In which Lucy reviews a bunch of things.
Mum: Grandma selling her assets... You know it's because of us, right?
Yeah, I did. Thanks for the reminder.
Okay, life sucks, I'm poor, and I did something stupid so one of my friends has total license to hate me.
Let's review stuff!
Battlefield: Bad Company:
Really enjoyable game with a lot of personality. Yeah, it's a rather formulaic military FPS, but it knows its formula so well, it's a joy to play. You've got plenty of different ways to play, thanks to weapon and item variety. Wanna charge in blazing? Cool. Wanna turn your opponents to ashy particles? Here's some explosives. Want to hang back in the distance and call in airstrikes and missile drops on everything? Totally doable.
My favorite moment gameplay-wise was the realization that because I was a sniping goddess who used few other guns, my AI-controlled teammates started to hang back away from the enemy, not bothering to engage them and just letting me pick them off as they cheered me on. I loved that.
Half the game, though, is its character. Your PC is not as much of a blank slate as usual and you're saddled with a team of very vibrant, appealing characters who you'll come to really like over time. They bicker and bitch, force your character into insane situations, and start wars in neutral countries out of stupidity. The plot is just as great in a way that made me go, "no, really? really?" It's so nicely absurd and a blast to follow. The situations B Company get into are hilarious.
If I had to pick a bone with the game, it'd be a nitpicky thing: fallen enemies or vehicles you blow up will only linger for so long and it's very common to see them blink out of existence. It's very annoying to me and totally breaks my sense of immersion.
Coraline (the film):
I read Gaiman's Coraline ages ago and loved it to pieces. It's still on my shelf. So when they announced a movie, I was extremely skeptical and disapproving. Then I heard the guy behind Nightmare Before Christmas was directing and was still extremely skeptical, but not so disapproving.
Having watched it, I have to admit, I really, really enjoyed it. It complete nails the book's atmosphere, which is the film's greatest success, in my opinion. It's visually stunning, bright and vibrant with amazing slow-mo. There are some changes to the novel, the most major being the introduction of Wyborne, but I understand the need for such a character narratively. It helps that he seems to really fit into the Coraline universe.
Another major nitpick: The film did an amazing job expanding the canon a little, like giving more backstory on the parents to flesh out the book they're doing and why they have no time for Coraline. But one major piece of exposition totally failed: the apparent car accident Coraline's mother was in. The neck brace she wears looks like her sweater is just high-collared due to them being the exact same color. Mum and I were totally confused at just why she was so irritable until, halfway through the film, I realized. FAIL. Would've been completely avoided if they colored her sweater differently.
Also: The voice of The Cat is amazing. ♥
Metal Gear Solid 3 Lets Play [can be found here]
I am a whore for LPs, so here's a quick rec. This is a WIP LP that is quite awesome. It involves a player and a guest commentator watching the player's gameplay videos. Player is great at the game and shows off a lot of extras and even goes through some areas multiple times to show the Stealthy way or doing things and the American way (i.e. run and gun).
Commentary is surprisingly good, holding up on its own but also doing their running jokes well. Caveman Snake makes me giggle every time and they boys actually pull off a good Dayter impression. So yay. The LP is informative and entertaining. Check it out. They just got to The Ladder Boss.
I think I'll review Utena sometime. Too tense to do so at the moment though.
-Lucy
Yeah, I did. Thanks for the reminder.
Okay, life sucks, I'm poor, and I did something stupid so one of my friends has total license to hate me.
Let's review stuff!
Battlefield: Bad Company:
Really enjoyable game with a lot of personality. Yeah, it's a rather formulaic military FPS, but it knows its formula so well, it's a joy to play. You've got plenty of different ways to play, thanks to weapon and item variety. Wanna charge in blazing? Cool. Wanna turn your opponents to ashy particles? Here's some explosives. Want to hang back in the distance and call in airstrikes and missile drops on everything? Totally doable.
My favorite moment gameplay-wise was the realization that because I was a sniping goddess who used few other guns, my AI-controlled teammates started to hang back away from the enemy, not bothering to engage them and just letting me pick them off as they cheered me on. I loved that.
Half the game, though, is its character. Your PC is not as much of a blank slate as usual and you're saddled with a team of very vibrant, appealing characters who you'll come to really like over time. They bicker and bitch, force your character into insane situations, and start wars in neutral countries out of stupidity. The plot is just as great in a way that made me go, "no, really? really?" It's so nicely absurd and a blast to follow. The situations B Company get into are hilarious.
If I had to pick a bone with the game, it'd be a nitpicky thing: fallen enemies or vehicles you blow up will only linger for so long and it's very common to see them blink out of existence. It's very annoying to me and totally breaks my sense of immersion.
Coraline (the film):
I read Gaiman's Coraline ages ago and loved it to pieces. It's still on my shelf. So when they announced a movie, I was extremely skeptical and disapproving. Then I heard the guy behind Nightmare Before Christmas was directing and was still extremely skeptical, but not so disapproving.
Having watched it, I have to admit, I really, really enjoyed it. It complete nails the book's atmosphere, which is the film's greatest success, in my opinion. It's visually stunning, bright and vibrant with amazing slow-mo. There are some changes to the novel, the most major being the introduction of Wyborne, but I understand the need for such a character narratively. It helps that he seems to really fit into the Coraline universe.
Another major nitpick: The film did an amazing job expanding the canon a little, like giving more backstory on the parents to flesh out the book they're doing and why they have no time for Coraline. But one major piece of exposition totally failed: the apparent car accident Coraline's mother was in. The neck brace she wears looks like her sweater is just high-collared due to them being the exact same color. Mum and I were totally confused at just why she was so irritable until, halfway through the film, I realized. FAIL. Would've been completely avoided if they colored her sweater differently.
Also: The voice of The Cat is amazing. ♥
Metal Gear Solid 3 Lets Play [can be found here]
I am a whore for LPs, so here's a quick rec. This is a WIP LP that is quite awesome. It involves a player and a guest commentator watching the player's gameplay videos. Player is great at the game and shows off a lot of extras and even goes through some areas multiple times to show the Stealthy way or doing things and the American way (i.e. run and gun).
Commentary is surprisingly good, holding up on its own but also doing their running jokes well. Caveman Snake makes me giggle every time and they boys actually pull off a good Dayter impression. So yay. The LP is informative and entertaining. Check it out. They just got to The Ladder Boss.
I think I'll review Utena sometime. Too tense to do so at the moment though.
-Lucy