#i have known this silly motorcycle for so long this feels unreal

[mira0000000-blog]

THEY MADE THE MOTORCYCLE

[nellie-elizabeth]

Once Upon a Time: Hyperion Heights (7x01)

I'm seriously curious about why ABC decided to renew this show, honestly. I feel like there's no reason for it. That being said, I did not hate this premiere. In particular, I liked Henry Mills.

Cons:

The same hokey dialogue that has always plagued Once Upon a Time has come back in full force here. Lots of repetition about "telling your own story" and "changing your story" and whatnot. I can imagine getting really sick of that really soon. And Regina, known as Roni, has this big long speech to the villain at the end where she talks about endurance and hope and whatnot. It was hokey as hell and it was hilarious to think about the evil stepmother just sitting there letting her finish her speech.

Apparently, we are doing the same thing here that we did with Emma, where Henry doesn't remember his real family and has forgotten because of the curse. The only real difference is that he does sort of remember, but he just thinks it's a story he wrote, and not real. I'm not going to say this is the worst idea ever, but I really did hope that we'd try something different this season. I can only hope that it won't be protracted for the whole season. If we can have Henry remember after a few episodes and then move on to other things, I'd be okay with it.

This is a small thing but "the troll under the Aurora Bridge" is called the Fremont Troll, and literally anybody from the Seattle area would know that. It just made me snicker, as somebody from the area. On the flip side, at least this show feels like it could actually be taking place in Seattle, unlike Grey's Anatomy, which just uses occasional stock footage of the Space Needle and calls it a day.

Pros:

To start with, I think I like the idea of a gentrification plot in Hyperion Heights. While Storybrooke was comically idyllic, Hyperion Heights is run down and poor, and is being gentrified by Cinderella's evil stepmother. I'm a little bit iffy about the fact that most of the characters still seem to be white in this run-down Seattle neighborhood that's being bought out by a rich woman. But I still think I like the idea of this town feeling like more of a real place, whereas Storybrooke was its own little pocket of unreality.

Henry is great. Andrew J. West is doing a great job of being recognizably the same character as young Henry, especially in the fairytale flashbacks. He's still that helpful, big-hearted guy who always believes. And then in the Seattle story, he's a little jaded, but still undeniably kind and gentle. Also, his chemistry with Cinderella, also known in Hyperion Heights as Jacinda, is great.

Jacinda is an extremely likable character right from the start. Much like how we had a bad-ass version of Snow White when this show started, now we're getting the cut-throat Cinderella, who goes to the ball not to dance with the prince, but to kill him out of revenge for the death of her father. She punches Henry in the face and steals his motorcycle, and just generally does her own thing. I can already tell I'm going to like her. And Lucy is just adorable. Maybe a little too sweet and perfect, but that's sort of the role she needs to fill. Adult Henry is less jaded and angry than Emma was, so I can see Henry and Lucy getting to a good place even faster than Emma and Henry did. I can't wait to see this cute little family find each other again. I actually feel invested.

The flash-back story so far just introduces a few elements that I'm sure we'll continue to explore in the coming weeks. We see Henry and Cinderella meet and start their little relationship, and we also meet some other key figures: Tremaine (aka the evil stepmother) and Drizella, the evil stepsister. We also meet Alice, who does not take kindly to being associated only with Wonderland. I like what little I've seen of these characters so far. Alice is especially fun. I like the idea of a spunky, angry Alice who is trying to create a name for herself outside of that one weird trip she took. That's kind of a fun idea.

In the present-day storyline, we see that Regina, known as Roni, owns a bar that's about to be purchased by Victoria Belfrey (aka Tremaine). She's a nice person who cares about her community and hates to see it crumbling around her. We haven't gotten a lot of material with her yet, but I'm interested in the idea that there are key things connecting each of these people to their old lives. Regina created the curse to torture people, but in the end she also wanted order and structure to her world. Here, she isn't evil anymore, but she still has the desire to salvage her community and keep everybody where they're supposed to be. Even though it was kind of silly, I really liked the moment when Henry comes in to the bar, and to describe the weird day he's having, asks Roni to "imagine what it would be like if I came in here and told you I was your son." Ha!

Meanwhile, Hook is a police officer known as Rogers. He actually wants to help people and has a reputation among the other officers for being too much of a do-gooder. Again, we're seeing hints of Hook's behavior - his inherent goodness - but his personality has been stripped from him. It seems like Hook, who I'm going to have a hard time calling Rogers, might be the first weak link in Victoria's evil plan. Hook gets his hands on Henry's first and only published novel, which is the story of Henry's life (that he believes to be fictional). While flipping through it, he comes across a picture of Emma and is entranced. Obviously I eat this stuff up. I'm glad to see from this premiere an indication that Emma will still be a big part of Hook's story. It would be such a slap in the face to the history of this show if Hook was spun off into a different story and his happy ending with Emma were erased.

