No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle

I admit, I’m biased. Suda51’s games may not be of the highest quality, their gameplay may leave a lot to be desired, and his stories are weird, esoteric things that an entire thesis or two could be written about, but I can’t help but love everything he does. I guess I just love the crazed auteur who takes a look at what’s being done in a specific medium, nods his head, strokes his chin, says, “ah, I see,” and then turns and does something COMPLETELY FREAKING DIFFERENT. Alejandro Jodorowsky and David Lynch did it with film, David Mack and Alan Moore did it with comics, Daniel Z. Danielewski and others have done it with novels, but you don’t see it much in the world of videogames.

This is with good reason, of course. Videogames are an interactive experience, and if you purposefully design your game to frustrate or fight the player, you’re insane and likely not very popular. And yet Suda51 does it with every game he’s released, but No More Heroes 2, the sequel to my favorite Wii game, is by far his most accessible game, like if Jodorowsky directed a commercial film for the masses.

You don’t need to play the first game to get into No More Heroes 2. Here’s all you need to know: Travis Touchdown, loveable loser, got his hands on a beam katana and took up being an assassin as a way to make money. He fought his way through the top ten ranked assassins for thrills and at the promise of getting laid, which never happened. Along the way, he met some wild characters, had some crazy fights, and broke the fourth wall. After reaching the top rank, he turned his back on the world of assassins and, I dunno, just sat on his ass for three years watching his cat gain weight. Which is where this game starts off. Travis is once again climbing the ranks, this time from rank 51 instead of 11, and also with another purpose in mind: revenge for the murder of his best friend Bishop.

No More Heroes 2 is a better game than its predecessor in nearly every way. While the combat remains the same, it’s much more polished. It’s just as visceral and satisfying as ever, and you’ll have no trouble getting into the groove of decapitating people left and right or piledriving them into the ground. You can switch between different beam katanas in the middle of combat this time around, though it’s an agonizingly slow process and once you get your hands on the Rose Nasty you probably won’t look back, but it’s still a nice touch. Blocking is a lot less automatic, making you work harder, but it makes those kills all the more satisfying. A wider variety of enemies also keeps things from getting too repetitive, but there are some later levels where you’ll come close to getting sick of all the hacking and slashing…until you turn into a tiger and start killing people left and right as they piss themselves in fear, that is.



The job minigames are still there, though all of them with the exception of one are now old-school 8-bit games that you may swear you played or possibly even owned on the NES when you were a kid. With a few exceptions, you’ll keep coming back to them, not just for the cash to buy clothes, but also to get a better high score and just because they’re simply fun. Training at the gym has also been given the 8-bit treatment. But if that’s not your thing, there’s also Travis’s cat Jeane, who seriously needs to lose weight, and an overhead space shooter based on Travis’s favorite anime, Bizarre Jelly 5! There’s no shortage of things to do when you’re not too busy hacking people to pieces.

Graphics receive quite the upgrade too, with a much more streamlined presentation, though it still has that lo-fi, somewhat ugly look to it. Some people may hate that, but I love it, and I feel like it’s a part of the game’s overall style. There are no real design “mistakes” in Suda51’s games, they’re almost always deliberate decisions, but that’s another story entirely. The voice acting is just as good as in the first game, and the script is chock full of great, quotable lines, while the music has gotten harder, darker, more guitar-driven to suit Travis’s quest for bloody vengeance.

While it is the most accessible of Suda51’s games, it still has its fair share of weird bits. The bosses don’t seem to have as much personality as the (very talkative) assassins from the first game, but they’ve certainly gotten stranger. You’ll find yourself fighting a football player and his cheerleading squad in a giant robot, a schoolgirl who is your biggest fan and wields a flute/double-beamed lightsaber, a ghost, and more. You can turn into a tiger, as I mentioned before. Takashi Miike, the infamous Japanese director, makes a cameo appearance. A guy whose head you cut off gets back up and has a conversation with you. And there’s still more where that came from.

As much as I’ve been praising it, it’s still flawed. I mentioned the repetitive later levels, and some of the boss battles almost feel like an afterthought. Also, while the game gives you the chance to play as Shinobu, an assassin from the first game who can actually jump unlike Travis, her levels are annoying and you want to just get her levels over with to get back to Travis. The camera still isn’t perfect, but then, I have yet to play a videogame with a perfect camera, y’know?



It seems at once both wilder than the first game, but also tamer, strangely. Both games are the product of putting all of Suda51’s favorite things and influences into a blender, devouring the concoction, and crapping it back out, which he has stated more than once in interviews. You can tell that too, especially because the first game felt like a massive explosion went off in your face, an explosion of awesomeness. No More Heroes 2 feels much more focused and calculated, maybe too calculated. That “everything but the kitchen sink” mentality is still there to be sure, but it lacks a lot of the charm of the first game. Weird quirks and hiccups in the first game, like the barren open world, have been polished away, leaving a much more pristine game, but that feels almost wrong given the punk rock, dirty style that’s on display here.

Nevertheless though, it’s a strong successor to the Wii’s greatest sleeper hit, a dizzying bullet aimed straight at the brain, and a gaming experience that’s truly unforgettable. In this day and age where games are starting to feel all too much alike and blur together, it’s great when something so maverick and gung-ho kicks down the doors and does whatever the hell it wants with little regard for what’s mainstream and popular, and does it in a way that‘s badass.

