Andrew has spent months looking for a car. He didn't care if it had sucked or that it made noise. He just wanted a car. The newspaper had an ad for a car, he was debating on looking at it, but was afraid he wouldn't buy it because the asking price was well over his budget. He thought about it, but looked at it anyways knowing he won't get it. The car was old, but he did not mind., it was green with dirt stains all over it. The man had said that the car works fine, but it was the little things that made the car more trouble than it was worth. Andrew said he would think about it and left. Two months after that he landed on a well paying job and while the car he wanted was a little too high, he would go out and get that Green car. It didn't take much time to get it, only a month, but when he was last there, the asking price for the car was higher than it was now. Now that green car was sold for 600 bucks. This would be a good car to have while he saves up for the big car he wanted. He won't have this car in a years time, it was just something to go to work with. It would take somewhere six to eight months to fully pay for the car he wanted. So until then, he bought the car, flaws and all.
To say this car sucks was an understatement. Richard had no clue on why he thought it was a good idea to get this piece of crap car in the first place. It never worked right, when turning left there was a 75 percent chance that it will make a terrible screeching noise. At nights where it gets cold, the doors would get stuck and it would be impossible to open. The only way Richard figured out to open it was to splash hot water into the car, and then the driver seat would get wet from the melting ice and hot water. Worst of all the windows would not clean properly. When ever soap is touched it would leave a white residue. It got so bad that the residue looked like paper. The white soapy residue would take forever for it to clear out and ready to be driven. Because of this the car was dirty most of the time. Despite these problems it still runs. Richard hated those small flaws in a car. He had some in the past that wouldn't run at all, and that was even better than the one he had now. After owning the car for 2 years, he finally gave up and put the car in the newspaper. Potential buyers would come down and look at the car. Richard told them that it runs great, but once he told the flaws it had no one would buy it. He did eventually sell it 3 months after the first ad in the paper for a measly 600 bucks. It was not much, be he was finally been rid of it.
Hunter S. Thompson has been called one of the most influential writers of the 20th Century and the Mark Twain of his generation. What he left behind is a trail full of drugs, violence, and the harsh violent truth of reality as he saw it. From his early work about Hells Angels, where he spent a year with the infamous motorcycle gang, to Hey Rube, a collection of sports articles he had written for ESPN. Of course, being Dr. Thompson, he didn't write all about sports in Hey Rube. Hunter S. Thompson had seen everything you could ever see in a lifetime and beyond. His methods are questionable at best, but he wrote what he saw with conviction and most writers don't do that. One of his well known works is called Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: The Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream. Dr. Thompson called it a failed attempt at Gonzo Journalism, which is a style that he created or at least popularized. Some of the events in Las Vegas is true, some of it is not, but the truth is always stranger than fiction.
Thompson at Las Vegas '71
Las Vegas starts simple enough; "We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold." Dr Thompson, or Raoul Duke as it was first written by in Rolling Stone magazine, sets you up what is about to happen in the first sentence. This is how both the book and film starts. The film was released in the summer of 1998, the same day Godzilla came out no less, and it was directed by Terry Gilliam. Terry Gilliam was part of the Monty Python comedy troupe. He also directed 12 Monkeys and Time Bandits. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas starred Johnny Depp as Raoul Duke, which he based his performance by Dr. Thompson, and Benicio Del Toro as Dr. Gonzo, which was based of Thompson's friend and attorney Oscar Zeta Acosta. I consider Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas one of Johnny Depp's best films. Both Depp and Del Toro is amazing in this film. The film also had a handful of cameos including Lyle Lovett, Harry Dean Stanton, Cameron Diaz, Penn Jullette, Hunter S. Thompson himself, and more.
