Damage Per Second

L4D2: “Undead Update”

Back at E3 the sequal to Valves successful zombie shooter: “Left 4 Dead” was revealed and ever since then gamers have had mixed feelings on the matter. In the red corner we have the gamers who are mad as hell about a sequel already being announced when we only got one DLC for L4D. They have started a boycott against the game, wanting it to be free for owners of Left 4 Dead. (wow, really guys?) In the blue corner we have the other Left 4 Dead gamers who were confused about a sequel already being announced for the same reasons but really don’t care and are way too excted. I recently read an article in the latest OXM and Valve has added some really cool things to this sequel. It sounds like the game is going to have alot more action but still try and retain the horrors of going up against an army of the undead, while fleshing out alittle bit of a backstory. In L4D2 you won’t just start out in the middle of this zombie apocalypse, but you’ll be playing right when the infection begins. You’ll be playing in potential “safe zones” that aren’t really that safe, and see how the residents try and cope with this outbreak. Valve also hinted that alot of the corpses you come across during your journey to survival were not all killed my zombies. :) I got kind of bored of hitting a switch that unleashed the undead and just sit in a corner, shooting the undead one by one. Luckily I wasn’t alone and Valve has now added more spice to that recipe. “If you don’t run, you die.” Simple as that, when you hit a switch that signals the horde, you must then run to another point and hit another switch to get away. If you don’t you will be bombarded and killed. It adds more action and will make the switch pushing more unsettling. Not only will that be added, but more action to finales has been as well. I seen a picture of the survivors trying to escape the undead like anyother finale, but this time Jets are flying by and bombing the hell out of your position. This is where the setting comes into play: “You play the game when the invasion starts.” So now there is really no turning back. You have to survive jets and zombies now, fun right? Remember Louis? Zoey? Francis? and Bill? I do, and Valve hasn’t forgotten them either. They mention that the old L4D cast isn’t dead and gone. So will they be cameos of our old friends? or will they appear more along the lines of Unlockable Characters? Maybe Both? Who knows, guess you’ll just have to wait and see like the rest of us. -Snazzy

Review Of A Remake: Final Fantasy III

Ok, I think It’s time to admit something. I was once a HUGE Final Fantasy Fanboy. I loved Squaresoft (Square Enix now) & tried playing all of them.

Lately square enix has been dishing out remakes of the old NES Final Fantasy titles for the Nintendo DS and I managed to get a copy of FF3 from a friend for free lol.

Since it’s a remake of an old RPG, the old storyline that every gamer knows about is here. “Chosen warriors of good sent out to stop an ancient evil force that has awakened in the world that is apparently in peril!” We all know the story and we all loved it back then. It’s a remake so if you expected something else then you just fail.

The gameplay for this game is just like the old school RPG turn based system, which I’ve kind of missed so kudos to that. The layout is basically 4 of your characters fighting 3 enemies (4 if they are small critters) and each of your characters take turns and strategize to take out the enemies. You have a job system where you can choose from a variety of different classes like warriors, mages, theives, and more. Each job allows you to hold different types of weapons, have unique abilities, or allow spells to be cast. You earn more jobs as you find different elemental crystals that you….well….talk too throughout the game.

It is pretty cool for people who have played the old game to see all the levels, creatures, and towns redone in this 3D fashion, with enough detail for a DS game. Just look at the comparison:

Something I didn’t like about the remake is the fact that there isn’t much new. Yeah it’s all in 3D and portable now, but I want brand new jobs and maybe some new weapons? So far I have heard nothing about new additions like this. The only changes I know about are some new cutscenes, longer backgrond music, some additions to a few dungeons and enviroments and the onion knight class being a secret job that you unlock now. I know it’s a remake and I should just expect something I already played long ago, but adding some new shit into the game that is actually interesting and worth my time would be awesome as hell! But Oh well….

If you’re a Final Fanboy then you probably have this on an emulator or something. If not then you should atleast play it; go borrow it off a friend or rent it! Or you could just play the old one on an emulator. The general gamer probably won’t pick this up sadly. But with nothing new to add to the title it still retains the old Final Fantasy goodness and get’s a C-.

