Search
Search results
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Reef in Tabletop Games
Aug 1, 2019
Ahh ze coral reef. How beauteous is her expanse, and so nurturing for her oceanic inhabitants. We must endeavor to protect her and rebuild her as best we can to foster wildlife and entreat Mother Nature. We shall do this by selecting only the best coral combinations to satisfy the dying environment.
Reef is an abstract hand management, pattern building game that challenges the players to become coral reef architects and rebuild our fragile underwater ecosystem. This is a lofty goal, as our coral reefs in the real world are hurting for rejuvenation something fierce.
DISCLAIMER: I do not intend to cover every single rule included in the rule book, but will describe the overall game flow and major rule set so that our readers may get a sense of how the game plays. For more in depth rules, you may purchase a copy from the publisher directly or from your FLGS. -T
Setup is easy: shuffle the player mats and deal one to each player. The player that received the one board containing the starfish will be the starting player. Deal the players one of each colored coral piece, two cards from the deck, and 3 VP tokens. Place your reef chunks in the middle of your board in any order and you are ready to play!
On your turn you can do one of two things: draw a card or play a card. There are three cards face up to form the offer row, or a player can pay a VP token to the card with the lowest printed VP total to take the face up card on top of the draw pile (a la Small World). When you play a card, you immediately take the coral pieces on the card and place them on your play mat. The pieces can be stacked on other pieces of the same or different color, or on a blank spot on the mat. Once done, you check the card you played for any scoring conditions you may have met from your play mat. I will not go into detail about scoring, but there are several types of scoring that are employed in a game of Reef. The game continues in this manner until all of one color of coral pieces are used up. Players finish the round and then count their VP tokens. The winner is the player with the most VPs.
Components. The box is, what, normal sized? And the art on it is wonderful. So colorful and instantly recognizable. In fact, the art on the game in its entirety is truly amazing. I love it! The cards are of fine quality, but since they are handled a bit I sleeved mine. The VP tokens are of good quality, and I like that the pieces aren’t just perfect circles. It’s not a huge deal, but it helps with immersion just that much more. Same for the player mats. They could have been just as effective with square mats, but just that bit of wave makes it more enjoyable to play on for me. The big chunky coral pieces are so fun to play with, and handle, and, honestly, drop. They are very satisfying and great for those with colorblindness since they are all different shapes for the different colors they represent. All in all, Next Move Games knocks it out of the park on components AGAIN!
As you can tell by our score, we really like this game a lot. The first time I played it, my father-in-law used an interesting strategy and won the game. The next time I played it, I tried to use that same strategy and came in 3rd place. So, I chalked that win up to luck of the (card) draw and am now seeking more varied strategies to become the King of Reef. This is perhaps what also keeps the game from being a Golden Feather Award winner – I can play my game strategy and you can play yours, but that’s it. There is no real player interaction. As one Duke of Dice Alex would sing it, Reef is actually just “multiplayer solitaire.” While that is completely appropriate and non-offensive, I believe that with some more player interaction I would be more apt to bump this one to a 6. That said, we at Purple Phoenix Games give Reef a well-deserved bubbly score of 15 / 18. Emerson has himself another hit and I am proud to have it in my collection. You should grab it too, maybe.
Reef is an abstract hand management, pattern building game that challenges the players to become coral reef architects and rebuild our fragile underwater ecosystem. This is a lofty goal, as our coral reefs in the real world are hurting for rejuvenation something fierce.
DISCLAIMER: I do not intend to cover every single rule included in the rule book, but will describe the overall game flow and major rule set so that our readers may get a sense of how the game plays. For more in depth rules, you may purchase a copy from the publisher directly or from your FLGS. -T
Setup is easy: shuffle the player mats and deal one to each player. The player that received the one board containing the starfish will be the starting player. Deal the players one of each colored coral piece, two cards from the deck, and 3 VP tokens. Place your reef chunks in the middle of your board in any order and you are ready to play!
On your turn you can do one of two things: draw a card or play a card. There are three cards face up to form the offer row, or a player can pay a VP token to the card with the lowest printed VP total to take the face up card on top of the draw pile (a la Small World). When you play a card, you immediately take the coral pieces on the card and place them on your play mat. The pieces can be stacked on other pieces of the same or different color, or on a blank spot on the mat. Once done, you check the card you played for any scoring conditions you may have met from your play mat. I will not go into detail about scoring, but there are several types of scoring that are employed in a game of Reef. The game continues in this manner until all of one color of coral pieces are used up. Players finish the round and then count their VP tokens. The winner is the player with the most VPs.
Components. The box is, what, normal sized? And the art on it is wonderful. So colorful and instantly recognizable. In fact, the art on the game in its entirety is truly amazing. I love it! The cards are of fine quality, but since they are handled a bit I sleeved mine. The VP tokens are of good quality, and I like that the pieces aren’t just perfect circles. It’s not a huge deal, but it helps with immersion just that much more. Same for the player mats. They could have been just as effective with square mats, but just that bit of wave makes it more enjoyable to play on for me. The big chunky coral pieces are so fun to play with, and handle, and, honestly, drop. They are very satisfying and great for those with colorblindness since they are all different shapes for the different colors they represent. All in all, Next Move Games knocks it out of the park on components AGAIN!
As you can tell by our score, we really like this game a lot. The first time I played it, my father-in-law used an interesting strategy and won the game. The next time I played it, I tried to use that same strategy and came in 3rd place. So, I chalked that win up to luck of the (card) draw and am now seeking more varied strategies to become the King of Reef. This is perhaps what also keeps the game from being a Golden Feather Award winner – I can play my game strategy and you can play yours, but that’s it. There is no real player interaction. As one Duke of Dice Alex would sing it, Reef is actually just “multiplayer solitaire.” While that is completely appropriate and non-offensive, I believe that with some more player interaction I would be more apt to bump this one to a 6. That said, we at Purple Phoenix Games give Reef a well-deserved bubbly score of 15 / 18. Emerson has himself another hit and I am proud to have it in my collection. You should grab it too, maybe.
LOTTE.vn - Mua Sắm Quên Lối Về
Shopping
App
LOTTE.vn - là ứng dụng thương mại điện tử chính thức của tập đoàn LOTTE....
POOW The Food Hero
Health & Fitness and Medical
App
POOW The Food Hero is a tool for parents / healthcare to help and use to support and motivate...
Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) in Movies
Sep 29, 2021
Greedy men + Dinosaurs = Lunch!
