As one of the first few video games I ever played and loved, it shocked me that I never actually had a chance to see Super Mario Bros. - the movie. I understand that there was probably a good reason why: SMB is a confused, muddled mess of a flick that somehow manages to be entertaining for all it's B-movie trappings. It's such a departure from what the film should have portrayed, that one wonders what the producers were thinking. It's not exactly a re-imagining, or a direct-transaltion. And there's some pretty cool effects that actually justify some marginally substantial production values, yet one wonders why they didn't go the extra mile? Oh well, it is what it is, and what it is, is, well...
When dinosaurs disappeared from the Earth, the meteor that caused it actually sent them to a different dimension. In this dimension, the dinosaurs evolved to become sentient, and even resembled humans (huh?). They also dominated another sentient species descended from fungi (...huh?), with the help of dictator King Koopa. The Mushroom King sent his only daughter, Princess Daisy, into the humans dimension, and she grew up in a relatively normal existence. Meanwhile, Daisy somehow befriends two Brooklyn plumber brothers named Mario and Luigi. When Koopa orders Daisy's capture, the lovestruck Luigi (...does not compute) and the sarcastic Mario chase down Koopa into his own dimension to get her back.
So, it sounds like your typical SMB plot, the problem is, the film's tone is scattered all over the place - it's too dark to be a kid's movie, and too stupid for teenagers and adults to legitimately enjoy. And the production values; they range from terrible to somewhat interesting, but they're honestly no better than a Nickelodeon TV movie. I think the only smart choice the producers made was to scale back the video game aspects, in order to compensate for their (somewhat dubious) creativity around the budget and script. I'm sure most of the actors tried their best in this, but knowing how their pedigree would turn out in later years for people like John Leguizamo, they must be somewhat embarrased in how their performances turned out. Yet, while I admit SMB is a ridiculous mess of a movie, it entertained me on the veritable "so-bad-it's-pretty-good" sort-of level. Gamers may want to stay far away, as the deviations from the source material may make them cry. Everyone else...avoid if you hate bad movies, I guess.
Not convinced? Maybe the cheesy, early-90s trailer will sway your opinion -
I'm sure many of you are thinking, "What the heck? There's a video game on The Great Gatsby?!" And yes indeed there is, and while it's not the most original thing in my opinion, it certainly is something to be realized. I first encountered this game through a friend on Facebook via the feed. Apparently, as the story goes, this was a game for the NES found at a yard sale by some people who decided to upload the ROM onto a flash file. Dated around 1990, it would appear to be, from the description, a cancelled platformer by some anonymous company. Now, mind you, some of this information I take with a grain of salt, the people could have just made this game completely on their own, but their lips are dubiously sealed. No matter, though. Because this is some interesting stuff...
For those of you unfamilliar with the story (shame on you, if you're not). Great Gatsby is an amazing book by F. Scott Fitzgerald about a young drifter in New York who gets a taste of 1920s high society after being taken under the wing by a wealthy man named Gatsby. What follows in the game is a very loose adaptation of sorts as you battle your way through parties, train rides, etc. in what is an odd but engaging mix between Mega Man and Super Mario Bros.. You pick up coins for points, get a hat for a powerup to your boomerang-like weapon, and duke your way through flappers, waiters, bootleggers, and other 1920s archetypes. It's incredibly campy, but there's a certain charm that kept me playing, and although I haven't beaten it yet, I will, eventually.
For those of you who are particularly interested - Click Here to play.
Wow, this is Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time? Disney, what in God's name did you do to one of my favorite video games when I was a kid? Wouldn't it have been a lot interesting if you stuck with swordfighting turban-clad guards in spike-lined dungeons in order to rescue the princess? Why does Jake Gyllenhaal sound like he's dubbed with that pseudo-British accent? I wasn't really this clueless throughout the whole movie, but I did feel like it left a lot to be desired.
In ancient Persia, a street-smart youth hoodlum is taken under the wing of the king and raised as his own. As the Persian empire spreads and Princess Tamia, of a rival land is betrothed to the titular Prince Dastan, he becomes wrongfully accused of regicide by his people, when his father is mysteriously assassinated. Taking Tamia along with him, Dastan escapes into the desert, and comes across a magical dagger that can reverse time in the short term. The dagger is what becomes his and Tamia's sole dependant on restoring order to Persia, and the king's ursurper.
Jerry Bruckheimer knows how to produce good-looking films, but rarely ones with a comparable script. Prince of Persia is no exception; with almost entirely nothing but CGI, fight-scenes, and - albeit - very well-choreographed action sequences, I really felt like I was watching someone play a video game the whole time. Or, at least, one long video game movie sequence. The acting was fine, I can get over the casting, since let's face it - by our legal standards, Middle Easterners are de facto caucasian, and these are actors playing roles - end rant. But what the heck was up with Gyllenhaal's accent? It's unlike how he usually sounds, I wouldn't outright call it horrible, it was just...weird. Too bad I can't really find any good parody videos that I would put up.
