Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway

Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway

What is it:
Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway is the third entry in the Brothers in Arms series of video games which follows the men of the 101st Airborne Division (502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment [PIR]).

He looks fat in this screenie.

In this uh. entry. You follow Staff Sergeant Matt Baker [As in the first game] through the events of Operation Market Garden: The largest airborne operation of all time. it also happened to fail quite badly. The game sticks to history really closely, so you might think spoilers aren't an issue. we'll get to that later.

You, and characters from the previous game are reassigned to the unit before the drop into the Holland. The game follows the 101st's assault and securing of Eindhoven, and the subsequent defense of the surrounding area from German counterattacks, which in turn leads to the countless deaths of your squad, since you know the plan to end the war by christmas didn't go so well.

Why Its Great:
Okay i want to point out this thing. Many people think most WW2 shooters don't have much of a narrative because its a retelling. thats not true. this is especially the case in this game. BIA:HH is awesome on account of an excellent narrative. It maintains a very good balance of historical detail and character development.

The main characters are fictional, though you take orders from a few notable historical figures, including Lieutenant General Robert Sink.

The game tells a very very good narrative. with some drawbacks i'll mention later.

Point 2: The game is really fun. the formula is no different from its predecessors: you have a gun, you can shoot nazis. you also have 1-3 squads of 2-3 soldiers who also have guns. you can tell them to shoot nazis. some squads have bazookas to blow nazis to bits, and some squads have Machine Guns to shred nazis to bits.

Some Squads have Bazookas to blow nazis to bits.

Point 3: New squad types, i cannot stress the awesomeness — bazooka and MG teams — both ratchet up the carnage and make things feel more realistic. After all, the war was not won with the M1 Garand alone, especially when the Allies had tanks and bunkers to eliminate. The new destructible-cover system also makes these battles more authentic, as you can mow down Nazis behind wooden cover…or get dropped yourself if you tuck into the wrong spot.

You can cut these fences [and the nazis behind it] with a M1919A4 L.M.G like a hot knife cuts through butter.

The A.I. enemies seem more evolved, too, repositioning in response to your actions and generally not sitting around like target-practice dummies. The AI has been improved. it glitches though sometimes.

Why It Sucks:
Glitches. Bugs. Checkpoint Save Shenanigans. So many times i had to have my playing interrupted because some of my team mates decided to fall through the floor and get stuck. this level written in stone also had a checkpoint saves a checkpoint before you reach it, making it unreachable. its hard to explain. it only happens sometimes. but yeah.

sometimes the AI glitches. i dropped quite some motionless Germans who might as well have been holding up a “Shoot Here” sign. But even worse were the times your bazooka squad fired anywhere but where you told them.

I couldn't find a motionless german. here's a not so motionless american. =p

what else... oh right the story. its really confusing at the beginning, and if you never played the previous few, you will have no idea at all wtf is going on. until really late into the game. i think. well it depends on how retarded the player is. you won't get alot of the flashback scenes that reference the previous games but you'll get the gist of the story. and its a good story.

last thing. replayability. this is a big factor for me, because i don't like finishing a game in like 2 days then leaving it to rot somewhere until the sequel is released. after i finished the campaign, there was just nothing left to do. nada. zilch. okay well there's multiplayer. lets face it. the new BIA multiplayer is horrible. its okay. i don't know. i never tried it.

This isn't exciting a second time. or third. or fourth.

Either way, they took out the much loved 'skirmish' mode, a single player or cooperative mission whereby you tackle an objective not necessarily related to the main story. it could be capturing a bunker and holding it, or etc. really good fun in Earned in Blood, [i never played hill 30], completely non-existent in Hell's Highway. the main story isn't much fun to replay either. the game dynamic means that the same nazis appear at the same time in the same place. so its boring a second, maybe third playthrough.

Should You Get It:
hmm. Depends. I wouldn't recomment buying it, but borrowing it from someone who has it, or renting it, if you're outside my country of residence. i don't know a game rental service in singapore. Its just not worth 70 bucks. or 60. i can't remember how much i paid. but yeah. you have to try it at least. blowing up nazis is fun.

Oh so fun, especially in a TANK.

