Review of “Lockout”

Luc Besson tries his hand at writing a captivating and thrilling sci-fi movie, and does he succeed? Surprisingly, a little too much so.

The movie is centered around a rogue agent named Snow (Guy Pearce) who’s been framed for a terrible murder. Coincidentally, the world’s first space prison has just undergone mutiny with the president’s daughter (Maggie Grace) on board, setting the scene for what on the surface looks like a typical action flick. Although the scene feels cliche` and the story feels like an excerpt from Star Wars fanfiction, I’ll give the movie props for taking it a lot further than that. There are a lot of explosions, but there’s also a lot of traumatic and disturbing content where the inmates will do something so despicable that you wonder how the movie got branded PG-13. It takes things a lot deeper than the Michael Bay “flashy lights make $$”, and really demonstrates some of the darker aspects of psychotic murderers that we might forget on a daily basis without seeing Lockout. For example, one inmate shanks his brother right through the chest while attempting to rape Emily, the president’s daughter. But that’s the tip of the iceberg, to keep things spoiler free.

While the darkness of the movie keeps things feeling relatively fresh (or pants-wettingly scary depending on your point of view), the writing is simply fantastic and the highlight of the entire ninety minute adventure. Snow makes a lot of clever wise cracks and all of the lead inmates know exactly what to say to make you cringe in your seat, which is something not a lot of movies do nowadays.

The writing wouldn’t mean scratch without good actors, and this movie doesn’t disappoint. Guy Pearce works with the set pieces he’s given, and does a good job sounding like the carefree bad-ass that he is. Maggie Grace runs the gamut from helpless damsel in distress to independent heroine fairly well, and even though I wasn’t as impressed with her performance she still deserves recognition.

Overall, Lockout should be taken with a pinch of salt (or five) before viewing due to the fact that it’s not what it advertises, being more sci-fi horror(ish) than it wants to admit. I recommend seeing it if you’re craving a witty dialogue ridden movie that is sure to make you squirm in your seat… a bit of an acquired taste, if I do say so myself.

RE Review: Super Smash Bros. Brawl

This game probably needed a re review the most. Here’s my original review of the epic platformer/fighter: Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Sound: The music for this game is made up of pretty much every Nintendo character’s soundtrack to date. If that weren’t enough, there are even a few non-Nintendo soundtracks included (Sonic the Hedgehog, Metal Gear Solid). And aside from the thousand-some song list, there’s also custom themes and tracks for each character. The voice acting is okay for the game, not really noticeable though. Sound: 9/10

Presentation: At the time, the visuals were pretty slick for a non-HD console such as the Wii. So props to Nintendo for creating so much detail, so many unique environments, and overall graphically pleasing surroundings. Characters themselves have received a lot of polish, with Mario looking almost gritty and the impressive stylization of Wario. Lastly, cutscenes are really detailed CG movies, not cheap animations like most other games. Presentation: 9.5/10

Gameplay: The gameplay is amazing for Super Smash Bros. Brawl. It’s perfectly balanced between characters, and every fighter has a chance at winning. That’s saying a lot, considering there’s over thirty characters on the roster, almost all of which are fun to play as. Controls are simple enough, so if you know one character’s move set it won’t be impossible to learn another’s, unlike *coughStreetFighterXTekkencough*. Aside from balanced gameplay from a pure fighter standpoint, stages are also unique and add various hazards to the arena, providing a sense of uncertainty which keeps things intense. But what is a SSB without power-ups? This game is chalk-full of them, having dozens of different items that either help yourself or damage your opponents. My favorite of these would have to be the assist trophies, from which a character from a series that isn’t in the game comes out and wreaks havoc on everyone. But of course, the big twist in this installment to the series is the smash ball, adding the most unpredictable twist to a fight. Each character has their own unique smash attack, and things get wild with for everyone. All of that is just for the basic freeplay brawling, though. The story mode, being an extremely lengthy yet fun adventure, does a surprisingly good job translating a fighter into a 2D platforming adventure. The story itself is intriguing, if a bit dark compared to the usual Nintendo, but is all around amazing and has a good learning curve. Gameplay: 10/10

Even Lucario can smash!

