Movie review: Michael Jackson's This Is It

After Michael Jackson's tragic death back in June it was revealed that while preparing for a series of 50 concerts at London's O2 arena they had done quite a bit of filming of those preparations. This footage was either going to go into Jackson's personal archive or some of it would be used during the concerts or for something else like a concert DVD.

But after he died it was announced that this footage was going to be compiled together to be shown in theaters. So what we get from that is the documentary This Is It. Basically what we have is footage of from different stages of the rehearsals for the concerts. The movie starts off with dancers auditioning to be in the show. Anyone who has seen a Jackson show before knows that the dancers were a very key part of the show.

Once the dancer's have been chosen we get to what people really came to see and that's the performances. First I have to say that Jackson's voice sounded great. It was about as good as I have ever heard it sound and this is keeping in mind he was holding back at some points to save his voice for the actual shows. I think come time for the actual shows he would have sounded better than he had in years.

Now the dancing is where Jackson's age and physical state really show through. As a lot of people know he wasn't in very good shape and was sick all the time and was one all kinds of medications so that he could go from day to day. If you compare his dancing in this movie to how he was even 10 years ago back then he was a lot more agile and was able to move around a lot more.

The choice of the songs that they put in the movie was done really well. The only real issues I have is they left out Bad and Heal the World. I can forgive Heal the World not being there but Bad is kind of a staple for Jackson. My guess is they had footage of it but it found itself on the cutting room floor and will probably be among the extras on the DVD.

Some of the songs came complete with big production numbers with tons of dancers and set pieces. Also at the top of the stage was a large video wall and they had produced several green screen sequences to go with songs like Smooth Criminal, They Don't Care About Us and Thriller. The one for Thriller was even done in 3D so I believe the plan was to pass out 3D glasses to everyone in the crowd.

But probably the coolest thing is some of the set pieces that weren't done yet. It was planned for the beginning of the show for this figure shaped like a man to come out. It would be covered all over with video screens and would open piece by piece to reveal Jackson at the beginning of the show. Then during the song Earth Song at one point a big bulldozer was supposed to drive up behind Jackson and stop a few feet from him. They had also rigged up a cherry picker into the stage so during the show he could be lifted up above the audience.

I believe from what we see from all the different parts of the concert that this would probably have been one of the best concerts of this decade if not one of the best of the last 20 years or so. It is unfortunate that Jackson died before he ever had a chance to make the dream a reality.

Some people are protesting this movie saying that this movie puts Jackson up on a pedestal and makes him out to be some kind of prophet or God. If you actually watch the movie you'll see that neither of these are true. Most of the movie is either him performing or other people working on different parts of the show all of which is intermixed with interviews with musicians, dancers and several other people. All this movie does show is how much of a showman and how much of a perfectionist Jackson was. He knew this was his comeback to the stage and probably his last chance to perform for the fans so he was going to make the most of it.

They could have used this movie to show glimpses into his life at the time and his past but the director decided it was best to just edit together the concert footage and mix it in with a little bit of older footage. But that footage was only used to back up one of the songs.

One thing I should say is that the movie was shot, for the most part, using high definition cameras. However there are some sections that seemed to be filmed with a lower definition camera that isn't in full HD. So whenever one of these sections comes up the image on the screen shrinks down in size and you get this box in the middle of the screen that's at a lower resolution. Then it will switch back and forth between the HD and the standard and at times it's a bit jarring. This isn't enough to distract you from the movie but I wish something had been done to correct this.

I would really only recommend this movie if you are a fan of Michael Jackson's music or performances. If you aren't a fan of Jackson then you really should avoid this movie at least while it's in theaters. Now it originally was only supposed to run in theaters for 2 weeks but due to how well it did on it's opening weekend they have decided to extend it beyond that.

If you are a fan of Jackson then you have either already seen this movie or plan to see it at some point in the future. But keep in mind what you get is a concert film plain and simple. This isn't a biographical look at his life or his legacy it's just your chance to see how he was preparing for his concerts. So what you see is him doing what he did best, entertaining his fans.

My score: 8.0/10

Game review: UFC 2009 Undisputed

One of the most popular sports right now is the UFC or Ultimate Fighting Championship. If you aren't familiar with this it is mixed martial arts fighting. So it's a combination of boxing, kickboxing and wrestling. Fights take place in an octagon shaped ring and it's pretty much anything goes. If you you watch a real fight it will consist of usually a decent amount of kicks and punches as well as the two men on the ground trying to gain an advantage.

UFC 2009 does a good job of creating this. You can pick from many different current UFC fighters in every weight class. Each of them are going to have different disciplines and so will play a bit differently from one another. Some guys might be pure strikers while others might be more mat wrestlers and submission artists.

Now as you can imagine this kind of fighting can get pretty complex and the controls of this game definitely show that. There are so many button combinations to remember and you will use the face buttons, both triggers and bumpers as well as both analog sticks and the controls change depending on if you are standing up or on the ground.

Now UFC is more strategic than other fighting games. In games like Street Fighter you just pound away at the buttons until your opponent falls down. UFC is similar to a boxing game where you have to pick your shots and make sure you don't get worn out. But at the same time you have to watch what your opponent does because one wrong move and you can be sent to the mat. In a real UFC fight they can change on a dime. One guy could be dominating and then the other guy lands a good hard punch or kick and just like that it's over. This game has the same thing so if you aren't watching your blocking or have taken too much damage or are winded you can find yourself hitting the mat very quickly.

The game does give you the ability to try and pull off submission moves but these are very hard to do. Most fights are only 3 rounds long and trying to wear down your opponent enough to get a submission is really hard. In all my time playing this game I had my character tap out a few times but was never able to get someone else to submit.

But there is one thing about this game that is very frustrating and that's the loading times. I was playing the career mode and found myself losing fights quite often. Not wanting to be stuck in a holding pattern never advancing I decided the best idea was to quit the game when I lost and try again. Well I timed it and from loading up the game to starting your career mode fight is just about 2 and a half minutes. Considering how short some of the fights can be this is really annoying. So much so that at a certain point I just gave up on the career mode after trying nearly an hour to win one fight and not succeeding. But these loads times are all over the place and going into a fight can take quite a while especially if you don't skip all the cutscenes.

I should mention the cutscenes. Before a fight begins you get Bruce Buffer announcing and introducing both fighters which really makes you feel like you are watching a real UFC fight. But thankfully you have the ability to skip over all of that which does speed up the process a bit.

The game does come with announcers that give you commentary during the fight. The commentary is given by Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg who do most of the commentary at the UFC events. They both do a really good job and even though they tend to repeat themselves quit a bit it doesn't get old or stale and usually does a good job of going along with what's happening in the ring. It's also cool to hear them both yell in surprise when someone suddenly gets knocked out.

I spoke about the career mode earlier. In the career mode you create your own UFC fighter. The creation tools are really good and give you quite a bit of flexibility to create your fighter to look how you want them to look. Once you have created your fighter you begin your career in the UFC. You start off fighting in undercard events and working your way up in the rankings. Now in between fights is where the career mode falls apart. It is all just a big menu system where you choose if you want to train your fighter, spar or manage other aspects of your fighter. You are shown how many weeks you have left until your fight and you train them and rest them so when you go into the fight you aren't already wiped out. But the menus take a while to navigate and the text is small and can sometimes be hard to read.

But the meat of the game is the fighting. If you are a fan of the UFC then I'm sure you'll enjoy this game. If you aren't familiar with it and like fighting games this one can be a lot of fun. Of course you might be taken aback at first by the fact that you can be knocked out at a moment's notice but eventually you learn to use some strategy. If you are a fan of wrestling games you might want to check this one out but you won't get the big flashy moves like you do in a game like Smackdown vs. Raw. The fights are enjoyable and sometimes you can get some really spectacular knockouts. The best one I had was with my created fighter. My opponent went for a head kick and missed which cause him to spin around. The second he finished spinning around I nailed him in the side of the head with a kick and dropped him.

The graphics in this game are really good. There was a lot of attention to detail put in the fighters. They all look like their real life counterparts complete with all their scars and tattoos. Also throughout the fight their bodies will build up sweat and they can get cuts on their face and have blood drip down onto their arm or their chest. Also throughout the fight the mat in the ring will become stained with blood.

I personally wish that the combination of the loading times and the frustration of having to do some fights over and over had not happened. I really would have enjoyed seeing the career mode to the end and winning a championship. But after nearly an hour of trying to win the same fight over and over and not getting anywhere it's time to hang up the controller and move onto the next game.

I should mention that the game does have support for Xbox Live multiplayer. I have been told that it is usually pretty free of lag but I can't attest for this. I decided to not play it because I knew I would just get my butt handed to me and that's just not that much fun in the long run.

My score: 7.0/10

Movie review: Inglorious Basterds

Even though he’s only directed a handful of movies Quentin Tarantino is one of the most famous directors out there. So far to date his credits include Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, and his half of the film Grindhouse titled Death Proof. But in this list of films he has established himself as one of the best directors working in Hollywood right now. So when a new Tarantino movie is getting ready to come out of course there is going to be a lot of buzz about it.

Inglorious Basterds is the latest film to be added to Tarantino’s list. This one is a bit different from his other films because first off it is a World War II movie. The movie follows a group of soldiers called The Inglorious Basterds, lead by Brad Pitt, as they do what they do best and that’s kill Nazis.

Now the trailers for this movie are a bit misleading. They lead you to believe that this is a run and gun action movie. That you get to sit for 2 hours watching Brad Pitt and some other guys cut up Nazis the whole time. This is not the case. A good majority of the movie follows the character of Shoshanna who is a Jewish girl who escaped from almost being killed by the Nazis and winds up running her own movie theater. She meets up with a young German private who has become somewhat of a national hero and has even starred in a movie based on his accomplishments.

