Well, the film certainly looks incredible (in that practical FX meets CG manner expected of it), but man did that old Ford get OLD. Well, I’m not getting any younger myself, but yikes. Scary stuff there. All kidding aside, it also looks as if the film won’t skimp on the humorous elements at all, so that’s a good thing. Nothing’s worse that a sci-fi/fantasy flick that tries too hard to take itself seriously (no names here, but some will know of which I speak). I’m betting we see more as the week spools out, what with Star Wars Celebration in full swing and all. Eh, perhaps I’ll save up one day and go to one of those, but that’s only going to REALLy happen if I’m IN a Star Wars flick at this point. Hey, I’d play Darth Faux Hipster Goatee any day of the week!
Yeah, I see you looking at those handsome La-Mulana EX screens and that exciting trailer and thinking “Oooh, a new ‘Metroidvania’ game to play and beat in a day or two!” Ha. La-Mulana EX laughs at your brimming overconfidence. Let me be the first (or perhaps last, as this review is a bit late) to inform you that going into this game with your dreams of adding a fast notch to your speedrun belt will have you lose that belt and perhaps your Vita right out the nearest window or under a speeding bus or some other method you choose to remove that handheld from your possession.
No, the game isn’t “bad” by any stretch of the imagination. Not at all. It’s just going to be one of the toughest games you’ll play if you’re not willing to read the digital manual and pay close attention to the basic to advanced techniques you’ll learn. In fact, what’s here will hopefully make you remove the word “Metroidvania” from your gaming vocabulary, as it’s a meaningless description that’s also a bit lazy in how it fails to actually describe a game as deep as this one. Continue reading →
I keep meaning to review Don Sharp’s 1966 flick Rasputin, The Mad Monkone of these days for the site or perhaps a blogathon or something. But I also keep forgetting to track down a personal copy so I can watch it whenever I need a good laugh. Waiting for TCM to show it again sometimes pays off in the long run because there’s a decent enough chance they’ll also show something suitably loopy.
This is one of those films that defies proper categorization because it’s kind of all over the map in terms of tone. It’s a biopic, a horror film of sorts, a gold mine of unintentional comic relief and of course, a showpiece for the great Christopher Lee. Yeah, I’d normally have done this up already (and most likely for The Great Villain Blogathon 2015). But it’s been busy as hell here what with the roof being repaired (again!), more work going to happen in the apartment (STRESS!) and some other stuff that’s keeping my productivity lower than usual.
That said, I’ll give ol’ Raspy a two word review for those of you curious types who need to know: SEE IT. You’ll very likely laugh yourself extremely silly and get your cringe on as well because the film can be a bit creepy on a few fronts.
1. The new Guitar Hero Live logo looks a wee bit like the original Star Trek TV show logo. That made me laugh a bit because it’s not intentional at all. I’m just really old.
2. Plastic guitars are back after a five year hiatus.It’s hard to say how those who bought the rock games that required real guitars will feel about this. However, it’s entirely possible that both camps will find something to like or not about GHL.
3. There are no colored buttons this time and instead of five colored buttons, you get three buttons set into two rows. This is because testing showed most people play GH using three fingers and never got past the harder modes. The game’s easier modes use only three buttons while the harder modes use all six.
4. There’s an autoplay button on the controller for people who just want to practice the songs or look good cheating. Longtime GH players seem to hate the new controller already, but EVERYONE will need to get used to the new controller should they pick up the game. It shouldn’t take long, though.
Yes, this is ALL actual gameplay.
5. Or: If you owned a PC, Sega CD, 3DO, PlayStation or Saturn back in the 90’s, you’ll be pleased to know FMV games are back (but much better looking). Yeah, that’s right. Gone are the cartoon-like players and now it’s you onstage playing that plastic guitar in front of an actual audience in first person mode. But this time, it’s for PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Wii U and mobile devices. Yes, the crystal-clear FMV can run on any current console out there, so you’ll see all looking exactly the same (like it or not).
6. There’s a music video channel-like online play mode. You can choose from hundreds of videos to battle someone against, there will be a MASSIVE library of songs from classics to indies and overall, this mode may be the bigger deal for some players who love their social sharing stuff.
