. It was all just so ridiculous that I couldn't help but enjoy it. If it hadn't been filmed in the same period as, and thus been one of, all of those terrible 80s horror films I would've said it was a wonderful spoof. You just have to think that they knew they were making a terrible terrible film and so they had fun with it. But almost better is to think that they were taking themselves absolutely seriously, just because it makes their predicament all the funnier.
Killer Klowns is by no means a good movie, and I'm sure many would not have as fun a time with it as I had. Still, if you've got several people over and have fun supplying additional commentary while a movie is going then this is a great way to waste an hour and 20 minutes.
Killer Klowns from Outer Space gets a 4/10.
The concept of Killer Klowns is rather simple. Aliens who just happen to look like clowns, use cotton candy and popcorn as weapons, and whose spaceship is coincidentally shaped like a circus tent, land for an unknown reason in this small town and proceed to capture or kill every single person there in clown-like fashion. There's your stereotypical hero, maiden, powerful ally (cop), supposed comic relief (ice cream brothers), and stick-in-the-mud who doesn't believe a damn thing until he's dead (other cop), all with acting skills developed at whatever place casting directors went to for every actor from every bad horror movie made in the 80s (the mall?). So after stumbling on the big secret that this circus tent, which mysteriously appeared in the woods right where a meteor they watched fall should've crashed down, is actually a spaceship filled with deadly klowns, our heroes spend the movie running from death and trying to warn everyone before they all get turned into cotton candy cocoons.
If you really need it...SPOILER ALERT...everyone but the kinda hero, maiden in distress, powerfully ally and supposed comic relief end up dead. Somehow during the entire movie, the cop is the only one who figured out how to kill the klowns (shoot their noses off), and is able to kill the big boss klown, subsequently blowing up their ship and killing any other possible survivors from the town. Miraculously, he survives the explosion by locking himself in the klown car, and the comic relief escapes the previous explosion they were in AND the destruction of the ship by hiding in their ice cream truck's freezer. The cavalry, in the form of police from a neighboring town, show up just in time to see the ship explode. And just as the movie ends, with our heroes asking if it's finally all over, they get pied in the face, setting up a sequel if they ever chose to do one. END SPOILERS
It's ridiculous. It's all pure and utter failure in pretty much every sense. The acting, direction, script, sets, just about damn near everything is just plain BAD. The only redeeming thing is that the klowns were at some points pretty darn scary looking. So why even give this film a mention?
Because it was funny. It was damn funny. It was all just so ridiculous that I couldn't help but enjoy it. If it hadn't been filmed in the same period as, and thus been one of, all of those terrible 80s horror films I would've said it was a wonderful spoof. You just have to think that they knew they were making a terrible terrible film and so they had fun with it. But almost better is to think that they were taking themselves absolutely seriously, just because it makes their predicament all the funnier.
Killer Klowns is by no means a good movie, and I'm sure many would not have as fun a time with it as I had. Still, if you've got several people over and have fun supplying additional commentary while a movie is going then this is a great way to waste an hour and 20 minutes.
Killer Klowns from Outer Space gets a 4/10.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
In case you couldn't tell from reading the rest of this blog I'm a big video game nerd. And while I didn't really grow up with the arcade era that Scott Pilgrim hearkens back to, it doesn't mean I can't completely and utterly fall in love with this movie.
Scott Pilgrim is a 23 year old bass player in a band called the Sex Bob-Ombs, who have never known the taste of success despite a lot of heart. He starts out dating a high-schooler named Knives Chau, despite the constant flack he gets from his friends. However, one day he has a dream about a mysterious woman on roller skates, then sees her in real life at a party, learns her name is Ramona Flowers, and immediately falls for her despite her complete lack of interest in him. Yet despite that she still starts to hang out with Scott and the romance begins to bloom. But before you know it, the shit hits the fan as juggling both Knives and Ramona, Scott learns that in order to keep dating Ramona he has to battle and defeat her 7 evil exes, most of whom are conveniently in town for the battle of the bands.