Also, did I mention you can transform into a MOTHERFUCKING TIGER? Game of the year, right there.

[Brett]

You Should Be Reading DC Comics 'Red Circle' Series (and here's why)

Mave here. How's it going?

NOTE: This is basically a post about these two books put out by DC Comics on a monthly basis now -- The Shield and The Web. I'm no comic guru by any means and I've only recently really gotten into them. DC is pretty much the only stuff I read, but the stuff I read I really REALLY enjoy. The Shield and The Web are a part of a bigger picture in DC -- they are a part of this new team of superheros called "The Red Circle". Slowly but surely, they're getting phased into the DCU. Unfortunately, the books aren't selling very well right now so I thought I'd just do this post to talk about them a little. Anyways --

__ __ __

I have a friend who is a huge Captain America fan. For the past year I've heard him talk about all the great stuff Ed Brubaker has done with the series. Even if you're not a fan of Bucky taking up the mantle of Cap, I think it's hard to deny the quality that Brubaker tries to bring to the series. Killing Steve Rogers wasn't easy on anyone -- I'm not saying that like it hurt me personally, but killing any comic book character is never an easy decision. From what I can tell, Brubaker (and Marvel as a company) handled it very well and really elevated Bucky while paying tribute to the legacy that Steve Rogers had made.

Why am I mentioning this in a post about DC Comics? Because I don't read too much in Marvel. It's nothing against the company, but I grew up with DC and it's been difficult for me to find books on the Marvel side that really appeal to me. J. Michael Straczynski's run on Thor is FANTATSIC and I really love that, but I could never get into Cap. I always envied my friend a little because of the cool stories he was ready about a character that sounded like it had so much depth, yet (technically speaking) wore the banner of America on his shoulders without seeming...well...bad.

Sometime in mid 2009 while strolling through a comic book one day, I was just happened to look up on the shelf and notice this book. The cover caught my eye with how familiar the character looked -



I asked myself "What? What? Huh? What is this?" so then I reached for the issue and took a look. I bought the issue that very day with how good the art was alone. I knew nothing about the series or the character, but my reasoning was that "This is a new series starting up and this is issue #1. The character looks cool and it has a second feature. I'm sold." It was a purchase I have never regretted.

I went back to my dorm room, read the issue, and then found myself on various websites researching the character. I finally came to understand that this character "The Shield" was not in fact some random ripoff of Captain America that DC had just made up, but he was a character that actually PREDATES Captain America. The Shield is a character that dates back to 1940 (which, at least according to the Wiki, beats Captain America's debut by 14 months). I'm not spouting this off to act like "Shield > Captain America" or anything, but it just surprised me.

Apparently, DC had acquired a number of these "Red Circle" characters in a buyout and was going to phase them into the main DCU.

Basically, this was a chance to read about all new characters coming into DC with various new series and read them RIGHT AS THEY STARTED. It just seems like to good of an opportunity to pass up.

Right now, there are only two monthly series among the Red Circle (their group name) characters.



From left to right we have the Hangman, the Inferno, the Shield, and the Web.

Each month we have an issue with a main feature on the Shield with a second feature on the Inferno, plus another issue with the main feature on the Web with a second feature on the Hangman. That's 4 stories about 4 characters in only two books. Each issue is only $3.99, so you're technically getting 4 stories for only 8 dollars a month. I can afford that, and it's a purchase I'm making that I thoroughly enjoy.

Let me give you a quick rundown of each character to try and flesh them out.



The Shield is a human weapon (he doesn't like to be called a superhero). Joseph Higgins is a US soldier in Afghanistan who, along with serving his country, is doing his own detective work on the side to search for his missing father. While on the battlefield, he is seriously wounded and on the verge of death. To save his life, the US Government experiments on him and fuses a power-suit with nanotechnology onto his body. The suit gives him enhanced physical abilities in every department, along with flight (IE your basic superhero stuff). He is a very likable character because the patriotic vibe isn't shoved down your throat. The writers seem to know that this is already a guy wearing a giant USA costume, so the story is more about a guy with a big-picture goal in mind while going on these undercover military missions just for kicks.

Not your cup of tea? Then try -



The Web is a guy named John Raymond. He grows up as a kid with a silver spoon in his mouth. He is born into a rich family in the US with a brother who outclasses him in every way. Not only is his older brother compassionate, succesful, and just an overall good guy, but he loves his younger brother John. John looks up to his brother, but is comparrable to a male 'Paris Hilton' if you will. His brother tragically is killed, and John Raymond steps up and accepts responsibility. He takes the oppurtunity to put his wealth to good use and fight for justice. He cleans up his act and becomes the Web, fighting crime and actually maintaining a website called "www.summontheweb.com" to keep in contact with people who need his help.

The Web is basically this formula: Paris Hilton personality + Tragic death + Money + Guilt + Will to do the right thing = become a superhero called The Web.

Those two are the main "front and center" guys of the Red Circle books, but each of them come with a second feature in the Inferno and the Hangman.



