Game Review: Bioshock Infinite

Not a film per se, but with the way games have evolved, it's easy to rate it as one.

Great storytelling and performances on display here with one of the best tales I've experienced in the medium. Bioshock Infinite sucks you in with gorgeous visuals and an intriguing premise and holds you throughout its length.

Ken Levine is one of gaming's true auteurs with his ability to display his own personal vision on the screen and still allow it to be heavily interactive. Rarely does a game ask me to question myself and my beliefs but Infinite did so on numerous occasions. 

Troy Baker and Courtnee Draper steal the show here with two of the best performances I've ever witnessed in a game. Their chemistry is top-notch and highly believable.

It's rare for a first person shooter to come along and be this good with its story and gameplay. Highly recommended for fans of the genre, Ken Levine's storytelling or just good stories in general.

Movie Review- Rob Zombie's Halloween II

A disgusting movie filled with disgusting characters.

Never before in my life have I actively loathed a film throughout its entire runtime. Shame on everyone involved and anyone that can find a modicum of enjoyment in this garbage.

Heavy handed symbolism, the desecration of the Dr. Loomis character, a horrendous protagonist, and Hobo Michael are just some examples of what is wrong with this "film."

With the exception of one great helicopter shot, this looks like it was filmed by a five year old who just discovered the zoom button on his dad's camera. Absolutely atrocious cinematography is on display here.

The only high points here are the performances by Brad Dourif and Danielle Harris, who should've known better than to sign onto this. Being the freshest part of a pile of street trash is nothing to be proud of.

This is the absolute worst in the entire series, it even makes Part 6 look like a masterpiece. Stay far away from this wretched movie, you'll be thankful you did.

Movie Review - Psycho II

Color me impressed. Psycho II is a surprisingly effective sequel to the Hitchcock classic.

I had avoided the Psycho sequels my entire life because I thought nothing more could be done or said in regard to Norman Bates and damn I was wrong.

To say much about the plot would give away more than one of this film's many twists but I will say it's an incredibly well crafted slasher film that accomplishes the rare feat of complementing the original.

Anthony Perkins gives a suitably unhinged performance in his return to the role and the supporting cast is generally good as well. Perkins may be the star here but credit must be given to the screenwriter Tom Holland for being able to come up with a great story and to director Richard Franklin for his ability to keep up the suspense.

Director of Photography Dean Cundey, whose work with John Carpenter I absolutely adore, is fantastic as usual. Some of his shots are mesmerizing, especially his use of shadow and lighting.

All in all, Psycho II never failed to impress me and while it certainly isn't on the Hitchcock level of suspense, it's still a damn fine film. I highly recommend it.

Film Review - F For Fake

"Ladies and gentleman, by way of introduction, this is a film about trickery, fraud, about lies. Tell it by the fireside or in a marketplace or in a movie, almost any story is almost certainly some kind of lie. But not this time. This is a promise. For the next hour, everything you hear from us is really true and based on solid fact." -Orson Welles in F for Fake

Orson Welles's penultimate film, F for Fake, is all about fraud and those who specialize in it.

This "documentary" concerns Welles himself, famous art forger Elmyr de Hory and his biographer Clifford Irving, who in turn forged the autobiography of Howard Hughes. Welles's use of interviews intercut with on-camera narration from the editing room is inspired and the glimpses of Welles the magician are truly charming. It's almost as if he's invited you over and decided to regale you with stories overheard at a dinner party.

An interesting mix of fact and fiction, the film moves at a brisk pace for the first hour or so, not so much telling a story, instead revealing the many facets of fakery in various forms. The last twenty minutes however seemed to drag on, due mostly to the presence of a staged confrontation between Welles and then partner Oja Kodar which sends an otherwise great film experiment completely off the rails. In fact, I'd go as far to say that this movie would've been much better without the inclusion of Ms. Kodar, as all of her scenes tend to be a chore to get through and stop an otherwise richly entertaining experience right in its tracks.

F for Fake is not a traditional documentary in any way and to be honest I found that to be refreshing. I really liked this movie and if it weren't for the detrimental scenes mentioned earlier, I believe I would have loved it.

7/10

Hotline Miami Release Date Revealed

Hotline Miami, the engrossing top-down experience from Dennation Games will finally be released on PS3 and PS Vita on June 25th.

Available for $9.99, this highly anticipated release will be a Cross-Buy title and feature a new mask as well as touch screen controls. 

So everyone get your masks and Letterman jackets and get smashing next Tuesday.

(Via Playstation Blog)

Making The Grade: E3 2013

Another E3 has come and gone and this year was certainly one of the most memorable in quite some time. We witnessed the reveal of two brand new consoles from Microsoft and Sony, respectively, as well as a bevy of new and intriguing games. With both Microsoft and Sony taking wildly diverging paths with their press conferences this E3 was truly one for the ages. Surprisingly though, Nintendo decided to not have a press conference at all this year. The Big N instead opted for one of their Nintendo Direct videos starring Satoru Iwata showing off all of their new games. So, let's see how they did, shall we?

Microsoft

Following their May reveal and a flurry of rumors about the Xbox One, Microsoft revealed a striking gameplan for their upcoming entertainment console. You've all seen the headlines about necessary internet connections and an always-on Kinect so I won't rehash those here but needless to say the reaction was decisive. Microsoft showed off quite a bunch of games but so few of them caught my eye and truly impressed me that I was actually getting more bored as their conference continued.

