Review: Lenovo IdeaPad(130422U)

I've been on the market for a tablet for quite sometime now, but what I've encountered has either been overpriced (iPad), under-powered (Cruz T301), and in one bizarre case, overpowered (Asus eee Slate). That came to a screeching halt yesterday when I ran across a new product being offered by Lenovo, the IdeaPad.

If you're not familiar with Lenovo suffuce to say, they're a Chinese hardware firm who bought the ThinkPad name from IBM a few years back and has been doing an excellent job with it; to be honest I think they dropped the ball a bit with their newest model, the W520, but that doesn't change the years of solid work they've put on the market (and don't get me wrong, the W520 is a powerhouse, it just needs a little more TLC than most Think products due to some driver issues).

The IdeaPad is a bit of a divergence for Lenovo, a consumer product built for home use, but they did a great job. Running Android 3.1 (Honeycomb) with a 10 inch screen and weighing at a little over a quarter of a kilogram it's a great fit for your hand and comfortable to hold on to; the screen is bright and crisp and every bit as responsive as any iPad I've worked with; front and back facing cameras, 5MB back 2 front, it takes decent pictures and has the screen to display them. The standard model is a 32GB wifi (no 3G) and an expansion slot for another 64GB of Micro SD storage. Lenovo also made the decision to minimally tweak Android, it's essentially a stock build of 3.1, and gives you immediate access to the complete Android Marketplace. Best of all, the price, coming in at 349.99 (Canadian) at Best Buy and Future Shop (compare that to the iPad2).

I only played with it a few hours before boxing it up (it's destined as a gift), but before boxing it, I placed an order for a second one for myself. I literally cannot say anything bad about this machine, if you're at all interested in a tablet, do yourself a favor and check the IdeaPad out; I'd could say it's a great product considering it's price, but I won't because it's a great product with an amazing price, this could be an iPad killer if it was marketed right.

The Walking Dead Season 2 Review

In a word: AWESOME!

Only one episode in, but it's safe to say I''ll be watching for the next couple episodes at the very least; there was some solid stuff going on last night that I want more of. The absence of Frank Darabont, whose work I largely enjoy, doesn't seem to have been problematic, in fact I would say the first episode was stronger than anything we saw in the entire first season. My only real complaint, the zombies look more like living people pretending to be zombies, but there's only so much you can do with that aspect.

In my opinion, the entire first season was looking for it's place; the show was a little too gory to appeal to the people who want drama and stories, and the the drama was a little to over the top for the people looking for gore and horror. I think there will be some negative reviews about this episode, but this will be based on a model that doesn't apply to the walking dead. The Walking Dead is something of a misunderstood show. Most people see it as a horror show, but that's not really where it's head is at, or, more importantly, it's heart.

The number one and most important thing you have to understand about The Walking Dead is this: the show is about survivors not zombies. The zombies are a plot device to move the story along, the show is about the people; in fact, the title is talking about the survivors, not the undead (I implore you to read the comic book, it's all explained there). Watch some of the show, I mean really watch it, and you'll understand.

There it is, watch the show, it's good, real good, I think the best thing you'll see this year.

Being Frugal with My iPad

I've been debating about a tablet device ever since the first iPad was announced. After buying the Pocket PC and Palm devices the moment they we're released only to realize I had no use for them in my life, I try to hold off on buying tech toys because they seem cool. Consequently, I debated iPad vs netbook then held off too debate iPad vs Android vs Playbook vs all the other tablets coming out. A couple days ago I bit the bullet and bought an iPad 2. The anti-conformist in me tries to avoid Apple products but after playing with the alternatives and looking at available apps the iPad was the superior device for my intended use. Note for those of you happy with the other devices I'm not slamming them, they just didn't fit my requirements.

I decided that I donate enough money to Rogers monthly and also wanted to save a little over a hundred bucks on the initial purchase so went with the wifi only model. The idea here was that I always have my Sony Xperia X10 phone with me so I would just tether the wireless off my phone when no other wifi was available. I have a friend who does this with Blue Tooth and a iPhone 3GS. Well turns out that you can't do that easily via Blue Tooth with the X10. You can pair to the iPad but can not connect. "No Worries", I thought, I half expected that. I would have been shocked if Apple and Android 2.1 played together. So I went with Plan B which was to use the Android app "Barnacle Wifi Tether" to make my phone a portable wifi hotspot.

To do this you need to suck up some courage, if your not a tech guy, and make some adjustments to your phone as Barnacle requires root access. To clarify at a high level, Root Access, means superuser access.