-Snazzy

Terminator Salvation review by Tyberious (SPOILER HEAVY)

It is impossible to talk about the sci-fi genre without mentioning the Terminator franchise. The premise of the Franchise was a simple on, it told the tale of a not so distant future in which machines had taken over and launched a full scale war against humanity. In the End humanity was lead to victory by one man John Connor, but just as Connor was about to defeat the machines they played the ace up their sleve and sent the Terminator- a sophisticated killing machine that was living tissue over metal- model T-800 back in time kill Connor’s mother Sarah connor (Linda Hamilton) and prevent his very existance.

James Cameron helped to define the science fiction genre with this 1984 film. He masterfully incorporated elements of horror, action, and sci-fi to take auidences on a thrill ride of epic porportions. The film became a huge sucess and as we all know helped to rocket a young Austrian body builder name Arnold Schwarznegger to movie superstar.

In 1991 Cameron went on and redefined the franchise with Terminator 2: Judgement Day or simply called T2. This time around the Terminator (Schwarznegger) was the hero and was sent back to protect John Connor (Edward Furlong) and his mother Sarah (Hamilton). To this day the film is still regarded as a action movie master piece and considered by many to be the best film of the franchise.

After T2’s suscess years went by and the new melinnium came upon us. During this time in his divorce from Linda Hamilton Cameron lost the Terminator rights and they were sold to the Haylocon Company who till this day still holds the rights.

These are the same people that gave us Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. A lackluster sequel, though while and excellent action movie witha  great ending the over all reaction was it was ultimatlety unecessary.

However it did leave fans wondering, since the franchise had came full circle and “Judgement Day” did happen what would be the fate of the series?  A level headed person would have said “Ok guysI guess enough is enough” but we do not live in such a world. In the land of Hollywood one thing is king and that is “MONEY” so the executives at the Haylocon Company and Warner Brothers said hey lets keep this thing going.The end result of this effort is the fourth enstallment of the series Terminator Salvation.

Salvation takes place in 2018,  earlier and much differn’t than most  would have suspected, including John Connor (Christain Bale). Sipmply put ” This isn’t  the future his mother warned him about”. he reason for this is because of time paradox’s created by time travel in the previous three movies. Connor who was fore told to lead the resistance is nothing more than low ranking officer in this new future. He is guided by the recordings of his mother Sarha Connor (Hamilton) but it is too little avail. One thing that is noticed is that humans are being captured for testing and Connor is shocked to learn that his father the teenaged Kyle Reese is among the capture and he is on a race against the machines and the humans to resuce his father and ensure that the future is kept intact. Connor si so desperate that he must trust in a mysteriosu new commer named Marcus Wright who claims to be a death row inmate from 2003. Connor ahs to decide can he trust this man or is he really just another trap sent by Skynet to detur him.

This film is quite differnt from its predecessors and it should appear pretty cut and dry what we are indeed suspose to see and that is John Connor fufil his destiny and defeat Skynet. This happens to an extent but it also tries to be more akin to its predecessors and the end result is a hodgepodge of  a movie that just falls flat of the greatness that it deserves.

This story is one that fans have been waiting for ever since they saw a glimpse of the war in the first few minutes of the orginial Terminator, but I have to say the story we are expecting to see will proably never come to light. The films two biggest flaws are the script and the marketing.

The film has a great cast who are capable and talented, a good director (McG) who knows and respects the source material and also knows how to do action, and last but not leat it also has the finest special effects money can buy.  However none of these can bring the film to the great levels.

The script just has too many plot hole and mistakes and thst is just sad considering the fact that it went through six differnt writers the last two being Paul Hargis (Crash, Casino Royale) and Jonah Nolan (The Dark Knigh). However it appears that Hargis and Nolan were brought in late in the game while the movie was being filmed and right before the writers strike last year so there was only a limited amount of work they could have done to try and fix the script.

The  problem is that you have absolutley no character development except for the role of Marcus Wright and Kyle Reese. John Connor is a stagnant character who goes no where in this film. Thats not to mention that Bryce Dallows Howard has ony maybe 12 lines in the movie the rest of the time she is just standing around looking shocked.  The second thing is that you have anyoning unanswered question and lastly a horrible ending. Literally it was like all of a sudden they were like hey we have to get rid of Marcus ok lets let him give his heart to John Connor. I hated it it took me out a film that despite its flaws I was enjoying. Though I have to say its wayyyyyyyyyyy better than the garbage about them killing connor and having him skinned and putting the said skin on Marcus.

