Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chonicles
As a die hard Resident Evil fan, the prospect of an arcade style on rails Resident Evil shooter made me a little weary. My feelings were that the Wii was capable of so much more, and that they could really have used the Resident Evil name to really do something innovative. But I bought the game anyway.
The over all Plot is that of Resident Evil 0, 1, and 3 in a diet Pepsi kind of way. You play through a few levels for each of the three games, touching on all of the key points and boss battles. But the really meaty juicy part of the game are the ‘bonus’ levels you unlock while playing through the game, and the bonus levels themselves. These new levels take place outside of the main story of the Resident Evil games, and fill in the blanks. How did Rebbecca Chambers get to the mansion? what happened after Wesker died? Why did Wesker turn on Umbrella? Between the story content in these side missions, and the numerous (I mean a lot) items and files you find while playing the game, all of (ok, most of) the missing pieces of the fall of Umbrella, and the story of the first 3 Resident Evil games is explained. This was the real attraction to the game. While Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles is not a new Resident Evil game in terms of advancing the story, it does provide a lot of new information. In essence, it had the potential to be a fan boy’s wet dream.
Sadly the prospect of Umbrella was a lot stronger than the game it’s self. While the game is far from great, in all fairness it is also not terrible. Game play is smooth and I found no real problems. Though the amount of control and options you can offer players in a rail shooter is limited, Umbrella does do a good job of pushing it to the limits. The game is not overly difficult, and with a second player you can beat the main game’s levels in an hour or so, though the difficulty is noticeably higher on single player, it is still far from challenging. Players have the option of upgrading weapons and new weapons are awarded based on discovery and level progression, adding a little more flexibility to the game. The game’s visuals leave something to be desired, especially given that it carries the name of a game series known for pushing systems to their limits. We’ve seen games on the Wii that look amazing. It’d be nice if more developers took the time to take full advantage of what the Wii is capable of.
In the end the game is not terrible. It is easy, and it is short, and the game play is nothing to write home about, but it plays smoothly and is fun to play with a friend. This game wasn’t really made for the casual gamer, but seems really to be Capcom’s attempt at filling in the missing story pieces before Resident Evil 5 comes out. It’s a good pick up for long time dedicated fans of the series. And I guess if you really can’t wait for the remakes of House Of The Dead then this is the game for you.
Super Mario Galaxy
Within the first few minutes of playing this game one thing becomes very clear, Nintendo is not fucking around. Oh, and neither is Bowser. The formula for this game is more or less the same as any other Mario adventure. Mario is going to the castle, Bowser shows up, kidnaps princess (or entire castle), Mario must peruse and defeat Bowser. Only this time Bowser show up with a fleet of Mario Bros. 3 airships, and flying saucers. He kidnaps the entire castle, and flys off to the galaxy that he created. Yes, Bowser has created his own Galaxy. Bad-ass. Throughout the game you’ll also discover he is creating dark matter and black holes. The dude has seriously up’d the ante.
The game is built upon the seemingly invincible foundation of Super Mario 64, and the improvements made by the follow up Super Mario Sunshine. You start off in a central hub (formerly Peach’s Castle, and Del Fino Plaza) and proceed to go into various worlds and find all the stars. This time, the hub is a huge Space Station/observatory, property of one Princess Rosalina. If you ask me, Mario is rescuing the wrong Princess. I mean sure Peach has a castle and those farm girl next door good looks, but Rosalina is a hot blond with the looks of a super model, and she owns her own space ship. Better than a castle if you ask me.
Mario uses the Observatory as a base and hub to travel between the 42 galaxies. Each galaxy is a world, like in the previous games, with multiple stars. Most galaxy’s average 5 stars, some special galaxies only have 1 star. I’ll save you the trouble of math. The game has a total of 120 stars, wit the talks of a secret 121st star. Once all 120 stars are collected, you unlock the ability to play through the game as Luigi, to collect the 120 stars again, and unlock two special stars. This brings the star total to 242/243 depending on the actual number of secret stars. Fortunately you can beat the game with a minimum of 60 stars.