Guitar Hero Live is coming this fall for those systems noted above. So many changes after five years off, right? Will it be a house band in millions of homes, or is the new look and focus on both simplifying and complicating things be too bumpy a ride for the loyal fan base? As usual, we shall see.
Okay, Marvel. You got me again. I wasn’t planning to see Ant-Man until if fell out of the sky and landed on cable, but giving away that train scene made me chuckle enough to be interested in seeing this on a bigger screen. Granted, if this were a more “perfect” world, we’d see a Micronauts/Microman reference in the film that possibly hinted at a sequel or follow-up. But that would be so obscure a reference for younger fans that it would fly over their heads and not even register even as old farts like me burst out laughing when it appeared on screen. Ah well. Let the summer movie season commence, I suppose. I’ll just keep my little big ideas all to myself.
Well, that was interesting. A low body count, some expected demises based on events from last season and one unexpected one (basically a “red shirt” death) that sets up some interesting dynamics for the rather hard-headed Mother of Dragons. Not letting the people go have their barbaric culture bread and circuses because of your own personal views is never a good thing at the end of the day. But hey, when you’ve got big, bad (and somewhat uncontrollable) dragons under your stairway (just like The Munsters!), it’s good to be the Queen, right? Meanwhile, back at the Lannister ranch, things are sliding downhill in all sorts of convincingly mad manners, aren’t they? Cersi’s going to be plotting, Margaery is going to be losing her marbles because of that plotting and you know it’ll be a battle of actresses chewing scenery to great effect.
On another part of the map, let’s not even bring up the Imp, as he’s in a bind he thinks he can booze his way out of and his bad haircut and beard make him look like a wino clown. Finally, as I stopped reading the books when the show came out but know some stuff from a few friends, expect a little less Snow by the end of the season. Maybe. It seems he’s wearing out his welcome among the Crows on a few fronts and that’s a bad sign of things to come. That’s not a spoiler if you use the internet, by the way.
Then again, given that Uncle George is probably grinning madly atop his comfy throne made from lots of printed green bills as he watches some fans spin madly off their couches, it’s all good wherever in Westeros he’s typing away from. Or not typing. No one tells Uncle George what to do, you know. Yeah, you’ll all be back next week. Well, not HERE, but in front of your TV’s, that is…
Yeah, motivation flies right out the window when you have a combination of too much to do and not enough time in the day to do it all. Actually, the motivation is there and percolating. It’s just the getting all those little duckies in order and making sure none run away that’s the hard part. Anyway, I’m tinkering away on some previews, reviews and such, getting a few gray hairs fretting about stuff I shouldn’t have to and probably in need of more actual rest. Well, some of that will be taken care of shortly, some of it won’t and carry onward into next week’s workload. No pressure, right? Riiiiiiight.
So, I had a weird day today that turned out great by the end. I got stuck in an elevator for a bit (boo), and during that quiet bit of hell, I missed a few calls about attending a game preview event. Fortunately by the time I was freed, I still had time to make that event and you’ll read the results of that little trip over the weekend. In the meantime, here’s a little tune to listen to that might be familiar to some of you out there. I kind of like this version better.
Hmmm. Time for another game sale, it seems. I hate eBay because of the double dip fees they and PayPal get that cut into my profits, Game Trading Zone gets a bit pesky because people always want to trade even if I post I’m selling ONLY and don’t want to trade. That an I get some horrible offers for stuff I’m not anywhere near interested in from people who should know better. Anyway, I’ll flip a coin and choose one of the two poisons in a day or so. Or, one of you out there can make a nice offer…
Holy cats. While there still no localization news about Earth Defense Forces 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair, the game has been out in Japan since April 2 and is getting played to death over in Japan by some lucky gamers who’ve been dropping some truly incredible videos of the game in action on YouTube. Sure, it’s not packing the best visuals when unfairly compared to more polished games for these new-gen consoles or PC. But developer Sandlot clearly knows how to set the tone for some massive scale battles. Wow. Hey, it’s sure cheaper than buying a bunch of toys and wondering where to to store them all, I say. That said if there’s ever a sequel to Pacific Rim and someone wants a tie-in game, I think I know who should get the call.
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 