Capcom’s jetpacking, UFO-hijacking, vertical shoot-out adventure Dark Void was released last week for the PS3 and Xbox 360. If you took my advice and pre-ordered from game stop, you probably scored yourself a limited edition Trexi figure from Play Imaginative designed by Tony Mora of i am 8-bit.

Hit the jump for some up-close shots of [...]]]>

Capcom’s jetpacking, UFO-hijacking, vertical shoot-out adventure Dark Void was released last week for the PS3 and Xbox 360. If you took my advice and pre-ordered from game stop, you probably scored yourself a limited edition Trexi figure from Play Imaginative designed by Tony Mora of i am 8-bit.

Hit the jump for some up-close shots of the limited edition Dark Void Trexi and the sexy box it comes packaged in. You’ll also see how different it is when compared to oldschool Trexis from back in the day!

Up top you can see the Dark Void Trexi and the stylish box that it comes packaged in. There’s some cool wraparound artwork of a jetpackin’ Trexi and when three boxes are lined up together you can see the whole thing. I only have two boxes in the pic, but it still looks pretty fresh.

Here’s the back of the Trexi and the box. I love the gloss on that box!

When I first opened this Trexi up, I noticed what looked like grey paint on his hands/knuckle area. Turns out it’s little pumps broken off the plastic, almost as if the parts were pulled from one of those model kits you can pick up at Wal-Mart. Here’s a link to see what I’m talking about. I have three other Trexis and they totally don’t have that. I’m guessing maybe Play Imaginative had to cut some corners since these things were being given away for free.

Here’s the bottom showing off the Trexi and iam8-bit logos. Notice another little broken nub of plastic right on Trexi’s grundle region.

Here’s Dark Void Trexi with the top of his head removed. Notice the Play Imaginative and Trexi logos etched into the plastic. Nice little touch that none of my other Trexis have.

Here’s the Dark Void Trexi with some other Trexis from my collection. No clue what series this is from. Notice the Dark Void one is a little taller. You can also see that the other Trexi’s hands are jointed slightly above the wrist. The DV Trexi’s hand joints are hidden right at the wrist which is a nice touch that gives it a cleaner look than the older ones.

You can see that the leg joints are different as well. While the older Trexis have peg joints, the newer ones have a ball joint at the hip/pelvis area. The ball joint hides the ugly seam that the peg jointed Trexis had, but I wish the ankles were rotatable.

I was pretty stoked to swap the tops of my Trexi heads, but I guess the newer ones can’t play this game with the older ones…

… and this is why. Looks like they inverted the joint in the heads. Anyone know if there’s a logical reason for this? I’m guessing maybe they’re easier to produce this way, but if anyone else has any guesses, I’d love to read ‘em in the comments.

Also, while the older Trexi’s heads just pop clean off, I couldn’t get the Dark Void Trexi’s head off no matter how hard I tried.

This is the first new Trexi I’ve gotten in about a year or two and I’m pretty pleased with it, especially since it was free. Playing with my old Trexis has also reminded me that Dunnys aren’t the only cool blindboxed toys on the block and I really want to get some more.

Stay tuned for a giveaway in the coming weeks where you’ll be able to win a Dark Void Trexi of your very own! Also, head over to this thread the forums and show off pics of your collections!

Frontier Developments follows up their debut WiiWare title with a sequel that surpasses its predecessor in every conceivable manner.

“Oh, you thought the original LostWinds was too short? No problem, we’ll make this one longer!”

“Oh, the objectives weren’t clear enough in LostWinds and you wound up wandering around with no clue what to do? Our bad. [...]]]>

Frontier Developments follows up their debut WiiWare title with a sequel that surpasses its predecessor in every conceivable manner.

“Oh, you thought the original LostWinds was too short? No problem, we’ll make this one longer!”

“Oh, the objectives weren’t clear enough in LostWinds and you wound up wandering around with no clue what to do? Our bad. We’ll totally take care of that in the sequel.”

“You wanna walk around in a cute little snow monster suit? Fuck yes. Done!”

LostWinds: Winder of the Melodias is a bite-sized little WiiWare title that will make you remember the glory days of 2D platformers. There’s just enough challenge to tug on your brain without treating you like a complete idiot, but you’ll never feel the urge to throw the controller across the room and go light a stranger on fire.

You play the role of a little boy named Toku and you use the Wii remote to control Enril, the wind spirit. The controls are simple enough: you move Toku with the analog stick on the Nunchuck and you hold “A” while waving the Wii remote to jump and attack enemies. You can also hold the “B” button to draw a path of wind to manipulate the elements — for example, you can draw a path from a lit torch to an area blocked off by plants to burn in down and make your way through.

While the story’s not super heavy or complex, it’s sweet and does a good job of keeping you engaged and holding interest. With a colorful cast of characters, beautiful level design, and highly-imaginative puzzle-solving gameplay, LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias is easily a must-have for any Wii owner.

