Is Damnation that bad?!

I bet you've heard a lot about Codemaster's Damnation. I bet you've heard it's bad... really bad. And you of course know that you shouldn't always listen to the masses and give this game a chance, right? It certainly can't be as bad as everyone says it is, right?

Wrong.

Damnation is a bad game. They're not lying. A friend and I rented it just to see if it was really that bad. I'll give you my unedited notes, right after playing this game:


1. The shooting system is awful and clunky.
2. Melee attacks are almost useless. You swing your arms clumsily, barely damaging anything. I feel like I'm attacking with Edward in FFIV...
3. There's plenty of dropped frames.
4. The environments are confusing, and you're given no waypoints of any kind that I could discern. This wouldn't be a problem if the environments weren't so fucking bland and boring.
5. The AI enemies are ridiculously powerful and they will obliterate you... or you'll just tear through them because they're also very stupid. Where is the balance?
6. The voice-acting is very bad. I gurantee you'll often you'll spend a lot of time simply laughing at the things these characters say. For example... wait until you meet the quasi-hispanic sounding character dressed in red...
7. You can press a button (Circle) to crouch. You can crouch behind cover to avoid damage... however, don't try to fire from cover because you can't do that. You'll simply blow the shit out of the object in front of you.
8. There's platforming elements that are anything but elegant. Once again, they're clunky and just not fun to look at after the first few backflips.
9. Your characters move so awkwardly it is often hilarious. For example, try shimming on a ledge...
10. If you're playing co-op one of the early game hints on the second players screen will not disappear... I'm not kidding.

Seriously, I was able to write that in about five minutes. 10 complaints in 5 minutes. That is unacceptable. Blue Omega Entertainment, the developer, was fired shortly after this games release. (http://ps3.ign.com/articles/100/1000397p1.html) The quality of the game may or may not be completely responsible for all those people losing their jobs, but I can't feel very sorry for them. They'll find work again and, hopefully, develop some better games.

It wasn't completely bad. Maybe like 97% bad. The opening cutscene was interesting and I think steampunk is just awesome and--it seems--tragically under-used. So, just for that, Damnation can be appreciated.

Nah, I'm kidding. This game is horrible. (null)

Knowing

Note: as it is my style, it should be noted that my comments usually throughly discuss imagery, plot points, twists, and the like. There may be spoilers.

Austrailian filmmaker Alex Proyas is one of my favorite directors. I cherish his Dark City greatly (Ya know, I need to write something about it...). I am still looking for a copy of his first film Spirits of the Air, Gremlins of the Clouds in any format. And yes, I mean ANY format: I'd take a roughed up VHS at this point. Don't know either of those films? Not surprising. Dark City wasn't a hit financially and--obviously--Spirits probably isn't sitting on a Blockbuster shelf. However, Proyas did direct The Crow and I haven't met many people with bad things to say about that one. His previous effort I, Robot saw commercial success and re-affirmed that the Converse sneaker is the ultimate footwear. At this point I'm wondering why this post isn't called "All About Alex Proyas". Let me get to the point.

Knowing is his latest film and it seems like just another Nicholas Cage star vehicle. Well, that's right and wrong. The film opens at an elementary school in 1959. We meet Lucidna, a strange young girl who apparently hears voices. In the next scene, students draw their visions of the future to be placed into a time capsule and reopened 50 years later by a group of students. We come to find the tortured young girl has written on a piece of paper the date, death toll, and location of every major disaster to come. In the present day, we meet astrophysicist John Koestler: our hero. He and his obviously intelligent son enjoy an evening of stargazing. Caleb gets Lucidna's paper and sneaks it home where his father discovers it and becomes tangled up in the world's destiny.

The movie certainly has plenty of your typical thriller-type moments and dialogue. But behind the hum-drum, the visionary Proyas is at work. Consider a scene from the trailer: a jumbo-jet crashes violently near our hero. In one long, continous take John approaches the wreckage and attempts to save a few survivors. It's a moment that can't really be described easily. The unbroken shot recreates deftly the intensity of such a dire situation. You feel the urgency. There isn't any relief. The final scene of the film are companion pieces of destruction and new life. They also can only be experienced.

The film has most everything a decent thriller should, including the key elements tension and mystery. Unfortunetly, it doesn't rise above most genre cliches. You've heard the dialogue before; you've seen some of the situations before. However, it is commendable for pushing some boundries and possesses an obvious wit. It plays on contemporary paranoia of terrorist attacks and plots in such a fascinating way. We are to believe that a terrorist bombing, or the like, will probably occur in New York City. The film displays newscasts that claim the terror threat level is elevated and John even pinpoints the location of the eventual destruction at the corner of a New York street. One chaotic chase scene later, our expectations are completely defeated. No terror bombing occurs and the suspicious man at the subway was simply a petty shoplifter.

Another one of my favorite parts lies near the end of the film. Caleb and the granddaughter of the opening scenes prophet, Lucidna, carry white rabbits given to them by the strange "whisper men" that appear throughout the movie. The rabbits may represent a wish of good luck on the pair's new beginning. Or maybe they represent the uncertainity of traveling down the rabbit hole, into the unknown. I'd like to think that the rabbits represent both. Or perhaps Proyas just likes white rabbits. (**)

How I do things.

