#he bugged me multiple times to play mass effect and for good reason

[rayvenden]

I’m playing through the Mass Effect trilogy blind (due to my significant other’s recommendation) and omg how is it so incredibly good. ggghhhhsfssfhhhhhh

Granted I’m a fantasy enjoyer primarily but dayum, Mass Effect is hands down my favorite space sci-fi experience. This SELLS me on good sci-fi. This is the ultimate sci-fi, world-building, lore-rich, character-rich, incredible dialogue writing, CHOICES ACTUALLY MATTER A LOT (like this is THE choices matter game, others wish they were half as good), beautiful experience. And ofc the gameplay is pretty solid too! Good shooter with fun abilities (yeah we like yeeting people with biotics). but the writing is where it’s really at.

Well, I’m sold on BioWare several times over. They know how to really write a story, like a true novel-quality one, which isn’t super common in video games. Respect. I already have been planning on catching up with Baldur’s Gate but it also made me sure that I want to play the Dragon Age series sooner than later.

The only thing is that achievements are broken on Mass Effect Legendary edition on PC cause EA is a piece of crap lmao

[your-friendly-neighborhood-sc00t]

Ben 10 Reboot Review/Rant

aka: Why This Show Sucks

aaka: 333 Follower Milestone Special

Ah, how I have absolutely dreaded the day I have to write this review, or at least start writing it. Your boy Sc00t here, and welcome to my review of the Ben 10 Reboot.

Also, y'all too good to me, can’t believe over 300 people actually follow me and like seeing my trash. Thank you all for following, and I hope you guys continue to enjoy the content on my blog, ^^

I’ve been putting this off for quite some time now, for obvious reasons, but it’s time to finally crack down on this shit.

So, surprisingly, I actually did something I NEVER DO for shows I don’t like,

I actually watched multiple episodes for the sake of this review, DESPITE how painful it was to watch. I didn’t wanna judge it based on one or two episodes, so instead, I saw FOUR.

Yup, almost an hour of this horrendous show, just to write a stupid review.

There’s ALOT to cover here, so I’ll try to do it in an orderly fashion, and try to address all of the various issues this show has. For now, let’s start off with:

1: The Length of the Episodes Ben 10 OS (Original Series), AF (Alien Force), UA (Ultimate Alien), and OV (Omniverse), despite their differences, all had one thing in common:

All the episodes were a good 22 - 25 minutes long. This allowed plots to develop and flow at a steady and reasonable pace, nothing was rushed, and more effort was put into the production of them.

In the Reboot episodes average at 11 minutes, like a Spongebob episode, which results in a shitty premise having to move along quickly just to make with the little time they have. This was also very obviously done to save money, 11-minute episodes with simplistic, shitty plots are significantly easier to produce that 24-minute episodes with proper pacing and decent/good plots. Short running time + incredibly cheap animation = profit and easy mass production of trash.

2: The Pacing

As I’m sure you can tell, the pacing of each individual episode is GARBAGE, it moves along so fast, that if you’re not paying full attention to the show, you actually won’t know what the fuck’s happening at all. And the running time isn’t actually the problem at all. We’ve seen shows convey their plot efficiently with the same exact running time, just watch any episode from the first three seasons of SpongeBob, and you’ll know precisely what I’m talking about.

3: The Animation

The animation in this show is the WORST we’ve seen in the franchise, it’s just so simplistic, flat, uninspired, and just down-right stiff at times. Action sequences just don’t flow well at all, and the designs of each and every character looks like it was slapped together in just a few minutes. I mean, just compare to ANY of the previous series’ animation, compare to other cartoons, and then just see it for what it is, and you’ll find that no matter how you look at it, it’s fucking terrible, and LAZY.

4: Forgettable Villains

The various antagonists that appear throughout the series are bland, poorly designed, and are just so damn forgettable. I can’t even remember one name of any one villain from this show. They never left any sort of impact on me at all, and there isn’t anything even remotely interesting about them. The original series had many memorable and interesting antagonists, that had well fleshed out personalities and goals. Vilgax, Kevin, Hex, Charmcaster, Dr. Animo, Ghostfreak, and all these other foes that Ben faced off against posed a real, genuine threat to him, and here lies another problem. The Reboot’s “antagonists” are not intimidating in the slightest, and actually don’t serve as a true threat to Ben at ALL. They’re pathetic to watch, really.

5: Max is Irrelevant

In the Original Series, Max was an extremely prominent character, and was often just as involved in the plot of the episode as Ben and Gwen were, and the plot twist at the end of Season 1 where it was revealed that Max is a Plumber and that he fought Vilgax in the past was a great plot point and reveal, it added more depth to his character, and made him more interesting. But in the Reboot, he is almost entirely absent in some episodes. Basically he’ll just show up at the beginning of an episode, preach about some moral that Ben completely ignores, and then just is either hardly shown, or not shown at all for the rest of the episode. He’s become irrelevant, and doesn’t affect the narrative of the story at all, He doesn’t play any sort of significant role at ALL.