AWESOME
So stylish: From the characters to the level design, this game is simply gorgeous. There are even some great character animations like when a giant accompanies you on your trek up a mountain early in the game, or when you first awaken Sonté, the spirit of the seasons.

Just the right amount of challange: At its core, the gameplay of LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias is simply about finding your way to the next area. You’ll do this using the wind to move objects onto switches, to blow fire to melt down ice walls, and you can even turn falling snowflakes into a giant snowball by drawing a circle of wind and then use it to crush any weak walls blocking your path. It’s essentially a “get me the hell out of here!” game, but it never feels boring thanks to the well-crafted puzzles. They’re not impossibly difficult, but the game also does a good job of not holding the player’s hand and letting them figure things out on their own by exploring their powers and surroundings.

Powered up: The pacing is a little faster this time around thanks to the fact that you start the game with almost all of your power-ups from the first game, but there’s still some awesome new powers that you’ll come across and you can even use old powers to do new things like making the aforementioned giant snowballs. You also have the new ability to create little tornadoes that can be used to gust Toki up to higher levels, drill through weak parts in the ground, and suck water a from pool to form a movable cloud so that you can make it rain over an empty pool. Combine this with the new ability to change the weather between summer and winter, and you’ve just created yourself an ice path to access unexplored areas.

NOT AWESOME
Why can’t I lift things? Toku can lift things like seeds and fruits, but when it comes to important things, like small boulders that need to be placed on switched to open doors, he kind of sucks at it. Instead, you’re forced to clumsily control the wind using the Wiimote to flick rocks onto switches, but sometimes Toku gets in the way and you’ll accidentally crush his head.

Combat kind of isn’t fun: Aside from fighting generic blobby bad guys with generic names like “Glorbs,” your only means of offense is holding “A” and waving around the remote. The best tactic is usually to just throw the baddies into the air, then throw them down so that they splatter against the ground, but compared to the rest of the game, the combat isn’t engaging and it’s just plain ol’ not fun. The developers at Frontier have thought up so many imaginative and creative ways for a person to find their way out of a room, but it seems like they just can’t think of a fun way to kill a Glorb. While the boss battle was fun and clever, the last part of it was SO frustrating. Basically, he’s throwing things at you that you have to throw back, but I could never tell if I was actually hitting him. I was actually throwing crap at him for about a good 20 minutes until I accidentally threw something at him the right way to make him react. I eventually got the hang of it, but a 10 minute boss battle turned into about 30 minutes of me being confused.

In all honesty, any gripes against the game are very minor. If you have a Wii, you need this game. And if you haven’t played the original LostWinds, go play it before playing this one because you’ll appreciate it a little bit more. Shit, play ‘em both back to back! They’re short enough and the transition in the storyline is seamless.

LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias retails for 1000 Wii Points. A copy of the game was gifted to me from Frontier Developments for the purpose of this review.

As you all know should know by now, I’m pretty obsessed with Figmas at the moment. You can check my Figma review on last week’s episode of blindboxed.

This week I decided to compare Figmas to their competitor, Revoltech.

Since I already have the Kanou Unchou Figma, I decided to get another Ikki Tousen girl, [...]]]>

As you all know should know by now, I’m pretty obsessed with Figmas at the moment. You can check my Figma review on last week’s episode of blindboxed.

This week I decided to compare Figmas to their competitor, Revoltech.

blindboxed tv #9

Since I already have the Kanou Unchou Figma, I decided to get another Ikki Tousen girl, so I picked up Ryomou Shimei. I really wish Max Factory would make a version of Ryomou in her school outfit. She’s so much more adorable and innocent-looking. Maid outfit Ryomou is kinda’ intimidating.

Since I’d never had a Revoltech before, it was difficult choosing which one to get first. I really wanted Yokko from Gurren Lagann or Haruhi Suzamiya in her bunny costume, but I figured I’d test the waters by getting the cheapest Revoltech I could find, just in case I wound up hating them. So I wound up with Pocco, designed by master illustrator, Shunya Yamashita.

Here’s a closeup comparison of the hands. I like that the Figmas come with the little storage thingie. They also have hands that are more elegantly posed.

Here’s Kanu, Ryomou, and Pocco all lined up.

I feel like I came off a little harsh in my review of the Revoltech. I really liked it! I just think that Figmas offer more bang for their buck, even if they are a bit smaller. That doesn’t mean that I’m not planning out my next few Revoltech purchases. My shelves are gonna’ be LOADED!

I hope you enjoyed the last otakufied episode of blindboxed for a while. The show will go back to designer toys next week when I review… wait, I’m not telling you! You’ll just have to watch and see! I’ll also be giving away details on how you can win a custom Munny by Jim Freck!

Please leave comments, feedback, what you wanna’ see on future episodes, etc. And don’t forget to subscribe to the Albotas.com YouTube channel where you can catch all the latest episodes of blindboxed and A Little Bit On The Awesome Show!