After searching the Internet on how to root your phone I finally found a method that worked on my phone which was using a tool on xda-devlelopers called "SuperOneClick". The latest version worked, phone is now rooted, I'm writing this using Barnacle to access the Internet, and my dislike for my Android phone has softened as a result ;).

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=803682

Note I'll have to Unroot when Sony officially releases Gingerbread for the Xperia X10 so I can upgrade but that looks to be pretty easy using "SuperOneClick". I also hear that with Gingerbread Barnacle may not be necessary anymore so we shall wait and see.

Used Games

It's been a while since we've heard much about used games in the media, but every now and then I still find a tidbit online that alludes to it. Since I haven't written anything in a while I figured this was as good a thing as any to do. Before I get started, let me also just say I have no sympathy for people complaining about what used games stores (EBGames, GameStop, etc.) pay for old games; they have a business to run and they are trying to maximize their profits, if you don't like what is being offered, keep the game, it's that simple, if they really want them, they'll offer more.

First, let me say the whole used game thing essentially bugs me, no one else gets second value from their product, used cars, movies, or my old camping equipment, the only time a manufacturer sees value from me is during the initial purchase. Having said that, in this day and age there is a lot of after market support put into games, patching, DLC, and so forth, however this is not the consumers problem; perhaps proper QA should be conducted before releasing, and the bulk of DLC is purchase anyway.

I think the problem we are really facing is an adherence to an outdated model; games are still manufactured and distributed under much the same premise as they were in the Atari days, however technology has outpaced dramatically, the proof being the ease in which games are patched. Digital downloads will eventually solve this altogether, but it will be a while before that is a proven fact.

If you want to see what I believe represents the true wave of the future look no further than Blizzard. They aren't doing things perfect, but they are well on their way to it, they only problem they have is charging so much for their initial product, especially considering the monthly fee you also take on. Consider, however, how much free content goes in with every patch and you have a sustainable business model. IN Blizzards case I believe they should be offering their base software free, or, at most, charging 25% of what they currently do.

Here's how you fix it, sell your initial product for a much smaller fee, something in the XBox live marketplace fee, under 20 dollars, then offer patches and/or DLC (your choice of terminology) at a nominal fee. I would envision the bulk of the DLC to be created during the development cycle so all you're doing is recouping your costs, and ensuring that anyone who purchases the game secondhand has to pony up for it. Legitimate patching, such as bug fixes, would obviously be free. If people are willing, I could even see a small subscription fee, especially considering the way multiplayer content has taken over the market.

Is it perfect? No, but what is? Some publishers have already started doing this anyway, and like it or not, if you want to continue playing video games (which I know I do) you're going to have to pay for them somehow. If nothing else this would force more accountability into the system and give publishers a true measure of what people are looking for.

A Word or Two on Cut Scenes

Where would video games be without cutscene's? Not nearly as far as we are now that's for sure, they build tension, tell a story, give invaluable information for proceeding through the remainder of the game, and they're just plain entertaining. In short, the video game as we know it today would be nothing without the cutscene. Having said that however, cutscenes are a delicate scalpel that too often get treated like a broadsword, hacking and slashing legitimate gameplay to make room for their own purposes. Cutscenes are meant to by symbiotic, benefiting both game and gamer, yet all too often they become parasitic, killing both.

An example would be in order, and, right off the top of the list, I would have to say the best use I've seen in recent gaming would be in Red Dead Redemption. It actually makes sparing use of cutscenes, choosing instead to use travel time to relay information and what scenes there are end up being more memorable and interesting. This is contrast to COD: Black Ops which chose to use almost no cutscenes and attempted to deliver all its information through the course of events, it just doesn't give the player enough engagement to get involved. Mafia II struggled a bit with this balance, the scenes were a bit long at times, even though they told a great story, and they might have killed the game if it hadn't been for the fact they were skippable (I found this particularly true with the expansions).

This is the cardinal rule that gets broken all too often, and one you'll hear players complain about above all others, when cutscenes cannot be skipped over. Put as little or as much s you want in there and let the player choose how they want to treat it, especially if you're trying to sell replay value.

A bad example? The worst I've ever seen is in a game called Bonetown, an X-rated game about sex and drug use, nothing innovative or compelling (beyond the nudity), but largely playable; that is to say largely playable other than the frequent, unskippable, and boring custcenes. They're meant to be funny and entertaining, but the game is just difficult enough that you often end up sitting through the pedantic dialog over and over again, waiting to see if you'll get it this time. I guess people who write porn aren't really cut out for interactive creativity, who'd have thought?