What follows is brightly colored, flashy, absolutely over-the-top and more than fun. Often Scott unwittingly ends up in these battles to the death while trying to manage the ups and downs of dating Ramona or breaking up with Knives or just trying to live his day to day life. I don't even really know how to explain it, but this movie manages to strike the perfect balance between romantic comedy, action movie, and homage to the arcade. The first evil ex shatters into a thousand coins when Scott defeats him, which Scott then picks up and realizes he can use for bus money. The whole tone of the movie has this kind of hyper-surreal feel to it, and somehow it all just works really well.
Michael Cera is his usual nerdy nice self, which is fine since it just works so perfectly for the character. Really every actor and actress really hits their mark, but the stars of this show are the evil exes. Besides the twins who we literally hear nothing from, they are all hilarious. From the very first fireball throwing, demon hipster chick summoning ex all the way down to the always wonderful Jason Schwartzman as the leader of the exes, every single one stole their scenes. It was just so obvious that they themselves were having a great time that it was impossible not to enjoy it right along with them.
The only problem I have with Scott Pilgrim is that it's so flashy, fun and fast paced that it kind of forgets to have substance under it. I went through the entire movie loving every eccentric bite sized scene, but left it feeling a little hungry for more, especially after the kind of cliche ending. **SPOILER ALERT** Of course I understand why Scott ends up with Ramona. After all it's like Knives says, he's spent all this time fighting for her he should go get her. Yet, I also felt like they really pinpointed in the final battle how Scott and Knives were right for each other and Ramona was maybe not the right choice for him. Personally I just think it would've been a much more compelling ending to let Ramona go. **END SPOILER**
Scott Pilgrim is basically the epitome of style over substance, and yet the style that's there is so unique, interesting and FUN that I can't really fault it that. One thing's for sure; I'll definitely be going back and watching this one again and again.
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World gets a 9/10.
Scott Pilgrim is a 23 year old bass player in a band called the Sex Bob-Ombs, who have never known the taste of success despite a lot of heart. He starts out dating a high-schooler named Knives Chau, despite the constant flack he gets from his friends. However, one day he has a dream about a mysterious woman on roller skates, then sees her in real life at a party, learns her name is Ramona Flowers, and immediately falls for her despite her complete lack of interest in him. Yet despite that she still starts to hang out with Scott and the romance begins to bloom. But before you know it, the shit hits the fan as juggling both Knives and Ramona, Scott learns that in order to keep dating Ramona he has to battle and defeat her 7 evil exes, most of whom are conveniently in town for the battle of the bands.
What follows is brightly colored, flashy, absolutely over-the-top and more than fun. Often Scott unwittingly ends up in these battles to the death while trying to manage the ups and downs of dating Ramona or breaking up with Knives or just trying to live his day to day life. I don't even really know how to explain it, but this movie manages to strike the perfect balance between romantic comedy, action movie, and homage to the arcade. The first evil ex shatters into a thousand coins when Scott defeats him, which Scott then picks up and realizes he can use for bus money. The whole tone of the movie has this kind of hyper-surreal feel to it, and somehow it all just works really well.
Michael Cera is his usual nerdy nice self, which is fine since it just works so perfectly for the character. Really every actor and actress really hits their mark, but the stars of this show are the evil exes. Besides the twins who we literally hear nothing from, they are all hilarious. From the very first fireball throwing, demon hipster chick summoning ex all the way down to the always wonderful Jason Schwartzman as the leader of the exes, every single one stole their scenes. It was just so obvious that they themselves were having a great time that it was impossible not to enjoy it right along with them.
