Master Chief does a flip while firing dual SMGs. You have to see it in motion to appreciate how bad it really is.
Release Date: February 16th, 2010
Director: Frank O’Connor and Joseph Chou
“If I were to sum of Halo Legends in two words they would have to be ‘cinematic cancer.’”
As I noted in my review of Halo 3: ODST I’ve been a long time fan of Bungie and the franchises they’ve started. Marathon and Myth were superb and Halo is great, or rather was great. After the disappointment of the overpriced Halo 3: ODST comes Halo Legends. A series of 8 anime cartoons that expand on the Halo universe to provide more adventures for Master Chief and some backstory to give further context for the games. But is it good?
No, it is no. In fact if I were to sum of Halo Legends in two words they would have to be “cinematic cancer.” Well, that’s not entirely fair, two of the short films entitled “Origins” are somewhat interesting because they provide backstory on the Covenant war with humanity which fleshes out some of the politics in the Halo universe, much like the two Second Renaissance shorts in the Animatrix. Every single story after that is absolute and utter garbage.
Slapping a filter over the animation does not make it look artsy.
“The Babysitter” involves a Spartan and a Helljumper squad sent to kill a Prophet with a sniper attack from far away. The climax of this short is so cliche (“take the shot, I believe in you!”) it’s straight out of a Disney sport film. “The Duel”, which is about the Arbiter becoming a position for the shamed, rather than revered, features a photoshop filter so embarrassingly bad it’s downright jaw-dropping that someone thought it was a good idea. In short the animation looks horrid. “The Package” features the most idiotic combat I’ve seen in a film since Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, and I am not exaggerating. Plus it’s 3D animation is about the same quality one’s come to expect from the pre-rendered cutscenes on either the PS2 or original Xbox, and no I am no exaggerating. Finally “Prototype” and “Homecoming” have nothing interesting to offer in terms of animation quality or impressive storytelling.
None of the shorts have animation worth writing home about and two of them, The Duel and The Package, as I’ve already mentioned have, quite frankly, poor animation. All the voice acting is mediocre at best, with the majority being flat out bad. As a compilation Halo Legends is a massive let down and I have no idea who their audience is besides huge Halo fans that have no sense of cinematic taste. It is that bad.
Some guy stares motionless as his irises jiggle to convey emotion (and save money on animation).
Do not watch this, do not rent this. It adds nothing to the Halo franchise and has only a hair’s-breadth of redeeming qualities. In fact with the back to back releases of the disappointing Halo 3: ODST and the downright awful Halo Legends I think it’s become pretty clear that the Halo franchise has reached a point of overstaying it’s welcome.
Rating: 1/10
Rotten Tomatoes: N/A
In the grim darkness of the future there is only Oakley.
Release Date: January 15th, 2010
Director: Albert and Allen Hughes
“On a whole, The Book of Eli is a great action film and a good start for 2010.”
The Book of Eli can be best described as a mixture of Man on Fire, Kung Fu, Mad Max and Fallout. In case you were wondering, yes, that is a good thing. The film follows Eli, though he is never directly named it is still heavily implied, a man on a quest to bring the final copy of a bible to what’s left of the western United States after a massive war has wiped out most of humanity and civilization.
Directed by the Hughes Brothers, probably most famous for their films Menace II Society and most recently From Hell, The Book of Eli broaches on religion and even though the book Eli carries is the last bible it never goes so far as to actually sermonize the audience. Without going into too much detail the film illustrates how the bible, specifically the Christian King James bible, can be used for terrible evil while, comparatively, it can be used for good as well. As to how one of the most popular books ever made can be reduced to one, singular copy? To alleviate any humming and hawing at the impracticality of it without actually spoiling a plot point I can say that it is addressed in a realistic manner.
At its core The Book of Eli is an action film and its heated fight scenes will not let any fan of the genre down. They are intense, gritty and raw with copious amounts of dismemberment and blood. Believe me when I say this film is not for kids. However the subject matter should have made that clear already.
Someone is about to get ruined.
The cast is well chosen, especially the principle character Eli played by Denzil Washington who ensures that what could easily have been a laughable role is given serious consideration. Opposite him we have Gary Oldman who plays Carnegie, the mayor of a desolate town who wants to use the bible as a form of control over its inhabitants. Though Oldman’s character isn’t given as much backstory as Eli, Oldman is still able to give him depth. Mila Kunis, who’s probably most memorable from his work on That 70’s Show, manages to get into another decent roll, this time as Solara who elects to journey with Eli across the country. There are plenty of other memorable supporting cast members including Ray Stevenson, Tidus Pullo from Rome who does a superb job as Carnegie’s head henchman, Jennifter Beals, Michael Gambon, Malcolm McDowell, Frances de la Tour and Tom Waits.