Pay attention to the next game you play and judge for yourself, if you don't enjoy it due to boredom or difficulty, there's at least an even money chance this is due to the data being relayed to you as a player, a well made cutscene might engage you more or help you out of a bad spot. If you are enjoying it, it's very likely due to well placed cutscenes, providing engagement and information that makes you want to stick around.

Green Lantern Trailer

Watched a new trailer for the Green Lantern today and while it looks leaps and bounds better than the one released last year I still have reservations. Here it is:

The movie looks cool and I think I may have gotten past Ryan Reynolds being chosen as Hal Jordan; I still think he's a tool, but I had reservations about Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man up until I saw the first movie and that worked out fantastically. My problem is a legendary issue with super hero movies, it just usually doesn't manifest until the a sequel, often the third, the rule of multiple bad guys. Check your super hero movie history and you'll quickly see what I'm talking about: Batman Forever, Batman and Robin, Spiderman 3, and Superman 2 for example.

In most cases (not Superman 2, that one ruled) this has brought a demise to a franchise, the creative teams start running dry and pull in multiple bad guys. They don't offer enough on their own to be spectacular, but bringing them all in at the same time dilutes the soup too much and you don't get a sense of flavor. You want an example of too many villains making a bland movie? Try Daredevil, Ben Afleck wasn't the worst part of that movie, he actually didn't make a bad Matt Murdock, it was too many bad guys mixing it up.

Based on the trailer alone I see Parralax, Hector Hammond, Sinestro, and what looks to be elements of the Blackest Night story lines, which could bring the Anti-Monitor into play. At best I think they are making a movie inaccessible to the uninitiated, too many weird and fantastic plot turns to explain in one movie without prior knowledge, and at worst they're going to skim over most of them like third rate characters in a bank heist movie.

Now to be fair it looks like Sinestro is going to still be a Lantern for the entirety of this movie, and I could be mistaken about the Blackest Night stuff, and therefore also the Anti-Monitor, but that still leaves Hector and Parralax to deal with. Take a look at the Iron Man plot, the villain barely counted as a bad guy, but it worked; I think they could have done something similar here, an origin story with some conflict. At this rate there won't be much room for sequels, even if they are warranted. I truly believe that a good writer could take any of these guys and make a great movie, especially when an origin story is being told at the same time. Nobody wants an Iron Man clone, but when a formula works it might be a good idea to apply elements of it.

I still plan on watching this movie and actually have a bit higher hopes for it now, but I'm keeping my reservations until it's over.

Battlefield: Los Angeles Review

Had a chance to see Battlefield: Los Angeles this weekend and I have to say I loved it. Admittedly this was a bit of a surprise to me, I was so highly anticipating this movie I never would have believed I could actually like it, but it was one of those rare cases where the hype lived up to itself.

Not a lot of plot in the movie, it was a conceptualization of an alien invasion from a soldiers point of view. A lot of confusing explosions, quick action sequences, and half seen horrors, exactly as you'd expect a full blown combat situation to look like.

The dialog and acting are heavy handed at times, but for the most part it worked. You don't go into this kind of movie expecting Shakespearean subtlety in wording and Sherlock Holmes puzzle solving, you want to see explosions and guns and that what this movie delivers.

Not much more I can say without going into details other than I would highly recommended seeing this in a theater, the action is meant to be seen larger than life. Watch it if you've ever enjoyed a first person shooter video game, if you enjoy seeing hero's and villains, and watch it if you like ass-kicking.

On the other side of the coin, check out Roger Eberts review here, but only if you need to be reminded that smart people can actually go out of their way to miss a point. Seriously, the only way I see he arrived at his conclusion is if he actually knew what the movie was supposed to be delivering and he specifically designed his review to see it from the wrong point of view.

The South and Pop Culture Gold

Lately, I've been watching a lot of True Blood and with a fair amount of enjoyment. This surprises me because I'm seriously sick of human/vampire romance/lust plots. A part of the appeal is the location, the deep south of the good old USA. I've always enjoyed stories that take place in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, and Alabama area. It might be because of the cowboy boots, damn I wish I lived in a place where I can wear cowboy boots and not slip on ice half the year. Anyway, let's take a look at some of the classics.

