Wednesday 28 September 2011

game review #7: upcoming releases

What with the first of the big releases of the next year already out (Warhammer 40k SPACE MARINE) I think that its a good time to look forward to the other big releases coming out in the near future, and perhaps seeing wether they'll be as great as rasberry and white chocolate cheesecake or as useless as the Kardashian twins (yes I am unfortunate enough to know of theire existence as well).

The first title that everybody is talking about is the much anticipated Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.  As I said a couple of reviews back I don't think that the COD series has brought much to the gaming world in terms of new ideas and innovations since the mighty Modern Warfare emerged nearly half a decade ago.  The COD series overall still retains it's generic consumer-charm but that charm is deteriorating fast and took a heavy knock with the legendarily crap Black Ops.  Things aren't looking great with the upcoming MW3 though because the gameplay looks virtually the same, the graphics have for some reason advanced very little since MW2 and whoop-de-doo, its mostly coloured grey, white, brown and black (just like every other bloody shooter these days).  All in all I don't think MW3 is going to be a real cracker of a shooter like say Left For Dead 2 or Modern Warfare were but it does actually look considerably more fun than Black Ops was so I could be wrong.

The other of the biggest two releases coming out over the next several months is of course Battlefield 3.  As I've said before I like the Battlefield series quite a bit and my favourite installment to the series is still the underatted Battlefield 2142, I'm not sure however what to feel about this new installment.  My gut keeps giving me a sense of impeniding doom about this game but then again my gut is a right idiot who keeps persuading me to pig out on boring snacks like digestive buiscits.  It does seem to be quite appealing and fun though, in fact it seems like its taken and combined aspects from many of the battlefield games; the great vehicle driving/piloting of the Battlefield 1942 triology and Battlefield 2, the fantastic reward system of the Battlefield 2142 duology and the intense 'reaction time-workout' shootouts of the online and campaign modes of the Bad Company installments.  It could be good, i'm not really sure.  I mean there hasn't been must talk about the singleplayer and they seem to have kept the advancment on melee combat on a minimum as usual, but generaly I have an alright feeling about this one.

Now we move onto less popular and less intersting titles.  The first of these smaller titles is Resistance 3 which has...wait...this bloody game is already out!  Ah whatever, I'm pretty sure I can find a few words for it. Compating it to its two predecessors, Resistance 3 seems to be the most advanced and fun installment of its series yet what with taking many of the greatest gameplay aspects of Half-Life 2 (e.g. no automatically regenerating health, being able to carry at least 12 weapons at once etc) and applying them to the amusing Resistance storyline.  It does look to be a promising new game and the graphics are pretty good, the only problem from the sounds of it is its quite formula plot, however it also looks as fun as hell so it shouldn't sting too bad..

The next game that is soon to come out is The Heist: Payday which by the looks of things is pretty appaling. Even just looking at the trailer you can see loads of problems: No plot whatsoever, graphics that make it look like it was made for the Xbox or PS2 in 2001, unimaginitive gameplay and combat scenes that are even more generic than Call Of Duty, no juicy character development, no exciting objectives, no brilliant variety betweeen different enemies and challanges and of course it only has 6 maps.  JUST 6 BLOODY, SAMEY MAPS.  Oh yeah there are are no missions with more than a minute outside of a building.

Of course there are many other titles coming out in the nexy several months or year or two but if I listed them all then I'd be here for ages so I'm only going to say this once; if you are thinking of gettign any of the new releases later this year just get Resistance 3, Serious Sam 3 and Battlefield 3.  The reason why I am saying this is because all the other big releases this year look like utter s***...*sighs*...oh well.


P.S Happy Jewish New Year!

Tuesday 27 September 2011

apology

sorry no review today, but I will definetly bring one out tommorow

Wednesday 21 September 2011

Game review 6: Warhammer 40k Space Marine

Here's your average 3rd person shooter of today, you are the leader of a group of genetically (or at least inexplicably bad-ass) marines sent by humanity (or in other cases the US) to a factory planet/region to combat a fearsome and seemingly un-stoppable invasion by either brutal aliens, Russia or mystical cults with stupid names.  Supprisingly however this is an alright game, of course with any game it has its faults such as slightly "eh" multiplayer mode and having a pretty pants last boss in the singleplayer.  But despite that it is a fairly well balanced shoot-em-up with varied kinds of enemies, a multiplayer mode that's actually an alright laugh and it features my favourite warriors in the whole WH40k universe: the Ultramarines space marines 2nd company.