6: Gwen and Ben’s relationship

One of the shittiest decisions made in the design of the show, was to completely fuck up the well-established dynamic of Ben and Gwen, in the Original Series, they’re two cousins who constantly bicker and sass eachother, but they clearly cared for one another, and had many tender and compassionate moments that effectively fleshed out their love for one another. Gwen was also the more rational-thinking and logical of the two, and never actually supported Ben’s utter stupidity or rash decisions. Reasonably so, in the sequel series’ they’ve matured and have grown out of their constant arguing and sass, but still tease each other from time to time. In the Reboot, however, Gwen, more often-then-not, completely INDULGES Ben in his poor decision-making and stupidity, to the point where I’d say she’s nearly as ignorant and doltish as he is. Gwen is simply far too nice and encouraging to Ben, which utterly destroys the original dynamic portrayed in previous series’

7: The Aliens

With all the painful problems with this god forsaken show, I almost forgot to talk about one of the most important parts. The.

Aliens.

They just look so fucking shitty in the new animation style, and some of the new design choices for them just make absolutely no sense. Like, why is Upgrade PURPLE instead of GREEN? The Omnitrix is black, green, and white, so it, y'know KIND OF JUST MAKES SENSE FOR UPGRADE TO BE THESE COLORS. And why the fuck is Stinkfly some stupid-ass looking bug-themed Superhero? Why doesn’t he ACTUALLY RESEMBLE SOME TYPE OF BUG. It just makes no sense, why these things were changed. And to be perfectly honest, one of my favorite Aliens from the Original Series, Ripjaws, was actually taken out from the roster in exchange for Overflow, or Waterhazard, or whatever the hell that water-themed fuck is named. He’s a bland Alien that should’ve never even been involved in this series to begin with, he wasn’t part of the Original 10. ANOTHER, issue with the Aliens is the voice-acting, alot of them are actually portrayed by voice actors I like, John DiMaggio, Greg Cipes, Josh Keaton, Travis Willingham, etc. But the thing is, their voices, don’t even fit them, at all, so whatever they spout out of their mouths, just sounds awful. In all previous series’ the Aliens’ VAs fit them perfectly, and alot of them had some pretty badass voices. Basically, when you assign a VA to a character, it has to sound as if that voice could ACTUALLY come from that character. If the voice isn’t matching the face, then we have a clear issue. It’s not so much as the voice acting is bad in the Reboot, but it’s just doesn’t fit with the Aliens. But interestingly enough, they were sure to find the worst possible voice actor they could find for my favorite of them all, Heatblast. His voice used to be so fucking badass, and that was because he was voiced by Steve Blum, a veteran VA, the voice fit the character PERFECTLY. In the Reboot however? They got some fucking Disney Channel actor, Daryl Sabara. I didn’t even know of this guy’s EXISTENCE, until I looked at the cast of the Reboot. This guy’s, voice is incredibly obnoxious and irritating, which is the EXACT OPPOSITE OF HEATBLAST’S VOICE IN FOREGOING SERIES’. One more thing I’d like to point out, was them switching Wildmutt out for Wildvine, again, this is another decision that makes no sense. WILDVINE WAS NOT PART OF THE ORIGINAL 10, he doesn’t even show up in way later in the Original, so why is he replacing one that was at the very start of the series? AND FINALLY, we come to our last issue. The transformations are pathetically animated, it genuinely looks as if he is being covered in some large alien suit, IT DOESN’T look as if he’s actually BECOMING that alien, and that’s a big problem when he’s supposed to, y'know be literally morphing into them.

8: Stiffness

One thing to notice throughout various episodes, is that conversations, and the overall voice acting, feel really stiff, and carry absolutely no weight, kind of like a piece of cardboard. There are even extended scenes of pointless dialogue that don’t affect or further the plot of the episode, in any sense of the word.

9: The Intro

Ben 10 (2016) has without a doubt the least amount of effort put into it’s Intro. You see some green asteroid “crash” into Earth, suddenly you see Ben wearing the Watch, he slams it. And we see the 10 Aliens, introduced in a similar, but poorly executed fashion. We hear “BEN 10” being chanted in the background for a solid 11 seconds. Suddenly we see Ben giving Gwen and Max low-fives, and then runs forward.

End of Intro

Now, does it sound like I described alot of shit? Not really, right? That’s because nothing actually happens in this intro, it conveys nothing, and is just lazily slapped together. I remember the Original Series’ intro, it was a catchy theme song that quickly explained the premise of the show in it’s first 18 seconds. The intro goes on and shows actual interesting shit, like Ben transforming into some Aliens, and some nice visuals. The Reboot’s intro shows us the bare minimum of what they could ACTUALLY be showing us, instead of them quickly jumping on screen for a tenth of second, why not illustrate at least one of their abilities with a short clip? The Original’s does this incredibly well in the last 10 seconds, briefly showing us the capabilities of some of the Aliens with incredibly short clips, you could actually be impressed by what you were witnessing. The Reboot’s intro is just so mundane, and devoid of any sort of interesting material, and it’s the only intro in the franchise that’s SLOW-PACED. All of the previous entries’ intros have been fast-paced. And while you may consider Ultimate Alien’s to be slow, it quickly scrolls through a large variety of Aliens while playing epic music, that’s fast enough, and certainly impressive enough for me. The Reboot’s intro is in-fact, so bad, that when my sister watched it, she actually started LAUGHING. And when you’re cackling at an intro that is CLEARLY not trying to be funny, well then, you’ve got a pretty shitty opening.