My Rating:

Thats it. 2.5. its fun to play. once. it really disappoints me that after 3 years there are so many bugs in it, i appreciate the work done on the destructible cover and new squads, but the removal of skirmish is just sad. and co-op!

There are pretty good graphics, though thats kinda standard in this day and age of gaming.

Where You Can Get It:
Any Video Game Store. not the internet. stay legal. lol. I'm leaving you with this image. click to enlarge goodness.

Motor Oil

Just as Aston Martin symbolizes James Bond, this Aston Martin in particular pretty much sums up what i thought of Quantum of Solace:

Quantum of Solace

Not exactly what i had expected. This is perhaps the first review that gets less than 3 out of 5 stars from me.

What is it:

James Bond - The Quantum of Solace is the 22nd 007 Movie. It promises to be a relaunch of Casino Royale, continuing the story. And continue it does; as soon as the movie starts, it picks up right where it left off, Bond running from henchmen, with Mr. White in the boot of the car. Right into the action.

What Makes it Great:

Intense Action Scenes. This is probably the movie's strongest point. At least 50% of the movie time was spent in some sort of a gunfight.

and jeez. i really can't think of anything else. its that bad.

i guess the motor oil. haha. you'll have to watch it for that.

Why it Sucks:

The plot was straightforward and predictable. I expected some twist somewhere to add another 30-45 minutes to the show, but no. everything went as smooth and as plain as butter. it only lasted 1 hour 45 minutes. which should say something about the content.

The Sunday Times review noted that "following Casino Royale was never going to be easy, but the director Marc Forster has brought the brand’s successful relaunch crashing back to earth — with a yawn"; the screenplay "is at times incomprehensible" and the casting "is a mess." The review concludes that "Bond has been stripped of his iconic status. He no longer represents anything particularly British, or even modern. In place of glamour, we get a spurious grit; instead of style, we get product placement; in place of fantasy, we get a redundant and silly realism."

There really was no point. here. i'm going to type out the movie's plot:

[Begin Spoilers]Bond kills alot of people.[End Spoilers]

Another thing i didn't like of the movie was the utter lack of bond-ness. No cool gadgets, the aston martin gets like 90 seconds of screen time, before being utterly wrecked. there's no smooth deceit and spy action. And most shocking of all, nobody betrays bond.

The only real bond to bond-girl relationship in the movie is Bond and M. which is quite sad really. and no. craig doesn't screw judi.

My Rating:


Thats it. this room is cold. lol. okay yeah thats all i'm giving it. its disappointing. i expected alot more from this movie. and a bond movie should never disappoint.

Should You Watch It:

No. I wouldn't recommend that you do, there's nothing that sets this bond movie apart from another lowbit action movie. If you're looking for a mindbending plot, smooth sleek bondness, sexy aston martins and ingenious improvisation, this is not going to satisfy.

Where You Can Watch It:

Any Cinema should have it, so that's your problem solved. [jeezus this room is cold]

Jack Ass

Get this. you guys know jackass right? i just watched Jackass 2.0 last night. it was uh. nice. not gonna do a full review, just some thoughts i had on it.

so yeah. it was fairly disgusting, it was fairly interesting, but it was fucking funny. hahaha. it will make an awesome party movie. imagine that. 10 drunk teens watching other drunk people do stupid, painful, humiliating stuff. imagine the chaos.

so yeah. anyway after which i did some research into the show [i do that after every movie] and i found out an interesting tidbit. get this. apparantly this guy sued jackass for plaigiarism. he claims that jackass stole his name and used it for their own profit. guess what his name was.

Jack Ass.

haha. he had it changed because he drunk drived and got someone killed i think. can't remember the details. so he changed his name to Jack Ass. i'd laugh but thats just mean.

Point of View

So I just caught this movie, really awesome piece of work. its kinda like.
uh.
i don't know. but its novel and interesting.

Vantage Point

hm, re-reading that. the picture is somewhat anti-climatic. but hey, it was good enough to leave me gasping for air, I'm sure it can afford to look frumpy. okay. how am i gonna review this. seem familiar? read back to my first review if you don't get it.