I’ve really had a rollercoaster of emotions on this one. As a general fan of dinosaurs running riot, since I saw the brilliant original in 1993, I was pretty disillusioned by the teaser trailer for this one: all over-the-top CGI. But as the lights dimmed and the Universal logo faded to ominous sonar sounds, the hairs stood up again and I thought J.A. Bayona (“A Monster Calls“) *might* deliver something really special here. Ultimately though, I left the theatre disappointed… but only slightly so.
With extreme topicality given what is happening on one of the Hawaiian islands at the moment, Isla Nublar – home to the now derelict Jurassic World theme park – is in serious trouble due to a volcanic eruption. Swayed by chaos theory expert Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), a US senate committee decides to do…. absolutely nothing, letting the dinosaurs face re-extinction. This is much to the fury of our heroine from the first film, Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas-Howard), who now runs a “Save the Dinosaurs” group. When all seems lost, help comes from the wallet of philanthropist Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell, “Babe”, “LA Confidential”) and his ops manager Eli Mills (Rafe Spall, “The Big Short“) who propose to fund a private rescue mission: a mission that requires the involvement of Velociraptor-wrangler Owen Grady (Chris Pratt, “Guardians of the Galaxy“, “Passengers“). But are their motives truly honourable?
The film has its moments, with some well-executed action scenes, some nice munching of bad people and a few scenes that are truly touching: shots of a brachiosauruses’ last moments is a memorable piece of cinema. But that said, the film is extremely patchy. An exciting (but not particularly logical) pre-title sequence seques into a very wordy and action-free first reel, headed up by Goldblum (always seated: did he have his legs chewed off by a raptor?) droning on (blah blah blah), no doubt for a huge fee but not for much purpose. The early part of the movie is good however at introducing new characters: specifically the geeky Franklin (Justice Smith) and the pre-requisite 2018 ‘Times Up” kick-ass female character Zia ( Daniella Pineda), who is actually very good. As a whole though it’s not terribly engaging, leading to even the reveal of the derelict theme park – which should have been a high point – falling somewhat flat.
The much trailered volcano scenes that follow are impressive but should have been left to impress in the film.
Things ratchet up again though when the action moves to the more confining environment of Lockwood’s estate, bringing in arch-villain Gunnar Eversol played by Toby Jones (“The Snowman“, “Atomic Blonde“), who really should have taken the stairs, and Lockwood’s granddaughter Maisie ( Isabella Sermon) who is excellent as the ‘child in peril’. Some of the character’s actions don’t make a lot of sense (laser-targeting Owen? Why?) but they do generate some memorable scenes, supported by Michael Giacchino’s stirring soundtrack.
So, it pretty much works as an action film, but in terms of character development it doesn’t go anywhere in particular: Claire and Owen come out in about the same condition as they came in. I was expecting something deeper from Bayona (with his “A Monster Calls” being my personal No. 2 film of last year) than just a ‘running and screaming’ film.
It’s also difficult to avoid the fact that after five of these films there’s nothing much new under the Isla Nublar sun. Some of the plot here is a retread of the genetic shenanigans of the last film, mixed with the ‘off-island’ antics of “The Lost World”. And most of the action scenes are just stripped and re-painted from the earlier films. For example, the “about to get eaten but saved by another dinosaur” trope so expertly done by Spielberg in the finale of JP1 is re-hashed not once but THREE times in this movie: leading to more yawning that excitement if I’m honest.
Overall though, it’s an effective summer blockbuster that mostly delivers on the thrills and should be a good crowd-pleaser. By the way, staying through the endless credits is worth it not just for getting the full force of Giacchino and Williams’ majestic themes: there is quite a nice “monkey” at the end, illustrating that gambling might involve more than just money in the future!
With extreme topicality given what is happening on one of the Hawaiian islands at the moment, Isla Nublar – home to the now derelict Jurassic World theme park – is in serious trouble due to a volcanic eruption. Swayed by chaos theory expert Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), a US senate committee decides to do…. absolutely nothing, letting the dinosaurs face re-extinction. This is much to the fury of our heroine from the first film, Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas-Howard), who now runs a “Save the Dinosaurs” group. When all seems lost, help comes from the wallet of philanthropist Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell, “Babe”, “LA Confidential”) and his ops manager Eli Mills (Rafe Spall, “The Big Short“) who propose to fund a private rescue mission: a mission that requires the involvement of Velociraptor-wrangler Owen Grady (Chris Pratt, “Guardians of the Galaxy“, “Passengers“). But are their motives truly honourable?
The film has its moments, with some well-executed action scenes, some nice munching of bad people and a few scenes that are truly touching: shots of a brachiosauruses’ last moments is a memorable piece of cinema. But that said, the film is extremely patchy. An exciting (but not particularly logical) pre-title sequence seques into a very wordy and action-free first reel, headed up by Goldblum (always seated: did he have his legs chewed off by a raptor?) droning on (blah blah blah), no doubt for a huge fee but not for much purpose. The early part of the movie is good however at introducing new characters: specifically the geeky Franklin (Justice Smith) and the pre-requisite 2018 ‘Times Up” kick-ass female character Zia ( Daniella Pineda), who is actually very good. As a whole though it’s not terribly engaging, leading to even the reveal of the derelict theme park – which should have been a high point – falling somewhat flat.
The much trailered volcano scenes that follow are impressive but should have been left to impress in the film.
Things ratchet up again though when the action moves to the more confining environment of Lockwood’s estate, bringing in arch-villain Gunnar Eversol played by Toby Jones (“The Snowman“, “Atomic Blonde“), who really should have taken the stairs, and Lockwood’s granddaughter Maisie ( Isabella Sermon) who is excellent as the ‘child in peril’. Some of the character’s actions don’t make a lot of sense (laser-targeting Owen? Why?) but they do generate some memorable scenes, supported by Michael Giacchino’s stirring soundtrack.
So, it pretty much works as an action film, but in terms of character development it doesn’t go anywhere in particular: Claire and Owen come out in about the same condition as they came in. I was expecting something deeper from Bayona (with his “A Monster Calls” being my personal No. 2 film of last year) than just a ‘running and screaming’ film.
It’s also difficult to avoid the fact that after five of these films there’s nothing much new under the Isla Nublar sun. Some of the plot here is a retread of the genetic shenanigans of the last film, mixed with the ‘off-island’ antics of “The Lost World”. And most of the action scenes are just stripped and re-painted from the earlier films. For example, the “about to get eaten but saved by another dinosaur” trope so expertly done by Spielberg in the finale of JP1 is re-hashed not once but THREE times in this movie: leading to more yawning that excitement if I’m honest.