Oh, shit! Blindboxed.com is dead as shit after it crashed during the last Wordpress upgrade, but blindboxed tv lives on!

It’s been and while and I thought I’d do something different. Blindboxed typically covers designer toys, but I figured I’d throw some anime figures in the mix. Let me know if you’d like to hear about [...]]]>

Oh, shit! Blindboxed.com is dead as shit after it crashed during the last Wordpress upgrade, but blindboxed tv lives on!

It’s been and while and I thought I’d do something different. Blindboxed typically covers designer toys, but I figured I’d throw some anime figures in the mix. Let me know if you’d like to hear about all kinds of toys on blindboxed, not just designer stuff, or if the anime stuff should be saved for A Little Bit On The Awesome Show.

blindboxed tv #8

In this episode I review Max Factory’s Kanu Unchou Figma. This is the first Figma I’ve ever purchased and I’m fairly pleased with it.

The only bummer is that a few seconds after filming this episode, I accidentally broke the display base…

Fortunately, Kanu doesn’t need a display base to look bad-asss. Oh, and she also came with a cool cardboard backdrop. I originally thought that it was part of the box until the day after I shot this episode.

Here’s a better look at all the extra stuff it came with. Not bad for only $35, but you could probably find it cheaper elsewhere on the interwebs.

Kanu looks down in horror at her destroyed uniform.

And here’s a crazy stop-motion version of the Hare Hare Yukai Dance done entirely with Figmas…

If you wanna’ get some figmas of your own, just hit up Play-Asia.com. You can also find ‘em pretty cheap on Amazon.

Artificial Mind and Movement’s Wet is a game that has huge potential of being a mind-blowing experience. Part Quentin Tarantino, part Robert Rodriguez, with a little John Woo thrown in for good measure, you’d think something like this would be a gamer’s wet dream…

Wet has a bit of a rough history. See, the game [...]]]>

Artificial Mind and Movement’s Wet is a game that has huge potential of being a mind-blowing experience. Part Quentin Tarantino, part Robert Rodriguez, with a little John Woo thrown in for good measure, you’d think something like this would be a gamer’s wet dream…

Wet has a bit of a rough history. See, the game was originally being published by Sierra, but Activision gobbled the company up and announced that Wet was no more. Luckily, Bethesda Softworks swooped in at the last moment to save the day and there was much rejoicing across the land. Or at least in the A2M offices.

In the game, you play as Rubi Malone (voiced by my future wife, Eliza Dushku), an F-bomb-dropping, whiskey-chugging, tough-as-nails gun for hire. For the right price, she’ll take on just about any job, and if you even think about trying to double-cross her, she’ll seriously fuck your shit up and ruin your whole day.

Like most good pulp stories, Wet is all about revenge. Rubi gets double-crossed and sets out on a journey that spans three continents to find the man who did it, and make him suffer. On the way, she’ll meet up with an offbeat array of friends an enemies like the weird spooky albino chick that walks funny  the sadistic midget who is a master of torture, and, of course, the horny old lesbian who collects rare books, because, why not.

While the graphics aren’t really all that great when compared to other games of this console generation, this game certainly has a lot going for it in the style department. To keep with the whole grindhouse theme, there’s a film grain that makes it look like you’re watching an old B-movie, but you can turn it off if the flickering grain gives you a headache. The developers also did a clever little thing where some of the loading screens are these really bizarre animated movie theater intermission commercials. The one that creeped me out the most featured a talking hot dog putting ketchup on himself and asking a little boy toeat him. I’d be all like, “fuck no, Mr. Hotdog. You have a voice and free will, therefore I cannot eat you because it would be wrong.”

There’s also some great set-pieces including a landmine-infested shoreline, a ship harbor in Hong Kong complete with oldschool Chinese sailing ships, and rainy nigh time section outside of a neon-lit opera house which has a dragon head statue that spits freaking fire! The combination of the rain effects and lighting make this the prettiest section of the whole game and the way the water glistens in the dimples in the small of Rubi’s back — that’s attention to detail.

To break up the monotony of all the slow motion hacking and slashing, the developers sprinkled some simple platforming sections, firearem training obstacle courses, and awesome car chases that are part quick time events, but still let you aim and shoot in real time. Then there’s the uber-stylish Rage Mode. Rage Mode levels are these Sin City meets Killer-7-esque cell shaded levels consisting of just 3 colors: Rubi and the bad guys are black, the walls, floor, and ceiling are red, and blood is white. In rage Mode, Rubi can take way more damage and her attacks are loads more powerful, reducing her enemies into clouds of black smoke.

