Greatness’ Edge

Mirror’s Edge

Mirror’s Edge was among the most hyped games this year, and with good reason. All the trailers emphasized the game’s stylish looks, great soundtrack, and one-of-a-kind gameplay. After that demo came out, I knew this was a game I had to play.

What EA has done here is try to make this year’s Portal. Only problem is, that game already came out, it’s Braid. If anything, this is this year’s Assassin’s Creed, and it suffers from a lot of the same problems. But while Assassin’s Creed did deliver on incredible exploration, Mirror’s Edge just gives you a taste of what could have been.

In an oppressive future, the government has taken control of everything. Sure, everything looks clean and peaceful from the outside, but what is the real story? I’m not quite sure, actually. Bad shit happened, I guess. Anyway, you play as Faith, a runner. What that means is you transport bags of… messages., I think, around the city by leaping from building to building. I have no idea how doing something that could so easily attract attention like that is better than sneaking around. Faith’s sister, a cop, gets accused of murdering some guy and it’s up to you to save her. The story just is not that engaging, but at least it delivers a competent enough ending, even if the plot twists were way to obvious.

The game is all about making you experience Faith’s job. You look down, you see her body. You run into a wall, she’ll put her hands against it. You start running really fast, you’ll hear her panting. The game even goes as far as to limit how far you can look based on how far Faith could actually turn her head. It actually works pretty well, and the game is actually pretty immersive, while you’re in control. Problem is, between the missions we get the cinematics that explain the story, and for whatever reason they are animated like Esurance commercials. It is totally ridiculous and makes the story that much harder to suffer through.

The bulk of the gameplay involves guiding Faith over obstacles. You’ll jump from building to building, climb scaffolding, all sorts of stuff. At first, this is really great and you get the sense that there are tons of potential paths and all that great stuff that they wanted you to experience. But as the game goes on, the puzzles get a lot more frustrating and there pretty clearly is only one way to get through them. They built in a button to show you where to go, but often that button won’t show you anything in the most difficult areas.

If that was all there was to the game, I probably would have reviewed it better. But then there’s the combat. You have one attack button, and you can stand, jump, or slide to help knock down enemies. Enemies take a bunch of hits, so it’s best to just disarm them, which is like a one-hit kill. You have to time it just right though, and the timing window is really quick. I found myself frequently pressing the button too early, which almost always resulted in my death. Faith can only take a couple hits before she dies, and there are plenty of scenarios where you’ll have to take down a bunch of enemies to make any progress. I absolutely hated that aspect of the game.

Like I said, Mirror’s Edge has a great sense of style. The sky is a bright blue, the buildings stark and clean, and colors really pop out. The soundtrack adds to this cold atmosphere, to great affect. It’s trademark parkour gameplay is really neat at first, but it loses its charm. The story and combat don’t help.

This is a rental game. If you really like it, you’ll probably enjoy the time trials mode, and that upcoming DLC looks pretty good too. But really, unless you’re a parkour enthusiast, there are better games to play this winter.

T3: Uh, Oh, Well..

How about… Creepy sea creatures?

	10. Dolphins I’m not positive, but I have my suspicions about dolphins. Lots of people do. They’re smart, social, seemingly friendly. Frankly, there’s something wrong with a sea creature that wants to be my friend. Oh, and get this: orcas are dolphins. That’s why we don’t call them killer whales! I guess we should start calling them whale killers!
	9. Oarfish These suckers can get to be larger than 30 feet long. Gross. Really, just a creeper. We mostly know about them because we find them washed up on shore, we’re not even sure where they come from or where they live.
	8. Viperfish One of several really menacing looking fish to make this list. Really, I know it looks really messed up, but it lives like a mile below the sea, it’s not like I’m ever gonna run into one of these. At least, a living one.
	7. Giant Isopod It turns out this thing is like an underwater armadillo. It’s also got a helluva mouth. But, you know, there’s not much food down there. You gotta adapt to eat whatever you can get. You’re all right, giant isopod.
	6. Dragonfish This is a particularly creepy fish that has one of those light-up lure things to attract prey. Again, sure, it’s terrifying, but it’s also pretty tiny and so far underwater I’m not too worried about running into one.
	5. Fangtooth Fangtooth sounds like the name of some mythical dragon or some shit like that. Can someone explain to me why you need giant teeth to live on the bottom of the ocean? It sounds like a lot of these animals eat their prey whole anyway. What’s the point?
	4. Giant Squid Normal squids are OK, but giant ones are even better. There’s a reason sailors are so creeped out by these suckers. I can appreciate why John is such a fan. Personally, I find them terrifying.
	3. Great White Shark The ultimate killing machine. We all know the stories, the Jaws, the attacks. Did you know if a shark stopped swimming, its weight would cause it to sink and die? You probably did, lots of people know that. But it’s awesome.
	2. Blue Whale These fuckers are the biggest things ever alive (as far as we know). Think about that. Like, really, focus on that. And they eat that plankton shit. They so big! I can’t imagine how terrifying it would be to be like swimming around or in a kayak or something and have one of these show up. Ah…
	1. Octopus The octopus is the greatest creature alive on this earth. Fear its wrath. With incredible camouflage skill, the ability to squeeze through ridiculous gaps, cat-like intelligence, and the ability to survive on land, this is an unstoppable killing machine. People who eat living octopus, like in Oldboy, are braver than 1,000 Harrison Fords.