So a good chunk of the movie follows her and her plot to kill the Nazis that did her wrong. Also at the same time we follow a German Colonel named Hans. This part is played brilliantly by actor Christoph Waltz. I think that he really steals the show with his performance and I would not be surprised to see a Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor thrown his way. He plays the epitome of a smooth, scummy Nazi slimeball.

Another thing the trailers lead you believe is that this movie is filled with violent scenes. Yes there are some pretty violent scenes in the movie and they do get pretty graphic. But given the fact that the movie is 2 and a half hours long there aren’t many to speak of and they are spaced pretty far between.

A good majority of the movie is filled with dialogue. Now since this is a Tarantino movie the dialogue is very well written and keeps you interested. There is a scene in a bar where some characters talk back and forth for what seems like 20 minutes or more. This scene does drag on a bit but you find yourself interested in every word they have to say.

One thing I should say right off the bat with this movie is be prepared to read subtitles. While the scenes with Brad Pitt and his crew are in English most of the other parts of the movie are in German, French and a small bit in Italian. Thankfully the subtitles aren’t too hard to read and as I said before you find yourself really interested in what the characters have to say.

Tarantino has a pretty unique style to his movies. His camera work will consist of things like point of view shots and long tracking shots following a character overhead from one room to another. These aren’t as prevalent in this movie as they are in some of his other movies but when they are there you notice them and they really help to add to that particular scene.

The action scenes that are in the movie are done really well and while the violence isn’t as over the top as it was in something like Kill Bill it’s still a bit more gruesome than some other war movies and you can really feel the kick of the guns as they are shooting.

I should talk about the acting in this movie. I have already talked about the best performance in the movie but there are some other standouts. First off there is Melanie Laurent who played Shoshanna. She did a really good job and you really believed her when she decided to take revenge on the Germans. She also has to get some special consideration given that this is her first English speaking role and she pulled off those scenes very well. Another good performance comes from Eli Roth. Now Roth is more known as a director having done the two Hostel movies and the movie Cabin Fever. But he really pulled off his character well.

Of course you can’t talk about the acting without talking about Brad Pitt. I personally thing that Brad did a good job but he wasn’t great. His southern accent was a bit much and it almost sounds a little too forced. Now that could have been what Tarantino was going for and he wanted it to be over the top but without knowing that it just seems like an only semi-decent accent.

I guess I should say if you are a fan of Tarantino’s movies then you probably already have plans to see this at some point. If you are a fan of World War II movies this might be up your alley but there aren’t any huge battle scenes and this is mostly a dialogue driven movie so you might find yourself wondering where the war is in all this. If you are looking for a run and gun action movie then that is not what you are going to get here. But if you want a movie with some great characters and some great dialogue and an interesting plot then I would say check this out.

My score: 8.0/10

My thoughts: Guitar Hero 5

First off I have to say that I have not played this game and it is unlikely that I will play it. From the looks of it they have made some pretty good improvements to the Guitar Hero formula. Like making the menus easier to navigate, getting rid of money, having every song unlocked from the beginning, people being able to play any instrument they want no matter what someone else is playing, being able to jump into a song from the main menu even in the middle and better multiplayer modes.

The thing that really hurts this game is the song list. I have looked at the list and there are some really good songs on there by The Rolling Stones, Peter Frampton, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Tom Petty, Queen & David Bowie and Nirvana. But what is not good is the number of songs and artists that just don't belong in a Guitar Hero game. I like Coldplay but even as a fan I would say they don't belong in a game like Guitar Hero. Guitar Hero should be about making you feel like you are really shredding away at the guitar and becoming a great lead guitarist. I could get that from Do You Feel Like We Do by Peter Frampton but not from something like Song 2 by Blur.

It's like they tried to do too many things with the song list. They tried to appeal to way too many people but wound up with a song list that would only really appeal to those people that prefer music from the last 10 years or so.

Another thing that is interesting is the avatars that they created of real-life rock stars. There is Johnny Cash, Kurt Cobain, Carlos Santana, Shirley Manson of Garbage, and Matthew Bellamy of Blur. I think that they probably should have put it Bob Dylan and Peter Frampton and left out the last two. Also I don't think putting Cobain in the game is the best choice. If there's one thing he despised it was the over commercialization of music and having his likeness appear in a video game is something he never would have stood for. So to most true fans of Nirvana this is more of a slap in the face than a tribute.

Whether or not you will pick up this game really depends on your personal musical preferences. If you like bands like Blur, Coldplay, Eagles of Death Metal, Scars on Broadway and TV On the Radio then this game is probably for you. My personal tastes are pretty varied but even I'll say that there's a handful of people I've never even heard of or listened to at all. Also there just aren't enough of those great memorable guitar songs to warrant a $60 purchase. You can also pay money to import a good majority of the songs from World Tour but even that song list leaves a bit to be desired.

I would like to say that I agree with one reviewer that I saw when it came to his suggestion on what to do with the music. When you buy the game you should be given something like $50 or $60 in special credit that's only good in the in-game store and then you can pick and choose what music you want in the game. So if you like Coldplay then you can buy their songs. But if you only like classic rock then you can buy nothing but classic rock songs and you can build the song list to fit your own personal tastes. Granted this hurts people without an Xbox Live connection but in that case you just give them a way to import the songs onto their system or order a custom made disc that will be sent to them in the mail. Rock Band has already gotten this formula down. Rock Band and Rock Band 2 have pretty decent song lists but they have tons of songs that you can download and you can add only those songs that fit your musical tastes.

So if there is a Guitar Hero 6 they either need to pick a better song list or start from scratch and redo the system because if they release another game with a list this bad Rock Band will win the war and not even Guitar Hero: Van Halen will be able to bring it back.

Game Review: Prince of Persia

The Prince of Persia series began in 1989 with the original PC game. It was a hit and sold many many copies. To this day it is considered one of the classic video games of all time. There was a sequel and even a Prince of Persia 3D in 1999, but that game didn't fare too well. But then in 2003 the guys at Ubisoft released Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. That game did things for game platforming that hadn't been done before and introduced the ability to manipulate time. You could slow down enemies and even rewind time if you miss a jump and want to try again without dying. That was followed up in 2004 with Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within. This game was a lot darker and wasn't as well received by critics or fans but was still a very good game overall. The third game in that series Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones introduced one or two new game play mechanics but overall didn't stray too far from the Prince of Persia formula.

Now in 2008 Ubisoft has released the newest Prince of Persia game and the first game in the series to appear on current generation consoles (unless you count Prince of Persia: Rival Swords but that was just Two Thrones with some extras added for the Wii).

This game gives us a new Prince and a new side character named Elika. The Prince this time around is a tomb raider who has lost his donkey (oddly enough named Farah, the name of the female lead from Sands of Time). He winds up running into Elika as she is being chased by some soldiers. He is then thrown into the middle of a battle between her and her father in which he releases a dark god from his prison. This causes the land to become corrupted and you and Elika have to go to each part of the land and rid it of corruption.

When you first enter an area that hasn't been cleared it will be dark and there will be enemies and environmental traps. But when an area has been cleared those go away and these things called Light Seeds show up. They are supposed to be what gives Elika her power to perform magic but all they really are is a way for the game to make you explore. For those that like achievements you can collect all 1000 or you can just collect what the game wants you to. This does mean that from time to time you will finish the areas you have open and then find you have to wander around the world collecting 100 or so light seeds to open up the next area. I don't mind this that much but I think the numbers they wanted were a bit high.

Now since you have another character with you it adds a few moves to the Prince's arsenal. The first thing is if you are going for a jump and is just a little too far you can hit the Y button and Elika will grab you and throw you forward. Also during a fight you can use the same button to have Elika do a magic attack on the enemy. One interesting thing about Elika is she can match the Prince stride for stride in his crazy moves and it's cool at times to watch her running across a wall or jumping from one pole to another.

Speaking of combat unlike the previous games all the combat you will do is one on one. You have the ability to pull off combos but usually your best strategy will be to hit the X button over and over to drain their health. Now should you get into a tight spot, like the enemy knocking you against a wall or knocking you down, the game will switch over to a quicktime event where you have to hit a button to dodge the attack. Now in some cases if you miss Elika will save you but the enemy will regain some of its health. But don't worry Elika will always save you and you can't die in combat. You will just need to get good at the quicktime events otherwise some of the later boss battles will stretch on a lot longer than they should.

A lot of people have said that this game is pretty easy. Well they are right and they are wrong. If you should miss a jump or hit one of the environmental hazards Elika will save you and take you back to the last checkpoint. Usually these aren't too far away and is usually on the last piece of solid ground you were standing on. Now later in the game there will be long jumping stretches where one mistake causes you to do the whole thing over again and doing them over and over can get frustrating. But about the only incentive to not die is first so you don't have to repeat jumps and secondly to try to unlock an achievement for having her save you less than 100 times. It would have just have been nice for the Prince to have some sort of life bar during fights so there is at least some excitement. Personally I just wanted to not screw up and have them regain half their health and take another 10 minutes to get to where I was before.

In this game the character of the Prince comes off as a bit annoying. He obviously doesn't want to be in this situation and he shows it. It's one of those cases where the main character in a game just isn't that likable. Elika is an interesting character and you can do a pretty good job of sympathizing for her but most of the time with the Prince you just want to him to be quiet.

I should talk about the dialogue in the game. First off the voice acting is done really well. Even though the Prince isn't the greatest character in the world his lines as well as Elika's lines are delivered very well. Now whenever dialogue is supposed to happen in the game a small icon will appear in the bottom corner of the screen telling you to press the left trigger. This will start a short conversation between Elika and the Prince. But sometimes you will have to hit the button over and over again and lots of times they wind up repeating themselves and you just want to skip it and move onto the rest of the game.