The other flaw is its handeling of Marcus Wright. Like I said in the last paragrapg he is a Terminator. The fact that is given away in the damn trailer but yet McG tries in every way to still hide. The thing is that coupld have been a great twist becasue while hinted you really don’t know whats new with this guy because he differnt but still a machine.

This also could have done becasue of the toy campaign is Marcus battle damage heavy and its no secret that he is more than human. My question is why hide John Connor? Maybe Bale wouldn’t let them use his likeness I don’t see why because he did for the statues and the $100 doll. Why make his action figure wear a permenatly glued on helet and gogles?  Anyway I am way off topic back to the movie.

Now it may seem that I hate this movie and I the answer is I actually like it. Its full of good stuff. McG’s action is superb and it almost, almost makes up for the convoluded plot. Another things is the nods to the orginial timeline. McG went out of the way to make sure John gave his father his mothers picture, they kept the same boombox and guns and Roses tape form T2, recite old line and phrases, etc, etc. I wish they just could have done more with the script.

In the end the film is a mixed bag. I like it and give it a C. Its a soild action flick Id say slighly above or on par with with T3 but it is in no way as great as T2.  i could watch it again I just wish it would have been more than average.

That being said I hope McG reconsiders the plot for the inevitable sequel. Rumors are it has Connor timetraveling back to 2012 or whenver in London to fight the machines in our time. This just sounds STUPID AND DUMB! Please McG and Warners Bros please keep things in the future and hire Jonah Nolan to do the script and give him more time than a few weeks.

Crackdown on crime, with 3 other friends.

Crackdown came out for the Xbox 360 back in Febuary of last year. I enjoyed the game but also got bored with it after awhile. Playing in a huge city, where you could do anything you wanted, kind of grew old on me after awhile. But I also didn’t play alot of co-op so that might have helped. I only bought the game so I could play in the Halo 3 beta anyway.

Crackdown 2 was announced at E3 and you will play as these superpowered esq policeman who try to stop the crime waves in their city. If that wasn’t enough to announce a sequel, it’s also became apparent that the game will now support 4 player co-op. That sounds pretty cool to me, it actually makes me consider buying this when it comes out. Playing with 3 other friends as you fight crime, or just make the city your exploding playground. But wait, there’s more! It was also announced that the game will now support 16 player multiplayer. 16 people fighting for points, killing each other, making the city a race course in a Deathrace fasion, or just destroying as much as they can all together. It sounds killer and with all the multiplayer Crackdown will hold, I’ll definetly be waiting on this, rent or buy, I’m playing it.

Gamespot’s article on Crackdown 2 multiplayer being announced.

-Snazzy

A Life Size RX78 Gundam!!! by Snazzy

Ah Japan, the land of the rising sun and giant robots. If you ever watched a Gundam show then most likely you wanted to ride in these big beasts. I would join the military in no time flat to pilot one if it were real. Well some hard workers and die hard otaku’s in Japan have made the closest thing possible.

WOOOOOOO! Look at that!

Look at that KITE!

You can even see it when driving lmao!!

Go here for more pics. Much thanks to punynari for having these amazing pics!!!

The Chronicles of Narnia (Books) :: A Certain Swagger

A well covered and never dusty set of tomes!


The Chronicles of Narnia are ripe for discussion, praise, and criticism.  Scholars from every realm of study have read these books and argue over their social and religious ideas.  Written by C.S. Lewis over the course of seven odd years, they are books modeled after fables and fairy tales, though many of the themes contained within their plots deal with very adult themes.

Usually, children’s stories have a lesson to teach the reader.  Just look at the brothers Grimm or Aesop for prime examples.  Very rarely, though, do those works begin to deal with such complicated situations like original sin, the death and ressurection of christ, the jewish exodus from egypt, or the end of days.  All that and more waits for the reader of Lewis’ best known works.  These books are ideal for both the young and the lapsed fantasy enthusiasts.  Easy to read, but no less deep, the Chronicles offer plenty of brain food that you can mull over by yourself or in groups.