10: Ben’s Character

Okay, now I know Ben has always done stupid shit in all of his incarnations. However, his character seems ridiculously dumbed down in the Reboot, and he just seems as mindless as ever, in the other series’ we saw how he wasn’t always a goofball kid, he took himself and those around him seriously at times, and we were able to respect him as a character for these moments. Like in Alien Force, in the episode: “The Gauntlet”, there’s a scene where Ben stands up to Cash, not by using force, or the Omnitrix, but with words, he simply calmly and intelligently calls him the fuck out, and walks away. It was a well-written moment, and showed a deeper, more mature side of Ben. And in the episode “Framed”, where Ben doesn’t finish off Kevin even when he has the perfect opportunity to do so, knowing that he isn’t worth it, and showing a more compassionate side, even to a dangerous enemy. Ben doesn’t have any moments like this at all in the Reboot, and it really takes away from his character, he essentially becomes a one-dimensional character, that really doesn’t have any defining characteristics outside of being a goofball kid.

The Verdict:

Ben 10 (2016) is a clear attempt to appeal to a much younger audience, of what Man of Action assumes to be 6 year olds with short attention-spans that don’t give a flying fuck about depth, good animation, and proper storytelling. This show wasn’t made with any genuine thought or care, it was made to sell toys, and make money, while utilizing as little resources and time as possible. Not only does this show fail as a Ben 10 cartoon, it fails AS a cartoon in of itself. It insults every aspect of what makes good animation and a good show, and is just disgusting as a product. And I’m afraid that the only positive thing I am capable of saying about this show is that it isn’t Breadwinners, and that’s about it. So, yeah, don’t watch this show.

End of Review/Final Words Anyway I hope you all enjoyed this review, (if you even read it) and I know I’m late as fuck on reviewing this steaming pile of horse shit, but I promised it months ago, so I wanted to get it out for you guys, plus, I was in the mood to get pissed about something, and believe it or not, I actually enjoy writing these, they’re fun for me, and I hope they’re fun for you to read as well. And if you disagree with every little thing I said, and you ACTUALLY enjoy this show. Then that’s perfectly fine, you’re entitled to your own opinion, and your own interests, but I wanted to get mine out in the open, so I hope you can respect my opinion as I will respect yours. What other reviews can you expect from me in the future? Well, I currently have two game reviews in the works, but it may be quite some time before they are done, considering how incredibly lazy I am. But who knows? I’m sure I’ll find something else I hate, and either review or give my thoughts on it in the future.

Once again, if you actually made it to the end of this review, I heavily appreciate you taking time out of your day just to read me bitch about some stupid cartoon.

And I’ll see ya around, :P

[rewindfrequency]

Evil Within Review

Developed by Tango Gameworks

Published by Bethesda Softworks

Played on: PS3

Also Available on: PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows

Detective Sebastian Castellanos and his teammates Joseph Oda and Juil Kidman respond to a gruesome mass murder at the Beacon Mental Hospital. The security cameras show a mysterious hooded figure with supernatural powers quickly dispatching the security guards before moving to eliminate the patients and nurses. Who was that? Detective Castellanos is interrupted by an ear piercing noise before waking upside-down in a meat locker. After running for his life, Sebastian escapes the hospital. Sebastian and his teammates find each other and quickly escape in an ambulance with one surviving patient and caretaker as the entire city falls apart and reality itself seems to bend at someone's will. Find the truth, and discover who or what is truly in control.

Shinji Mikami returns to the triple A games industry with a new survival horror title. He already has great hits such as Resident Evil 1 and 4 as well Dino Crisis under his belt with this being his newest horror endeavor. The Evil Within was released in late 2014 in that odd coming-of-age period where 7th generation consoles still had large fan bases while 8th generation consoles were becoming popular but still lacked large, diverse buying groups. I thought I would review this game on the PS3 to see how the game holds up for those who never decided to upgrade or who find a good deal for an older device.

The Evil Within is a stealth-action horror game with many similarities to Resident Evil 4. Levels mainly consist of the player wandering through linear stages populated with enemies that are similar to zombies but aren’t zombies while in the third person camera view. These enemies tend to only have melee attacks but later in the game get guns and other weapons to attack the player. You in turn have access to a revolver, shotgun, sniper rifle, Magnum, and the Agony Crossbow which is a crossbow with custom arrows (i.e. ice, harpoon, explosive, electric, and flash arrows). You also have melee attacks but they don’t do much damage. You spend most levels taking out enemies with these weapons and slowly finding your way to the boss battle. The player can stealth kill an enemy by sneaking up behind them and performing a stealth kill. However, just stabbing the monster in the head won’t do the trick sometimes. To ensure that enemy doesn’t come creeping up on you in the next area you can burn bodies of the enemies you just “killed.” In addition to the regular shambling monsters you encounter in every level, you also have mini-boss opponents. These include massive, deformed beings with blades for arms that screech as they chase you around and masses of tissue with legs that lunge at you. These enemies may not sound scary now, but when you play the game they are absolutely terrifying.