FYE

I’d normally post this on MySpace, but since I’m not even sure if everyone uses MySpace any more, I figured I might as well share this with the blogs.

I know you’re all still trying to cope with Robo Jockeys‘ delay until next year, but I hope this can make things all better. I’ve been secretly working on 3Mixes, the third release and first EP from SLXP, for a long time now and I finally think it’s time to share it with all you loyal fans.

You can download the album for free at the SLXP website.

And who knows, maybe SLXP will have some sort of Christmas surprise this year too…

M’s Make First Move

Dr. Zoinks and the Mariners made their first Major League free agent signing today, inking infielder Russell “The Muscle” Branyan to a 1-year deal. Branyan was formerly with the Brewers playing mostly a pinch hitting role off the bench. He plays 1st and 3rd and will probably be used in a platoon role as he does not seem to be able to hit left handed pitching…at all. Last year he was only used 14 times against southpaws and went 0-14 with 8 strikeouts. When facing right handers he has tremendous power but tends to strike out a lot.

The overall consensus in the M’s blogosphere is that while this isn’t a very impactful move, it is a low risk, medium reward move. It fills a gaping hole at 1B/DH that the we currently have without breaking the bank and buys us time to find our first basemen of the future. And heaven forbid if we trade Beltre he’ll be able to fill that hole albiet not very well.

In other M’s news Dr. Z said he talked to Brian Goldberg, agent for Ken Griffey Jr., about how the Kid would possibly fit into the Mariners future plans. Z told the press the conversation was nothing but cordial and wants to wait until after next weeks winter meetings in Las Vegas to see what direction he wants to take the team.

Sources: Baseball-Reference.com, Seattle Times, Fangraphs.com

C.A.T.: The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan – The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963)
For some reason this album reminds me of winter, so I usually end up listening to it once or twice this time of year. It must be the combination of the fact that Bob Dylan is shown walking through the snow on the cover and a lot of the imagery contained in the lyrics, as well as the fact that I can remember buying the album a couple of weeks before Christmas a few years ago. Anyways, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan was the first Dylan album I ever heard and it’s still one of my favorites of his, as well as probably the best album of his early folk period.

Coming after his self-titled debut, which contained only two original songs written by Dylan alongside a bunch of covers, Freewheelin’ showed him starting to blossom as songwriter. All 13 songs on the album are original Dylan numbers, and even in this early stage he shows unbelievable skill as a songwriter. The album contains a combination of many of the political-charged anthems that made Dylan an icon in the folk world, as well as songs like “Bob Dylan’s Dream” or “I Shall Be Free”, that show off Dylan’s innate ability to create these bizarre but nonetheless entertaining little stories within the songs.

Of course the most famous song on the album is “Blowin’ in the Wind”, a song that’s been covered countless times, but is still just as powerful in it’s original recording. There’s definitely an effective clarity to these songs, which for the most part only contain Dylan’s voice, his guitar, and occasional harmonica playing. There is however, the song “Corrina, Corrina” which features a few studio musicians, and “Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right”, which features the gentle guitar playing of Bruce Langhorne, who Dylan would later write “Mr. Tambourine Man” about.