The Hangman is a story about a guy who was around back in some old generic Western setting. He is more or less cursed by something that happens that makes him the Hangman, a guy who is there to deliver the noose to those who deserve it. He is reincarnated in the form of some Doctor in the modern DCU and when the sun sets, the Hangman takes over. He has some spiritual, dark powers and can hide in the shadows and do some cool stuff with fear. You can probably see where I'm going with this, but I promise this guy is much more intersting than he sounds. One of his first stories was going after some Yakuza guys and he fought a water demon thing. It was cool -- just take my word for it. You'll have to forgive me because his alternate identity's name leaves me right now. I'll get back to you on that.

The Inferno is about a guy named Frank Verrano. His past is very muddled -- all we really know about the guy is that he's been experimented on and was going to be used as some human weapon of some form, but he has lost his memories. He can completely engulf himself in flames and physically change shape to this more muscular looking form with a crazy looking mustache, but I swear to you it's awesome. He can't quite control his powers yet, but his story has been my favorite thus far. It's basically been one big mystery of him trying to escape from these people who are hunting him down all while trying to figure out his powers and learn of his past.

And that's basically it.

If they don't sound very appealing -- maybe they're not for you, or maybe I'm not doing them justice. I found the appeal to be in the fact that this is a new super hero team that is on the verge of forming and I can be there right from the start. The stories are great, the art is great, the characters are great, and it's just a quality product IMO.

Unfortunately, the sales of the Shield and the Web haven't been spectacular. Some more Red Circle characters are going to be phased in as second features in the books, giving the Inferno and the Hangman a break for a while.

If nothing else, you should at least try and find the one shots that were done by J. Michael Straczynski in 2009. He did a one shot issue for each of the 4 main Red Circle characters and basically set them on a course that their volumes would follow.

I just wanted to get the word out about these guys because I'm really enjoying it and I think there are some people out there who just haven't given them a chance yet.

Anyways, thanks for reading!

COOL SONG OF THE DAY -

2009! It's over!

2009 has come and gone. To commemorate, here’s my top ten favorite things from last year. I know this post is late, but it's still January, so I think we're okay.

10. Mutemath – Armistice: From their early garage-band days in New Orleans to their debut self-titled album on Teleprompt records, and their eventual current-day signing with Warner Bros. Records, Mute Math has come a long way. Armistice, while not the album that many expected, reflects their evolution as a group of musicians and “band of Christians” who are not a “Christian” band. It's a fun album. Don't think too much about the fact that they were on the Twilight soundtrack, and you'll find little to complain about.


9. Shadow Complex (Xbox Live Arcade): A Metroidvania-style dungeon crawling platforming combat heavy adventure, Shadow Complex is obviously difficult to describe in few words. With an adventure than can easily last eight to ten hours in a straight run, and upwards of fifteen if the player takes the time to explore everything the titular underground installation has to offer, Shadow Complex is well worth its weight in Gold – or Microsoft Points.


8. Star Trek (JJ Abrams): JJ Abrams alternate/parallel universe/reboot/whatever the hell you want to call it was met with both critical acclaim and box office success. Many decried the liberties taken with the story and the apparent overuse of lens flares, but there’s practically no denying that 2009’s Star Trek was a thrill ride unmatched by any other film last year. Sorry, Transformers.


7. David Crowder – Church Music: Crowder is back. The long anticipated follow up to 2007's Remedy is rife with what's made the DGB so well loved by the CCM community, while doing a fair job of avoiding the trappings of stagnant repetition that so often plague it. This is no “Jesus Messiah”, no Amazing Grace rewrite. It may not be the genre defying masterpiece that was A Collision, but it is very much its own animal. With tracks like Phos Hilron (Oh Gladdening Light[an updated version of the first Christian hymn ever known to exist]) a cover of Flyleaf's All Around Me (Lacey of Flyleaf also sings backup in one track) and whole table original pieces give Church Music a many-faceted and addictive quality. The collectors edition also came with an autographed vinyl of the album, which my friend Ryan gave me for Christmas.


6. Halo 3: ODST: By no means the best game of 2009, and not the most innovative (okay, not really innovative at all), ODST may seem rather mediocre when stacked up against other shooters – hell, other games in general – released during 2009, but there’s no denying that it was fun. ODST humanized the Halo universe in a way not done previously within the games in the series. We even reviewed it for you.


5. N9ne: CGI films about sentient toys, animals and automobiles have run a dime a dozen since Toy Story popularized the medium back in the day. N9ne, however, is not your run of the mill talking [insert object here] family film. Set in a post apocalyptic future where Humanity is extinct, N9ne follows a band of sentient robots as they struggle to survive and complete the mission left to them by their now-dead creator. It’s a moving story, with a gloomy art style and atmosphere, and some cool monster designs to boot.


4. Left 4 Dead 2: The best way to make a game just might be to hand the player a gun and say “OMG ZOMBIES.” This year we fought Nazi zombies, Dr. Ned’s zombies, and top-down indie zombies (I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MBIES 1N IT!!!!). But Left 4 Dead 2 doesn’t complicate things, by doing what its predecessor did so well and adding new gameplay modes and elements to keep the idea fresh. With three other players, either human or computer controlled, you are placed in a massive level and told, “OMG ZOMBIES.” Then you kill them. That’s about all there is to it, but the formula never seems to get old. The addition of new weapons such as chainsaws, guitars, a variety of new guns and modifiers such as laser sights and incendiary ammo all ensure that players will be surviving this apocalypse for a long time to come.