WHAT IS IT:

Okay lets start the drill. What it is: this movie is a movie. it is a moving picture. its from columbia pictures, and its listed as a mystery thriller. its a big who dunnit with twists and turns everywhere you go.

It stars Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker with Sigourney Weaver, Édgar Ramírez and William Hurt, and it was released on February 22nd, 2008. i got the dvd, so yeah.

WHY ITS GREAT:

okay this is actually going to be pretty tough to do. don't want to ruin anything. alot of other reviews out there give away the narrative feature of the movie, which i think would be better kept secret, so here i'm leaving it as a spoiler. those who watched the movie will know what i mean. anyway. the movie is great. It tells a very elaborate story, and leaves the audience guessing. who did that? what did he see? did i see something? and the occasional OMG I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT JUST HAPPENED WHOAAAAUHGEHUH!

the narrtive technique involves repetition, and while most movies don't pull it off well, and end up creating a very boring and mundane sequence, this movie pulls it off perfectly. each repetition is perfect and refreshing. the same oomph you feel when you see it the first time is the same each time you see it. [that doesn't mean you'll watch the movie over and over... maybe once more, when you know exactly what happens.]

Every aspect is well thought out, and the combined skill of pete travis [director] and barry levy [writer] leads to a very intense, whodunnit packed with more than enough high octane action.

WHY IT SUCKS:

okay so the suck part. i've been through alot of reviews online to give you as much coverage as possible, but the thing i noticed is that. every review is so different. what one review thinks is good, another review thinks its bad. i guess that'll be left to your own judgement. its kind of like cloverfield. you either love it or hate it.

personally, i believe its shortcomings mainly lie in the liberties the screenplay takes to 'enhance' the viewing experience. sure, surviving a car accident here or there is okay, but gee, sometimes the guy just can't die. some points get a tad too far fetched, and the action sequences are confusing. some of them just aren't good enough and i find myself thinking can you stop shooting the air around that guy and get on with the story? STOP BEATING HIM I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. yeah.

okay. for your benefit, i'm going to quote one other review i kind of agree on. Michael Phillips, of the Chicago Tribune said of Vantage Point and Stuart Baird, "Editor Stuart Baird must've been paid by the cut: Simple five-second action beats are often sliced into three or four separate, panicky shots."

true, but then again, fast shots lead to the tension. [sigh, azhar.] but i guess he may have over did it abit. [oh look! its person a! no wait now its person b, oh now woman c, wait back to person a, oh is that person b? omg explosion is that a plane? omg ambulance?! pineapple???]

AND ONE MORE THING:

PRODUCT PLACEMENT. SONY! EVERYWHERE! the laptops, the camera, the phones. EVERYWHERE. hahahaha

SHOULD YOU GET IT?

hmm. lets see. get it only if you are receptive to new things. its a very subjective thing, from what i observed. everyone around me seems to like it, including me, so i guess, if you like the stuff you think i like, go for it.

MY RATING:

this is something everyone who can should try. its not as extreme as cloverfield, but like cloverfield, you should at least experience it once.

SO WHERE CAN YOU GET IT?

well. DVD store near you. of course maybe also your occasional friend who rips dvds and passes them around the people around him/her. everyone has one of those. if you have lots of friends but none of them rips dvds and passes them around, then you must that friend.

That Colored Crate

okay yeah. there's been some hype about this game for a while among my small group of poly friends. so yeah. i decided i'd do a review on it. i know i said i'd edit in, and here it is, albeit a bit late. so yeah.



[blank space for redundant suspense]

The Box That Happened to be Orange

like seriously. why orange? and why box? why not call it, uber cd that installs software that downloads 5 games for you?

anyway.

What is it:

The Orange Box is the much awaited "sequel" to Half Life 2, that comes packaged with Team Fortress 2 and Portal, two awesome games that are worth more than it seems.