The levels really compliment this by being claustrophobic and dark. Enemies lurk around every corner as they hit the walls and open doors to confuse you on where they are at. The real terror comes from two experiences in the game. Chase sequences and boss battles. I’ll talk about the chase sections first. These involve the player running away from some type of monster in cramped corridors. At first these sequences are heavily scripted but later in the game become far more user dependent. One time I was being chased by a humanoid spider through a factory and had to shoot valves to redirect flames to escape. This became incredibly frantic, as I had to aim carefully all the while avoiding this creature. Even after shooting the valve I had to wait 30 seconds for the flames to dissipate, making it a game of tag. Except if you lose you get your head ripped off.

Boss battles are probably the main selling point of this game however. Instead of the player simply running away from some horrible abomination now they have to fight it. Bosses are difficult but never feel unfair and always provide a unique challenge. Bosses in this game aren’t beaten through brute force, they are beaten through fast thinking and tactical decision making. For example, without giving spoilers, let me share one of my experiences. There is a boss that keeps coming alive after you kill him with traditional small arms. So how do you beat such a boss? You kill him by leading him towards a ceiling of spikes. You have to run through a disorienting, noxious gas room to get there however. As you navigate this room and try to turn off the gas, the boss chases you and strikes you down. It may be the scariest thing I’ve experienced in a video game having to deactivate a gas system as the camera angle turns to show the boss slowly walking up behind me just as I push through the last bit of resistance the gas valve is providing. These battles alone are the best reason to buy the game.

Now something that really shocked me about this game is that it lacks puzzles. This really caught me off-guard, as almost every relevant survival horror game has its fair share of puzzles. But after completing the game I feel this is a good thing, as it helps the game establish its own identity from horror games of the past and carve out a new realm in the survival horror matrix. Something else that may shock others is that this is a game where stealth, action, and running away from fights are all viable options. In most modern survival horror games stealth/running away or full on blockbuster action seem to be the only options the player has. But The Evil Within really blends these together allowing for all kinds of play. In the stealth sections you are given a small icon at the top of the screen. When the pupil moves back and forth and the eyelid is somewhat closed that means the enemy is nearby but hasn’t spotted you yet. When the eye is fully open that means the enemy has spotted you. In most horror games of our time you would either have to run and hide in the closest closet or pull out your fully automatic machine gun and mow down everything that moves. But with The Evil Within you can either pull out your gun and shoot the enemy or run away and find a place to hide and wait for them to stop searching to save ammunition. Both are viable options with pros and cons and you have the power to choose which tactic (at least most of the time).

During the game you will kill enemies and sometimes find piles of green gel you can collect. You can also find jars of green gel around the levels. You use this green gel to upgrade you weapons and abilities. You can upgrade the amount of health you have, how much health you get back from healing items, how many rounds your guns can hold, and so on. These upgrades are vital and are really the only way to beat the game without getting your ass handed to you every five minutes.

Graphically this game looks incredible, especially when you consider it is running on a PS3 and that the developers had to make the game on four other platforms. But when you look beyond the graphical detail the game starts to show cracks in its technical integrity. Textures can take up to 3 seconds to load even when staring directly at them up close. The load times are unbearable in this game. It takes an average of twenty seconds to load up the level after you have died. Even though the frame rate remains at a constant 30 FPS with six enemies on screen and with various actions going on in the background it drops considerably when nothing happens. Usually the frame drops occur when Sebastian is walking along a path as the wind blows leaves off a tree and there is a lighting effect from a nearby fire going on at the same time. I guess it's good that the frame rate stays steady during the action but why does it have to drop so often because of environmental effects? Something else that really pissed me off is that the game has lined up some great voice actors such as Anson Mount and Yuri Lowenthal but has each of them speak just a handful of lines. Most of the story is explained through in-game text but this is just stupid. Why hire top class talent and not use it?

As a tip to players let me remind you that this is a very, very hard game. Even while playing on easy mode I still got my ass kicked I died a total of 41 times. (I know because the game told me at the end). I would recommend playing on easy and unlocking new game plus before attempting any of the harder difficulties. When playing on easier modes you tend to find more green gel and ammo. You also take less damage from attacks and do more damage. But keep in mind that even on easy mode there are still multiple one-hit kill enemies and sections where one wrong turn could kill you. Once you have beaten the game on any difficulty you unlock new game plus. This lets you replay the game from the very beginning but with some new perks. You retain all the upgrades you got from your last playthrough in addition to two new weapons (machine gun and rocket launcher) and 50,000 in free green gel. You also unlock a model mode where you can look at the character models for every person in the game. This is cool but the ability to rotate the camera to see the full model would have been nice.

Overall The Evil Within is another great game from Shinji Mikami that will provide you with 10-15 hours of gameplay depending on skill level and difficulty. It brings all sorts of terrifying creatures into the fray and adds extra tension with its tight level design and ingenious boss battles. The gameplay is satisfying and always feels good no matter what section of the game you’re playing. But the game is held back by poor usage of the PS3’s CEL architecture. Even though I never encountered a bug in the game, I found all sorts of texture issues and infuriating load times.

I am giving The Evil Within an 8 out of 10

Pros:

Awesome boss battles

Tense, tactical stealth sections

Well done chase sequences

Cool upgrade system

Great level layouts

Cons:

Some texture issues

Long load times

[secret-diary-of-an-fa]

Blog in which Anne Hathaway is a Giant Tree Monster (AKA: Secret-Diary Reviews ‘Colossal’).

