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.