Random Film of the Week (Double Feature Edition): THEM! & Tarantula

Posted on January 6, 2013 by geelw

(thanks, Tobar!)

With Earth Defense Force 2017 Portable rolling out on the PlayStation Vita on Tuesday, I figured I’d write up a short column about two of the many “They don’t make ’em like they used to!” sci-fi films that most assuredly influenced Japanese developer Sandlot when they created their cult favorite game series that got its start as a pair of budget PlayStation 2 games (The Simple 2000 Vol. 31: The Chikyuu Boueigun and The Simple 2000 Vol. 81: The Chikyuu Boueigun 2) and a more visually polished Xbox 360 sequel which has been nicely expanded and enhanced for Sony’s portable system. Both flicks are “B” movie classics worth watching if you’ve never seen either previously, with the former film being surprisingly tense and well-acted considering the subject matter and the latter film using some pretty well done matte work to convincing effect in a few scenes.

Yeah, yeah, there’s no fancy CGI here and some implausible moments in both flicks can be eyeball-rolling if you start applying any rules of reality to what you’re viewing. Nevertheless, if you’re in the right mood, you’ll be hooked into both films from the memorable beginnings of each one and stick around to their bitter endings…

Continue reading →

VGA 101: Twinkle Knights – Not Inexpensive, But Reeks of Cheapness

Posted on January 6, 2013 by geelw

(Whee, another fun reprint from the old blog because I’m busy working on something goofy here – back with a new post later today.)

While it’s rare and probably still fairly expensive once found, Intarus’ Twinkle Knights has far too many problems keeping it from being anything other than a cool prize for hardcore 3DO fanatics, collectors of Japanese strip games (of which there are plenty, according to one friend who seems to have dozens for all sorts of systems) or those folks heavily into Kusoge (“shit” games).

As an actual game experience, it’s far too short and quite easy to beat, yet can be infuriating at times when the CPU decides to put a stop to your progress. As “adult” entertainment, it’s pretty poor (OK, it’s beyond terrible) and of course, if you’re still one of those people that thinks imports like these are packed with all sorts of hidden salacious content, you’ll be very sorely disappointed in a WYSIWYG manner. Besides, there are far better ways to get that sort of er, “sexy interactive excitement” on a shiny disc you can pop in a player of some sort.

Continue reading →

MLB 13 The Show Preview Trailer: Wait, It’s Baseball Season Already?

Posted on January 5, 2013 by geelw

I actually don’t play sports games these days nor do I watch a lot of sports save for the occasional X Games or interesting looking auto race if I happen to be flipping by the Speed Channel. Too much stuff to do here and I’ve learned not to grow attached to a bunch of talented yet flawed folks tossing balls or whatever around and getting paid way too much money to do so before being traded to a new team for no other reason that they were making too much money where they were last year. Of course, hockey doesn’t count this year unless you bought EA’s video game and made up your own season (but I wonder if players in that sport are collecting checks for being on strike?). Eh, whatever – no matter how much I kid here, sports fans are going to stick by their favorite teams no matter what and at least Sony is making what I hear is such a pretty spectacular fake baseball game that if it had commercial breaks and a bit more commentary, would pretty much be like watching a game on TV. You do just that – me, I’ll be over in the other corner playing some RPG or watching a really terrible film or something. Oh yeah – if you ARE a baseball fan, feel free to go vote for the cover guy for this year’s game HERE.

Evil Dead Trailers New & Old Bring The Scares (I Guess I’m Sold!)…

Posted on January 5, 2013 by geelw

I’ll have to admit that the original Evil Dead didn’t freak me out that much because the people who’d seen it and told me it was SO scary had built it up based more on their own fears and tried to project that onto me before I went in for my viewing. I liked the film quite a lot (I actually owned it on VHS, DVD and UMD at one point), but I wasn’t put “under the seat” as promised. That said, it’s just an excellent, scary low budget classic worth watching by anyone who loves the genre or wants to eventually make his or her own horror flicks. The sequel, Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn was nothing but an extended Three Stooges episode with gore effects and I laughed more than cringed throughout that one because I got the joke right away. Other than Bruce Campbell’s performance (he’s still one of the more under-appreciated actors out there, I say) I still don’t like Army of Darkness much, but it’s gotten better with age and I’d gather the more mainstream approach also helped Sam Raimi get more work outside the horror genre. This reboot/remake/whatever actually looks more frightening than the first one because it’s being taken more seriously. I may just go and see it to see if it indeed does put me under the seat, but I still I still think someone needs to remake the 1967 – 1970 horror flick Equinox (a big inspiration for Raimi) as the official prequel to he whole series and get it over with just to complete that particular part of the cycle.