The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan wasn’t a huge success as far as the pop charts where concerned, but it certainly established him as one of the leading figures of the early 60’s folk scene. It also showed the incredible potential Dylan would display as a songwriter and as an artist with subsequent albums, as well as the style of songs that would establish him as “the voice of a generation”.

Favorite Tracks: “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”, “Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right”, “Girl From the North Country”

Never Blend In

Milk

Veteran film director Gus Van Sant has been pretty unpredictable when it comes to his film projects over the years. He’s made bleak independent films like Elephant and Paranoid Park along with some fairly more conventional Hollywood projects such as Good Will Hunting. Sant’s latest film Milk probably leans more towards the latter, but this biographical drama definitely carries that unique mark of a seasoned director and with it’s more than talented cast, results in a heartfelt portrayal of a man larger than life.

Following the political career of Harvey Milk, who in 1978 became the first openly gay person to hold public office as a California city supervisor, we learn of Milk’s unflinching crusade for the gay community in San Francisco, his personal relationships and eventually his unfortunate assassination at the age of 48.

Sean Penn dons the lead role and is fearless in his portrayal of Harvey Milk. Sometimes I think Sean Penn can come off as somewhat arrogant in some of his roles, but here he’s so deeply submerged that I often forgot that I was watching Sean Penn. Not a lot of actor’s can pull of that kind of genuine feeling but Penn finds a way and should easily be able to nab a best actor nomination come round Oscar season. The supporting cast as well show significant talent slipping into the roles of some of the other important players in Milk’s life. Josh Brolin sticks out in my mind in his portrayal of Milk’s confused and angered assassin Dan White, but you can’t count out James Franco as Milk’s former lover Scott Smith or Emile Hirsch as the young Cleve Jones.

The setting is an impressive recreation of a turbulent 1970s San Francisco and like most of Sant’s previous works is photographed in a very natural quality. Utilizing archive footage Milk certainly excels at placing you in the timeframe to address a subject matter that’s surprisingly relevant today.

Milk is surely a fascinating story but in the way of biopics, it doesn’t necessarily break the mold. Yes, there are definite highlights but I still felt like this was a film I’d somehow seen before. I’m not sure whether it was the pacing or the composition of the film, but I don’t really see it sticking with me. The whole ordering of the film starting with us learning of Milk’s death, along with recurring scenes of Milk on a tape recorder actually seemed pretty conventional for a Hollywood drama… Not only this but there was definitely some slow spots, I mean I understand the importance of the subject matter and what this man accomplished but that doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m particularly interested in all the faucets of his life. I know the film’s called Milk but I think it kind of came to together as somewhat cluttered.

None the less Milk is an adequate drama that’s handled with the greatest of care by Van Sant and company. It didn’t strike me as any cinematic triumph or even one of the best movies I’ve seen this year, but it has heart and an important message and if manages to nab a best picture nomination, I wouldn’t really mind.

Jamal Gump

Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire has been compared on several occasions to the classic Forest Gump, and with some justification. Both are stories of someone born into poor conditions who manages to see the world and make something of themselves. But our hero Jamal is no simpleton, and his story a lot more believable.

The film opens with a juxtaposition: Jamal being tortured by the police and, ealier, Jamal on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? The police want to know how somebody from the slums of Mumbai could perform so well on the quiz show. Jamal responds by telling the story of his life, and how lessons he learned growing up gave him the answers he needed. His story is not an easy one to hear, his brother Salim, his friend Latika and he had hard lives. As they grew up, so did the city. And there’s plenty of betrayl and violence along the way.

I wouldn’t go as far as to say this film is exceptionally clever or pioneering, but the simple story is interesting enough. The characters are all quite compelling and easy to get behind. What is most striking about the film is its portrayal of India itself, it is shown as a beautiful, yet horrible place. Over the course of Jamal’s 20 years, we see everything from massacres and Internet cafes. We see Mumbai develop into a full blown modernized city. And what a time for that.

The cinematography, editing, and music keep the movie driving forward at all times. The movie never lingers too long or tells more than it needs to. Danny Boyle is even successful at keeping the moments that need to be tense tense, even on the game show when we know the outcome. That’s quite an achievement.

Honestly, this is simply an engaging film. Most people will have a hard time not liking it. It is pretty foreign, but I’d like to believe somehow it could get some recognition come Oscar season. It’s that good. This is not to be missed.