Four pretty good songs and 45 minute long recording from a community radio program in which the hosts deconstruct the lyrics to “Hyper Enough.” Worth one listen, but gets annoying after a while (especially if you suffered through an art school critique).
Infinite is a worthy successor to the original BioShock. It’s not so much a sequel as it is a re-theming of the game with a new story, new environment but much of the same game play. The cloud city of Columbia is simply beautiful and filled with visual and sonic detail. There’s something to look at around every corner.
Once the killing starts the game really begins to shine. You are still shooting with your left button and casting magic powers with your right but in much more open, vertical spaces. Battles flow nicely and are never too unfair (I finished the game on hard difficulty) and the new system of sky-rails adds another wild element to the action. My only gripe with the game mechanics is the return of the “vita-chamber” life restore system. I hate, hate, HATE this system. I would rather just have check points and if you die, you die. The revival system just doesn’t make death seem that consequential.
The main draw of the BioShock games is their stories. Infinite does a could job of building up the characters and the mystery up until about two-thirds the way through when a dimensional-travel plot device comes into play. Things just get confusing and you stop care about what happens since you know if a dimensional hole might open up and just fix everything. They try to tie it up with a bit of a twist ending, but it doesn’t really make sense like the twist in the original BioShock. There’s no thinking back to earlier parts of the game thinking, “Oh, yeah. That’s what that was all about.” That said, I immediately started a new game the moment I finished the first one.
I may have to reassess where Foolish resides in the Superchunk pantheon. This CD pretty much took the direction set upon in Foolish and refined it with richer arrangements and better production. As I listen to this now, I’ll have to admit that it is a better record than its predecessor. My only complaint here is that I don’t understand why they don’t end the record with the track, “Here’s Where the Strings Come In.” From here on out, every Superchunk record after this more or less sounds the same with at least one punky song, a (relatively) quiet ballad, and a smattering keyboard drizzled throughout the record.
Another game that came bundled with my new video card. I had never played a game in this series because I assumed it was some sort of military sim. It is actually a third-person stealth game, and a very good one at that. While shooting everyone you see is always an option, you are mostly out-gunned and very vulnerable to attacks. I would usually opt to stay in the shadows, moving from cover to cover and performing knockout take-downs. This sort of game-play style is very satisfying to me, like when I play the spy in Team Fortress 2.
There is a story here too. It’s a ridiculous plot involving random terrorist attacks across the globe until the U.S. pulls its forces out of somewhere-else-o-stan. It’s not the most creative plot, but it gives you enough to go on and does a good job of setting up the main villain as your adversary.
I was surprised by how much I liked this one and I may go back and try some of the other games in the series.
The second singles collection from Superchunk is a bit more of a hodgepodge than the last. There are a few great songs but conspicuously missing is “Basement Life.”
Virginia Postrel is a great, thoughtful writer and, although I am not terribly interested in the topic of glamour, I enjoyed this book for the most part. It kinda skirts awfully close to the kinda stuff I was forced to read in art school, so I am hesitant to give it a full endorsement.
More episodic point-and-click adventure from Telltale Games. This series is definitely geared more towards younger gamers but there is much charm and witty story telling to keep older players entertained. If you enjoyed the movies and shorts, this is just like another cartoon in the Wallace and Gromit series. I thought the first episode, Fright of the Bumblebees, was the best and there is a nice bit of characterization and story that carries over from episode to episode. It’s not quite on par with Sam and Max but it’s still a worthy modern adventure game.
I played the first Assassin’s Creed several years ago and, while I thought it was an okay game, I was never compelled to continue on with the series. It was just too repetitive and item collection driven. The only reason I have AC4 is that it was bundled with my new video card. Black Flag is an absolutely beautiful game and it’s no wonder EVGA bundled it with my GTX660 as a way to showcase that mid-range card’s capabilities. Ever since the original FarCry I have been a sucker for games that are set on tropical islands.
At its core it is mostly the same game as AC1 but the narrative is much more focused. The missions, although similar from one to the next, aren’t the exact same quest over and over. There is actually a story-based point to most of the challenges you face. The mindless item collection is still part of the game, but looking for pirate booty sorta makes thematic sense here. The combat has also been streamlined but is ultimately kind of disappointing after experiencing the pure elegance of Batman: Arkham City’s excellent fighting system. Thankfully, avoiding combat and stealth are a big part of the game.
Oh, did I mention naval battles? Ever since reading all of the Aubrey/Maturin novels I have wanted a naval combat video game. Old Ironsides on the Apple ][, despite its simplicity, actually came close to capturing the feeling of the chase and ship-to-ship dueling. AC4 takes it one step closer by adding the hand-to-hand, yardarm-to-yardarm fighting that would decide the battle in the end. The combat is still very twitchy and too fast to be a true naval combat simulation, but it is really fun.
Like most things in this game, even the naval battles start to become a bit tiresome after a while. My advice to anyone picking up this game would be to stick with the main missions and ignore most of the side quests and collecting. The current-day framing story is a waste of time and should be ignored as well.
A ridiculous Gothic horror from 1965 that features a crazed executioner in crimson wresting tights who tortures and kills fashion models. There are quite a few wonderfully composed and filmed shots that look great as movie stills, but in context are stilted and boring.
I loved the Lord of the Rings trilogy and I am glad that they are making these Hobbit movies, I wish they weren’t trying so hard to link the story of Bilbo with the previous films. It’s not nearly as bad as baby Greedo in Star Wars Ep. I but there is just too much attempted fan-service in here. The weaker story and characters keep this from being a great fantasy film, but it is still an entertaining ride with lots of great art direction and effects.