3.Mini Ninjas: perhaps the sleeper hit of the year, Mini Ninjas is a deep, rich adventure game disguised as a kiddie title. You are placed in control of Hiro, a ninja sent by his master to rescue his ninja buddies and defeat the evil samurai warlord. As you defeat the warlord’s minions, they transform back into cute forest animals. Then you platform for awhile and fight some more minions. Simple as it sounds, there’s much more to it. As you progress you gain access to Hiro’s friends’ unique powers and abilities as they are rescued. You also unlock Kuji magic spells and items to aid you in your quest. The interesting part is that any and all of the items and spells are rarely, if ever necessary, allowing the player to tackle the game’s individual challenges in whatever way best suits their playing style. The ability to switch ninjas on the fly can make for some interesting combat scenarios. Intriguing elements like a hat that deflects arrows AND can be used as a boat, and the ability to create healing potions and other items using “alchemy” mean that Mini Ninjas has a lot to offer anyone who’s not put off by it’s cutsie art style and presentation. And if we’re being honest, the game is just so darn cute.


2. Halo Wars: Halo, the first person shooter than practically made the Xbox was originally intended to be an RTS. While the formula has never really worked on a console before, the late Ensemble Studios proved that it can, providing that players are willing to sacrifice some of the resource management that has so long been a staple of the RTS genre. Ensemble Studios brought us the Age titles (Age of Empires and Age of Mythology), and know what they’re doing when it comes to RTS gaming. The Halo universe translates well into a top-down battlefield, giving players a new look at the weapons, characters and settings that make up the Halo mythology. The Master Chief is nowhere to be seen, but I doubt you'll miss him.


1. Borderlands: In terms of graphical stylishness, solid gameplay mechanics, originality, approach to multiplayer, sheer fun and myriad other concerns that are tried and weighed by reviewers and players alike, Borderlands stood apart from the crowd in 2009. Seamlessly merging RPG leveling and looting with the frantic instant-satisfaction of first person shooters, Borderlands is a title that offers a lot – a LOT – to anyone willing to put the time into its campaign. New-game-plus functions and the most player-friendly co-op I've ever seen, as well as four character classes with unique abilities and playstyles ensure that you'll be returning to the wastes of Pandora for years to come. Also, who doesn't love Claptrap?


HONORABLE MENTIONS (Almost, but not quite): A Day To Remember – Homesick (Yes, If It Means A Lot to you is great, but the rest of the album runs together), Watchmen (So close, yet so far. I want my Brain Monster back.), Resident Evil 5 (RE4 should have just been moved to Africa. You didn't need to change anything, Capcom), Lost Planet 2 Demo (LP2 would probably be on this list if it hadn't been delayed. Twice.)

2009 in Review! Sort of..

I had the perfect end-of-the-year article written, intending to go up BEFORE New Year’s Day, not after, but bad luck and a fried computer put an end to that. So let’s try this again. First off, here’s a list of every review I did this year, in case you missed a few:

The Anubis Gates
Steamboy, Blade II, Dune, Repo! The Genetic Opera soundtrack, Endless Ocean
Repo! The Genetic Opera
Kingdom Hospital
Watchmen
Scott Pilgrim, Crecy, Hellspawn, Sky Doll, the Walking Dead
MadWorld and House of the Dead: Overkill
Tokyo Gore Police
Ultimate Wolverine Vs Hulk
Mother 3
PS3 demos for Dante’s Inferno and Bayonetta
Stalker

…Damn, that’s a lot more than I remember doing.

Anyways! We’re not going to do things the way I did last time. We’ll review things differently.

MOVIES:
District 9- This is my favorite movie of the year, and in my opinion the best. I wanted to do a full review for it so badly, but never got the chance. Tight, fast-paced, realistic, gruesome, smart, there is nothing wrong with this film in my eyes.
Friday the 13th- I almost forgot I saw this. Why did I see this? Have you seen the other Friday the 13th films? Then you know what to expect.
Star Trek- Tied with the next movie for my second/third favorite of the year. Sleek, extremely entertaining, and successful in making Star Trek relevant again.
Zombieland- The funniest movie I’ve seen in a long time, breathing fresh life into the overstuffed and stale zombie genre. Zombie films are getting to be a dime a dozen these days, but this one is so worth watching.
Coraline- A grand stop-motion animated adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s children’s novel. Very pretty stuff.
Avatar- 3D. Very epic. Lots of action and explosions, 8-foot blue cat-like aliens, and a dumb story. Worth seeing once, but that’s it.

This was also the year I decided that I love body horror. How I didn’t realize it before thanks to films like Tetsuo the Iron Man and Slither, I don’t know, but Wikus Van der Merwe’s transformation over the course of District 9, David Cronenburg’s fucked up classic Videodrome, and my review of Tokyo Gore Police confirmed this, along with a novel I’ll mention later.