At first I was ecstatic that Killer Instinct was finally returning after an overlong hiatus that's lasted since the days of the Nintendo 64's Killer Instinct Gold, but as details have started to emerge I've lost almost all interest in what could have been a must-have game in my opinion. 

The fact that all except one of the characters are going to be DLC and that this once technical fighter has been reduced to mere button mashing is a major disappointment. Sure, the game looks fantastic in action but graphics aren't everything as has been proven with many fighters in recent years.

  

Respawn Entertainment's Xbox One exclusive Titanfall was the game to beat at Microsoft's conference. This multiplayer FPS seems like a total blast with both on foot and mech battles coming at 60fps. To tell the truth Titanfall is the only game for the Xbox One that really grabbed me, from the released footage this release looks like a total blast and I'll definitely try it when it is eventually released.

VERDICT

Overall this was, with the exception of a few good points, a downer of a conference from Microsoft. The anti-consumer angle they're going for truly rubs me the wrong way and the $499 pricetag isn't very enticing either. A D+ is all I can muster for Microsoft this year.

Sony

This year Sony really took the fight to Microsoft in almost every way possible. From a price point $100 cheaper than the Xbox One, digs at the used game "controversy", to a heavy showcase of indie developers, Sony didn't falter in their mission for the Playstation 4 to be the home for gamers in the coming generation. Along with the new console they also revealed a few games that were beyond intriguing.

The Order: 1886 from Ready At Dawn Studios and Sony Santa Monica looks to be a truly original beast. Ready At Dawn, known mostly for their PSP releases, seem ready to take the step into the home market with this alternate history take on Victorian London with a heavy technological vibe. 

Though no actual gameplay was shown, the in-engine trailer was gorgeous and gave a bunch of hints as to what to expect when this game finally releases. In The Order the Industrial Revolution was basically enacted in order to better fight the monsters that plague the human race, using a bunch of neo-futuristic weapons and impressive facial hair. This is definitely one of my most anticipated PS4 releases.

Though not a PS4 exclusive, Bungie's ambitious new game Destiny seems like it will turn a lot of heads once released. Billed as a "shared world" shooter by the developer, Destiny will be an ongoing multiplayer battle for the liberation of the planet with MMO elements and on-the-fly matchmaking. 

From the looks of it, this seems like a more serious take on Borderlands with just as much, if not more customization involved. The Public Event that was showcased encompassed a few separate platoons trying to take down a gigantic walking tank. Bungie's design seems better than ever and I couldn't be more excited to play this the day it comes out.

VERDICT

This was a particularly strong showing from Sony this year, righting many of the wrongs from 2012's conference. Though they didn't really show off many games for the Vita, in fact they only showed a few logos, the Vita's second screen capabilities for the PS4 seem like a great fit for the struggling handheld. The Playstation 4 looks to be a fantastic console with some great potential, this Winter should be a very interesting time. I'd have to give Sony a solid B+ this year.

Nintendo

Nintendo, for intents and purposes, made the smart choice this year by not having a flashy press conference like Sony and Microsoft. They chose what was basically a video press release and I'd say it suited them just fine. Nintendo was able to be quick and to the point and show off some pretty cool looking games that they have in the pipeline. 

One of Nintendo's big hitters and a potential system seller for the Wii U, Super Smash Bros. was the game everyone was looking forward to. A high-def sequel to one of the company's biggest and most popular franchises, this entry looks to be bigger than ever and was the one game that everyone has been talking about. 

Though they've only announced three new characters so far, I'm sure that many more will be announced over the next year leading up to the release. Mega Man, the Animal Crossing Villager and the Wii Fit Trainer have all been announced so far and their move set seems pretty intriguing to say the least. Mega Man's ability to steal his bosses weapons looks to be his main draw in what I can only imagine to be a very difficult character to master come next year.

While everyone else was clamoring over Super Smash Bros. and Super Mario 3D World, the Nintendo game that got me more excited than anything else would have to be Monolith Soft's upcoming open world RPG, codenamed X. The highly anticipated follow up to the fantastic Xenoblade Chronicles for Wii, this game seems to be an experience huge in scope and ambition.

 Planned to have a large scale open-world with near seamless exploration, this game will probably push the boundaries of what the Wii U can do from a technical standpoint. Featuring giant transforming Mechs called DOLLS and battles taking place on land, in the air and at sea, X looks to be a crazy good time and is currently my most anticipated Wii U release.

VERDICT

Nintendo did their best this year to drum up excitement for the struggling Wii U and although they certainly didn't hit it out of the park, Iwata and Co. showed off some truly impressive games. As always with them though, third-party support was lacking, but that's par for the course for Nintendo at this stage in the game. So for their exclusives alone I'd have to grade them a decent B-.

So between the two heavy hitters at this years E3 we had two companies with vastly different ideologies that went after different kinds of gamers. We also had Nintendo stop by and say hello with a few great exclusives to show off. Who will win the Next-Generation of the "console war?" Who knows? At least it will be an interesting ride come November.

Sorry About That!

Many many apologies for my absence as of late, sometimes life just gets in the way.

Expect a lot more articles here in the very near future as I'm attempting to get back on track. Some awesome From The Vault reviews are coming your way as well as reviews of recent releases! 

Who knows? Perhaps you'll even see reviews of the random comic book or movie I love. 

See you soon, y'all.