This is a very pretty Wii title that features fast paced 2D brawler + RPG action, ninja style, against a variety of mythical Japanese opponents. While the plot, I'm afraid, remains only mildly interesting as a nice break from the hectic action, the characters are excellent, and are wonderfully rendered in all their 2D glory.
Sound design is perfect, with highly satisfying cut n' slash SFX, and the music excellently sets the right tone for every scene.
Can be pretty difficult, however it is made easier with the mostly optional RPG and sword gathering elements. Each sword has it's own super move, correct utilization of which is integral to success in battle. Opponents range from the classic Ninja to the Mt.Fuji Dragon, Evil Shogun, and even GODS. If you play on one of the two story paths (1 for each character) you will end up meeting Buddha!...haha..
AWESOME.
How come nobodies heard of Jellyfish? Sure, I only know of them from a flash animation for their Mario themed Ignorance is Bliss track, and Lynsey has heard of them through me, but for some reason they are unknown to most others. In my opinion, their music is fantastic, and should be heard by all. They are a 90's band who never got famous, in a time when it seemed anyone could. Far inferior bands are remembered to this day, countless boy bands, girl bands, band bands, crap bands; and somehow these guys sank to the bottom. Well, I suppose gold is heavier than shit.
Their sound is a mixture of pre Sgt. Peppers Beatles, Queen, Beach Boys, intelligent lyrics, and extremely catchy songs. Like any of those bands? If you don't, try getting some new ears. And while you're at it, pick up their Best! album. At least give it a listen on Spotify.
I didn't start getting excited about Reach until about 1 month before it's release. And even then, it wasn't the same excitement as say, a new Zelda game (Top tier, platinum level excitement). But, I was still excited. And then it happened, and I really enjoy it. Having stopped playing Halo 3 a while ago, due to IRL friends vacating the country, it's nice to play what is basically a brand new game but with the same mechanics.
The multiplayer feels very fresh, as it should considering this is not just an expansion like ODST. Abilities like jetpack and sprint change the gameplay significantly for the better. The new weapons also took me a few hours to get the hang of, namely the DMR and Needle Rifle, but have quickly become my favourite weapons.
The campaign is pretty good fun, once again making sure you encounter just about everything possible in the game, and giving you the opportunity to use all the weapons and equipment. The story, however, is pretty lousy, due to the characters. It's not that they aren't likable, it's just that they aren't likable enough. Many people have been saying that there isn't enough time for their development (8 hour-ish campaign, on heroic/legendary difficulty) but I say tish and fimsy. I played through COD4 - Modern Warfare, and really liked the Captain Price character, who was developed even less than the cast of Reach. This is because the interaction between you and Cpt. Price was incredibly intimate at times, and really brought you into the game.
The campaign also doesn't feel nearly as epic as Halo 3's, or even Halo 2 and Combat: Evolved. But, screw it, it's still fun to play, especially on co-op, and Reach now tracks your progress in so many mind boggling ways you feel totally convinced that it's worth it (commendations and credits). Multiplayer is excellent fun, especially at the moment when most people are still learning the maps, modes, weapons, vehicles and abilities.
And of course, you can track all your stats online. Here is my service record: Carpish
California is my favourite album, ever (and I mean it.) I would have sex with this record if it were possible. Mr Bungle are like the antithesis to stale, lifeless music. They're comprised of extremely skilled musicians, utilizing just about every single instrument in the galaxy, yet making their use sound perfectly logical. Imagine if Sgt. Peppers was mixed with the Beach Boys and Frank Zappa, but it actually sounded amazing.
Each song is drastically different. Sweet Charity brings the album to a slow yet booming start with sweet miami style guitar-tistry, and the vocal prowess of Mike Patton is revealed. By the end of the last track, Goodbye Sober Day, you're listening to a crescendo of apocalyptic noises such as women screaming and cars being smashed to bits.
Each track also has some of the best lyrics I've ever heard (and read.) The thing I like best is that although you can hear the words clearly, you will have to read them in order to actually know what Mr Bungle is conveying. I shat bricks the first time, I was like - really? That's what Patton's singing? Personally, I had never heard a band mention phased array diffraction nets, let alone bitic qabalistic trees. I love how they can sing so adeptly these intelligent, well written and researched lyrics, whilst making it sound like a Beach Boys style doo-wop, or Elvis rock n' roll.
Even the most up-beat sounding, ska/jazz/rock bending track Vanity Fair is actually about castration (although not solely!), referencing the Skoptsy. Golem II: The Bionic Vapour Boy is a very playful track about the coming of the new Golem (computer A.I.) referencing the clay wrought constructions of Jewish tradition, rendered in, as songwriter Trey Spruance called it; "Sesame Street/Muppet Movie style'. Brilliantly this isn't their most bizarre album - that title goes to Disco Volante. It is also excellent, but only for big fans of MB, whereas their first and self titled record is a mixture of Ska, metal, and sex-rock. It also contains samples from videogames like Super Mario Bros and Smash TV, as well as numerous movies and pinball machines. Fantastique!