But then there’s the gameplay which is kind of not so great. Rubi has three basic moves: the jump, the slide, and the wall run. As soon as you start firing your weapon during one of these moves, the game enters the Max Payne/Matrix bullet time zone. While in this slowed-down state, Rubi pulls out a second gun and automatically targets a random enemy with her left hand while you’re free to aim at someone else with the right.The game has this reward system that replenishes your health bar as you chain together different moves, so when you’re stuck in an arena with dozens of enemies, you’re forced to keep doing these moves, which is almost impossible thanks to the shoddy controls. You’d think that for a combat system all about acrobatics, you’d have maybe a little more control over your character, or at least more combat options. Sure, you can buy extra upgrades like the ability to run up a bad guy and do a backflip off his face while shooting him down, but other upgrades like the ability to use your sword while airborne should have been basic moves included from the get-go.

It’s not like the controls are so broken that the game is unplayable, they just could’ve used a little more tightening. Oh, and a little more diversity in the levels would’ve been nice, too.

Awesome

The car chases. Just when I was getting sick to death of quick time events, Wet comes along and mixes the QTE with real time action. You’ll use button prompts to jump between car rooftops and running along the sides of tractor trailers, all while aiming and shooting on your own. It’s a hugely satisfying experience.

The music. Set to a horror Psychobilly soundtrack that helps pump up the adrenaline while taking on swarms of baddies, there’s some great licensed tracks here by bands like The Creepshow, Knock Galley West, and The Arkhams.

Skydiving shootouts. I thought the car chases were awesome, but there’s a scene where you’re falling out of an exploding carrier plane without a parachute wile bad guys are shooting you! It’s a gorgeous scene in the game and it’s fun as hell to play through, too bad they didn’t incorporate some kind of Sixaxis control for the PS3 version.

Rage Mode. The rage mode sequences are easily some of the most fun in the game, even if some of them feel a little too short. They also have the best songs.

Boneyard challenges. These firearm obstacle courses do a good job of teaching you how to use each weapon in the game while giving you the chance to pull off some sweet acrobatic moves. Once you beat the game, you unlock more challenges at the Boneyard which are actually more fun than you’d think.

Overall presentation. The cut-scenes in this game have some truly sick camera work, the voice acting is great for the most part (aside from some downright cheesy lines and bad voice acting early in the game), the menus and titles look gorgeous, and the story was pretty much just as good as a real b-movie pulp flick.

Going down ladders. I’ve never had so much fun on ladders in a video game ever. If you shoot while going down a ladder, Rubi hangs upside while straddling the ladder and sliding down. What other game lets you go down a ladder upside down while shooting dudes in the face!?

Not Awesome

She’s lost control. Seriously, controlling Rubi can be a pain at times. You know how in pretty much every game in the world when you press the ‘jump’ button, the character jumps straight up? Well, for some reason Rubi jumps forward. I tried to rationalize why the developers made this decision, but I just couldn’t find a reason. It doesn’t help that I only noticed this in section of the game full of land mines. Yup, I jumped right into one.

Not enough variety. The gameplay consists platforming sequences that take you to where the bad guys are, then running through hallways while killing the bad guys, only to wind up locked in an arena where more bad guys spawn from multiple doors that you have to block off. They try to mix it up buy giving you access to turrets where you can pick up enemies like ducks as they crowd around exploding barrels, but these sequences just don’t feel as rewarding as they should. It would have been more fun if they let you use the turrets to kill off enemies by destroying certain parts of the level.

Kill Bill wannabe. I know that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but some scenes might come off as too much of a Kill Bill/Desperado ripoff. There’s even a scenario straight out of the House of Blue Leaves fight in Kill Bill where the 5, 6, 7, 8’s play. In this section of the game, you’re taking on a huge swarm of enemies as a female-fronted Chinese rock band plays. A little too similar if you ask me, but I chuckled when the chick singer said “Are you ready to rock, bitches!? One, two, one, two, fuck you!”

What, no cover? Okay, I know that this game is meant to be played in an acrobatic style, all slow-motiony and what-not, but when there’s like 20 dudes with guns coming at you and you’re right next to a big table that’s flipped over, chances are you’re gonna’ want to take cover behind it rather than do a fancy pistol dive right into the crowd of enemies. Good games are all about giving the player options and letting them play how they want to play, not restricting them to a broken combo/reward system.

The final boss battle is a 3-minute quick time event. Seriously. There’s all this build-up to Rubi finally getting her revenge, and throughout the game they tease at this boss and his two henchmen that would make great sub-bosses, but Rubi takes them all out within a few minutes and a couple of button prompts. It almost makes the whole rest of the game feel worthless.

Final Thoughts
While Wet had a decent enough story that kept me interested, plenty of intriguing characters, and a world that I’d certainly like to see more of, the monotony of the gameplay and the lack of variety in Rubi’s move & weapon arsenal fell a little short. Sure, they tried to spice it up by throwing in car chases, Rage Mode, and some mediocre Prince of Persia platforming elements, but I just felt like there was something missing. Maybe some interesting boss characters at the end of the levels, or a wider array of crazy moves… something. The presentation and voice acting were just about perfect and I wouldn’t mind taking Rubi on another adventure in a sequel, but try and polish it up a little by focusing on the substance next time, A2M.