The only problem I have with Scott Pilgrim is that it's so flashy, fun and fast paced that it kind of forgets to have substance under it. I went through the entire movie loving every eccentric bite sized scene, but left it feeling a little hungry for more, especially after the kind of cliche ending. **SPOILER ALERT** Of course I understand why Scott ends up with Ramona. After all it's like Knives says, he's spent all this time fighting for her he should go get her. Yet, I also felt like they really pinpointed in the final battle how Scott and Knives were right for each other and Ramona was maybe not the right choice for him. Personally I just think it would've been a much more compelling ending to let Ramona go. **END SPOILER**
Scott Pilgrim is basically the epitome of style over substance, and yet the style that's there is so unique, interesting and FUN that I can't really fault it that. One thing's for sure; I'll definitely be going back and watching this one again and again.
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World gets a 9/10.
The Human Centipede
Watching this travesty of a film I couldn't help but be reminded of the first time I watched Hostel, years after its release. When it first came out, everyone was thoroughly disgusted and grossed out by the completely over-the-top gore, violence, and nudity, marking it as probably the best example at that time of the "torture porn" genre. I vowed never to see it since there really was no need. Then, one day, in a moment of weakness I figured what the hell and I watched it. Honestly, I didn't find it to be so bad. Maybe I'm just jaded or immune to graphic violence in movies these days but the rather obviously fake torture in Hostel didn't effect me. And while the plot of the movie was reeeally stupid, I still couldn't help hating myself for actually enjoying the kind of Grindhouse sentimentality this movie held.
So sure enough, years later another movie comes out trying to top all others as the most disgusting movie ever released. However, unlike Hostel, the Human Centipede falls flat in just about every way, including the gross out factor. Once you've heard what the Human Centipede is actually about, you've pretty much already gotten through the worst of it. In some ways, hearing about and imagining it is actually far worse than what they actually show. Though there are still certainly some very cringe worthy moments.
So yes, it was disgusting. But frankly, it's no worse than Saw or Hostel or any other entry in the torture porn genre. It certainly has a different concept to it which makes it more revolting, but I was actually shocked when I realized that the bandages covering the really disgusting parts of the centipede weren't going away. I really expected them to go that far from what I had heard, but thankfully it spared us the really gruesome bits.
As to the rest of the movie beyond its shock value, there's really nothing there. Dieter Laser is genuinely terrifying as the doctor, and the asian man at the front has his moments (though most are surprisingly humorous). But the two "actresses" really do seem like they were just hired out of a porno, along with the cops. The story itself is expectedly very poorly written, with very bad dialogue, many many so bad it's funny moments, and enough head-desk moments to give you a concussion without a desk.
In short, there is nothing redeeming about this movie besides Dieter Laser, and that's only because he has one of the most terrifying faces I've ever seen on a person. If your own sensibilities didn't tell you already to stay far far away from this movie, and you're even a little curious about seeing it, just walk away. This movie is all about the shock value, and if you already know what it's about, then the shock is gone.
The Human Centipede gets a 1/10.
So sure enough, years later another movie comes out trying to top all others as the most disgusting movie ever released. However, unlike Hostel, the Human Centipede falls flat in just about every way, including the gross out factor. Once you've heard what the Human Centipede is actually about, you've pretty much already gotten through the worst of it. In some ways, hearing about and imagining it is actually far worse than what they actually show. Though there are still certainly some very cringe worthy moments.
So yes, it was disgusting. But frankly, it's no worse than Saw or Hostel or any other entry in the torture porn genre. It certainly has a different concept to it which makes it more revolting, but I was actually shocked when I realized that the bandages covering the really disgusting parts of the centipede weren't going away. I really expected them to go that far from what I had heard, but thankfully it spared us the really gruesome bits.
As to the rest of the movie beyond its shock value, there's really nothing there. Dieter Laser is genuinely terrifying as the doctor, and the asian man at the front has his moments (though most are surprisingly humorous). But the two "actresses" really do seem like they were just hired out of a porno, along with the cops. The story itself is expectedly very poorly written, with very bad dialogue, many many so bad it's funny moments, and enough head-desk moments to give you a concussion without a desk.