Oh, also - Rumple is Hook's new detective partner. Of course, I immediately start asking questions like - does Rumple know? He always seems to know, but does he know? And what the heck is Hook going to do when he remembers his old life and realizes he's partnered up with the Crocodile? I know they didn't end things wanting to murder each other anymore, but I doubt they will ever be the best of friends either. This might be the plot development I'm the most excited to see.

And that's where I'll wrap it up for now. This premiere showed promise, but I'm not jumping up and down for joy or anything. Let's put it this way: if this were a brand new show and I'd seen this premiere, I probably wouldn't care enough to tune in the following week. It's only brand loyalty that's keeping me around, and I'm not sure how far that's going to take ABC with most of its viewers.

7/10

[spicynbachili1]

Ride 3 shows how far Milestone has come and how far it has yet to go

I am falling (off my bike) so I am taking my time on my journey.

Federico Spada and the staff at Milestone S.r.l. are obsessed with motorcycle racing. It is what they do. It is just about all they do. Whereas this 12 months’s Gravel featured conventional vehicles, vehicles, and different four-wheeled automobiles, the bread and butter of the studio’s output for the previous decade plus has been bikes. Every year, Milestone releases new entries in its long-running MotoGP and MXGP franchises, and The Monster Power Supercross collection that launched earlier this 12 months will likely be one other yearly product. 2018 has been an enormous 12 months for the Italian developer with 4 video games hitting retailer cabinets up to now this calendar 12 months, with the fifth and closing one set to reach on the finish of the month.

After a brief delay, Experience three is lastly set to launch for PlayStation four, Xbox One, and PC on the finish of the month. It is a sport Spada has spent the previous two years engaged on, creating tracks and creating what is perhaps Milestone’s most formidable sport but. At launch, Experience three will function 230 totally different racing bikes, with some relationship again so far as the 1960s, in addition to 30 totally different tracks and greater than 700 totally different items of customization that can permit gamers to make their bikes, and their racers, their very own.

“We wished to provide the participant the power to totally customise not solely the bike,” Spada defined to me at a latest hands-on with the title, “however the total driving model as effectively. With Experience three, we’re pouring our love for motorsports and for motorbikes inside the sport. Even when they’re new to motorsports, they will truly begin to really feel one thing for the bike since you set up a reference to it as you progress inside your profession and proceed to race together with your bike.”

That profession mode has been rebuilt from the bottom up for Experience three. After gamers create their racer, both male or feminine, they’re going to got down to full numerous challenges which are introduced as racing magazines. Every journal will deal with particular tracks, bikes, or moments from motorcycle racing historical past. As a great profession mode ought to, it’s going to push gamers to develop their horizons by racing on all of the tracks with as many various bikes as potential, from the 2018 Ducati Panigale V4 all the best way to the 1969 MV Agusta 500cc Three-Agostini. The sport is promising to be an encyclopedia or motorbikes with greater than 300 whole to be included with free and paid post-launch DLC.

For my hands-on session, I acquired to check out two of the bikes within the sport, one from the superbike class and one from the bare class. Inside seconds it is clear to see simply how otherwise these bikes deal with. The superbike made for finer turns whereas the bare bike was a bit heavier once I began to lean. Spada says every of the totally different motorcycle classes will deal with in their very own distinctive methods, and as I discovered, not each bike is right for each obtainable monitor.

The 30 tracks obtainable within the sport — none, in the meanwhile, are deliberate for DLC — are based mostly on actual racing tracks in addition to well-known paths motorists love referred to as “nation tracks” that take what’s beloved concerning the routes and makes them palatable for avid gamers.

“Nation tracks are locations from around the globe identified to bikes to be actually cool, actually majestic landscapes to journey in,” Spada defined, “however we did not simply resolve to painting the fact as it’s. For instance, the Garda Lake monitor, I used to be the designer for this monitor. We began with the drone scanning materials, and from that knowledge, we determined to design and make the monitor extra interesting to gamers. Generally, having three hairpin turns proper after the opposite will not be that enjoyable for avid gamers. It is totally different for vehicles as a result of you possibly can drift, however for bikes, it is not that enjoyable. So we determined to have our take to painting what’s attraction about being in that spot.”