Overall though, it’s an effective summer blockbuster that mostly delivers on the thrills and should be a good crowd-pleaser. By the way, staying through the endless credits is worth it not just for getting the full force of Giacchino and Williams’ majestic themes: there is quite a nice “monkey” at the end, illustrating that gambling might involve more than just money in the future!
Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Lion (2016) in Movies
Sep 29, 2021
Lost in Train-station.
As January progresses, the quality Oscar films just keep on coming! India’s vibrant and teeming tapestry of life is a natural gift for film-makers, without a word needing to be spoken, and director Garth Davis – in an impressive feature film debut – utilizes that backdrop to the max.
In a true life story, five-year-old Saroo (Sunny Pawar, in an astonishingly adept child performance) is accidentally separated from his family in the Madhya Pradesh region of Western India and goes on a journey by train of hundreds of miles to Calcutta: a city full of people who don’t even speak his language.
Lost, alone and facing the perils of a street child in a dangerous city, Saroo is eventually adopted by a kindly Australian couple (played by Nicole Kidman (“Before I Go To Sleep“) and David Wenham (Faramir in “The Lord of the Rings”)).
Growing up in a comfortable, loving, but not – ultimately – idyllic home environment, Saroo (now Dev Patel, “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”) grows up and in his late teens goes to Melbourne University to study Hotel Management (Dev Patel? Hotel Management? What were the odds?!). While there, memories of the past resurface and an obsessive need to trace his Indian origins takes hold, disrupting both his career plans and his relationship with the love of his life Lucy (Rooney Mara, “Carol“). But with a remembered home-town name that doesn’t exist, only hazy memories of the train station he departed from, and thousands and thousands of train stations across India, how could he ever succeed?
India is enormously photogenic and cinematographer Greig Fraser (“Rogue One“, “Foxcatcher“) takes the maximum advantage of that with some memorable and dramatic landscapes: work that has been Oscar nominated. Also Oscar nominated and contributing strongly to the look and feel of the film is a well-judged and effectively used piano score by Volker Bertelmann and Dustin O’Halloran.
In the acting stakes, Dev Patel gives his best ever performance and his Oscar nomination – curiously for Best Supporting actor since, I presume, Sunny Pawar has the most screen time – is very well deserved. A moving performance, particularly at the tearful end of the movie, for which a box of tissues is recommended.
Nicole Kidman, not an actress I have ever hugely warmed to, is excellent here as the fragile adoptive mother, despite having to sport a crazy red curly wig. Another Oscar nomination.
Also worthy of note is young Abhishek Bharate as Saroo’s brother Guddu: the touching chemistry between the thieving young rascals at the start of the movie grounds the whole family relationship that’s sets up the emotional heart of the subsequent quest.
Luke Davies’ adapted screenplay is also Oscar nominated, although perhaps not as deserving to win as some of the other nominees. I would (naively perhaps) assume that adapting a screenplay from a true-life story must be an easier task, since the facts have to speak for themselves. But besides that, while the first half of the film, with the scenes in India, is exceptionally good, the Australian section became a more patchy with the motivations of Saroo’s actions and the impact they have on his adoptive family not feeling completely fleshed out.
While I’m sure being a street urchin in Calcutta in the mid-80’s was a horribly difficult and perilous existence, the screenplay paints the sense that that almost EVERY male in the city is either a pedophile or hopelessly corrupt: something that if I was a Calcutta resident I would likely take offence to.
However, this is a hugely involving and enjoyable movie, and a “Best Film” rounds off the impressive haul of six Oscar nominations. You might be cynical and view the subject matter as being comfortable Oscar-bait… but you can hardly argue about the absolute quality of the film-making on show here.
By the way, if you are curious as to where the title of the film comes from, you need to wait until the end titles: a masterly touch that I really liked!
The end titles also lay out the fact that the perils of street kids in India is still real and present, and the film is supporting charitable work to help. If you were moved by the film (as I was) you can make a donation at http://lionmovie.com (as I did)!
Highly recommended.
In a true life story, five-year-old Saroo (Sunny Pawar, in an astonishingly adept child performance) is accidentally separated from his family in the Madhya Pradesh region of Western India and goes on a journey by train of hundreds of miles to Calcutta: a city full of people who don’t even speak his language.
Lost, alone and facing the perils of a street child in a dangerous city, Saroo is eventually adopted by a kindly Australian couple (played by Nicole Kidman (“Before I Go To Sleep“) and David Wenham (Faramir in “The Lord of the Rings”)).
Growing up in a comfortable, loving, but not – ultimately – idyllic home environment, Saroo (now Dev Patel, “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”) grows up and in his late teens goes to Melbourne University to study Hotel Management (Dev Patel? Hotel Management? What were the odds?!). While there, memories of the past resurface and an obsessive need to trace his Indian origins takes hold, disrupting both his career plans and his relationship with the love of his life Lucy (Rooney Mara, “Carol“). But with a remembered home-town name that doesn’t exist, only hazy memories of the train station he departed from, and thousands and thousands of train stations across India, how could he ever succeed?
India is enormously photogenic and cinematographer Greig Fraser (“Rogue One“, “Foxcatcher“) takes the maximum advantage of that with some memorable and dramatic landscapes: work that has been Oscar nominated. Also Oscar nominated and contributing strongly to the look and feel of the film is a well-judged and effectively used piano score by Volker Bertelmann and Dustin O’Halloran.
In the acting stakes, Dev Patel gives his best ever performance and his Oscar nomination – curiously for Best Supporting actor since, I presume, Sunny Pawar has the most screen time – is very well deserved. A moving performance, particularly at the tearful end of the movie, for which a box of tissues is recommended.
Nicole Kidman, not an actress I have ever hugely warmed to, is excellent here as the fragile adoptive mother, despite having to sport a crazy red curly wig. Another Oscar nomination.
Also worthy of note is young Abhishek Bharate as Saroo’s brother Guddu: the touching chemistry between the thieving young rascals at the start of the movie grounds the whole family relationship that’s sets up the emotional heart of the subsequent quest.
Luke Davies’ adapted screenplay is also Oscar nominated, although perhaps not as deserving to win as some of the other nominees. I would (naively perhaps) assume that adapting a screenplay from a true-life story must be an easier task, since the facts have to speak for themselves. But besides that, while the first half of the film, with the scenes in India, is exceptionally good, the Australian section became a more patchy with the motivations of Saroo’s actions and the impact they have on his adoptive family not feeling completely fleshed out.