In short, there is nothing redeeming about this movie besides Dieter Laser, and that's only because he has one of the most terrifying faces I've ever seen on a person. If your own sensibilities didn't tell you already to stay far far away from this movie, and you're even a little curious about seeing it, just walk away. This movie is all about the shock value, and if you already know what it's about, then the shock is gone.
The Human Centipede gets a 1/10.
Monday, December 27, 2010
Dead Space Ignition
With my newly made preorder of Dead Space 2 came this rather interesting little downloadable title. Taking place right before Dead Space 2, Ignition is for the most part a series of 3 different types of minigames with motion comics as cutscenes in-between. There are also 4 different "paths" for you to follow through the game depending on some choices you make about where to take your character.
The story follows Franco, an engineer, and your trusty cop companion Sarah across the Sprawl right before the events of Dead Space 2. As an engineer you are tasked with performing various types of hacks to repair things that have started falling apart, apparently by sabotage. Soon enough the Necros start popping up and it's up to you to hack your way through doors and other various helpful things while Sarah holds off the Necros.
It's about as boring as it sounds.
There's a kind of 2D race/obstacle game where you guide a constantly forward moving red dot past obstacles which slow you down while avoiding other dots that can knock you to the sides, impede your way, or even reverse the controls on you. You have some tools at your disposal too, including boosting along with the things the other dots do to you. Basically you run the course and hope to get to the end before the other dots.
Then there's the least difficult one, which is kind of like being at the opposite end of a tower defense game. You are given several types of viruses which you must then send out to try to destroy everything in your path and destroy this green terminal at the end. Especially later on once you've got the super virus which turns turrets against other turrets this game becomes more about just pumping out viruses and waiting until they reach the end than anything else. Technically there's a limit to the amount you can release at any one time, but they get destroyed at such a fast rate (and even if they don't your energy replenishes quite quickly) that it will never hinder you.
The one I had the most trouble with were the hardware hacks, which are essentially laser redirection puzzles. You're given a certain amount of reflectors that you have to place in a certain way so as to point the green light into the green receptacles, the red light into red, and eventually combine green and red light to make yellow go into yellow. It's more complicated than it looks, and eventually I just resorted to walkthroughs because it really wasn't worth it.
Okay, you may say, so the puzzles are real bad. Is the story at least worth the playthrough?
Nope. For one, the motion comic style might have been cool, but the animation, especially the motion part of the animation, is so poorly drawn that I often found my eyes drifting away and just listening to the dialogue because it was so bad. On top of that, the ending comes out of the blue, and while I'm sure it will set the stage for Dead Space 2, the rest of the game provides absolutely no explanation for why it happens. You spend practically the entire game running away from Necros. Depending on which path you choose there are some interesting variations on how you get to that end point, but the why of how you get there remains completely elusive. **SPOILER...KIND OF** Franco is fairly obviously a follower of the church of unitology, which looks to the Necros as what prophecy foretells as the path to immortality. So he gets these cryptic messages throughout the game from someone mysterious, which eventually set him towards the psychiatric ward of a medical building (Sarah has died along the way) where none other than Isaac Clarke resides in what appears to be a stasis pod. Franco hacks into the terminal and starts the sequence to set Isaac free, and then the game ends. Whoopdedoo. It is almost assuredly in this series of stasis pods that the Dead Space 2 demo begins. **END SPOILER**
So basically, if you preorder Dead Space 2, you might as well play this and get what little kicks you can out of it. There are some leaderboards if you care enough about these minigames to do anything about it. But under no circumstances should you pay the $5 retail price. It's worth the free pricetag, but no more. It's quite sad because this could've been an interesting way to set up Dead Space 2 and build excitement for it, like what I hear Case West did for Dead Rising 2. Instead it's a lackluster mess that barely earns its name as a prequel.
Dead Space Ignition gets a 3/10.