Right. Righty. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiight. I recently watched the film Colossal, and I have a lot of thoughts about it. It’s very important that you sit down, shut up and hear all of them.

My initial reaction to Colossal can be summed up as “yeah: that was a fun way to spend 1 hour and 50 minutes.” It’s funny in a low-key, quirky kind of way and the protagonist (Gloria- played by Anne Hathaway) is likeable and relatably fucked-up enough that it’s easy to care about her. Oh, and there’s giant monsters in it, which is always nice. It’s a good film- there’s no denying that. If you want a fun way to squander some time that will make you feel vaguely intelligent by association (because its an indie thing rather than typical block-buster fare), then go ahead and knock yourself out: this is the film for you.

However, the more I think about Colossal, the more off it feels. It’s like someone put all the elements of a good film together, but not necessarily in the right order.

OK. Before I can review it, I need to spoil it completely. Sorry. If you already know the plot, just feel free to skip this paragraph. It’s basically just a synopsis. Gloria (once again, played by Anne Hathaway) is an alocholic, out-of-work writer who gets kicked out by her boyfriend and returns to her hometown, ostensibly to rethink her like but, in reality, to get shitfaced on a nightly basis. While doing that, she reconnects with an old friend from childhood (I can’t remember his name, so we’ll just call him Neckbeard), whose behaviour seems slightly creepy and manipulative from the get-go. While Neckbeard is situating himself as Gloria’s patron-slash-enabler, Gloria herself discovers that, when she stumbles home drunk through a particular part of town, a giant tree monster materialises in Seoul in Korea and mimics her movements. She lets Neckbeard in on the secret and inadvertantly kills hundreds of people in the process. Neckbeard discovers that when he enters that bit of town, a giant robot shows up in Seoul and mimics his movements. Gloria tries to stop him making the giant robot appear in case someone gets hurt and his behaviour escalates from slightly offputting to abusive and violent. Oh, and he makes his giant robot deliberately go on a killing spree, because of course he does. Inevitably, Gloria is forced to kill him using her crazy giant tree monster powers. Then she stumbles into the nearest bar so that the film can spend its final sixty seconds hanging a lampshade on the fact that she’s still an alcholic.

All caught up? Good- now that I’ve explained the film, I can start picking it to death. Firstly, let’s address the elephant in the room. How come, in a film where all the giant monster action is taking place in Seoul, there isn’t a single named Korean character whose actions have any real impact on the plot? Actually, you know what? Don’t answer me just yet. We’ll be coming back to that a little later. Just ackowledge the room elephant and move on for a minute.

The thing that’s been really bugging me though is infinitely more pedantic and less political: the entire second half of the film was completely avoidable. Let me explain, there’s a scene, right after Neckbeard discovers he can make a giant robot appear in Seoul when tries it out deliberately for the first time... but first he makes sure that there’s no-one in the area surrounding the giant robot appearance site who could get hurt (apparently, there’s an app for that). And there it is: plain as day. Gloria has an opportunity to get away before Neckbeard becomes a full-on abusive arsehole and Neckbeard’s own sense of biting inadequacy is ameliorated by his ability to make a giant robot materialise in Seoul and start breakdancing. Even Seoul gets its own resident giant robot, which has got to be the world’s best tourist attraction. At that point, if Gloria hadn’t decided that Neckbeard Must Not Summon the Giant Robot and started a fight over it, all the awful, harrowing shit from the second half of the film just wouldn’t have happened. Not that I blame Gloria as a character: she’s obvs meant to be traumatised by all the death she caused when she was the giant tree monster, so her reaction is understandable. It’s just that, knowing the whole clusterfuck was easily preventable and could have had a happy ending for all concerned robs the film’s ultimate payoff of any sense of catharsis. Instead of being viscerally satisfied when Neckbeard finally gets killed by a tree monster, I just felt a bit sad and empty. He didn’t have to evolve into the world’s most ginormous douch-kanoo: he could have wiled away his twighlight years boosting Seoul’s tourist trade through the medium of interpretive being-a-giant-robot.

Incidentally, that whole scene raises another nagging complaint. Gloria intervenes to stop Neckbeard doing his giant robot thing, but walking right up to him (meaning that her Tree Monster thing also manifests in Seoul) and slapping him in the face. If that fight had actually escalated, thousands of people in Seoul could have died... which is what Gloria was trying to prevent. She aims to prevent a giant robot killing hundreds of people by starting a fight with that giant robot, which could potentially kill many more people. Not to drag geopolitics into this, but you can tell the characters in this film are Americans, can’t you? Cough cough regime change cough. Seriously, had she been taking ethics lessons from Mass Effect’s Reapers? YOU CAN’T SAVE PEOPLE BY ENDANGERING THEM, DIPSHIT.

Actually, that brings us back to my point about how there are no fully-developed Korean characters in this film where giant monsters are attacking a major Korean city. Throughout the majority of this film, Seoul and people of Seoul don’t really matter: they’re just used as the manifestation of the psychodrama bewteen Gloria and neckbeard. That could be a deliberate comment on the way American popular culture views eastern countries, but it doesn’t feel like it. Maybe the writers just needed to signpost it better. Also, it means that when Neckbeard goes kill-crazy and destroys half of Seoul, instead of being shocked and appalled, I was just kinda hoping for a few juicy shots of the giant robot kicking over buildings. You can’t paint an entire city as nothing more than the backdrop for some mellowdrama between two self-destructive a-holes and then expect your audience to feel emotional when it gets stomped on. That’s not how movies work.