Before getting into this review, it should be known that I tend to get a little damp in the nether regions when it comes to games like this. Metroid II and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night are among my favorite games ever created.

That being said, I’m not gonna’ suck Shadow Complex’s nuts undeservingly, because the [...]]]>

Before getting into this review, it should be known that I tend to get a little damp in the nether regions when it comes to games like this. Metroid II and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night are among my favorite games ever created.

That being said, I’m not gonna’ suck Shadow Complex’s nuts undeservingly, because the game’s not without its fair share of minor flaws. That’s not to say it isn’t a good game, it’s fucking awesome. Go buy it. Right now. Seriously.

Shadow Complex is a sidescrolling 2D action/adventure game for Xbox LIVE Arcade based on the novel Empire, written by the gay-bashing Orson Scott Card. The game transtions into the upcoming sequel to the book, Hidden Empire. You’ll probably never, ever read it, or want to.

But enough about this being part of a franchise for a homophobic auteur, you wanna’ hear about the game! If you didn’t know already, Shadow Complex is an updated take on the whole Metroidvania (ugh, I tried so hard not to use that word in the review…) style of games, blending 2D gameplay in a 3D (or I guess maybe it’s 2.5D?) landscape. Your main character can only move back and forth, but enemies can move into the background and foreground. There’s plenty of hidden items and secret rooms, and you can probably beat it in about a day, or three, depending on how active your social life is.

Awesome

• Huge amount of gameplay variety. One moment you’ll be running around, shooting guys and pulling off sweet melee kills before you fire up a turret and take out baddies in the background, the next you’ll be creeping through air ducts looking for weak spots to blow up so you can find weapon upgrades for the giant robot boss in the next room. Every time you think this game’s about to get boring, the pace picks up perfectly.
• Big-ass map. There’s so many nooks and crannies in this game to explore. Even after you get to the end credits, you’ll wanna’ go back for all those rooms on your map that you haven’t seen  yet.
• Proving Grounds. The challenge mode on this is fun as hell when it’s not kicking the living shit out your face. It can get pretty hard. Like, border-line Bionic Commando: Re-armed hard. Masochistic gamers will love it.
• Fun-ass weapons that make you feel like a badass by the end of the game. With the exception of the hookshot (did anybody even ever really use that thing?) the weapons made the game loads more fun. You only start out with a crappy gun at first, but soon you get grenades, missiles, and this weird sticky stuff that freezes bad guys and makes things explode. After you get enough upgrades toward the end of the game, you killing dudes in one shot, running though everything that stands in your way (literally, plowing through EVERYTHING with the amazing speed boost upgrade), and basically just causing all sorts of general havoc. It almost feels like Crackdown, but in 2D

Not Awesome

• Not-so-tight controls. It’s already kind of a bummer that enemies can move freely between the foreground and background, but you can’t. It’s even more of a bummer when it can be impossibly at times to target enemies that are off to the foreground and background. Try as you might to shot that asshole up on the balcony in the background, but you’ll only wind up shooting empty air in front of you. This issue easily could have been avoided with some sort of lock-on feature. I also had problems with the wall jump. Sometimes if I was right up against a wall and tried to wall jump, I was unsuccessful. Whenever this happened, I would have to back up, and then jump in towards the wall to wall jump. Seems like a weird collision detection error or glitch or something.
• The story and dialogue are kinda’ terrible. Honestly, I barely remember much of the story. I think there’s only like two paragraphs of spoken dialogue in this whole game. All that my brain will let me remember is that some bad guys killed the vice president, you stumble into their underground headquarters, steal their kick-ass suit, and bitches ain’t shit but hoes and tricks. Oh, and this is the worst line of dialogue in the whole game: Cobra Commander-looking Bad Guy: “Who are you?” Douchey main character: “I’m no one… and everyone.” Seriously!? Did he just say that shit!?
• Character design was lacking. The “main bad guy” (if you can even call him that, because you never get to fight him and he shows up randomly from left field near the end of the game) looks soooo much like Cobra Commander from G.I. Joe. Not the shitty movie version, but the real deal Cobra Commander. And the main character, Jason Flemming, looks way too much like Nathan Drake from Uncharted. Sure, they’re both voiced by the same guy, but even their names sound alike: Nathan, Jason. C’mon. And another thing, we’re sick of seeing douchey “bro-dudes” with ornate graphic tees and belt buckles in our video games.
• As a huge music snob, this game’s ending theme song highly offended me.

This not only one of the best games to come out all year, but one of the best games that Xbox LIVE Arcade has to offer. Although the story might be quick to play through, it alone is worth the $15, but if you try to unlock 100% of the map, get all items, and complete all the Proving Grounds challenges, you’ll get more than your money’s worth.