The story follows Franco, an engineer, and your trusty cop companion Sarah across the Sprawl right before the events of Dead Space 2. As an engineer you are tasked with performing various types of hacks to repair things that have started falling apart, apparently by sabotage. Soon enough the Necros start popping up and it's up to you to hack your way through doors and other various helpful things while Sarah holds off the Necros.
It's about as boring as it sounds.
There's a kind of 2D race/obstacle game where you guide a constantly forward moving red dot past obstacles which slow you down while avoiding other dots that can knock you to the sides, impede your way, or even reverse the controls on you. You have some tools at your disposal too, including boosting along with the things the other dots do to you. Basically you run the course and hope to get to the end before the other dots.
Then there's the least difficult one, which is kind of like being at the opposite end of a tower defense game. You are given several types of viruses which you must then send out to try to destroy everything in your path and destroy this green terminal at the end. Especially later on once you've got the super virus which turns turrets against other turrets this game becomes more about just pumping out viruses and waiting until they reach the end than anything else. Technically there's a limit to the amount you can release at any one time, but they get destroyed at such a fast rate (and even if they don't your energy replenishes quite quickly) that it will never hinder you.
The one I had the most trouble with were the hardware hacks, which are essentially laser redirection puzzles. You're given a certain amount of reflectors that you have to place in a certain way so as to point the green light into the green receptacles, the red light into red, and eventually combine green and red light to make yellow go into yellow. It's more complicated than it looks, and eventually I just resorted to walkthroughs because it really wasn't worth it.
Okay, you may say, so the puzzles are real bad. Is the story at least worth the playthrough?
Nope. For one, the motion comic style might have been cool, but the animation, especially the motion part of the animation, is so poorly drawn that I often found my eyes drifting away and just listening to the dialogue because it was so bad. On top of that, the ending comes out of the blue, and while I'm sure it will set the stage for Dead Space 2, the rest of the game provides absolutely no explanation for why it happens. You spend practically the entire game running away from Necros. Depending on which path you choose there are some interesting variations on how you get to that end point, but the why of how you get there remains completely elusive. **SPOILER...KIND OF** Franco is fairly obviously a follower of the church of unitology, which looks to the Necros as what prophecy foretells as the path to immortality. So he gets these cryptic messages throughout the game from someone mysterious, which eventually set him towards the psychiatric ward of a medical building (Sarah has died along the way) where none other than Isaac Clarke resides in what appears to be a stasis pod. Franco hacks into the terminal and starts the sequence to set Isaac free, and then the game ends. Whoopdedoo. It is almost assuredly in this series of stasis pods that the Dead Space 2 demo begins. **END SPOILER**
So basically, if you preorder Dead Space 2, you might as well play this and get what little kicks you can out of it. There are some leaderboards if you care enough about these minigames to do anything about it. But under no circumstances should you pay the $5 retail price. It's worth the free pricetag, but no more. It's quite sad because this could've been an interesting way to set up Dead Space 2 and build excitement for it, like what I hear Case West did for Dead Rising 2. Instead it's a lackluster mess that barely earns its name as a prequel.
Dead Space Ignition gets a 3/10.
A slew of demos
So on a whim I decided to download some newly released and some older demos to see if I wanted to spend my new found Christmas money on them. First up:
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. I already kind of figured from the look of this game, and the fact that I had never played a Castlevania game before, that it wouldn't be for me, yet it was getting good reviews so I figured I'd take a shot and give it a look over. Now, I understand demos are almost always poor representations of the full game, but frankly it seemed like just another mindless hack and slash, though admittedly the controls were tight. Still, looked fairly boring.
Star Wars: Force Unleashed 2. Oddly enough, playing this demo felt eerily familiar to playing the first Force Unleashed's demo. Hordes of stormtroopers who are simply fodder for your force powers, some bigger baddies who require a little more thought, and a shoddy control mechanic that took away what little fun there was to be had. It felt like just another hack and slash which looked flashy, but had no real substance. Pass on this one, it appears the developers didn't learn from their mistakes like they assured us they did.