The story itself is pretty standard fare. As I said Elika's father releases a dark god that corrupts the land. This kind of thing has been done before and they don't really throw anything new into the mix. About the only thing that is different is the ending which I won't spoil.

I think the last thing I should talk about is the graphics. This game looks downright beautiful. The art is done is a cell shaded style and it is very pretty to look at. There are also some amazing draw distances. You can stand on a platform and look off in the distance and see one of the other areas of the game. This is one of those games that really has to be appreciated on an HDTV. I don't know what this game would look like in standard definition but in HD it looks amazing. I did notice a few times where the framerate slowed a bit but it was never game breaking or too distracting.

If you are a fan of the Prince of Persia series then you should really check this game out. This is also a game that might appeal to more casual gamers due to its fairly low difficulty and length (you can finish the game easily in under 10-12 hours). Now if you are the kind of person that is looking for a straight action game then this is not what you should be looking for. But if you want a game with some fun platforming and beautiful graphics then I would check this out.

My score: 7.5/10

Gadget review: iPhone 3G

Normally this is where I'd do a full review of the iPhone 3G that I just got to go with my AT&T plan. But instead of typing forever and explaining all of the features I figured I'd just give a list of the pros and cons of the phone.

Pros:
* Full featured Internet including Safari browser
* Many useful downloadable applications
* Built-in iPod music player
* Ability to access iTunes
* 2 megapixel camera
* Lots of storage space
* Responsive touchscreen
* Very easy to use interface
* Built-in GPS
* Visual voicemail allows you to listen to them in any order
* Organizes text messages in a chat style window
* Access to email clients like AOL, Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail and Microsoft Exchange
* Built-in Wi-Fi
* And many many others

Cons:
* Battery life leaves a bit to be desired
* Changing from portrait to landscape can be delayed
* Internet speeds could be a bit faster but are still 1mb on average outside Wi-Fi
* Phone is a thieves dream
* Only works (legitimately) on AT&T's network
* No video camera
* Can't send images or video via text message
* Can't save documents from email attachments
* Can't use most iPod chargers to charge the phone
* $30 a month data plan is required

That's about all I can think of in both categories. All in all this is a very good phone and the pros far outweigh the cons. If you have AT&T and are willing to spend the money it's worth it to have access to everything the phone offers. If all you want is email then you are probably better off with a Blackberry or a Palm. But if you want to use the Internet right now the iPhone is one of your best bets. Lastly I will say if you have the money to spend you should probably go with the 3GS as it has a few more features including a video camera and better battery life. But right now you can probably get a very good deal for an 8gb 3G for $50 or less.

My score: 9.0/10

Game review: 1 Vs. 100

Back in 2006 NBC premier a game show called 1 Vs. 100. The premise of the show is one contestant would be answering questions to move up a money ladder similar to the format of the show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Like Millionaire the top prize of the show is $1,000,000. But what separates the show from Millionaire is that there are also 100 other people answering the questions. These people are known as the mob. The only way to win all of the money is to not get any questions wrong and to know out every member of the mob and be the only one left standing.

The show would mix things up by putting people like brain surgeons, rock scientists, nuns, Hooters girls and even Jeopardy champ Ken Jennings in the mob. Now if at any point the person answering the questions gets a question wrong all of the money he or she has won gets split amongst the remaining members of the mob.

Microsoft has decided to bring the show to Xbox Live. A few months ago they premiered the game in an open beta. The game is free to play for anyone with an Xbox Live Gold account.

There are two ways to play. The first being extended play where you and everyone else in the game answer a series of questions to earn points. If you get a question wrong you aren't knocked out but it does hurt your point total. You can also earn bonus points by building up a streak of correct answers. If you answer three questions correct in a row you earn the ability to skip a question. You won't get any points for this question but it doesn't end your streak to use a skip.

The questions are shown in a multiple answer format. The question is show and three answers appear one at a time on the screen and you hit the appropriate button on the controller to lock in your answer within the given time. You can also earn bonus points for how fast you answer and if you do what is called an instant answer where you hit the button immediately after the answer appears on the screen.

Your in-game persona is shown as your Xbox Live Avatar. You get to see the avatars of other players and get to see them dance around when they get an answer right and see them hang their heads and frown when they get an answer wrong. This helps to bring a feeling of community to the game and gives people a chance to see your avatar.

The other format of the game is the live show where prizes are up for grabs. These shows are usually done once or twice a week, usually on a Friday. The prize ranges from free Xbox Live Arcade games to as much as 10,000 Microsoft Points. Now the format of this is a bit different and follows the show more closely. When everyone logs in the game's lobby the game searches for the best player to be the one going up against the mob. This is determined by your overall lifetime score as well as your percentage of correct answers and how quickly you answer questions. The person who is determined to be the best player is chosen. Then the game chooses the next 100 best players to make up the mob. Any other players can play the game as the crowd but you aren't up for any prizes. Now I have to say that I haven't actually played in one of the live shows yet. There is one this coming Friday that I hoping to participate in and I will let you know what happens. Most likely I will wind up in the crowd and I know I won't be the one and it's very unlikely I'll wind up in the mob.

I have watched a video on YouTube of what one of the live shows looks like and it is very similar to the extended play but what is added is the mob members being knocked out and the addition of the person going against the mob. Also as the player gets questions correct you can see a box at the bottom of the screen that shows how high up the prize has gotten. But of course if you are in the mob and get a question wrong you are out and you won't get a cut of the prize should the one miss a question. Also if you are in the mob you can't attempt to play again for a prize until the next live show comes out. This is to prevent people from abusing the system.

The graphics in the game are pretty good for what is essentially an Xbox Live Arcade game. The avatars all look really good and they even got an avatar of the real show's current host and hostess and they both supplied their voices for the game.

But probably the biggest downside of the game is since it is free for the beta and is likely to remain free when the full version of the game comes out it is full of ads. Right now Sprint seems to be the main sponsor so when you enter the game's lobby you are immediately shown a Sprint commercial. Also during the extended play games after every 12 or 13 questions there is a break so you can look at stats but also so that they can show you a few commercials. This is a good time to put your TV on mute or to make a quick run to the bathroom.

Overall I think this game could be pretty good but if enough people play it then the likelihood that most people will get a chance to be the one or be in the mob will get less and less likely as time goes on. Now supposedly the live shows run for 2 hours so there is a chance that you could wind up in the mob but keep in mind there are a lot of people out there that have nothing better to do than to sit and play one game for hours on end to increase their score.

One last thing I should mention is the game can only be played certain times during the day. The game runs on a schedule and it usually starts each night around 7:30pm EST and runs until midnight. For extended play the time is broken up into half hour games. Most of the time it is general trivia but sometimes you'll get subject like In the News, Sports, Movie Quotes, Soccer, Super Hard and even user submitted questions.

As I said before I think this game has the potential to be good and I recommend going into it just looking for a fun trivia game. If you go into it with the soul purpose of trying to win something you might wind up being disappointed. Since this game hasn't fully come out yet and is still in beta I won't give it a score but if you are a 360 with an Xbox Live Gold account you should check it out.

Movie review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the sixth movie in the Harry Potter franchise. Based off the extremely popular book series of the same name. If you aren't familiar with the series it follows a young boy named Harry Potter. Back in the first installment he finds out that he's a wizard. Not only is he a wizard but he's also a very special boy. His parents were both killed by a dark wizard named Lord Voldemort. Harry however managed to survive an attack that should have killed anyone else and Voldemort was left a shell of his former self.

The sixth film starts up with the world still reeling from the news that Lord Voldemort has come back to life and his followers (know as Death Eaters) are wreaking havoc throughout the world. Harry is returning to school for his sixth out of seven total years. But things this time around have gotten pretty dark.

The headmaster of the school, Dumbledore, has asked Harry assistance in becoming friends with the new potions professor named Slughorn. I won't go too heavy into the details as I don't want to spoil any key parts of the plot for those of you that haven't read the books.

Now obviously the comparisons are going to be made between the book and the movie. Now the book is over 500 pages long and the movie runs about 2 hours and 20 minutes. So obviously they had to cut a few things out. But thankfully nothing that is cut out is too important. Also the author J.K. Rowling has final say about what goes into the movies so nothing that is left on the cutting room floor will hurt the overall flow of the movie or the rest of the series.

All of the actors from the previous movies have returned to reprise their roles. Now all of the kids are supposed to be around 16 or 17 but the actors are now all in their 20s. This is pretty obvious but it's easy enough to get over that fact and just enjoy the movie for what it is. Because at this stage any recasting of the major characters would have hurt the franchise a great deal. Now I do like the actor that plays Dumbledore but I still wish that Richard Harris hadn't died because I think he played the character very well in the first two movies. But Michael Gambon has shown himself to be a suitable replacement.

Now does this movie rank amongst the other Harry Potter movies? While it isn't the best of the bunch it's not the worst either. But overall it didn't flow as well as previous entries in the series and almost seems to be a placeholder to set the events that are going to happen in the last chapter.

The interesting thing is that it was decided that due to the length of the last book the studio is pulling a Kill Bill and splitting it into two seperate movies. I think this is a really good idea and should make it so they can include everything that needs to be in there to wrap up the series.

All I can say at this point is if you aren't a fan of the series I can't really recommend this movie. You won't know what's going on or who the characters are and would probably feel lost. Now if you are looking to get into the series then obviously you should start with the first movie and work your way up. But if you are a fan of the series I think you'll find this to be a good edition to the franchise.

My score: 7.5/10

Game review: Guitar Hero - Metallica

In 2008 the people at Activision released their first Guitar Hero game themed after one specific artist with Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. The game was a moderate success but the fact that it was pretty short and really easy compared to the other games hurt it. Now Activision has released the spiritual successor with the release of Guitar Hero: Metallica.