VIDEOGAMES:
New Super Mario Bros. Wii- Only halfway through it, but so far it’s incredibly fun, and the multiplayer aspect makes things equal parts more fun and frustrating. Teamwork wins, but it can also send friendships crashing and burning. Quite possibly my Game of the Year.
Muramasa: The Demon Blade- Runner-up for GOTY, considering how many hours I put into it. Yeah, this side scrolling hack-n’-slash is a bit repetitive and the environments repeat themselves, but it’s a beautiful game with a unique story, great classical Japanese style, and addicting and simple combat.
Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure- Best DS game of the year, and I bet you didn’t play it. Great little side scrolling platformer with a puzzle twist to it. EA has started making stunningly original games lately, but no one seems to pay much attention.
Retro Game Challenge- Another one nobody really played, but still great. 5 super-retro games in one, including a dazzling vertical spaceship shooter that I love a lot, which brings back a lot of memories of playing videogames as a little kid.
Bit.Trip Beat & Bit.Trip Core- This Wiiware-exclusive series is excellent. Core is much stronger than Beat, but both are quite challenging and unique, while serving as great throwbacks to old Atari games and a personal favorite of mine, Rez.
Scribblenauts- When I first bought it, I thought it was the best thing ever. YOU CAN SUMMON CTHULHU. And make him kill stuff! But after going through the first handful of worlds, it just started getting tedious, annoyingly repetitive, and just dumb, so I never finished it. All that hype and potential, squandered.

MUSIC:
I bought three new albums this year, all with a lot of promise, but faltering nevertheless. Mastodon’s Crack the Skye ditched the band’s usual hardcore metal style and got a lot more prog, with longer songs that rambled too much and lacked the brutality evident in their previous album. The Mars Volta’s album Octahedron is most definitely their softest, tamest album, with very little meandering chaos and madness, and while it has a couple of my new favorite songs by the band, it still feels a bit lackluster, but is nevertheless solid. Gallows came out with a second album, Grey Britain, and it’s miles above their first album, much tighter, more focused and aggressive, less grating on the ears, but it can wear out its welcome pretty quickly. I spent most of this year just getting videogame music and digging through Radiohead’s entire body of work, along with getting into K.M.F.D.M. and Portishead, yes.

COMICS:
This is the year I finally grew sick of superhero comics, or more specifically, the river of crap being spat out by Marvel and DC, with the exception of Wednesday Comics, but I only picked all of that up after it hit the dollar bins. My comic of the year happens to be the second volume of the Umbrella Academy, Dallas. I consider the first volume, Apocalypse Suite, to be one of the best damn comics ever written, and Dallas manages to top it. Great art, brilliant twists, great characters, crazy ideas, and exceptional pacing. This comic blows me away. The fifth volume of Scott Pilgrim was also phenomenal, and really leaves me worried about what is going to happen in the sixth and final volume. Both books really get you invested in their characters in ways few other comics do. Growing weary of superhero stuff, I’ve started wading through more obscure, weirder stuff. Lots of foreign sci fi comics were acquired, several issues of Heavy Metal and Epic Illustrated, stuff like that, none of it as satisfying as I would have hoped, but still better than I imagine Dark Reign is.

NOVELS:
I read two new novels that came out this year. Well, one and a half. First was the Strain, written by one of my favorite directors, Guillermo del Toro, alongside Chuck Hogan. It’s a more realistic look at vampires, and it starts off in a very brilliant, terrifying way, but loses a lot of steam thanks to awkward pacing and characters I just really didn’t care for. I only got halfway through it. Second, we have the Death of Bunny Munro, written by Nick Cave. It’s strange, dark, depressing, perverted, pretty much like Nick Cave’s music, only not quite as engrossing or satisfying. I went through a few older sci fi novels this year, though, my favorite being Antibodies by David J. Skal. It’s sci fi with a few doses of body horror shot in for good measure, fast, bleak, decadent, and relentless. Excellent stuff.

…Aaaaaannnndddd that’s it. I wonder what my first review for 2010 will be?

[Brett]

Stalker (1979)

“There are no such thing as facts. Especially here.”

If you have a short attention span and can only watch films with tits, explosions, rapid editing, and loud music, turn away now and go read my review for Tokyo Gore Police instead. This one’s a much different beast, and yet it’s my second favorite movie of all time. Every aspect of this movie resonates with me in a way I can't explain.

Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, the Russian director responsible for the original Solaris (you may be familiar with the remake that has George Clooney in it), Stalker is a slow, quiet, thought-provoking film released in 1979, based off of a science fiction novel entitled Roadside Picnic.

The story is deliciously simple: Three men, a writer, a professor, and the titular Stalker (who refer to each other by their professions, you never get their real names) head out to a forbidden place called the Zone, in order to find a room where it is said your innermost wish will come true. The theory is that the Zone is a place that was hit with a meteorite, and the town that used to be there was obliterated, so the government roped it off. No one lives there. The only wildlife are birds, which are mostly just heard, rarely seen. Most everyone who was sent in, including the Russian military, never came out. People just disappear.

"My dear, our world is hopelessly boring. Therefore, there can be no telepathy, or apparitions, or flying saucers, nothing like that. The world is ruled by cast-iron laws, and it's insufferably boring. Alas, those laws are never violated. They don't know how to be violated. So don't even hope for a UFO, that would've been too interesting."

