Sunday, January 24, 2010

Halo 3: ODST Review

Since this is the first game review I've posted, I feel an explanation is in order. I am not one to run out and buy a game at launch. I have done in the past, but I generally don't. The two main reasons for this are: 1) I like to take my time with a game and wont buy another while I have one on the go. I refuse to diminish my enjoyment of a good game just to keep up with the release schedule. 2) In general, the older a game is, the cheaper it is. Since there are still many great games I haven't played, I have plenty to keep me entertained while I wait for the new releases to drop in price.
So this is why I give you this Halo 3: ODST review now and not several months ago. Enjoy.

For the uninitiated: The year is 2553 and the human race is in the middle of having their shit ruined by a bunch of alien scientologists known as The Covenant. This menagerie of religious extremists is made up of several different alien species with devotees numbering in the tens of billions (I assume). The Covenant worship a once great, but now absent group of beings they call The Forerunners. They gallivant around the universe scavenging Forerunner artefacts and ruins with the kind of blind determination only religion can provide. For some reason, the Covenant hierarchs decided that the human race was unworthy of joining The Covenant and that it would be better for everyone if every last human was slaughtered. Most of the human race thought a bit more of themselves than that and put up a fight. Thus, the largest war this galaxy has ever seen rages on.+Yes. Even larger than World War II

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Avatar Review

Avatar is what you might call "James Cameron's magnum opus". With 14 years in conception, 4 years in the making and a budget of over $230 million US, this film has promise. But, does it live up to its potential? Let's take a look.

Those familiar with Mr. Cameron's work won't be surprised to find that Avatar is set in the future. We meet our hero in a spacecraft as he wakes from hibernation having arrived (after a presumably long trip) at an alien planet known as Pandora.

Pandora is rich in "Unobtainium", an obscenely valuable mineral that is used for... something. We're never actually told. Maybe it cures cancer or maybe it induces mind blowing, full body orgasms on contact. Who knows? The important thing to know is that it costs about $20 million US per KG. A private company, RDA, has set up operations on Pandora, but alas; they cannot go merrily about the business of mining the magic orgasm rock as a large number of pesky natives are living directly on top of the primary deposit of this prized resource.