The cinematography and soundtrack are both used with the concrete purpose of relaying just how savage the future is. There are some excellent shots of downtrodden and desolate wastelands that would be beautiful if it wasn’t for the sheer desolation they depict. The stale colour palette used throughout the film, noticeably lacking in any sort of natural green, reinforces just how dead the landscape is.
Like Kane in Kung Fu except without any pleasant scenery.
My complaints with the film are twofold, and both may be overlooked depending on personal preference. The first is that there is an admittedly large amount of characters walking in slow motion. Now this wasn’t a deal breaker for me as I enjoyed the cinematography but your mileage may vary depending on how cynical you are. The last is that the movie ends with a terrible cliché which is a real shame because, until that point, nothing dragged it down from being an enjoyable action flick.
Still, on a whole, The Book of Eli is a great action film and a good start for 2010. It packs a strong cast and avoids the pitfalls of easily sermonizing the audience and instead provides an action movie with some depth. Or at least far more depth than the average action movie.
Rating: 8.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 45%
Mass Effect 2 achievements have been released on Xbox360Achievements.org. Just a word of warning, some of these contain spoilers.
 |
Missing in Action | 5  |
| Save your crew from an overwhelming attack | ||
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Very Elusive | 10 |
| Return to active duty | ||
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The Convict | 10 |
| Successfully recruit the biotic Convict | ||
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The Krogan | 10 |
| Successfully recruit the krogan | ||
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The Archangel | 10 |
| Successfully recruit Archangel | ||
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The Professor | 10 |
| Successfully recruit the Professor | ||
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The Quarian | 10 |
| Successfully recruit the quarian | ||
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The Justicar | 10 |
| Successfully recruit the Justicar | ||
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The Assassin | 10 |
| Successfully recruit the Assassin | ||
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Friend or Foe | 10 |
| Obtain geth technology | ||
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Colony Defense | 25 |
| Defend a human colony from attack | ||
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The Prodigal | 10 |
| Gain the loyalty of the Cerberus Officer | ||
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Ghost of the Father | 10 |
| Gain the loyalty of the Cerberus Operative | ||
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Catharsis | 10 |
| Gain the loyalty of the biotic Convict | ||
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Battlemaster | 10 |
| Gain the loyalty of the krogan | ||
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Fade Away | 10 |
| Gain the loyalty of Archangel | ||
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The Cure | 10 |
| Gain the loyalty of the Professor | ||
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Treason | 10 |
| Gain the loyalty of the quarian | ||
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Doppelganger | 10 |
| Help the Justicar resolve her mission | ||
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Cat’s in the Cradle | 10 |
| Gain the loyalty of the Assassin | ||
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A House Divided | 10 |
| Hack a geth collective | ||
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Ghost Ship | 25 |
| Complete the investigation of a derelict alien vessel | ||
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Suicide Mission | 50 |
| Use the Omega 4 Relay | ||
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Mission Accomplished | 125 |
| Save humanity throughout the galaxy from certain annihilation | ||
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Against All Odds | 15 |
| Survive suicide mission | ||
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Insanity | 75 |
| Complete the game on the “Insanity” difficulty level without changing the setting | ||
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No One Left Behind | 75 |
| Keep your team alive through the suicide mission | ||
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Long Service Medal | 75 |
| Complete Mass Effect 2 twice, or complete it once with a character imported from Mass Effect 1 | ||
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Paramour | 50 |
| Successfully pursue a relationship with a teammate | ||
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Head Hunter | 10 |
| Perform 30 headshot kills with any weapon on humanoid targets | ||
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Brawler | 10 |
| Shoot and kill 20 enemies while they’re knocked back by a punch | ||
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Big Game Hunter | 10 |
| Thresher Maw defeated | ||
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Tactician | 10 |
| Hit 20 different targets with multiple biotic powers to combine the effects | ||
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Master at Arms | 15 |
| Kill enemies with 5 different heavy weapons during the game | ||
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Merciless | 10 |
| Make 20 enemies scream as they fall or are set on fire | ||
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Overload Specialist | 15 |
| Disrupt the shields of 25 enemies | ||