It’s also an incredibly beautiful place. The beginning of the movie is filmed in black and white, through a sepia filter, adding to the grit and dirt of the Stalker’s little shack, the rundown bar they meet up in, and the grungy military checkpoints they have to sneak and rush through in order to get into the Zone. 37 minutes in, when they finally reach the Zone, the film goes full color, so you can see it in all it’s splendor. The grass is incredibly tall, with a faint mist in the distance, and rundown old buildings that have been reclaimed by nature over time. The first thing this reminded me of are two of the most beautiful videogames I've ever played: Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. Gorgeous, desolate stretches of land with not a single soul in sight. The Stalker comments that it’s the quietest place in the whole world, and one can certainly agree, as all you hear are the twittering of birds and the beautiful, haunting score of the film. It’s all shot very beautifully, lovingly, with long takes and slow camera work that let you drink in the scenery and the characters.



As beautiful as it is, the Zone is also dangerous. It constantly shifts, mutates, like a labyrinth, and you cannot make a direct path to the room. "How far away is the room?" one of the characters asks the Stalker, who knows his way around, and he responds, "straight ahead, it's about 200 meters, but we cannot go straight." At one point he explains to them that the Zone does not allow good people or evil people to pass through it, only wretched men who have lost all hope. The Zone is treated like a creature, a living place. You never get a sense of just how dangerous it is, and that's probably one of the film's only flaws, but it is beautiful beyond what words can describe. The interiors themselves are amazing, old, ruined, and you just sense that there's...something in it. You know the place is alive, you can feel that it is a character just as much as the three men who are exploring it. There are weird bits too, like a telephone that mysteriously works, in a room that inexplicably has electricity, and a scene where the Zone actually supposedly speaks to Writer.

"You’re not even capable of thinking in abstractions."

Much of the dialogue is very poetic, philosophical. It’s rather dense stuff. Writer talks about how he fears he's losing inspiration, how he thinks of his readers, how men only write when they are in doubt. He’s a cynic and a skeptic, a bit of an ass, but still completely, utterly human. There's a beautiful monologue he delivers, sitting at a well in a huge, cavernous room where the floor is covered completely in sand dunes, after he traverses through a long, dark, terrifying tunnel referred to as the “meat mincer.” All three of the characters have incredibly wonderful, private, moving moments where their emotions and ideals are laid out bare for the viewer to see, and it's heart-wrenching. These are not young, plucky guys in their 20's, all three of them are aged, weathered, beaten men, far from ignorant, but not quite intellectuals. Just as Stalker says, wretched. I think it's something that the Zone brings out in them, that makes it so easy to see right into their hearts and know what their souls are like...



Once it was over, I could only just sit, and think, and breathe. It was amazing. I’ve watched it 3 times since then, finally acquiring a DVD copy as a Christmas gift just the other day, and it still never fails to hypnotize me and leave me thinking and musing. It is admittedly a very long, slow movie (around two and a half hours), where things happen more or less in real time, with long, continuous takes, and admittedly not a whole lot happens outside of the characters traversing the landscape while talking, but that doesn’t in any way diminish the experience.

Really, if you watch it, I mean, actually watch it, and it doesn't do anything to you, if it doesn't make you feel something deep inside of you, make you think, or anything...you are not human…

The film is easily found on Google Video in its entirety (this is how I watched it the first three times), and while it’s a little compressed and the timing with the subtitles is a tad off halfway through the film, it’s still worth it. The DVD has greatly improved audio and visuals, but the print they used wasn’t in the best condition, so there are some vertical lines that are pretty clear in certain shots, colors and lighting will fade in and out, but in all honesty, it does not diminish the experience at all. This is a must-see movie, especially if you consider yourself a bit of a film snob or connoisseur. Sit back, relax, and take it in. This is a true work of art.

[Brett]

Flash: Rebirth (Series Review Thus Far)

I'm currently a student writer for one of the websites at my college. This past semester (which is ALMOST over for me) we had to write a certain amount of blog entries to be featured on the main site. We were free to write about pretty much anything we wanted, so I decided to write a little review of the comic series "Flash: Rebirth" that is ongoing right now and is being written by Geoff Johns.

Keep in mind - this is an article for a college website where I'm trying to explain "comic book logic" to an audience of teachers and other staff at my school, so if it seems weird at parts, you'll have to forgive me.

Anyways, check it out!

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Growing up, I relied on many things to escape the reality around me. I would often get home from school and play a video game for hours, just diving into the experience and taking in all it had to offer. It wasn't that I hated real life around me by any means, but to me, there was so much more that the world had to offer in other forms of entertainment.

I loved playing soccer and being outside with my friends, but if I didn't have things like video games or comics to fall back on, I don't know what I would have done.

The only reason I even say any of this is to explain where I'm coming from. Being 21 years old now and feeling more mature than I ever have in my life, I still love to kick back any time of the day in a comfy chair and just read a good comic book.

One of my favorite super heroes growing up was "The Flash". I'm sure in some way or another you've heard of him -- he was the guy who wore a red outfit with yellow lightning bolts and ran super fast. Well, in current comic book continuity, the Flash is experiencing quite the event. A series known as "The Flash: Rebirth" is taking place withing DC Comics and it's more or less a "reboot" to generate a following in the Flash again by bringing back the comic book character, Barry Allen.