Installing it puts in the Steam engine [GG, Valve] and allows your computer to download the games. [skill not included]

Why is it great:

For comparism:

Halo 3 on the XBOX360 - $74.90
The Orange Box on the XBOX360 - $69.90

No. of Games on Halo 3 - 1
No. of Games on The Orange Box - 5

also consider the PC equivalent:

F.E.A.R on the PC - $48.50
The Orange Box on the PC - $39.90

No. of Games on F.E.A.R on the PC - 1
No. of Games on The Orange Box on the PC - 5

Need i say more?

actually yes. i'm not saying you get more games for a lower price and its good, but i'm saying that you get more EPICFUNUBERWIN games for a lower price. its just that worth it. as IGN.com puts it:

"The best deal in videogame history."

and i could just go into detail and review each game in there because there's just so many. there's the experimental portal, there's the team based TF2, there's the immensely single player Half Life 2 and its extensions. enough to keep you occupied for forever.

and they're all great games too. [this will be long if i get into it, so i won't]

Why it sucks:

um. uh... i really don't see how. okay let me think...



ah. okay first off, you want a relatively high end computer to actually have an enjoyable time playing this game. for example, you don't want to be HWguy bait because you lag when he spams bullets at you. you don't want to lag when you look into a portal into a portal into a portal into a portal into a portal into a portal into a portal into a portal into a portal into a portal into a portal into a portal into a portal into a portal into a portal. you get the point. even though it ensures compatibility with all types, you still stand to lag on low end computers.

and secondly, it takes up space. lots of space [now i'm just making excuses]

[edit:] Thirdly, all 5 games are FPS, that means First Person Shooters, for non gamers out there. this also means that the variety isn't all that great. eventually you'll find yourself straying off to another game. [/edit]

Should i get it:

Yup. get it. join us in TF2, talk about portal tricks, forget about the real world when you start on HL2.

but wait. does getting this game mean you need to spend a few hundreds upgrading your computer? then maybe not. get the xbox one, i have both, GamerTag is Ins0mn14. oh wait. do you have an XBOX360? cuz if you buy the game without the console, you're just stupid [Darren and Yi Ci, say it with me: "epic phail" Yi Ci, don't forget to raise the loser flag.]

Where can i get it:

well, i think i mentioned before where I get games, and if you missed it, thats funzcenter.com at AMK Hub. the .com is part of the name, so yeah.

otherwise, for the rest of you who don't want to go to the best place availiable to buy games, you can go to any other videogame store to buy this game. get both, PC and xbox.

My Rating:You Probably expected that I would give this game a better rating, but yeah. i don't give perfect scores unless its absolutely flawless. and by the way i give so much thought into making sure i have content for good and bad, that 5 out of 5 isnt coming soon.

anyway. its a great game. to sum up, Great Value, Great Quality, HOWEVER Requirements [System] are rather high.

there you have it. Orange Box reviewed.

At Long Last..

I finally did it. I got a job.


found it in the papers, then responded to the ad. didnt know what i was doing at first, it just said customer service, no company nothing, so yeah. today, i went to apollo centre to apply for it. apparantly i will be guiding people around the airport, i.e 'hello sir, do you need help getting around? where are you trying to go? i see, here, you want to go towards the mc donalds and keep going straight."

sounds pretty fun. im working for caas too, i think there are benefits there, but im not sure.. anyway, the guy told me to choose a shift. they had 4. i chose shift 1 and four. that means, i'll be working from 12 am to 6 am (shift 4) then 6am to 12pm (shift 1). well, i marked out that i'd prefer then, i dunno if they'll give me the full 12 hours though, i could use the extra cash. they had free transport for shifts one and three, but i start at shift four, so yeah. no transport for me. pah. who needs transport. lol.

so there you have it. i can't think of what to review next, why don't you drop a comment, tell me what you want to see on my blog. i'll do my best to put it on.

EDIT: i just finished reading something that im wishing i didnt. it may not be so bad though, thanks to that, i finally got some words for a tune that we put to long's chords. it goes something like this:

Verse 1

Each day,
I tread down
your way.
Hoping to see if you can

Give me
that hope to
go on,
i fear today you've gone

PRECHORUS

too far,
you don't even know that
I hurt,
(8 syllables here)

CHORUS

yeah. i can't continue it yet, i got the tune for it, there are the words, i don;t know if the band will take it though, its kinda emo. but oh well. we'll see how it goes.