The game plays as near to flawless as any Wii game to date, and is possibly the best game to integrate with the Wii’s unique control options. Like it’s predecessors, Mario Galaxy does suffer from the occasional horrid camera angles, and sometimes getting that fine touch to a jump is difficult, but over all the game play is smooth and there really is nothing you could seriously complain about. The game is not terribly difficult, but it is not annoyingly simple either. It’s easier than Sunshine, and probably on par with 64. The graphics are without a doubt the best the system has seen thus far. Super Mario Galaxy really shows us what this system can do. The sound and music is as good as any Mario game, and there are even many times when you’ll find yourself hearing newly recorded versions of music from Super Mario Bros. 3.
The new additions to the Mario universe are awesome. Nothing new in the way on enemies really. Most of your boss battles are against Bowser Jr, rather than Bowser. Although the final Bowser battle is possibly the most difficult one to date. Mario finds a few new power ups in Galaxy, all of which are awesome to use. Fire Mario makes a return, along with a re-imaged invincible star Mario. Bee Mario is as shown in the trailers, giving the player the ability to hover for a period of time and walk through honey. Boo Mario is amusing and allows you to travel through walls. Flying Mario is probably the coolest looking, giving Mario some new Black and Red overalls. The ability is pretty much exactly the same as the winged cap from Mario 64. My personal favorite is Ice Mario which gives you the ability to walk across water, as it freezes below your feet.
Over all, the game is hands down amazing, and if there was only one reason to own a Wii, this would be it. I beat the game by borrowing it from a friend, and I plan on buying it. It’s that good. If i had a 5 star rating system Mario Galaxy would have earned at least a 6. Yes, out of 5.
Juno (no, not the Capitol of Alaska)
Ever since that cinematic disaster known as Napoleon Dynamite, I’ve been a little gun shy of the major release indie film circuit. Until I actually sat down to watch it, all the info I had on Juno was second hand, and none of it came to me in a positive light. Thea reason that I did finally watch it was the film’s best picture nomination for this years Oscars, a nomination that I think it seriously deserves. The thing that truly amazed me about this movie was how real life it was. You always hear about dark gritty street crime or war movies being called ‘genuine’ or ‘real’ or ‘honest’. Juno is one of the few movies I’ve seen that is actually and honestly just about real life. Not once while watchign this movie did I have trouble believing it to be true or real or possible, and many times I found myself relating it to my own high school experiences. This is as much a result of Diablo Cody’s writing, as it is of the actors, every single one of whom gave an amazing performance. I’m willing to go so far as to say, that every one in this movie, gave the best performance of their career in this film. For someone early in the industry like Michael Cera that is not that powerful of a statement, but it holds true for an actress the calibre of Jennifer Garner, whom I have never liked as much as in this movie.
The plot is simple, high school girl gets pregnant, has to tell parents, has to tell boy friend, has to figure out how to deal with it. And the movie, though it sounds less than impressive, really is that simple. Ellen Page (X-Men: The Last Stand) gives an amazing and heart warming (really I mean it) performance as 16 year old high school student and soon to be mother, Juno MacGuff. I found myself falling in love with the character instantly, and Page’s performance is so down to earth and real, it is hard not to. Juno finds herself pregnant after one night with best friend Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera) and decides to take care of the situation on her own, leaving Bleeker out of the picture to continue living his life unaffected. After she finds herself unable to go though with the abortion, Juno decides she has to tell her father Mac (J.K. Simmions, Spider-Man Trilogy) and step mother Bren (Allison Janney, 10 Things I Hate About You). In the end, Juno decides to give the baby up for adoption and with her best friend, Leah (Olivia Thirlby) begins the search for the perfect adoptive parents.
Enter Mark and Vanessa Loring. On the surface, they seem like the perfect upper middle class suburban couple. Jennifer Garner (Alias, Elektra) gives a flawless performance as Vanessa, the hard working business woman who wants nothing more to be a mother, and is terrified of the prospect at the same time. Vanessa plays every by the books (including the baby books) and her hurried overly concerned slightly awkward character is coupled perfectly with her husband Mark’s (Jason Bateman, Smookin’ Aces, Dodgeball) laid back and collected attitude. Together the two of them appear to Juno to be the perfect parents for her child, and soon after she begins to build a friendship with Mark over a mutual hatred of the music each other enjoys, and the gory B movies of the 70’s.