I know that the Warhammer 40k universe is somewhat nerdy as a whole (that goes for its storyline too) but as I've said before I can't stand the board and card games, when I want to talk about WH40 its about the storyline, pivotal characters and the big ass battles.  And this is what this game is like, it keeps to the nerdy roots of the franchise it is from in terms of how the different members of each species and organization behave and operate but it appeals to people who might not really be into WH40k by giving them a game that is neither too unique or too generic.

The campaign in Space Marine starts off by quickly telling us that a forge/factory world of the imperium of humanity is under attack by space orks who are trying to steal 100 foot -tall walking war machines called warlord titans.  You are then told that the imperial guard soldiers on the planet are being pummeled into hamburgers and that a huge reinforcement fleet is on its way, however, this fleet is going to take days to arrive in system to the planet and so a force of genetically enhanced space marines from the Ultramarines is dispatched.  We are then introduced to the 3 main good guys who are preparing to make a combat-jump from a soaring gunship; Leandros (a slightly annoying and pretty thick headed novice), Sidonus (a typical grizzled and battle-hardened seargant who is your 2nd in command) and the main character Titus (the commander of the Ultramarines 2nd company who is possibly hiding a dark secret.

After clobbering the orks in a few hard-fought strikes and battles the Ultramarines find an inquisitor (a psychic agent of humanity who roots out evil) and get him to take them to some sort of weapon that can win the war.  But suprise suprise the inquisitor is acting all suspicious-like and is not all that he seems to be, oh yeah, humanity's mortal enemies (the demonic forces of chaos) show up at some point out of nowhere.  So the storyline is a bit typically-warhammer 40k but the same is for every computer game from this franchise.

There are really only 3 major problems with the game but they are glaring ones; 1-the weapons available to use are varied but some WH40k weapons have been left out entirely, 2-the Multiplayer is glitchy and somewhat laggy and most annoying of all 3-the final boss battle in the single-player campaign is easily beaten. 

And that's the extent of what can be said about this game, it's a good all-rounder of a shoot-em-up based around a fantasy sci-fi universe that is highly uniqe and thus balnces out how generic the gameplay is.  Bottom line is; if you are into games like Gears Of War but want something with at least a bit of the grit and gruntyness taken out  then by all means play Space Marine.

Tuesday 20 September 2011

apology

Sorry guys no review today, there definitely will be ones this Wednesday and Sunday though

Wednesday 14 September 2011

Food Review 1-the Co-Operative


What’s the best thing about the independent chain of supermarket known as the Co-Operative?  I’ll tell you what, it’s the fact that you can get small things for on-the go quite cheaply.  Yeah sure you can get that from many supermarket chains, but the real bonus about the Co-Op is that its got so many fair-trade products that help poor and far away communities that you can’t help but feel good about shopping there.  On top of that the Co-Op is a huge collection of independent businesses all under the same name so you get a real feeling that although you’re buying from a big chain you are actually helping the little man out a bit.

What makes this all the sweeter is as well as being an ethically correct establishment, the Co-Op is also wonderfully cheap.  With deals such as 4 brown bread rolls for £1 or 9 two-finger kit kats for £1 and a  sandwich with crisps and a drink for only £3, you can’t help but feel that you are getting your money’s worth.  This is emphasized further by the quality of the Co-Op’s home brand products, such as its sandwiches or pain au chocolate being second-to-none for supermarket home brand food & drink.

Another thing I also like very much about the Co-Op is the variety of products (both branded and homebrand) that are available to purchase.  There are many kinds of big name brands to sample such as walkers or Mcoys and Hovis or Burgen, however if you want to sacrifice quality for lower prices then buy the homebrand products by all means.  Except there's one thing about that and that is (like i said earlier) the homebrand products from the Co-Op from the humblest pint of milk to the most extravagant chocolate cake are actually pretty danm good.  

So you could buy the branded products except the homebrand products are just as good and are also cheaper, the only exceptions for this are the sweets, fizzy drinks and crisps.  The homebrand products for these foods/drinks at the Co-Op are not as good as some branded products so you may as well fork out a teensy little bit more when you want to treat yourself at the Co-Op.  