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Warp Specialist | 15 |
| Warp the barriers of 25 enemies | ||
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Incineration Specialist | 15 |
| Incinerate the armor of 25 enemies | ||
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Operative | 15 |
| Complete a mission discovered by scanning an unexplored world | ||
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Agent | 50 |
| Complete 5 missions discovered by scanning unexplored worlds | ||
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Prospector | 5 |
| Retrieve mineral resources by scanning and probing a planet in the galaxy map | ||
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Explorer | 10 |
| Visit 100% of the planets in an unexplored cluster | ||
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Power Gamer | 10 |
| Reach Level 30 with one character | ||
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Scholar | 15 |
| Unlock 15 new Mass Effect 2 codex entries | ||
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Technician | 15 |
| Obtain 10 technology upgrades | ||
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Weapon Specialist | 15 |
| Fully upgrade a weapon | ||
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Scientist | 10 |
| Complete any research project in the Normandy’s laboratory | ||
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Fashionista | 5 |
| Personalize your armor in your quarters on the Normandy | ||
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Power Full | 15 |
| Evolve any power | ||
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Highly Trained | 15 |
| View all advanced combat training videos at Shepard’s private terminal. | ||
Just in case the previous Splinter Cell: Conviction coop trailer wasn’t enough there’s now a brief coop walkthrough available. Enjoy!
The trailer for Splinter Cell: Conviction’s coop trailer has been released. If memory serves since Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory the coop element of the game has been it’s intertwined but stand-alone story and I’m glad to see Ubisoft carrying on the tradition. Some of the best coop gaming I’ve ever had was in Chaos Theory and I can’t wait to try out some coop Conviction.
Army of Two: The 40th Day features extensive lobby action.
The demo for the upcoming game Army of Two: the 40th Day is out. Sadly it appears that it includes no single player gameplay and the search function for finding public games appears to be broken on the 360, at least for me. I waited 10 minutes in my first attempt to get an online game going and then another 10 minutes at a later time without any success. So is no one playing or is it broken?
Either way this ranks pretty high on the very bad demo ranking, surpassed only by the Darkest of Days demo which crashed within 30 seconds of me opening it the first time and then within 5 minutes of trying it again. I’ll let you know if anything changes after I give the 40th Day demo a third try but I think that waiting for a half hour to try and find a game quite excessive when the demo is supposed to sell me on a product.
Get ready for the most highly anticipated gaming sequel ever.
Release Date: November 10th, 2009
Developer: Infinity Ward
Platform: PC/PS3/Xbox 360
Players: 1-18
“In the end Modern Warfare 2 does so many things right that its flaws stick out like a sore thumb.”
It has been touted as the most highly anticipated sequel ever made and considering it sold 4.7 million copies within the first 24 hours of its release in the US and UK I think it’s safe to say that “highly anticipated” describes it adequately. A lot of big name titles get hyped up before release and ultimately it’s not until you have it in your hands that you can say, for sure, that it lives up to the hype or falls short. Sadly Modern Warfare 2 falls short due to it’s lack of polish and lack of single player content. I know this probably comes as a shock to most people, considering that it has basically been heralded as the second coming of a gaming Christ by the gaming media but read on and I will explain exactly where and why Modern Warfare 2 simply doesn’t hold up.
Firstly I would like to list the things that Modern Warfare 2 did right: the graphics look superb, the controls are fast, responsive and fluid and the gameplay adds a lot of variety in terms of playstyle, both offline and online. The score is fantastic and perfectly adds to the atmosphere and the over-the-top action-hero characters are pulled right out of a Michael Bay/Jerry Bruckheimer blockbuster. Admittedly that last point could be positive or negative depending on your opinion of Mike and Jerry but despite my love of artistic cinema I can still appreciate a good over-the-top action flick.
Climbing icy mountains with "Soap." Yeap, it's a job.
While we’re on the topic of positives I must say that the highlight of the entire game is, without a doubt, the Spec Ops mode. Playing through fast-paced and tense missions with a friend is an absolute blast and all the flaws I will mention seem to drift away. There are no multiplayer bugs, though still some annoying problems getting into a lobby with a friend (more on this later), and the shortness of playtime is wholly dependent on how much you want to replay the same missions to improve your performance. I think the best way to describe Spec Ops is by comparing it to Rainbow Six Vegas’ Terrorist Hunt. While Spec Ops offers a great deal more variety than Terrorist Hunt the missions are still short but sweet. What kind of variety you might ask? How about defending your friend on the ground from an AC130? Honestly that missions is probably one of the coolest gaming experiences I have ever had.