Through the events of the movie, 16 year old Juno handles her situation with a strength and maturity that would be impressive in someone twice her age. So when the moment comes that she finally does let all of her fear of the situation overcome her, it makes for such a powerful and emotional scene, you can’t not be moved. And what was an awesome character is made even more so by Ellen Page’s absolutely amazing performance. I suppose that is why she earned the Best Actress nomination for this years Oscars, an award I whole heartily hope she wins.
I don’t want to get any deeper in what actually happens, not for the sake of spoilers (lets face it, it isn’t the most unpredictable movie ever) but there are a few unexpected turns. And the movie is such as should be experienced as freshly as possible. Juno combines a great script (featuring great dialogue and endlessly entertaining characters) with flawless performance from some of the industry’s best. I’d put this one on the Must See list. For sure.
Lost: The Beginning Of The End
A little heads up: Spoilers.
Few shows have been able to work up the kind of fan dedication and excitement that Lost has been able to garner over the last 3 seasons, particularly the shocking end to the third season. Waiting for the fourth season would have been hard enough, were it not for the happenings and announcements before last Thursday night. First was the WGA strike. The the announcement of shorter seasons, and finally, the major announcement that season 6 of Lost, would be the absolute end of the show, the story, and the troubles of it’s characters. So what does that mean? It means that every one involved, from fans to producers, went into the first episode of season four knowing that this was the first of the final 42 episodes. Let the frenzy begin.
The big question as the episode began was who will it be, and when will it be. Both questions were answered immediately, as season 4 began with a post island Hurley in a high speed chase with the LAPD in his camero. So the question became, why was he running from the police? When we get back to the island we are exactly where we left off with the events of last season ‘Through The Looking Glass’ with rescue seeming imminent and news of Charlie’s death having yet to reach the ears of the remaining Losties. As the survivors prepare to head back to the beach, we finally get hardcore confirmation that the Claire-Charlie relationship had escalated to a form of full on official relationship, thanks to some subtle humor by Rose. It was a nice moment to, and gave us a chance to see some of the friendships that had formed among the 2nd string characters, though it was really the only feel good moment of the entire episode. And given that all of us viewers knew that Charlie Pace had met his end, it made a really happy scene, a very sad and tragic scene.
Normally Lost is good at balancing all of its many story lines, and when a new element is introduced, it is smoothly integrated and handled in a positive way. Meaning that most if not all character/sub plot additions to the show have had a positive over all effect. This was the where we had the only real head scratching moment of TBOTE. This whole Naomi sneaking away side story really made no sense at all. It seemed like the writers had a reason for splitting up the group, something was going to happen, Kate was going to die, Ben was going to escape…nope. All the characters came back together in the end with nothing having changed except for Naomi being dead…which was how we had ended the season before.
There were a few ‘Holy Shit’ moments in the season premier, the biggest of all was Hurley’s run in with Jacob. But the biggest surprise was not that Hurley found the cabin, and that it followed him, and that he saw Jacob, but that he was two Jacobs…or something of the sort. Just who was in the chair (a lot of people seem to think it was Christian) and just who did that eye belong to? It was a chilling moment to be sure. And one that is bound to have a huge effect on the rest of the show.
Now there has been the idea going around for a long time of the survivors being split up into two different camps, and we finally got to see that. With ‘rescue’ soon arriving, it was faith vs science all over again. The confrontation of Locke and Jack came to head in a very powerful scene, and Jack let his dark side shine a little more. Hurley’s speech about Charlie’s sacrifice and him changing his mind was a powerful moment, and really added to the splitting of the camp. season 4 is shaping up to be team Locke vs team Jack. Clearly there is going to be some serious animosity between the two groups, given by flash-forward Hurley apologizing to Jack for going with Locke. Although after the survivors split up, it began to seem that some of them didn’t go with Jack because they thought he was right, but because they thought Locke was wrong. And as the episode grew towards its later half, it started to become clear that even the likes of Jack and Kate were beginning to doubt their rescue.
The show came to a close with one more character showing up on the island, the one who will most likely cause the biggest stir this season. It’s very clear that these new people are not who the Losties think they are, and are not going to be a positive addition to their lives. Like most episodes, at the end we are left with more questions than answers. Who is on the boat? Why is Charlie haunting Hurley? And just what is the secret that Jack wants kept? What exactly happens to the others when the 6 leave the island…?
Over all it was a solid episode. And one hell of a way to kick off season 4. I, personally, cannot wait until next thursday.
The Final Stage 