The windy, lakeside path of Garda Lake was the primary of two tracks I used to be in a position to check and, as I do not play motorbike racing video games all that usually, I proceeded to crash on each different flip. As a result of my mind is, at this level in my life, mainly an enormous ball of cottage cheese slowly seeping out of my ears, I saved attempting to press L1 to activate the Milestone staple rewind options out of each crash irrespective of what number of instances Spada jogged my memory it is R1. As I used to be the final individual he spoke with that day, I am certain it was an actual pleasure to cap off a day of interviews with a simplistic chucklehead like myself.

Once I wasn’t crashing, I used to be getting an amazing take a look at the (typically) beautiful Garda Lake, delivered to life with the Unreal engine. Experience three would be the fifth sport from Milestone to make use of the engine, and the facility of it could completely be seen in each bike within the sport.

“Utilizing Unreal engine has actually allowed us to push our graphics to be good, clear, and crisp,” Spada mentioned. “So we’re in a position to play with lights and shadows to create a really vivid and full of life panorama that modifications as you go. We even managed to step up the sound with it. Whenever you drive by tunnels or on the totally different tracks, the engine will echo or muffle relying on what’s taking place across the bike.”

Going by the tunnels of Garda Lake was an amazing showcase of the standard sound results Milestone is using for Experience three, however sadly is not wasn’t the very best showcase of the engine’s graphical capabilities. Working on a PS4 Professional, there was sporadic pop-in all through the race and the timber had a sure low-resolution high quality to them that jogged my memory of the artwork route for The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, although I am not fairly certain that is the intention of the builders. Very similar to with earlier video games Milestone has made utilizing the engine, some tracks will merely look higher than others. For this hands-on, it was the second monitor I attempted out that completely stole the present.

Macau, impressed by the actual Macau Grand Prix monitor, is a lovely although finally horrible monitor from a first-time rider. The lengthy straightaways of town, lit up in neon extra, rapidly fade into darkness as riders must works with little or no gentle as they try and hold tempo by the numerous twists and turns of the moist monitor. The town lights of Macau are actually in a position to pop as a result of the race takes place at night time, a primary for the franchise as a result of Unreal engine.

Gamers will be capable of completely gentle up their bikes as effectively with the brand new livery editor. Gamers have full management of the look, model, and coloration of the decals and stickers they will create and share on-line for his or her bikes. There are 100 layers to work with and anybody who provides it a strive can create one thing tremendous official, like a sticker for an actual racing firm they admire, or one thing actually silly, just like the Pickle Rick decal one other Milestone rep confirmed me.

The livery editor will likely be nice for the long run, however my favourite function of Experience three is there to assist gamers proper from the beginning. The sport will embody many choices that permit you to tailor the expertise to your choice. You possibly can modify the physics if want be to make the sport extra arcadey or extra lifelike. There may be additionally an extremely useful racing line function that, together with the rewind button, will assist gamers higher find out how they’re imagined to strategy every flip. This line seems at each flip for each monitor and is color-coded to let you understand how quick you must be approaching it. Inexperienced is sweet, pink is you are aiming for a spectacular crash. At Macau, it was an important software that allowed me to complete the race in addition to I did, which was in final place however not embarrassingly unhealthy final place.

Regardless of franchises like Forza and Gran Turismo promoting within the hundreds of thousands, motorbike racing continues to be a small area of interest, supported by a loyal group of what I am simply going to imagine are largely European followers. If there’s any developer to have an opportunity as elevating the game to the extent of these two different franchises it is Milestone, and if there’s one sport that can get them nearer to that degree of excellence it is most likely Experience three. It is a work of ardour, as Spada defined, “Creating Experience three has been actually demanding when it comes to assets and information, however the cool factor is that we’re having enjoyable whereas doing so and it displays how the sport, in the long run, comes collectively.”

There’s quite a bit I would wish to see out of the way forward for the Experience franchise. The bikes from the 60s are an amazing addition, however as this sport sells itself as an encyclopedia for bikes, one that can break it is personal Guinness World Document for many licensed bikes in a online game, I would like to see extra of car’s historical past. I ask Spada about going again even additional in historical past to incorporate one thing just like the BMW R75 or Daimler Reitwagen, the motorbike equal of the Mercedes-Benz Patent Motor Wagen 1886, in addition to the opportunity of together with Vespa scooters within the collection. Spada mentioned whereas he could not give me a particular reply on these, he did say these are the kinds of questions Milestone has been mulling over.

Experience three launches November 30 for Xbox One, PlayStation four, and PC. There’s a season move additionally obtainable for buy that can improve the full bike rely to greater than 300 bikes. For PlayStation four Professional and Xbox One X house owners, the sport will be capable of run at 60 frames per second.

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