WITH A BIT OF LUCK
On the outside, the film can be viewed as a stoner comedy. The trailer plays this off, but it's much more than that. It's about two friends trying to find the American Dream in 1971 and why it has failed. After surviving the sixties with its police brutality and the uncertain future of America. They decided to head out to Las Vegas to find it, in Sports Illustrated expense as Duke/Thompson had to cover the Mint 400. Thompson was part of the Chicago Riot of 1968. He went on and said that the riots was much worse than any Hells Angels had ever done in the year he spent with them. One of the most memorable passage in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was simply called the Wave Speech:
All that talk and protest for Peace was for naught. The Vietnam War continued on. The film is not for everyone, there are things in this movie that will make you hate it, but it doesn't shy away from what is shown and heard, and that what makes it so great. One of my favorite scenes is simply known as Adrenochrome. A fictional substance that gets you higher than you ever though possible. In the movie, Raoul Duke tries some out and while the effects begins to take hold, his friend Dr. Gonzo begins to change into a wild beast complete with claws, horns, hair, and tits in his back. It's dark and twisted, but it has nothing compared to the next few scenes in the movie. Duke has recordings of all that had happened when he finally woke up from the drug trance. The music and the inter cutting between scenes is perfect. Total insanity and unsure of what will come next. The film also has one of the most suspenseful scenes in all of film, I was afraid of what might happen when I first saw the film years ago.
THERE I WAS... MOTHER OF GOD, THERE I AM!
That was the movie, but what about the book? Well, actually, the movie and the book is quite close with each other. Yeah, there is a scene or two that was in the movie, but not in the book. There is actually a scene that was in the movie that never made it to the book. But as it stands, it's one of the most faithful adaptations you could ever want in a film. Does this lessen the book? No, in fact, it improves upon it. The film feels more like a companion piece of the book. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but at least watch the movie once. It's dark, twisted, funny, strange, and at times truthful. If you decide to read the book and liked it, read some of Hunter S. Thompson's work as well. I've read some of his work, but not all of it, and what I did read, I did enjoy. There is another movie called Where the Buffalo Roam, it's got Bill Murray as Hunter S. Thompson. It's not the best film you'll ever see, but it's interesting to see what Murray's take on Thompson and see what Depp did. But to know the real Thompson, I would suggest Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson.
"When the going gets weird. The weird turns pro." - Hunter S. Thompson.
Violence has been a touchy subject on the video game industry for a while now, as more games get increasingly violent, the question of what is too far gets asked. BioShock Infinite seems to be the next game questioned on whether games are getting too violent lately. BioShock Infinite is violent, but it’s not as violent as most says it is. You do shoot things and use vigors to kill enemies, what makes it violent is the melee kills. You get your skyhook and use them in brutal ways. Either killing an enemy by decapitation or simply snapping the neck. I think the reason why these kills are the front and center of it all is how detached the rest of the game is. It’s the most violent aspect of the game, and it can easily be avoided most of the time. The only time you use the melee is the first battle.
RIP TEAR SLASH
But what about the other games that is out there? Take the God of War games. They are increasingly violent, and it sells that level of violence to the audience. When God of War III was first announced in E3 2009, the finale part of the demo was Kratos ripping Helios’ head off. It was not a clean rip either; skin was stretched, veins burst, and blood spewed everywhere. Even Kratos himself was bloodied. That one rip was the talk of everyone when God of War III was discussed. It’s very possible to say that the violence and gore was part of the game design, but if you look at paintings about Greek Mythology, they are violent by nature. The one painting that shows up often is one of Cronos eating his young. It was not like they were swallowed whole like in God of War II, but literally being eaten. Blood covered Cronos hands and mouth with a body that is almost devoured. This is just one of many graphic paintings of violence that shows how violent a person is. Look up Hell at Google, and you will be shown paintings of people getting tortured and killed. From the early days of the caveman paintings by telling the story of how they got their food, to now where we can see real live shootouts in the news. Violence is now, and forever more, a part of human nature. If you see an insect you don’t like, there’s a good chance that you are going to kill that insect. There, you have commented violence.
See the veins
Violence is in movies, music, comic books, books, and nearly everything you do. Some of the greatest movies are violent. Gone with the Wind, Wizard of Oz, Saving Private Ryan, and even the old classic Disney films are violent. Same goes for comic books. Even in the 1950's where comic books had to be absurdly tame, it still had violence in them. Music and books are downright graphic. Listen to a song from the Marshall Mathers LP by Eminem and there is a good chance that there is a violent reference. Then there are bands like Cannibal Corpse and Dethklok. Their songs are violent by nature. There is not an episode in Metalocalypse that some random person dies in the most graphic ways. I’m a fan of They Might Be Giants and there’s a song from there new album on which it hinted that two young kids kill their parents. This is not the only song they sing about that has death in them. In their long career, death one way or another is one of the main themes. If you think that games and music is bad, it has nothing on books.