While I’m sure being a street urchin in Calcutta in the mid-80’s was a horribly difficult and perilous existence, the screenplay paints the sense that that almost EVERY male in the city is either a pedophile or hopelessly corrupt: something that if I was a Calcutta resident I would likely take offence to.
However, this is a hugely involving and enjoyable movie, and a “Best Film” rounds off the impressive haul of six Oscar nominations. You might be cynical and view the subject matter as being comfortable Oscar-bait… but you can hardly argue about the absolute quality of the film-making on show here.
By the way, if you are curious as to where the title of the film comes from, you need to wait until the end titles: a masterly touch that I really liked!
The end titles also lay out the fact that the perils of street kids in India is still real and present, and the film is supporting charitable work to help. If you were moved by the film (as I was) you can make a donation at http://lionmovie.com (as I did)!
Highly recommended.
Daniel Boyd (1066 KP) rated Just Cause 3 in Video Games
Jul 20, 2017
Terrible dialogue (1 more)
Excruciatingly long loading screens
Into the fire, or just a flash in the pan?
I have always been a huge fan of the Just Cause games, I played the hell out of the first one on PS2 and I have great memories of it and of being blown away by the sheer scope and beauty of the game’s environment. Then the follow up was even crazier and even more fun. The explosions were bigger, the characters were more bombastic, the map was massive and the game was amazing. So, I think it’s fair to say I had been fairly excited for a while for the series’ third entry. Unfortunately, as has been the case with a number of big AAA games released in 2015, it is a disappointment. It’s not a bad game by any standard, it just fails to improve on it’s predecessors in any way. When I’m weighing up my opinion on a game, the first thing I always ask myself is, is it fun? And is Just Cause 3 a fun game? Hell yes it is. The explosions feel and look just as good as you would hope they would and the addition of the wingsuit is awesome. Flying around the map like a superhero feels truly epic, it really does give you a sense of being Godlike and it is without doubt the highlight of the game’s new mechanics. However, when you take those two things away, the wingsuit and the explosions, all that is left is a very mediocre third person shooter with mediocre graphics and a cheesy, poorly written script read by voice actors playing uninteresting stereotypes. But hey, this is a Just Cause game, it isn’t exactly known for it’s reputation of telling deep stories about the evolution of a certain character’s psyche, this is the game where you ride missiles and grapple launch into a man with a dropkick, so as long as the fundamental Just Cause functions are present, then surely that’s all that matters. Then you run into the problem with loading times. Now I don’t actually mind games with long load times all that much, within reason, but Just Cause is the type of game where it gives you so many insane mechanics that you naturally feel the need to experiment, but sometimes these experiments end up in Rico’s violent death, which in turn results in another long load screen. After four or five times of this happening within the space of a single mission, the frustration is at boiling point and the game becomes a chore and any fun you were having is quickly lost. It’s as if the game actually punishes you for trying crazy things, yet it claims to be the game that encourages insanity! Also the ways in which you die are so inconsistent that they become massively unpredictable. For example, after dying 3 or 4 times while trying to liberate a base using a madman zipline/parachute combination technique, I finally decided to just play it safe and get the liberation over and done with, so I used a missile mounted chopper. I blew up a bunch of fuel tanks etc and then a couple of SAM’s blew some holes in my chopper, most of the time the game gives you a minute to jump out of the chopper before it explodes, but sometimes at random, it will just blow up instantly and kill you dead, leaving you with another 5 minute loading screen and even more despair. Also Rico can sometimes take fall damage of up to a good few hundred feet, but sometimes a small drop from a roof to the ground of a bungalow will kill him instantly. This wouldn’t be so much of a problem if it wasn’t coupled with long ass load times, which is what really makes the process excruciating. Like I said before, I don’t mind long load screens all that much, but when they are coupled with frequent random chance instadeath, then I have a problem. There is a website that I use frequently called HowLongToBeat.com and it essentially gives you the average amount of time that it takes to beat a game’s campaign. For Just Cause the website says 15.5 hours to beat, which is about right, but I reckon that if you shorten the load times and fixed the random occurrences of instadeath, you could beat it in 11 or 12 hours. That’s 4 hours of sitting through frustrating load screens that you are never going to get back.
It really sucks actually, I wanted to love this game so much and it’s done it’s damndest to prevent me from doing so. To put it bluntly there are better open world games out there and you won’t have to wait half as long to load them up.
It really sucks actually, I wanted to love this game so much and it’s done it’s damndest to prevent me from doing so. To put it bluntly there are better open world games out there and you won’t have to wait half as long to load them up.
Movie Metropolis (309 KP) rated After Earth (2013) in Movies
Jun 11, 2019
M Night Shyamalan is a director of two-halves. On one hand we have the man who gave us the amazing blockbusters Signs, Unbreakable and The Sixth Sense, which were met with commercial and critical success; and on the other hand we have the man who tortured the cinema-going public with abominations like The Lady in the Water, The Village and perhaps one of the worst films of all time, The Happening.
However, despite his recent offerings, the studios are allowing him to have another go, teaming up with Will Smith and his son Jaden in the sci-fi thriller After Earth. But can it mark a return to form for the struggling director?
After Earth begins with Jaden Smith getting the audience up to speed with exactly what has happened before the film began. The human race has had to leave the planet to ensure the continuation of our species after purging all the resources Earth had to offer.
Their new home, Nova Prime is a hostile environment, not unlike Mars in appearance with its rugged, red rocks and sweeping planes of space sand. After years of peace, an alien race intends to conquer their new home and enslave mankind with their secret weapons, the Ursas. These predatory beasts are technically blind, but sense fear and because of their grotesque appearance, it is easy to see why they can kill so quickly. The only way to survive an Ursa attack is to ‘ghost’, to not secrete the fear they need to ‘see’ you.
Jaden Smith plays Kitai, a young cadet who is on a training regime to become a ranger like his father Cypher (Will Smith). It’s fair to say they have a fraught relationship which is in part to Cypher being away for long periods of time defending Nova Prime, and partly because of the death of his daughter at the hands of an Ursa; something which Kitai blames himself for.
In an attempt to bond the pair together, their mother Faia, played briefly by Sophie Okonedo, convinces Cypher to take Kitai on his last voyage before retirement. On their journey their ship is severely damaged by an asteroid field and subsequently crashes on an inhospitable planet; no prizes for guessing where.
After discovering that his father has two badly broken legs, Kitai realises, with a little help from his dad, that he must travel 100km through Earth’s once pleasant land to retrieve an emergency signalling beacon – otherwise, they will die.