Me and YaYaLuvsCupcakes hit up the 16-minute sneak preview of James Cameron’s Avatar in IMAX 3D this past Friday and it actually wasn’t as bland as the trailer that was released last week. There a few scenes shown, showing off everything from how the film will utilize 3D, the range of expression that the CG [...]]]>

Me and YaYaLuvsCupcakes hit up the 16-minute sneak preview of James Cameron’s Avatar in IMAX 3D this past Friday and it actually wasn’t as bland as the trailer that was released last week. There a few scenes shown, showing off everything from how the film will utilize 3D, the range of expression that the CG characters are capable of, what CG jungles will look like, how intense the action scenes will be, and some hot alien chick nipples.

Click through for the video review.

The plot basically goes something like this: In the future, humans find some planet where human life can’t survive for some reason or another, but there’s these giant blue aliens who can survive. So, scientists figure out how to grow the blue dudes in a lab, then transfer human brains into the blue dudes. A cripple dude does this, and now he’s pumped that he can walk and has a giant blue dong. He goes to the blue people planet and gets mixed up in a war between the humans and blue dudes, but he realizes that he has to fight against the humans because they’re bad. Or something. The real blues teach the impostor blue their ways, like how to survive in the jungle, how to hijack a dragons brain to turn it into a flying motorcycle, and how to make sweet alien love.

When I was leaving the theater, I heard someone describe the film’s plot as “Last of the Mohicans, in space.”

Did anyone else get to see the sneak peek? Did it remind you of the Native American’s struggle against the white man? Did you appreciate the use of sexy blue alien nipple CG effects in 3D? Does Sigourney Weaver kinda’ freak you out? What kind of name is Sigourney, anyway? Let me know in the comments.

I’ll be honest, I’d heard of Scott Pilgrim before, but never really caught wind of any hype until the movie starring Micheal Cera was announced. Being the sort of dude that likes to stay on top of his pop culture and keep ahead of the game in the name of his nerd cred, I set [...]]]>

I’ll be honest, I’d heard of Scott Pilgrim before, but never really caught wind of any hype until the movie starring Micheal Cera was announced. Being the sort of dude that likes to stay on top of his pop culture and keep ahead of the game in the name of his nerd cred, I set out to get caught up on this book before the movie drops — mainly so I can hate on the movie for not being as good as the book. </sarcasm>

Scott Pilgrim is a 23 year old slacker “in between jobs” living somewhere in a Canada with his gay roommate. He plays in a sweet rock band called the Sex Bob-Ombs, and he’s dating a hot Asian high school girl. Sounds pretty much like the ideal life. But then, he starts having these weird dreams about a cute chick on roller blades. Things start getting weirder when he starts seeing this chick in real life. Scott’s precious little life is about to get turned upside down.

First off, this book is filled with nerdy pop culture references to things like video games and indie music. This could be taken a few different ways: Is Brian Lee O’Malley, the writer and artist, just trying to show off? Is it a cheap way to get a reaction from the reader a-la Juno? Or does it round out the characters and setting so the the audience can identify with the story better? Maybe I’m the core demographic for this, because I got all the references, LOL’d in my head a little, and didn’t get annoyed like I did with Juno. Basically, I thought they worked just fine.

Okay, from here on out, I’ll try my best to stop comparing this to Juno.

Let me backtrack a bit and touch on the art. It’s good. It’s not amazing. It won’t blow your mind. But Brian Lee O’Malley did a good job of creating a style that’s memorable, instantly recognizable, and does a good job at setting the tone for the story, especially towards the end. One thing that O’Malley accomplishes best is depicting a broad range of emotions for each character. Whether it’s akward little smiles and glances, faces of despair, or full-on rage, the characters always look so goddamn cute.

Okay, now back to the story stuff.

In a nutshell, this is a story about a dude who has a girlfriend, but falls for another chick. We’ve heard this before. Only, in this story, the dude has to fight the girl’s seven evil ex-boyfriends before he can go out with her. A fight is hinted at all throughout the book, but it all gets thrown in your face during the last few pages which are easily the best part of the book. I was reading this on the toilet and I literally lifted a fist in the air and mouthed “YES!” as the story climaxed. Even if you think the story starts off a bit mundane and typical, it’s totally worth sticking around for the last chapter.

I just finished reading this yesterday and I already can’t wait to get my hands on Volume 2. Seriously, I haven’t read anything this good in ages. The fact that you can get this 168-page bundle of radness for under $7 makes it even better. Highly recommend.

Fore more Scott Pilgrim coolness, check out ScottPilgrim.com.

*note to self: shave your patchy-ass grill before shooting the next unboxing video*

So yesterday I was ranting and raving about Lomography. My girlfriend was awesome enough to get me this sweet Lomography Fisheye 35mm camera from Amazon and it just arrived on my doorstep! I’ve never owned a camera before, so this is a big [...]]]>

*note to self: shave your patchy-ass grill before shooting the next unboxing video*

So yesterday I was ranting and raving about Lomography. My girlfriend was awesome enough to get me this sweet Lomography Fisheye 35mm camera from Amazon and it just arrived on my doorstep! I’ve never owned a camera before, so this is a big deal for me. If you’ve had any experience with Lomography and would like to share any tips and tricks or general advice, feel free to leave a comment, or better yet, get a Seesmic account and leave a video comment! (Actually, you don’t even need a Seesmic account for video replies. You can comment anonymously as long as you have a connected web cam!)