Personally, I read them all at a young age, then decided to read them again roughly ten years later.  It was an interesting experience, picking up all the subtle allusions to both christianity and the often uncited references to other world religions.  I recommend this series for new readers of any age, and for those with a group of friends liable to discuss the points raised by the books.

Further up and further in, friends of Narnia.

Drag Me to Hell Review By Tyberious

Does anyone remeber the good ole days when horror movies were actually scary? I do and more importantly so does director Sam Rami. Most people will know Rami for his work on the Spier-Man trilogy -which in my opinion was excellent until the third installment but that is another review for another day.

However many horror purists, movie buffs and nerds like myself know Sam Rami for another trilogy. The horror film genre has been kind to Rami it was this genre that got his career stared with 1981’s The Evil Dead. Rami shot the Evil Dead with little to no budget and with help from his best friend and legendary B movie star Bruce Campbell. The film became a cult hit and spawned two more sequels with 1982’s Evil Dead 2: Dead Before Dawn- which acted as a remake in addition to a sequel- and 1992’s Army of Darkness.

Over the course of this trilogy Rami was able to prove that he was capable of more than just your standard horror movie, as the films progressed Rami soon added elements of humor and action into the mix and Rami soon proved to audences that he excelled in these genres. Now after Army Of Darkness Rami’s career started to develop and grow, the director went and did such films as Darkman with Liam Neeson, The Quick and the Dead with Russel Crow and Leonardo DiCaprio, The Gift (In which Rami gave veiwers a gift, by getting Katie Holmes to go toppless in one scene), He with Bruce Campbell started the Hercules and Xenia tv shows and last but certanily not least Rami gave auidences the long awaited comic book adaptation of Spider-Man with Tobey McGuier and Kirsten Dunst.

Now after Spider-Man 3’s release and the critc and fan backlash of the film, Rami sought to go back to his roots and do a smaller film. He wrote a script with his brother Ivan and that script became Drag Me to Hell.After going into production Rami cast Justin Long and Elllen Page of Juno fame in the films title roles. Page soon dropped out and was recast by Allison Lohman and soon after Drag Me to Hell was brought to life.

The film follows the story of Christine Brown (Lohman) a loan officer at a local bank who is in the running for a promotion. Christine wanting to impress her boss and show that she can make the “tough decisions” decides not to provide a loan extension for elderly gypsie woman named Sylvia Ganush, who is being evicted from her home. Mrs. Ganush pleads with Christine to help her but, to no avail, so In return Mrs. Ganush places a curse on Christine and chaos ensues.

I want to keep this review as spoiler free as I can, becasue to do other wise would be unfair to everyone who hasnt seen it, because this film is simply amazing. Rami sucessfully blends horror, comedy and camp seemlessy and the end result is horror movie heaven. This has been the only film in years that has actually scared me. I sat in the theater dreading to see what trial and tortues poor Christine would have to go through next. This is the prime example of horror done right and I hope Mr. Rami will soon return to this genre again and scare us some more. Another thing that speperates this film is its relevance. The movie reflects the current economic climate and our own culture of Greed and illustrates how ordinary people can become blinded by the promises of money and be swayed to not do the right things and in essence lose their souls.

Its already been announced that Rami will go on to do Spider-Man 4 -which I believe wil be great seeing as Sony gave him back creative control which he didn’t have on Spidey 3- and after that he promised fans he and Bruce Campbell would do the long awaited Evil Dead 4. I don’t know if I speak for every fan but I wish he would do Evil Dead first and put Spidey on hold.

Drag me to hell is magnificant, and I give this film an A+. In a genre that is often copied and not well done this film is a refreshing reminder of what horror movies used to be and still have the potential to be. This is my second favorite movie of the summer and I encourage everyone to go out and see it and get the daylights scared out of them as well.

SnazzyDroid reviews F.E.A.R. 2 for the Xbox 360.

The only thing to fear is fear herself.

F.E.A.R. was released for the PC back in 2005 and the released for the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3 the next year. It placed you in the shoes of “The Point Man” and his mission to stop a cannibal who has commandeered an army of clones bent on releasing a mysterious and deadly force from the Armacham Technology Corporation (ATC). That force is the mother of the games protagonist and antagonist. She is Alma and she is the definition of Evil. If you haven’t played the first then shame on you. The game is an excellent and challenging shooter with enough scary moments to make you go home and cry to your mommy.