Now Metallica is one of the biggest bands in the world and with their induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year and their release of their latest album Death Magnetic have been thrust back into the spotlight. So it makes sense for a game to be released revolving around their music.

So how does this game fare against the other Guitar Hero games? I would say that it fairs really well. Now first off if you are not a fan of Metallica's music or their style of music then this game probably isn't for you. Not all of the songs in the game are by Metallica but the artists that make up the rest of the songs in the game are bands like Motorhead, Corrosion of Conformity, Mastodon, Judas Priest, Alice In Chains, System of a Down and Slayer. There are also two songs by Bob Seger and Queen thrown in but this is only because Metallica has covered both of those respective songs and I guess they thought it would be nice to throw in the originals.

Right off the bat I have to say that this game is hard. While Guitar Hero: Aerosmith was pretty simple and could be blown through in a day Guitar Hero: Metallica is not something you are going to blow through quickly unless you are a pretty experienced Guitar Hero player. As you may know from my previous reviews I'm not exactly a god at these games. I can play a few songs there and there on expert on guitar but I mostly stick to the hard difficulty and that will give me a tough time on some of the more difficult songs. The game does have a decent progression from the easier songs to the ones that are next to impossible but even the middle of the road ones are tougher than some of the songs from previous games in the series. When you get up to songs like Master of Puppets, Fight Fire With Fire and War Ensemble by Slayer you will be straining yourself to get through them.

The game does allow full band support as was first seen with the franchise with Guitar Hero: World Tour. So this means that you can do guitar, bass, vocals or drums. As with World Tour if you don't own their drum set you can use the Rock Band set with just fewer notes on the screen and therefore a lower score overall.

One inclusion they did with this game is the addition of a higher difficulty for the drums called Expert +. It doesn't really add any new drum notes but it increases the number of bass drum notes. So songs like Dyers Eve get a lot harder. What was added in to accommodate this was the ability to use two foot pedals. Thus making you play like Lars. The problem is a lot of people have had issues with the responsiveness of two pedals at once. Now I can only vouch for how well two pedals worked with Rock Band 2 and in that case it was not well at all. So if you don't own the Guitar Hero drum set I can't say if it will work for you at all.

In a game like this graphics aren't the most important thing. But the graphics in this game are very good. All four of the current members of the band have been fully rendered and look just like their real-life counterparts. The members of Metallica also did extensive motion capture sessions so they act just like they do on stage. This really helps bring the band to life and makes you feel like you are taking part in a Metallica show.

When you beat a song in the game you open up some extras for that song. There are lyrics sheets and videos as well as a feature called "Metallifacts." This lets you see facts about the song while watching it play. It's a nice feature but as of right now it's not something I've messed around with.

Overall this is a good entry in the Guitar Hero franchise. If you are a fan of Metallica then you should definitely pick this one up. If you are new to Guitar Hero this probably isn't the best place to start. Due to the game's high difficulty you might find yourself easily frustrated and I'd recommend going to a game like Rock Band or World Tour.

My score: 7.5/10

Game review: Patapon

First off I have to say this is another game I didn't finish to completion so I will not be giving it a score as I feel it is unfair to the game itself. Now the main reason I did not finish this game was lack of time to play it properly. A lot of things have been going on with me and I didn't have time to finish it fully. I got the game from GameFly and since the service is $25 a month and I've had the game since April I figured I had fun with the game and wasn't like to be able to finish it quickly.

If you aren't familiar with Patapon it is a strategy/rhythm game that came out on the PSP. You are in control of the creatures called Patapon. You control them beating on drums. Each different drum is mapped to one of the PSP buttons. Beating them in different patterns to the overall beat of the game will make them do different things like move forward, attack, retreat and defend. This is a neat concept and once you get the pattern down you can string together long combos.

The game is done a real unique art style. The Patapon themselves look like walking eyeballs with arms and legs. And the rest of the world has this look that is made up a lot of standard shapes like squares, rectangles and circles that have been pieced together to make the world. The color scheme of the game has been put together using mostly blacks and other dark primary colors. There are some flashes of bright colors but those don't show up too often. The style of the game fits very well with the portable nature of the PSP.

As for the gameplay it is pretty simplistic overall. As I said you beat the drums in different patterns to make the Patapon do what you want them to do. When you do enough of them in a row they enter fever mode where they will act more effectively and do more damage with their attacks. But there is some strategy involved and sometimes it might be best to not enter fever mode or to drop out of it at the right time.

The enemies you fight in the game are pretty varied. For the most part you will fight against characters that look like you but just wear different colored outfits. But the meat of the combat lies in the boss battles. Most of the bosses are very large and take quite a bit of strategy to take down. Thankfully if any of your Patapon die you can resurrect them later. When one dies they drop a little crown and picking this up means you can resurrect them for free. If not then you can make a few different combination of items to resurrect them.

As you go along in the game you can upgrade them with different types of weapons and armor. There is some strategy involved in this as you obviously don't want to outfit the guys in the back with the heaviest armor if you are going against a boss that will mostly attack the guys in the front.

There are several different kinds of Patapon to choose to take into battle. There are the your soldier melee fighters that use axes and do quite a bit of damage. Then there the ones that throw spears and are about medium range then there are your long range archers. You can mix theses up to suit the battle you are going into or your play style.

One thing this game has going for it is a really unique soundtrack. Now the meat of it is made up of the different drum beats that you use to command your characters. But behind that there is a really good soundtrack that is made up of different flutes and other kinds of drums and it gives it a very tribal sound. But one thing I can is get very used to hearing the same beats over and over again because you will have to use them a lot. I think is one of those games that is best played with headphones so the people around you don't have to hear the same rhythm over and over again.

The game can get pretty difficult at times but if you use the right strategy you can get through it without too much trouble. The hardest thing I found to do was to perform some of the miracles. You earn different miracles to make it do things like rain. Once you are in fever mode you hit a specific combination of buttons, providing you have that particular miracle equipped. Then you enter a quicktime like mini game where you have to match up the beats. This is tough to pull off the first times but once you get used to them aren't too hard.

One big complaint about this game are the hunting stages. You will need to hunt to earn meat to resurrect characters or gain upgrades. But you will have to do this over and over again and after a while it feels like RPG grind and gets a little annoying. But this isn't enough to make you not want to play the game.

Overall Patapon is an entertaining and lighthearted game. It is one that you can pick up and play for 20 minutes or sink hours into. I have returned my rental but if I get a chance I'd like to pick it up used for $15 or $20 and finish it someday.

Movie review: Terminator Salvation

The Terminator series began back in 1984 with James Cameron's film of the same name. It was a pretty decent box office hit and helped to establish Arnold Schwarzenegger as of one of the biggest bad asses in movies at the time. Then in 1991 Cameron brought us Terminator 2: Judgment Day. A movie that by all accounts is not only better than the original but ranks as one of the best movie sequels of all time. The franchise was continued with 2001 with Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. But this movie was a big disappointment. First off Cameron didn't direct it so the style he brought to the previous films was missing. Recently the concept was turned into a television series with Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I personally liked this show quite a bit but as is the case today it was canceled after only 2 seasons.

Now we have the newest entry in the series with Terminator Salvation. This one is again not directed by James Cameron and is instead directed by McG (We Are Marshall, Charlie's Angels).

The film starts off in modern day but quickly jumps to the post Judgment Day world were humanity is at war with the machines being controlled by Skynet. Now in the previous movies you would get to see this future world but only in brief glimpses. This movie takes place almost entirely in this time period. So you will see a lot of destroyed buildings and there is even a shot of the ruined skyline of Los Angeles (not that it probably looks much different now).

This time around the character of John Connor is being played by Christian Bale. But even though he is usually the main focus of the series he doesn't have as much screen time as the character of Marcus played by Sam Worthington. We see the character of Marcus at the beginning of the film on death row and then he is put to death by lethal injection. Then he wakes up in 2018 having no idea of what happened to him. Now I won't give away anything about him but if you've seen the trailers for this movie you already know.

Most of the movie follows Marcus as he is looking for someone. On the way he runs into a young Kyle Reese, who you may recall becomes John Connor's father after he is sent back in time to protect his mother in the first Terminator film.

Alongside this Connor and the other members of the resistance are working on a way to take out the Terminators and end the war. Of course with any movie set in war you always have to have the commanding officer that never listens to what the main character has to say. In this case that particular character is played by Michael Ironside.

Again I won't go too much into the plot but even though it is a bit predictable at times it is real good overall.

Now with a movie like this you pretty much have to talk about the special effects. The effects in this movie were done really well. Most of the Terminators you see have this real gritty look to them as supposed to in the previous movies where they always looked very shiny and brand new. You also get a good variety of kinds you've seen before and a few new ones. There is even a nice car chase scene where Marcus and Kyle are being persued by motorcycle Terminators.

As for the action scenes those too were done really well. There are a few that are kind of slower and more intense and then there are scenes that are much more fast paced like the chase I mentioned earlier. It would have been nice if there had been a few more action scenes in the movie but thankfully they are spaced out enough to keep the movie from dragging.

One interesting side not is Arnold Schwarzenegger kind of makes an appearance in this movie. At one point a door opens and a Terminator steps out and the camera pans up and we see Arnold's face. But you instantly know this isn't really him because it is the face of Arnold as he looked in the original Terminator movie. I did some research and found out that, as I figured, they used a body double and digitally put Arnold's face over the other guy's. I think it's kind of cool that they found a way to put him in the movie but it seemed a bit frivolous.

Overall this is a good action movie and a good entry in the Terminator franchise. It definitely makes up for the mistakes that were made by Terminator 3. There are plans now for a Terminator 5 in 2011 and odds are Cameron won't direct it as he is working on Avatar and its sequel right now. But if you are a fan of the Terminator series of just a fan of action movies in general you should give this one a watch.