Maijin and the Forgotten Kingdom. Boy did this one lose me on practically all counts. The graphics were poor, the voice acting/dialogue was beyond childish, and the fighting vs. stealth mechanic was beyond rudimentary. The only interesting bit to this demo was the strategic element it introduced with, say, setting up the Maijin to throw a wall down while you jump down below and lure the enemies over to where it would crash. Held some interesting possibilities, but I'd doubt from the way the demo played out they made much use of it in the regular game. Big disappointment.
Costume Quest. I'm a fan of Tim Schafer. I understand the man has some brilliant and hilarious ideas. The main problem is he just doesn't know how to craft the game from there. Now, unfortunately I haven't played Psychonauts, which according to critics is the best most underappreciated game of all time, nor have I played any of his earlier work which everyone seems to agree were awesome games. Still, I played Brutal Legend. I saw what should've been an awesome game in there, but just never came together. So when he announced he was planning on doing smaller, more kind of indie downloadable games I was all for it thinking it would be a better space for him to simply present his vision. So I pick up the demo for Costume Quest...and am underwhelmed. Yes, the humor is there. Yes, his unique vision is there. Yes, it seems like it should be an awesome game. And then you get to the game itself, which has the most simplified combat system I've ever seen. It's highly based on exploration, yet there's no map, no way to pinpoint which houses you might have missed besides running all over the town until you spot the one that was hiding from you. You can change costumes, and each has a specific function in and out of combat, but they don't seem to make much of a difference besides opening up new areas to explore. It's just sad to me because even in this smaller downloadable space, just like Brutal Legend the great ideas are there, they're just really poorly implemented. Costume Quest feels like it should be a lot of fun, but then the actual game gets in the way of that. We'll just have to wait and see what happens with his next downloadable title, and hope the trend finally breaks.
Split/Second. I'm not a big fan of racing games, mostly because I'm no good at them, but my favorite series that I've played was the Burnout franchise. There was something so lovable and enjoyable about crashing anywhere you please and causing as much mayhem and destruction along the way as you could that I couldn't put it down. Split/Second is essentially Burnout's bastard child, fathered back in it's heyday on the PS2 before it moved on to the (in my opinion less fun) open world of Paradise. It works on much the same mechanics, except where in Burnout you did certain actions to raise your speed boost, in Split/Second you do certain things to fill a meter that allows you to make "Power Plays" which cause explosions to rain down from the sky, sometimes even amusingly completely rearranging the course, to knock down your opponents. There was unfortunately very very little to play, but what there was seemed fun enough. Might be worth a look.
Little Big Planet 2. This game made the best case for getting a 3D TV that I've seen. Not just for the eye popping effects, but because it appears it can be a vital part of gameplay. There were several points in the first level where I couldn't tell what I was supposed to do next because I was actually meant to go towards myself or away from myself. If there had been 3D, I'm sure that depth issue wouldn't be a problem. However, will this heavy investment in 3D detract from the game? I doubt it. It was still fun, and while I'm not particularly interested in creating my own stuff for this game, I cannot wait to see what other people do with it. This game looks to have infinite potential.
Mass Effect 2. I've already played this game on my PC when it came out at the beginning of the year (though not since all the DLC has come out), but I still wanted to take a look and see if the graphical upgrade would be worth a new purchase since my poor PC can't handle anything close to max graphics settings. And I have to say, I'm considering it. Definitely not at the new game price point of $60, I mean...come on. It's a year old, and I understand the developers put a lot of effort into it, and it really does look VERY good now, but seriously? It's selling for less than $20 just about everywhere, and while all of the DLC you get for free on PS3 totals up to $32, $32+$20=less than $60. This is not a new game, don't try to sell it like one. Anyways, the demo is quite extensive, leading you through both the initial escape from the lab complex and the mission to find Mordin Solus. The graphics have received an obvious boost (you can find comparison videos between PS3 and Xbox), though I still noticed significant frame rate drops during cutscenes and screen tearing. It wasn't that bad, but the obvious improvements elsewhere made them stick out all the more. Basically, if you've never played Mass Effect 2 before, pick it up now because this will be the best version out there. However, if you've already got Mass Effect 2 and the DLC, the graphics aren't really enough to say go out and spend that money all over again.