I’m going to an epic party tomorrow that will include Playboy Bunnies, porn stars, Bam Margera, and Nitro Circus and I plan on giving my new camera a test run. I’ll post the pics as soon as they’re developed!

Cool Lomography links:

• lomography.com
• toycamera.com
• Lomo Fisheye group on Flickr
• LOMO group on Flickr

The 10 Golden Rules of Lomography:

1. Take your camera everywhere you go.

2. Use it any time – day and night.

3. Lomography is not an interference in your life, but part of it.

4. Try the shot from the hip.

5. Approach the objects of your Lomographic desire as close as possible.

6. Don’t think. (William Firebrace)

7. Be fast.

8. You don’t have to know beforehand what you captured on film.

9. Afterwards either.

10. Don’t worry about any rules.

Velvet Assassin is a stealth game loosely based on actual events that took place during WWII. Replay Studios, the game’s developer, aimed to create a realistic, gritty depiction of WWII that hasn’t ever been seen in a game before. Since their depiction of WWII involves a chick who’s tight leather outfit magically transforms into a [...]]]>

Velvet Assassin is a stealth game loosely based on actual events that took place during WWII. Replay Studios, the game’s developer, aimed to create a realistic, gritty depiction of WWII that hasn’t ever been seen in a game before. Since their depiction of WWII involves a chick who’s tight leather outfit magically transforms into a slinky nightie every time she shoots up morphine, I’m pretty sure these guys are consuming a good deal of shrooms.

AWESOME
Stealth Action: The stealth in this game is super-fun. Each room is set up as its own challenge where you have to figure out how to sneak past ze Germans. You’re basically invisible as long as you stay in the shadows and aren’t too close to the bad guys. If you run past a light and cast a shadow across the room, you’re toast, but sometimes you can shut down spotlights and sneak your way to victory. There’s usually different approaches you can take to clear each room and once cleared, you feel pretty awesome. Plus, the ways that you can kill people in this game are nuts! You can go for the typical stealth kills where you go up behind a baddie and slice his throat or stab him in the side of the temple or some other random kill sequence, or you can get real close and pull the pins on their grenades so that when they walk over to their buddies, KABOOM! There are also the more subtle kills like luring dudes to walk over puddles with live wires in them, then flipping a switch and watching them fry, you can shoot puddles of oil to set guys on fire, and even shoot barrels of toxic gas and watch your enemies suffocate to death as they walk into the fumes.

Graphics: The overall look and mood of the game is pitch-perfect for what the developers were going for. Underground levels and dark, foggy, and tinted with green while outside levels range from towering cathedrals to villages littered with dead bodies. Since the stealth element of the game focuses heavily on the light around you, the lighting in this game is gorgeous. When you find yourself in an underground storage facility filled with smokey, green gas fumes, being patrolled by guards in realistically lit and textured gas masks, you’ll definitely want to put the controller down for a few seconds just to admire how real everything looks.

Main Character Design: One thing that Replay Studios really wanted to get across is the fact that Violet Summers, the game’s main heroine, isn’t a super spy like Solid Snake or Sam Fisher. She’s a real girl stuck in a real war. She’s not some overexposed sexpot and her outfits remain conservative for the most part, despite some missions which involve really tight latex, but you won’t mind watching her climb over fences in it. There are also missions where you have to dress as a female guard and while in uniform, she walks in a very militaristic manner with her back straight, head up, arms behind her back, and one foot in front of the other. It’s actually really cute to watch.

NOT AWESOME
You’re Gonna’ Need Some RAID Because This Game Is Full Of Bugs!: There’s two main types of bugs in this game: the kind that randomly make your character walk through walls and ceilings or make the entire background disappear for a few seconds, or the kind that render the game completely broken like when enemies can suddenly see and shoot through walls. There are also absurdly super-human guys with flamethrowers who can see you and shoot you with flames from across huge rooms. You’ll find yourself frustrated by this more than once.

Morphine: Morphine in this game is used in a weird way. For some reason, it’s just laying around everywhere and when Violet shoots up, everything turns into a weird bullet time where she’s suddenly in her peejay’s and there’s rose petals floating around. It’s a pretty effect, but it seems like a cop-out in terms of game design. You really only need to use it when there’s absolutely no way to sneak past someone, but it makes you wonder why the developers couldn’t have just made that part of the game sneakable, or at least let the morphine effects last until the meter wears out instead of only lasting until you kill a guy, regardless of how full the meter is.