1) Preacher:

Simply put probably one of best if not the best comic book series ever. I've talked about this comic on the blog before and will likely do so again in the future.

2) Near Dark:

This is perhaps my 2nd favorite vampire of all time. Cheesy in many ways but Bill Paxton's lines are gold in this movie.

3) Vampires:

I think this a truly underrated Vampire movie. Added plus the Vampires are actually evil not love interests.

4) Kill Bill Volume II:

Definitely the best of the 2 Kill Bill movies.

5) North and South:

I suspect I likely wouldn't like this mini-series today but back in the 80s when I was a teenager with only 2 channels this baby got me through one winter.

I'm sure I could think of dozens and dozens more and if I got into westerns maybe even more.

Product Review: Dell Streak

My cell contract came due recently so I got on the market looking for a new phone; logically it only made sense that I investigate a smartphone, so that's what I did. I'm not an Apple person so the iPhone really had no interest for me, and this was before the Windows phones came on the market so I figured I'd go Android. Factor in the point that I knew I would be looking for a tablet soon and the Dell Streak started coming up in my mind more and more. I've been using it for a little over two months now and thought I'd comment on it.

I LOVE it.

I won't go into technical details, you can get that from the review I linked earlier, but I will talk about it from a user perspective. The number one question I get asked is about the size. Compared to an iPhone or the windows phones, yes it's big, but considering how much more real estate I have in the screen I can easily live with it. I've seen people watching videos on their phones and I wonder how they do it, my phone plays HD in a 5" screen that can be seen not only by myself, but also a select audience. Furthermore, it fits in any of my pockets with no problems; at the end of the day you need to store your phone someplace and I have no problem finding a place to keep mine.

I put the Kindle app on it and am now reading ebooks with the greatest of ease. It's not quite as nice as what I've seen from the Kindle, but it's also small enough to carry easier than a Kindle, plus I don't have to think about bringing a reader along; if I leave the house I have my phone, which has my books on it. I've also found a comic book viewer which allows me to carry quite a suppl of reading wherever I go and I gotta say the color screen is nice for that. And all that goes without even mentioning movies or TV shows.

I have access to all my email accounts along with a keyboard I can type on and text messaging is a snap, again with the help of my large on screen keyboard; I've never texted before because of the hassle of the keypad or miniature keyboards on phones. I've even started using Facebook and Twitter more since I always have something I can update with in my pocket.

A 5 meg camera on board, with both a forward and backwards facing lens means I always have a decent quality camera in my hands, again with a display big enough to view what I take. The camera is pretty light hungry, but then so are most digital cameras so I can live with it.

I have to say, the one question I can never understand is "How can you talk on it?", but I've been asked that more than a couple times. Honestly it's a dumb question, the phone is big enough to actually reach from your ear to your mouth, meaning you can always hear whats being said and don't have to worry about getting your voice to carry to the mike, unlike most phones that only reach to just past your cheekbone. To those people I ask, "How do you talk on it?"

Not much more I can say, I love it and it almost never leaves my hand. Sure it's a little big for some applications, and it's a little small for others, but Dell did a helluva job making the best fit possible; it's big enough for 95% of my daily usage and small enough to take with me everywhere, unlike a full sized tablet or a regular smartphone, which is one or the other. I honestly don't see it ever being a big seller, due to it's size, but I literally cannot recommend it enough. Sure I'd like to see my OS get updated and I'd like my battery to last longer, but I'm not aware of any instance where I wouldn't be saying both those things anyway.

I'll make it short and simple, if you need a phone and feel you might use it for more than just a phone, take a look at a Streak. I know for a fact I won't be looking for a tablet this year, there is nothing they have to offer that my Streak doesn't do.

5 Hottest Video Game Females: Not the Main Character

Inspired by Top 5 with Lisa Foiles I think I'm going to do a top 5 from time to time and well Lisa Foiles is definitely in the running for number 1 of my top 5 hot female geek culture divas.

By the way Laura Croft doesn't make my list, one she's the star and two well she was ruined forever thanks to Angelina Jolie. The other rule here is that video game girls from fight games aren't included. Let's face those are total T&A characters so they are all hot why debate the issue. Anyway lets proceed shall we:

Number 5 - Batman Arkham Asylum: Harley Quinn

I definitely like the new outfit it fits her character and well, her better, than the stupid court jester outfit. She's insane, dirty, and lethal and her appearance definitely spiked my interest in the game. I even like the voice but then again I had and still a have a crush on Jennifer Tilly so for me those voices are annoying in a good way.