Despite my criticisms, the action is rather stellar, and I enjoyed a lot of the stunts, sword-fights, and the cliche characters. I did tune out a lot to the overall film though, because the story was just so bland and ill-executed. It's a shame they didn't take the time to work on the script a little more, because whoever wrote dialogue for this was obviously just collecting his paycheck towards summer vacation.
Wolfenstein 3D is commonly known around gamer circles as the grandfather of all first-person shooters. I happened to be well-aware of it's existence in my youth when my cousins acquired the shareware version on their Mac, and repetitively got in trouble with my parents for playing it, due to it's ultra-violence. Nearly 20 years later, in 2011, Wolf 3D is pretty tame by today's standards, but it still happens to be a lot of fun. Since it recently resurfaced on the PlayStation Network around the same time that the similarly-themed Inglourious Basterds was released, I found a copy online, and through running a program called "DosBox", managed to get this sick puppy gunning on Windows 7!
You play an American WWII POW, who has been captured by the Wermacht and brought to the infamous stronghold Castle Wolfenstein, in Nazi Germany. The object is to escape by blasting your way through legions of guards, enforcers, and even Der Führer, Hitler, himself! Along the way, you'll find secret areas containing treasure that you can collect for points, and ultimately extra lives, as you find your way to the exit and onto the next level. The game takes place over six episodes, each dealing with an evil plot that your protagonist must overthrow, in order to stop the Nazis.
Wolf 3D has definitely aged, there's no doubt about it. I'm sure many modern gamers may balk at the lack of "hand-holding" that this game does, in contrast to more recent digital fare. But I happen to appreciate it's simplicity; it's a great cooldown game after a long, hard day of dealing with the masses at work. Oh, what a guilty pleasure it is just to come home and plow down evil Nazis with a chaingun for about an hour or so, while my inner-Jew cackles at the morbid irony. The maze-like configuration of the levels can be frustrating at times, but it's surprisingly a great little way to exercise my spatial memory. While I wish there could be a little more variety to the game, it's fun enough to appreciate in it's simplicity.
Heavy Rainis one of the most technically impressive and innovative video games I've ever played. Although I purchased it long before Sony enabled it for PlayStation Move capability. Once I acquired the Move, I decided to revisit this amazing achievement in interactive entertainment. Heavy Rain is proof that video games can transcend their reputation as ridiculously overpriced toys and function as a respectable art form. In this day and age, as the industry becomes stronger and stronger; to me, it's a sign that video games are achieving a greater admirability, and the production values as well as the creativity exuded by Heavy Rain certainly reflect that.
Created over a period of four years by the French digital animation/motion capture company Quantic Dream, Heavy Rain tells the story of Ethan Mars; an architect and single father, Norman Jayden; an FBI agent harboring a drug addiction, Madison Paige; an insomniac journalist, and Scott Shelby; a noble private eye. All four playable protagonists are searching for a serial killer known as the Origami Killer, who leaves the eponymous paper figurines with the corpses of his victims and who's main MO is abducting children. When Mars' son Shaun is kidnapped by the Origami Killer, the four individuals jump into action, each with their own, individual agenda to stop the Origami Killer.
The story is presented as a gripping noir mystery worthy of Hollywood, but the gameplay helps flesh things out and makes the plot more organic. You control your character from a third-person persective and interact with your environment searching for clues and making judgments based on your character's thoughts, which can be executed either in self-reflection or during conversation. Certain moments of action or high-intensity may require a "quick-time" event, where buttons need to be pushed in a certain order and time when they appear on screen. This makes for a very visceral gaming experience, because failure to complete these actions can result in a less-than desireable outcome for your character a laMass Effect. I'll post a video of the demo here:
Playing with the standard PS3 wireless controller isn't too challenging, there's a slight learning curve with the "QT" events, but it's nothing too hard. Playing with the Move was pretty cool, but very frustrating without a tutorial. I still have yet to try the full game with the Move, which starts with the tutorial. I initially tried it while playing the Downloadable Content Level Heavy Rain Chronicles: Episode One - The Taxidermist, which lacked a tutorial, and I was embarassed at myself. Casual gamers like myself, therefore, may feel more comfortable using a wireless controller.
The attention to detail with the graphics is outstanding, Heavy Rain has a look that's similar to the Final Fantasy films by Square or Avatar, in that each of the characters are all motion captured, modeled, and voiced by the same actor. A few months ago, I played the game in front of a friend who was interested in seeing a demonstration, and he commented on how was impressed by the lack of "doll's-eye" in the facial models (especially in the loading screens when all you can see are the characters' faces). Although physical movements can still be a little stiff at times and the acting, a little shaky due to the accents from some of the foreign actors, the visuals are an incredible piece of work. They even made my video game-abhoring parents stop and stare at the screen in awe at times.
I love the music in Heavy Rain; it's a wonderful score that captures the bleak, somber mood of the game, along with the tension of the action scenes. Sometimes it has that quality of quiet unease like Bernard Herrmann did in Hitchcock's films, other times it has the stinging rush of energy like Danny Elfman. Either way, it's great. Each character has their own main theme: Ethan's is soft and somber, Norman's is dark and mysterious, Madison's is quiet and contemplative, Scott's is strong and forboding - heavy on bass. They all sound great, and I've even found myself studying along to the soundtrack due to its introspective nature.