My score: 8.0/10

Movie review: X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Lately superhero movies have been all over. Recently you've had Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Punisher: War Zone and The Dark Knight. The latest movie in the superhero trend is X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

This movie tells the story of how the character of Wolverine, played by Hugh Jackman, came to be who he is. It starts off around the time of the Revolutionary War when Logan is still a child. He comes into his powers and winds up running off with his "brother" Victor Creed, played by Levi Schreiber. If you aren't familiar with the character of Victor Creed he is later known by the name Sabertooth.

During the credits we then see Logan and Victor fighting in most of the major wars of the last 100 years. Of course they can do this because they are both mutants and they have the ability to heal their wounds. The movie starts off with them both fighting in the Vietnam War and we see that Victor has become a bit bloodthirsty. They are then approach by William Striker. You first saw him in X2 and he is the man who gave Wolverine his claws and metal skeleton. He recruits them to be part of a group made up entirely of mutants. You've got The Blob, played by Kevin Durand, Deadpool, played by Ryan Reynolds, Kestrel, played by will.i.am, and Bolt, played by Dominic Monaghan.

Wolverine eventually decides to leave the group and settles off with a wife and a blue collar job. Without giving anything away I will say that he is thrust back into his old life and agrees to take part in a procedure to cover his skeleton with an indesctrubile metal called Adamantium. This is also where he gets his trademark metal claws.

We also get a small glimpse of a young Cyclops but he doesn't play a huge part in the movie. The only other character that we meet is Gambit. This is the one character that fans of the X-Men series had been waiting a long time for. He was supposed to be in the previous movies but for one reason or another they could never work him in. It was nice to see him but I would have liked it if he had a bigger part.

Now the movie is meant to center around Wolverine but that doesn't mean we couldn't have had some more development of the minor characters.

But saying that this movie was good. I will say that it was definitely better than X3 but not quite as good as X2 or the original X-Men. But if any character was going to make for a good solo movie it's Wolverine.

The acting is good all around. Hugh Jackman does his usual good job as Woleverine. But Liev Schrieber was a bit of a surprised for me. I didn't think he would be right for the role but he did a good job. The villain William Striker wasn't too different than he was in X2 but with a different actor playing the role it brought a bit of a different perspective to the part.

The special effects and fight scenes were done really well. There are some big explosions and set pieces that came off very well. Now I'm not hardcore into the comics so I can't really say if they fudged any of the details of any of the character's back stories. I have been told that they did but going into this with only a base knowledge help and I think I probably enjoyed it more than I would have otherwise.

Now one weird thing was Patrick Stewart makes a cameo as a younger Professor X. But instead of putting him for hours a makeup chair they used green screen and altered his appearance on the computer to make him look younger. As I said the special effects in this movie are great but as soon as he is on screen it is a very obvious green screen effect. It only lasts for a few moments but it's a little off putting.

Now there are going to be more of the origins movies coming out. The next new one in the works is X-Men Origins: Magneto and that is slated to come out in 2011. Also around the same time they are already planning X-Men Origins: Wolverine 2. There are also rumors of Storm getting her own movie but it is not listed in IMDB and the odds of them getting Halle Berry to play the role are slim to none.

So if you are a fan of the X-Men series then definitely watch this movie. If you just like superhero movies than again this is one to check out. I think it also has enough in it to satisfy fans of action or fantasy. This is a good entry in the X-Men franchise and helps to show that it still has some life in it. After X3 I, along with a lot of other people, thought that the franchise was dead. But Wolverine was able to bring the franchise back to where it was before.

My score: 7.5/10

Game review: Far Cry 2

First off to start this review I have to say that I did not play the entire game. So my opinion is based on what I did play. So I am not going to give the game a score because I think it would be unfair to judge it without having played through it from beginning to end.

So why did I not play the game through? The main reason is I just got bored with it.

Far Cry 2 is the sequel to the popular shooter series that started on the PC a few years ago. In the original you play a character that is dropped on an island and you have to fight off waves of enemies and eventually you are granted special powers through genetic mutation. Later games in the series expanded on this giving you more powers and changing your character is several different ways. But Far Cry 2 hasn't gone with the previous formula.

In this game you are one of several different characters in some unnamed African country that is in the middle of a war. You are tasked to find and take out an arms dealer named The Jackal. But before you get there you contract malaria. So throughout the game you make friends with people that can supply you with medicine. I guess this is similar to the system used in the previous games but it doesn't really grant you any special powers.

So when the game starts you quickly find the thing that turned me off from this game, the transport. Far Cry 2 is not linear and has a pretty open world feel to it. So that means that you have to drive or walk from place to place. But even when you are driving you can spend 10 or 15 minutes just getting from one place to another. You are given a GPS and a map to help you but that doesn't change the distance you have to travel. Now along the way there is a good chance you will run across a guard post or a small group of enemies that you have to take out. This is annoying because your health can go down really quickly and sometimes ammo is a bit sparse. Now the game does not use the system that a lot of FPS games have used lately. Where you get hit a few times and the screen goes red so you hide for a few seconds and go back to normal. Far Cry 2 uses a traditional health bar. When your health gets really low you can hit a button and that will cause your character to dig a bullet out of their leg or arm or if they are on fire to put themselves out. Then you use a health pack, which in this game is a needle, to refill your health. This makes the game quite a bit harder but not impossibly so.

The guns in the game are pretty standard. You have everything from standard pistols to AK-47s and even rocket launchers. Early on in the game you are given a flamethrower and the flame physics in the game are pretty good. If you do it right you can start a fire and watch it spread over to your enemies. But most of the time it will just go out. The guns feel pretty good and do about as much damage as you'd expect in a game like this. But the most annoying thing is if you pick up an enemy's gun there's a good chance it will jam on you. You can try to fix it but there's a chance you won't be able to. So in a heated firefight this can really hurt you.

There is a shop in the game and the currency the game uses is diamonds. But what sucks is there are only so many in the game and they are hidden all over the place. Your GPS does have a tracker to help you find them but sometimes you'll wind up getting yourself shot up and using your ammo to get them.

I think this game had the potential to be a good open world shooter but the amount of time you have to spend getting from place to place just makes the game way too long for its own good. If you are a fan of the genre you can check it out but be prepared to see the inside of your car a lot more than the barrel of your gun.

American Idol Final Results

Well the results are in and your American Idol for 2009 is Kris Allen. I have to say that given everything I've heard lately I'm not too surprised. First off you have all the people who figured that Adam was going to win no matter what and just flat out didn't vote. Then you've got all of these conservative Christian groups who said they would vote for Kris because he was better. Then there were a ton of anti-gay groups that were getting people to vote for Kris.

But I think the big nail in the coffin for Adam was the song that they both had to sing. It's almost like they purposefully chose a song that did not fit his voice at all. That song seemed to be tailor made for Kris and only Kris. Then there is the fact that throughout the competition he couldn't sing the kinds of songs that he really wanted to sing. I hear that he had expressed an interest to do things from bands like Nine Inch Nails and Type O Negative but the producers refused to let him do that for whatever reason. I think they had an idea that with Kris they would get someone who was more radio friendly and they backed Adam into a corner. Now I could be wrong and the results are just from the fact that Kris had so many more people on his side.

But here is my prediction. I think that Kris is going to wind up like a few other Idols in the past like Ruben, Taylor and Jordin. While in the meantime Adam goes on to sell a ton of albums like Daughtry or Clay. But I think Adam might wind up with a slight advantage not being the winner. Since he's not the winner he might have more freedom to make the kind of music that he wants to make. He has said that he would love to work with Trent Reznor and Trent has even said that he'd like to work with Adam. So I think that a collaboration between the two of them is inevitable.

I guess I have to say congratulations to Kris but in this instance the better man did not win.

American Idol Week 14

Adam Lambert (Mad World) - This was really good the first time he did it and it was just as good this time around. I think he chose a really good song. Plus I like the fact that he went with the Gary Jules version rather than the Tears for Fears version.

Kris Allen (Ain't No Sunshine) - A good choice from him. He did a good job with this song the first time he did it on the show. I think it was better this time around. It didn't blow me away or anything but he did a better job with it this time.

Adam Lambert (A Change Is Gonna Come) - Adam is more of a modern rock guy so giving him an older R&B song is an interesting choice. But he made it his own with the style and with the guitar. I wouldn't count this among his best performances and I think something by Nine Inch Nails or a harder rock group would have fit him better. But he did a good job considering he did not get to choose the song.

Kris Allen (What's Going On) - Simon Fuller seems to have a thing for older R&B. First he picks Sam Cooke and then he picks Marvin Gaye. I thought that he did a job with it. It didn't sound too much like an R&B song and having the acoustic guitar was a good idea. You can't do better than Marvin Gaye but he made the song his own and I like this one better than some of his recent performances.

Adam Lambert (No Boundaries) - Now it's time for them to sing the same song. Of course since Kara writes songs they had to do one that she co-wrote. I have to say that I'm not too crazy about the song and I think they should have done the songwriting competition like they did the last two years. I just don't think this song fit his voice at all. I think he did as much as he could with it but it just didn't fit him that well.

Kris Allen (No Boundaries) - Funny thing is while this song didn't fit Adam's voice at all I think it fit Kris's voice pretty well. This is the kind of song that fits his style. Not his best but I think they were both limited by the fact that the song just isn't that good.

Movie review: Star Trek

One of the longest running movie series to date is the Star Trek movies. It started with Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1979. The movie wasn't too well received by critics and fans but they redeemed themselves with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. So now we are on the 11th movie in the series. This one is directed by J.J. Abrams (Mission: Impossible III and Cloverfield). Now I have to say before I start this review that I am somewhat biased. I have been a Star Trek fan for most of my life. I would not really consider myself a Trekkie as I've never been to a convention and I don't own any costumes. And I tend to prefer the Next Generation TV series but I have enjoyed the original cast movies.