Number 4 - Dead Rising: Jessie

Unlike my buddy Rob I found the first Dead Rising to frustrating to finish but still logged a lot of hours and some of those hours were to admire the virtual artistry that went into Jessie's two most prominent attributes.

Number 3 - Half Life 2: Alyx Vance

Video games have striven to capture the cute, spunky, smart, and butt kicking geek dream girl for ages and usually they fail and the character just becomes annoying. However, Valve did an amazing job with Alyx. I actually found (and find) myself enjoying the stupid training and story pieces purely because of her character.

Number 2 - Dragon Age: Morrigan

Until I played Dragon Age Origins I would have advised you to get out more if you said you actually felt some attachment to a video game character. However, Bioware did an amazing job with this game and I actually felt a pile of guild and regret when I ended my character's relationship with Morrigan simply to get the achievement for bedding Liliana. I still did it but you know that decision was pretty much why I never finished that game.

Number 1 - World of Warcraft: Lady Sylvanas

Lady Sylvanas, what can I say she's a bit evil, mean, bossy, uppity, and damn hot for an undead gal. I'm always confused why all the other undead are gross rotting zombies but Sylvanas still has it going on. Every time I found myself in Undercity I made a point of going to the Lady's court just to check her out as she was way better than all the Night Elves dancing around in their underpants in Stormwind.

Honorable Mention - Fable: Lady Grey

I'm not talking about the undead Lady Grey in Fable 2 but the original present demanding blonde of the original Fable, you know the Fable that didn't suck. Really there was nothing appealing about this woman's personality but I still ran around fetching her presents so that says something.

Boxee Impressions from Canada

I started this Boxee review quite a while back but got side tracked due to work and computer issues. Now that I got things under control and have had time to play with Boxee I figured I'd complete the review because my good buddy Rob was asking me about it.

If one watches or reads any technical, business, or culture media one would likely have heard of the Boxee Box. Hell they had it in Men's Health gadget list a few issues back: you know the one with Olivia Munn in it ...

The Boxee Box hardware isn't cheap and dropping $200 on something for a review isn't in my budget. However, you can download and install Boxee for free on almost any computer that can be hooked up to a TV so I installed Boxee on my old laptop and it worked fine. I could even control it with a Andriod app on my phone as a remote control.

My first impression of the interface wasn't initially positive but after a few minutes I got use to it and it grew on me. At a glance Boxee is quite an application. It can access Netflix's streaming service, Vudu, television network streaming sites, and pull media from my main PC across my home network. With out a doubt the most robust media management application available that I know about.

After playing with Boxee for the last couple days I've made some discoveries. First off if you live in Canada your not going to use Vudu so you lose the ability to rent videos on demand which is something you can do with AppleTV, XBox, or the PS3. Another short coming is that the Netflix app will not work in Boxee for Canadian Netflix customers. It seems to work but you'll notice your accessing the American media catalog, which by the way is way better than the Canadian, and if you try to watch anything it just hangs when trying to connect to the Netflix servers. However, other than that it seems to work pretty well. Not a bad selection of television to pick from (even with living in Canada), some nice apps that still work for Canadians, and it seemed to stream across my home network PC to Boxee Laptop. It does hiccup and fail to stream some listed network television from time to time but no surprise there, you are accessing free internet content what do you expect for free.

In a nut shell if you live in the US I'm thinking this is a pretty good deal even if you shell out the $200 for the Boxee Box itself. However, for Canadians that is a pretty expensive price specially when you know Americans are getting a lot more for that money but if you have a spare computer around I say hook it up.

Final word if you like internet media such as The Escapist, Revision 3, YouTube, or even The Guild. Boxee brings all that to your big screen instead of your computer. For me that made setting up the laptop worth while.

Red Dead Redemption

I gotta say, so far 2011 is stacking up to be a great year for video games from 2010! I was completely blown away by how much I enjoyed Mafia II, and now I'm rockin' Red Dead Redemption on a level I never expected. If you clicked the links on the games above you'll notice that while I linked the Mafia II website I chose to use the Red Dead Wiki for the other, and there's a reason for that, there is just that much going on.

I have only ever played one Rockstar game, Red Dead Revolver, a pathetic attempt to bring a spaghetti western to life, a genre which I don't think should have ever lived, let alone be bastardized in a video game, but I digress. I have avoided the GTA series due to my aversion to sandbox games, and what I perceived to be weak story-lines, so this game was something of a risk for me, but one I'm glad I took.