But how does Modern Warfare 2 not hold up? First I will start with the single player. To be blunt it is just too short. Playing through the campaign on Normal difficulty my playtime was clocked at four and a half hours. This isn’t my own flawed recording system, the game literally logs it for you. Read that again: I finished it in four and a half hours. To me that is borderland downloadable content play time and not full game price tag, though admittedly Modern Warfare 2 was $59.99 in Canada so it was $10 cheaper than the normal game price tag. Now the missions are all intense and varied, though Favela is just stupidly frustrating as you end up being shot at from what seems like every conceivable angle barring the ground you walk on, and, more than anything else, it’s just a big let down that there isn’t more. Then there’s the story, oh man the story. I think the only game I’ve played with a worse story is Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (and that had probably the worst story put to paper I have ever encountered in any artistic medium this side of fan fiction). It starts off fine enough but quickly becomes the equivalent of political Calvinball (for those of you who don’t get the reference just understand that “the rules are simply made up as you go”). Towards the latter part of the game the story has gone far beyond any realm of conceivable plausibility, even in the Call of Duty reality.
Bad guys. You will have killed hundreds by the time the game has finished.
As you may or may not already know, as this garnered a lot of media attention, there is a level entitled “No Russian” that honestly enters into the realm of bad taste. In it you play a deep cover C.I.A. agent attempting to get close to Vladimir Makarov, a former protege of COD4 antagonist Imran Zakhaev. You supposedly achieve this by helping him and his associates gun down hundreds of innocent Russian civilians in an airport. Now I am a firm believer in freedom of artistic expression and graphic acts of violence can be used to underline a very strong message that really could not be captured without it (think of the first 20 minutes of Saving Private Ryan and how it redefined how the public thinks of war). However Modern Warfare 2 does not attempt to make any bold statements other than “this is a kick ass action game” so any pushing of boundaries is done solely for the purpose of pushing boundaries instead of trying to drive a worthwhile point home (think Hostel’s torture porn). Yes other games are violent as well, especially Grand Theft Auto but that game functions as a satirical comedy. Even when people are bleeding to death in GTA they will make humourous comments to make it clear that the game is not reality. “No Russian”, in contrast, depicts people crawling in the floor writhing in their own blood and in incredible pain as graphically as I have seen in any video game. Again, in Saving Private Ryan you had the same thing but it served a purpose: illustrating that war is hell and what the veterans had to go through is something that non-veterans will never be able to truly imagine. However, to close my critique of single player on the validity of violence in art doesn’t seem right. Rather I’ll just say that overall the single player is great but flat out too short.
The infamous Heartbeat Sensor.
Moving along to the multiplayer I can say with firmness that if there was ever a game that needed a public beta it was Modern Warfare 2. Yes the game functions well enough to be playable but the purpose of a public beta is to work out those little kinks and flaws that you need lots of people for and let me tell you: Modern Warfare 2 shipped with tons of them. There are numerous gameplay glitches that just make the game tedious to play rather than fun and exciting. There is a Javelin glitch, which causes the player using it to drop a massive explosion the second they get killed that almost guarantees them a kill, a Care Package glitch, where someone is able to call in unlimited airdrops that give random killstreak rewards, terrain glitches, where people can hide inside the landscape and even glitches where someone can fly a hundred or so feet into the air and shoot down at others. Now these are just glitches that can be used for the player’s benefit. I haven’t even got to the bugs. The matchmaking system is absolutely jaw-dropping due to its almost unfathomable amount of flaws, at least for a triple-A title. Trying to get a group of 6 people to enter into the same game with a party system results in someone usually dropping, this appears to be random, and getting 9 people into a ground war game? Good luck. I have literally had to exit and re-enter lobbies with my groups over 10 times in order to allow all of us to enter a game. To be clear: this is not hyperbole. Now if you decide to play a game by yourself prepare to get tossed into a game that’s probably almost finished. I cannot count the amount of times I’ve joined a game with 2 minutes remaining on the clock, 5 kills to go for the other team to win and with my team down by 10 kills or more. It just boggles the mind how whoever developed the match making system went “yes, let’s throw some new players into a game on the losing team that will be over in less than a minute.” It just reeks of insufficient testing on Infinity Ward’s part. In addition to this there are some weapons that are just beyond balance. The 1887 shotguns have ridiculous range and dual-wielding them, using the Akimbo upgrade, turns you into a one man wrecking crew at close range to medium range. I say this not because I am the victim of these guns, though I have been many times, but because after I unlocked them I tested them myself. They are indeed far too powerful when Akimbo’d. The Heartbeat Sensor, a gun attachment that detects enemies close to you, simply shouldn’t be in the game as it promotes camping to an absurd degree. As with the 1887s I say this due to my own use of it and not just being a victim of it.