The new movie just titled Star Trek is a reboot of the series. Like what was done for Batman with Batman Begins. We start at the very beginning and see the back story of some of the major characters and that leads us up to James T. Kirk joining Starfleet and winding up on the Enterprise.

I won't go too much into the plot but all of your classic Star Trek characters are there. Of course you have James T. Kirk played by Chris Pine, Spock played by Zachary Quinto who most would know as Syler on Heroes, Karl Urban and Dr. McCoy, Zoe Saldana as Uhura, Simon Pegg from Shaun of the Dead and Run Fatboy Run as Scotty, John Cho from the Harold & Kumar movies as Sulu and Anton Yelchin as Chekov. I have to say that a few of the casting choices had me a little uneasy at first like John Cho playing Sulu. But all in all everyone did a good job.

Now the movie's main villain is Nero who is played by Eric Bana. He is roaming the universe searching for someone, I won't say who. But he is willing to kill anyone who gets in his way. Bana plays the part pretty well and he does a good job of fitting into the mold of most Star Trek villains. While he doesn't rank up with ones like Khan he does a pretty good job of holding his own and being a formidable adversary.

Star Trek has been known for action. This movie has plenty of action to go around and the action scenes are done well. Sometimes they are a little frantic but they are fun and exciting and it's always nice to see Kirk kicking some ass. Another big attraction to this movie are the special effects. They are top-notch but the ships and sets still hold that nostalgic Star Trek feel. The only thing is the lighting is a bit different than what you've seen from the series in the past.

Director J.J. Abrams seems to like rooms that are pretty brightly lit. Most of the scenes it seems like the light is coming from one or two sources and at times there is quite a bit of lens flare. This doesn't distract from what's going on but it gives the movie a much different look. Also Abrams is a fan of low and tilted camera angles. Thankfully he doesn't use these too much and what's going on isn't too hard to follow.

The Enterprise this time around has a bit of a different look than before. Aside from the lighting it also has the look of something not too far into the future. The engineering parts of the ship are covered with pipes and valves and metal walkways. It almost makes it look like some kind of ship that you would see today except this one travels through space. The color white is also everywhere instead of the dull gray from the original show.

I mentioned the acting from Eric Bana but I have to say that everyone else did a good job. I agree with what someone said that I had a worry that when I saw Spock I would just feel like I'm watching Syler playing Spock. But Quinto made the character his own and while he didn't play it quite like Nemoy it was a nice take on the younger version of Spock. I think Quinto's performance is the best of the movie, but again the entire cast did a real good job.

Star Trek has also been known for its sense of humor and this movie delivers some good jokes and sight gags. But they don't overshadow the rest of the movie and remind you of something you might have seen from the original series. Also Dr. McCoy is his usual self and delivers some pretty memorable lines.

The music in the movie was also really good. The score really fits the mood of any given scene and doesn't sound like what you've heard in the previous movies. In fact it's not until the end of the movie when you hear the theme that people are so familiar with.

I have heard a lot of people say that this is the best of all of the Star Trek movies. While this movie is good and is one of the best I don't think it is the best of the series. My pick for the best would be Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan but this one ranks up with the best and it also breaks the pattern that the odd numbered ones are usually not as good.

So if you are a fan of Star Trek I don't think I need to tell you to see this movie. But if you aren't familiar with the series this might be a good place to start. Or if you just like a good action movie or a good sci-fi movie you should check this one out.

My score: 8.5/10

American Idol Week 13 Results

Well the results are in and Danny will not be in the final two. I'm kind of sad to see him go because I think he definitely had top two potential. But since it now comes down to Kris and Adam then Adam is going to win hands down. I think if it came down to Adam and Danny then there is a slight chance that Danny could have won. The finale should be interesting but if Adam doesn't win I will probably fall over from shock.

American Idol Week 13

Danny Gokey (Dance Little Sister) - Can't say I was familiar with this song either. But I think it really fits his voice. I thought he did a real good job with it. I think the song Wishing Well would have fit his voice too but this one is a bit more upbeat.

Kris Allen (Apologize) - I remember a few weeks ago when they said that Kris or Matt should have done this song. It really fit his voice as well. And he did a really good job with it even though the first high note didn't really hit. I do think that playing this at the piano was better than doing it with a guitar.

Adam Lambert (One) - It's interesting that this is another song that it was said to Lil that she should have done it. I like that he did a slow stripped down version of the song. It really showed off his voice when he's not screaming out a song from beginning to end.

Danny Gokey (You Are So Beautiful) - In the past he has been compared to Joe Cocker so it fits that he would pick this song. I think the vocal was good but not as good as his first song. It did get better later in the song but he didn't end the song the way you should. The song should end with the singer sounding like they are on the verge of tears but he didn't do that.

Kris Allen (Heartless) - I think this is one of the weirdest song choices I've seen on this show so far. I think he sang it well but there are a million better songs he could have done. I think it being just him and the guitar was a good choice but overall a bad song choice. I think has cost him a spot in the final two.

Adam Lambert (Cryin') - This is the kind of song that he should be doing. Saying that he did a very good job with it. I'm a bit on the fence as to whether or not it is one of his best performances. Part of me wants to say it was but another part is a little unsure. But it was still very good. But I agree with a friend of mine that he should be doing something like Nine Inch Nails or another similar group. I think if he did Closer or Hurt he would kill it.

American Idol Week 12 Results

Well the results are in and Allison is going home. I think this unfortunate because I think she was really top 3 material. Plus she was much better in both her performance and duet than both Kris and Danny. My choice for who should have gone home this week is Kris. I don't think he has what it takes to win and I guarantee he will be the next to go and the final two will be Adam and Danny.

American Idol Week 12

Adam Lambert (Whole Lotta Love) - This song is a pretty tall order. Led Zeppelin are rock God's and to do them justice is a feat in and of itself. I think he did a good job with it but it wasn't his strongest vocal. At times it sounded a bit like a Robert Plant sound alike. And when he did the chorus it sounded a bit rough. But I will say that part at the end where he went a capella was really good.

Allison Iraheta (Cry Baby) - I think she made a good choice picking a song by Janis. Saying that I think she did a good job with it. She made it her own without sounding too much like Janis. I think she probably would have done a good job with the Jefferson Airplane song but for rock week she had to pick Janis and thankfully she didn't go Piece of My Heart, which everyone seems to do at one point.

Kris Allen & Danny Gokey (Renegade) - I think it's interesting that they decided to put in some duets. Most likely they are doing this to help fill the full hour but overall it's a good idea. I think they both did a real good job. During the beginning Kris sounded the best but when the song picked up tempo Danny was the better one. Now when they harmonized together it sounded really good and their voices mixed together real well.

Kris Allen (Come Together) - This is one the top of my favorite Beatles songs of all time. I actually think that Revolution would have been a better choice for him to sing. But of all the rock songs in the world this one was not the one that best fit his voice. The vocal was good but the song didn't show it off at all.

Danny Gokey (Dream On) - It seems like tonight that everyone is taking on something tough. When you sing an Aerosmith song it's going to be almost impossible to be compared to the original. Saying that I think he did a good job without trying to copy Steven Tyler too much. The vocal was good but the scream at the end just did not work for him as he doesn't have the voice to pull something like that off.

Adam Lambert & Allison Iraheta (Slow Ride) - Time for the second duet of the night. And of course they pair up the two with the voices suited for this genre. I think they picked the right song and the both sang it really well. I don't think their harmonies were as good as the previous duet but given the nature of the song it's not really suited for the long sustained harmony sections. I also thought that Adam would overshadow Allison a bit in a duet but thankfully he didn't.

American Idol Week 11 Results

Well Matt was eliminated. So this means that by using their one and only save all they did was give him one extra free to be on the show. They should have held onto their save until it could really make a difference. Like say this week if for some reason Adam was eliminated then oh well we've already used our save to spare someone less talented so you're screwed. I hope in the next season of the show that they either change the save system or they wait to use it for somebody really deserving and not use it on someone and then two minutes later say they don't have a bat's chance in hell of winning.

American Idol Week 11

Kris Allen (The Way You Look Tonight) - I was hoping that he would do more with the song but vocally it was pretty good. But near the beginning he was doing some weird things with his face that almost made me laugh.

Allison Iraheta (Someone To Watch Over Me) - Another one where she didn't do too much with the song but the vocal was very good.

Matt Giraud (My Funny valentine) - It seems like every year someone has to do this song. Saying that I thought this was good but it didn't blow me away.

Danny Gokey (Come Rain or Come Shine) - It was good but as I've said before I wasn't blown away by it.

Adam Lambert (Feeling Good) - He's the first one tonight to do something real unique with his song. He really made it his own and he sang it really well. This is my pick for the best performance of the night. I'm going to say it now I think Adam is going to win.

American Idol Week 10 Results

Well the results are in and Lil and Anoop are going home. Neither of them did that well last night and neither of them had much of a chance to win the show. But one good thing is now that they are down to 5 we shouldn't have too much of a problem getting everything in on time.

Game review: Metal Gear Solid 4

The Metal Gear series is one with a long and storied past. It is one of the most respected and revered video game series in recent memory. The Metal Gear Solid series began on the original PlayStation in a game that became an instant classic. Then that was followed up by Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty on the PS2 and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater also on the PS2. Now we have Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots on the PS3.

The first thing I have to say about this game is how good it looks. To say it flat out this game is gorgeous. Everything about it is rendered in a tremendous amount of detail. All of the locales are distinct and the characters are incredibly detailed. The cinematics look just as good as the rest of the game because all of the cut scenes are rendered using the game's engine. This also allows for the game to transition seamlessly from a cut scene right into the game. But the level of detail in everything is outstanding. You can see details in their skin and you and see the sweat pouring down their face. This game looks amazing from start to finish. You also get a chance to revisit a locale from one of the previous games and it really brings back a feeling of nostalgia. It was recreated perfectly and is exactly how you'd expect it to look.