F.E.A.R. 2 was released in Febuary 10, 2009. For the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and the PC. It takes place at the end of the first and goes on from that. You play as Micheal Beckett, a Delta Force operator who is sent to take the president of the ATC into protective custody. After the explosion that “Point Man” causes in the first game, you are knocked out and experimented on. To make things worse, you are now being chased down by Alma, and it is up to you to destroy her.

Story wise the game is pretty cool, after playing the first I became drawn to the story of Alma and the ATC. So I had to play this one and see what happens. Sadly it just told what we already know about Alma. Even though some deaths to characters are very cliche’ the way your team deals with the situation satisfied me enough.

First off, this game is easier than the first. I played it on Hard and found myself only getting pissed off at 3 or 4 missions. The achievements are also extremely easier to get. You get points for beating a mission on any difficulty and can even get 20 points for killing yourself 5 times, WTF?!

Gameplay is the same as any old FPS and if you played F.E.A.R. you will have a pretty easy time getting accustomed to the controls. You still have some killer weapons like the new laser and your Slo-Mo has returned. But now you can only hold 4 weapons so you should decide carefully what to use.

The Atmosphere is still dark and creepy in this game. But in my opinion, the first game had scarier and more creative hallucinations to share. Hallucinations that creeped you the fuck out and made you think of a Stephen King film are now replaced with random popouts of a creepy ghost chick and a few random demons killing people in front of you. Cliche’ I know.

(Possibly the freakiest moment of F.E.A.R.)

Now Multiplayer I am impressed with. The interface has improved for me, respawn time is like a second now instead of you just wandering around the map as a camera for a minute. A ranking system is now present as well. But some of the insanely strong weapons from the solo campaign are present in multiplayer and just as wickedly strong.

The graphics have improved, enviroments now have more detail and that just adds to the level of destruction seen and does manage to make the game alittle creepier. But some character models are just bland and boring, the detail of their clothes and weapons are good, but they are just occupied by boring faces.

The game is also rather buggy, controls stop working for a split second during a gunfight and I’ve found myself glitched into a black room with random objects laying around instead of an actual map, just after finding a checkpoint.

Aside from it’s flaws and dimmed down horror. The game is a solid shoter with an interesting story. FPS fans and Achievement Whores should definetly rent this game atleast. Fans of the first should buy it. I give it a B.

Advance Wars :: Reviewed by A Certain Swagger

War is hell.  Advance Wars is heaven.

Strategy games have always found a place in my heart.  Alas, the time it takes to complete even a single battle in most tactical video games can leave the busy player with a sense of dread.  Will I be able to finish the stage in time?  Granted, some games use in game time limits quite well, forcing the player to reach a certain threshold of skill, but the time constraints in a turn based strategy game are usually real-time.

Thankfully, we have the Advance Wars series!  Packaged as a portable battlefield all your time constraint woes are gone.

Forget magic, this game is about cold, hard, steel.  As a writer and a gamer, nothing irks me more than when a game breaks from it’s own theme.  Evident from the art above, we’re talking about tanks, artillery, and helicopters.  Modern warfare with modern technology.  The only possible exception comes in the form of the CO power.  Each commanding officer (a cast of roughly 10) wields a unique ability that becomes available over the events of each battle.  However, only a couple seem to break the theme of modern warfare.  Most of the special abilities fit real world scenarios, ranging from a boost in reconaissance, a quick skillful repair of all damaged units, to a forced march that increases troop movement at the expense of morale.

The game offers a campaign mode where you can make rank, challenge an AI, and experience a light-hearted story (that hints to the beginnings of something explored in the rest of the series, albeit darker).  The first Advance Wars is both a wonderful introduction into strategy games and even for experienced strategists, sure to become an old favorite.

Other highlights include a map editor, a realistic grading system (losing a unit you could have saved is bad, and not weakening the enemy when you could have is equally so), and a war room filled with entirely optional battles that can often eclipse even the hardest campaign missions.