When multiplayer goes right it is incredible.
However, as with single player, I don’t think it is fair for me to close on multiplayer listing all the negatives as there are so many things Infinity Ward did right for multiplayer. The new perks are absolutely superb, and the lack of Juggernaut means that you can finally pick something other than Stopping Power for your second perk slot, and the pro versions of perks, which are obtained by completing various tasks and improve the original perk, add another layer of depth to the gameplay. Guns can be customized with different add-ons, and can have up to two now thanks to the Bling perk, which makes for even more character customization. The customizable killstreaks, ranging from the basic UAV, to gunning in an AC130 from above, to calling in a Nuke that will end the match in your favour regardless of score, are all balanced enough through difficulty of obtaining such high kill streaks for them. Additionally most killsteaks are called in by marking a location on the map with a grenade. A helicopter will fly overhead and drop off the upgrade at that location. This makes the person picking up the killstreak vulnerable as they need to be outside to pick up the item dropped from the air. Additionally the other team can steal the killstreak. So if your team is getting spanked you can still turn it around by stealing their AC130 killstreak and using it to your benefit.
In the end Modern Warfare 2 does so many things right that its flaws stick out like a sore thumb. Single player is too short while multiplayer is rife with glitches and bugs that boggle the mind as to how they got through testing. Still when Modern Warfare 2 is working right it is an absolutely incredible game. The problem is it’s got so many flaws that actually getting a decent game going in multiplayer is like pulling teeth. From what I understand a patch is in the works so hopefully my complaints will be (eventually) addressed and fixed so the “great game” to “buggy mess of a game” ratio changes for the better.
Rating: 7/10
Metacritic: 94/100
Meet the mercs. From left to right: Roland, Lilith, Mordecai and Brick.
Release Date: October 20th, 2009
Developer: Gearbox Software
Platform: PC/PS3/Xbox 360
Players: 1-4
“Borderlands is, on a whole, an entertaining romp in an apocalyptic wasteland.”
Borderlands is a game that doesn’t take itself remotely seriously. In fact it really goes out of its way to be downright absurd. Sometimes this works in its favour and other times it doesn’t. However, for the most part it does which results in an over-the-top shooter that is overall an enjoyable experience.
If I had to describe Borderlands in a single sentence I would say that it is Fallout 3, Mad Max, Diablo 2 and Quake all rolled into one game. It is Fallout and Mad Max due to the barren apocalyptic setting, Diablo 2 for its tremendous loot grind and skill tree leveling system and Quake for its fast paced weapon combat. Surprisingly they all manage to mesh together quite well.
Developed by Gearbox Software, whom you’ll know from the Brothers in Arms series, the game is set in the future on a planet called Pandora. Once thought to contain a vast supply of valuable minerals, after colonization it was soon found to be mostly barren and worthless except for ancient alien artifacts. Rumours of a mysterious treasure stash called “the vault” developed and it is said that the vault contains alien technology which will lead to the vast wealth of whoever locates it. A mercenary, played by you, has been tasked with finding and opening it.
Suit up and get ready to rock.
The mercenaries can be selected from four separate archetypes. Each archetype has an “Action Skill” that allows them to unleash a power specific to them. In addition they all have their individual skill trees, which function like in Diablo 2, which can improve their stats, action skills as well as unlock new skills. Brick is a Berserker class who functions as a tank. His action skill puts him in a “berserk” state; he will drop his gun, raise his fists and you can then begin to punch anything you can lay your hands on for tremendous damage while his health regenerates at an extraordinary rate to offset the extra damage you will take while being in the open slugging it out with enemies. Lilith, the Siren class, has the ability to “phase walk” wherein she transports to another dimension for a short time and is invulnerable to damage. The phase walk can be upgraded to damage enemies nearby and even regenerate Lilith’s health. Mordecai, a hunter class who specializes in sniper rifles and revolvers, has an action skill that releases a pet bird named Bloodwing that attacks nearby foes. Finally there is Roland, a soldier that can drop a turret which will attack enemies and can be upgraded to heal team mates and regenerate team ammo. The general gunplay is the same across all classes and it is the action skills and upgrade trees that really set them apart. All of the mercenaries have different upgrades but none are ludicrously overpowered when compared to one another and each have sometime to bring to the table in a group setting.