All in all, the Co-Op is probably the best all-round supermarket chain in the UK; it's cheap, there are many fair trade products to choose from, there is much variety in all the products and the homebrand cakes are freakin' tasty as hell.  So take it from me people, the Co-Op (in my opinion) is the best.

Tuesday 13 September 2011

apology

really sorry guys but there's no review coming out today. It's a bit late, I'm really tired and im trying to block out the crappy sounds off the radio station: Capital FM.  I know there have been a fair few delays recently and I'm genuinley sorry but for the most part it's down to the fact that I haven't seen any new films recently or finished any new games.  I will be bringing reviews out regularly in the near future though but for now I must humbly apologise.  Now there definetly will be a review tommorow so don't you beauties worry.

Monday 12 September 2011

apology

I know I haven't released a review for a short while but I promise i'll bring one out tommorow.  I know I'm just a devil, but belive me folks, running a blog is pretty danm hard.

Tuesday 6 September 2011

Old Film Review #3: Moonraker (released in 1979)

If there's one film series that's always going up and down its definitely the James Bond series, it's not like the Toy Story and Back To The Future series's which were good the whole way through because they all had solidly connecting storylines.  Perhaps that's the reason why the Bond series has had many ups and downs over the years, perhaps the series needs a storyline that links the films solidly together and not just have characters reminisce about past adventures.  Now in my opinion Moonraker is by far the second worst of the Bond films (the worst being Quantum Of Solace and the third worst being On Her Majesty's Secret Service) mainly because of that fool Roger Moore.

Now don't get me wrong, I personally think Roger Moore as a person is a damn fine guy, but as an actor I think he sometimes sucks.  Well in the Bond films at least, in everything else he's been in he's been alright.  The main problem I have with the Roger Moore-Bond is that he seems incredibly smug and punchable and really the way that you should see Bond is as a charismatic, witty, clever and strangely loveable sex-king of a secret agent, not as someone you'd rather just nut in the face.  On top of that the comedy coming from Roger Moore's Bond comes across as way too light-hearted and jokey whereas the comedy of Bond is best kept as either poking fun at the bad guy or simply being deliciously-dark comedy.  one exception to this is Roger Moore's first Bond film Live And Let Die which in my opinion is the best bond film yet (just above The Living Daylights and Die Another Day)

The plot of this instalment into the Bond series is that Bond is sent by MI6 to investigate a slightly suspicious space shuttle-making company that's headed by a multi-millionaire named Hugo Drax (played rather excellently by Michael Lonsdale) about the matter of a space shuttle made by Drax's company that went mysteriously missing.  As is the case with your average Bond film the seemingly kind-hearted multi-millionaire who owns the big company of some sort is actually using as a front of sorts for a scheme to take over the world or something similarly evil.  The aim of the main bad guy in this film is to use an experimental space station and shells of nerve gas to exterminate human life on earth and then start the human race anew with a bunch of genetically perfect people.

Overall this film is pretty lame, most of the fights are kind of fake looking (I know they're acting but they're supposed to make it look convincing), the one good chase scene is ruined by a couple of really bad jokes that are in it and the name of the love interest in this film is basically a subtle but crude sex joke (Holly Goodhead, see? it means...ah never mind).  Although this film is a bit pants there are some bits that do it great justisce; Michael Lonsdale is an effin' brilliant main bad guy, the legendary Richard Kiel kicks ass as Jaws (the best main henchman in film history next to Darth Maul in my opinion) and the battle in space at the end of the movie (as mad and out of place as it is) is really well done and ads a pretty good touch to the end of the movie.

Despite all those good things and the other pluses in the film (e.g. the boat chase in the Amazon rain forest and the dramatic opening scene) I can't say that this is a good film because it really isn't.  It isn't all that well put together, the jokes suck ass, some good bits are ruined by bad jokes or bad characters and although the storyline is a right good'un it's also kinda messy and goes completely non-existent at one point.  But hey, if you like Roger Moore no matter what then I guess you could watch it.  Or you could just watch one of his better movies such as Live And Let Die or The Spy Who Loved Me or The Cannonball Run etc.