The graphics are also helped by the amazing score. Metal Gear has had one of the most memorable soundtracks since it first came out and this game doesn't disappoint. From the music that swells during a heated battle to the softer tones in some of the more emotional scenes it all fits with the game perfectly and helps to add drama to every scene. You also have the option of listening to an in-game iPod and you can find tracks for it hidden throughout the game. These tracks range through all of the modern Metal Gear games and are nice to listen to.

Now trying to explain the story here is a bit complicated. First I don't want to give away any spoilers and secondly the Metal Gear story is pretty complex. But to put it short you play as the classic character of Solid Snake. He now suffers from accelerated aging because of a virus in his system. So you get to see Snake with white hair and wrinkles on his face. He has been brought in to take down Liquid Ocelot who is the main villain. What ensues from there is a great story that fits in very well with the rest of the series. Like I said it can get a bit complex but thankfully they released an add-on called the Metal Gear Database that contains information about the whole series that for some people can really tie everything together and fill in the gaps.

Now what is a game without the gameplay? The Metal Gear series is about stealth. You sneak around and try not to be seen by your enemies. If you are seen it's not the end of the world but it makes things more difficult. You can either kill your enemies or try and evade them. In this game you can use the classic cardboard box and you are also given a drum can that you can hide in. But be careful because the soldiers will notice if they start to move. You can also take cover inside of dumpsters in certain levels but when you get out the smell stays with you and can give you away. But the best thing at your disposal is your octocamo suit. This is similar to the camouflage system used in Metal Gear Solid 3 but you don't have to fumble around in the menu, the game does it all for you. Lean up against a wall or lay on the ground and the suit will automatically change to match your surroundings.

If you should get into a firefight you have a good amount of weapons at your disposal. From machine guns to pistols to rocket launchers. But I found that I really only used two or three different guns throughout the course of the game, but each player is different. But probably the best gun you have is your tranquilizer gun. This shoots a dart that will silently knock out your enemies. If you can nail them with a head shot they will go down immediately. You can try to sneak up your enemies and grab them from behind but most of the time it's easier to give them a dart to the head. But if you do knock them out you can't move their body. If you kill someone you can drag around their body and hide it but hitting the same button for someone that is knocked out will eventually wake them up.

You are also given some other gadgets to use. The first is the Solid Eye. Snake wears this like an eye patch over one eye. It has three different vision modes. One for night vision, one to highlight important things and show you a radar and the last is a binocular mode. But be careful with the night vision mode because it makes a sound that can give you away. The other is the Metal Gear Mark II. This is a small robot that you can guide around the area to scout ahead and even knock out some enemies.

In previous Metal Gear games you got all of your guns and ammo by picking them up around the world. This game has done things a bit differently. You run into a character named Drebin. He will sell you all the guns and ammo you need. Also whenever you pick up an item you already have it earns you points. So there will never be a situation where you will want for bullets. Just pull up your menu and buy as many as you need. He also gives you the option to customize your weapons with scopes, silencers and different grips that can steady your shots or improve range. Now when you pick up a new gun it will be locked. But he will unlock it so you can use it for a small price. But this system does take away from the previous games where sometimes you were in a boss fight picking your shots because you only had so many bullets left.

Speaking of boss battles this game has some pretty good ones. Your main bosses are from the Beauty and the Beast squad. These are four women that wear special suits and each have different abilities. The fights against them aren't too hard but they each have their own little pattern or weakness that you have to figure out in order to beat them.

As with the previous games in the series the voice work in this one is suberb. All the original voice actors are back and they all deliver their lines amazingly. From Snake's growling voice to Otacon's constant concern and worry. It really draws you into the experience and is among some of the best video game voice acting I've ever heard.

This is not a short game by an means. Without wandering around too much it will probably take you around 18 hours or so to play from start to finish. But the game's biggest downfall is a good majority of that time is spent watching cut scenes. I enjoy watching them but there were times when you'd sit for over 30 minutes watching them only to play the game for 10 minutes and watch another 15 minutes of cut scenes. But that is something that the series has been about and changing that would have taken something away from the experience.

This is hands down the best game that I played that was released in 2008. I had picked this game for Game of the Year before I had even played it and my prediction was right. If you are a fan of the series you owe it to yourself to play this game. If you like action games you might want to look elsewhere because you will spend a lot of time watching cut scenes and if you aren't familiar with the series you might be lost when it comes to the plot. This is most likely the last Metal Gear Solid game that will be released and Hideo Kojima ended the series well and gave it the best send off possible.

My score: 9.5/10

American Idol Week 10

Lil Rounds (I'm Every Woman) - I think this is the kind of song that she should sing. But she didn't do too much with it. The vocal sounded good but it was nothing special.

Kris Allen (She Works Hard for the Money) - This was really good. His treatment of the song really made it his own and made it unique.

Danny Gokey (September) - It was good but was not the best he's done so far.

Allison Iraheta (Hot Stuff) - This is an interesting song choice but her treatment of it was really good. I wasn't that crazy about her at first but she's proving she can make songs her own and sing them well.

Adam Lambert (If I Can't Have You) - I thought this was really good and thankfully he didn't shout the song or overdo it.

Matt Giraud (Stayin' Alive) - I think he's in danger of going home. This was not the kind of song he should have chosen. He should have gone with something slower or even done a slower arrangement of this song.

Anoop Desai (Dim All the Lights) - It wasn't that good.

American Idol Week 9 Results

Well for the first week the judges decided to use their save. Matt was the one with the lowest number of votes and the judges decided to spare him. But Simon said that this means that two people will be going home next week, unless the judges use their save on someone else. What do I think of Matt getting saved? I think that they made the right choice as he was clearly not the worst performer this week.

Now I do have something else to say in regards to the show. To me the show is running too damn long. Ever since they added the fourth judge that can't squeeze into an hour what used to be easy for them. I remember in the first couple seasons when you had the top 12 it would be a 2 hour or an hour and a half show. Then when you got down to the top 10 then it would shorten to an hour or stay at an hour and a half. Evetually the show would go to the hour format and stay that way up until tne end. Well now they started with the 2 hour show and they did that up until we were down to like 8. And now the last two weeks they have run long. So much so that they now limit it to two judges speaking at a time, which I think sucks. Because most of the the Simon is the judge that I want to hear but now for half of the contestants we won't get to hear what he has to say. This format is probably not going to change because of all the filler they put into the show and they aren't going to get rid of Kara. So for those of us that actually want to hear what all four judges have to say we are screwed because American Idol is becoming like a football game in that it can't ever seem to end on time. But I think my solution to this problem is to stop airing the show live. If you switch over to tape you can easily squeeze everything into an hour. And the same thing has happened to the results show. It used to be a half our show and now it's a full hour because they have to have guest performers and group performances and even then they sometimes don't end on time. Again they've expanded something that can be done in 10 minutes to more than an hour. Just do it fast and get it over with.

American Idol Week 9

Allison Iraheta (I Don't Want To Miss A Thing) - I did not like the fact that she slowed the beginning of the song way down. The vocal was good but it was a bit too breathy in the beginning.

Anoop Desai ((Everything I Do) I Do it for You) - I thought he did a real good job even though he didn't get quite as rough as Tarantino said that he should.

Adam Lambert (Born To Be Wild) - I think it was good but he fell a bit into that thing where he was shouting the song more than singing it. And I think the jumping around on stage was at times a little too much.

Matt Giraud (Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman?) - It's good to see him back at the piano. I thought he did a good job with it. Not his best but it was still pretty good.

Danny Gokey (Endless Love) - I thought it was good but at times it seemed a little too subdued. But he ended strong.

Kris Allen (Falling Slowly) - He picked a lesser known song, even though it won an Oscar. I thought he did quite a good job with it. This is one of his better performance in quite a while.

Lil Rounds (The Rose) - I thought the song was good until she switched up to the gospel part. At that point she really lost me. If she would have done the whole song in that slower style it could have been great.

American Idol Week 8 Results

Well the results are in and Scott went home. I have to say that I am a bit bummed at this. I really liked Scott and I think he had a lot of potential. It's funny that myself, along with the judges, kept telling him to get away from the piano. Then the week that he does he goes home. So I guess in retrospect he should have stayed sitting at the piano. But if you go by the performances last night I think that Kris should have gone home because he was just plain bad. I have said it before and I'll say it again, send home the person that sucks not the person who was just OK.

American Idol Week 8

Danny Gokey (Stand By Me) - I thought he did a good job. It's nice to see him do a slower ballad but even when it got more up tempo it was still real good.

Kris Allen (All She Wants To Do Is Dance) - I think this was a really bad song choice. The vocals were not that good and I didn't like the arrangement at all.

Lil Rounds (What's Love Got To Do With It) - I thought the vocal was OK but to me it came over as a Tina Turner impression. Especially with the walking around the stage and the "dance" moves.

Anoop Desai (True Colors) - I think it's interesting for him to pick a Cyndi Lauper song and I remember Dilana doing such a great version of this on Rock Star Supernova. And this version wasn't even close. I thought the vocal was OK at best.

Scott MacIntyre (The Search Is Over) - It's nice to see him away from the piano finally. I thought the beginning of the song was good but when it got up tempo it wasn't as good and I don't think he needed the guitar.

Allison Iraheta (I Can't Make You Love Me) - This was very good. Right from the beginning of the song she sucked me in and kept me watching for the whole thing . This was by far her best performance and will probably be the best of the night.