GORE AND GORE
One of the most popular books to come out in the past 20 years is the Harry Potter series. It starts out fun and light, but by the time the series ends, it’s so far removed it feels like an entirely different series. If you saw the movie and read the book, you know that the snake did not disintegrate in the book like it did in the movie. The snake was flown off and blood was everywhere. What you make in your own head is worse than what actually is. In the Dark Tower series, Stephen King goes to an absurd detail on how a person got ran over by a car. No music, game, or movie has ever match that level of graphic violence. That is why horror movies are effective and some are not. The less we see the better. Because there was not a PG-13 rating back in the early 70's. Toby Hopper was hoping to get a PG rating on Texas Chainsaw Massacre because of how little gore was shown, but when it was released it was rated R. Even by today’s PG-13 standards, the film is tame. What pushed it to the R rating was how little was shown and how your brain made it worse. The ironic thing is, is that Jaws is rated PG and that film is gorier than Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
He gives us the idea, we just fill in the blanks.
You could argue that the reason why games are in the spotlight instead of films and books is because we are participating on the violence. While this is true to a point, we are only interacting with someone else’s idea. It’s one thing to play a game; it’s another thing to write about a fictional character’s death. In the game we are giving the tools to kill an enemy. Either by sword, gun, magic, blunt object, to even the body. Writing about a death allows you to step forward beyond that. It gives you a motive, setting, weapon, and the characters. I could write that person A kills Person B with an ax, or I can say that person A dodge person B’s attack and Kills person B. I can kill A or B in a number of ways. By the chest, legs, arms, or even the head. It’s entirely up to me and that is what games can’t do.
There will always be violence in media. Whether fiction or on your nightly news, violence will never go away. I just rather prefer violence in a game, book, movie, music, paintings, plays, or any other matter that is not real life. If you kill another human being, then there is something far more wrong with you than you realize. There is no easy answer, so try not to find one.
"If you want to test a man's character, first give him power" - Abraham Lincoln
Ken Levine returns to the world he created with BioShock Infinite. When the original BioShock came out in 2008, it received many awards and it's been called one of the greatest games of all time. While BioShock was good, it wasn't as good as everyone said it was. Repetitive fetch quests, a bit leaner, and a lackluster boss and finale, I just don't hold the high regards everyone else has. I found BioShock to be good, Nothing more, nothing less. BioShock 2 came out, and it wasn't good. It was just mediocre. Now, in 2013, we finally have a BioShock game that matches the hype, BioShock Infinite. It ditches the fetch quest style of the original and leads us to the path of redemption and loss. From the minute you step into Colombia, BioShock Infinite version of Rapture, it becomes apparent that this is American Propaganda overload. No matter where you turn, you will see the red, white, and blue. There was also racial overtones in the game, none of it was too offensive, but it does bring the racial war America used to have. The one thing that does shine brighter than that is the religious propaganda. The creator of Colombia is a reverend named Comstock, but he calls himself a prophet. He claims that God came down and to make the City one which this game is based on. If the original BioShock shows what happens if you give everyone too much power, BioShock Infinite shows you what happens if you give someone too much.