What ensues is a formulaic father, son bonding story mixed in with some mildly entertaining action pieces which try and get the heart racing. The problem with the film as a whole is that we, as the audience, never really sense any danger. Despite Kitai being attacked by a troop of baboons, poisoned by a leech and almost eviscerated by a group of big cats, we never think anything too awful is going to happen, simply because the film would be pointless if the duo weren’t rescued in the end.
Side-lining one of Hollywood’s most loved actors with two broken legs was a brave move by Shyamalan and it is done with a small degree of success. Smith senior suffers as a result of being bed-ridden for the duration and doesn’t perform as well as some of his other recent roles; I am Legend and I, Robot being prime examples. This isn’t to say that he isn’t engaging, as he always is, but it falls well short of his best characterisations.
The major fault with After Earth is in its leading man. Jaden Smith is a good actor, but he is not good enough to carry an entire film for over 90 minutes, we see him shout, pout and look into the camera longingly, but there is little else here and that’s a shame. He lacks the charisma and the charm that has made his father such a joy to watch over the years.
Special effects are a mixed bag, in some sequences, like the sweeping shots of Nova Prime and the cities which are dotted across its landscape, the effect is very good and the 4k resolution that Shyamalan has filmed in makes everything look crisp and sharp. However, the CGI animals, especially the big cats and the Ursa alien look a little like something pre-2000 and are disappointing.
Overall, After Earth is not as bad as the reviews and its dire box-office performance would suggest, and comparing it to Battlefield Earth is downright ridiculous. It is by no means a masterpiece, but as a slice of cheesy, sentimental popcorn entertainment it succeeds and does so well. Will Smith and his son Jaden are good, but not outstanding and the special effects look rushed – but this is offset by a wonderful soundtrack and a surprisingly deep and meaningful story. It may not be the career revival that Shyamalan was hoping for, but if this is the last film he directs he can at least be content. Set your expectations low and you’ll come out pleasantly surprised.
https://moviemetropolis.net/2013/06/08/after-earth-review-2013/
However, despite his recent offerings, the studios are allowing him to have another go, teaming up with Will Smith and his son Jaden in the sci-fi thriller After Earth. But can it mark a return to form for the struggling director?
After Earth begins with Jaden Smith getting the audience up to speed with exactly what has happened before the film began. The human race has had to leave the planet to ensure the continuation of our species after purging all the resources Earth had to offer.
Their new home, Nova Prime is a hostile environment, not unlike Mars in appearance with its rugged, red rocks and sweeping planes of space sand. After years of peace, an alien race intends to conquer their new home and enslave mankind with their secret weapons, the Ursas. These predatory beasts are technically blind, but sense fear and because of their grotesque appearance, it is easy to see why they can kill so quickly. The only way to survive an Ursa attack is to ‘ghost’, to not secrete the fear they need to ‘see’ you.
Jaden Smith plays Kitai, a young cadet who is on a training regime to become a ranger like his father Cypher (Will Smith). It’s fair to say they have a fraught relationship which is in part to Cypher being away for long periods of time defending Nova Prime, and partly because of the death of his daughter at the hands of an Ursa; something which Kitai blames himself for.
In an attempt to bond the pair together, their mother Faia, played briefly by Sophie Okonedo, convinces Cypher to take Kitai on his last voyage before retirement. On their journey their ship is severely damaged by an asteroid field and subsequently crashes on an inhospitable planet; no prizes for guessing where.
After discovering that his father has two badly broken legs, Kitai realises, with a little help from his dad, that he must travel 100km through Earth’s once pleasant land to retrieve an emergency signalling beacon – otherwise, they will die.
What ensues is a formulaic father, son bonding story mixed in with some mildly entertaining action pieces which try and get the heart racing. The problem with the film as a whole is that we, as the audience, never really sense any danger. Despite Kitai being attacked by a troop of baboons, poisoned by a leech and almost eviscerated by a group of big cats, we never think anything too awful is going to happen, simply because the film would be pointless if the duo weren’t rescued in the end.
Side-lining one of Hollywood’s most loved actors with two broken legs was a brave move by Shyamalan and it is done with a small degree of success. Smith senior suffers as a result of being bed-ridden for the duration and doesn’t perform as well as some of his other recent roles; I am Legend and I, Robot being prime examples. This isn’t to say that he isn’t engaging, as he always is, but it falls well short of his best characterisations.
The major fault with After Earth is in its leading man. Jaden Smith is a good actor, but he is not good enough to carry an entire film for over 90 minutes, we see him shout, pout and look into the camera longingly, but there is little else here and that’s a shame. He lacks the charisma and the charm that has made his father such a joy to watch over the years.
Special effects are a mixed bag, in some sequences, like the sweeping shots of Nova Prime and the cities which are dotted across its landscape, the effect is very good and the 4k resolution that Shyamalan has filmed in makes everything look crisp and sharp. However, the CGI animals, especially the big cats and the Ursa alien look a little like something pre-2000 and are disappointing.
Overall, After Earth is not as bad as the reviews and its dire box-office performance would suggest, and comparing it to Battlefield Earth is downright ridiculous. It is by no means a masterpiece, but as a slice of cheesy, sentimental popcorn entertainment it succeeds and does so well. Will Smith and his son Jaden are good, but not outstanding and the special effects look rushed – but this is offset by a wonderful soundtrack and a surprisingly deep and meaningful story. It may not be the career revival that Shyamalan was hoping for, but if this is the last film he directs he can at least be content. Set your expectations low and you’ll come out pleasantly surprised.
https://moviemetropolis.net/2013/06/08/after-earth-review-2013/
Onearmedcookie (6 KP) rated the PlayStation 4 version of Assassin's Creed: Origins in Video Games
Feb 10, 2018
Assassin's Creed is back... With a bang!
So for the last few months I have been spending quite a lot of my free time exploring ancient Egypt. Getting to grips with the latest installment in the Assassin’s Creed series. A series that has had me hooked with its historical references since the beginning. Admittedly the first got rather repetitive and I found myself wishing Ubisoft had taken things into a different direction.
Yet since the second game appeared, and introduced us to the charming Ezio, I have been hooked. The latest installment – entitled Origins has seen Ubisoft go back to the drawing board redesigning some of the games mechanics. Hoping to breathe new life into the series, whilst spinning another tale in history. I have to confess for the most part it has proved to be rather successful.
I have rather enjoyed this series, playing through all of the different historical places. The last in the series though, Syndicate was superb. Instantly my favourite so far so for me Origins – had a lot to live up to! I was worried initially when, Ubisoft had decided to delay the next instalment for a year whilst they looked at redesigning elements that for me had previously worked fine.