A few other annoyances remain to be addressed, but they don’t really work towards the overall theme of this piece, so I’m just going to splurge them in any order I feel like.

Firstly, there’s the issue of Gloria’s boyfriend (his name is Tim, but you’ll only ever think of him as ‘That Guy from Legion’). He’s way better villain than Neckbeard, but the film does nothing with him. He kicks Gloria out and then stalks her a bit and that’s it... but the subtleties of his behaviour and the way he goes about being a nob make it clear that, if the script had any interest in him whatsoever, he could be a really compelling, hateable villain. Unlike Neckbeard whose name I still can’t fucking remember.

Speaking of which, what fucking idiot came up with Neckbeard’s bad-guy motive. He hates himself and how small his life feels? What is he, a school bully in a 1990s infomercial? Look, we’re told he’s motivated by self-loathing, but we’re never told why. He’s relatively erudite as small-town villains go; he has a circle of friends and owns a respectable little bar; he has good memories of going around setting off illegal fireworks with his bezzies. There’s no compelling reason for him to despise his life other than the fact he lives in a small town and comes from a vaguely working-class backgroud, which just makes the film-makers seem weirdly classist and snobby. I imagine the pitch for this idea went something like this “Oh, of course he hates himself, Baron Fucksmythe: he’s rural and does an ordinary-person job. I mean, I hate him and you hate him- why wouldn’t he hate him.”

Then there’s the guy who hovers in the background for most of the film, then has sex with Gloria, delivers some furniture and fucks off never to be seen again. You know how non-sequiters are usually phrases or jokes that come out of the blue and bear no relation to the rest of the film? Well, Colossal may be the first film to have a whole character be a non-sequiter.

Finally- and I realise this is a trivial thing to piss-and-moan about, but I’m going to anyway- very few alcoholics caught in abysmal self-destructive spirals look like Anne Hathaway. Nobody whose liver is slowly failing them while they pour themselves another round falls asleep against a wall and wakes up with perfect skin, fabulous hair and impeccable (if hipstery) dress-sense.

Colossal is a good movie. Sort of. It’s even got a nice feminist subtext with Gloria realising that many of the men in her life are abusive fuckwads and learning to make herself independent of them. But it undermines itself at every turn. It can’t decide what to focus on. Is it a movie about alcoholism and the psychopathology of addicts and enablers? No, because that plot line never goes anywhere. Is it a movie about abuse and victimisation? Kind of, but there’s so much else going on, it’s hard to feel viscerally invested in that plot-line, so it lacks impact. Is it a comedy movie that tackles multiple issues with a tongue-in-cheek attitude? Sort of, but its not consistently funny enough to get away with it.

The film’s attitude towards small town, rural, working class America and literally the entirity of Korea undermine its progressive, feminist credentals with a faint air of classism and not-quite-racism while its light, quirky comedy creaks audibly under the weight of the hefty subject matter. With a little bit of polishing, these issues could easily have been resolved, and a lot of the film is enjoyable as is. But a bit of tighter focus, better characterisation and a more global attitude would have been very welcome additions.

[carllmcintyre33-blog]

Microsoft Or otherwise?