Dead Space 2. This game has had me the most excited since it was announced and showcased at E3. And so, I would like to present to you my thoughts while playing the demo:
"Wait...this part wasn't shown at E3...........why is nothing attacking me yet....why is there nothiOHCRAP...WHAT...THE...HELL?......Okay, first new necromorph pukes at me, lovely...man it takes a lot more damage than the old onesNOWTHEREAREFOUROFTHEMOHGODWHY...Okay, this part was at E3, shouldn't be too shocking...doing okay, doing okay, doing....okay...damn it...DAMN...BABIES....EVERYWHERE...CLAWING MY FACE.....NECROS EVERYWHEEEEEEEEEERE.......Phew, made it....preorder, done."
It was real freakin impressive. I had seen a great deal of the demo played already several times over at E3, and it STILL managed to freak me out. And with what I'm sure will be a really fun Aliens vs. Predator type multiplayer to back it up, look out for this one to pull a Mass Effect 2 and be a game of the year released in January. Though admittedly its competition is stiff (see "2011 is going to take all of our money"). But boy oh boy am I excited for this game. It looks to surpass the first game, which I gave a 10/10, by a healthy margin. CAN NOT WAIT.
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. I already kind of figured from the look of this game, and the fact that I had never played a Castlevania game before, that it wouldn't be for me, yet it was getting good reviews so I figured I'd take a shot and give it a look over. Now, I understand demos are almost always poor representations of the full game, but frankly it seemed like just another mindless hack and slash, though admittedly the controls were tight. Still, looked fairly boring.
Star Wars: Force Unleashed 2. Oddly enough, playing this demo felt eerily familiar to playing the first Force Unleashed's demo. Hordes of stormtroopers who are simply fodder for your force powers, some bigger baddies who require a little more thought, and a shoddy control mechanic that took away what little fun there was to be had. It felt like just another hack and slash which looked flashy, but had no real substance. Pass on this one, it appears the developers didn't learn from their mistakes like they assured us they did.
Maijin and the Forgotten Kingdom. Boy did this one lose me on practically all counts. The graphics were poor, the voice acting/dialogue was beyond childish, and the fighting vs. stealth mechanic was beyond rudimentary. The only interesting bit to this demo was the strategic element it introduced with, say, setting up the Maijin to throw a wall down while you jump down below and lure the enemies over to where it would crash. Held some interesting possibilities, but I'd doubt from the way the demo played out they made much use of it in the regular game. Big disappointment.
Costume Quest. I'm a fan of Tim Schafer. I understand the man has some brilliant and hilarious ideas. The main problem is he just doesn't know how to craft the game from there. Now, unfortunately I haven't played Psychonauts, which according to critics is the best most underappreciated game of all time, nor have I played any of his earlier work which everyone seems to agree were awesome games. Still, I played Brutal Legend. I saw what should've been an awesome game in there, but just never came together. So when he announced he was planning on doing smaller, more kind of indie downloadable games I was all for it thinking it would be a better space for him to simply present his vision. So I pick up the demo for Costume Quest...and am underwhelmed. Yes, the humor is there. Yes, his unique vision is there. Yes, it seems like it should be an awesome game. And then you get to the game itself, which has the most simplified combat system I've ever seen. It's highly based on exploration, yet there's no map, no way to pinpoint which houses you might have missed besides running all over the town until you spot the one that was hiding from you. You can change costumes, and each has a specific function in and out of combat, but they don't seem to make much of a difference besides opening up new areas to explore. It's just sad to me because even in this smaller downloadable space, just like Brutal Legend the great ideas are there, they're just really poorly implemented. Costume Quest feels like it should be a lot of fun, but then the actual game gets in the way of that. We'll just have to wait and see what happens with his next downloadable title, and hope the trend finally breaks.