The downside:  this is a GBA game.  This wouldn’t be a problem and is hardly a shortcoming as 2d gaming is alive and well, (often showing more interactive creativity than the 3d games on major consoles), but with the introduction of the new Nintendo DSi, the GBA cart is finally phased out.  If you want to play this classic series from the beginning, and I hope you do, then you’ll need to keep a device that is compatible with a GBA cartridge.

Batman and Robin #1 review by Tyberious

I never thought I would see the day when I would assoicate the words cool, great, or awesome with something that had Batman and Robin in the title. Now don’t get me wrong I love Batman, hes my favorite superhero and I love the comics and the movies. The problem has been that the name in question has forever been linked to the worst Batman movie and one of the worst movies of all time.

I had my doubts when DC announced that the new Batman series would be called Batman and Robin. Mostly becasue of Grant Morrions latest run on the title and the current state of the Dark Knight in the DCU (Which I don’t fully hate and actually enjoy). Also Morrison’s comments about the title worried me he said the was his version was the 60’s Batman show but done right. So naturally the skeptic in me was expecting the worse

Anyway the book was released this past Wednesday and I picked it up. I also have to say the book is simply amazing/ I worried for nothing and I need to have more faith in Morrison and Quitely.

This new series follows the “New” Batman and the “New” Robin on their first official mission in Gotham City.This timel the dynamic duo are in pursuit of the villianious Mr. Toad who is part of Eastern European Circus headed by the mysterious villian only known as PYG. They also revieled one of the coolest Batmobiles in Bat history, the one that flies! Now for those who havent read the comics in a while you may be lost so here is a brief recap. Simply Bruce Wayne is no longer Batman. Following the events of Mprrison’s Batman: Rip, Last Rites, and Final Crisis, the Dark Knight is trapped in the Omega Sanction or the living death thanks in no small part to Darkseid. Now this basically means Batman is stuck in a parallel universe and will be forced to relive his life over and over again until he escapes (Which is possible because Mr. Miracle faced the same fate and escaped in the 70’s). So with Bruce out of commision Gotham City fell into dissary and left Nightwing, Robin, and Jason Todd to compete to see who would inherit the cowl of Batman in Tony Daniels Mediocore Battle for the Cowl . (The rest of the review should be considered spoilerish, so if you have not read Battle for the Cowl or Batman and Robin # 1 you may want to skip to the end).

In the conclusion of BFTC we saw Dick Grayson take over the mantle of the Dark Knight and Bruce and Talia Al Ghul’s son Damien Wayne become the new Robin.

Now back to B&R , the art of the comic is beautifully done by Frank Quitely who has worked with Morrsion numerous times in the past most recently on the great All Star Superman. When it comes to comics there really is no greater team than Morrison and Quitely. This book is just simply beautiful too look at!

What really works with the comic story wise is the relationship between Dick and Damien. The fighting between the two and how Morrison explores it is facinating. Damien is just as rebellious, and errogant as ever and Dick is still trying to put the kid on the right path like Bruce did for him and make him forget the evil lessons form his mother and League of Assassins. the relationship works and I am anxious to see where Morriso takes it and if Dick can succede and save Damien and help him to become his fathers son Another great aspect is Dick Grayson self doubt. He knows he has to be Batman because Gotham needs one but his constant stuggle and trying to live up to Bruce is also well done .

This is a refeshing turn by Morrison- who has angered an divided a lot of Bat fans with RIP and Final Crisis. I finally believe with BR we are going to see Morrision’s master plan and the method to his madness. I have to say that I am anxious to see what happens next and I am happy with the current event of things. While Bruce will always be Batman to me it is refreshing to have things get shaken up and turned on their heads because, as much as I love the comics it’s hard to keep them interesting and this is one run that has been that, In the end though we all know eventually Bruce will return its only a matter of time because, no one can be Batman and live up to his example, like Morrison said in an earlier interview. Give it a year and Bruce will be back so Bat fans don’t worry and please gove this a chance Morrison believe it or not knows what he is doing I do believe that.

Anyway this is a must pick up and I can’t say enough good things about this comic. I give it an A and I have to say Mr. Morrison Mr. Quitely thank you good works guys, you never dissapoint.

Introduction

Welcome to Damage Per Second! A blog where we share our thoughts on your favorite (or hated) films, games, books, and more! Enjoy!