Multiplayer: If you spent days worth of hours on singleplayer, be prepared to give up your own and a friend’s life over this game’s outstanding multiplayer. I can’t count how many hours my friends and I sat around a couch bashing each other’s head in with our favorite Nintendo characters. Online mode is probably the only detriment to what is a seemingly perfect experience, suffering from minor lag and long matchmaking times. Multiplayer: 9/10

Length: Longest game I’ve ever played, in terms of replayability. I no doubt spent an unhealthy amount of hours playing, even after completing story mode, boss challenges, all-star mode, classic mode, training and multiplayer. Freeplay and the basic formula of the game itself is just THAT good. Length: 10/10

Overall: This game is no doubt a testament to why Nintendo is still in business. I’ll give it a score of 9.5/10. I recommend everyone and anyone get this game, regardless of whether you’re a casual, hardcore, Nintendo fanboy or anti-technology mom gamer. It is a game everyone with a soul can enjoy.

RE Review: Star Wars the Force Unleashed II for Xbox 360

The game can be summed up as a lightsaber hack ‘n slash, but that still doesn’t justify my first review of it. Click here for the original, and now onwards with the re review!

Sound: It’s the typical Star Wars soundtrack. Fantastic music, yes, but shouldn’t LucasArts be mustering something new up by now? What it lacks in originality it makes up for though in being some of the finest orchestrated music to be in a video game to date. Voice acting isn’t quite horrible, but definitely isn’t Oscar-worthy. Tie Fighters still make that funny cat hiss noise when they fly, so all in all the sound is good. Sound: 8.5/10

Presentation: Even as I do this re review, I have yet to see a game which has graphics better than these. There have been a few rivals, but nothing superior yet. The graphics are crisp, clean, and environments are wild and colorful. Battling with dual lightsabers on a single subway cart hanging on one rail that is three miles long in HD feels pretty bad-ass. Presentation: 10/10

Gameplay: The game is primarily about flinging glowy sticks around and decapitating stormtroopers, the platforming is just a gimmick to try and hide that fact. For that matter, the platforming isn’t that good to begin with. It’s awkward because of Starkiller’s physics/jumping style as a whole and just feels out of place when in precision platforming areas. But those only make up a small portion of the game, the rest being dominated by unleashing wicked cool force abilities on hordes of troopers that are just asking for it. The game does a great job making you feel like an overpowered force rogue by giving you a large amount of customizable skills, lightsabers and upgrades; and at the end of the day the linearity of the environments doesn’t matter because you can force fling a stormtrooper halfway off of a ledge, electrify him, and then cut off his head. Nothing matters as long as there are flashy decapitations. Gameplay: 9/10

Multiplayer: N/A

Length: The story mode is short, being about five to six hours. There is a challenge mode, but that barely kept me busy for fifteen minutes. But given the current price of this game and the fact that there’s a one dollar, hour long DLC to boot, the game is decent in length. Length: 6.5/10

Overall: SWTFU2 gets an 8.5/10! As I stated in my original review, you have to be a fan of genocide against stormtroopers and lightsaber decapitations to truly enjoy this game, but casual gamers will get a kick out of it for the price as well.

RE Review: Sonic and Knuckles for WiiWare

What’s this, two reviews in one day? Well, I needed to put out the continuation of my Sonic 3 review pronto, so look no further. The Sonic and Knuckles re review has arrived (I’ll only be doing these for a handful of games)! Here’s the original: Sonic and Knuckles review.

Sound: If there’s anything Sonic 3 didn’t do for my earbuds, S&K does. The soundtrack is just as impressive but covers a much wider array of vibes and tunes. The sound effects are fun and quirky as ever. Sound: 9/10

Presentation: The exact same graphical style as Sonic 3, complete with gimmicks and level traps for their respective new stages. The one thing S&K does even better is presenting the story. This would start the trend of deep (or attempting to be) and involved plots, except for instead of poor voice acting this one conveys its story through a sort of sign language and context clues; something the Sonic series should really go back to… Presentation: 9.5/10