Each character has the ability to level up their skill with certain weapon types. Classified as “weapon proficiencies” they are the same for every class. To improve your skill with a weapon type you simply need to have it equipped when you gain experience from killing enemies. Leveling up your proficiencies nets you bonuses to accuracy, reload time, rate of fire and damage, depending on the type of gun. Though specific mercenaries may gain additional bonuses, such as Mordecai with revolvers and Brick with rocket launchers, no classes are limited to any specific weapon. This makes sense considering gun collection is the very backbone of the gameplay.
Guns blazin' and fists flyin'.
There is a massive variety of weapons available: pistols, revolver pistols, sub machine guns, combat rifles, rocket launchers, shotguns, sniper rifles and alien weapons. Every class of weapon has advantages and disadvantages which are in line with what you’ve come to expect from a first person shooter. The sniper rifles shoot slower but have great range and do a ton of damage per bullet, SMGs fire at an incredibly fast rate but lack stopping power, shotguns work at close range and fire spreads of bullets, rocket launchers have splash damage allowing you to hit multiple enemies and so on and so forth. All weapons will come with a variety of randomly generated bonuses. Some have scopes, others have bayonets, some do additional elemental damage like acid, fire, explosion or energy, and most have combinations which can result in incredibly useful weapons. Really the guns are the major draw of Borderlands. Ever wanted a magnum pistol with a sniper scope? How about one with a sniper scope and a bayonet? How about a sniper scope, a bayonet that fires bullets which set people on fire? Play long enough and you’ll find one and that’s why the random item drops in Borderlands are great.
Graphically Borderlands looks like a real time comic book. The graphics are cel-shaded but Borderlands doesn’t fall into the trap of using really generic single-colour textures. Here the textures still pack a lot of visual detail. Yes the majority of the landscape is composed of that muddy brown that seems to fill nearly every grizzled action game nowadays but there’s plenty of bright colours and enemy appearance variety so everything doesn’t look terribly bland and repetitive. The cartoonish atmosphere really suits the humourous tone of the game as really is a great design choice.
One of the best elements in Borderlands is the cooperative play. Up to two people can play split screen and up to four can play online. More players increases enemy difficulty (dramatically) which nets you better item drops. Plus it’s way more fun to play with more people. In order to keep your character unique you can customize their appearance via a limited selection of preset colours. Sadly you can’t change the clothes they wear, and armour has no bearing on appearance either, but the limited amount of customization doesn’t allow you to create “your character”, at least to a degree. Another element that warrants playing with friends are the class-specific modifications. These can be used simply to improve yourself but a variety of these also offer team boosting stats like team health and ammo regeneration, team damage increases and more. The more people stack these bonuses the better the team gets so it’s often in your interest to think of the team before yourself.
In cooperative multiplayer you also never have to worry about a lower level person ruining XP in any fashion. Another person joining doesn’t reduce the XP you gain nor does fighting enemies well above the level of the lowest member. If the rest of your team is able to pick up the slack you can easily power level someone as they gain experience for killing an enemy well above their level even if they don’t fire a single shot. I suppose that could be good or bad depending on your view on the matter but really if you find power leveling morally offensive you can just not do it.
Time for a beatdown.
However there is a problem how loot drops function in multiplayer games. It is literally first come, first serve. A “loot sniper” could join your game and easily grab everything that anyone could possibly want before anyone else has a chance to look at it. This makes online games with random people pretty touch and go. Maybe you’ll get a game with decent individuals that are willing to share item drops but maybe you’ll be paired with a jerk of the highest internet caliber that runs off to find chests while everyone else is in combat and scoops up everything, even items they can’t use, to sell for cash. Personally I never ran into this problem as I always played with friends who were willing to share the good items and even give me some of the better items they found themselves. However a dice-roll system for dropped items could have resolved any foreseeable problems with one person hogging everything.