With this in mind, I loaded the game into my trusty PS4 and began my journey! Origins takes place in ancient Egypt just as Cleopatra is fighting for the throne. The game centres around a Medjay named Bayek and his wife Aya who find themselves thrust into the fight for Egypt between Cleopatra and the new Pharaoh – her brother - Ptolemy XIII. This is the birthplace of the assasins guild and the beginning of their fight against the knights of the templar!
The story is captivating, well thought out and the characters soon jump from the screen making you want to push forward to see what happens to them. In fact the characters are some of the best in the series, they have been developed well with real character development making them seem even more real. You can’t help but feel immersed in this new word as you discover more of Egypt. I also want to point out how well the characters are voiced, the voice acting in Origins is top notch. Fuelled with emotion and true grit, this only opens them up more. Making the game feel deeper than any before in the series. This is tory telling at its best.
I mentioned that Ubisoft went back to the drawing board on this one, changing some of the formula that we’ve all become used to. This is a bigger world to explore than any before it, Egypt is epic in scale and lovingly recreated. The world is brimming with life and it certainly feels like a more open world adventure than the previous instalments in the series. You can backtrack revisiting other areas or totally bypass them – the choice is yours.
There also seems to be a bigger range of side quests, helping you level up the character – unlocking handy upgrades as you go. Crafting is even present albeit in a simpler format than in most RPG’s. Similar to the Farcry series you can now hunt the wildlife in the area to help craft better equipment.
One of the biggest changes for me though, was the Eagle vision! Gone is the yellow vision highlighting heat signatures in red, with targets in gold allowing you to see through walls. Now you get to fly a real Eagle above you in the sky – tracking enemies and other areas of interest. It adds a whole new dimension to the game, casing an enemies camp from the sky – tracking their movements from up above really adds to the feel of the game. As you level up you can also have the Eagle attack and distract enemies allowing you to sneak past areas unseen. I love this idea and could quite happily fly Sensu around the environment for hours on end.
Combat has also been overhauled. Alas, for me this is probably the weakest part of the game. You can now block with your shield by pressing the L1 shoulder button. Heavy and medium attacks are found on the R1 & R2 buttons. For ranged attacks you press L2 to equip your bow! Sounds okay, but in practice I have found this new layout a trifle irritating. Imagine three guards are rushing you, you hit one and then go to block a blow with your shield – darn it you accidently hit L2 instead and suddenly you have your bow in your hand, getting cut up by two other guards! Frustrating isn’t the word. Especially when you get to some of the higher level guards with better AI.
Other than the combat though this is a solid game, with a very in depth strong story and well developed characters. If you got a little bored with the series, then this is the game to get you back in. It’s bold, with a beautifully crafted world to explore. Assassin’s Creed is back and it’s about time!
Yet since the second game appeared, and introduced us to the charming Ezio, I have been hooked. The latest installment – entitled Origins has seen Ubisoft go back to the drawing board redesigning some of the games mechanics. Hoping to breathe new life into the series, whilst spinning another tale in history. I have to confess for the most part it has proved to be rather successful.
I have rather enjoyed this series, playing through all of the different historical places. The last in the series though, Syndicate was superb. Instantly my favourite so far so for me Origins – had a lot to live up to! I was worried initially when, Ubisoft had decided to delay the next instalment for a year whilst they looked at redesigning elements that for me had previously worked fine.
With this in mind, I loaded the game into my trusty PS4 and began my journey! Origins takes place in ancient Egypt just as Cleopatra is fighting for the throne. The game centres around a Medjay named Bayek and his wife Aya who find themselves thrust into the fight for Egypt between Cleopatra and the new Pharaoh – her brother - Ptolemy XIII. This is the birthplace of the assasins guild and the beginning of their fight against the knights of the templar!
The story is captivating, well thought out and the characters soon jump from the screen making you want to push forward to see what happens to them. In fact the characters are some of the best in the series, they have been developed well with real character development making them seem even more real. You can’t help but feel immersed in this new word as you discover more of Egypt. I also want to point out how well the characters are voiced, the voice acting in Origins is top notch. Fuelled with emotion and true grit, this only opens them up more. Making the game feel deeper than any before in the series. This is tory telling at its best.
I mentioned that Ubisoft went back to the drawing board on this one, changing some of the formula that we’ve all become used to. This is a bigger world to explore than any before it, Egypt is epic in scale and lovingly recreated. The world is brimming with life and it certainly feels like a more open world adventure than the previous instalments in the series. You can backtrack revisiting other areas or totally bypass them – the choice is yours.
There also seems to be a bigger range of side quests, helping you level up the character – unlocking handy upgrades as you go. Crafting is even present albeit in a simpler format than in most RPG’s. Similar to the Farcry series you can now hunt the wildlife in the area to help craft better equipment.
One of the biggest changes for me though, was the Eagle vision! Gone is the yellow vision highlighting heat signatures in red, with targets in gold allowing you to see through walls. Now you get to fly a real Eagle above you in the sky – tracking enemies and other areas of interest. It adds a whole new dimension to the game, casing an enemies camp from the sky – tracking their movements from up above really adds to the feel of the game. As you level up you can also have the Eagle attack and distract enemies allowing you to sneak past areas unseen. I love this idea and could quite happily fly Sensu around the environment for hours on end.
Combat has also been overhauled. Alas, for me this is probably the weakest part of the game. You can now block with your shield by pressing the L1 shoulder button. Heavy and medium attacks are found on the R1 & R2 buttons. For ranged attacks you press L2 to equip your bow! Sounds okay, but in practice I have found this new layout a trifle irritating. Imagine three guards are rushing you, you hit one and then go to block a blow with your shield – darn it you accidently hit L2 instead and suddenly you have your bow in your hand, getting cut up by two other guards! Frustrating isn’t the word. Especially when you get to some of the higher level guards with better AI.
Other than the combat though this is a solid game, with a very in depth strong story and well developed characters. If you got a little bored with the series, then this is the game to get you back in. It’s bold, with a beautifully crafted world to explore. Assassin’s Creed is back and it’s about time!
Kristy H (1252 KP) rated Our Little Racket: A Novel in Books
Feb 8, 2018
The idyllic community of Greenwich, Connecticut is shaken when the investment bank, Weiss & Partners, fails. Its CEO, Bob D'Amico--a man known throughout the banking community for his loyalty to his employees--is at the center of the storm: did Bob know this was coming? And even worse, did things fall apart due to criminal actions on his part? Meanwhile, Bob's teenage daughter, Madison, struggles to understand what this all means, both for her father and her family. She gets little help from her mother, Isabel, who offers Madison no comfort during this crazy time. Madison's nanny, Lily, is busy caring for her younger twin brothers. Isabel's best friend, Mina, wants to help, but is still too afraid of offending Isabel: a pillar of the Greenwich scene. And Madison and her best friend, Amanda, seem to be drifting further apart every day. Madison and her family are under intense scrutiny, yet she's still just a girl trying to navigate being a teen. She's sure her father didn't do anything wrong; right?