Gameplay: Sonic and Tails play exactly the same as they did in S3, but level design as a whole is a lot different. There’s a little less speed, a few more gimmicks and just a little bit less of what makes Sonic unique. But don’t let that deter you, the gameplay is still fast, furious and reflex-oriented. The major gameplay twist of S&K is the ability to play as Knuckles through an entirely seperate story and completely remade Sonic levels. These levels cater to Knuckles’ gliding and wall-climbing abilities, providing an interesting if a little slow change of pace. An important thing to note is that it’s fairly difficult compared to Sonic’s levels, so the learning curve of the new playstyle is steep. Gameplay: 9/10

Multiplayer: Same splitscreen (or co-op) racing gameplay as S3, only now with Knuckles and different stages. It’s cool, but still not enough to be a major feature of the game. Multiplayer: 6.5/10

Length: The twist with S&K is that it acts as both a stand alone title AND a DLC. It’s got three totally seperate campaigns for Sonic, Tails and Knuckles, but also allows you to play through S2 and S3′s levels as Knuckles. It can even link together the campaigns of S3 and S&K, forming a giant combiner game. Impressive, SEGA! Length: 10/10

Overall: Sonic and Knuckles gets an 8.8 out of 10. If you own Sonic 3, this is a must buy, no questions about it. If you don’t, it’s still a great adventure on its own.

RE Review: Sonic 3 for WiiWare

This is going to be an interesting series of reviews. They’re going to be a look back on and improvement of past reviews I did when I was just starting out on this blog. They’ll go in-depth and be much more insightful than the originals.

So what better a game to start with than Sonic 3′s port on WiiWare? Here’s my original Sonic 3 and Knuckles Review, and as you can see I’m dividing it up now so that both Sonic 3 and the Knuckles DLC/sequel each get their time in the spotlight. So, on with the review!

Sound: The music for Sonic 3 is the snappy 8-bit music that everyone says made up the blue hedgehog’s musical golden age. It’s quirky, wonky, and of course speedy. And when talking about Sonic 3′s music, how can I not mention Ice Cap Zone and its amazing BGM. It remains one of the best songs in the series to this day. Sound: 9/10

Presentation: With new character animations, even more visually stunning blast processing level visuals and a true 3D graphics for the bonus stages, this game was revolutionary for its time and could still teach quite a few of the modern day Sonic titles a thing or two. The framerate is steady and always manages to keep up with the insane speed of the onscreen character, and everything looks just as it should. Presentation: 9/10

Gameplay: The gameplay sticks to the basic Sonic formula while creating optional diversions for players wanting something new. The traditional gameplay is still as fast and platforming-y as ever, with level designs having bigger, faster and more branching paths than ever. Neat little stage gimmicks are in each one as well, like ice blocks in Ice Cap or balloons and barbershop poles in Carnival Night. All of these work fantastically with the Sonic playstyle and feel like an improvement upon Sonic 1 and 2. But that’s just for the main blue hedgehog! Without Sonic and Knuckles attatched, Tails is still a playable character and can fly, adding a new variable into the gameplay. It’s still Sonic’s levels, but all of those higher areas that were previously untouchable are now accessable and add further depth and exploration into every pixel of every stage. Lastly, there are the special stages which remain jaw-breakingly difficult but strangely addictive and unique, being giant “collect the blue sphere” minigames on a giant orb. Sounds simple, but my god it’s tough. Gameplay: 10/10

Multiplayer: Splitscreen racing is always hard to keep track of, but is still fun. If you have a big enough screen, you and a friend can have a great race against each other, especially with the unique multiplayer stages. Multiplayer: 6.5/10

Length: With two different playable characters, six zones and a lot of hard special stages, Sonic 3 offers quite a bit of content to keep it from getting dusty. Length: 8/10

Overall: Sonic 3′s re review gets an 8.5/10! Not a strong multiplayer title, but definitely one of the all-time best platformers available. It’s without a doubt worth picking up for gamers of all ages!

Review of Forza Motorsport 4 for Xbox 360

This is probably the first Xbox exclusive title I really liked.