I've decided that I want to change the way I do things. Since this blog is young and doesn't have any readers I think I can get away with that.

I comment on video games, movies, books, etc. with a focus on gaming (since it's my precious...). Any of your comments, observations, flames, will be appreciated.

All reviews will now follow this scale:

*** = I loved it. A wonderful piece of work.
** = I liked it. Has some great things and some stuff that holds it back.
* = I didn't like it. Probably a waste of time.

Anything below "*" is, I think, garbage: "null"

My ultimate goal is to have the reader actually read my entire comments about the subject. That's what really counts. Star ratings are just too vague.

Expect several new updates soon! I'm working on quite a few varied essays. :)

Batman: Arkham Asylum (Demo Impressions)

We live in an age of superheroes. Comic books have always been the way to live the lives of fantastic men and women. However in the wake of the first X-Men film a renewed interest of comic book heroes and villains was apparent. It seems that film studios are buying up the rights to every superhero and every comic book there is. I think that, in ways, lead to the development of the latest Batman video game "Batman: Arkham Asylum".

If you're played any Batman video games you know one thing: There are some bad ones and there are some good ones. The NES one was good, the Batman: The Animated Series game for the SNES was also good. Batman Forever for the SNES broke me as a child... I spent hours trying to figure it out. It didn't make any sense. Not a very good experience to say the least. I remember playing a PS2 Batman game a long time ago. It wasn't bad, but it surely wasn't very memorable. "Batman Begins" for the PS2 was one that sticks out in my memory. It had a some neat ideas--intimidation of enemies for one--but it was woefully forgettable. Needless to say, Arkham Asylum blows all of these games out of the water.

Well, I just played the demo and already it's better than any other game carrying the name of Batman to date. Here's why:

1.) Combat. Batman kicks ass left and right. The combat system (dubbed "free-flow combat") lets Batman tear through baddies like a warm batrang through butter (don't you love Bat-puns? forgive me). I can't really explain it too well with words. Batman is able to seemlessly strike, counter, and throw. He can also switch targets mid-combo. The sound effects are great, really letting you hear the heft of the strikes.

2.) Stealth. For me, this is the most exciting aspect. Batman has a variety of ways to subdue foes. If unseen, he can silently incapitate his enemies. I also saw some shots in the trailer of him using batarangs, his grappling hook, and other gadgets. He can sneak on the ground, crouch behind a corner (in MGS fashion), lurk in the shadows high above by swinging and hanging from the decorate gargoyles, and glide gracefully down. If you knock out an enemy and someone finds them they'll begin to search for the Batman. They may also begin to behave nervously if they keep finding their comrades lying on the floor. Just imagine if Solid Snake had a grappling gun and you get the picture.

3.) Service to the fans. There are plenty of extras: character bios, trophies, even patient tapes that let you hear psychiatric sessions with the Joker (I'm sure they have them for other characters... but I'm just playing the demo). This is the best Batman experience to date.

"Batman: Arkham Asylum" is one of those rare demos that get you so incredibly stocked for the full product that you may drool all over your t-shirt. Welcome to the madhouse.

District 9

A few years ago a lot of fuss was raised about a film adaptation of Bungie's Halo video game franchise. Peter Jackson was to have... something to do with it. Now, I've heard people say that he was attached to direct but that was probably a rumor. He was certainly to produce the film. Enter Neill Blomkamp, director of short-films and commercials. He made a trilogy of shorts set in the Halo universe known as Landfall, mostly to promote the release of Halo 3.
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxdvGO1oOF0]

It's hard not to get excited for a Halo movie after watching that, right? They are truly great pieces of film-making. However, I find my self satisfied that the Halo film failed. Why? Because Jackson moved on to produce Blomkamp's first feature: District 9.

District 9, I found out, is an expansion of one of Blomkamp's previous short films Alive in Joburg. It explores the same themes and uses the same documentary style for some of the film.
http://www.spyfilms.com/#neill_blomkamp/alive_in_joburg

D9 is a fantastic film. It is smart, emotionally involving, stylish, and well-executed by wonderful actors. Technically, it is an astounding achievement. With a budget of only $30 million it pulls off some of the most impressive CGI and special effects I've seen this year. Compare that too Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen's overbloated $200 million budget.

Sharlto Copley deftly portrays hero Wikus. The plot involves alien refugees (bug-like humanoids) that are segregated from society. Wikus is chosen to lead an effort to relocate the aliens due to growing public fears. Things turn awry when Wikus is exposed to an alien substance and I'll let you figure out the rest. The film shifts from a documentary perspective to a more traditional third-person perspective. Blomkamp handles this with great precision and it is never a distraction.

Perhaps Halo will one day get its film made. But until then, I'm sure everyone short of the uber-fans will not be disappointed at the turn of events. This is the best film I've seen this year. Go watch it: 5/5