The RPG Elements Don’t Work: There are hidden collectibles scattered throughout the game and when you find enough, you unlock “upgrade stars” which can be used to enhance your sneaking speed, health bar, or morphine duration. The only problem is that even when you fully max out one of your stats, the game doesn’t play all that different. I actually played through the game without boosting my morphine stats at all. You’d think you’d be rewarded for putting in the hard work to beef your stats, but it seems like the game tries too hard to keep you as underpowered as possible so that you have no choice but to sneak around instead of running and gunning.

The End Of The Game: For a game that’s all about sneaking around, you can’t help but feel cheated when you’re forced to run and gun through the last few missions. From the very beginning, you’re taught to take the stealthiest approach possible, but near the end, when you try to be stealthy and get spotted, you’ll probably think that you’re taking the wrong stealth approach and keep getting killed over and over until you decide to give up and blast everything away with whatever heavy artillery you come across, which is pretty much your only clue not to sneak. Pro-tip: if you find a shotgun or an AK, DO NOT SNEAK! Just run and gun your ass off and hope that you beefed up your stamina gauge enough in the beginning of the game.

Despite its flaws, I personally had a lot of fun with this game up until the unnecessarily frustrating end. Although it doesn’t reinvent the stealth genre, its fun, plain and simple. One of the biggest innovations is the ability to move objects in front of light to create shadows that you can hide in. The only problem is you can only do this once in the entire game, despite the “tip” that comes up during loading screens that misleads you into thinking it’s something you’ll be doing a lot throughout the game. And if you’re looking to go all “Sam Fisher” and shoot out light bulbs with your silencer pistol, think again; light bulbs during WWII were impervious to bullets. Oh, and if you’re looking for an epic story a-la MGS, look again. I don’t really remember what the story was about, and I don’t really care. Just know that the game starts in the middle of a story that’s played from the past and then catches up to the present for a lackluster finish storywise and gameplay wise. The final battle actually just randomly generates bad guys and it takes you a few tries to figure out where they’re spawning from and where to hide, but the earlier levels are the right kind of challenging and hugely satisfying to complete. Sadly, a $60 price tag just can’t be justified. If you’re looking to get your stealth fix on with a game  that isn’t Splinter Cell, MGS, or Tenchu, you might wanna’ wait until the price goes down on this one. Way down.

Platform: PS3 and Xbox 360
Price: $60
Launch Date: April 28, 2009
ESRB: M (Everyone) – Blood, Strong Language, Intense Violence, Use of Drugs
Game Type: Stealth Action
Players: 1
Developer: Replay Studios
Played the 360 version to completion on normal difficulty.

Barbara Thorson is the weirdest little 5th grader you’re likely to ever come across. All the kids at school think she’s crazy, even her family thinks she’s crazy, but her guidance counselor is trying her best to help her out. She even suffers a punch to the face and an assault with dead animals in [...]]]>

Barbara Thorson is the weirdest little 5th grader you’re likely to ever come across. All the kids at school think she’s crazy, even her family thinks she’s crazy, but her guidance counselor is trying her best to help her out. She even suffers a punch to the face and an assault with dead animals in the process!  Barbara’s the type of chick that wears bunny ears, talks to fairies, carries a heart-shaped purse with a hammer in it, and plays Dungeons & Dragons. Oh yeah, she also finds, hunts, and kills giants.

Originally a seven-issue miniseries written by Joe Kelly with art by JM Ken Niimura, Image Comics has just released a collected trade paperback of this critically acclaimed story I Kill Giants. IKG manages to capture an aspect of childhood that hasn’t been shown this vividly since Calvin & Hobbes: imagination. Just as you might wonder if Hobbes really comes to life when no one’s looking, or if maybe Calvin needs some professional help, you’ll be wondering if Barbara Thorson should be tied up in a white jacket and thrown into a padded room.

Barbara’s obviously the most (and possibly only) really fleshed out character in the story, but it’s okay because this is her story. She’s depicted as headstrong introvert with a big set of balls and a mouth to match. She’s the type of deep and complex girl that could care less about stupid conversations on the bus about the VMA’s and belly shirts, but deep down, she wants to be part of these conversations anyway. She dodges reality by reading up on the mythology of giants and titans, and she’s also a badass dungeon master.

Joe Kelly wrote this in such a way that it demands at least a second reading just so that you can truly appreciate all the subtle moments that this book has to offer. Although I wasn’t blown away by JM Ken Niimura’s artwork until the last chapter or two, his character designs are imaginative and the pacing of the page layout was executed perfectly. Overall, his style definitely lends itself well to the story.

Ultimately, this is a story about a child coping with an unbearable loss and facing it head on. This is easily something that I could recommend to hardcore comic readers and non-comic readers alike. With a story worth reading more than once and plenty of concept art and commentary by the creators, I Kill Giants is definitely a book that deserves some attention. If you missed it the first time around, this trade is your chance to check out one of the best indie comics to be released in the past few years.

I Kill Giants Trade Paperback
184 pages, BW, $15.99 ($10.79 from Amazon)
Writer: Joe Kelly
Artist: JM Ken Niimura

Support ALBOTAS when you pick this up from Amazon.com!