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
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
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.
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.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
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
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
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