"Who is the happier man, those that lived life to the fullest or someone that just stood back and merely existed?" - Hunter S. Thompson (paraphrased)
BioShock Infinite is an FPS adventure on which you have to save a girl named Elizabeth. For all the action and great gameplay BioShock Infinite has, it's nothing compared to Elizabeth. Elizabeth can take care of herself and can take care of you. It's like a reversed escort mission, instead taking care if her, she is taking care of you. She throws you all you need to survive the fight. And if you are down, she'll revives you. She doesn't help all the time, but most of the time she does. This might make the game seem easy, but it's not. The game is not too hard, but there area few fights that do require you to be careful. One of the best part of the game is the Skyline. You use a hook to ride in the skyline to go to one place to another in Colombia, and it can be part of combat also. This adds an exciting aspect to combat. Using the Skyline, it will make you be in constant movement, but Elizabeth won't give you items. It becomes a risk and reward aspect of the game that I didn't think it would be there. Elizabeth is this years Clementine. She's a fully established character that you can't help to care for. What makes Elizabeth work is the brilliant script and a great story. The voice acting is superb that makes you care for the characters. DeWitt is a likeable dick. The last 10 to 15 minutes of the game is so mindblowing that it's going to be hard for other developers to match it.
"We are Hummingbirds who are not willing to move" - Issac Brock
In the nine to twelve hour game, there were a few moments that I would have either taken away, or trimmed down. There was a stealth mission that comes from out of nowhere, and it would have been entirely possible to miss it. The finale battle, while trying to be epic, didn't have that same excitement the rest of the game had, and one that I won't mention because of spoilers. That part happens in the middle of the game. The story, while still great, does falter a bit, but that one section ends just as quick, it's still equally important to the overall narrative. It just seemed that there would be more than that. But the worst thing about it is the fact that there is no carry over or new game plus. Like Tomb Raider, finding everything is just not worth it if it doesn't have carry over.
It's not often a game comes along and blows the hype out of the water, but BioShock Infinite did just that. The flaws that it has, even if one of them is major, is nothing compared to the rest of the game. Not only is it a strong contender to game of the year, but it'll be remembered as one of the best games of the decade.
The creators of the Mortal Kombat series are coming out with their brand new game Injustice: Gods Among Us. Releasing in April, 16th Netherrealm has a released a demo in the mean time. The demo has three playable characters; Batman, Lex Luthor, and Wonder Woman. It's got about 20 more fighters in the finale game including Robin, Nightwing, The Green Lantern, The Joker, Superman, and Harley Quinn. Depending on what character you play as you play as, they each have their own advantage and disadvantage. Lex Luthor is strong, but moments are slow, and Batman is quick, but his attacks are weak. Wonder Woman seems to have the mixture of the two. I'm a more of a quick attacker player, so Batman was the choice for me. If you were expecting the fighters to have the same moves as the Mortal Kombat characters have, then you'll be half right. The buttons for both games are different, but they both share the same button commands, Batman's grappler move is the same as Scorpion's. If Batman is Scorpion, then Wonder Woman is Mileena and Lex Luthor is Jax. If you had some problems with both Mileena and Jax, then you'll have the same problem here. But if you practice like you might have done with Mileena and Jax, Wonder Woman and Lex Luthor can be powerful fighters. With enough practice, you can make their weakness into their strength. This game has the philosophy of Easy to play, Hard to master. I haven't learned every move of Batman, so I've been button mashing. I know that if I sit down with it like I did with Mortal Kombat, Batman will be just as powerful.
There was one only one mode to play in the demo, and that was Battle. You fight Batman, Wonder Woman, Lex Luthor, and Doomsday. Doomsday seems to be taking the Shao Kahn's school of bosses, but unlike Kahn himself where Kahn has the tendency to use the same moves over and over again, Doomsday mixes them up. He's a legitimate challenge. He isn't tough, but tough enough to keep you in your toes. Much like Mortal Kombat, there is a type of X-Ray move, instead of showing the bones break, each fighter has a super move. Batman's super move is that he shocks you, hit your chin with his knee, throws an exploding Batarang, and makes his Batmobile run you over. It gets ridiculous sometimes, but it's fantastic in doing so. There is also wages that happen randomly in the battle where you press a button to try to complete a clash. There was something like it in Mortal Kombat vs DC. If one person wins the wager a small bonus will be given to them. The two I've seen was a small health benefit or more damage of the resulting clash. If there was a tie, nothing happens, and the fight continues on. The one thing that did surprise me was the damage. In one fight parts of Wonder Woman's skin was gone. It's not Mortal Kombat level of skin damage, but it's there and not as bloody.
