Welcome to my humble abode of movies, gaming, & weird techie goodness. :)

Batman: Arkham Asylum Review

Saturday, September 5th, 2009

Batman: Arkham Asylum - "The choke's on you!"The prison guard jerks The Joker’s arm as he leads him off to his familiar cell in Arkham Asylum. As The Joker looks back over his shoulder at Batman, he trips and falls to his knee.

When the guard leans down to help him up, Joker takes the opportunity to quickly headbutt the guard as he stands up, sending him reeling. Before anyone can react he leaps up & wraps his cuffs around the guard’s neck from behind. Batman beats on the reinforced glass separating him from his nemesis as he kills the helpless prison guard.

When The Joker hears the guard’s last gurgling attempts at breathing, he gets in his punchline… “Choke’s on you!”

This scene sets the whole tone of Batman: Arkham Asylum, and I think someone may have been pumping Joker gas into my living room, as I had a silly grin on my face the whole time.

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Popularity: 67% [?]

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Review

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009

TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLENOk let’s just get one thing clear – Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is an uncomplicated science fiction comicbook action bonanza of a movie. Intelligence completely flies out the window when you’re watching a Michael Bay movie anyway, but with the Revenge of the Fallen, and it’s predecessor, it really doesn’t matter.

This movie kicks arse… and even kicks some big brass Decepticon cohones, but I’ll be getting to those a little later. ;)

Ok before I start going into any detail whatsoever, I’m going to give you the standard SPOILER WARNING, as I can’t really discuss a movie without going into detail about it… so don’t tell me I didn’t warn you! If you haven’t seen the movie yet, and like surprises… read no further!

Synopsis:
TF2 picks up two years after the first movie left off – however Captain Lennox (Duhamel) & Sergeant Epps (Gibson) are now part of a crack Decepticon-hunting squad known as NEST, and are backed up by the Autobots including newcomers Arcee, Sideswipe, Jolt and the twins Skids and Mudflap. Sam (Lebouf) on the other hand, is leaving for college… much to Bumblebee’s dismay as he’s not taking his protector with him.

All seems fine, until Sam finds a shard of the Allspark attached to some of his clothes… and upon touching it, he starts having visions of Cybertronian hieroglyphs.

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Popularity: 100% [?]

[Prototype] Review

Sunday, June 21st, 2009

[Prototype] Screenshot - Alex in the morgueWhy do most people play videogames? Is it to feed their competitive streak in hardcore multiplayer action a-la Call of Duty 4? Or is it the epic storytelling of titles like Bioshock? Maybe it’s the ultimate cinematic experience when a true gaming masterpiece is created such as Grand Theft Auto IV.

I’m guilty of all of the above in one form or another… however my favourite games are the ones like Radical Entertainment’s [Prototype] – I’m talking about pure unadulterated laugh-out-loud FUN. Assassin’s Creed is another prime example of a game that had it’s faults, but I loved it all the same because the freerunning and combat elements made me grin like an imbecile on crack.

Like Assassin’s Creed and Mirror’s Edge before it, Prototype has tapped the freerunning market again… but is adding so much more into the mix. It is a sandbox action title that dispenses with the pleasantries and provides you with the means to decimate an entire city & it’s inhabitants with your bare (albeit mutated) hands.

You play the part of Alex Mercer, an amnesia-stricken former employee of GENTEK who wakes up in the morgue finding that he has the ability to modify his genetic structure, enabling him to utilise mutated powers of attack, defense, and perception. He can also easily perform superhuman feats of strength, endurance, speed and agility. Mercer, now of course incredibly pissed-off with his newfound godlike powers, decides he’s going to find the person responsible and make them pay (very possibly in some kind of excruciatingly painful way).

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Popularity: 36% [?]

The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai Review

Thursday, June 11th, 2009

The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai - T-Shirt Back PrintThe Dishwasher: Dead Samurai
Genre: Beat ‘Em Up
Rating: ESRB M for Mature
Publisher: Ska Studios & Microsoft Game Studios
Release Date: 1st April 2009
Format: Xbox Live Arcade

Rating: ★★★½☆

When I first heard about this release from Xbox guru Major Nelson on Twitter, I thought it was an April Fool’s prank. However I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it wasn’t, and promptly checked out some of the available gameplay videos. These turned out to be surprisingly gruesome and frantic – and if you can describe a game with those words… I’m there.

The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai was conceived when game creator James Silva was himself a dishwasher, finding himself the butt of many a joke. After pointing out that Bruce Lee was a dishwasher, he began to conceive a game about one that slaughters an insurmountable array of highly trained agents… and that became what we have here today.

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Popularity: 21% [?]

Coraline Review

Monday, May 25th, 2009

Coraline PosterTitle: Coraline
Director: Henry Selick
Starring: Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Keith David, John Hodgman, Robert Bailey Jr, Ian McShane
Release Date: 8 May 2009 (UK)

Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis: A young girl walks through a secret door in her new home and discovers an alternate version of her life. On the surface, this parallel reality is eerily similar to her real life – only much better. But when her adventure turns dangerous, and her counterfeit parents (including “Other Mother”) try to keep her forever, Coraline must count on her resourcefulness, determination, and bravery to get back home – and save her family.

Review: From the director of The Nightmare Before Christmas comes a suitably surreal offering based on a graphic novel by Neil Gaiman (Sandman), and from the start the movie exudes style born from the fusion of these two visionaries. Unfortunately I have not yet read the graphic novel, so I’m unable to compare the two mediums – and as usual, I will give you all a SPOILER WARNING so that nothing is ruined for anyone.

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Popularity: 24% [?]

Star Trek Review

Wednesday, May 13th, 2009

Title: Star Trek
Director: J. J. Abrams
Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy, Eric Bana, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, John Cho
Release: 8 May 2009 [UK]

Rating: ★★★★½

Synopsis: The fate of the galaxy rests in the hands of bitter rivals. One, James Kirk (Pine), is a delinquent, thrill-seeking Iowa farm boy. The other, Spock (Quinto), was raised in a logic-based society that rejects all emotion. Chronicling Kirk’s rise from farm boy genius to starship captain, we see Kirk, Spock, Bones(Urban), Scotty (Pegg) et al thrust into bitter conflict with rampaging Romulan Nero (Bana).

Review: I’d just like to get one thing straight – I am not a “Trekkie”, and I never have been. The extent of my Star Trek knowledge comes from watching The Next Generation (aka TNG) with my father when there was literally nothing else to watch on TV. I was always more of a Star Wars kid myself… though as an adult I really couldn’t give a toss either way.

This being said, I loved Abrams’ Star Trek for a multitude of reasons – and should another series based on this movie, or more sequels emerge (I hope they will)… then you may be able to brand me as a new-gen Trekkie. However… new-found fanboy-ism aside, let me divulge a little more about my opinion on the movie.
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Popularity: 12% [?]