Split/Second. I'm not a big fan of racing games, mostly because I'm no good at them, but my favorite series that I've played was the Burnout franchise. There was something so lovable and enjoyable about crashing anywhere you please and causing as much mayhem and destruction along the way as you could that I couldn't put it down. Split/Second is essentially Burnout's bastard child, fathered back in it's heyday on the PS2 before it moved on to the (in my opinion less fun) open world of Paradise. It works on much the same mechanics, except where in Burnout you did certain actions to raise your speed boost, in Split/Second you do certain things to fill a meter that allows you to make "Power Plays" which cause explosions to rain down from the sky, sometimes even amusingly completely rearranging the course, to knock down your opponents. There was unfortunately very very little to play, but what there was seemed fun enough. Might be worth a look.
Little Big Planet 2. This game made the best case for getting a 3D TV that I've seen. Not just for the eye popping effects, but because it appears it can be a vital part of gameplay. There were several points in the first level where I couldn't tell what I was supposed to do next because I was actually meant to go towards myself or away from myself. If there had been 3D, I'm sure that depth issue wouldn't be a problem. However, will this heavy investment in 3D detract from the game? I doubt it. It was still fun, and while I'm not particularly interested in creating my own stuff for this game, I cannot wait to see what other people do with it. This game looks to have infinite potential.
Mass Effect 2. I've already played this game on my PC when it came out at the beginning of the year (though not since all the DLC has come out), but I still wanted to take a look and see if the graphical upgrade would be worth a new purchase since my poor PC can't handle anything close to max graphics settings. And I have to say, I'm considering it. Definitely not at the new game price point of $60, I mean...come on. It's a year old, and I understand the developers put a lot of effort into it, and it really does look VERY good now, but seriously? It's selling for less than $20 just about everywhere, and while all of the DLC you get for free on PS3 totals up to $32, $32+$20=less than $60. This is not a new game, don't try to sell it like one. Anyways, the demo is quite extensive, leading you through both the initial escape from the lab complex and the mission to find Mordin Solus. The graphics have received an obvious boost (you can find comparison videos between PS3 and Xbox), though I still noticed significant frame rate drops during cutscenes and screen tearing. It wasn't that bad, but the obvious improvements elsewhere made them stick out all the more. Basically, if you've never played Mass Effect 2 before, pick it up now because this will be the best version out there. However, if you've already got Mass Effect 2 and the DLC, the graphics aren't really enough to say go out and spend that money all over again.
Dead Space 2. This game has had me the most excited since it was announced and showcased at E3. And so, I would like to present to you my thoughts while playing the demo:
"Wait...this part wasn't shown at E3...........why is nothing attacking me yet....why is there nothiOHCRAP...WHAT...THE...HELL?......Okay, first new necromorph pukes at me, lovely...man it takes a lot more damage than the old onesNOWTHEREAREFOUROFTHEMOHGODWHY...Okay, this part was at E3, shouldn't be too shocking...doing okay, doing okay, doing....okay...damn it...DAMN...BABIES....EVERYWHERE...CLAWING MY FACE.....NECROS EVERYWHEEEEEEEEEERE.......Phew, made it....preorder, done."
It was real freakin impressive. I had seen a great deal of the demo played already several times over at E3, and it STILL managed to freak me out. And with what I'm sure will be a really fun Aliens vs. Predator type multiplayer to back it up, look out for this one to pull a Mass Effect 2 and be a game of the year released in January. Though admittedly its competition is stiff (see "2011 is going to take all of our money"). But boy oh boy am I excited for this game. It looks to surpass the first game, which I gave a 10/10, by a healthy margin. CAN NOT WAIT.
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