Another issue with the game is the storyline, or rather the lack of one. As I’ve said Borderlands doesn’t take itself too seriously and while it works for the most part this is an instance where it really doesn’t. There is a faint hint that something is happening on the planet Pandora but it’s all hidden away in massive blocks of text and your storyline consists of “go here and fetch/punch/shoot/kill this.” Frankly it’s 2009 and unless we’re reading ancient texts I think that cut scenes and story progression should have voice acting. It’s particularly jarring because all the main characters have voice actors who do speak sometimes but not always. Borderlands is at its heart an action game and stopping to read some text really disrupts the flow. It’s a shame because the rest of it is really enjoyable.
Additionally there are a couple of gameplay choices that really raise eyebrows. The vehicle combat is quite lackluster and you’ll find yourself getting killed to the point of frustration in any missions that require you to kill cars while in cars, one boss fight is particularly enraging unless you effectively cheap it out and exploit some game mechanics. Thankfully those missions are few and far between. Another annoying element is that every time you need to speak to someone to progress through missions you need to go to them personally, apparently there is no radio or phone system on Pandora, at least when you need to use them. This becomes rather tedious as sometimes you’ll fight through a level to rescue someone, go back to speak to the person who gave you the mission to complete it, only to find out that you need to speak to the person you just released to progress further. It’s just a time waster that could’ve been omitted if you could simply call specific NPCs on mission-related matters.
The infamous rakk hive.
Finally I must admit that Borderlands shipped with its fair share of bugs. Apparently the PS3 version had a major multiplayer bug where people were simply unable to browse online games for a few days (this has since been patched), friendlies could simply disappear during netplay, and so could enemies which was incredibly frustrating when you get killed by an invisible opponent, some action skills didn’t work right out of the box and unless you completed a complete level of weapon proficiency any XP that worked toward your next weapon level gained in an online match was lost when you finished that game. Gearbox has been active in correcting some of these bugs as a week after the game hit the shelves an update was released that corrected the majority of these issues. Hopefully we’ll see more patches in the future to fix up the game.
Borderlands is, on a whole, an entertaining romp in an apocalyptic wasteland. It takes the humourous route and goes as far over the top as possible. Frankly it really works. Gearbox managed to blend together the role playing and shooter genres to create a game that is the best of both worlds (including the RPGs most sought after feature: New Game+). If you’ve got a group of friends that can all get this on the same platform then getting this a no brainer. If you’re on the fence and a Fallout/Mad Max/Diablo 2/Quake shooter doesn’t sound like your cup of tea then give it a rent, I can guarantee it’s at least worth that.
Rating: 8/10
Metacritic: 84/100
Rockwell stars as Sam Bell.
Release Date: June 12th, 2009
Director: Duncan Jones
“Moon is not a popcorn movie, it requires the viewers full attention to enjoy and it deserves not only your attention but the attention of the public at large.”
Moon exists in a near dead genre: hard sci-fi. Granted sci-fi is alive and well in the form of Battlestar Galatica and Star Trek, thanks to the JJ Abrams’ blockbuster reboot, but sci-fi the likes of 2001 and Alien is pretty much non-existant nowadays. It’s no surprise then that it’s having a hell of time getting a proper release and I can assure you this is an absolute crime against cinema as this is one of the best, possibly the best, science fiction film to be release in the past ten to twenty years. The only films I can think of that come close to Moon’s quality are Serenity, which isn’t really appealing due to it’s sci-fi let’s be honest, and Steven Soderbergh’s remake of Solaris, which apparently only I loved.
GERTY is happy.
Moon is the directorial debut of Duncan Jones, one of David Bowie’s children, and what an astounding debut it is. Set in the future the film centres around Sam Bell (played by Sam Rockwell) an employee of a Korean energy company that harvests helium-3 from lunar soil. He is the sole occupant of the moon facility and is nearing the end of his three year contract where upon he will return to Earth to live with his wife and daughter, or so he thinks. I won’t go into anymore detail as to the plot for fear of spoiling it but I will say that though Moon is not a fast-paced action thriller there is never a dull or uninteresting moment.
Moon has low budget, reported to be about $5 million but honestly you wouldn’t know it unless someone told you. Moon manages to feel grand in scale and the special effects and sets are superb. The cast of characters is quite limited. Sam Rockwell gets almost all the screen time in the film, effectively playing two roles of the same person. It’s incredible to see how he can give each version of Sam Bell their own unique qualities while remaining the same at their core. His only other real acting partner is Kevin Spacey who voices GERTY, whose name is certainly a nod to the character Gertrude from Hamlet, a robot at the moon facility charged with caring for Sam. GERTY, who communicates through speech and a limited range of emoticons, is probably best described as the polar opposite of Hal. I must also give the soundtrack as special mention as it is undeniable a superb score by Clint Mansell which perfectly captures the mood of the film, adding to it without being so obtrusive to take you away from what’s happening on-screen.