Friday was an additional repeat, this time around from May 15, 2006. Nonetheless, TCR does not want to leave you empty handed and is bringing you a write-up by one of our staff members, Paul. Although Paul is from the UK, he takes a keen passion in reading about Jim Cramer's Mad Money (as well as naturally at the most effective JCMM website on the 'Internet - The Cramer Record!) as well as hopes you will certainly appreciate his insight into among Jim's opinions.Cramer is currently favouring a buy right into Microsoft (MSFT), believing the bad times lag and also it's back on the up. An analysis of the share rates over the past few months reveals that Microsoft is over its lowest points ($ 21.51) and also gradually climbing up (currently $24.40). One can argue that Cramer is right.However, continued adjustments in Panorama's launch date, even if it indicates a much more steady as well as protected Os will be launched (or that is the theory). Microsoft's OS and also webbrowser cycle is bad as it is:* Windows XP was launched in 2001* Web Explorer was launched in 2001Internet Traveler 7 is set for release in the first fifty percent of 2007 and Windows Panorama is set for general release in the initial quarter of 2007. Both items will certainly offer numerous enhancements as well as brand-new attributes over the older variations yet the reality is hardly any of it is new.One feature to ultimately get to Web Explorer is tabbed web browser. To a non-technical individual, who simply utilizes what's provided on their MS Windows desktop computer, this may seem new and amazing, however tabbed internet browser has actually been around because 1996 (although it was a function in a non-public beta version of InternetWorks since 1994) as well as has been readily available in prominent web browsers such as Opera and MozillaFirefox for a number of years.Microsoft won the very first internet browser war and now it's concerning a fight in several areas. Item cycles are quicker for open source software such as OpenOffice.org, MozillaFirefox as well as MozillaThunderbird - new functions, pest fixes, as well as protection updates are released routinely. Because of the items' open resource nature it is much easier and also less costly to establish plugins as well as compatible applications.On the os side, Microsoft has competitors from Linux. Linux is currently ending up being more mature as well as is being taken on by federal governmentsas well as educational institutes alike. Novell (NOVL) is investing a lot of cash in Linux, having actually purchased German firm SuSE Linux GmbH in January 2004.One crucial location that they have invested a whole lot in over the previous year is Xen, which is virtualisation software program and enables multiple Operating Systems (Linux or Windows) to be run as guests on a solitary system (the host, which can be either Linux or Windows). This is one danger Microsoft has actually seen as well as reacted to by improving its Virtual Server support offering and also making it available totally free. However, is this as well little also late?Xen's advantage is that it's open source, for that reason pests and also protection issues will be taken care of quicker, perhaps also prior to the problem is public knowledge, as the resource code is visible for everyone to assess and check for instabilities. A fast action to bugs and also safety is crucial in a business setting and also an area Microsoft could not compete within because of its closed resource nature. ohio state university homes Virtualisation is ending up being a more crucial area due to the enhancing costs for power. The good news is, equipment is ending up being extra effective, commonly much more effective than is actually needed, so virtualisation is definitely for today as well as the future. Why invest in equipment for 6 web servers when all 6 could run from within one os with virtualisation?With View and Web Traveler 7, Microsoft is attempting to play catch-up, however the fact is it now has seriously hard competition. There is currently a large take up of alternative browsers, workplace applications and also running systems. While the market adjustment might be slow, it's certainly happening. I can not see Microsoft remaining in the same market placement in One Decade that it is currently. Its market share will continue to vaporize.All-time low Line:Microsoft is facing major threats in the home, education and learning and also company desktop sector. It's dealing with threats in business atmosphere as a server (in addition to as a webserver, where Linux/Unix remains in the bulk). Microsoft might hit a high when Vista is (lastly) released, nonetheless Expense Gates stepping down in the manner in which he is does suggest to me that the mass of the cash has actually been made as well as it's currently time to do something with it. The IT industry is usually a "come today, gone tomorrow" so it's always hard to pick which business to buy, particularly as the current trend is "over priced" when those business that have managed to remain decide to float themselves on the stock exchange. I won't suggest you that to invest in, however I will claim do not just consider the software/operating system area, additionally consider equipment as well as consultancy business too. Huge Blue, International Company Machines Corp (IBM), has actually been around for a long period of time and there will always be a demand for such companies.

[banjokazooie64]

Mass Effect: Andromeda Review

Unpopular Opinion Time: I enjoy Mass Effect Andromeda.  Why?

I’m not crazy, in fact I’ve played through the entire Original Mass Effect Trilogy multiple times.  I’ll throw out some estimated numbers for each game:  I’ve played Mass Effect about 5 times through, even though it’s not my favorite in the series it is an excellent beginning to the journey of Commander Shepard.  Mass Effect 2 has gotten the most playtime with a resounding 15+ playthroughs and is my favorite out of the original three.  Mass Effect 3 has the second highest playthrough rate with around 10 complete playthroughs.  Why so many (especially on ME3 which is the worst of the trilogy)?  Well the bottom line is I love Mass Effect and even though the ending of ME3 was less than satisfactory for many players I have to take the whole game into account.  Just because I didn’t like the ending didn’t make it a bad game in whole.  The journey up to the ending had several great all encompassing moments where a multitude of choices led to one singular event like curing the genophage.  

Much like ME3, most people are not looking at Mass Effect Andromeda as a whole, they are only looking at the one thing that is bugging all the pre-teen ‘meme-rs’ who joke about suicide constantly and that is the facial expressions and lip syncing.  Yes, I agree that they need work (a lot of work) but a bad game this does not make.  If you look at the game as a whole most of the facial animations and expressions work, I’d say 75% of the time you don’t really notice anything out of the ordinary.  But let’s say that the facial animations are only 25% of the game in total, you still have 75% of good content left in the game and that’s if ALL of the facial animations suck right?  So, we are actually looking at about 10% of facial animations and lip syncing being down right terrible.  Do you see the big picture?  

Some people will call me an idiot but I don’t like judging a game on one attribute alone because there are a lot of good things in this game that work well.  Let’s quickly talk about one thing that kinda stinks in the game and that is the voice actor they chose for both Ryder twins.  The male version seems to work better (not being sexist) in most conversations but the line delivery with both is extremely poor.  Never-the-less it does not ruin the game for me, sure it makes some parts seem a little odd but for the most part it just kinda sounds ‘eh.’  That being said, the other voice actors for other characters have done an excellent job of expressing  their characters and making them seem real.  Drack is a good example along with Jaarl, Peebee, Liam, and SAM to name a few.  I’ve laughed a few times during the game especially on Liam’s loyalty mission and it wasn’t because I was laughing at some bug.  Jaarl is a very interesting character with some great line deliveries which had me cracking up as well.  All in all, the voice acting is good in this game with a few exceptions.

Let’s talk about the story in Mass Effect Andromeda.  