I had a tough time with this book. There were several points where I considered setting it down for others in my always growing "to be read" pile, but I soldiered on. <i>I can't say I really enjoyed it, though I did find parts of it interesting.</i> It's clearly influenced by the Madoff scandal, which is referenced in the novel, and there is a lot of financial lingo in the book, even if it's really a story of a troubled family at its core.
The problem is that so few of the characters are really engaging, and the story seems to drag on endlessly at points. It's a peek in the world of the truly wealthy (think household servants, golf courses at their homes, multiple residences, hired cars, etc.), but I found myself unable to care for most of the characters. None of them are very nice to each other, and Bob and Isabel come across as neglectful and awful parents for the majority of the story. Even worse is the gaggle of Greenwich women, who gossip about the situation, feel like they are unable to continue to purchase expensive clothing and wares after Bob's "situation," and generally just annoy you with their harping. They don't understand anything about what their husbands do, but they run their households (well, they delegate it all) and fear that their carefully polished way of life is in jeopardy. You understand that this is a serious event for them, but you don't really care. Was I supposed to feel sorry for them? The novel is confusing at times in this facet. Perhaps I missed a great point somewhere: is it profound or just pretentious? Hard to tell.
The one thing that kept me reading was Madison. While she could be hateful at times, the story of her coming of age in a very strange environment, with a spotlight shining on her, was the most interesting part of the novel. Her dynamic with her father, whom she clearly adored, and her cold, distant mother, was far more fleshed out than any of the other characters. You could see her struggling to find her place in the world: she was just doing it under the watchful eye of the community (and a security detail hired to keep the press away from her family). Baker deftly portrays Madison's heartbreaking forays in romance, as well as some great scenes in which the teen shows off some spunk that will have you rooting for her. I couldn't help but want to give her a hug: even though I could see that her mother was a complicated individual, her parents were pretty awful, and poor Madison was forced to confront that in some terrible ways.
Still, despite Madison's story, most of this book fell flat for me. The epilogue was interesting and tied up some loose ends, but it ended things very abruptly as well. So much of the novel was about how Greenwich was nothing but smoke and mirrors: nothing was real in this world. Yet, I would have enjoyed some characters who felt more human, whom I could relate to in some way, whom I wanted to care for and to see come out of this "crisis" intact. Rating a 3-star due to Madison and the intricate story, but probably more of a 2.5-star on the overall enjoyment level scale for me.
I received a copy of this novel from the publisher and Edelweiss (thank you!) in return for an unbiased review; it is available everywhere as of 06/20/2017.
<center><a href="http://justacatandabookatherside.blogspot.com/">Blog</a>; ~ <a href="https://twitter.com/mwcmoto">Twitter</a>; ~ <a href="https://www.facebook.com/justacatandabook/">Facebook</a>; ~ <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/+KristyHamiltonbooks">Google+</a>; ~ <a href="https://www.instagram.com/justacatandabook/">Instagram</a>; </center>
I had a tough time with this book. There were several points where I considered setting it down for others in my always growing "to be read" pile, but I soldiered on. <i>I can't say I really enjoyed it, though I did find parts of it interesting.</i> It's clearly influenced by the Madoff scandal, which is referenced in the novel, and there is a lot of financial lingo in the book, even if it's really a story of a troubled family at its core.
The problem is that so few of the characters are really engaging, and the story seems to drag on endlessly at points. It's a peek in the world of the truly wealthy (think household servants, golf courses at their homes, multiple residences, hired cars, etc.), but I found myself unable to care for most of the characters. None of them are very nice to each other, and Bob and Isabel come across as neglectful and awful parents for the majority of the story. Even worse is the gaggle of Greenwich women, who gossip about the situation, feel like they are unable to continue to purchase expensive clothing and wares after Bob's "situation," and generally just annoy you with their harping. They don't understand anything about what their husbands do, but they run their households (well, they delegate it all) and fear that their carefully polished way of life is in jeopardy. You understand that this is a serious event for them, but you don't really care. Was I supposed to feel sorry for them? The novel is confusing at times in this facet. Perhaps I missed a great point somewhere: is it profound or just pretentious? Hard to tell.
The one thing that kept me reading was Madison. While she could be hateful at times, the story of her coming of age in a very strange environment, with a spotlight shining on her, was the most interesting part of the novel. Her dynamic with her father, whom she clearly adored, and her cold, distant mother, was far more fleshed out than any of the other characters. You could see her struggling to find her place in the world: she was just doing it under the watchful eye of the community (and a security detail hired to keep the press away from her family). Baker deftly portrays Madison's heartbreaking forays in romance, as well as some great scenes in which the teen shows off some spunk that will have you rooting for her. I couldn't help but want to give her a hug: even though I could see that her mother was a complicated individual, her parents were pretty awful, and poor Madison was forced to confront that in some terrible ways.
Still, despite Madison's story, most of this book fell flat for me. The epilogue was interesting and tied up some loose ends, but it ended things very abruptly as well. So much of the novel was about how Greenwich was nothing but smoke and mirrors: nothing was real in this world. Yet, I would have enjoyed some characters who felt more human, whom I could relate to in some way, whom I wanted to care for and to see come out of this "crisis" intact. Rating a 3-star due to Madison and the intricate story, but probably more of a 2.5-star on the overall enjoyment level scale for me.
I received a copy of this novel from the publisher and Edelweiss (thank you!) in return for an unbiased review; it is available everywhere as of 06/20/2017.
<center><a href="http://justacatandabookatherside.blogspot.com/">Blog</a>; ~ <a href="https://twitter.com/mwcmoto">Twitter</a>; ~ <a href="https://www.facebook.com/justacatandabook/">Facebook</a>; ~ <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/+KristyHamiltonbooks">Google+</a>; ~ <a href="https://www.instagram.com/justacatandabook/">Instagram</a>; </center>
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated the PC version of BioShock Infinite in Video Games
Jun 19, 2019
After a few delays the third game in the Bioshock series has arrived from 2K Games and he continues the amazing legacy of the series in grand style. Playing as Booker DeWitt players embark on an epic rescue adventure to the floating city of Columbia in the early 1900s.