Sound: The game has one or two menu themes, and that’s it. Sound effects are cool but nothing is really interesting or something you wouldn’t expect from a racing game. Sound: 4/10

Presentation: The graphics for Forza 4 feel arcade-style, for some reason. They are polished and slick, but don’t feel anywhere near Blur or Driver: San Francisco. Presentation: 7/10

Gameplay: The gameplay is so extremely simple, and that’s what makes it so enjoyable. No over the top gimmicks, no fancy add-ons, just pure racing at its finest. Hundreds of different cars and loads of different tracks keep gameplay interesting, even with such a plain premise. That’s another aspect of Forza 4 that makes it feel arcade-y. The gameplay is incredibly addictive and always a fun time, if a little on the easier side. That’s my only minor complaint with the gameplay, that the AI competitors aren’t that much of a challenge.  Gameplay: 9/10

Multiplayer: Multiplayer is sort of weak in this game. It took me at least twenty minutes to find a single match to play in, and when I did there was a little lag and the people I was challenging destroyed me. So noobs beware: There is no mercy on the track. Aside from the pure racing though, you can make car clubs and swap cars between friends which is pretty darn cool. Local splitscreen is fun too, but not enough to salvage the poor Xbox Live experience. Multiplayer: 3/10

Length: The career mode is fairly long, there are loads of challenges, multiple freeplay modes and the online isn’t downright horrible, so the amount of content this game has to offer is pretty good for price. Length: 9/10

Overall: Forza 4 might not be the strongest online or in terms of a soundtrack, but its surprisingly large array of content and extremely fun yet simple gameplay grant it a 6.4/10. If you want a fun single player racing game without any silly gimmicks, this is a must buy.

Review of “Real Steel”

Real Steel. A movie that isn’t just a 3D rerelease of a past Oscar-winner, but is instead unique, heartfelt and has enough robot decapitating to make anyone happy.

The premise of the movie is simple but effective: A robot-boxing dirtbag (Hugh Jackman) reaches the rock bottom of his career, and then gets forced to take care of his biological son (Dakota Goyo) when his ex-girlfriend dies. So the two of them work as a team towards defeating robots for financial survival. As simple as it is, the plot makes you feel a lot of emotions, and is surprisingly heartfelt. When the underdog robot, Atom, is climbing the ladder of success, you just want to root him on. When father and son get beaten up (minor spoiler) by the bad guy of the movie, you feel sad enough to almost stop watching. When the dad acts like a jackass to his boy, you want to smack him upside the head. Every event in this movie does an amazing job at making you feel connected. That is largely due to the great acting by both of the lead actors. Wolverine- I mean Hugh Jackman does a great job as the horrible father who undergoes emotional maturity as the movie progresses, and Dakota Goyo does a superb job as the tough-kid wannabe that he portrays.

The key to a successful movie centered around robot carnage are the visuals and soundtrack, no matter how good the acting is (Transformers, anyone?). Real Steel delivers in both categories, having an impressive rock ‘n roll soundtrack with lots of widely popular songs being in the movie, and visuals that look so realistic you almost forget that they’re CGI.

Overall, I loved Real Steel. I don’t know how on earth it got such low ratings from all of the critics, because it is an amazing movie. The acting is some of the best I’ve seen in a long time, the story and visuals are amazing, and the experience as a whole is remarkable. I definitely recommend you go out and buy this on DVD.

Review of Super Mario 3D Land for Nintendo 3DS

I finally got Super Mario 3D Land! But is a Mario platformer just as good in 3D as it is in classic 2D? Read on to find out!

Story: Princess Peach gets captured by Bowser, for the millionth time. Cliche`, but if it isn’t broke Nintendo isn’t going to fix it.