So I'll get you up to speed here :
1. The first person in comics to take the name of Flash was Jay Garrick. He was a guy who wore a metal cap with wings that resembled something that one of the Roman Gods (such as Mercury) may have worn. He could run at super speeds and used his powers to fight crime and do good.
2. The second person to be use the name Flash was Barry Allen. His costume is by far the most popular and is the one you're likely familiar with. Barry was a police scientist who was struck by lightning while working on a case and gained super speed. Like Jay, he used his speed to fight crime and do good and was also friends with other heroes such as the Green Lantern, Superman, Aquaman, and so on. Barry's character was killed off in a massive storyline called "Crisis on Infinite Earths" that happened in 1985.
3. The third person to take up the name of Flash is my favorite, Wally West. Wally was originally Barry's sidekick known as "Kid Flash" and was similar to Robin in the way Robin was Batman's partner. Wally took up the mantle of the Flash after Barry passed on. I was born in 1988, so I grew up reading about Wally West as the Flash.
4. The fourth person to become the Flash is Bart Allen. Bart is actually Barry's grandson from the future (don't ask) and was actually killed while he was using the Flash mantle, yet due to time travel was able to come back from the future AGAIN and has returned as Kid Flash, sidekick to Barry and Wally.

Confused? Don't feel surprised.

Needless to say, the legacy of the hero known as the Flash is quite confusing and not very accessible to the outside world. That is whas the storyline "Flash: Rebith" was designed to solve. A writer for DC known as Geoff Johns had great success by making the Green Lantern series more simplified and accessible to all readers in a series he did called "Green Lantern: Rebirth" a few years ago, so the head decision-makers at DC thought it would be a good idea for him to "fix" the Flash series, if you will.

Basically, Flash: Rebirth is a 6-issue series that would explain how the character Barry Allen has come back to life and how he must deal with living after being dead for so long.

How did Barry come back to life? In a comic book story known as "Final Crisis" that happened in 2008, Barry returned from the future and helped Wally and many others take out a super villain known as Darkseid.

It probably seems very uninviting to the outside world, but to a comic book fan it eventually sinks in.

I actually find the series to have a great concept -- how does someone who has been thought to be dead for SO LONG all of the sudden deal with coming back to life? And someone with SUPER SPEED at that?

Much of the Flash mythology deals with how frustrating it is for someone with super speed to slow down and deal with real life situations, so having to come back to life and deal with others who thought you were dead for so long -- how could anyone handle that?

Thus far, the single issues have been great. As I said before, the writing is done by Geoff Johns and the art is done by Ethan Van Schiver.

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5 of the 6 issues have hit store shelves and more or less, this is what has happened.

We know that Barry Allen, as a child, was a good hearted kid who enjoyed reading comics and spending time with his family. He returned home one day to find that his mother had been murdered, and the police conclude that Barry's father is the culprit. Barry grows up knowing that Barry's father is innocent and dedicates his life to proving this. He becomes a police scientist and gets a reputation for always being late and never leaving on time. The whole concept of a schedule could not be farther from his mind.

We see how Barry got his powers, being struck by lightning near chemicals in the police lab, and get a quick run down of the Flash legacy. As of right now, there are actually 4 living humans who go by the Flash name - Jay Garrick, Barry Allen, Wally West, and Bart Allen (with Bart being KID Flash). All of these characters, along with some other "Speedsters" work together to fight crime and basically be superheroes.

A character known as "Professor Zoom" (with his secret identity being Eobard Thawne) is the main villain in the story, and a super villain at that. I could spend pages talking about his backstory, but basically all you need to know is that he is a sick and twisted character with super speed and is bent on ruining the legacy of the Flash.

I hate to spoil the entire series thus far, but we just found out in the last issue that Zoom is the one responsible for murdering Barry's mother. In other words, Professor Zoom actually TRAVELED BACK IN TIME to murder Barry's mother because of how much he hates Barry Allen.

As issue 6 is not yet out, the story isn't done, and things are not looking good for our heroes. Wally West's son seems to have lost his super powers and Barry Allen's wife, Iris, is the next victim of Zoom. The issue ended with a disturbing panel of Zoom saying "As long as I kill Iris, everything will be alright."

I know how overwhelming and boring this must seem to someone who doesn't read comics but I can't stress enough how important this series is for the character of the Flash. I grew up reading about Wally West, but in recent years sales of the series haven't been great. With Barry Allen back, the series has a real chance to be more accessible to new readers and possibly boost the legacy of the Flash onto the level of someone like Superman or Batman.

Issue 6 is slated to come out just a few days before Christmas of 2009, and I'm really looking forward to the last issue. Even more exciting is that next year a new volume of "The Flash" comic series will start and it has all the potential to be the best volume yet.

Rise of The Argonauts

I like Greek mythology. I always have. When I heard that there was a game based around the legend of Jason and the Golden Fleece, I was intrigued. It took me awhile to get around to playing it, however – big name titles like Gears of War 2, Halo 3: ODST and Borderlands have occupied my 360's disk drive for the last several months. I've also taken to revisiting old favorites like Lost Planet, and these combined have maintained a rather complete monopoly on my play time. But Rise of The Argonauts has been on my “to try” list for awhile, and with its used price dropping to $17.99 at Gamestop, this seemed like a pretty good time to try it.

Rise of The Argonauts is, at its core, Mass Effect set to the tune of Greek mythology. When I heard summaries like this used to the describe the title prior to playing it, I wasn't sure how to feel about it.
Most of the elements that made Mass Effect (and other Bioware RPGs, for that matter) noteworthy are here. Exploration of multiple environments, a cast of interchangeable party members (and cutscenes which differ depending on your choice of party), an action based combat system as opposed to a turn based one, and heavy emphasis on a semi-functional conversation simulator as a means of campaign progression.