Injustice: Gods Among Us releases this month for the PS3, WiiU, and 360, and if this demo shows a tiny taste of what is to come, then this will be one of the best fighting games around. I haven't mention the extra multiplayer and single player modes this game has. The same care that Mortal Kombat 9 had is shown here, and I can't wait to try out the full game.
It's actually risky to reboot an iconic character. Not only do you need to bring fresh ideas, but to make sure that he character still has those traits that make the character memorable in the first place. Ninja Theory's Devil May Cry tried to reboot the Character of Dante with mixed results. Now Crystal Dynamics attempts to reboot Lara Croft in Tomb Raider.
For the first time in 17 years, Lara feels like a real person. She is unsure of herself, cares for others, and feels pain as the events of the game pans out. Very few games allow having the character abused as much as Lara has. Past games from the series have Lara escape death, and she doesn't even have a scratch. Not even Nathan Drake gets a cut. You see the damage Lara gets throughout the game. Not only does Lara get through a blender, but we feel her pain as well.
LAWSUIT ISLAND
Tomb Raider has a lot of homages to The Descent
The set pieces are a sight to be seen, it even rivals that of the Uncharted series. From escaping from a burning building to parachuting down a tree infested mountain side. Her will to survive allows her to come back stronger than ever. By the end of the game, Lara Croft has never been this bad ass. There is not a lot of weapons to choose from, but the weapons you do get you will use. There is not a weapon you will not use. There are ways to upgrade your weapons and deal out more damage.
Finding salvage and weapon parts will maximize your weapons. Finding relics, journals, and GPS caches will give you experience to upgrade yourself, by the end of the game, you can deal melee damage.
The combat is fast and exciting; the game is challenging, but never frustrating. Each fight that comes with it feels hefty and real. Each bullet and arrow that flies passed your head feels earned. It's a thrilling experience that most games strive for. The light stealth is excellent and very satisfying. You can complete full section using only stealth. Cover is the best around. When enemies are nearby, Lara will cover down automatically and it has a sense of realism. No button is needed. The enemies will do the same. They will flank you or rush you and it never feels old.
PLACE HERE AND THERE
Lara Croft can survive almost anything.
As you progress through the game, you will come across tombs. There is not as much as I hoped for, but they do allow a mixture among action and puzzles. There is a focus mode called Survival Instinct, but a part of finding the way point, I hardly used it. The Survival Instinct provides the pieces to the puzzle, not the solution. In the game you can explore the whole island. While the game is liner, it doesn't feel like it with its many places to find. Moving around is fast and fun while using the pick axe is a blast to do. Lara moves as you would expect someone will do, if she trips her body will have a response to it. Lara Croft's story to protégé to Survivor is an interesting one; it's not about looking for tombs, but her will to survive.
The side characters are not the most fleshed out, but they are interesting. The parallel between Lara and Mathias is interesting and the focus point of the game. As one goes mad with the will to survive, the other finds themselves stronger than ever. What helps this new Lara is the new actress playing her. I hope that we see more of her as Lara in the future. This is a rare game where the guns have a power behind them. The game is not the most detailed, but it still looks great.
THE WALLS ARE COMING DOWN
Not every game is perfect, there was this one moment where I died because the platform I was on did not load properly, and another where I got lost and could not find my way out. That happened in my second play through. It was after I met Grim, and I had to start over again. There is a lot of Quick Time Events in the game, but it becomes less so as the game continues. There is a weird save system where the game saves all the time, but you cannot do it manually. Nearly everything you do, the game will save. I would have liked it more if the fire camps was the save point like in Dark Souls.
The biggest problem with Tomb Raider is the lack of Carry Over. After you beat the game, you cannot bring your stats with you into a new game. If this had carry over, then searching for all the little trinkets the game has would have been worth it. Some of the problems are glaring, but they do not detract the overall feel of the game. The length of the game is awesome clocking around ten to 13 hours, more if you decide to find everything. Crystal Dynamics has not only given us a refreshing take on Lara Croft and Tomb Raider, but a fantastic Action Adventure game. It's too soon to tell, but I can see this being in my Game of the Year list by the end of the year. A worthy entry to the series.