Wow, so, today I watched Oddsac alone, with only this months ONM to comfort me. It reminded me alot of stupid time based art films which often depict people doing mindless acts with apparently no purpose (though I'm sure they make up a very convincing "reason" as to why they are rubbing feathers on their face for 5 minutes). But dare I say it...I...liked this? Think of Oddsac as time based art executed successfully.
Oddsac is a visual album, where what you see is what you...hear. So they go really well together, both sound and film. Each "track" features some very odd, often intense, psychedelic imagery which I believe goes along the theme of 'frustration'. One film has a group of folk sitting around a campfire - they eat some marshmallows which swell and plaster themselves across the campers' mouths. Then some white faced chap arrives and tried to bite their necks...he then runs off to evaporate in the sunlight! Hah, I dunno. It did give me a slightly sore head, what with all the flashing visuals, so I became partly engrossed in my magazine. It included some really awesome Nintendo facts - for example, did you know that the first ever Pokemon to be designed was Rhydon?
I really do love Animal Collective's music, Oddsac takes them back from Merriweather Post Pavillion to their earlier albums which are far more experimental; and this is slightly more sinister. Still enjoyable, but is only half the experience without the visuals.
I got really into the hype surrounding Scott Pilgrim recently, for like, a few days. I read all the comics at once, played the game at the same time (not actually the same time) then braved the outlands of Dundee with Lynsey to go see it at cineworld.
The comic I really enjoyed, probably the most out of all 3 mediums. I liked the drawing style, simplicity in characters easily pleases me. All the characters in the story pretty much look the same but with different hair and clothes, so it could be mildly confusing at times when someone starts to wear different attire. But the way they are drawn makes them so expressive. Moods and emotions can be conveyed so effectively, and altered with the slightest variation of line. Some panels made me laugh because of the textual content - others just because they were drawn so funny. The rest a combination of both.
Although not spectacular and groundbreaking, the comics are certainly worth the read to fans of video games (and dare I say it, hipsters) but they've got pretty serious flaws. I'm not big on reading stories about hipster relationships, as they all just end up looking like trendy cool-geek knobs. The characters are often blatantly mean to their friends, and constantly seem to cheat on each other. Damn hipsters
The film was pretty good. I read all the comics before hand, and part of me wished that I hadn't. I knew everything that was about to come up, and since they were so fresh in my mind, I knew most of the jokes too. Only the things that were fresh to the movie stood out for me, although most of the gags had been adapted so well that they still made me chortle a bit.
There were frequent references to Zelda in the opening 10 minutes or so, which was pretty cool, since Zelda rocks.
Other nods to geekdom were a little bit more awkward, however, including the opening 8 bit rendition of the Universal theme which seems to go on for a little bit too long - why wasn't it animated? Some other references felt a bit forced, alienating one of the main audiences the film is targeting, gamers! But were they targeting gamers? Or just cool-hipster geeks? They also missed one of the best quotes, (from Monkey Island's insult sword fighting), which was present in the comic book, a line which any Lucas Arts or classic adventure game fan should recognise.
I also don't think Michael Cera brought the true lovable, forgetful Scott Pilgrim from the comic book to life. He did however bring himself to the role, so it works (but only if you like Michael Cera) and he's also Canadian, so good choice of actor I feel. I'm probably doing such a bad job since I'm comparing the film to the book so much, but for the first half of the movie, it's pretty much exactly the same, from dialog to location.
The game really has some of the nicest pixel graphics I've ever seen, as well as a good soundtrack by Anamanaguchi (they have an excellent album called Dawn Metropolis), and some fairly satisfying gameplay. A standard scrolling beat em up on the face of it, underneath it has some RPG-esque elements such as leveling up via EXP points (which unlocks new moves) and the gathering of money to buy upgrades for your stats.
The controls are rather dodgy at times, usually not a problem, but some levels require you to do a bit of platforming which the game just doesn't feel designed to accomodate. It's quite hard to distinguish between a long jump and a short jump, and characters often have low traction, so you'll be sliding about without meaning to. Mix that up with a few small platforms nestled between a generic spike pit, and you can imagine the false difficulty you're going to face.
More unfortunately are the frequent glitches, sometimes getting stuck in holes left with no option but exiting to the map, but worst of all is when the game freezes, which has happened at least 3 times to me on separate occasions. The only other thing I have to complain about is the difficulty of certain bosses, which varies greatly. Some later bosses are much easier than, for example, the second one when he picks up a skateboard. If that happens, and you're unfortunate enough to be in his midst unprepared, you can be killed in a matter of seconds with no way to escape.
Enough of the badness, the good side is that it's really fun when playing with others, and it's really satisfying to beat enemies with the wide variety of usable objects. Characters and environments are designed really well, reflecting both the comic and the film accurately. It's certainly worth the fiveish pounds.