DAF Never Official Off the Top of the Head Game of the Year Picks (Part One)…

Posted on January 4, 2013 by geelw

I hate “best-of” lists in general because they revolve around too many people who haven’t really seen, read or played “everything” released in a year (it’s impossible for to do so with so much content released across multiple platforms), so they end up being incredibly biased. As proof of that, I’ve decided to toss out a few titles I liked too much in 2012 just to show what happens when you play too much stuff and force yourself to narrow that down to games you just played too much of rather than games that were all around stellar. Or something like that. Anyway, not in any type of order at all and kind of incomplete because I’m still playing a few things, but here we go: Continue reading →

VGA 101: New Additions (One Joker, One Ace)…

Posted on January 3, 2013 by geelw

Stop! Blurry photo time! OK, I really couldn’t pass up Golden Sun: Dark Dawn brand new for five bucks (I guess the game didn’t sell all that well, huh?), so that’s another RPG for my Nintendo DS, which needs to be replaced as it’s finally on its last legs, er hinge. The right side hinge had a tiny crack in it for a while and that crack developed into a split and eventually, a chunk came out of the hinge which led to the piece of plastic inside falling out a few days ago. Rats. It’s a good thing that top screen is connected in the left side. Yeah, I’m a TOTAL cheapskate, kids. I don’t toss anything aside that still works, making me a spokesperson for console longevity over yearly replacements (one reason I’ll never own another Apple product).

As for The Simple 2000 Vol. 32: The Sensha, this PS2 import as also inexpensive and has a bunch of tanks in it. Woo hoo. I happen to like tank-based games (well, tanks in general are kinda cute, but don’t tell anyone I said that), so it was a no-brainer purchase. Granted, if I liked GOOD tank games I’d not have bought this one at all, but it has a few redeeming points that make it worth playing through. It’s a bit sparse visually and it’s definitely NOT an arcade game along the lines of TANK! TANK! TANK!, but it’s a nice counterpoint conversation piece. I’d still prefer someone do whip up a new version of the Dreamcast sleeper Panzer Front (still one of the more impressive console simulations I’ve played), but the chances of that are pretty much zero these days…

I’m Doing A Bit of Doomsday Prepping of My Own… EDF Style!

Posted on January 2, 2013 by geelw

So, Earth Defense Force 2017 Portable is coming out in a few days (1/8/2013) and I’ve been doing a bit of preparing over the last few weeks by playing a few import and US games either developed by Sandlot or similar to games they’ve worked on. Yeah, yeah, I already reviewed the import version of the game, but I think the US build fixes a few minor things and I really don’t mind playing a game that fun again (in English this time). Especially if it’s an EDF game. Do you think I have a problem here or something? I don’t think I do. Hell, thanks to too much time playing these games, I’m long cured of any fear of insects, that’s for damn sure.

Anyway, onto the library items below the jump!

Continue reading →

Predictions 2013: “I Want My Life Back!” Will Be the New Black…

Status

I have the feeling that for some folks, this will be the year they want to be a lot less social, at least in terms of their online lives. Why, you ask? Well, given that every week we find out that (duh) everything we do is seen and pored over in detail by people we probably wouldn’t want in our homes or anywhere close to them and some of those sites we’re so enamored of are full of security holes big enough to float a battleship though. Add in the no-fault ever changeable terms of service that get people raging when they fund out they’re suddenly part of a corporation’s ad campaign and a few other stupid things straight out of a bad sci-fi novel and yup, I can see some deciding basta es basta when it comes to an online presence they no longer have complete control of… Continue reading →

The Cave Character Trailers: Adventure Gaming Never Died. You Just Weren’t Paying Attention…

Posted on January 2, 2013 by geelw

Sega of America’s got the great good fortune to have the publishing rights to Double Fine Studios and Ron Gilbert’s upcoming download only multiplatform adventure game which just so happens to be pretty unique on a few fronts. The genre itself has been kicked around as “dead”, “dying”, and other not so positive things, but the actual truth is it never really went away thanks to a combination of older gamers still playing the classics, new players discovering them again thanks to sites like gog.com (they’re having a GREAT sale on tons of stuff that ends in about 24 hours, by the way) and plenty of indie games popping up on just about every platform with a screen these days. The whimsical art style here is only the tip of the iceberg, however – The Cave looks to change things up with multiple playable characters with their own motivations for stepping into the titular location for a bit of survival-based spelunking. It’s also a Double Fine game, so you WILL laugh a lot, replay it a few times and think some deep thoughts as you’re doing that laughing and replaying, guaranteed.

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters: When Hollywood Says “You Kids Need Better Books!”

Posted on January 1, 2013 by geelw

Am I the only one whose eyeballs roll way back in his head when these ads or trailers run for these films that mangle the hell out of the classics? Sometimes I wonder who keeps forcing all this stuff upon those gullible types who snap up opening day tickets as if they’re going to see something as memorable as the source material. Bleh.

Of course, I’ll be a totally contradictory nutcase here and say I’d make a “Brothers Grimm: Screenplay Slashers” film with the ghosts of the Bros. stalking and getting rid of studio pests using methods from their many stories. Hmmm.. then again, that’s too close to the Dr. Phibes remakes I’ve been HOPING Tim Burton would get around to doing already. Eh, whatever – I’ll probably catch this flick on cable a few months after it tanks in theaters. If I’m lucky, it’ll be back to back with that Abe Lincoln: Vampire Killer film so I can kill two birds with one stone (and wish for that time back afterwards)…