The start of the game is a little rocky with a very predictable opening prologue.  The things that I thought were going to happen happen and the things I didn’t see coming are still just kinda...eh.  You wake up from Cryo sleep because you’ve been on a 600 year journey to Andromeda on board the Hyperion (which Ironically was the name of one of my metal bands) which is the human ‘ark’ to the new galaxy.  There is one for each of the major species in the Milky Way (asari, Human, Turian, Salarian) and along for the ride were some Krogan.  The quarian did have an ark but things went wrong for various reasons; their ark also had Hanar and Drell on it as well.  As soon as you get into range of Habitat-7, which is the Human’s designated colonizing world you are attacked by what is called the scourge.  A twisting clear-ish space vine that really get’s no backstory or information until the end of the game.  With the Hyperion stuck you and your father, the human pathfinder who is tasked with finding hospitable planets, embark with Cora (a human biotic who was once an Asari Commando) and Liam (a rookie cop and gadget wiz) to the planet’s surface to try and see if they can begin colonizing.  Of course it’s not what they expect on the planet and thus begins your journey with making worlds habitable by using ancient technology called Rem-tech or Remnant Tech.  Interested in the Rem-tech is the first of two alien species you encounter in the game, the Kett.  Rocky looking aliens who are more like drones being commanded by their leader, the archon. Shit hits the fan and habitat-7 is a loss for now.  The hyperion breaks free from the scourge, your father dies, and you make it to the Nexus.  The Nexus is the Citadel on steriods, it’s a large installation that was suppose to be up and running by the time the arks got to the system.  Of course, it is not fully functional and needs the energy from each of the arks to survive.  So, you must find the other arks which have not been heard from.  You are designated Pathfinder by your dying father’s wish and thus begins your journey.  

Like I Said, it is a rocky start but after that the game really picks up with plenty of new planets to explore, life to find, problems to solve, and characters to meet.  

Your squad:  Full of plenty of characters who are better than Ryder.  (this is actually the first game where they mention translators, which I found interesting.  It was in the back of my mind the whole time playing through the original trilogy because people were complaining that everyone spoke English, it makes sense really because who’s really going to learn all those languages?)

Cora:  Not my favorite character, hell she is my least favorite of the group but she holds her own.  Like I mentioned before she was once an Asari Commando so she is pretty badass, I just wish she wasn’t so annoying. 

Liam:  Your best bud from the Milky Way was once a cop and now wants to lead a squad of his own but he is a long way from it.  He is also a wiz with technology.

Peebee:  An asari who you find metaling with Rem-tech instantly becomes an obvious love interest.  She is a little odd and lives in the escape pod on the Tempest (your ship).

Vetra:  A Turian Mercenary who runs supplies with outcasts.  She is the first Female Turian in any mass Effect to have a major role. 

Drack:  A very old Krogan who came to Andromeda to help the Krogan become, well, better.  He is mostly built out of Synthetic parts and only has 1 of 3 hearts remaining but he is one of the best Krogan side Kicks since Wrex (grunt was good too).  

Jaarl:  Jaarl is from the second species you discover, he is a part of the resistance against the kett and is now a bridge between your two species.  He has some excellent dialogue along with some interesting interactions with other members of the squad.   

Each member of the squad and crew have interesting personalities that make the game worth playing through to the end.  

The Co-op in the game is just like ME3 where you fight for a few waves in a wave defender game mode and extract at the end.  Basic yet I really enjoy playing.  Along with the Co-op there are new Strike Team missions where you can recruit squads to do certain missions (which can take up to 5 hrs) and they will earn you rewards while you are away.  The Companion app is very useful and I end up having a ton of loot crates by the time I log on to the game at the end of the day.  

Let’s talk about power usage because it is set up a bit differently than the last game.  Not only can you change class types at will (engineer, Soldier, Vangaurd, Ect) but you can also mix and match any power (biotic, Combat, Tech) at any time and you can also change them at any time.  So, if a fight calls for Incinerate, Pull, and Concussive shot you can have all three at the same time now.  Then, if you get bored with those powers you can change them to what ever you want.  The new powers are nice as well including Flamethrower, Barricade, Flak Cannon, and more.  A nice touch even though it is not like the other games before it.

The open worlds on each of the 6 that you can go on are mostly bare with a few outposts or enemy camps here or there but they do offer what ME2 and 3 did not have and that is a free roam area to explore.  Much like Mass Effect 1, you drive around in a better version of the Mako called the Nomad from point to point until you get everything done.  Missions vary but it’s mostly just trying to get the planet to a livable state, you will earn Vitality points for every mission you do on a planet including fixing the rem-tech that has gone sour. Getting Vitality points allows you to open more Cryo Pods and get a boost in supplies, research points, or resources along with getting better prices at merchants, better research points when scanning, and the like. Even though each planet has their own style a lot of the animals you come across appear multiple times through out the small cluster of solar systems that you can explore in this game.  I feel like they definitely should have added more species of animals to the game.  I am a fan of this new free roaming area even though most of them are pretty basic and small.

All in all, Mass Effect Andromeda is a good start to your adventure in the Andromeda Galaxy, I am interested to see what my choices will end up becoming in the games to come and I am excited to see where they will go with the game moving forward.  Other than some im-perfect facial animations and line delivery the game has plenty of new features to keep you going and a good co-op game mode for fast action.  The new ability to chose your powers to fit your exclusive play style is awesome and not being stuck to one set in particular is good fun as well.   The choices you are presented in the game seem to not matter to much right now but I can see them affecting future games.  The open worlds to explore are beautiful to the eye and each have their own special look.  

All in all I would give Mass Effect Andromeda a 8\10

Fuck the haters