To top it all off, the game has a myriad of endings that it makes a perfectly reasonable incentive to play through it again while encouraging experimentation. I've beaten the game already about four times and I never get tired of the story or seeing what happens strictly from trying new things. I consider Heavy Rain to be one of my all-time favorite video games and I strongly encourage any open-minded gamers with a PS3 and who enjoy a good adventure/mystery to check it out.
God of War III, and the rest of the series are a guilty pleasure for me. I say that not because they're bad games, but their reputation as gratuitously violent and brutal hack-and-slashers, loosely based on Greek mythology is in stark contrast to my personality. In this entry of the series, the protagonist, Kratos, the God of War is waging an assault on Mt. Olympus with the exiled titans who were once betrayed by Zeus. Upon confrontation, Kratos once again finds himself against all odds and with little allies in taking down the gods once and for all.
Although I bought a PS3 mainly for the Blu-Ray player, I've been amazed by the quality of the games that have been put out for it. GOW3 is one of those games that despite it's grisly nature, is absolutely beautiful to look at and play. For example: cutscenes run seamlessly with the gameplay, and utilize the already impressive visuals. It goes without saying that as impressive as they are, I was definitely wincing during some of the game's more gorier moments. Gameplay remains roughly the same with a few new added touches, such as magic being incorporated into weapons and a couple new maneuvering tricks. One fun element was the "Icarus flight sequences" which took me back to the Nintendo platforming days when you were moving from one end of the screen to another at high speeds, avoiding debris and anything that got in your way. With all the fun you'll have, it's a strange feeling when you start realizing how dark the game gets in mood. The ending itself even falls in tragic Greek fashion. This didn't necessarily hamper my enjoyment, but it left me feeling a little negative for the characters. Still, everyone who made this game did an amazing job, and it shows.
9/10
Ever since I was a kid, I always wanted to own one of the Time Crisis games, but I could never shell out enough cash for the game and the accessories. Well, 10+ years later, all that has changed since I invested in the PlayStation Move - Sony's competition in the wireless games market.
Sure, I think the controllers look ridiculous, but they're supposed to have better tracking than the Wii, or Microsoft's Kinect on the Xbox. Plus, they're extremely versatile, as is in this case. For the game though, there's not a lot of depth to either of the three games that are included in the package. I can't understand all the mixed reviews they've been getting, though. I knew what I was getting myself into when I invested in these games and I love them for what they are; an excuse to blast pixelated terrorists off my TV screen (that didn't sound psychotic of me at all, huh?). "Razing Storm" takes place in the future and is about a counterterrorism team fighting robots in South America. The other two games are "Time Crisis 4" which is a port of the arcade game you can find in the movie theatre about counterterrorists fighting through various exotic locales, and "Deadstorm Pirates", a pirate-themed shooter with a crew on a treasure hunt. The calibration was pretty easy, and I didn't have too many problems with it. The gun controller does get pretty heavy in my hands after awhile, though.
8/10
Whew, onto my other postings that I promised...
- Jon
Scott Pilgrim was one of those movies that came out of nowhere last summer and became one of those minor cult hits. Although I missed it in theatres due to the majority of my summer being unfortunately owned by studying for the LSAT, I slowly learned of this film's origins after my interest was piqued over Facebook via buzz from my friends. Apparently, Scott Pilgrim started out as a graphic novel, seeded in anime and video game fandom. The movie does great justice at honoring the novel's "cultural heritige" and it's pretty entertaining, too.
The opening logo for Universal Studios sets the tone with 8-bit graphics and two-tone MIDI fanfare, plus, I found it hilariously cheesy.
Scott Pilgrim deals with a 22-year old wayward guitarist of the same name who falls for an enigmatic, hipster with technicolor hair named Ramona. However, in order to date her, he must battle her "seven evil exes". These spurned boyfriends (mostly) are Scott's main conflict of the film and test his moral balance between his love life and friends.
As you can see from the opening credits, the film's style is saturated in comic book/anime visuals and countless throwbacks to second-generation video games. This makes for a very entertaining and unique approach, and makes Scott Pilgrim really feel as if we're watching a living manga or casual RPG video game a la River City Ransom. The director is Edgar Wright, who also worked on Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. The acting is pretty servicible for a movie of this genre, Michael Cera is still playing a pathetic loser, but at least he knows how to pull a punch, this time around.
If I had any problem with Scott Pilgrim, it's probably that it's a slight case of style over substance. The momentum of the film felt a little uneven for me; and I found myself in a position where halfway through, I was waiting for Scott's next fight scene and hoping his exhaustingly emo attitude would eventually be shoved aside. This only made things slightly predictable, but overall, the film was a fun romp. I really appreciated the time and energy the production team put into making the film as flashy and dorky as it could be; definitely a guilty pleasure.