Sound: Jaunty and Super Mario-y as ever. Quirky sound effects and tunes are littered about in every nook and cranny of the levels, and the music is on par with even that of the great Super Mario Galaxy’s. Sound: 8.5/10

Presentation: Definitely a contender for best looking 3DS game. Not just in the 3D (which is superb when used correctly in certain levels) but just in the plain graphics, which easily rival that of the Wii’s. The 3D is good in certain places, but overall just doesn’t really fit the scheme of Super Mario. Presentation: 9/10

Gameplay: It feels identical to the already mentioned Super Mario Galaxy, being a 3D and 2D platformer. At first it feels sort of awkward due to the small screen, but eventually you adjust and everything feels just like it should. Before I get too in-depth, I just want to say the 3D (not 3D as in three dimensional, but as in pop-out visuals) isn’t mandatory for the game, but somehow if you’re not using it Nintendo trolls you. It’s black magic, no doubt about it. Anyway, at its root it is the same tried and true formula that has made Mario a video game superstar, what with the goomba-stomping, platform hopping and wall jumping action. But if that weren’t enough, a plethora of new suits have been added to Mario’s array, including the boomerang bros. suit and the revitalization of the Tanooki suit. These power ups are surprisingly important and key if you intend on beating this game. Really, this game is surprisingly difficult and definitely one of the most challenging handheld titles I’ve ever played, due to it’s demand for sheer platforming skill. Gameplay: 9/10

The game looks even better in person!

Multiplayer: N/A

Length: While the first eight worlds only take about six hours to blaze through, the hundreds of star coins and eight special worlds (that’s seven more than most Mario games) will keep you busy for quite a long time. Length: 10/10

Overall: This is no pathetic handheld game. This is an amazing Super Mario game that easily earns its 9.1 Tanooki suits out of 10.

Mass Effect 3 Ending Was AWESOME…

The Mass Effect 3 Ending had so much variety, so many intense plot moments and no BS from Bioware whatsoever. It even took in to account all of the decisions I’d made in the previous game, making me feel really connected with the entirely different endings I had to choose from…

… And now, APRIL FOOL’S!!!!! Bahahahaha, a “good ME3 ending”. Yeah, like that exists. Well, happy April Fool’s Day 2012 everyone!

Review of “The Hunger Games”

With a wave of teenage fans bigger than the Twilight series and a plot centered around government funded child arena death-battles, this movie had everything going for it. So how did it end up being a complete shamble? Read on to find out!

The plot was simple enough: The capitol rules the twelve underlying districts that struggle for survival, and once every year the capitol hosts a death tournament staring one boy and one girl from each district. Twenty four children go in, one comes out. Having read the books, this was the foundation for my initial complaint with the movie. Although it manages to present the basics of the plot and stay somewhat true to the book, it lacks a lot of detail and manages to cut certain events that were fundamental to me becoming enchanted with the story. As far as the story is presented, it’s done fairly well. My major gripe with the presentation is that whenever we see the CGI capitol, it looks almost cartoony and extremely poor in terms of a realistic feel (but that’s probably because of the low budget of $80 million). On the bright side, Seneca Crane’s beard is epic.

The movie, as far as actual movie criteria goes, was disappointingly awful. With a pace that goes from boring you to tears to suddenly moving through the only cool sections in a blink of the eye, you’ll constantly be scratching your head trying to figure out what the hell the director was thinking. Seriously, they spend about five minutes having Katniss talk to Prim, but later on the fight scenes last just about twenty seconds a piece? That’s disgraceful! And while we’re on the topic of bad movie criteria, the camera. The camera gave me motion sickness and felt like it was being held by Michael J Fox. It would be shaking for anything that wasn’t CGI and was bouncing harder than Katniss and Peeta in the cave scene.

Lastly, what is a movie without its acting. Jennifer Lawrence is an okay Katniss, but nothing memorable. In fact, none of the good guys are even slightly memorable. The best actors in the entire movie are the two bad guys who get collectively about ten minutes of screen time! So hats off to you, President Snow (Donald Sutherland) and Seneca Crane (Wes Bentley). They were the only two with style, with something that made them unique from their roles.

Overall, the Hunger Games as a package was a failure and earns my epic fail seal of disapproval (only once used before in my review of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3). You might have noticed I didn’t even mention the soundtrack, and that’s because there’s only about two songs throughout the entire movie and neither are even distinguishable from background music. So between poor acting, a weak portrayal of the story and a wickedly bad camera (yes, it’s THAT bad) I declare the Hunger Games as being an official waste of ten dollars.

Hopefully the odds are ever in their favor for the next film, hopefully with a bigger budget (or some more nightlock berries).