Moon is certainly one of the best sci-fi films of the past 20 years.
Moon is not a popcorn movie, it requires the viewers full attention to enjoy and it deserves not only your attention but the attention of the public at large. It is a great film because it deals with what makes us individuals. How would one retain his or her individuality if they met an someone that was not only a physically identical copy but someone who also completely shares their past experiences of memory. If we define ourselves by how we look and what we’ve experienced what happens when that is taken away? In a world where cloning and the mapping of the human mind are becoming more and more of a reality it is something to ponder. Frankly I wouldn’t be surprised if Moon gets a few Oscar nominations this year. Admittedly I can’t call Moon an absolutely perfect masterpiece but when I try to single out a single thing it didn’t do right or could’ve done better I draw a complete and utter blank. In short: see this film.
Rating: 10/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 89%
Yes that is Rufio from Hook.
Release Date: September 15th, 2009
Director: Ben Ramsey
“I will be as brutally honest as I can be: Blood and Bone isn’t a movie for someone that wants to enjoy a deep plot that ponders the human condition. It is a movie for someone who wants to see a bad ass kick ass.”
Blood and Bone is probably a movie you’ve never heard of and with good reason: it’s a direct-to-video action flick. Let’s face it most of those, in fact most direct to video releases period, aren’t very good. They rarely pack a decent cast, have a decent budget and are generally poor film making in every respect. However Blood and Bone does manage to stand out from the rest of the pack.
Directed by Ben Ramsey, which is probably another name you haven’t heard of as my only experience with his previous work is the 1998 film he wrote called The Big Hit (a severely underappreciated action-comedy), Blood and Bone does star some recognizable faces. Michael Jai White, whom you’ll instantly know if you’ve seen the terrible 1997 disaster Spawn, stars as Isaiah Bone a man recently released from prison with the intent on caring for Angela, the girlfriend of his cellmate who was stabbed to death. This presents a problem as she has become the mistress of the gang leader James, portrayed by Eamonn Walker of the OZ fame. James earns cash through a variety of illegal means. The one which interests Bone is an underground bare-knuckle fighting circuit. Bone enlists the help of the street hustler Pinball (Dante Basco who played Rufio in Spielberg’s Hook) to set up fights for him. James currently possess the best underground fighter and Bone needs to get to the top of the circuit to get to James to get to Angela.
Eamonn Walker as "James".
If the plot simply sounds like an excuse to have Michael Jai White get into fights then you’ve pretty much already discovered how important the story is. Frankly the plot isn’t awful but it’s certainly nothing new or inventive.
The real reason to see Blood and Bone is the action. Flat out it’s some of the best you’ll find, especially in a DTV movie. Michael Jai White proves that he can, and should be, a massive action star as every fight scene with him, which is every fight scene in the movie, feels dynamic, brutal and real. Instead of two meat heads just slugging it out, exchanging untrained punches with one another, there’s both technique and kinetic flow. You can instantly see the MMA fighting influence (Bob Sapp and Kimbo Slice even make appearances). In addition to the fights being well choreographed the cinematography which accompanies them is excellent and doesn’t resort to the terrible cliche of cutting to a new angle with every blow to hide a punch. Instead you’ll allow to reveal in the brutal efficiency of Bone’s fighting prowess. The final fist fight of the movie can only be aptly described “fight chess” and is really something to see.
Do you like manly men with glistening bodies of perfection breaking limbs? This is your movie.
I will be as brutally honest as I can be: Blood and Bone isn’t a movie for someone who wants to enjoy a deep plot that ponders the human condition. It is a movie for someone who wants to see a bad ass kick ass. I can appreciate why one would be put off watching it; it doesn’t have an all star cast, it hasn’t received much marketing and it’s a direct-to-video release. However there’s a reason why we give direct-to-video movies a chance: sometimes, rarely, we find a diamond in the rough. OK, Blood and Bone isn’t a brilliant shining diamond in the rough but rather a rough diamond-encrusted MMA fist to the face.
Rating: 7/10
Rotten Tomatoes: N/A