Booker is anxious to erase his massive gambling debts and has been told that recovering a girl named Elizabeth from the floating city will clear his accounts. Upon arrival, Booker notes the grand spectacle of the city as well as the Steampunk themes that combine technology, science, and fiction.
Playing from a first person perspective, Booker is able to interact with his environment from looting ammunition, food, health, power ups, money, and other items necessary for survival in a hostile city. Booker can also obtain needed supplies from various mechanical vending machines located throughout the city.
This is a very good thing as despite the beauty of Columbia, it is rife with all manner of dangers as the self-proclaimed savior Comstock has an endless supply of enemies to throw at you to keep you from recovering Elizabeth.
The narration of the story kicks into high gear once you encounter Elizabeth as many of the missions become escort and protect in nature but the back story of the central characters as well as the social strife in Columbia become more and more evident.
An underlying tone of racial tension and labor unrest is threatening the status quo and Booker finds himself squarely in the middle of both factions.
Elizabeth has some amazing abilities of her own such as being able to open tears in time and space which would explain Comstock’s obsession with her. Aside from an arsenal of weapons which includes pistols, shotguns, machine guns, rocket launchers, and various rifles, Booker can gain special powers through the use of vigors that are located throughout the game. While only able to wield to it time, the ability to telekinetic please send enemies flying, blast them with water, fry them to a crisp, and other spectacular feats are absolutely essential to the game as well is highly satisfying. In order to power the special powers, Booker must constantly replenish assault supply which adds a new element to the game strategy.
One of the greatest features of the game was the magnetic melee weapon which also doubles as a magnetic hook. This allows Booker to travel via rail Skyway by taking spectacular leaps and sliding along the rails. The sheer rush of whipping through the city especially during combat situations is a remarkable achievement from both a visual and gameplay perspective.
Graphically the game is fantastic as the amount of detail is simply breathtaking. If one was to nitpick they could state that the character facial animations seem a bit dated but they are definitely in keeping with the previous two games and in my opinion do not detract from the game in any way shape or form.
When death happens in the game, players are able to be resurrected at a nearby point for little bit of their money which allows for a smoother gameplay experience. Some moments the game on normal setting were quite difficult and for gamers who need a break, players can choose to lower or raise the difficulty setting in game.
Unlike the previous games the storyline is more linear and your decisions do not drastically change the outcome of the game unless you are playing the game in the optional 1999 mode where decisions can in deed change the outcome of the game including placing the character in no-win situations.
The voice acting and sound of the game are first rate and I especially enjoyed the nostalgic music and primitive recording and playback devices the time which added a very unique perspective to the game. There is no multiplayer aspect of the game so players who complete the game will have to look forward to the planned DLC content which will be offered in the future.
The immersive factor of the game really captured me and in my opinion sets a new standard for storytelling and player interaction. While enemies tended to be for the most part mindless foes who charged headlong to their doom, this did change as the game went along as some enemies presented some real challenges and displayed some very interesting and clever strategies.
Upon completion of the game, I found myself pausing to reflect on the twist and turns of the storyline as well as look ahead with great anticipation for the next installment of this epic series. Bioshock Infinite is a must own for fans of the series as well as action games and is definitely an early candidate for game of the year awards.
http://sknr.net/2013/04/02/bioshock-infinite/
Booker is anxious to erase his massive gambling debts and has been told that recovering a girl named Elizabeth from the floating city will clear his accounts. Upon arrival, Booker notes the grand spectacle of the city as well as the Steampunk themes that combine technology, science, and fiction.
Playing from a first person perspective, Booker is able to interact with his environment from looting ammunition, food, health, power ups, money, and other items necessary for survival in a hostile city. Booker can also obtain needed supplies from various mechanical vending machines located throughout the city.
This is a very good thing as despite the beauty of Columbia, it is rife with all manner of dangers as the self-proclaimed savior Comstock has an endless supply of enemies to throw at you to keep you from recovering Elizabeth.
The narration of the story kicks into high gear once you encounter Elizabeth as many of the missions become escort and protect in nature but the back story of the central characters as well as the social strife in Columbia become more and more evident.
An underlying tone of racial tension and labor unrest is threatening the status quo and Booker finds himself squarely in the middle of both factions.
Elizabeth has some amazing abilities of her own such as being able to open tears in time and space which would explain Comstock’s obsession with her. Aside from an arsenal of weapons which includes pistols, shotguns, machine guns, rocket launchers, and various rifles, Booker can gain special powers through the use of vigors that are located throughout the game. While only able to wield to it time, the ability to telekinetic please send enemies flying, blast them with water, fry them to a crisp, and other spectacular feats are absolutely essential to the game as well is highly satisfying. In order to power the special powers, Booker must constantly replenish assault supply which adds a new element to the game strategy.
One of the greatest features of the game was the magnetic melee weapon which also doubles as a magnetic hook. This allows Booker to travel via rail Skyway by taking spectacular leaps and sliding along the rails. The sheer rush of whipping through the city especially during combat situations is a remarkable achievement from both a visual and gameplay perspective.
Graphically the game is fantastic as the amount of detail is simply breathtaking. If one was to nitpick they could state that the character facial animations seem a bit dated but they are definitely in keeping with the previous two games and in my opinion do not detract from the game in any way shape or form.
When death happens in the game, players are able to be resurrected at a nearby point for little bit of their money which allows for a smoother gameplay experience. Some moments the game on normal setting were quite difficult and for gamers who need a break, players can choose to lower or raise the difficulty setting in game.
Unlike the previous games the storyline is more linear and your decisions do not drastically change the outcome of the game unless you are playing the game in the optional 1999 mode where decisions can in deed change the outcome of the game including placing the character in no-win situations.
The voice acting and sound of the game are first rate and I especially enjoyed the nostalgic music and primitive recording and playback devices the time which added a very unique perspective to the game. There is no multiplayer aspect of the game so players who complete the game will have to look forward to the planned DLC content which will be offered in the future.
The immersive factor of the game really captured me and in my opinion sets a new standard for storytelling and player interaction. While enemies tended to be for the most part mindless foes who charged headlong to their doom, this did change as the game went along as some enemies presented some real challenges and displayed some very interesting and clever strategies.
Upon completion of the game, I found myself pausing to reflect on the twist and turns of the storyline as well as look ahead with great anticipation for the next installment of this epic series. Bioshock Infinite is a must own for fans of the series as well as action games and is definitely an early candidate for game of the year awards.
http://sknr.net/2013/04/02/bioshock-infinite/