Matt Giraud (Part-Time Lover) - Nice to see him away from the piano too. I thought he did a real good job. It's nice to see him doing a more up tempo song but the slower part at the beginning of the song was still real good. I think he did a good job of making the song his own, especially since Stevie's song as pretty hard to do.

Adam Lambert (Mad World) - I love this and I like that he didn't do the Tears for Fears version and did the slower version from Gary Jules. It seems like he's getting into more of a groove lately and he really knows the right songs to pick.

American Idol Week 7 Results

Well Megan Joy is finally gone. She has been bad week after week and the fans finally listened to the judges and sent her home. I can also imagine it wasn't a hard decision for the judges at all to not save her and to send her home. She didn't have a bat's chance in hell of winning so now that she's gone we've trimmed the fat.

American Idol Week 7

Anoop Desai (Caught Up) - I think this is a little bit of a risky song. It's one of those songs that when you hear it you think about original artist. I think this was not the right song for him. The vocal was decent but it comes down to him picking the wrong song.

Megan Joy Corkrey (Turn Your Lights Down Low) - I will say this was better than she has been in previous weeks, but it still wasn't that good.

Danny Gokey (What Hurts the Most) - I don't think this was his best song but he did a good job with it.

Allison Iraheta (Don't Speak) - It started off good but when she got to the chorus she really lost it for me. This is one of my favorite songs and she did not do it justice.

Scott MacIntyre (Just the Way You Are) - It's a good thing he's blind because if he saw his hair he'd probably freak out. But aside from that the performance was really good. I still think he needs to get away from the piano.

Matt Giraud (You Found Me) - It's funny that last week he was in the bottom with a good song but this week the song was not as good. I think this was his worst performance.

Lil Rounds (I Surrender) - This is a really big song to try and sing. She sang it well but it seems like the song was a little too big for her. When you sing this you have to at least live up to the standard set by Celine but she didn't.

Adam Lambert (Play that Funky Music) - OK I do not know why he picked this song. This is like something you sing at a talent show when you don't care if you make an ass out of yourself. Saying that it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and parts of it were good but overall it was a stupid song choice.

Kris Allen (Ain't No Sunshine) - This song has been done a few times on this show but I think this was the best of all of the versions. This is easily the best performance of the night.

Movie review: Knowing

Knowing is the latest movie from Nicolas Cage. In it he plays a college professor who is one of those typical "I lost my wife so now I drink myself silly" characters. One day at his son's school when they dig up a time capsule that was buried 50 years ago his son gets a paper with a list of what seem like random numbers. They turn out to not be so random as they contain the dates and number of deaths of every major disaster for the last 50 years. From fires, airplane crashes, Hurricane Katrina, September 11 and many others.

So as with most movies of this type he then tries to convince people of what the numbers really mean. At the same time he tries to prevent more disasters from happening.

The movie has a few real good special effects sequences. I won't go into too much detail as I don't want to spoil any part of the movie. But they look pretty cool.

If there is a complaint I can make about this movie it's that the ending is a little weird. It doesn't really seem to fit the rest of the movie too well and I kind of wish they had gone a different route. It's almost like they were really trying to be different and therefore made it a little too different.

But the rest of the movie is good and it keeps you guessing. It doesn't fall into the traps of becoming predictable and has some pretty suspenseful moments. If you are a fan of Nicolas Cage or these kinds of movies it's definitely worth watching.

My score: 8.0/10

American Idol Week 6 Results

I think it sucks a bit that when they sing for their life they sing the same song they sang before. So that means if the song totally sucked or they picked the wrong song then there's a good chance they are screwed. Well now to the results I am not too surprised that Michael went home. He's not the best singer and he wasn't going to win. But I still think Megan should have gone home instead of him.

American Idol Week 6

Matt Giraud (Let's Get It On) - I like the fact that he started at the piano for the beginning and then stepped away. He showed that he can be just as strong at it as he can be with just being on stage with the mic. This was a good performance and he's showing he's one of the better performers in the competition right now.

Kris Allen (How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You) - I think the vocal was good but I wasn't too crazy about the arrangement. Also I think he needs to not rely on using the guitar. His next song should be just him without the guitar.

Scott MacIntyre (You Can't Hurry Love) - I think he should eventually do a song without the piano. I thought this was real good and there was almost a bit of a Ray Charles vibe to the song, especially with the backup singers right at the piano with him.

Megan Joy Corkrey (For Once In My Life) - So this week it sounded like Amy Winehouse trying to do a Motown song. I thought the vocal was all over the place and it did not fit her voice at all. The whole thing was just a mess.

Anoop Desai (Ooo Baby Baby) - I don't think it was as good as last week but it was still pretty good.

Michael Sarver (Ain't Too Proud To Beg) - I agree that it felt a bit like a wedding performance. This wasn't as good as he can be and it bit like he was over singing the song.

Lil Rounds (Heat Wave) - This should be the genre where she's most comfortable. Now I like her a lot and I think she is a bit guilty of picking a fun song and that dress she was wearing was really ugly. It's sad that she couldn't pick a better song in her genre. This was not nearly as good as she could be.

Adam Lambert (Tracks of My Tears) - I have not bee crazy about his performances before but this one was really good. I almost think it went to the high notes a little too much but he didn't try to do too much with the song and instead he stripped it down.

Danny Gokey (Get Ready) - Pretty good. I think he's one of the front runners to win the whole thing. Not his best but still really good.

Allison Iraheta (Papa Was a Rolling Stone) - I think this is the best I've heard out of her. I didn't have much faith in her but she really belted it out.

American Idol Week 5 Results

Well I'm not too surprised that Alexis went home. Her performance this week left a bit to be desired. Also she is a good singer but she doesn't really have what it takes to win the show.

Game review: Street Fighter IV

One of the longest running series of fighting games it the Street Fighter series. It all started back on the NES with Street Fighter 2010. This game didn't do to well and the series gained popularity with Street Fighter II on SNES. It became one of the biggest selling fighting games of all times and was one of the biggest selling games on the system.

Since then there have been many different versions of the game including the Alpha and Zero series as well as crossovers with Marvel and SNK. But when Street Fighter III came out fans were disappointed. The move system was too much of a change and people preferred the other games much better. So Capcom has decided to do another true sequel with Street Fighter IV. This is the first original Street Fighter game to appear on next-gen consoles and it certainly looks the part. The graphic style of this game is pretty different from anything you see out there. Everything has a cell shaded look but the characters are modeled in 3D. The background stages are also very detailed with pretty much all of them having something moving around in the background. From a parking lot with people and cars jumping around to a military base with a cargo plane being towed in the background. Also in traditional Street Fighter fashion some of the stages even have destrucible objects.

All of the classic Street Fighter characters are in the game. Such as Ken, Ryu, Blanka, M. Bison, Vega, Balrog, Chun-Li and Zangief. There are also a few returning from the Alpha series with Cammy and Akuma. Along with those there are some new characters El Fuerte, Rufus and Crimson Viper. Thankfully these characters feel pretty well at home in the Street Fighter universe.

Now the overall controls haven't changed that much. For Ryu and Ken it is the standard quarter-circle move to pull off a fireball. Then for Guile it is holding back for a few seconds and moving forward to do a Sonic Boom. All the other characters follow a very similar patter so if you know the standard moves you can pull of most of the special moves. What has been added are the Super and Ultra combos. There are two meters on the bottom of the screen. Your Super meter fills up when you do damage to your opponent and the Ultra meter fills up when you take damage. When this is full you can do a super move which usually involves something like two quarter-circles or two back and forth motions to pull off and the Ultra combo adds a few more button presses. There are also the Focus attacks which allow you to counter someone else's move, but I was never able to pull these off.

Probably my biggest complaint about this game is the controls. I got decent at Street Fighter II on the SNES and that controller worked well for pulling off the special moves, however the Xbox 360 controller does not. For me I could not do Ryu's fireball on the d-pad but when I switched to the analog stick it worked a lot better. But the analog stick hurt my movement so I had to keep going back and forth which made it harder to beat my opponents.

Then there is the difficulty. The Street Fighter games have been known for being hard and this one lives up to the name. I first played the game on Medium difficulty and found myself getting beaten badly so I dropped it to Easy and had the same problem. I then dropped it to very easy and for the most part I was doing good. Until I came across Zangief. He was so incredibly cheap it took me nearly 20 minutes to beat him with Chun-Li. Every time you get close to him he grabs you and does his spinning piledriver. But if you want to talk about cheap you have to talk about the game's final boss Seth. Seth is a robot and he can do other character's moves like stretching his arms like Dhalsim, throwing Sonic Booms, the Dragon Punch, and Zangief's spinning piledriver among others. The first round when you fight him he is pretty easy but then the second round his difficulty spikes. He hits you with moves out of nowhere and will slam you with huge combos that drain your life. I struggled to get past him even on very easy and this made the game pretty frustrating at times.

One thing the game does have is online multiplayer. These games are really meant to be played with friends. I remember the feeling as a kid of playing my friends at Street Fighter II and kicking their butts. But at this point so many people have played the game that you are bound to run across people that can pull off every move with 100% accuracy. So if you find yourself struggling against the AI then do not play online unless you want to embarrass yourself.

So the rest of the game consists of the arcade mode and the versus mode. In the arcade mode you pick a character and go through a set of fights eventually fighting Seth. Before it begins you see a short animated scene showing the character's story. Then when you beat Seth there is another animated ending. The animation is done pretty well but the voice acting could be a bit better. I think it would have been better to leave in the Japanese and put subtitles.

If you are a fan of the Street Fighter series check this game out. But be prepared to possibly invest in a special controller for the game. Right now there are two on the market. One is the Fight Pad and looks like a 360 controller with a different button layout and no sticks. The other is the Fight Stick which looks like a standard arcade stick. But the pad is around $60 and the stick is $150. But again do not go online unless you are very confident of your skills.

My score: 8.0/10