It seems a simple enough question – did you like Mass Effect? If so, you might like Argonauts. Did you not like Mass Effect? Then leave Argonauts alone. I firmly believe, however, that one would be sorely mistaken if this is the basis by which they decide whether or not to play this game. I will you why.

Rise of The Argonauts is an action-RPG, and there's no denying it. You will explore several dungeons, acquire party members as you progress, fight an ancient evil, save mankind, et cetera so forth, but you will also do so in a bastardized retelling of Greek Mythology. Many familiar names are present – Hercules, Achilles, Argos, Medusa, Perseus, and of course the player's character, Jason. Their stories are not preserved in the most accurate fashion, but we're not here for a history lesson, and only the most steadfastly prude mythology buffs are likely to take offense. Can you fight minotaurs with Achilles and Hercules at your side? Yes. Is it awesome? Yes.



While we're on the subject of battle, the combat system warrants close examination. As I've said, battles are not turn based, but rather action oriented, giving the player direct control over Jason as he cuts, bashes and stabs his way through legions of Ionian mercenaries, Satyrs, Tartarus Fiends, Blacktongue sorcerers, and then some.
You have no control whatsoever over your party members. This is frustrating at times, particularly in situations where enemies must be defeated in a certain place, but Hercules and Pan are insistent upon running into the green ooze which makes the Tartarus Fiends invincible and fighting them there, instead of following your lead and luring them onto dry land where they can actually be killed.
To be fair though, this only happened once. Support characters do their job well, and contribute a great deal to the melee in even the most frantic of combat situations. They score genuine kills, and take the some of heat off of Jason when the fighting gets thick. Each character (Atalanta, Pan, Hercules, and Achilles) has their own unique fighting style and special abilities. They don't level up however, and you can't change their equipment, almost relegating them to an aspect of the scenery, so you probably won't spend too much time in deciding which to take into battle.
As far as what you can control in combat, Jason himself is your sole vehicle. This is where Argonauts really shines, presenting us with a combat system that is both simple and engrossing. Attack combinations are executed through simple button mashing, and pretty much every enemy in the game is defeated in a fashion one would utilize in even the simplest hack 'n slash/beat 'em up title. Different attack and weapon combinations yield different results each time a new button is added to the mix, and with a mace, sword and spear at your fingertips, you'll find no shortage of ways to dispatch your foes. Multi-weapon combos are also present (switching weapons mid-attack for extra damage) and Jason's shield is used for both attack (decapitations, specifically) and defense. You will also gain access to special God Powers as you play, which change the flow of combat in a variety of ways. Argonauts is a gory battlefield, and a fun one at that. Even so, you'll probably find yourself using the same patterns over and over again (I'm particularly fond of the spear thrust followed by a shield decapitation), and the fighting wears thin after an hour or two of play time. If I had to summarize it, I'd say it lies somewhere between God of War and Dynasty Warriors, equal parts intricate and repetitive.
The leveling and stat progression system is heavily streamlined, giving you more time to focus on the quest for the Golden Fleece itself. You'll spend a minimal amount of time managing Jason's stats, a task which is quite simply performed by assigning skill points in the form of your completed sidequests and story missions. As opposed to a skill tree, you are presented with the concept of devoting any given quest to one of Jason's four patron gods (Apollo, Ares, Athena and Hermes). Each god or goddess enhances different aspects of Jason's combat efficiency, meaning that you have to choose whether or not you want to devote Manslayer IV (this is actually the name of a sidequest) to Ares for more attack power, or to Apollo for fast health regeneration. It's not a complicated system, and with a minimal amount of planning, you'll find yourself in control of a fairly badass Jason by the end of your fourth dungeon. The system works well, and plays into an emphasis on a casual gaming as opposed to RPG level-grinding.
Sound, graphics, camera and play controls, save-and-load and their ilk are all competent to well constructed. Autosave is ever present throughout the main quest. Cutscenes are well animated. Technically speaking Rise of The Argonauts is almost watertight, with only a few hiccups to hold it back. The occasional invisible wall (why can't I go BETWEEN the pillars instead of AROUND them?) and camera spasm (it's having a seizure because I took out my sword!) prevent Argonauts from being called structurally sound, but you'll hardly notice. If you're in the mood, you'll probably spend the majority of your time talking to the dozens of NPCs and looking forward to your next fight, as opposed to bemoaning a few annoying glitches.


It almost seems wrong to devote so much attention to a game that borrows so liberally from other titles. The aforementioned examples (God of War, Mass Effect, Dynasty Warriors) are all obvious examples of previous, successful titles that clearly influenced the Argonauts team as this game was created. You can call it a Mass Effect ripoff all you like, but as I plunged through the jungles of Saria and felled foes by the dozen in Mycenae's arena, a thought occurred to me: Rise of The Argonauts is trying most fervently to be its own game. It fails only because of the many games to come before it that did in a revolutionary way what it does so passively. This is not a soulless cash-in, but rather a sort homage. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Rise of The Argonauts is a love letter.
And besides, if a game based on classic Christian literature can bleed God of War so shamelessly, then I see no reason why Jason and The Argonauts can't take a cue from Captain Shepperd.