I won't go into great detail, but I will note what I like: a decent story with a quest driven narrative, great characters, especially the main, John Marston, stunning scenery and background detailing, and attention to detail that makes failure to immerse yourself impossible.

To be fair it's not without problems, horses can be painful to maneuver, weapon mechanics aren't as streamlined as they could be, and the side quests can be a little too immersive, to the point of distraction from the main story. The problem I found with this was I got a little bored with hunting and gathering and almost quit playing the game; I actually had to take step back and get myself in the campaign again. The whole balancing act between side and main questing took a bit to catch onto, but now that I have it I find they go hand in hand very nicely.

Really not much more I can say, I've already bought the DLC expansions for it and looking forward to complete everything. I even downloaded an app on my phone that is essentially a checklist for the game, it's just that massive, there is no other way to keep track of it all.

Your Highness (Restricted Trailer)

I have to say this looks funny:

The type of role you could see Jack Black doing, but your soooo glad he isn't going to be going way over the top with it.

The Star Wars Room

While it's been our personal hope to spread the wonder of the movie The Room here, words cannot do this justice, it can only be experienced:

Mafia 2

During the recent Steam Holiday sale I spent more money than was wise, but ended up with a number of games, if I ever get around to playing them. While on this budget spending spree I decided to take a chance on Mafia II. While it's a bit late in the game for a review on it I thought I'd put out a few thoughts about it.

First, I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. I've never played any of the Grand Theft Auto's but what I understand of them seems to put this game in the same genre; the campaign takes you through 10 years of the life of Vito Scaletta, from the middle of World War 2 to the early 50's, as he rises through the ranks of a crime family in Empire City, using theft and violence as his tools. You make friends and enemies along the way and learn a few life lessons. Sounds trite, but actual ends up being a bit deeper than you'd expect, the ending actually threw me for a bit of a loop, really didn't see it coming.

The joy and the pain of the game was the lack of apparent sandbox attributes. While not on a specific campaign related mission you were free to roam the city and do as you please, steal cars or hold up stores for cash, beat up people, or just make trouble with the police, do what you want, it wasn't necessary for the main story line; sure you got some extra cash for upgrading cars and buying clothes, but the campaign supplied you with most of what you needed anyway. In short, you could take it or leave it, so I left most of it, which was good for me as I don't care for sandbox freeplay, but it left the game feeling a little incomplete. I would have liked to see more side missions like in Gun, which was essentially a polar opposite of Mafia 2, there was essentially no sandbox freeplay and the side quests were pretty much required to level your skills.

As for the driving, well, I'm on my second playthrough and I still haven't mastered it, although I'm doing much better. AI is a problem as you never know what to expect from the other drivers and they will often react in the exact opposite manner of a real driver; stray across the street a little bit and an oncoming car is just as likely to turn into you as it is to swerve away. Police can be arbitrary too, often ignoring hit and run accidents, but then deciding to chase you down for grazing another car when it suits them. On the plus side, they could care less about you obeying signs and lights; you can pull into the oncoming lane and drive past them to run a red light, just don't hit them while you're doing it.

So why do I like the game? The story was rock solid and the game played like an interactive graphic novel. The writers portrayed what I think is a good window into organized crime, from the rush of power to crushing depths of defeat, you manage to like Vito and sympathize with him, but at the same time realize that he's in the wrong. The shootouts are fun with a number of different weapons to use, the locations are great, the cars are varied and fun, and the music is used perfectly; I've never realized how much good music came out of the 50's both Jazz and Rock. You spend a lot of time driving so giving you the option to change stations really helped keep the music varied and fresh, from Chuck Barry and Eddie Cochran to Dean Martin and the Andrews Sisters.

Finally, I won't lie, the Playboy collectibles were great. The writers chose to ignore the fact that Playboy wasn't first published until the mid 50's, 5 years after the end of the game, and threw 50 different centerfolds in the game that you collect as you go through the missions by finding magazines lying around; pick one up and you're given an actual uncensored centerfold from the 50's and 60's. Sounds dated, but it was refreshing to see the women Playboy published before plastic bodies became he norm. Sex was generally rampant throughout the game, and if there is one caution I would make, it's that this is a VERY adult game, and not just because of the graphic language.

If I had payed 50 bucks for the game I might not have been as enthused, but since I got it for 12, I couldn't be happier. I highly recommend this game if you can get it on sale, however you might not want to spend the full price for it, just not enough going on for my money.