Obscurities- E3 Day 1
Well, a lot of interesting announcements came out today, though nothing really incredibly new or exciting. The biggest announcement was FFXIII for the 360, which considering I own a 360 and Ps3 isn’t crucial. I do feel it’s kind of weird and that many people feel betrayed, but most of all I’m annoyed by people stating that Sony is finished. They aren’t all that far behind the 360 and they’ve won the last two generations, plus the PS3 really is a fun system. Regardless I’m looking forward to getting FFXIII. I’ll let time decide which system I pick it up for. (Although if it has online play I’ll go PS3, because I’m too poor to pay for live)
RE5 was big, but in a way looks a lot more like RE4 then I predicted. Not necessarily bad things to look and play like an excellent game, but I’m sure Capcom has a few more tricks with it and the co-op announcement is awesome. Dead Space is another surprise to me, as it seems like RE4 also, but looks interesting enough that I may have to pick it up.
Other games that got me excited were Fallout 3 and Fable 2. I’ve never played a Fallout game before, even though I know I should have. Fable 2 I hope really goes beyond what the first game did, because the first was probably the biggest disappointment I’ve ever had, I was so pumped for the game and it came out being only above average.
In Wii news the accuracy peripheral is an interesting enough attachment as many of the games I’ve played have had terrible reaction sensing as to what I do with the Wii-mote and what happens on screen, but I always pegged it to game design more-so than the controller. However, the fact you have to pay to increase the controller’s accuracy seems kind of stupid. I just don’t see much of a point to pay for it, when it’s not that bad. But, Nintendo prints money, I’m sure they’ll make a ton off of it.
Tomorrow I’ll see what day 2 brings, because Microsoft didn’t really announce anything all that new. While Halo Wars and GoW2 look good, I want to see new and interesting IPs.
To Play or Not to Play: Super Smash Bros. Brawl
I don’t own a Nintendo Wii, it’s the only current generation console I don’t own. I’m not a fan of “Waggling” gameplay, but I do enjoy Wii games that allow the use of a GameCube controller. Brawl provides this feature and gives you enough fun to really enjoy this game with friends.
For those of you who don’t know the Super Smash Bros. franchise is a party fighting game where all sorts of characters from Nintendo franchises come together to kick each other’s asses. This particular incarnation allows you to pit Mario against Sonic the Hedgehog, or pit Solid Snake against…Pit from Kid Icarus.
Prior to Brawl’s release I would regularly play Melee, 4-player with friends. I had to hone my skills because the people I played with are all really good and through play I became better and better. However the character flaws of Melee are far more balanced in Brawl, creating a more casual game where chance plays a bigger part and better closes the gap between players, not to say a first-timer will even remotely take a veteran, because that won’t happen.
Brawl is best with 4 people, but does have interesting enough 1 player content and unlockables to keep dedicated fans glued to their Wii in order to unlock everything the game has to offer. The only flaws I would say Brawl has to Melee, is that the C-Stick on the GameCube controller is less responsive in Brawl. Also while you can create your own levels, there are many in Brawl that are just distracting, where you may find yourself turning them off.
If you played Melee religiously, you’ll notice subtle changes to the gameplay and more so to each character, so much so, you may have to change your favorite fighter, though the new and improved balance makes me enjoy picking random now over picking Fox.
Play it, Rent it, Buy it
Overall: 5/5
Final Cut- Review for Wanted
This movie for all its ridiculous over-the-top, Michael Bay on crack action sequences, possessed a kind of charm. The plot is kind of challenging which is nice, but I found the opening narration to be the best feature of the whole film. James McAvoy’s narration was reminiscent of films like American Psycho and American Beauty and made me think the film could have really been better if it kept this flair throughout.
The film is about an accountant whose life is going nowhere. Soon he finds out that his dad used to be the head of an organization of assassins, known as the fraternity. The fraternity then proceeds to recruit him and save his life from the man who murdered his father. They then train him so he can personally avenge his father by curving bullets and flipping cars.
Danny Elfman provided an excellent adrenaline fueled soundtrack which really added to the pacing of the movie. The film for the most part was extremely fast paced and action packed with fewer then 10 minutes in between a bullet or a fist hitting someone in the head for the duration of the hour and 45 minute running time.
Anyone can see this is a popcorn flick and generally requires your brain to relax and not take it entirely serious. For all the ridiculousness of the film it was infinitely better then Shoot-em-up which features a similar style of action. I’d definitely give it a watch
Overall: 3.5/5
